✖️ Algorithm designed concert hall 😍 Blockchain takes on ticket fraud ⚔️ Standing out in the age of VUIs 👂
Hi everyone,
Been having a busy time with IDAGIO recently, as we’ve just launched our rebranding, simplified our subscriber funnel (trials instead of a free tier), and are getting ready to release our Android app. And there’s plenty more ahead this year. 💪
Over the last few weeks, I’ve begun to realize that the newsletter, in its current shape, is cutting into much needed downtime and nearly 6 months into my new gig, I have to find a new balance. ⚖️
What I want to keep: MUSIC x TECH x FUTURE is a weekly newsletter. That will not change. For each newsletter, I write a new article. This will also not change. And of course I’ll bring to you the best curated articles. However, with the exact format of the newsletter I can experiment a bit. So I will. 👨🔬
The way you see the newsletter now is a formula I’ve landed on some months ago. Check out the archives for how the format has shifted over the last two years. 🙈
As I play around a bit with the format over the next few weeks, it would be really valuable to me if you use the thumbs up / thumbs down buttons at the bottom of the newsletter. 👍 👎
Thank you!
Love,
Bas
From me, for you
👂 How will we remember bands when interfaces are voice-controlled?
We already see how Spotify and other streaming services are impacting music. How will the voice assistant boom influence artists’ and labels’ decisions?
www.musicxtechxfuture.com • Share
From the music space
I know a lof of startups read this newsletter. Here’s an awesome opportunity:
👀 Techstars Music seeking second cohort of music startups
The Techstars Music accelerator is on the hunt for its second cohort of music/tech startups, with applications closing on 15 October. Here’s my take on the 11 startups that were in Techstars Music’s first batch.
Three pieces on the digital music landscape, and how people are trying to leverage the dynamics of it.
👉 Why you should NEVER link to your singles on Spotify
Headline’s a bit extreme, but the article presents a nice growth hack: when sending people to listen to your stuff on Spotify, better use a playlist, so they end up listening to more of your stuff. A tactic often used on Soundcloud also. Read more about why playlists should be part of your social media strategy.
diymusician.cdbaby.com • Share
📷 How Instagram became the music industry’s secret weapon
Led by Beyoncé’s former digital guru, Instagram wants to help artists make the most of its music-obsessed users. Also don’t forget that they hired Matt Ogle from Spotify in the last year.
⚡ Speed of sound – how Spotify killed the long intro
With the rise of streaming, artists are frontloading their songs to get listeners past 30 seconds – the point where they get paid. The average intro is down from 20 seconds in the 1980s to just five seconds today. So how would some classic intros sound today?
🤔 Mixcloud signs milestone licensing deal with Warner Music
Most interesting thing in the article: they don’t want to do the same $9.99 all-you-can-eat model as Spotify. Looks like they won’t be forced into this model in the same way as Soundcloud was.
www.musicbusinessworldwide.com • Share
Cherie Hu has done an impressive data analysis about the poor gender balance at music business conferences.
🚨 Unbalancing act: how conferences perpetuate the music industry's gender parity crisis
Conferences have the opportunity to improve on reality’s mistakes. Unfortunately, the data shows otherwise.
Blockchain pioneers are still moving things forward:
⛓️ The META Network: Lowering the barriers for developers in the music industry
Daniel Fowler of blockchain-startup JAAK, and previously with PRS for Music, writes about the META network: “By removing the requirement for trust between disparate parties, and introducing an incentive mechanism for the exchange of information, we can re-align how parties interact with each other so that it makes commercial sense to act in the best interest of the network overall.”
🎟️ Ticket touting and fraud is soaring. Blockchain might be the fix
A look at three startups, all using the Ethereum blockchain, to deal with ticket fraud.
💵 Ticketmaster exec talks politicians, touts and dynamic pricing
Ticketmaster International’s SVP of insight and marketing Sophie Crosby talks about secondary ticketing, and also makes some interesting comments about variable pricing: “If you were on an Easyjet flight together, you wouldn’t necessarily think you’d paid the same money.”
And here’s one for your eyes because the result is amazing. Plus we really don’t talk about architecture in the music business, yet it’s so important to the venues and concert halls that are erected around the world in the name of music.
😍 Here’s what happens when people let algorithms design a concert hall
About the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. It might have taken 7 years longer than planned, and it might have cost ten times more than the original budget, but as you can see from these incredible
Wide view
This is where I look at issues that are bigger than music, but will affect music in one way or another.
💰 YouTube plays catch up, adopting Twitch-style sponsorships programme
“YouTube can learn a valuable lesson in allowing a part of its gamer segment to slip to a more games-focused competitor. It can apply Twitch’s (and others’) product innovations in games streaming to its non-gaming genres and replicate this across its entire platform, if the programme proves successful.”
🤳 'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia
The Google, Apple and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks who worry the race for human attention has created a world of perpetual distraction that could ultimately end in disaster.
Fun
🎧 The Walkman was a machine for daydreaming
“Our attachment to our phones seems born of anxiety and tinged with ambivalence; our love for our Walkmans was pure.”
❤️ twitter - mxtxf backstage - facebook - musicxtechxfuture.com
📰 Last week: How streaming is changing pop 👨🏽🎤 Stream mythbusting with Warner 👊 Troubled blockchain ticketing pilot 💥
Regular insights about the future of music, media & tech. Written & composed by @basgras.
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