iLike

«R.E.M. this week lets fans listen to the new album, Accelerate, on the iLike social network a week before it goes on sale. "We hope it will get a lot of exposure, and people will recommend it to their friends, and hopefully some of them will go out and buy the record as well," says band manager Bertis Downs.

For artists and labels, building word of mouth about an album or tour is paramount. And they're tapping into the growing music-based social networking scene to spread the word. Magazine covers and TV and radio interviews don't carry the weight of the Web, and as features evolve, R.E.M.'s website and MySpace page were not enough, Downs says. Since its beginnings in summer 2006 as a social network for finding and recommending music, iLike.com has grown to 23 million members, says CEO Ali Partovi. As the community grew, iLike added features for artists to post videos and news; meanwhile, Partovi began approaching artists and labels about providing content to iLike.

One mid-November discussion Partovi had with Bono turned into a video interview in which the U2 frontman sang a just-finished song, Wave of Sorrow. Once posted, it was viewed and forwarded by more than 1 million within a week. Then Keith Urban signed on to post weekly videos and to offer tour ticket presales and fan events.

"The Internet basically empowers consumers to get exactly what they want and artists to put out exactly what they want," Partovi says.»

fonte: «Music scene finds latest hot spots on social sites», Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 24/03/08

42% dos leitores audio são iPod (EUA)

«Forrester Research estimated that in the third quarter of 2007, 42% of all MP3 players owned by US adult Internet users were Apple iPods.

fonte: A New Boost for Digital Music? eMarketeer MARCH 25, 2008

Novas oportunidades e nova competição

«Today we’re living in a changed world. The speed of change has made some industries obsolete in a moment’s time. The promises of the Internet have come true, but not exactly as predicted. Its impact is bigger and faster than anyone anticipated. Radio faces new opportunity as well as new competition. Every cell phone in the world is a portable media device that places media content in the hands of every person worldwide» (From Radio Inc 08 conference, rec.radio.shortwave, 13/03/08) 

Social FM

«Other sites are always fighting for this lucrative market, each offering similar but slightly different services. There are many that work on a monthly-fee basis rather than billing by track. And a new and slightly different concept is mercora (www.mercora.com). Here you pay a small monthly fee and share tracks - you broadcast your tracks (you can make like a DJ if you want) whilst you record the tracks broadcast by others. Mercora pays a fee for broadcast rights which makes it within the law.» 

«How do I add music to Social·fm Desktop? Please select File > Add Music Files; or Please select File > Add Music Folder. You may add individual music files or folders. Simply browse your PC for the desired music file or folder, then double-click to add to Social·fm Desktop. To view all music files in Social·fm Desktop, select 'My Library' on the left-hand column of Social·fm Desktop.»

«Social·fm complies fully with non-interactive webcasting license restrictions as per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). If you'd like more information, our legal policy is located here: Social·fm has a statutory license from SoundExchange® (the independent non-profit organization that represents over 500 music labels) for the non-interactive webcasting of digital audio as per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. ¤ 114 (requires Adobe Acrobat plug-in). Social·fm has musical composition performance rights through licenses with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC» (aqui)

O multitasking e a rádio de consumo passivo

O facto de a rádio deixar de ser (cada vez mais) passiva, tem diversas implicações: o multitasking,  de que a rádio foi pioneira, será menos caracteristico desse meio e - generalizado o consumo na net - alargar-se-á a todo o consumo mediático. Radio has always been a medium that lends itself to multi-tasking: unlike TV, film, newspapers or literature, radio combines nicely with, say, cooking or driving. 

O que será a rádio do futuro (nas mãos da Apple?)

«Del Colliano believes only Apple could produce the next radio -- something providing the serendipity of radio delivered through an infrastructure that already enjoys mass acceptance»

Porquê? «In fact, Apple now controls the destiny of music because its products dominate the infrastructure. There are iPods everywhere. Apple has defined cool. Apple has used great precision in understanding how Gen Y thinks and what it wants. (...) The next generation's passion is personal mobile MP3 devices and, again, Apple controls this. Young people tell me that it isn't the iPod itself that has killed the record labels -- it is the ease of use of iTunes and the connectivity. That combination is the winner. (...) Right now (in spite of their declining stock price) Apple knows the next generation better than anyone else. They have proven it. It is likely they will for the time being at least continue to serve as facilitator of music and even radio's future.»

