We’re living in a time of digital revolution. Today anyone can become a writer, musician, photographer or filmmaker. But what happens to the quality of culture when everyone becomes a ‘creator’?
Nowadays, culture has more or less become democratic, with many opportunities for those who want to explore, create and share. At the same time, it has never been easier for creators, musicians and consumers of culture, to get lost in ‘the ocean of garbage’.
“When humans make stuff we tend to make interesting things” Moby says. But, does this apply to all humans who get hold of a camera or a computer and a broadband connection? Hasn’t new technology dissolved the mystery of creation?
Yes, there are many opportunities with all new technology. Yet at the same time it has made it harder to find good quality, which might leave us satisfied with culture holding a level of mediocrity…
The documentary PressPausePlay is a film about hope, fear and digital culture, containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era.
If you have a Swedish IP address you can watch the whole documentary here (available until the 2nd of July). If you’re not having a Swedish IP address you can get a glimpse of the documentary below.
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.
Footwear company Converse is well-known for its projects focusing on art, music and culture. This time they pay tribute to influential musicians by promoting indie music genres with street art.
Recently Converse partnered with graffiti collective Monorex to paint the city walls of the UK, paying tribute to influential British musicians such as Bernard Sumner and Paloma Faith, amongst others. London, Brighton, Manchester and Glasgow are getting their murals done.
Converse also got indie artists to record four versions of the song Didn’t Know What Love Was. As well as that, they are putting on a series of free parties throughout the UK. The parties take inspiration from iconic genres of British music, from punk to Britpop to dubstep, with support from Vice.
We caught up with media futurist and CEO of The Futures Agency, Gerd Leonhard in Paris the other day. Here, in roughly 60 seconds, he gives you his take on the future of branding and communication.
When writing this, it’s Buddhas birthday here in Seoul. The temples are full of people bowing, eating, and celebrating. I did not know much about the city (or South Korea for that matter) before Ian Kwon from the Google-AdWords-like music service fanatic.fm invited me to talk about music branding at a seminar and workshop. 48 hours later and here are my 10 learnings from Seoul.
Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and ideas. The future is yours, definitely!
1. Music is hugely important in peoples lives, and most people consume it as mp3s, from domestic download stores such as MelOn. iTunes music store is not available in Korea…
2. The music market seems to be quite commercialised and characterised by homogeneity. The major music players and media companies almost seem to dictate the overall music taste.
3. Social media is huge and Twitter seems to get extremely popular here. However, Facebook isn’t as successful as in other countries around the world (South Korea already had a similar service launched many years ago). A lot of Foursquare users getting on board can also be spotted.
4. The live music scene is flourishing, with most international bands holding concerts. But I also got the opportunity to experience some local music, on the “Green Plug Festival”. A festival that took place in a beautiful park on top of the hills overseeing the city. The area used to be a waste ground, but luckily the government turned it into a flourishing park.
5. South Korea is one of the countries in the world with the fastest and most well equipped Internet infrastructure. As someone told me, it takes about 5 seconds to download a full movie over here.
6. iPhone was launched only six months ago, but has already been sold in more than 500 000 copies. It’s hugely popular and people are now longing for the iPad release.
7. There is an underground South Korean indie music scene, but it has trouble in reaching out, mostly because of the South Korean media concentration, the commercialised top-driven music industry and relative homogeneity in music taste. Social media should be able to change this and give South Korean indie musicians a chance to find careers outside of the country.
8. Music branding is something very new in South Korea, and visitors of our seminar/workshop at the Gana Art Centre the other day is the real pioneers. A lot is expected to change in the near future (thanks for coming by everyone!)…
9. Electronic music seems to grow in importance. Club and lounge music is being played by the many design and fashion stores in the trendy districts of central Seoul. The perfect soundtrack of a young nation (well, that depends on how you look at it, of course…) full of energy, heading for the future?
10. South Korean people seem extremely friendly, sincere and curious. The people I met were very interested in sharing their opinions of the development in South Korea, and I could sense a great deal of national pride. One South Korean guy told me that ’speaking to foreigners gives us an opportunity to reflect upon ourselves, and share thoughts and feelings that we perhaps otherwise wouldn’t share’.
One other thing that struck me was that media in Europe write a lot about South Korean electronic brands such as Samsung and LG, as well as Korean car brands Hyundai and Kia. And, South Korea has been extremely successful in exporting these type of ‘hard values’ and products, but, what about South Korean culture and the more ’soft’ side of things? When will people outside South Korea start to see more South Korean fashion and design brands, and when will people in the west start to become fans of South Korean indie bands?
It will be interesting to see if South Korea will be as successful in exporting those things, and adapting to the new marketing paradigm of the 21st century, through: emotions, engagement, experiences and exclusivity. Spending 48 hours in this dynamic city, something tells me that South Koreans will…
How many times have you heard a song that you simply can’t get out of your head? One that seems to be stuck on repeat somewhere in the recesses of your brain?
What you’re experiencing is called an “earworm”. Taking its name from the German word, “Ohrwurm”, the phenomenon can last from a few hours to a number of days. But how does it work? Research at the University of California suggests the brain stores previously heard melodies like index cards in a Rolodex. Some songs seem to trigger questions inside our brains, which in turn search for answers by playing the loop over and over again.
Earworms are not very complicated by nature. In fact, the simpler the track, the greater the chance of it sticking in your head. Song repetition also increases the likelihood of reaching earworm status, as do unexpected musical twists in the song or melody. Earworms are everywhere, lurking in popular music and in the most successful sound logotypes.
Marketing professor, James Kellaris, compiled a list of the most (in)famous earworms. Here are five out of ten songs from what Kellaris refers to as “The Playlist from Hell.”
See if you agree (click on each song to listen in Spotify):
When writing this, it’s Buddhas birthday here in Seoul. The temples are full of people bowing, eating, and celebrating. I did not know much about the city (or South Korea for that matter) before Ian Kwon from the Google-AdWords-like music service 
How many times have you heard a song that you simply can’t get out of your head? One that seems to be stuck on repeat somewhere in the recesses of your brain?