SOUNDS LIKE BRANDING™ Global Insights in music branding and communication

The SXSW® Music and Media Conference 16-20 March 2011

By day, thousands of SXSW registrants will network in the halls of the Austin Convention Center on their way to do business in the SXSW® Trade Show, sit in on informative panel discussions featuring some of the industry’s key players, gain insight from legendary keynote speakers, or plan out their abundant party schedules. By night, SXSW will showcase hundreds upon hundreds of musical acts from around the globe on over eighty stages in downtown Austin.

Our man at the event is Eric Welles Nyström, a member of Heartbeats Movement, working with artist management and brand consulting for lifestyle companies in NYC. Eric will serve you with fresh news through our Twitter account (here). Don’t miss out on the latest news from Fiat Fader Fort, American Apparel fleamarket and much more… It all starts tomorrow!

HEARTBEATS TREND REPORT : SEOUL

David Chang is a member of the Heartbeats Movement and founder of inmD Inc., the first and biggest social media marketing agency in Seoul, Korea. They work with many Korean leading brands, such as Samsung Imaging for social media marketing. David also leads the publishing of ‘Sounds like Branding’ in Korean. Below he shares his insights on marketing and social media with us.

Get your copy of Heartbeats Trend Report : Seoul

The future of media and music with Gerd Leonhard and TMV

The Music Void interviews media-futurist, blogger and strategist Gerd Leonhard on how the web has changed the media industry, as a whole, altered content and how content is now consumed. Gerd Leonhard also talks about file-sharing, how people discover new music in an ever-changing music landscape, and the key difficulty in separating the good stuff online from the junk.

Watch Gerd Leonhard and Jakob Lusensky, CEO at Heartbeats International, chat about the media of the future and what we can learn from the days of Gutenberg here.

Hand-picked tracks for indie lovers

While music services typically bombard users with millions of songs to choose from, a new worldwide music retailer, WeeklyIndie, has opted for a curated subscription model, delivering hand-picked indie songs to subscribers each week.

What sets WeeklyIndie apart from many other services, is that independent artists are invited to submit tracks. Submissions are screened each week and after selecting the tracks WeeklyIndie like the most, distribution deals are signed with the artists. Subscribers then receive a link to listen to the 10 chosen tracks on a weekly basis. With services like this, consumers are able to discover new music, and musicians get exposure and payment for their work.

We’ve seen similar services before this though, e.g. the quite un-known Ramen Music which hand-picks new tracks from independent & underground artists and delivers online issues every 2 months. Also, the more famous music service Songza has offered curated music lists under the name Songza Sets, now integrated into the new version of Songza.

The idea of offering curated music isn’t that new. When CDs rocked we got to see plenty of compilations offering a selection of what’s “best”. Now we can find these kind of compilations online (Hôtel Costes, just to mention one example). However, what’s new with WeeklyIndie is that there is no record label between the artist and service. Any artist can submit a track. Then it’s up to WeeklyIndie to choose what to send out to its subscribers, based upon WeeklyIndie’s preferences of what’s good indie music.

Certainly, there is an abundance of good music online, but at the same time there is a lack of high quality. But what is it that guarantee us that services like WeeklyIndie knows what’s best, except that people will quit subscribing if the service isn’t delivering? Also, do people want curated lists like this, or do many still prefer to discover music by reading about it, searching the web, or getting tips from friends and people whose taste we trust?

As mentioned, there’s nothing new about curated music lists, or curated subscription, except that it has moved online. I though believe it is here to stay, however in new forms with more interactive solutions, where music e.g. is selected by professionals together with subscribers as ourselves. What do you think?

Written by: Sara Zaric

Coca-Cola Happiness Trucks delivering doses of happiness

Check out the latest initiative in Coca-Cola’s Open Happiness campaign. Below are two clips of Coca-Cola trucks converted into happiness machines on wheels, dispensing balls, surfboards, frisbees - and, of course, refreshing Coke - on the streets of Rio de Janeiro and in the streets of Marikina in the Philippines.

Where will happiness strike next?

