Tag: iTunes

Streaming and Beyond: Apple Will Lead the Way to the Next Music Experience

Kelli Richards April 9, 2015

If you wanted to listen to a certain song just 30 years ago, you had two options: You could buy the physical album, or you could spend an afternoon waiting for the song to come on the radio so you could record it on a cassette tape in your boom box.

Now, almost any song is just a click away. First, there were on-demand services such as Napster, then came the iPod and other portable MP3 players. Today, millions of people sign up for streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play Music for a nearly unlimited supply of music.

Listeners now control the entire experience. We can listen to our favorite artists or songs at any time and on any device. Streaming has even made the listening experience social. Services such as Spotify are integrated with Facebook, allowing listeners to see what their friends are listening to in real time, making it easy to discover new music.

But what’s next for the listening experience? For now, streaming music services are going strong, but the future of music — streaming and beyond — will likely be heavily influenced by the company that has already remade the music industry: Apple.

Apple’s New Streaming Service Will Start With a Lead

During my 10-plus years leading music and entertainment initiatives at Apple, I helped set the company on a course to become an innovator in the way artists create, market, and distribute music. Back then, the effort revolved around the Macintosh and Pro Tools, leading into the digital revolution. Then, Apple created the iPod and iTunes to move the music industry beyond the analog era, and the rest is (well-documented) history.

Apple has retained its focus on music to this day, so it’s no surprise that it will continue to play a key role in determining the future of the listening experience. Its latest effort began last year when the company bought Beats Electronics and Beats Music for $3 billion. At the time, I predicted the acquisition might be the company’s smartest move yet, and if recent reports can be trusted, it appears this will prove correct.

The first fruits of the Apple-Beats collaboration are likely to arrive this year, according to 9to5Mac, which reported in February that Apple was working on a new paid streaming music service based on Beats’ technologies and music content integrated into the iTunes service.

The service reportedly will cost $7.99 per month — which is $2 cheaper than rivals such as Spotify and Google Play Music — and will be integrated into iTunes and the default Music app on iOS.

The lower price tag is a clear advantage, but beyond that, the service would launch with a huge potential customer base. By integrating the new service into iOS, iTunes, and Apple TV, Apple will reach all of its hundreds of millions of customers in addition to existing subscribers to the Beats Music streaming service.

Apple is also reportedly revamping the Beats Music Android application, so it, too, will attract customers who use the mobile operating system with the largest global market share.

Combine Apple’s price advantage, its marketing prowess, and its unsurpassed market penetration with its history as a music innovator, and you have a solid foundation for streaming success.

Music Innovation Won’t Stop at Streaming

Although Apple is set to launch a streaming service that could quickly become an industry leader, the company isn’t content to stop there. Apple knows that customers crave a unique experience that combines the best of streaming and physical CDs, and it’s working on a product to meet that demand.

Apple and U2 have been collaborating on a secret interactive digital music experience— something so unique and engaging that it could tempt music fans into buying whole albums again. According to Bono, this new audiovisual format can’t be pirated and will bring back album artwork while giving fans a behind-the-songs experience.

Fans always want to be closer to their favorite artists. During my time at Apple, my friend Ty Roberts of Gracenote created the technology behind the enhanced CD, which offered an immersive listening experience and helped to usher in the digital music revolution.

Today, Apple and U2 appear poised to bring a next-generation version of that concept to the digital world, while helping artists protect their rights and income.

Streaming music as it exists today probably isn’t the final destination for music because we crave something more — a richer experience that combines what we miss with what’s still to come. Just as it did with the iPod and iTunes, Apple will create the next listening experience that will help us delve deeper into our favorite tracks and get closer to our favorite artists.

This article was first published on www.huffingtonpost.com/tech/.

To your best success,

Kelli Richards, CEO of the All Access Group, LLC

PS: Subscribe to my FREE All Access Group Newsletter https://bit.ly/AAGNewletter

PSS: Listen to an entire library of intimate discussions with industry visionaries https://bit.ly/AllAccessPodcastSeries (Priceless)

How Your Brand Can Rock the Socks Off A Music Festival

Kelli Richards May 26, 2014

Summer music festivals are full of sunshine, fun, and community, but they’re also packed with thousands of potential customers and brand advocates. Advertising at these events is nothing new, but startups that can find a way to become part of the festival can reap significant benefits.

