Good afternoon! As promised here is part 2 of our interview with Andi Durrant where he gives his thoughts on the music industry in 2011.
How easy/difficult was it to be a music artist in 2010. Do you think it will get easier/harder in 2011? Why?
I’d say it was very difficult – especially if you’re just starting out and trying to get recognized for your work. It used to be the case that only a very small amount of people could use a recording studio, or even afford to hire one. Now for around £200 and a laptop you can do virtually everything, which is why I’m now receiving an average of 400 new tracks a week to listen to. Trying to stand out from that huge crowd is no mean feat.
Social Media has exploded over the last few years. Do you find tools such as Twitter and Facebook useful as an artist or just something you have to be on these days?
I absolutely love Twitter. I was scathing at first (“Who wants to know what salad Ashton Kutcher had for his lunch?”) but then I got the point of it – you only follow the people you’re genuinely interested in and its opened up a new world to me. I’m on there all day every day catching up and chatting with the rest of the electronic music community. I actually think it’s brought us together a bit more and strengthened the scene. DJs and dance music artists have really embraced Twitter and come off all the better for it. As for Facebook, I see that more of a promotional tool. It often seems a bit too personal sharing all your pictures with the world, and is ruined by people spamming your wall and trying to make you play imaginary farm games.
2010 has seen a rise in the popularity of cloud music services such as Spotify. Do you see them breaking in to the mainstream in 2011 and becoming the new way we consume music?
I’m sitting on the fence on this one – I really wouldn’t like to guess. The Spotify business model isn’t working for artists at the moment, and I don’t see that changing very soon… but then a new service might pop up next week and change the whole thing again!
How important do you think mobile technology and apps will be for the music industry in 2011?
VERY important. We’re nearly all living our lives through iPhones, iPods and Blackberrys these days, so those artists who have the best online presence, the most up to date and interesting Apps and websites, and make their music the easiest to access will come out on top.
Finally, do you think 2011 will be the year that the music industry will ‘get fixed’?
The music industry was probably broken the day it began. It’ll never be fixed and I’m not sure any of us want it that way even if it could be.
Some great insights from Andi. Share your thoughts with us about the state of the music industry in 2011 on Twitter @pokerpr
Poker PR would like to wish everyone we’ve worked with this year a very Merry Christmas!
We’ve had a busy 2010 working with our favourite audio and visual provider, Avid Technology; the ground breaking www.Burn-Studios.com and its ambassadors Richie Hawtin and Cassius; the Gap Yah team including comedy troupe The Unexpected Items and super producer Adrian Zagoritis; Azuli Records, Phonetic Recordings, and loads more there’s not just enough room to list!
Our work has taken us to The Gadget Show Live event at the NEC Birmingham with M-Audio and Pro Tools. To music conferences the International Music Summit, Ibiza, and to our stand-out conference of year – the Amsterdam Dance Event, which celebrated its 15th anniversary as leading international conference and festival for electronic music.
Facebook applications have been popular amongst our clients where we’ve built a handful of interactive apps into our communication strategies. We’ve shot some interesting videos to promote new product ranges and our media campaigns have spanned international markets.
Social media was always going to become an even bigger communication tool in 2010 than it was the previous year, and throughout 2011 it’ll continue to grow, despite some brands and musicians still not understanding its weight or importance.
Next year we’ll continue to evolve, exploring new ways to speak to and connect with audiences. The music industry will face the same piracy issues and fans will continue to search for interactive content from favourite brands and artists. As long as the demand is there, we’ll continue to work with our clients finding brand new ways of audience engagement.
Our official iPhone application for d
j producers Riley & Durrant is finally live on the Apple App Store. It is available to download for FREE here and comes with an EXCLUSIVE 30 minute ‘Summer Mix’ which can only be listened to through their app!
