Talk about waiting to death….

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Liz Medina

Pharrell is in it for the long haul in promoting his latest single 100 Years, having taken the slightly unusual decision to set a release date for, er, next century. As in 2117.

Only then will your great-great-great grandchildren be able to jam to Pharrell’s 100 Years, which this weekend was locked in a safe for the next hundo years. The N.E.R.D frontman has linked up with Louis XIII Cognac for the venture, which is aiming to raise awareness about climate change.

The sole copy of 100 Years has been engraved on a clay vinyl made from soil that’s been extracted from the Louis XIII Cognac vineyard, and is now safely locked away, time capsule-style.

But there is a twist…if Earth continues on a path of destruction (aka Global Warming) the vinyl, and only copy of the track, will disintegrate and disappear forever

Why It’s Hot:

– Very interesting unique idea / partnership / twist on a time capsule

– Not sure how effective it will be at changing environmental policy, but works beautifully as a branded stunt

Spotify is testing a new voice search feature

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Samantha Hilton

Spotify is testing a voice search feature that lets users more quickly access their favorite artists, tracks, albums, and playlists. The feature, which appears based on a 2017 experiment involving a “driving mode,” has begun appearing inside the iOS app for a small number of users.

To access the new voice search feature, you tap the magnifying glass icon at the center of the bottom row of tabs. If you have it, you’ll see a microphone icon inside a white bubble in the lower-right hand corner of the screen.

So far, voice control appears limited to finding music inside inside Spotify’s vast catalog. Ask it “Who are the Beatles?” and it will start playing a Beatles playlist without telling you anything about the band.

Why it’s hot: This is a great step forward for navigation in app that has sometimes requires too much tapping and typing to get where you’re going.

Source: The Verge

Fender Just Eliminated the Need For Pedals and Stomp Boxes

Posted on January 5, 2018 by brandonMRM

The worst thing about being in a band is waiting for the guitarist to set up and adjust—and re-adjust, and then re-re-adjust—his collection of effects boxes and pedals. But it seems the biggest name in guitars is out to fix that. The Fender Tone app for iOS and Android manages thousands of pre-set guitar effects and delivers them via Bluetooth or WiFi to Fender’s new line of Mustang GT guitar amps.

Why It’s Hot:

Similar to other consumer technologies, Fender has built the amp so that it does not get outdated. Fender has built around an ARM computer processor system, and can use Bluetooth and wifi to send updates in the form of presets, hardware tweaks, and features whenever Fender has updates. The amp will continuously update as other sounds, new amps, and features roll-out through Fender’s offering creating a one size fits all system.

“If we release a new amp, we can do a simulation of it on this amp,” Kaplan said. The Mustang models come in three sizes, ranging from a small $250 tabletop practice amp, up to a $600 model that can fill a venue with sound. In testing out the Mustang, Kaplan said the team created simulations that the average player would be “hard pressed to tell apart” from the amps they were copying the tone of.

Spotify for Artists

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Samantha Hilton

Spotify For Artists is an app launching this week that gives musicians and their managers mobile access to super-detailed analytics about their music and the people listening to it.

The Spotify For Artists app takes some of the most useful insights about an artist’s music—which songs are most popular, how many streams they’re getting over all, where those listeners live, and which playlists are helping win over new fans—and boils them down into digestible graphical charts. It’s a bit like Google Analytics for rappers, electronic DJs, and pop stars.

This isn’t the first time Spotify has made this kind of data available. Spotify For Artists is a product that first launched on the web in April, after a private beta period. First, Spotify opened it up to all artists (the first big, on-demand streaming app of its kind to do so). Now it’s letting them access it on their phones.

The app also gives artists some control over their presence on Spotify, allowing them to do things like update their bios, post playlists, and select the “artist’s pick” track that Spotify lets them display on their profiles.

Spotify For Artists is part of a broader effort to build more artist-facing tools and ’empower’ them. The company also started a program called Fans First, which uses data to detect the most obsessive listeners of a given artist and target them with special offers like pre-sale concert tickets or exclusive merchandise. The company has also been working harder to strengthen its relationships within the music industry and among artists, in part by hiring former Lady Gaga manager Troy Carter.