People love music festivals because they feel like they’re getting more value by paying one price to see several great bands. The music and the atmosphere can produce strong feelings of belonging and elation that are memorable and often affect attendees deeply. Having people associate your brand with that feeling is priceless.

We’re not talking about putting up a banner and handing out T-shirts; we’re talking about actually becoming an integrated part of the experience.

Rocking a Unique Approach to Brand Awareness

Music festivals provide unique marketing opportunities for startups — if they can just follow the music.

If your brand shares a target audience with a given music festival, you should attend and actively engage festival goers so you are visible and associated with their memories. Not only can your brand gain access to content that can be leveraged on its website, social media, apps, advertising, and marketing campaigns, but — if leveraged correctly — music festivals can provide a brand with:

Awareness. Having your app deployed at a major music festival provides priceless visibility, exposure, and reach a startup could never afford to pay for otherwise. You can build your audience through mobile apps and social media initiatives by implementing social functions into your ads, making it easy for fans to share with their network.
Research. Music festival audiences are typically very receptive (and it’s a captive group in terms of mindshare). The opportunity to deploy your technology to this group gives you access to potential focus groups and case studies.
Networking. Working with a music festival gives you a chance to build relationships with artists, festival organizers, and other brands that can generate referrals and repeat engagements.
Word-of-mouth advertising. This is invaluable because it’s authentic, and consumers are more likely to respond to someone they know and feel good about. If you do a great job and offer value at the festival, attendees can become powerful brand advocates.

Ben & Jerry’s takes advantage of the vibrant atmosphere. The company, which over the years has made ice creams in conjunction with musicians like Jerry Garcia, Phish, and Dave Matthews Band, is a celebrated regular at the Bonnaroo festival and even gives out free scoops of Bonnaroo Buzz ice cream. The company also operates a tent in the festival’s Planet Roo eco-village, where nonprofits and other organizations promote environmental and social activism. These approaches lead to positive and loyal responses from music and ice cream fans alike.

Revenue. If your tech startup is new and unproven and you’re working with an event organizer for the first time, you may choose to reduce or waive the fees completely to gain the invaluable benefits listed above. However, if you’re more established or offering something truly unique and valuable, you can charge the festival organizers, artists, brands, and even the fans if there’s sufficient value.

How to Become Part of the Experience

Forever 21 helped launch the 2014 festival season with an epic “Party in the Sky” at Coachella in Palm Springs, Calif. The party featured performances by artists like Azealia Banks and included two gifting suites, the premiere of Forever 21’s “Summer 2014” fashion film, and a 20-foot party pod suspended above the main event.

If you want to gain brand recognition by becoming part of the music festival experience, it’s time to get creative. The goal is to authentically integrate your startup into the experience beyond just being a sponsor. Provide something tangible that endears your product or service to fans. When leveraging a music festival to enhance brand awareness, there are three approaches you can take:

Deepen and enhance the fan experience.

Use your technology as a tool for making the music festival experience better for attendees. FanFootage, for example, crowdsources fans’ videos and syncs them with high-quality audio of the show from the mixing console at the venue to preserve memories with optimal fidelity. You can also deploy a mobile app or social media campaign that’s contextually relevant and delivers value. Give fans a game to play or a chance to win prizes to make them want to share it with their friends.

Deploy “festival support” technology.

Festival goers aren’t the only people you could target; you can also develop tools geared toward artists, event organizers, and promoters. BeatSwitch is a relatively new event planning platform that helps streamline scheduling in fast-paced concert or festival environments.

Deploy “fan support” technology.

You can use your technology to ensure fans don’t miss a band they want to see or an event they want to attend. Songkick allows you to track your favorite artists to ensure you never miss them when they come to town. You can also achieve this on a smaller scale and allow fans to schedule reminders for specific sets or events during a given music fest.

Another great way to support fans is by appealing to their ancillary needs. What else do they need besides festival tickets and food when they’re at a live event? WaterIn is an app that reminds users to drink water, and Wi-Fi sponsors setting up stations at remote locations become heroes. Pamper festival attendees by giving them something of value, possibly offering special discounts and coupons that are available at the airport or hotel when they arrive in town for the festival.

If you’re on a budget, you don’t have to compete at really big events. Smaller local events still pull in large crowds and can sometimes provide better opportunities to increase brand awareness. Whether you’re headed to Bonnaroo or to the local blues festival, take advantage of these unique opportunities to get your name out there and demonstrate your value to all the parties in the festival ecosystem.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards
CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

PS, The right mentor will also have the right CONNECTIONS to move any effort forward. Be sure to ask who they think they can bring to the table around advisor ship, possible collaboration and even funding.