The app boasts a wide range of features for fans to connect to their favourite DJ duo including:
- All their latest news, social media including Facebook and Twitter (both tweets & mentions)
- Photo gallery where you can view all the latest photos from Riley & Durrant’s nights
- Video gallery where you can watch videos of their releases as well as tips and tricks from the studio
- Music streaming where you can listen to some of their latest tracks and remixes with a direct link to buy them straight away from the iTunes store
- Catch up on their award winning radio shows from Galaxy FM
- Events listings so you can keep track of where they are playing next so you never miss a show.
“I’m over the moon with the App it’s gone way beyond our expectations and looks absolutely BRILLIANT.” Says
Andi Durrant
Orlando, the uber-posh Fulham-lashed Gap Yah student from the hilarious ‘Gap Yah’ skit on YouTube, has bagged himself a record deal with Poker PR working on the online and social promotion for this banterous release!
iTunes rushed through the Gap Yah single to make it available for download just 24 hours after hearing it. The song, plus a dance remix, is due for release on all other platforms on 2nd August.
‘Gap Yah’ has been written and produced by internationally acclaimed writer / producer Adrian Zagoritis, who’s had over 300 releases worldwide on both major and dance labels, often working with writers for KyIie Minogue, Moby and Madonna.
It’s a Guetta-laced floor-filler interwoven with Orlando’s lines from the sketch. With Electro-spiked beats, this one is Benassi meets Banter in Burma, creating something you’re very unlikely to have ever heard before. And the chorus? Well, it just Chunders Everywah! Listen here
The ‘Gap Yah’ video, performed by actor Matt Lacey (aka Orlando) of The Unexpected Items comedy group, so far has an amazing 1.9m hits on YouTube.
Poker PR has re branded and we would like to introduce our brand spanking new Scribble: site. A brief introduction from us is in order as you’re probably wondering, who is Scribble:? Well we are a digital media agency based in Brighton. We provide communication services to clients across the world within the music and entertainment industry. We specialise in mobile applications, digital media, social media as well as website design & development.
We are very happy to announce the launch of our brand new, exciting and innovative iPhone application, Scribble: App. It has been in the pipeline for a while now but after a lot of effort and hard work it is ready and set to revolutionise the music industry.
The first app version is an interactive communication tool for music artists, DJs and bands. With their very own branded Scribble: App artists, DJs and bands have the power to create a unique user experience and stronger connection with fans and followers. Through the app they can promote their music, videos, photos and events as well syndicate their social media activity ultimately increasing their exposure.
With over 3 billion Apps downloaded to 14 million iPhones, and 4.5 billion mobiles used worldwide, we believe that mobile technology will soon be the dominant delivery mechanism for content and entertainment.
We are very proud of Scribble: App and we hope you think it’s as exciting as we do. For a full list of features follow the link. http://www.scribbleuk.com/apps
Some big changes are afoot at Poker PR; we will be making a full announcement tomorrow. We are all very excited about these changes and once you see what is happening we are sure you will be too.
Obviously we can’t say too much right now but we can promise something fresh and new to offer you. Watch this space tomorrow for full updates.
Want to be the first to know sign up here for an update first thing tomorrow morning.
Get ready to change your privacy settings on Facebook again. Possibly in answer to the popularity of location based networks such as the rapidly growing Foursquare, Facebook has made some changes to the language in its privacy policy from “add a location to something you post” to “place” meaning you can refer to a page such as a local bar or restaurant.
Another change that is causing a lot of negative sentiment towards the site is the sharing of information with “carefully selected” partner sites, Facebook say that this will make these sites “offer a more personalized experience”, this will work using the Facebook Connect function, the partner site will then hold the information about you, this will include your photo, name, friend list and any other information you have not made private within your privacy settings.
It is the new policy on the sharing of information that has resulted in 678 mostly negative comments on Michael Richter’s, who is Facebook’s deputy general counsel, recent blog on the changes. The reason behind most of the negative comments is the fact that this service when launched will be an opt out service, people believe they should be opting into this service that basically gives the “carefully selected” partner sites access to you public information. If you do not opt out and then decide you do not want a site to have your info then, at present, it is down to you to contact the site and ask them to remove your details from its servers.
