Next Big Sound (a/o May 16th):
Over the next few weeks, Google will be implementing a few significant and much-needed upgrades to Google TV. That includes a built-in store for movies, TV shows, and music from Google Play, reports PC World. In the past two years, Google TV has struggled to gain traction thanks to a dearth of features and stiff competition.
For those in the Bay, SF MusicTech is upon us: the shindig kicked off last night (Monday evening) with opening events at Yoshi's Jazz Club. That quickly rolls into morning action at Japantown's Kabuki Hotel, where controversial figures like Tim Westergren (founder, Pandora), Ira Rothken (lead global counsel, Megaupload), and Ethan Kaplan (Live Nation Labs) will be on hand. And, less-controversial (but equally cuddly) execs like John Boyle (Insomniac), Charles Caldas (Merlin), Tim Quirk (Google), Chris Hansen (BAMM.tv), Kevin Arnold (Sony Music Entertainment), Bryan Calhoun (Blueprint Group), and Dave Kusek (merchluv), as well as renegade cellist Zoe Keating.
And, among the companies unveiling at MusicTech is BAMM.tv, a SF-based, indie video-focused startup with global screen distribution in mind. The company has filmed hundreds of emerging bands in its very startup-y studio in San Francisco, and at SF Music Tech, BAMM is unwrapping an immersive and interactive iPad app. This is just one endpoint in a far broader, multi-screen, multi-platform network; get it on the App Store.
They did good. Virgin Mobile FreeFest, which only accepts payment in the form of public service, sold out 50,000 tickets on Saturday. The festival, at Merriweater Post Pavilion in Maryland, featured big name acts such as Skrillex, Above & Beyond, Porter Robinson, Jack White, ZZ Top, and M83. USA Today reports that after three years of FreeFest, 77,000 volunteer hours and $600,000 in revenue, Virgin Mobile will be opening its DC youth shelter, RE*Generation House, in November.
Here's a novel marketing idea. Ellie Goulding is holding 'the world's first ever digital signing' to promote her latest album, Halcyon. Fans will also get a chance to 'Hangout' with Goulding on Google+, the late-surging social network.
And here's another one. deadmau5 is releasing a limited-edition signature watch, produced by Modify Watches, that flashes the deadmau5 logo in signature LED green. The company will only produce 500 watches, and they will be available exclusively through 1OFFMERCH.com, a website dedicated to providing limited-edition merchandise. The watch costs $50 and is only available between October 1–7th.
Elsewhere, the cookie crumbs continue to fall from the mouth of Universal Music Group. Multiple sources are now reporting that longtime Sony Music Entertainment executive (and current Columbia co-chairman) Steve Barnett will be heading a revitalized Capitol Records Group with oversight over US-based EMI sub-labels. That's undoubtedly the beginning of a string of shuffles and replacements, with a shadowy ax dangling in the background.
And, how's that Timberlake-guided MySpace coming along? Despite a fresh paint job, MySpace CEO Tim Vanderhook apparently has no intention of competing with Facebook or Twitter, but does see an angle for super-serving musicians. Actually, this is now a major void in a post-Open Graph world, with artists lacking a distinctive 'home' outside of their website. Vanderhook has also indicated that 'MySpace Classic' will remain separate from a freshly-launched revamp, at least for now, according to comments to ABC News.
Elsewhere, Jay-Z has just minted his new Life+Times YouTube channel, an offshoot of his website by the same name. The channel kicked off this weekend with a live-stream of a sold-out gig at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, also home to the Brooklyn Nets (that's Jay-Z taking the subway to the gig). The channel will feature a range of content in a TV-like manner, including a documentary tracking the Nets’ march from Newark to Brooklyn.
And the day begins!
Visitor2 Monday, October 08, 2012
Holy Fucking Shit only Universal would make a claim like "first ever digital signing" about something that bands have been doing for YEARS. Stop hiring fucking idiots, it shows.
anonymous Monday, October 08, 2012
Good idea but i still think mySpace should've dropped the name MySpace a long time ago.
blipz Monday, October 08, 2012
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