The Short Lifespan Of Twitter’s Ill-Fated Music App

Kelli Richards November 25, 2013

Music has been the lifeblood of many social media services, but it appears that Twitter will not be one of them. Social media music sites have prospered, with CNET reporting that Spotify recently topped $500 million in revenue. At the same time, however, Twitter has decided to fold its hand in the music business and get out of a hashtag-based sound promotion service. What proved to be the sour note in this social media foray?

In The Beginning

Launched in April of 2013, the Twitter #music platform hoped to connect users to music through hashtag searches. With this app in hand, Twitter allowed users to track Tweets from artists as well as search for popular tracks with hashtag searches of label, record, song, or lyrics. Stating that half of all Twitter users follow at least one musician, Twitter launched the mobile app with the hopes of gaining ground on their social media music competitors like SoundCloud. The app allowed musicians to promote new riffs and tracks with a simple update, while users could directly Tweet songs to followers. Twitter never owned any music itself, drawing its tunes from iTunes, Spotify, or Rdio, but allowed free promotion and distribution.

The High Note

Twitter’s music app enjoyed a brief spell of popularity when some celebrities picked up on the promotion. The New York Times reported that Ryan Seacrest hyped up the app as a means of finding new followers and contacts, going so far as to have a dance party with the streaming music function. Twitter #music peaked at number six on Apple’s downloaded app list, but quickly fell down into the mid-thousands. Competitors like Vine, which allow users to play short videos (including music) within a Tweet, enjoyed steady popularity between the 10th and 20th spot of the Apple app rating.

Lessons Learned

Why did Twitter #music prove to be a bust rather than a boom? Several factors contributed to the downfall. First and foremost, social media users preferred to stay with their established music platforms, and social music sites like Spotify never flinched from the release of #music. Users with slower Internet services can load Twitter easily, since the site has a bare minimum of graphics to slow down the latency, but it takes a stronger Internet service to launch the streaming music function. Some people need satellite Internet to stream videos if their local provider cannot keep up. By comparison, DSL and cable Internet may not reach peak efficiency needed to load Flash programs.

Twitter’s Next Venture

Though Twitter took a blow to the chin, the company is sure to bounce back. Mashable reports that Twitter founder Ev Williams has begun to spend “98%” of his time in development of a new site called Medium, a publishing platform with about 30 employees. Whether this new venture does better than #music remains to be seen, but since Alexa pegs Twitter as the 9th most popular site on the Internet, the social music app’s failure to launch will not keep the company down.

Until next time,

Tim Douglas, Blogger for All Access Group
Tim is a music producer and father of 3 young boys. He runs a studio out of his home (which he also calls his sanctuary).

Hooked on TV or Apple TV or Maybe Both?

Kelli Richards October 14, 2013

I have been hooked on my Apple TV ever since I set it a few months ago. The small sleek black box lounging comfortably next to my cable box has become a symbol of home and comfort. My Apple TV is my friend. It carries all of my music, movies, and TV shows around for me. I access iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, HBO Go, ESPN, etc.

It seems that a lot of people have also thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment possibilities Apple TV provides. Since January 1, 2013, 6 million 3rd generation Apple TV units were sold. According to Nielson, 98 percent of homes own a TV. Most people have some kind of device hooked up to their television whether it be the Apple TV or some other DVR entertainment device.

The updated software, which integrated iTunes Radio and various other applications included several Disney channels, the Smithsonian Channel, the MLS, Vevo, and the Weather Channel. While I continue to find new and fun ways to use Apple TV, the honeymoon period of owning such a fantastic device has not subsided. Being able to access an entire iTunes library on a TV seems like an incredibly exhilarating experience. Apple even manufactured an incredibly sleek controller that screams Cupertino!