«And at the end of the term, it is possible that the consumers who bought these new fully-loaded iPods and iPhones would get to keep a set number of songs permanently. That number has not been determined but it would likely be more songs than the difference paid for unlimited music and what the same songs would have cost purchased separately on the iTunes store.

Um novo modelo para a rádio do futuro

«Del Colliano and other observers increasingly believe the radio of the future will not be a 24/7 music source, but rather a provider of short programs, such as podcasts, that appeal to an ever-shrinking attention span and work seamlessly with social networks, cellphones and laptops»

fonte: Name That Tune-In: Who Will Emerge as The Future of Radio? Marc Fisher Washington Post Staff Writer March 23, 2008

Opções que se abrem à CBS (rádio, EUA) com o LastFM

«Last.fm's choices tend to be less logical and linear than Pandora's. There are more surprises, but I've consistently found that Last.fm provides less apt and effective suggestions. Last.fm's great promise may lie down a path the company is not yet traveling. Will CBS use its $280 million acquisition to change some of its 140-plus AM and FM radio stations, putting listeners in charge of what music gets played? Or is that really no answer to radio's woes? Does online crowd-sourcing really produce dramatically different playlists from the traditional market research that radio stations engage in and that listeners love to whine about?

fonte: Name That Tune-In: Who Will Emerge as The Future of Radio? Marc Fisher Washington Post Staff Writer March 23, 2008

Grátis

«As in other areas of media, the music industry is finally starting to come around to the difficult truth that we now live in a world in which consumers expect information and entertainment to be free. Efforts to sell music by subscription have mainly failed. (Yahoo recently gave up on its Music Unlimited subscription service and sent its customers to Rhapsody, another struggling music provider.) But traditional radio's offer of free music surrounded by audio advertising is also being rejected by a generation that resents undesirable interruptions.

"They want to be the program director and they insist that the program be free," says Jerry Del Colliano, a professor of music industry at the University of Southern California and a former executive at Top 40 WIBG in Philadelphia. "Young consumers don't have that need that we older folks have to have someone knowledgeable about the music tell them what's new. They have their social network to tell them what's cool."

With increasing evidence that many people suffer from iPod fatigue -- they know too well what's stored on their player and they crave surprise -- several companies are trying to figure out what blend of user-generated content and expert guidance will attract an audience.»

fonte: Name That Tune-In: Who Will Emerge as The Future of Radio? Marc Fisher Washington Post Staff Writer March 23, 2008

A origem dos canais de streaming

«The search for a user-customized music "station" started in the early 1990s, when MIT's Media Lab created Ringo, a music recommendation engine that asked listeners to grade a few tunes and then offered them songs they might like. Now, CBS's Last.fm site has become the first of the new generation of music sources to offer free, on-demand, full-length spins of any tune you want to hear -- not just the 30-second snippets available on iTunes and most other music sites.»

fonte: Name That Tune-In: Who Will Emerge as The Future of Radio? Marc Fisher Washington Post Staff Writer March 23, 2008

O próximo capítulo da história da rádio (?)

«As the audience for AM and FM radio declines, start-up entrepreneurs and giant media companies alike search for the "next radio" -- a way to make money by helping listeners discover new music. Online music providers such as Pandora, Imeem and Last.fm provide an early glance at that next chapter in radio history. »

fonte: Name That Tune-In: Who Will Emerge as The Future of Radio? Marc Fisher Washington Post Staff Writer March 23, 2008

A conclusão acontece quando nos cansamos de continuar a pensar (anónimo)

De que lado vem a interactividade? (Intro; 5.0)

Há uma dúvida que dificilmente pode ser esclarecida: é a industria que, beneficiando/empurrada pelas possibilidades tecnologicas, desafia os utilizadores a um consumo mais activo (como se esse sempre tivesse sido o seu desejo, mas limitado tecnologicamente) ou a industria apenas se limita a apresentar algo que sabe que os utilizadores querem (ou seja vai atrás)?