POGO Remixing the World

You’ve probably heard of Nick Bertke, better known as Pogo in the music scene. We’ve come to know him through his movie remixes such as Alice, Upular and Skynet Symphonic. Recently Pogo has embarked on an adventure of remixing the real world. We want to share this interesting project with you.

Pogo has worked for studios such as Disney Pixar, Showtime, Oprah’s Harpo Studio’s, Art Basel in Miami and many more. He has performed for YouTube Play at the Guggenheim Museum. He further shares his creations and visions on his YouTube Channel, with more than 25 million views (still counting). Now Pogo is remixing the world. In this new project, Pogo will travel the world in search of sights, sounds, voices and chords, and use them to compose and shoot a track and video for each major culture of the world.

The world remix project is going to employ a unique method of funding: every remix will be financed by pledges at KickStarter, funds made by the remix before it, and by prepayments for the next upcoming remix. The music will be released worldwide on CD, DVD, and at PogoMix.net.

Joburg Jam, a remix of sights and sounds filmed around the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, marks the beginning of Pogo’s World Remix project. Next stop is Tibet.

“Making music out of wild animals sounds, ice in Antarctica, gongs in temples, voices in tribal Africa - this is what the world remix project is about!”

World’s Most Innovative Music Companies

FastCompany has listed the “World’s Most Innovative Companies“, not surprisingly Apple appears at the top, followed by Twitter and Facebook. Listed as well is Top Ten by Industry, including the following:  Advertising, Biotech, Design, Fashion, Mobile, and, last but not least, Music.

FastCompany’s editorial team have evaluated thousands of global businesses to create the complete ‘World’s Most Innovative Companies’ list, with a goal to highlight companies that “dare to be different, emphasizing not just revenue growth and profit margins but also progressive business models and an ethos of creativity.” The music category is broadly defined to include major brands who use music creatively, alongside artists and traditional music companies. No record labels made it to the chart, but the inclusion of Hello Music and Songbird in Top Ten Music is an affirmation of their contribution to the latest iteration of the evolving music industry. The winner of the whole category is Pandora, for “bringing its custom-curated music mix to a new venue: cars”. Two brands that stand out are the first runner-up, Coca-Cola, and Converse, who made it to seventh place. Converse for “building a recording studio that’s also a goodwill-generating machine” (Rubber Tracks in Brooklyn), and Coke for its “daring marketing model that redefines the relationship among consumer brands, record companies, and artists”. Neither of these brands are considered as traditional parts of the music industry. Below is the Top Ten in Music list.

01 Pandora
For bringing its custom-curated music mix to a new venue: cars

02 Coca-Cola
For a daring marketing model that redefines the relationship among consumer brands, record companies, and artists

03 Big Champagne
For developing a more modern business measurement that factors in social media

04 Arcade Fire
For turning the music video into an individualised user experience

05 Terra.com
For a multipronged, and profitable, music-focused content model

06 Hello Music
For helping aspiring artists concentrate on their art without losing out on the business side

07 Converse
For building a recording studio that’s also a goodwill-generating machine

08 Sonos
For making one of the easiest-to-use, best-sounding, affordable wireless audio systems

09 Songbird
For creating an open-source music-management platform that’s way more personal than iTunes

10 Weezer
For customising its own business through unusual record and marketing deals

Alicia Keys and HP Launch “Everybody On” During the 2011 Grammy week

Yesterday HP announced a new marketing campaign with the theme of “Everybody On”. It’s a global campaign that “celebrates how people around the world are using HP technology to pursue their personal and professional passions.”

“Everybody On” embraces music, fashion, community activism, business, and more, according to HP. It is supported by an integrated campaign featuring print, broadcast, online, and social media. The launch will kick off with a minute-long TV spot featuring Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”. The first in a series of TV spots will be launched during the Grammy Awards featuring Alicia Keys.

Alongside Alicia Keys, the commercial also features HP laptops with Beats Audio. Not surprisingly, HP is also a sponsor of this years Grammy Awards, taking place in L.A. on 13 February.

The campaign itself was created by HP’s own Personal Systems Group, and build on its “The Computer is Personal Again” campaign.