Why it’s hot: This is yet another way in which Spotify is leveraging their data in an interesting and unexpected way. It is great to see them making it readily available for artists who can benefit from knowing more about their core users. Additionally, making it available on a mobile app vs. just desktop (as they launched in April) makes this an even more accessible and useful tool to the music industry.

Source: FastCo

Pop music’s new producer? Streaming platforms…

Posted on October 6, 2017 by April Spicer

Hit-making songwriters and producers are tailoring tracks to fit a musical landscape dominated by streaming.“In sessions, people have genuinely been saying, ‘Oh, we need to make something that sounds like Spotify,’” says Emily Warren, a singer-songwriter behind hits including Charli XCX’s “Boys” and the Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down.” According to the artists, songwriters, producers, and executives interviewed for this piece, no aspect of a song, from production to vocal performance, is unaffected by the regime change.

Throughout the history of recorded music, formats have helped shape what we hear. For examplesur ideas about how long a single should be date back to what could fit on a 45 RPM 7″ vinyl record. But the unprecedented wealth of data that streaming services use to curate their increasingly influential playlists gives the industry real-time feedback on what’s working, leading to rigidly defined and formulaic music.

For example, in order for a stream to count toward chart tallies and, reportedly, for royalty payouts, a given song must be played for at least 30 seconds. That’s why, while how a song starts has always been important in pop, with streaming it’s more crucial than ever. Another element tying the streaming era’s music together is the way we listen to it: The phones and laptop speakers we often use can have a direct impact on the music that sounds best through them.

Why It’s Hot
How technology advancements are shaping behaviors and expectations is always fascinating. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction!

Play music on your Oreos

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Samantha Hilton

Oreo is a popular snack around the world, but is apparently not so popular with Chinese teenagers. A media and creative arts team at Dimension Plus (agency based in Taipei and Hong Kong), combined Oreo cookies with something most teens love: music.

The result was ‘Oreo Vinyl’, tiny cookies embossed with miniature grooves that play music just like a vinyl record. These cookies are housed inside a cardboard pack, with each cookie playing the “Oreo Anthem” in a different musical style. The project actively involved teens by getting participants at the Strawberry Music Festival, a popular youth event held in Shanghai, to compose each of the different songs.

The grooves on the cookies were made with laser cutting and engraving machines. The cookies can then be played with the Oreo Vinyl Record Player contained in each pack.

Why it’s hot:

Oreo found a way to directly connect with their target audience both in the creation of this concept and in its deployment. This is an innovation that is both unexpected and functional that is sure to increase audience engagement with the brand.

Spotify keeps on rocking with Lastminute.com partnership

Posted on April 28, 2017 by April Spicer

There’s always one song that brings back memories of a really great holiday. This intrinsic link between music and travel is the idea behind Lastminute.com’s new partnership with Spotify. And according to data, a large percentage of lastminute.com consumers are also Spotify users, meaning the collaboration appears to be a win-win for both brands.

The partners are producing a series of interactive maps, playlists and podcasts – each one linked to 10 different destinations.

Each city is broken down by area, with playlists bringing to life the distinct sounds of each one. For instance, East London’s playlist includes songs by local artists like Dizzee Rascal and Katy B. Alongside this, the campaign will include a series of podcasts, each featuring an international artist giving insight into the music scene of their home city. And each user will receive personalized recommendations aligned to their music and travel tastes.

https://econsultancy.com/blog/69032-lastminute-com-partners-with-spotify-to-target-music-loving-travellers/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=econblog

Why It’s Hot
Spotify continues to set the bar for leveraging data in meaningful ways to deepen relationships with customers.

Headphones Up, Calories Down…

Posted on February 17, 2017 by ChrisMRM

(start at 0:23, you can get the basic idea by about 0:45)

I think we can all agree that sugar is evil. Particularly in this country, sugar consumption has become a major source of serious weight and health issues plaguing many. And as our esteemed colleagues Karan and Liz shared with me yesterday, apparently even when you try other sweeteners to avoid it, the alternative is cancer. So, how can we get our sweet fix without risking some massive health related life event?

Rest easy, because based on University of Oxford research, Xin Cafe in China has created “Sonic Sweetener”. According to science, listening to certain sounds makes our brain think what we’re consuming is sweeter than it actually is. So, Xin Cafe worked with sound designers to create a cup with a headphone jack that plays the right notes while you’re drinking your beverage to make it seem as though you’re imbibing something sweet when you’re actually not (try out the miracle soundtrack for yourself here).

