Author: jblogg

@jblogg - Vr, Music, Robots

FOUR KEYS TO MUSIC APP STRATEGY

Billboard wrote a piece about ways Major Labels are beginning to take the app market seriously. Linkin Park’s 8-bit Rebellion, the band’s new game for the iphone/iPad, is used as an example of how Artist and Labels are working together. The article interviews Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, and Artificial life, the developer of 8-bit Rebellion. They both reinforce themes I think are important: Creativity, Artist Involvement, Authenticity.

And the fourth key is Marketing! Outside of the itunes homepage and pricing games, the marketing of apps is a murky world that is often overlooked. I contributed to the article with some insights on how Warner Bros is marketing the launch of the game later this month.

The article also covers some other major label perspectives and projects – worth a read!
Check out the article here (via abc news)

“Major Labels Eager to Enter Ipad Marketplace”

Jblogg.com post on the launch of 8-bit rebellion

iPad REVIEW: FOLDER FREE OS ON A CLOSED NETWORK

As soon as my iPad turned on out of the box, with a full charge, It was clear that most of what’s been said about the iPad is true. Brilliant screen, gorgeous design, blazing fast OS and the battery life is 10+ hours. Web pages and books look incredible, and the extra screen real-estate eliminated any issues or concerns I had about all all touch screen device. For some tasks I actually prefer the no keyboard touch screen to my laptop.

The hardware is top notch, but It’s the two main shifts in the iPad OS that is at the heart of Apples mobile computing evolution.

1) NO TRADITIONAL FILE STRUCTURE
A system as powerful as the iPad with no file structure access showcases Apples commitment to a unique mobile OS strategy. Applying iPod like simplicity to the entire mobile computer experience is a new trick. Not smaller and mobile, but completely different.

At its heart, There is no HD, root folder or any access into the device other than icons on the home screens. This takes a while to get used to if your thinking you may use the iPad to replace your laptop. The iPad doesn’t let you connect with the files on other devices or organize them the way you are used to on your desktop. Each app keeps its data together in its own system. I’m intrigued by this OS concept and evolution, but there needs to be a way to merge access to file structures somewhere or you cant organize things by topic. No drag and drop and the basic folder concept is gone.

2) CLOSED NETWORK

The list of things you should be able to do but can’t is long. The iPad is closed off in many ways. No streaming to AirTunes, access to my iDisk, no synching with other macs on my wireless network, no synch to iPhone, and the iPad wont show up on my wireless network to any of my other networked apps. I have three macs on my network, yet i have to connect the iPad, with wires, to only one master Mac, and use itunes to synch media and files. No drag and drop. No folders.

Overall the iPad has a closer emotional feel than most laptops. Is so responsive to your touch. This is not a sub compact laptop with a touch screen in a fancy shell. iPad is for fun first, ideas, not serious work. A portable easy to use marvel, for entertainment, reading, games, surfing the web, and communication.

And its just the beginning. Will the iPad mobile roadmap keep the system so closed, and blocked off from existing file structures in the sky, or is this just a preview of a whole new ecosystem?

8 BIT REBELLION: LINKIN PARK MIXES MUSIC AND GAME WITH NEW IPHONE APP

Linkin park is launching a new iphone app game in April entitled “8 Bit Rebellion”. This is not some re-purposed “shoot em” up game. The band created the whole concept with gaming company Artificial Life and it’s rich with an imaginary world, many levels, and a hidden exclusive song. 8-bit rebellion also features a bunch of Linkin Parks music – in “hd” or 8bit! The game is rolling out with a full online campaign over the next month.

8-Bit Rebellion is a new type of game that showcases the Iphone’s (and ipad’s) potential as great canvas for Artist’s who can mix their music with an original game concept thats worth your time to play!

DEVO 2.0 SXSW WRAP UP

The SXSW presentation was a home run. I think the audience really understood what we are trying to do with DEVO. A well written review on cnet:

AUSTIN, Texas–I’ve sat through a lot of business presentations in my time as a tech journalist, and I can say with confidence that until Tuesday I’d never seen one that was a fully serious pitch and completely tongue-in-cheek.

And it killed.

The occasion of this ground-breaking proposal was a session at the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival here called “Devo, the Internet and You.” Yes, that Devo. The ’80s new wave band with the funny hats.

Well, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, the band’s two leading members, are back, and they’re toting a business plan: marrying all the pieces of an Internet start-up–a social-media strategy, a CEO with a slick smile and good hair, a big marketing partner, buzzwords, and Venn diagrams–with the release of a new pop record.

Read Full Article on CNET!

DEVO, THE INTERNET AND YOU! LIVE AT SXSW 2010

Please join me for a special presentation from DEVO INC! I’ll be making a special joint appearance at South By Southwest Interactive with Devo, and Devo’s advertising agency, Mother LA!

