Michael Schumacher, Round the Mercedes Benz?

Michael Schumacher‘s imminent to return to formula one with Mercedes and Ross Brawn’s rebadged title winning team is the latest in a line of great sporting returns.

The 41 year old has professed he covets the 2010 drivers’ championship to add alongside his other 7, and he aims to do it in a car that will be the first silver arrows’ entry since 1955.

Brand Schumacher will be at it’s strongest since his 2006. and the German’s “will he won’t he” from last year now appears to have been a classic communications toe in the water exercise to see if the public were ready to see him race again.

His return will further explode the renewed interest in F1 and a new challenge to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will, in theory, grip the sporting world – if he were to win, Schumacher would become the third oldest champion after Juan Manuel Fangio (1957) and Nino Farina (1950) – and cement his already prominent position as a great of modern, if not all time, sport.

I am excited.

The prospect of seeing the master racing against the new upstarts will add a new dimension to an already hyped 2010 season.

It is of course, a marketers dream and the interest in Schumi will drive ticket sales, TV viewers and merchandise buyers, all at a time when the economics would indicate that F1 (the world’s richest sport) should be in decline.

But we should be wary that if all falls flat on the ground, it may just appear to be a Graham Hill-esque last gasp attempt to clutch at forgotten glories and go all George Foreman. Saying that, he does make a good grill.

It promises to be a monumental season and one that the F1 PRs will be eager to play up to and drive (‘scuse the pun m’lud) attention around to maximise potential newsworthiness.

Soundcloud Team Up With Hype Machine

Hot on the heels of the announcement that SoundCloud will now be working with Hype Machine, I’ve just received the following e-mail:

Hi Matt,

we’re sending you a quick email because you’ve indicated in your SoundCloud settings that you’re in the category of Press/Blogger/Podcaster/Media and we have some important news that we think will be of particular interest. Today we’re announcing an integration between ourselves and The Hype Machine. We’re huge fans of The Hype Machine and have a sneaky suspicion that you might be too.

But what does this integration mean?

The Hype Machine now detects SoundCloud players

As you probably know, The Hype Machine aggregates a number of blogs and pulls in the posts and tracks that it finds. They now detect embedded SoundCloud players. So, if you are a blogger this means that you can now use our players and know that your post will show up on the Hype Machine. The Hype Machine won’t currently detect a SoundCloud plain-text download link but we have some really nice new players for premium users including customisable artwork- and mini-players. You only need a Lite account which is just €21 if you use this special 25%-off discount code we’ve created for you:

HYPEM2d1sc
Sign up here: http://bit.ly/4Hn1T3

The Hype Machine plays back the original track that is hosted on SoundCloud

What’s nice is that once The Hype Machine has detected that the audio comes from a SoundCloud player it can then simply stream the music directly from the SoundCloud servers. This means that if a label or artist has uploaded that music then they get lots of useful information on how much hype their track is getting. And we’re doing all the hard work in terms of streaming the music. That’s what we do best!

It’s super easy to post more music from more original sources

Hopefully this all means that bloggers can be posting more interesting music from more original sources. Most of the public tracks on SoundCloud have a handy little share button so you can grab the embed code. What’s more, we allow you to customize the player or even post directly to WordPress and Blogger. If a label or artist is sending you tracks to put up on your blog then consider asking them to send you the SoundCloud link as well so that you can embed the player. We should stress that we’d encourage you to use tracks that have been already uploaded by the artists or labels of course.

Here’s a few examples, try the share button out for yourself.

Massive Attack: http://soundcloud.com/lucidonline/girl-i-love-you-she-is-danger-remix
Owen Pallett: http://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/sets/owen-pallett-heartland
Lightspeed Champion: http://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/sets/lifeissweet
Mvsevm: http://soundcloud.com/discobelle/sets/mvsevm-french-jeans-first-look

We’d love to get your feedback

We think this is exciting news. Hype Machine and the music blogs serve a massively important role in fans discovering new and interesting music. It’s often the blogosphere that helps new acts break to a wider audience. We’re thrilled to be part of that ecosystem by allowing artists and labels to serve tracks directly to music bloggers via SoundCloud. At the same time we hopefully eliminate a lot of the hustle for bloggers themselves having to re-upload tracks to their own servers or use generic file sharing services like supermegasendfile.com.