Why it’s hot

First of all, I’m impressed at such a seemingly lo-fi “tech” solution to a very serious, widespread problem. Sometimes it doesn’t take a massive innovation to meaningfully change the way we experience things in life. And obviously it’s one of the latest examples in what will be many many years of technology (some more progressive, some less) filling in the gaps where our humanity can fail us. Self-control is a great quality, but not one that’s always easily applied. What other human shortcomings could sound (or any other) technology help us with?

Instagram: A Platform for Music Enthusiasts

Posted on March 25, 2016 by ab

Nielsen conducted a study to quantify Instagram’s impact on music sales and found that Instagram users spend 42 percent on music, tickets, and merchandise compared to the U.S. population averages. Other stats revealed that Instagram users spent more hours listening to music than average for the U.S. and were also more likely to listen to pop. Interestingly, Instagram Music fans also were twice as likely to pay for streaming music. Find more cool stats around this key audience in the article!

Why It’s Hot: Brands with a target that index high in music or attending live events should look to Instagram as an effective channel to reach and engage with these consumers.

Remixed Remix

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Jacklyn.Baillergeon

The right remix makes a old song feel new. And makes a new song feel even newer. Which is why trip hop duo Massive Attack has released a “sensory music player” app with its new EP.

The app is called Fantom, and it remixes and reforms music on iPhones based off environmental factors like a person’s location, movement, and heartbeat fed by Apple Watch sensors and HealthKit data. Each factor affects the music in a different way. Heart rate, for instance, changes the song cadence, while location affects harmonization.

Fantom is not a partnership– one of the Massive Attack band members was part of the team that developed the app.

Why it’s hot: remix albums have been around for awhile, and offer the same remix to every person. Why not algorithmically personalize it if you can?

source: http://mashable.com/2016/01/21/massive-attack-iphone-app/#rnvkkvkkksq3

Spotify Puts You In Touch with Your 80s Self…

Posted on June 19, 2015 by ChrisMRM

Musically, at least.

This week, Spotify launched a new digital microsite experience it called “Taste Rewind“. The premise is simple – you connect with your Spotify account (or sign up for one, although it lets you through even if you don’t log in or sign up), it asks you to choose three artists you love (from a set of curated artists based on your account), and then it takes a shot at what you would have been listening to in each of the last five decades based on those artists (and gives you links to a playlist of songs from each decade it thinks you would enjoy).

It’s certainly a fun experience, but I do wonder if a couple of things weren’t strategically amiss here:

1) I’m not sure discovery of music you like is Spotify’s strongest feature. I can only speak for myself, but I haven’t found their recommendations (ostensibly based on my current taste) to be terribly good (either that or I’m in denial about the music I listen to, which is also entirely possible). Although ultimately, I don’t suppose this matters as much, since I don’t know how much it matters in terms of driving sign ups (it’s more the access to the vast amount of music than anything else).

2) Their ultimate CTA (to drive awareness through social sharing) was to share THE experience, not yours or my experience, which would seem to make it all about Spotify. Wouldn’t I have been more interested in, and likely to share MY experience?

Nevertheless…

Why It’s Hot

First, I think it clearly hooked into the social trend around “discovery”. While I hate to reference Buzzfeed quizzes in any fashion, clearly one thing that we’ve seen people really enjoy in social are things that make “predictions” about them based on information they provide (ala Microsoft’s “How Old Do I Look?” or the awful “Who Is Your Soulmate” quiz that recently overtook my News Feed).

Second (and arguably more importantly), I think we could consider it part of what is a broader shift in digital around “people-centric” (personalized) experiences. Not long ago, Microsoft revealed data that suggested a majority of people are now willing to provide information about themselves if it means a better, more interesting, helpful, “intelligent”, etc. experience for them.

We’ve seen digital go from a vast expansive of random content and experiences, to a more curated form taking into account broad trends, and it seems now we’re moving more towards the personalization of digital, where experiences and information are designed around what we know about the people who seek them/it. After all, wouldn’t this be the ideal individual experience?