Whether you’re a music maker, a music manager, a programmer, designer, information architect or just an unashamed music lover you’re going to want to join us in this spirited review of how we at Devo Inc. are using the internet and technology to reach out to a new audience, test Devo’s music and brand and explain the process of how we are aiming to make something for everybody now that De-evolution is real.

Bill Moulton – Mother Los Angeles
Gerald Casale – Devo
Mark Mothersbaugh – Devo
Jacob – Researcher, Mother
Jeremy Welt – Warner Bros. Records

Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Time:
3:30pm – 4:30pm
Location:
SXSWi – Austin Convention Center – 18ABCD
City/Town:
Austin, TX

MOG LAUNCHES ALL ACCESS MOBILE MUSIC SERVICE

In “early q2” mog is launching their music service on iphone and android:

On Demand Streams
Downloads – Unlimited downloads of any song or album to your phone
MOG radio
Mobile HQ audio (streaming 64k aac plus, download is 320k)

10$ a month, including web and mobile access

Seems like a competitive offer. Mog also stated they are getting 17% conversion from free trial of there web service.

THUMBPLAY MUSIC SERIVCE: MOVE YOUR PLAYLISTS TO THE CLOUD

UPDATE 3.8.2010: Thumbplay contacted me less than 24 hrs after this post, and got me up and running on my blackbery 9760!

Thumbplay launched its music service this week, joining Mog, Rhapsody, Lala, Spotify, Last FM, and Myspace in the already crowded battle between streaming music services. The monthly subscription is $9.99. This is twice the rate of new entrant “MOG” (and $9.99 more than the free myspace!), but you get mobile access for the extra charge. Factoring in mobile makes Thumplay’s offer cheaper than Rhapaody’s similar desktop and mobile plan.

The selling point of Thumbplay Music is the ability to move your music to the cloud in one click by importing your playlists directly from itunes. It took just a few minutes to import 20 playlists, with 500 songs. The “import” was fast and accurate because it was only checking the data with the “cloud”, not actually moving files.
You can “import” songs to the cloud regardless of where they came from.

The second differentiator is Thumplay’s mobile access. With a full subscription, you can access your music and playlists from a “smartphone”.

Thumbplay Mobile

Unfortunately the device list is small:
BlackBerry
Bold 9000
Curve 8900
Storm 9530
Tour 9630

Continue reading THUMBPLAY MUSIC SERIVCE: MOVE YOUR PLAYLISTS TO THE CLOUD

HOW TO MAKE PLAYLISTS ON MYSPACE MUSIC

Myspace music is a fun, easy and free way to create playlists. Yes, there are the familiar flaws in the overall myspace interface, but the music features are getting better, and the fact that myspace has most of the content from major, indie and unsigned Artists, makes it worth exploring as a serious playlist destination. Listening does not require log in (yet) but you must be a member to make a playlist. So dig out that old account and log back in to get started.

ARTIST PROFILES – SURF AND ADD!
The best way to start playlisting is surfing Myspace the way you always have: Profiles. All profiles can now tap into the myspace music player and the player has a “+”button next to most of the songs throughout the site.

Continue reading HOW TO MAKE PLAYLISTS ON MYSPACE MUSIC

PRESIDENT’S DAY OR VALENTINES DAY PLAYLIST

Really depends on where your at 🙂

I Originally made this on last year on Imeem and wanted to post it again. But as you know Imeem’s gone away. However it did make its way into myspace via the import! Nice work guys – and every song was there!
Hear it in full (log in required)
But I cant share it on my blog with myspace music, so I re-created it in Lala. Thats where the problem was. For some reason Lala doesn’t have the two killer songs (but myspace music does? so i can get it for free, but not via a paid streaming service??)
First one missing on Lala was “Dustland Fairytale” (so i choose the karyoke version!) and next was “This is Your life” (so I choose a different switchfoot song with the same name because that came up first in Lala’s search!) So thanks to rights issues, here it is on Lala with a few adjustments!

THE FUTURE OF RECOMMENDATION ENGINES: UBIQUITY AND CONTEXT

My Amazon preferences don’t talk to my itunes ratings or my genius playlist. Neither of them factor in my recommended videos on you tube or vevo. My “ilike’s” don’t tie into my mog preferences…

With all this music and information I still have trouble finding quality stuff I want. And I still miss bands I should know about, or live dates from bands I love!

I’d like a way to set up a highly customizable preference/recommendation engine that followed all my music, video, movies, purchases, streams, and could form “meta recommendations” from them all. Then combine ubiquity of preferences with context (location) and the future connected recommendation experience emerges. Moving seamlessly across sites and services, I could listen to music and media on several different devices and still capture a true picture of my media and commerce behavior. Of course I’d want strong privacy setting that allowed me to benefit from this targeted experience, not just advertisers and merchants!

Anyone working on anything like this? Anyone else want it?