Commissioned by New Statesman

Kane Kramer is the legendary inventor of MP3 technology; the saviour of hip i-podders around the world, and he’s about to blow away the duller ones amongst us with his latest creation.

The father of music downloading is on the verge of launching a revolutionary new technology that he claims is going to be the “greatest tool” for businessmen, accountants, lawyers and everyone else in between “since email and mobile phones.” ‘Monicall,’ short for monitor call, effectively allows legally binding contracts to take place over the telephone by recording the conversation and storing a hard copy on file at the telephone registry. Kramer describes it as “better than a handshake.”

It took him just 6 years from thinking up the idea to getting it into the market. He explains that it really wasn’t that difficult, because he purposefully by-passed all governmental involvement.

Kramer had reservations about approaching the government for investment.

“I have to look at their track record in terms of how long it took them to catch on to the internet, and applying it.”

“In my experience, private investors and business angels are not only faster in realising the potential of something well ahead of its time, but faster to act on their decision.”

The government is unwilling to take risks he says. It is using public money and it is accountable, but as a consequence, a lot of chances are missed. The governments expects you to already be a successful business before you approach them for funding, by which time your main competitors have already monopolised your market.

“You have to be well ahead of the game,” Kramer says. “I came up with the idea of the MP3 in 1981, over 20 years before the i-pod and 10 years before the internet, and it’s only in the last 5 years that people have started to download files.”

“You have to make a conscious step to appreciate how the technology may move forward and how that will impact on the way that people actually live and work in their environment.”

There are cultural barriers as well Kramer explains providing Monicall as an example.

“In early 2000/2001, there was still a kind of reluctance to the idea of recording telephone calls. Nowadays, people accept that everyone is recording calls.”

“When it comes to funding, our real assets are the fund managers and banks who with crystal clear thinking perceive the change in culture as though it had already taken place, a rare breed.”

Monicall is estimated to make £2bn in the first 5 years from its launch in May this year.