This isn’t anything new, but with new technology emerging daily to further facilitate it, I think we can expect its trajectory to increase, and it would seem to mean we should be designing digital experiences that are baked to be intelligent.

Now, if you’re wondering, here’s what Spotify thinks I would’ve been listening to in the 80s:

Guitar Hero goes Live

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Alberto Morales

Everyone’s favorite plastic guitar game is coming back and it has a few updates for this new era of video games and music. Guitar Hero became popular in 2010 for its innovative play style that could make any average Joe feel like they are the lead guitarist in the hottest band around. It was also known for its amazing song selection that ranged from classic rock to current pop hits. Now its 2015 and the game is going on tour again and this time its coming back with some digital enhancements.

The new guitar hero is going to have the classic play style with notes coming down the screen with the player clicking and strumming each one to their favorite hits. This time the game will shed its cartoon like image in place of playing for real crowds. The new mode Guitar Hero live will have the player entertaining a real crowd with real reactions adding to the fantasy of being a rock star.

Another option rolling out with the game will be the Guitar Hero TV option which almost acts as playable spotify. The game will allow you to play up to hundred songs on their own streaming network at launch and will continuously get updated, similar to their old method of DLC.

Why its Hot!!

Its a new guitar hero game!!!
It uses all of the enhancements of the digital music world, like streaming, to enhance play-ability
Playable music network is an extremely cool concept and way to find new music and really interact with it

TIDAL: New High-Def Music Streaming Service

Posted on April 3, 2015 by daria3

On Monday afternoon, celebs such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Madonna, Rhianna, Chris Martin and Nikki Minaj (just to name a few) gathered to announce the re-launch of TIDAL, a music streaming service. TIDAL is a high-definition streaming service that will compete with services such as Pandora and Spotify. Jay-Z is the majority owner while the other artists on stage all have small stakes in the company as well.

Unlike other music streaming services, there is no free tier for subscription. Therefore, we can assume there will be no disruptive ads on the platform as we see with other free streaming memberships, however this has not yet been confirmed. For TIDAL, users will have to pay $10/month or $20/month depending on the quality of music they prefer. Additionally, the player is available as both a website and an app (no desktop player) and can stream to a number of speaker systems. An added bonus – Tidal will offer the ability to save songs for listening without an Internet connection.

Another edge that TIDAL may have is the releasing of exclusive content and invitation to special events for paying members.

Why It’s Hot

With the domination of streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify, we haven’t seen a potential game changer enter the market in a long time. The switch of focus from price to quality enables the brand to position itself as premium and perhaps not truly in competition with any other services. Next, having people with star power backing this service is major. For example, celebs that have had constant battles with streaming services may actually volunteer to have their music on Tidal. If this is true, we could see both artists that are stakeholders in Tidal or support its mission, releasing exclusive content (perhaps even entire albums) on the service. If Tidal can convince artists to do this, they could gain a huge advantage over competitors.

Huggies Turns to Pandora to Encourage Baby-Making for Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 20, 2015 by amyMRM

For Valentine’s Day, Huggies created a Huggies Baby-Making Station on Pandora for, playing tunes aimed at getting couples in the mood.

Think of it as a digital-age millennial version of the old make-out tape, replete with entries from Barry White and heavy on other R&B classics, including Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour.”

Millennials clearly need all the help they can get. The U.S. birth rate fell to 62.5 per 1,000 women ages 18 to 44 in 2013, the last year for which data is available, from 69.3 in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

“I’ve been working on Huggies for five years, and one thing we’re always dealing with, project after project, year after year, is the declining birth rate,” said Chris Turner, group creative director at Ogilvy, Chicago. “Lately, we’ve been thinking about Valentine’s Day as an agile opportunity, and we kind of put the two together.”

“At Huggies, babies are always on our mind,” said K-C spokesman Bob Brand. “The partnership with Pandora is a fun-loving way to engage Huggies couples in the romantic spirit of Valentine’s Day.”

The Huggies station will play without commercial interruption on Pandora for at least a month, backed by ads on other Pandora stations and by social-media efforts through the brand’s accounts, Mr. Turner said.

Source: AdAge

Why It’s Hot

It’s interesting to see how brands are using Pandora for marketing, other than the banner and :15 spot. I think this is a creative approach to a brand awareness initiative, but I have to wonder what kind of return they expect to see.

