#26: Special Edition! 🎉 Learn to code, augmented reality & the future of music, links about Soundcloud, Musical.ly, Flipagram, album apps & much more!
500 subscribers! 🎉
I’ve always aimed for relevant subscribers - quality over quantity, and I’m proud to say we’ve succeeded in that. Seriously, you’re in great company on this list. And I say we, because it’s due to your word of mouth. Thank you! 🙏
If you would like to connect to some of the people on this list (and others), and are actively working at the intersection of music & tech, consider applying for the Music Tech Network on Slack.
We’ve also hit the 6-month mark with this edition! 🎊
AND got featured in Revue’s Explore section! 💃
Thanks for joining, reading, sharing. A double dose today!
Love,
Bas
If you want to learn to code, don’t learn to code
Read this article on Medium or MxTxF.
Code requires purpose.
You must want the computer to do something specific, such as displaying this text in the font you’re seeing right now.
When you learn to code, just for the sake of it, there is no purpose. Your enthusiasm will wane and as things get complicated, so will your motivation. If you want to learn to code, start with a purpose.
Try phrasing it like: I want to build X for (or to) Y.
I want to build a newsletter for fans of secretarybirds;
a web page to showcase my skills;
a mobile app to send me new music when my favourite artist releases some.
Once you start, go for MVP: minimum viable product. It doesn’t have to be as good as other sites, it doesn’t have to be as beautiful, just get it to work. Figure out how you can tweak the CSS of Wordpress themes to get your site to look like you want. You are now learning to code.
You’ll learn that what you code is never finished. Something can always be improved and it will stick out like a sore thumb to you, but nobody else will notice.
If you want to learn to code, start a side-project. Build something for yourself. Then make it useful to others.
Don’t have a side-project in mind? Start smaller. Automate one thing in your life using IFTTT. IFTTT stands for IF This Then That, which is one of the first lessons you’ll get in programming: if/then statements. If a certain condition is met, then execute this command.
IFTTT connects services that you use and then lets them interact based on conditions. Not only does it teach you about the basics of programming, you’ll also learn about APIs. Read what I wrote about IFTTT before.
Now get to work. 😉
Maybe some of these cool products can inspire you:
Shout out to Jelle for always reminding me of this.
Double your dose - more by me
Happy to announce that I’ll be doing somewhat of a music tech roundup and trend report for the Synchtank blog every 2 weeks. For the first instalment, click on the image below.
Must reads
Here's who might be interested in acquiring SoundCloud
SoundCloud owners are said to mull a $1 billion sale. Mentions the usual suspects like Amazon, Google and Apple, but more interestingly, argues that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey can’t really risk a SoundCloud acquisition right now.
This is the guy who sang the original Pokémon theme song
The surging popularity of Pokémon isn’t actually helping him, other than getting his name out perhaps. He got a one-time fee for singing the theme song, so no royalties. Bummer.
Morgan Stanley predicts steady growth for the music industry through music subscriptions
“The music industry has found its growth strategy — subscription on-demand.” They expect a continuation of the 2.5% year-on-year growth trend.
uk.businessinsider.com • Share
The music industry isn’t as fucked as they say
Philip Kaplan of DistroKid: “If we’re really talking about “aspiring creators making a living” — the odds have never been higher.”
The 'false choice' offered by YouTube vs the music industry row
The debates around YouTube, the value gap and takedowns are at risk of ossifying into two diametrically-opposed camps where nuance is being sacrificed.
Engagement loops are the best way to motivate people using game mechanics
A designer / consultant’s guide to using engagement loops. Whether you’re designing services, or just setting up processes, this is a very useful framework.
Seeking alternative ways to stream – the SupaPass approach
Exploring alternative ways to share the digital revenue pie.
www.completemusicupdate.com • Share
The history of the album-app: creativity galore
Stuart Dredge made a great overview of interactive album apps. Definitely check a couple of them out.
90 million tweens, a free app, one goal: fame
In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes…in ninth grade. And the platform for that tween infamy is Musical.ly.
Forget YouTube: here's why Flipagram will discover the next Justin Bieber
Flipagram lets users add music to their social media videos, helping aspiring artists get discovered by new fans.
Subscriber spotlight 🎸
Just shared this morning by MxTxF subscribers Nick & Sebastian from MOB:GEN Labs. They created a multi-effects processor app for iOS called FLUX:FXplay. It was built in conjunction with the legendary stunt-guitarist Adrian Belew (Zappa, King Crimson, Bowie, NIN). It has a powerful audio engine and has nearly 300 performance presets to work with.
FLUX:FX play - the professional audio multi-effects engine by Adrian Belew on the App Store
Best of all: it’s free! 🤘🤘🤘
In closing
I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition! If you want to do me a favour - share this mailing. Use the social media buttons at the bottom, forward the email, or ping someone this sign-up link.
If your project’s in need of a strategic update, a kick-ass content strategy, or an energized community - get in touch. You can simply reply to this email.
Love,
Bas
@basgras - linkedin - musicxtechxfuture.com
Regular insights about the future of music, media & tech. Written & composed by @basgras.
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