This is certainly an interesting partnership and could provide us with some great innovations in the coming months.

Midem Global Music Study

Midem is the music industry’s biggest showcase for innovation: gadgets, business models, music, you name it and there will be an element of it on show.

Last year I was helping Metrolyrics and Gracenote get their names about, so it’s nice to be able to sit back and watch from afar what is going on at the event.

Midem.net has released a global study of the state of the music industry, and I thought i’d share some of the highlights of the report.

Over 13 markets, the report has looked at over 8,500 interviews with music consumers to analyse buying and consumption habits.

Two thirds of adults care about music, with the UK joint top on 79% with Brazil and Spain. It’s interesting to note here that Spain has recently been criticised for having uber-lax anti-piracy laws…

21% of respondents said that they stream music from the likes of Spotify or Myspace, and 14% have downloaded and paid for a track. 7% have downloaded and bought an entire album – this demonstrates the power of the hit single coming full circle I’d argue.

Interestingly, in the UK 24% have streamed music (probably due to the availability of Spotify) and 26% have bought and downloaded a track – music piracy?

30% of consumers have purchased a CD in the last 12 months, and 11% purchased a CD over the Internet. The physical format isn’t dead yet kids!

Mobile of course is one of the developing areas, and 8% have bought a music app, with 12% buying a track for their mobile device.

Music is culture, and as such, should be free to everyone. To me, the value that the artists gets in return is in all the stuff that goes around their music – gigs, merch, mobile apps etc – not the actual selling of the physical recording. To that end, 42% of people have been to a live show in the past 12 months, and 11% of people have purchased a form of merchandise – 18% of Brits buy their favourite artist’s tees.

This certainly provides a different perspective to the IFPI stats released earlier this week. What do you think?

You can download the full report here.

Blaming Music Pirates Is The Easy Option

Music piracy is crippling the record industry, according to statistics from trade industry body IFPI, the Guardian reported on Thursday (shared by @sarahlynnd).

The report says:

The rise of new services such as Spotify and legal crackdowns on online pirates failed to stem tumbling music sales last year, according to industry figures that show a dramatic slowdown in digital growth.

Record labels struggling to make up for the sharp fall in CD sales by increasing downloads and other new revenue streams have blamed rampant piracy for a slowdown in the growth of digital revenues to 12% last year, taking total worldwide sales to $4.2bn (£2.6bn).

That was less than half the 25% growth rate in 2008 and left overall music sales down for the 10th year running…

…The IFPI estimates that 95% of music downloads worldwide are illegal

However, a blog post on Views Flow (hat tip to Steve Lawson for finding and sharing) points out that:

Compared to music buyers, music sharers (pirates) are…

* 31% more likely to buy single tracks online.
* 33% more likely to buy music albums online.
* 100% more likely to pay for music subscription services.
* 60% more likely to pay for music on mobile phone.

Now, I like a good case study, and I’ve unwittingly found myself as part of one. After listening to both The Cribs’ and Kasabian’s new records since they came out on Spotify, i’ve gone and bought both. How 20th century.

Views Flow make the point that:

If anything, the music industry should have more respect for file-sharers, as they are their most valuable consumers. They are ahead of the curve and actually leading the way for the future of digital music, buying more digital music than anyone else. It’s the music industry that has to change, not the other way around.

And I wholeheartedly agree. If it wasn’t for file-sharers we’d not be looking to develop better business models, better distribution platforms and innovative ways to make sure the artist gets the right amount of money for their work.

The record companies blow their trumpets when this sort of data is released and rarely look at the quality of the music on offer for people to consume. It’s not great at the moment. Indeed BBC Newsbeat claimed earlier this week that British Indie Guitar Music is Dead, that’s quite a chunk of the industry that will be suffering to make any sort of money isn’t it…

Music goes in cycles – we’ve hit the dead end of the scene that the likes of The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party helped to create, just like 1997 saw the death of Britpop. What the record companies are panicking about now is that all the good guitar music is hidden and they can’t find it so they’re blaming music piracy as a smokescreen for a shortage in marketable artists.

Public tastes have changed and that means that record companies have got to invest more money in finding artists who will be sellable, opposed to flinging out the same old dross – that risk is not one they’re likely to take without a definite promise of dollar.