Apple to launch Spotify-like Streaming Service

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Gayle Scott

Apple has plans to leverage Beats to build a Spotify competitor, according to 9to5Mac.The paid streaming music service will use Beats’ content and technology but get a new name and a fresh Apple design, according to anonymous Apple sources. The service’s target price will be $7.99 per month. In contrast, Spotify Premium comes in at $9.99 a month; Google Play Music does too, though it originally launched for $7.99.

The technology relies on cloud-based streaming, and there’s a search feature that will let you instantly look for songs in your iTunes library but also search for streaming music. Users will be able to select specific tracks to store on their iOS devices and/or computers, or keep all songs solely in the cloud. Apple will also deeply integrate Beats Music’s Playlists, Activities, and Mixes features into the new service, letting users access a vast array of pre-made, human-curated playlists to fit various activities.

Apple reportedly plans to launch the service sometime this year, possibly at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Why It’s Hot

According to anonymous Apple sources, this service will be “deeply integrated” into iOS, iTunes, Apple TV and will even be available as an Android app. Our clients have seen success advertising to “music enthusiasts” on Pandora and Spotify so this is something we should keep an eye on to explore potential advertising opportunities in the future.

Source

March to the Beat of Your Own Robot

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Lili Sajecki

As if the music industry wasn’t competitive enough, artists may soon have to worry about more than just each other. With the help of a 27-year-old musical artificial intelligence student, robots may be ready to share the stage.

Mason Bertan, a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is teaching robots how to make jazz music by breaking down jazz theory and musical improv into a programming language the robots are able to understand. Not only can these robots produce their own music, but they are also aware of their physical bodies and capable of moving them to the music. These aren’t giant, industrial machines but rather head-banging, foot-tapping musicians!

Jamstik, “The World’s First Smart Guitar”

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Hanna Park

I’ve been watching a lot of Shark Tank lately, and I’ve noticed a growth in self-educational products, especially in music. Jamstik helps you learn and practice guitar easily with a very portable hardware that you can connect to your smartphone.

Why It’s Hot: This is another cool product for DIY education, and it’ll be interesting to see how it partners up with brands. With increased usage of platforms like Kahn Academy, wider accessibility is becoming more realistic everyday.

MySpace Lives On, Thanks in Part to #TBT

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Oren Eisenberg

If you haven’t heard, MySpace has had a bit a comeback. And though it may not have quite the $580 million luster it did 2005, the platform has had a resurgence.

According to its owner, Specific Media, MySpace:

Reached 50.6MM unique visitors in Nov. 14 (up 575% YOY)
Still has access to over 1B emails globally, including over 465MM in the U.S.
Has handled $5 billion in ad transactions for a set of beta advertisers Since launching the Advertising Cloud suite of products in the last seven months

The resurgence cannot be pinned to one action alone, but has instead been created by combining a number of variables:

Makeover into an arts & entertainment centric social platform
New found receptivity among young, niche audience (17-25s)
Repeat visits to find old photos driven by “Throwback Thursday”

MySpace knows it can’t build a social site on #TBT nostalgia, so it has invested a lot into cultivating a new audience and building a library of unique and sponsored content for them to consume.

Intrigued, I decided to sign up and explore the new MySpace.

When you arrive at the MySpace’s new landing page, it almost feels more like an entertainment news site than a social platform.

If you decide to register, MySpace has created a new user segmentation framework that caters to users’ specific creative backgrounds and interests. A note to those who register, if you choose to speed up the registration process by linking a Facebook or Twitter account be prepared to consent to a whole lot of data-mining. You also consent to give MySpace posting rights to share on your behalf… something I certainly was not willing to do at this stage.

New registration flow that segments users by creative interest.

The new approach to profiles is slick and feels distinct, albeit a little sparse. Important to note, “Tom” is no longer your friend.

Profiles feel quite different than most other social platforms out there.

But a new account should be sparse right? So I went to create my first post. After selecting that I wanted to share a song, I searched for a track that (surprisingly) could not be found in MySpace’s library.

I posted my track, but my profile remained a bare snare drum. Where did the post go? Evidently into a new “Stream” feed that takes a typical “News Feed” and flips it horizontally. This creates a weird and confusing experience. Why wouldn’t my post appear on my actual profile?

