Mark Elliott is turning his hobby into a career thanks to Generator and Gateshead College.

Amateur North East musicians, managers, promoters and publishers are set to benefit from the second run of a popular music management course.

Taking place at Gateshead College, Managing a Music Business Enterprise (MMBE) is supported by the Newcastle-based music development agency Generator.

The 13-week course will lead into nationally recognised qualification equipping participants with skills and knowledge essential to running a sustainable music business.

New career for local music lover

The MMBE course was a turning point in the career of the local music collector and promoter, Mark Elliot.

The 48-year-old ex taxi driver and oil rig worker from South Shields completed the part-time course after having been asked to manage local band The Watchers.

“MMBE has allowed me to take The Watchers to another level”, he said.

“The course has given me sound knowledge to progress within the music industry and the skills to finally create a sustainable career from something I am extremely passionate about.”

“The course covered almost every aspect of the music industry and brought in some fantastic professionals to share their experiences.”

Application and advice

Since taking the course, Mark has taken The Watchers on tour with the Charlatans and they are now having tracks produced by Coldplay producer, Danton Supple.

Mark Hobrough, Mr Elliott’s tutor at Gateshead College, is delighted about the success Mark is enjoying in managing The Watchers.

“It just goes to show that if you gain the right knowledge and skills and are prepared to put in the effort, you can really make your own luck, and he’s certainly done that”, he said.

“There is no real shortcut to succeeding in the music business, but with some application and advice you can make good career decisions and build a business. Mark is a great example of just that.”

Managing a Music Business Enterprise will be running at Gateshead College from March 2012, visit http://mmbe.co.uk/ for information.

Mediaworks founder Brett Jacobson (left) with Dan Hoggan.

Team Valley based Mediaworks has been chosen to implement a 12-month search engine optimisation strategy for the office supply giant Viking Direct.

Viking is one of the UK’s largest office equipment providers supplying thousands of offices throughout the country with equipment ranging from stamps and coffee to seats and desks.

Brett Jacobson, managing director of Mediaworks, said it was great to have another big name to add their client list.

“Viking is in a highly competitive market and we know that we can assist them to have the upper edge on their competitors, and ultimately boost its revenue”, he said.

“It just goes to prove that there is online marketing talent outside of the capital, and by winning such a lucrative contract I think that we have 100% proved it.”

Mediaworks use intelligently applied SEO tactics to boost a company’s visibility online for key, targeted phrases.

The company was established in 2007 by a Northumbria University graduate Brett Jacobson, and boasts an impressive client list including SCS Sofas, law firm Eversheds and Traidcraft.

Mediaworks is confident that it can aid Viking to become highly competitive online and boost its visibility nationally, and early figures are proving this true.

A creative agency in Singapore has scooped awards and fame with their innovative combination of music, fashion and RFID technology.

Created by DDB Singapore, the campaign set out to engage the young people as well as to increase web traffic and downloads at StarHub Online Music Store.

Partnering with local retailers, the campaign created state-of-the-art fitting rooms that play music matching the style of each person trying clothes on.

Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, the team attached contact-less bar code tags containing data about the style to items of clothing.

RFID readers were then installed in the fitting rooms and voila – a track matching the style is played when trying clothes on.

The youngsters then received a close proximity text message on their mobile with information about the song and the music store.

According to Will Sansom, from Contagious Communications (UK), a quarterly intelligence magazine and consultancy, the campaign’s success is down to the concept of ‘experience over innovation’.

“It’s about human experience first, then technology to amplify that – the technology is invisible, it’s seamless”, Will said talking at the Midem Music Conference

“The reason I like this is that the consumer isn’t asked to do anything but they get an interactive, relevant and personal sensory experience.”

Check out the campaign video:

The world’s largest music industry trade fair once again boasted a range of experts sharing their insights and discoveries on new innovative ways to reach, engage and monetise audiences.

The events culminated in ‘Visionary Monday’, a day of talks and debates around ideas such as ‘has sharing become the new advertising’.

You can still listen to all the talks on the Midem website. Be sure to also check out The Next Web’s Martin Bryant’s article about the 11 innovative music apps and services from Midem Hack Day.

“Piracy almost our fault”

The audience also heard from Rovio’s Mikael Hed, who revealed that the Angry Birds company is currently working on a music game.

Hed also shared with the audience Rovio’s unusual attitude to piracy – the company is only chasing up producers of unsafe products or ones that damage brand perception.

“We can learn a lot from the terrible way the music industry dealt with piracy. It would be futile to tackle it all”, Hed said.

“We embrace the pirates – as long as the product is well made, even if it’s not officially licensed it helps improve the brand.”

“If we have failed to make our legitimate products the easiest thing to buy, it’s almost our fault that we get pirated.”

At noon, the organisers will release 50 tickets at a discounted rate of £290 + VAT.

One of the top digital events in the country, Thinking Digital, welcomes leading minds from the sector to The Sage, Gateshead, at the end of May.

Just last week, 20 new speakers were announced including Richard Banks, Interaction Designer at Microsoft Research and author of The Future of Looking Back; Jennifer Gardy, Canada’s answer to Brian Cox and Jonathan Forster, a Geordie abroad in Stockholm amd also European GM of Spotify.

A new website dedicated to the event went live last week, providing a range of details on the event, tickets and speakers.

The site itself celebrates local talent as it was created by developers from Newcastle-based digital specialists AYO Media.

According to the organisers,  201 places have already been booked for the popular conference four months ahead of the kick-off.