New California ad features David Beckham

California, nice destination – hot weather, sun, sea etc – recently launched an advertising campiagn featuring David Beckham alongside Arnie, you may have already seen it:

California Tourism are asking people to audition for a part in their next commercial by uploading YouTube videos onto www.californiacalling.co.uk.

Being a big fan of UGC, (hence why Lolly probably got in touch!) I am totally endorse this approach to getting people involvd with a brand, just like this chap has done:

They’re also on Facebook as californiacalling and Twitter, @CAcalling.

A nice approach to customer engagement and hopefully, giving someone the opportunity of a lifetime: just what this digital shenanigans is all about!

Best Buy Launch New Website

To mark this year’s CES, and its new website ahead of a UK launch, Best Buy unveiled their new website this week.

When Laura from Ketchum got in touch, knowing i’m a bit of a gadgets freak, I was happy to take a look.

The site is well laid out, functional and friendly to navigate. The content ranges from buying guides and consumer advice, and more interestingly, featured an interesting article about the future of gaming.

Content which constantly evolves is of course a key way of encouraging customers to return, and ahead of the impending spring laucnh, this is what Best Buy are looking to engrain in their target audience at an early stage.

There is also a community element with the inclusion of a forum which will facilitate the development of relationships between Best Buy users.

According to the press release:

Best Buy will launch in Spring 2010, with the first stores in Thurrock, Southampton and Merry Hill in the West Midlands. The stores will showcase the latest technology, including visual and audio equipment, computing technology, entertainment devices, mobiles, appliances, music, movies and games.

It’s good to see a strong integrated offering from a retail outlet, that will hopefully see consumers benefit from a good service and easy shopping experience.

The Beauty of a Music Biopic

I have been lucky enough to see Control (Ian Curtis) and Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll (Ian Dury) on opening night, or therebaouts, and these are the perfect example of how a music biopic can re-awaken a love for a forgotten musician, if they are produced in the right way.

The music biopic is a well-worn way of telling the story of a musician, band or artiste and engaging the audience within the confines of a darkened cinema. The mix of two or three different art forms can be a compelling meeting and produce glorious results.

Indeed 2007′s Control saw a resurgence of interest in Joy Division and, following on from the over-hyped but nevertheless entertaining 24 Hour Party People, the story of Tony Wilson and Factory Records, began to get people talking about the 76-85 period in music again. I wonder if the Ian Dury movie, will have the same effect.

Both of these films worked because they told the story of the artist, played a little on established stereotypes to appeal to a mainstream audience, but produced moving cinematic moments that were some of the best in this particular genre.

The Guardian reported yesterday that there are murmerings of a film looking at Creation Records, Alan McGee’s record label that gave us My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream and of course, Oasis.

I am uncomfortbale with this prospect for two reasons. I think that there is a tendency to think of 93-97 purely in an over-blown overly-stereotypical context (again, I refer to 24 Hour Party People) and that some of the characters, ie McGee and the Gallaghers, fall nicely into potential pardoy, rather than historical accuracy.

I also think that there is an element of potentially over-propagandising the film, so close to the event. The vast majority of thekey players are alive and kicking and will want to tell the story from their point of view. With the two films I’ve cited, the main protagonists, Ian Curtis and Ian Dury, are sadly no longer with us and a wider objective view can be applied by those who really knew them. Though this of course will not prevent story skewing.

Or maybe, I am reticent because that period of music played such an important part of my life, and still does, and I am scared of seeing the people involved reduced to a bunch of caricatures, rather than the people I’ve grown up with.

Adding a Personal Touch

Aidy Boothroyd gave me some of the best (and worst) times as a Watford supporter – I was sad when he was sacked after a poor run of form in 2008. He is known throughout the footballing world for having a unique style of man-management; that real personal touch that so many people in football lack.

So imagine my non-surprise when I read Can you make it as a footballer at 34? on the Guardian website yesterday, and he popped up as the star of the show.

Guardian hack Steven Rowland undertook an experiment to see if, at 34 years of age, he could get a trial at a professional football club:

Hands up if, when watching a football match, you’ve thought, “I could do better than that.” Me too. In fact, I thought, ‘I could do better than that’ so keenly that I wrote to each of the 92 clubs in the football league asking for a trial – at the ripe age of 34.

