We recently blogged on the launch of the new We7 iPhone app and since, there is now a new addition to the streaming music apps family – the Muziic app, which was launched on Friday and is a little different from the others.
For those of you not familiar with Muziic, it is the brainchild of a 16 year old called David Nelson. The streaming service was originally launched as a desktop program this time last year, and there is now a web based version, a Facebook app, as well as the newly launched iPhone app. Muziic works in a bit of a controversial manner as it uses YouTube API to stream videos and music. You can also listen to albums, create playlists, listen to a massive selection of internet radio stations, and share your choices across social media.
Unlike other streaming services such as Spotify, We7 etc., the Muziic service is free across all platforms and does not require a premium subscription for advert free music. One of the selling points of the Spotify and We7 apps is the ability to cache your music allowing you to play it when you have no internet connection. This function is missing from the Muziic app and would probably be a step too far for YouTube who are a little upset at this use of their API already.
Poker PR have been a fan of streaming services for some time but think this could be a step to far as it does not create a revenue to be reinvested into the music industry. What do you think of this free service? Let us know here.
Universal Music are to drop the price of CDs and other major labels will more than likely follow their lead. The hope is that this price drop will bolster CD sales, which have dropped year on year for the past five years.
The news of the price drops came within 24 hours after a report commissioned by GetJar – the second largest app store to Apple – was published. The report looks at the expanding app market and the key finding is that the app market will be worth a potential $17.5 billion by 2012. This would mean that the value of apps sold would be greater than the value of CDs sold in 2012, at a predicted $13.83bn.
We at Poker PR are always waxing lyrical about the potential of the ‘album app’ and can see that when the big record companies take this on board, they will finally realise that, as a format, the CD is dead. The possibilities of the album app are endless, allowing interaction with your fans on lots of different levels, connection to social media, offering exclusive (paid) content, and allowing user generated content (remix competitions etc.) to name only a few. A CD simply does not allow these capabilities.
If you are looking to produce an app and get on board with this rapidly expanding market we at Poker PR are here to help, contact us here.
YouTube have used SXSW to announce that they’re expanding their partner program to include independent musicians. Everyone is invited to submit videos although not all of them will be featured.
Independent musicians who are accepted by YouTube’s “Musicians Wanted” section will be able to make some money from the partner program if their music videos and live musical performances draw enough views. The artists will receive ‘a majority’ of the advertising revenue from the overlay, pre-roll, and text advertising.
The group of you YouTube employees who will select the artists that get accepted will be on the lookout for indie bands. Once the artists are accepted, they will be able to add links to buy their music, list their tour dates, and they will also have more control over the look of their YouTube channel. Artists will also make money when the videos are embedded into their own sites, blogs or social media pages.
Poker PR likes the idea of YouTube gathering all these artists into a browsable and searchable area that will feature only independent artists, meaning ultimately more money will be making its way to the artists.
There is one restriction in the new program – albeit a positive one – you must submit a video. What this means is you are not able to submit a MP3 over a selection of static images. This will be great news for all the up and coming videographers and animators out there, and we at Poker PR are look forward to seeing the results of this excellent program.
Festival organiser Michael Eavis, revealed on Glastonbury FM that there will be a new late night area at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.
Mr Eavis said in the interview, “We’re (investing) down in the old Lost Vagueness Fields, now called Shangri-La. We’ve now got Shangri-La, we’ve got Trash City, Arcadia, and we’ve got Section 9 which is a new area. So, we’re investing heavily into that area down there for entertainment, because that’s where people want to be. We’re increasing investment into that area by about £200,000.”
Details about the new Section 9 area are few and far between, but with this sort of investment being put into the late night area Poker PR is looking forward to seeing the outcome.
During the interview Michael also revealed that Stevie Wonder is still yet to be confirmed for the Sunday headline slot, the farmer did reveal that Mumford & Sons will be play the Park Stage this year.
The festival organisers have announced that the re-sale of cancelled tickets for this year’s Festival will take place at 9am on Sunday, 11th April 2010. To be with a chance of getting your hands of some of these extremely limited tickets you have register at glastonburyregistration.co.uk before the 31st March. Tickets will be sold online at www.seetickets.com/g2010 and via the Seetickets booking line 0844 412 4635.
Ibiza Rocks will return to the island this year and will be celebrating its 5th year with some massive line ups. The brand will also be launching the Mallorca Rocks hotel; all the Mallorca Rocks events will be held at the hotel meaning you can book rooms with a stage view.
To celebrate its 5th birthday year, Ibiza Rocks have lined up some sensational acts including Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal, Florence And The Machine and The Kooks to name only a few. July 20th see’s The Prodigy headline at what will be the mother of all 5th birthday parties.
Events this year start on the 22nd June and run until September, the afterparties in Ibiza will be held at Es Paradis and will be free for Ibiza Rocks ticket holders (before 1.30am).
Full details on all the events, and to make your bookings for both the hotels visit ibizarocks.com.
You can also be kept up to date on via social media on both Twitter and Facebook.
