So, you’re a band that likes to communicate with your fans (if you don’t, get a real job). You have your MySpace page, your email-newsletters, possibly a blog, maybe even a Twitter account. But fuck, it’s all quite messy, isn’t it? And aren’t the kids all on their mobile phones these days?
Then you may be interested in Mupps, a platform that allows you to build your own music applications for mobile phones (or at least the likes of iPhone etc).

People at Pitchfork and Wired are excited about iPhone apps for musicians, but so far it’s been only major label acts (like Snow Patrol, Pink and Pussycat Dolls) that have experimented with it. Possibly because they’re not that cheap to develop. 

And, apart from the Death Cab For Cutie one that was released last week, they do feel like pretty static marketing tools. Things that are dreamt up in a meeting room, things that don’t come alive, because the artist itself doesn’t use it to communicate. 

Mupps seems to address a few of these issues.
One, it taps into that oh-so-important mobile market, which is a major communication platform for music-lovers. Sure, not every 15-year old has an iPhone, but mobile phones are rapidly becoming multi-media hubs.  

Two, there’s the portal function, i.e. all your Radiohead-related info is there. Including iTunes and the likes. So I’m sure managers and record company peeps are sniffing out the commercial value.

And three: the directness of Twitter integration will make it feel like you’re constantly following your favourite band (considering your hero updates it). 

I’m curious to see what the price plan is, but there’s meant to be different levels (basic – advanced – professional). And I’m sure the modular aspect of it means that it can be relatively cheaper. 

The application is not available just yet (you can sign up for a newsletter to get notified). But apparently the developers are looking for feedback, so if you’re a musician / label / manager, you may want to find out more. Kanye, you listening?

One of the (many) things I’ve been doing over the last few years is commissioning music videos, for smaller (and more interesting) indie labels. 
Needless to say I haven’t been overly busy with that part of my ‘business’. The music video as we knew it no longer does the promo job it was invented for. MTV and the likes don’t play many music videos, so not-so-rich bands aren’t keen to make the high-risk investment. Instead, YouTube has become the new holy grail for record labels and their commissioners. 

What’s interesting to see is that labels, who have traditionally been quite averse to embracing internet technology are now realising the digital potential. Big time. Major label commissioner Tim Nash (who won the award for Best commissioner at the recent UK Music video Awards) writes a very entertaining blog about his lovely job and gave an insight in how they deal with the ‘Truth Tube’ and how they’re analyzing the viewing behaviour and the tagging of their videos. Turns out that 52 seconds is the average ’switch-off moment’. [Read more]

I’ve always floated around the music industry in some shape or form and I’ve always been surprised how un-creative the environment (and its output) is; despite the fact that there are so many talented people involved.

When I was commissioning music videos (I still do the odd one), I always felt there were quite a few other ways of translating music into moving image or into a (dirty word coming up) ‘campaign’. But there weren’t many examples and everyone kept making music videos; some great ones, lots of disposable ones.
But it seems the music industry is coming round and is no longer completely averse to exploring non-traditional routes. [Read more]

After my post 2 weeks ago about the use of split screen, I received another example from Straighty 180, a production company in Sydney, who made this music video last year. On the first level it’s just a normal, narrative music promo, but part of the concept was a website where the original video would play splitscreen with another video, together revealing more about the storyline.  
Not as interactive as the Pop Levi experiment, but nevertheless a pretty interesting example of cross-platform approach, still quite rare in music video land. 

A while ago, it was announced that Euro RSCG had bought a majority stake in The:Hours. At first I was excited. An advertising agency buying a record company! Non-traditional thinking! Convergence! Bring it on! I like all these new business models; they’re new, they’re different and, who knows, they may even work. 
But now I feel a bit weird about it. I’m not sure I completely get it.  

Why exactly is Euro RSCG doing this? In the press blurbs, they talk about ‘access to artists’ and ‘future-facing business models’. Now, The:Hours is not a traditional label; it also does ‘music content production’, like this. But if the advertising industry needs better/cheaper/quicker access to music creators and the copyright on songs, surely they could have bought a specialized music production agency. 

And I don’t get the fact they’re interested in a record label. If the plan is to discover the new Justin Timberlake, so McDonalds will háve to come to Euro RSCG for their new version of ‘I’m lovin’ it!’, then that’s quite risky, no? 

I know music is extremely important for brands and the last few years the trend has been shifting towards custom content (remember the Nike/James Murphy, Nike/Cassius and CocaCola/Jack White collaborations), but I’m just not 100% convinced by this one. 

What am I missing? Enlighten me!

Bloody Radiohead. They’ve done it again.

While the music video industry is nervously looking around, trying to avoid gloomy nose-dive scenarios, those Radiohead fuckers do something no one else has done before. Again. 
An interactive, no-camera-just-code, ready-to-remix video experiment.
Genius, right? Or is it just another marketing ploy, as cynics were keen to point out  last year when the band gave away their album on a pay-as-want basis?

I think you can judge from a few angles. 

[Read more]

What do you so wish?

In the category ‘pretty-useless-but-absolutely-great websites’: I So Wish. 
Although tagging it as ‘useless’ is maybe a little harsh. Especially for the makers.
Because creator Andrew Dubber, one of the leading bloggers about the music industry (check out New Music Strategies) started it ‘to make money while sleeping’.

In his recent post about how he and his programmer friend made this site, he extrapolates his concept to the field of the music industry. He pretty much recommends musicians to come up with a similar ‘cash machine’, instead of chasing the rock ‘n’ roll dream of getting signed to a record label, tour the world and make/burn heaps of cash. If they want to be creative, that is. 

Which makes total sense to me. [Read more]