MySpace’s “Stream” attempts to create a content feed of posts and activity by users, including curated content. But the experience leaves something to be desired.

Why It’s Hot

So the new MySpace.com is major departure from its lineage. Focused on content catered to a niche community of artists, musicians and content creators, the site doesn’t feel like it’s made for everyone. And I think that’s part of its appeal. Specific Media has the business data to show there is still life in the faded platform, and with strong focus on content MySpace might be able to retake the sought after “creative” social arena. MySpace is certainly not the first to try its hand in this space, but for advertisers their mounds of user data may distinguish the platform from the competitors. But more than ads, MySpace needs to expand the reach of its rich content to beyond the walls of MySpace if it wants to break away from the site’s still tarnished reputation.

Uber and Spotify partner up

Posted on November 21, 2014 by amyMRM

Uber riders can now blast tunes from Spotify during their commute. After hailing a car via the handy app, you can decide what music you’re in the mood for, and when the car arrives to pick you up, it’ll already be playing inside. You’ll need to connect that paid streaming account inside Uber’s mobile software to opt in, but doing so not only sets the music beforehand, but allows you to control it for the duration of the trip. The collaborative effort is set to launch on November 21st in London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Nashville, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Stockholm, Toronto and Sydney with a widespread rollout in the weeks that follow. Of course, the driver will need to connect their phone to the car’s stereo for you to take advantage, but Uber says those folks are excited about sorting your playlists. If the car you hail chooses not to play music, the option to play Spotify won’t show up in the Uber app.

Source: engadget

Why It’s Hot

Could Uber be more cool? They certainly are looking at their audience and developing pretty awesome initiatives, from partnerships with Starbucks and Amex, to stunts like UberWEDDING and UberKITTENS. In this case, it’s just a little more added value into an already sound pricing and convenience strategy.

British Airways matches in-flight food to music playlists

Posted on October 24, 2014 by amyMRM

British Airways is due to start matching its in-flight meals with specific music tracks in order to counteract the fact that a person’s ability to taste is reduced by 30% while in the air. These pairings are based on a study that suggests some tunes can influence your taste buds, and they aim to help bring out the flavor of the food.

The airline’s new “Sound Bite” menu will be available on the “Rock and Pop” audio channel on long-haul flights from November. This 13-track playlist features music that has been carefully selected to go with each item on the menu, with the intention of enhancing the in-flight meal experience.

A study conducted by Professor Charles Spence and his team at Oxford University in the UK suggests that certain music can influence a person’s taste buds. This has been labelled ‘Sonic Seasoning’, with specific tracks seemingly able to make food seem up to 10% more sweet or salty.

British Airways’ chef Mark Tazzioli adds that the findings of this study to his list of considerations (which also included taste being altered at altitude) in order to create the new special edition menu. The “Sound Bite” playlist includes Scottish artist Paolo Nutini’s “Scream (Funk My Life Up)” to go with the Scottish salmon starter, Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” for a classic British main meal, Madonna’s “Ray of Light” for desserts, and “Nessun Dorma” by Placido Domingo to go with a cup of coffee.

The reasoning behind these tracks being selected were that Scottish musicians enhance the providence of Scottish foods, British music should be paired with British food, high tones boost the sweet flavors of puddings, and a tenor’s low tones suit the bitterness of coffee.

Source: PSFK

Why It’s Hot

It’s nice to see some innovation in customer service in the airline industry, and this “science” is quite interesting. It seems a little unnecessary, but maybe if you enjoy your flight just a little more, it’s worth it. There may be an opportunity (or potential hipster trend?) to try this in the mainstream restaurant industry as well.

Apple offers a way to ‘return’ that free U2 album

Posted on September 19, 2014 by todd.hodgman

At the end of Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch announcement last week, the company trotted out the rock supergroup to announce a major marketing collaboration.

According to the New York Times, Apple spent ~$100 million on the U2 campaign.

The campaign consisted of Apple giving away U2’s first new album in 5 years, “Songs of Innocence,” to 500 million iTunes customers. For free. The objective was to get more people to sign up for iTunes.