I highlighted my age, experience (Sunday league stuff), and willingness to put my career on ice. As a more mature player, I felt I could offer something different. “It’s said that Teddy Sheringham, who played professionally until he was 40, had an extra yard in his head,” I wrote. “This is something I can relate to. I may even have two yards up there.”

Replies pinged back within minutes. Mostly they were generic and polite but amongst them there were reasons to be optimistic. Millwall were uncharacteristically delicate (“It could be that you are a late developer . . .”), Fulham tried to let me down as gently possible (“I don’t doubt your talent”) and Middlesbrough got straight to the point (“I’ll give you credit for trying, but there’s no way we would give a 34-year-old a trial”).

Steven’s most positive response came from Aidy, now manager at Colchester united, who offered him the chance to go for a trial, despite his (in footballing terms) advancing years.
Steven didn’t get a lucrativecontract, despite impressing Aidy.

By the time of the trial I felt half ready and half terrified. There was just one other trialist: a former Newcastle, Aston Villa and West Ham star, with more than 100 international caps. Oh dear. Still, Boothroyd put me at ease. He told me to go out, enjoy myself and to play my natural game – as if I had one. Initially intimidated by the size, speed, skills and youth of the first team, when I relaxed I just about held my own in training exercises, drills and a few seven-a-side games. “Have you got the papers ready?” I shouted to Aidy, after neatly turning a defender.

Unfortunately not. He praised my skills and called my enthusiasm “terrific”, but I was just a bit too old. So if I was 10 years younger I could have been a contender? “More like 20,” the gaffer deadpanned.

What we’ve seen here, I think, is that by adding a personal touch, no mater who you are, football manager or budding football star, CEO of a large multinational or a fresh faced grad, the personal touch benefits both ends of the career spectrum by connecting people in a real, dare I say, ‘normal’ way.

Brands are beginning to realise this, and as we go into 2010, we’ll see this approach become not just a rare luxury, but the norm, or consumers will just switch off.

#Kerryout?

Interesting developments surrounding Kerry McCarthy, Labour’s ‘Twitter Tsar/Czar’…

There is a growing Internet campaign to see her ousted from her parliamentary seat, driven by #kerryout and Kerry Out.net

The about section of the site says:

“Ironically this promotion [to Twitter Tsar/Czar] has been Kerry McCarthy’s downfall. Her new power and responsibility has highlighted her utter incompetence and unsuitability to serve the House of Commons. Leaving aside her deceitful double furniture claims and her utter contempt of the anger caused by the expenses scandal last year, McCarthy has shown herself to be completely unsuitable to serve the people of Bristol East.

The KerryOut campaign does not believe her conduct befits a public servant. She constantly mischaracterises her opponents, throws tantrums and when backed into a corner resorts to accusing her opponents of racism or sexism. Few of her followers are from her constituency, and few of her tweets regard her constituency – she is constantly engaging in tribal and trite arguments instead of getting on with her job.
Self proclaimed vegan, McCarthy has attempted to paint herself as the new face of accessible politicians.

She is an utter fraud though given the fact that she failed to turn up to the Commons for no fewer than SEVEN votes that would have increased the transparency of Parliament and made her more accountable to her electorate. Incidentally one of the votes she did bother to turn up to was to vote AGAINST external audits of MPs expenses and a block on allowing them to buy more furniture on expenses.”

It’ll be interesting to see if an Internet campaign such as this will a) last until the election b) actually work c) be picked up by the general public and subsequently influence their view and voting

This could be groundbreaking stuff for the UK political sphere IMO…

What do you think?

Conducting Social Media Suicide

Web2.0 Suicide Machine is the facilitator of your online death.

It will remove you from the various social networks you’re on at click of a button. Gone, in one swoop, will be your friends, tweets and PMs, as the machine weaves its magic throughout the online landscape.

Currently, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and Facebook are supported and the team are looking to expand their reach to the likes of Flickr and Plaxo.

We are increasingly finding ourselves across a myriad of different platforms and taking on personas that are suited to each community we are interacting with and engaging within. If, as 751 people so far, you are finding the 2.0 social media world all a bit too much, you could end it all in spectacular fashion.

I’m not sure however, that users of the service are going to be within the ‘social media demographic’ and are likely not to miss the opportunites that social media can provide – be they work or play.

It’s a humourous way to start the year, but not one that I will be following…