The SXSW (South by South West) festival in Austin, Texas starts tomorrow, running for nine days and encompassing many forms of media making it the festival that leads the way in interaction over many platforms.
SXSW really show others what is possible when it comes to using social media, utilising Facebook and Twitter amongst many other platforms, to bring up-to-date information to delegates and those attending. You can also use your Facebook and Twitter accounts to connect with other services such as the (unofficial) guide to the event on sched.org.
The festival, of course, has an iPhone app and it looks great. With schedule and maps as the more basic functions, it also includes some special features for the badge holders including a card feature that allows you to send your contact details to other delegates and a messaging feature that allows the badge holders to communicate away from the festival’s own social network my.SXSW.
It would be great to see some of the UK festivals embrace these types of technology; fans love to interact and connect in every way possible and we at Poker PR can offer all the services to make this happen.
The International Music Summit 2010 (IMS), which takes over the five-star Ibiza Gran Hotel on the 26-28 May, yesterday announced a new line up of speakers that include Sasha, Heidi (Radio 1), Cassius and Jesse Rose.
They’ll be joining an already star studied line-up including Mark Ronson who’ll be giving a keynote interview, Annie Mac, Erick Morillo, DJ Skream, Pedro Winter/ Busy P, Arthur Baker, Robin Millar, and internationally acclaimed producer David Guetta.
Sasha will host a Pioneer technical demo, explaining his decision to return to using their equipment after years of flying the flag for Ableton. It is said that he made the return to the equipment while his infamous ‘Maven’ controller was being upgraded. Poker PR saw Sasha using the new CDJ2000s at Matter and can confirm he is making the most of this new technology.
Google, T-Mobile, Sprite, Coca-Cola Group, Ministry of Sound, BBC Radio 1, KCRW, MP7, Beatport, and ResidentAdvisor are among some of the companies who will have representatives in attendance, some of whom will be sitting on the event panels. Panels this year include, Big Dog DJs: F*** You We’re Famous, USA Today: Boom Boom Now! and Meet the Future. There will also be a repeat of last year’s Ibiza United panel, featuring the big players in Ibiza clubbing, Amnesia, Eden, Es Paradis, Pacha, Privilege and Space.
Poker PR will make one part of the numerous music industry bodies in attendance for our second year running, and we have to say that the line-up of artists and speakers has us a little excited already.
For further info on the event please visit the IMS website
We at Poker PR have previously blogged about the ‘Album App’ and now US firm Metatron gives us a new digital film format: the ‘appMovie’. It describes a package containing HD video, audio and images.
Available to download from the iTunes app store for £2.99, the first appMovie is a documentary called Bob Marley: Spiritual Journey. It includes 14 rare tracks, and a 30 minute interview, hundreds of images and the one hour documentary, with all video content in HD. Metatron intend to make the app available on Blackberry, Android and HD TV.
The appMovie is based around the movie but at Poker we can see no reason why this could not be switched to music creating an appAlbum, featuring a full album of music, sleeve notes, choices of artwork and videos of the top tracks. This could be a great way to reignite the fans desire to buy artist albums and not just download the odd track.
Yesterday’s Music 4.5 event in London featured many panels covering a wide collection of subjects relevant to the music industry. The aim of the event is to bring together the tech geeks and the music geeks, both innovators and creators, with the aim of inspiring a new creative discussion focusing on innovation, revenue and business model opportunities, disruptive technology and social content.
Panels included the TechCrunch pitches featuring 10 tech start-ups explaining what they do, who they are and why they are the future for music. These included two that Poker PR found very interesting:
Psonar a cloud-based music service that lets artists upload their music to its servers and the music is then accessible from anywhere you can connect to the internet. Other users can listen to 30 second clips of your music and can be sent to Amazon to buy it or can share recommendations over social media.
CloseCall Music ever wanted the track you have just heard live at a gig? Then this excellent bit of tech is for you. CloseCall Music allows fans to purchase music from an event on their mobile phone and collect it on a USB or CD as they leave the event. If some rights issues are addressed it could allow the music to be downloaded direct to your phone.
Both of these solutions have the ability to create revenue for the artists and where applicable, the labels, which we at Poker are sure will be greatly received by both.
The UK based Spotify rival, We7 has launched a new music streaming mobile app, available as a free download from the iTunes store. The app appears to be working on the We7’s Premium account, although from the 1st March it will only work for those who sign up for the £9.99 a month Premium+ account.
We7’s product allows users to take advantage of an offline mode where in areas of little or no reception, they will still be able to listen to music that has been cached to the handset – a feature similar to that of the Spotify app.
There is a special offer on We7’s current Premium PC based service that is advert free and is available until the 1st May for £3.99 a month (normal price £4.99). The Premium+ service will feature ad free listening on both PC and mobile and will be available on both the iPhone and Android devices. We7 say they will be making the app available to Blackberry devices at some point.
Following Warner Music’s comment that steaming services were “clearly not positive for the industry”, Poker PR believes it will be the premium services that will be used to keep the record companies happy and provide the money to keep the music industry alive.
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