But Apple didn’t just offer the album, it went ahead and dropped the album in all 500 million active iCloud accounts across 119 countries. The files would then make their way to the computers and mobile devices of users set up to automatically synch purchases.

This lead to many complaints of invasiveness and tone-deafness. Especially since the timing was shortly after iCloud’s security was scrutinized for its part in celebrity photo hacks.

One week after giving away a new U2 album to most iTunes users, Apple has announced a way for customers to get rid of it, reported CNN.

Why It’s Hot

Even the most visionary marketers can stumble, especially if they don’t keep the customer–their needs, their boundaries–front and center.

Upcoming YouTube Music Service Revealed

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Gayle Scott

Images of Google’s long-awaited YouTube music service have surfaced online, signaling that the launch may not be far behind. The tech blog Android Police got hold of the images, which revealed the name of the service—YouTube Music Key.
The screenshots also provided a glimpse into some of the key features of the music subscription plan. There will be offline playing, an ad-free experience and the ability to listen to YouTube music even after exiting the app. YouTube users have griped about how videos stop playing when they switch to another app or their phone locks. While there is no official launch date yet from Google, the service is expected to cost $10 per month and will feature a 30-day free trial, much like Google’s other music service, Play Music All Access, which will take on the new name, Google Play Music Key, according to Android Police.

Why It’s Hot

YouTube’s new product could change the music streaming industry that has been dominated by companies like Pandora and Spotify over the last few years. Brands that currently advertise with these companies could definitely shift to Google and I’d be curious to see how Google plans to leverage their massive user base to serve ads on this new platform.

Source

Sparkplug: The Musician’s New Best Friend

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Amanda Sajecki

No longer does the starving artist have to troll Craigslist until that vintage Fender jazz bass goes on sale. Sparkplug is a new site that matches unused music gear with musicians in need of gear. Yes, it sounds similar to Craigslist, but what makes it different is the rental component.

Users simply type in their area and the gear they need, and Sparkplug enables them to browse available items in their area that are for rent within their price range, and schedule a pick-up and drop-off time and location. Users can also identify their budget, so that those listing their items to rent can best price their product based on the “marketplace demand.”

Where a Picture is Worth a Thousand Songs

Posted on June 13, 2014 by mattdrapermrm

They always say a picture is worth a thousand words… well, how about a thousand songs? That’s where the fun new iOS app, Moodsnap, comes in!

Moodsnap is the world’s first image-based music streaming app, where deciding what to hear is as easy as knowing how you feel. Simply launch the app, click on a photograph that matches your mood, and presto!

That’s right, in Moodsnap, music stations are crowd-sourced collections of songs that users have collectively associated with emotive photographs. It is the community’s judgement of what songs feel right for each photograph, that fuels the listening experience for everyone.

Moodsnap is uniquely powered by Spotify and is free for Spotify Premium subscribers on iOS. Check out the app here!

Why It’s Hot

Taste-algorithms for music are nothing new, but usually are based off of components like artists, songs, or even activities. Photography has become a huge aspect of social media and the way the mass is expressing themselves. Music has always been a way to express and show emotion. Music and photography share that they are a way people identify and find common interests, so it makes sense they should be integrated. There may be potential for brands to use this as well. Such as having consumers upload pictures that create a brand playlist…. interesting.

While on a Run, Apps to Match the Playlist to Your Pace

Posted on May 16, 2014 by DebTrink

If you are a runner or just enjoy walking for exercise, there are several smartphone apps that can add a helpful boost of motivation or reduce the boredom of your five-mile run. Music can be a great help to runners, but sometimes putting together a playlist can be a chore. So leave the song selection up to RockMyRun or PaceDJ.

Why It’s Hot

RockMyRun is a free iOS and Android app that streams music while you run, serving mixes of tracks from its archive, with a fun twist: You can choose how many beats per minute the music should have, and the app will match the songs to the pace. If you are out for a fast run, you may choose a speedy setting of 150 to 160 beats per minute. For a slower jog, try 120 beats per minute. You can also choose the music genre, mix the lengths of songs, and even search for a particular track or artist you like. The app then selects the mix, which can last up to two hours.