Contra a primeira hipotese, deve ser equacuionado o incomodo que a industria sempre demonstrou - por regra - quanto ao feed back, seja nas cartas de leitores seja no proprio exemplo de que raras são as radios que incentivam a participação e o contacto,l para além dos programas feitos pelos ouvintes (discos pedidos e phonein)

provavelmente haverá uma mistura de ambas

Multitasking

Reflexões sobre o multitasking, a partir do estudo A Internet em Portugal (2003-2007, do Obercom):

Multitasking pressupõe pelo menos duas actividades em simultâneo; multitasking não deverá partir de ter a internet ligada (o browser aberto) mesmo que 'parado'; multitasking terá de pressupor estar a ver videos e a visitar um museu, ouvir rádio ou musica e ler um jornal, ver um episodio e de vez em quando ir ao MSN, enquanto ele decorre (porque se houver pausa já só há  função);

de qualquer forma, é possivel que a partir de determinados questionários, em que as questão não fique clara, seja o respondente a revelar a sua propria representação do que é usar a internet;

«Media multitasking involves using TV, the Web, radio, telephone, print, or any other media in conjunction with another. Also referred to as "simultaneous media use," this behavior has emerged as increasingly common, especicially among younger media users, and has gained significant attention in media usage measurement, especially as a new opportunity for cross-media advertising. Much of this multitasking is not inherently coupled or coordinated except by the user. For example a user may be surfing the Web, using e-mail, or talking on the phone while watching TV.»

Os humanos (jovens ou não) sempre fizeram multitasking: estudar e ouvir musica, por exemplo; conduzir e ouvir musica; dar de mamar a uma criança e ver televisão ou ler; agora a tecnologia permites-lhes realizar, mais vezes, duas ou mais tarefas ao mesmo tempo (musica no rádio,m no iPod ou no computador, estudar e instante message com os amigos): conversar com uns auscultadores nos ouvidos (um pelo menos); diversos gadgets

ver: The multitasking generation C Wallis - Time, 2006 - fritzhubbard.org

A nova tecnologia ameaça o presente (Platão)

Platão avisara que a leitura seria o declinio da tradição oral e da memória (e tinha razão...)

(intro) O que é a geração iPod reflecte-se (também) na forma como consome

Não espanta que muitos (alguns?) dos valores, das prioridades e do que é a geração iPod se reflicta no seu comportamento enquanto consumidores. eles são como foi caracterizado em ponto anterior; enquanto consumidores há uma coerência. Por exemplo, a forte ligação à tecnologia; o valor da amizade (para além da net e na propria net), a falta de lealdade a marcas de que se queixa a industria classica; mesmo a incerteza que marca esta geração é a incerteza dos tempos de consumo (provocada pela net e pela sua evolução)

Customização/personalização (as playlists)

«"The playlist is the new album. Consumers love to customize and express themselves through playlists, which are a tremendous driver of discovery." That's Michael Nash, Warner Music Group's executive vice president of digital strategy and business development. He was telling me about the record label's decision to strike a licensing deal with the music-focused social network called imeem."Imeem's model is a template for how we want to build our business in social media and online communities," he said, adding that it is "fair to assume" that Warner is in discussions to make its content available on other big social networks as well.» fonte: Playlists Are the New Albums WP By Kim Hart |  March 21, 2008; 2:01 PM ET  | Category:  Kim Hart 
 

Sem lealdade às marcas

«One of the emerging truisms about Generation Y is hat Yers are conscious of brands but not loyal to them. They are known for having short attention spans and don't give I second thought to abandoning one brand name for another.» (HUntley, 2006: 151) 

Amizade, o valor mais importante

«Even more than X, members of Generation Y are intensely tribal creatures. Young people's reliance on friendship groups is nothing new. What is new is that Generation Y expects to be committed to friends well beyond young adulthood. (...) For Yers, friends are like family only better. » (Huntley, 2006: 25)

«Communication technology-in the form of mobiles, email, online chat and of course texting-has become an indispensable tool for Gen- Yers in maintaining their friendship network (and their own status within it). (...) But everyone I spoke to used at least one of these technologies to organise their social life. (...) Yers are texting each other in movie cinemas, on buses, in cafes and under the table in university tutorials. (...) Limited access to technology means a hampered social existence for Yers.»  (Huntley, 2006: 36)

O teu telemóvel és tu

«The mobile phone is an icon for this generation. In the Y world, a mobile phone is not merely a phone. It is, as described by demographer Bernard Salt, 'a personal accessory; a personal communications device, and a personal entertainment centre'. It's a device for work and play, flirtation and sex, friendship and family. For Yers, their phone symbolises freedom and flexibility. More than that, your mobile phone symbolises you. » (Huntley, 2006: 16)