“This year’s Thinking Digital Conference is our 5th Anniversary so we’re trying to make it extra special”, Laura Harrison, Project Manager at Thinking Digital said.

Thinking Digital will take place on 29-31 May with the Thinking Digital University workshop sessions on the first day, followed by the main conference on 30-31 May. For more information on the event and how to get tickets visit www.thinkingdigital.co.uk

Paul Dayan with Sunderland Software City's Bernie Callaghan

South Shields based online nutrition planner, planmyfood, is offering a free trial for anyone looking for a healthier start to the new year.

The diet-planning software analyses the nutritional content of meals to create user-friendly, daily nutrition guidance.

The software tells people if their meals are within guidelines for their medical condition or diet.

It was created by founder Paul Dayan to help a family-member battling an eating disorder.

Paul also uses the product himself after being diagnosed with raised cholesterol.

“Unlike traditional diet planners, planmyfood doesn’t just focus on slimming and weight loss”, he said.

“It’s about good nutrition leading to good health. It puts people in control of their diet and promotes real and sustainable behavioural changes that lead to long-term health improvements.”

planmyfood subscribers can keep their diet and nutrition on-track wherever they are during the day; at home, in the office or out and about.

Subscribers also get advice, support and recipes from an online community of other users.

planmyfood is currently offering a free 5-day trial to new users. Existing subscribers can also add up to 5 family members to their account for as little as 56 pence per week. For more information, visit: planmyfood.co.uk

A new start-up competition is launching to find the brightest stars of the tech scenes around the world.

Organised by the technology news website The Next Web, Startup World is holding pitching competitions in 36 cities world wide.

The regional winners will be flown to Silicon Valley to pitch to a panel of expert judges with one of them crowned as the the world’s best start-up in the end.

The winner will get a three-month incubation period at i/o Ventures – an early mentorship stage start-up programme in Silicon Valley – worth $30,000.

The idea behind Startup World is to shine a light on technology that’s being built all over the world, tech journalist Hermoine Way explained on the launch video.

“Whilst Silicon Valley is undoubtedly the highest producer of technology companies in the world, there’s actually a global entrepreneurial revolution happening”, she said.

“As the cost of innovation is coming down, people all over the world are building start-ups with a laptop and a wifi connection.”

For more information and to find out how to apply, visit the Startup World website.

Apple’s staggering sales figures mean there’s now more iPhones sold than babies born in the world every day.

According to the tech giant, 37.04m iPhones were sold between October and December.

The Next Web’s Apple editor did the maths and with 377,000 iPhones sold each day, Apple tops the average birth rate in the world, currently at 371,000 per day.

“We thought we were setting bold bets, but it turns out we didn’t bet high enough”, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the huge demand.

TNW’s mobile editor Matt Brian, suggests that the huge figures are helped by the ‘impressive’ launch of the iPhone 4S, the reduction in price of the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS going completely free on contract in several countries.

Tom Harvey is the chief executive of Northern Film & Media.

The creative sector in the North East will benefit from the new £75k fund set to stimulate the creation of film, TV and digital media jobs.

The Creative Jobs Fund targets ‘ready-to-go’ North East film, TV or digital media company expansion programmes or production projects that will create jobs in the region this spring.

The launch coincides with the publication of a new research report which tips the North East as one of the regions to be hit hardest by the forthcoming public sector and welfare cuts leaving more people unemployed.

Immediate benefits

Run by the regional creative industry development agency Northern Film & Media, the fund is the first of its type to be ring-fenced for the creative industries.

Grants will typically range from £5k – £20k as the fund is set to examine how modest levels of public funding can drive growth in the creative industries.

Successful applicants must demonstrate an ability to generate or sustain new jobs that have not previously been supported by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).

Funding decisions will be based on ability to generate jobs, value-for-money and commercial viability.

The fund is looking to back projects or companies that will generate jobs and revenue immediately.

Aiming for ‘significant’ amount of jobs

According to Tom Harvey, chief executive of NFM, the North East creative sector has experienced solid growth through relatively small levels of public subsidy over the past decade.

“We want to see more creative companies securing investment from centralised or non-sector specific funds”, he said.

“If they are to be successful, they will have to demonstrate an ability to generate a significant amount of jobs.”

“This pilot fund will test the ability of the sector to deliver on the outputs expected from larger initiatives such as the Regional Growth Fund.”

The deadline for submissions is 8 February. Contact joanna@northernmedia.org on 0191 275 5966 or roxy@northernmedia.org on 0191 275 5963 to discuss your application.

We at New Media Now are pleased to be supporting the awards ceremony that will bring together the industry to celebrate those excelling in marketing innovation.

In its second year, the MI awards are part of the Marketing Innovation Expo (MIEXPO) – an event showcasing technology-driven marketing trends.

You have until 3 February to expose your innovative side and enter your company into the pool.

There are 12 award categories including ‘Innovative mobile marketing’, ‘Innovative use of social media’ and ‘Innovative digital brand strategy 2012′.

Entries for ‘Innovative start-up’ and ‘Most innovative individual’ are free. The latter will be nominated by the members of UTalkMarketing – a community of 140,000 marketing and brand professionals.

The award ceremony takes place as part of MIEXPO on 6 March at Altitude 360 in London.

Speakers at the event include representatives from Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, Virgin Media, 10 Downing Street, The British Army, PeerIndex, Adjustyourset, Youtube and Buyapowa.

NMN readers can take advantage of a 20% discount on tickets for the event using promocode 20NMN.

For full event details of both events and to book your place today visit www.marketinginnovationexpo.com