This Week We Heard

Relevant and inspiring happenings tied into music and media

Streaming music data – what does it tell us?

27

Sep

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Streaming platforms yield a vast trove of data: valuable information to push your next marketing campaign in the right direction. Musically recently published a guest column around what you can expect to discover from playlist data, but it really was Adweek’s latest article on the topic that grabbed our attention: from ‘finding social influencers among emerging artists’ to ‘which musical genres actually resonate with listeners’ and our favourite ‘underground EDM and hip-hop fans are the most engaged’. Here’s some additional fuel for the fire: it’s recently been revealed that Spotify is creating tracks, under fake names, to appear on their first-party playlists, for which Spotify own the master copyright. Naughty.

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Every Brand Needs A Music Strategy

27

Sep

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Jon Vanhala makes some compelling points in his latest editorial post for Medium. Sharing his thoughts on how brands can strategically exploit music as a passion point he explains that ‘aligning yourself with consumer culture, especially music, is one of the best paths to achieving big audience. With authenticity and relevance, your conversions can go thru the roof’. Crucially he points out that ‘most brands still are not as good as culture creators at creating compelling, remarkable content that reaches relevant and large scale audience’. Great input into why music matters for brands looking to engage their consumers where they live their lives and passions.

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Behind-the-scenes with Ta-Ku + Intel at Sydney Opera House for Vivid Live 2016

29

Aug

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Future Classic artist Ta-Ku made his live solo Australian debut in a one-off performance at Vivid Live 2016, staging a specially-crafted show featuring Wafia, a string quartet and kaleidoscopic visuals, with two sold-out shows direct from the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House for Vivid Live festival sponsor Intel. A short behind-the-scenes video expands on the creative process and techniques used for Ta-ku’s show: Intel technology (Real Sense) helped bring the visuals from the EP to life on stage, and also outside the Opera House through art installations on the Forecourt during Vivid LIVE, with fantastic collaborators Wafia and Sam Price. Check out the full live set featuring Wafia here.

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Pizza Hut delivers the world’s first playable DJ pizza box – stuff the crust/sounds delicious.

29

Aug

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Earlier this year McDonald’s allowed us to make beats with placemats, now Pizza Hut is offering us the chance to DJ with an empty pizza box: the fast-food giant has unveiled the “world’s first playable DJ pizza box” that turns the folding cardboard container into a complete turntable setup, including two decks, volume sliders, pitch controls and a cross-fader. Pairing up with printed electronics company Novalia to create turntables out of the classic cardboard serving apparatus and printed on conductive ink, the battery-powered box can be hooked up to a computer or phone through Bluetooth, then connected to any DJ software like Serato or DJ Pro. Currently only available at select locations in the UK.

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Converse VS Keith Ape: trippy/interactive music video for Counter Climate collection

29

Aug

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To launch their latest ‘Counter Climate Collection’ (an apparel and footwear collection that uses high-tech fabrics designed for all kinds of weather) Converse have partnered with South Korean rapper Keith Ape for an interactive music video of his latest track ‘Diamonds’ alongside Jedi P that invites viewers on a night out in an innovative experience where viewers can trigger hidden features outside of the main narrative. Cast against “Wetropolis”, a Technicolor dystopian world inspired by cult classics like Enter The Void, Blade Runner, and Donnie Darko, viewers follow Ape as he traverses shadowy underground markets, alleyways, city streets and parking lots drenched in vivid neon light.

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Spotify buys Gucci Mane an ice cream truck / IKEA agrees to Kanye West collaboration

15

Aug

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Spotify celebrated the launch of rapper Gucci Mane’s new album ‘Everybody Looking’ with a branded ice cream van. Using the hashtag #EverybodyLicking, fans posted photos in front of the truck across various locations in both New York and Atlanta over the last weekend. Spotify provided free, triple-scoop ice cream cones resembling Gucci’s famous face tattoo whilst playing his new album as a soundtrack for the midday treats. In other Hip Hop related news, IKEA has responded to Kanye West’s recent comments that he would like to design furniture for them, with IKEA Australia posting a humorous design mock-up to its Facebook page last Monday.

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