Not to undermine the obvious success that Apple TV has accumulated, Keith Loria, a writer for CMO.com, has written an extensive article documenting the short falls of “television complimenting devices,” and points to societal norms as a possible reason for a plateau effect on sales and uses. He writes, the TV is still very relevant, “because of the family and group dynamic of watching TV together in households.” (1) He goes on to quote Jay Miletsky, CEO of Sequel Media Group, stating, “The TV experience is a completely different experience that the experience of watching video content on a PC or mobile device. For one thing, TV is more communal- you watch with your friends or family, while PCs and mobile devices are more isolating… TV is a more of a ‘lean-back’ vs. ‘lean-on’ experience, where people watch TV with more of a relaxed attitude that they do strictly Web content.” (1)

While such societal tendencies to communally watch television –or entertainment in general –may for the time being put a ceiling on auxiliary entertainment devices. Erik Dochtermann, CEO of KD+E, a media research agency, believes that in “the long term, the spread of TV viewing to other mobile devices will be more rapid as the younger generation gets older, as their viewing habits are significantly different than the previous generation.”(1) Which may lead to way more impressive and integrated entertainment devices, but for now Apple is the King of such a genre of entertainment, and I would put my money on them continuing its superiority in the future.

1. Loria, Keith. “Insight/ Traditional Media.” New Life For Old Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2013.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, President & CEO of the All Access Group, LLC

PS: Subscribe to my FREE All Access Group Newsletter https://bit.ly/AAGNewletter

PSS: Listen to an entire library of intimate discussions with industry visionaries https://bit.ly/AllAccessPodcastSeries (Priceless)

iTunes Radio: Have They Hit It Out of The Park?

Kelli Richards October 7, 2013

Customizable, user integrated, radio stations have become the norm on music playing services, from Pandora to Spotify to fm.Radio; so it was just a matter of time before Apple’s iTunes developed and released a radio application of its own. And in classic Apple style, the iTunes Radio (accessible directly through iTunes, after downloading the new software) hits it out of the park.

Similar to its competitors, iTunes Radio, allows the user to create personal radio stations based on a specific artist, song, or genre. But where iTunes Radio differs from other learn-on-the-fly radio stations is the option to listen to 250, DJ created and genre organized stations. Featured stations range from The Beatles Radio, to the Voice, to “Miley Cyrus Bangerz,” Diplo tracks, and of course iTunes Top 100. In this way iTunes Radio reminded me of Sirius Satellite and other satellite car stations, offering unique, specific music.

But in exploring iTunes Radio, I picked several categories to study in comparing it with its competitors; the categories being: price, and music recommendations. In terms of price you can listen to iTunes Radio for free if you’re okay with listening to advertisements. However if you own an iTunes Match account, $25 a year, which allows you to store all your music in the iCloud and access it on any device, you can listen to iTunes Radio ad-free. Such a deal. Pay for music accessibility and the absence of ads is offered through Spotify as well; Spotify offers free use, with ads, uninterrupted music on a laptop or desktop for $4.99 a month, or uninterrupted music anywhere on all devices for $9.99 a month.

Pandora also offers a free service with advertisements, or an upgrade with similar deals to iTunes Radio and Spotify for either $36 a year, or $3.99 a month. Another great feature of iTunes Radio that can’t really be matched by its competitors is the ability to purchase a song you have recently discovered, again through iTunes Radio, and have it available in your music library. And you own this song, its not just saved in a queue!

Now on to what I think is obviously the most important aspect of iTunes Radio: the music. In this field, at least at the moment, I don’t quite see iTunes Radio competing with Pandora, in that Pandora offers more than 500 genre-based stations, and more than a million songs from more than 100,000 artists. (iTunes claims they have the most, but haven’t put a number on the “most”). It may be this extensive music catalog that Pandora has acquired that makes its music recommendations not only more accurate but more fun.

I can’t tell you how many new songs and artists I have discovered listening to Pandora radio, and in the few hours that I experimented with iTunes Radio I didn’t come across one “new” artist that I hadn’t heard of. This may just be a result of Pandora being in business longer and perfecting the art of recommending music, but to me they clearly had the advantage in this area. In addition, Pandora’s option to learn more about the playing artist and song lyrics is just a nice touch, aiding in your ability to “discover” new musicians.

That being said, iTunes Radio claims the more you use it, the better the recommendations. (Would you expect them to say anything different?). But for now it reminds me of iTunes “Genius recommendations on steroids.” But they have room to grow and most likely will.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

Twitter Music

Kelli Richards April 29, 2013

As all of us know, there are countless online music apps and platforms circulating the web, from Spotify, to Pandora, to Soundcloud, to Last.fm – all offering “unique” variations on the music listening experience. Let’s have a quick overview and then I’ll make a few valuable points.

Spotify works with Facebook to allow friends to share music in real time, as they listen.
Pandora lets users pick a genre, or artist, or song and create a playlist accordingly.
Soundcloud targets the artists themselves, allowing recording and sharing, which in turn, appeals to listeners looking for the next great musician or fans seeking sneak peeks of new songs.
Last.fm basically provides an encyclopedia-like amount of information about artists with biographies to similar musicians and popular tracks.