What do you think, do you want your details being shared by default or would you prefer to opt into this service? Let us know here.
We at Poker PR have been impressed this week by two Facebook campaigns, coming for Kellogg’s and Absolut, both use the Facebook Connect function in a very clever way.
First up we have Kellogg’s and its new cereal ‘Krave’, the campaign involves users bidding for prizes using ‘Chunks’ on an external site, the prizes are pretty damn good – current item up for bids ‘4 tickets to Benicassim’, the Spanish music festival.
How do you earn your chunks? When you sign up using the Facebook Connect function you are given chunks you then earn chunks by inviting Facebook friends and you are given even more if they also sign up. The current bid for the Benicassim tickets is 208540 chunks, meaning there is a lot of sharing going on.
The second social media campaign that caught our eye this week is in the form of a short film from Spike Jonze, this very subtly sponsored by Absolut vodka. Facebook Connect comes into play when you enter the box office to get your pass to watch the film, you can invite ten people to watch the film with you, your status is updated before during and after the film telling people about the film, and finally the pass you pick up features your profile picture, a simple yet pleasant touch.
We at Poker PR thoroughly enjoyed the film, which has limited daily seats, and would recommend you take a look at Jonze’s story of robot love, (not as bad as that sounds) ‘I’m Here‘.
Do you have an idea for a social media campaign for your company and need someone to run it for you or are you looking for that creative spark to get your brand in front of the ever expanding social audience? If so Poker PR is here to help… Get in touch here
Poker PR is pleased to announce that our M.D., David Mitchell, will be a panellist on the ‘Our Community Is Our Brand’ panel at the rapidly approaching International Music Summit (IMS) in Ibiza. The panel will discuss digital communities, how and why they have changed their business and what the future holds.
David will be drawing from his many years of experience to voice his opinions on social networks, digital media, and all the other avenues that are currently available to create a community around a brand.
Also sitting on the panel are:
Callum Negus Fancey, 20 year old promoter of Lets Go Crazy, the events are aimed at 14 to 16 year olds and continue to go from strength to strength.
Denzyl Feigelson, founder of Artists Without A Label, bridging the gap between independent artists/labels and digital stores such as iTunes.
Jonas Tempel, CEO of Beatport, the largest and most popular digital dance music store.
Konrad Von Loehneysen, MD at Ministry of Sound Recordings Germany, the German division of the ever popular brand.
Susie Lucas, Head of Mobile, UK, at Universal Music, delivering music and entertainment to mobile devices. TBC.
This is the first year David will be speaking at the IMS and we know that with his enthusiasm and experience it will not be the last.
The US launch of the iPad is rapidly approaching. But we’re going to have to wait a bit longer in the UK, as I’m sure we’re all used to this with Apple by now. Apple are accepting apps for the iPad store as I type this and the store will be launched the same day as the US launch, 3rd April.
Poker PR is wondering how many app developers will see the iPad for the great interface it could be for DJs (and VJs). Admittedly, DJ’s will not be able to run programs like Ableton or Traktor on the iPad as they are both processor heavy applications. We have seen some great OSC (Open Sound Control) interfaces on the iPhone such as TouchOSC although most of these interfaces are very hard to operate on the small iPhone screen.
The iPad offers a much larger screen and has multi touch capabilities; this means it would make a great addition to a laptop based DJ setup with the right app running. Will we see manufacturers like Native Instruments, Serato or Ableton rise to the challenge and be the first to produce an app to control one of their popular DJ software packages. Or will we see more generic controller apps produced by the likes of Hexler, who produce the brilliant TouchOSC.
Poker PR will be sitting and watching this closely. As with the iPhone it will take a while for the best apps to be developed. There is already an iPad DJ app out there and we have seen it – let’s just say it would be best to wait for some other solutions to become available.
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