Another free music app is PaceDJ, which uses your own music archive, so you are more inclined to like the music. This app works by scanning your archive and logging the beats per minute of each track. You choose a beats-per-minute rate and it starts playing. If you don’t know what your pace is, the app measures your walking or jogging speed by your phone’s motion sensors. This app can also deliver a staged workout that starts at a slower pace, picks up, then slows down again.

If you are taking a long walk or run, check out Map My Walk. This free app tracks your routes by using GPS and shows them on a map. It will also deliver audible updates on your pace using a synthesized voice, so you can learn how fast you are moving without having to reach for your phone. It runs in the background, so you could even use it with one of the music apps above.

Listening to music is the only way I can endure exercise. These apps would definitely make my walk/run more fun – running to music that matches my pace and challenging myself to up the tempo and discover new music.

Turn your voice into a musical instrument

Posted on April 4, 2014 by garyfre

Evan Balster, a digital music programmer, has created an app that can turn your voice into any musical instrument. Just sing in key, choose your instrument and you have beautiful music. Funded through Kickstarter, Imitone allows anyone to become a musician.

As reported in psfk.com, Balster “explains in the pitch video, he found working with digital tools as an analogue musician frustrating. And being in the possession of mad programming skills, he decided to do something about it. The way it works is that you open the program, start up your workstation of choice, like Garageband or Pro Tools, and record songs in any instrument simply by singing in key. The results sound pretty amazing.”

Why It’s Hot

Two reasons: 1) The power of Kickstarter to raise funds for interesting ideas, and 2) the magic of this app, which can be used to experiment with musical ideas, collaborate among musicians and create masterpieces quicker.

Twitter Partners with Billboard to Create Real-Time Music Charts

Posted on March 28, 2014 by daria3

This week Twitter announced that it is relaunching its music strategy. The platform states that it is going to focus more on partnerships, conversations and supplementary content rather than providing access to the music itself. Partners for the new plan will include SoundCloud, Vevo and potentially Beats Music.

Another major partner of this new strategy is Billboard. Twitter is teaming up with Billboard to create a Billboard Twitter Real-Time Chart. This tool will track conversations about U.S. music, mentions of artists, songs and albums discussed in real-time and over longer time periods. This is the first ever real-time chart for Billboard.

The charts will be posted on Billboard.com as well as on the Billboard Twitter account. Additionally the data can be made into custom charts and distributed via Twitter Amplify, a part of this new partnership. Twitter users can tweet out these charts and weekly video clips of the current music hot topics.

Why It’s Hot

This partnership drives home something we already know – people today want the latest and greatest news – like yesterday. Twitter is an influential platform that most major brands utilize daily to reach their fans. The platform has an abundance of reliable data that can feasibly show its audiences what matters most at any given moment. With this new strategy Twitter will be utilizing this comprehensive data to directly concentrate on a specific industry. On top of it, since this info will be available to the public it could potentially influence and further shape what is hot right now in the music world. Since Billboard, which is an authority in the music business, will host the chart, Twitter will now have access to a broader audience as well. For Billboard this partnership means that they will greater engagement with their fans and insight into what they are saying in that moment. The tracking of this real-time data could potentially benefit artists too because if their work is the topic of conversation at any given moment, they become highly visible to a large audience, including key industry players as well as potential fans. This could be especially instrumental to new artists trying to break into the mainstream music scene. Lastly, it will be interesting to see if this new tool could actually change the way music success is measured since this is the first time a major music company like Billboard is tracking and sharing this type of information in real-time.

You can read more here and here.

Is YouTube Music For Real?

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Marc Arbeit

There have long been rumors that Google plans to launch a separate music subscription service, and it looks like those plans have finally come together. Google is already running a Spotify-like music subscription service called “Google Play”, but there have been a number of reports that they plan to sell music subscriptions through YouTube as well.

Why it’s Hot

It could be a category changer.

The big questions are: 1) Who will win over the small percentage of US consumers that are willing to “pay” for their music? Pandora, Spotify, Soundcloud, Muve, iTunes, Vevo, Amazon, and/or Google? 2) What does this mean for advertisers? Only time will tell!

Sources. Read more here and here.

Hot Sauce

Weekly Drops of Inspiration

Tag Archives: Music

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Turn your voice into a musical instrument

Twitter Partners with Billboard to Create Real-Time Music Charts

Is YouTube Music For Real?

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