So it comes as no surprise, and it was only a matter of time before Twitter released its own online music player, cleverly named, “Twitter #Music.”

So what does #Music have to offer, and is it even worth using when compared to all the other listener options?

Lets check out the app.

Twitter organizes its music selection into four categories: Popular, which they describe as “new music trending on Twitter;” Emerging, “hidden talent found in the Tweets;” Suggested, “artists you might like;” and #NowPlaying, “tweeted by people you follow.”

The Popular music section is basically Twitter’s version of the iTunes top 100, or the Billboard top 100, except it illustrates the top 40 songs played on Twitter. Is less actually more? The ‘Emerging’ category promises to expose new, up and coming, talented musical groups –probably Indie-Rock bands; ‘Suggested’ is exactly what it sounds like –Twitter analyzes your tweets and follows and provides you with music accordingly (not bad for music discovery purposes); and ‘#Nowplaying’ is pretty self-explanatory.

While the idea of Twitter joining the music sharing industry is a pretty obvious decision, and the categories they break the music down into seems legitimate, and are integrated into Twitter pretty logically, it still is difficult to imagine #music making any real impact in the music sharing space, despite its already massive audience. The sad news is that Twitter has failed to offer any “new” advantages to using its application.

Popular music can be found anywhere. There are far more credible sources for “emerging” talent on sites like Pitchfork.com, or even through Spotify – and “Suggested” tracks has already been mastered by Pandora. However, possibly the biggest flaw in #music is the fact that I could really care less about what people I’m following are listening to. Facebook and Spotify work so well together because they only share information among friends, or at least acquaintances. Twitter is different in that it is a totally different type of social networking. Yes I follow my friends, but I also follow people for news, for sports analysis, for tech advances, or because they may just tweet hilarious, absurd and interesting thoughts.

But that does not mean that I am interested in what Anderson Cooper, Snookie, LeBron James, or what @crapmydadsays is listening to? Not really.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

Connectivity – A Vision of the Future

Kelli Richards June 10, 2011

Sometimes I have to remind conference attendees, groups that I speak with, or even clients that digital content and digital distribution are a lot more than just music. When we consider the amazing growth around music, however, it is easy to get stuck there.

But we shouldn’t. Digital goes far beyond songs and iTunes and singles and lockers, it goes past movies and downloadable books and content, it’s way bigger than anything we could have imagined five years ago, and I have no doubt that five years from now will showcase something else that’s beyond what we might imagine today.

Recently, at the 2011 MRC European e-Commerce Payments and Risk Conference, Mitsue Venture and Neolabels.com offered up some mind blowing statistics and projections that anyone in the digital space should be aware of. I’ll include their video here, which is featured on their website itself and on YouTube. (It’s 7 and a half minutes long, but stick with it if you can, it goes fast.) Below the video, I’ll highlight some of the more amazing statistics and projections that they offered. My personal favorite bears special attention however, simply in regard to web users, traffic and connectivity. It’s this: Web traffic generated by only 20 homes in 2015 will be greater than the total traffic of the Internet way back in 1995.

Please enjoy the video, and as always, if you have any feedback, your comments are most welcome.

(Source: Mitsue Venture and Neolabels.com)

More consumers will access the Internet by mobile devices than by desktop or laptop by 2014.

2015 forecast of annual global mobile data traffic (75 exabytes) is equal to 19.000 million DVDs https://digitallife.neolabels.com.

Mobile-only Internet population will grow 56-fold up to 788 million by the end of 2015.

In 2015 mobile devices will exceed the home PC base installed.

500 million mobile using mobile health Apps in 2015.

In 2015 revenue mobile Apps will be an amount near to $40 million.

Social Networks revenues will grow more than 4-fold from 2010 to 2015.”

It is expected that in 2015 it will exist 2,5 Internet connected devices per inhabitants worldwide.

Yes, the bottom line is that digital is the brave new world, and we are the forefathers of what it becomes. Whether we’re in the music industry or any industry, we need to be ready for the digital revolution to completely renovate how we do business and how we meet our customers’ demands.

To your success.

Kelli Richards, CEO, The All Access Group, LLC

Source: Mitsue Venture and Neolabels.com https://digitallife.neolabels.com

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Tag: iTunes

How Your Brand Can Rock the Socks Off A Music Festival