New Media Monthly playlist Dec 2010
December 24, 2010 in Blog, News Roundup
Here is New Media Monthly’s playlist for December – a few of our favourite tunes of 2010 and a couple of Elvis tacks naturally.
by Ardrich
by Ardrich
Spotify UK's most played 2010
December 22, 2010 in News Roundup
Spotify UK have just released their most played tracks and albums of 2010.
by Ardrich
Smarter music on the web
December 19, 2010 in News Roundup
Edward James Bass, the editor of music technology news site Audio Silver Lining, has listed some interesting web apps that make the most of, and contribute towards, increasing music data on the web.
One of the most interesting examples is a service called The Echo Nest.
The US-based “intelligent music platform” analyses and extracts information about songs such as tempo and rhythm as well as what’s being said about the song and the artist across the various social services on the web.
by Ardrich
North East band pioneers live streaming on iPad
December 17, 2010 in News Roundup
Photo by: Petrus Olsson / Adamsky
Everything Everything, a hot new band with its origins in the North East, became the first group to try out live HD streaming of a gig via an iPad app.
Fans were able to download the free app to watch their London Union Chapel concert on Wednesday in full.
by Ardrich
Spotify announces substantial losses in 2009
November 26, 2010 in News Roundup
As speculation mounts over if/when it will launch in the States, Spotify has published its 2009 financial results.
Spotify iPhone app
They make for an interesting, if somewhat predictable, read – the headline being that the music streaming service has lost £16.66 million, based on revenues of £11.32 million. Along with We7 (and Spiral Frog before it), Spotify has pretty much created a new revenue model for the global music industry in the form of advertising sales. There has been much doubt expressed over whether ad revenue will be enough to sustain the industry and Spotify’s figures indicate that it won’t be.
Read the rest of this entry →
by Ardrich
Unknown beat combo sell millions
November 26, 2010 in Blog, News Roundup
Guest
A little known pop group comprised of school friends from the north of England have become the world’s slowest overnight smash thanks to making their music available via iTunes.
The Beatles, from Liverpool, who self release their music via their own record label Apple and who cite their influences as “Oasis, Wings and peace”, have sold a staggering two million individual songs and more than 450,000 albums in their first week of release via Apple’s (no relation) iTunes store.
Their most popular song is Here Comes The Sun, which was inspired by a holiday that drummer and sometime voiceover artist Richard ‘Ringo’ Starkey took in Porthmadog, Wales as a child.
by Ardrich
Digital Music innovators gather at Northern Stage
November 17, 2010 in News Roundup
The North East music community is getting together in a series of free seminars this week to discuss how new technologies are reshaping the industry.
Hosted by the North East music development agency Generator, the seminar series features four panel discussions all taking place at the Northern Stage theatre at Newcastle University.
NMM had a chance to take a peak at the debate as our editor-in-chief Richard Myers was chairing the panel discussion at yesterday’s event.
by Ardrich
Music Futures – Innovation and Digital Media
November 15, 2010 in Events
Date: 15-18 November
Venue: Northern Stage theatre, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Cost: Free
Event website
This autumn Generator is staging a series of free seminars focused around new technologies and online platforms and how they relate to the music industry. Music Futures runs over four evenings from 15-18 November at Newcastle’s Northern Stage theatre and offers panel discussions on key issues affecting music businesses and musicians and how new developments are reshaping the industry.
by Ardrich
Partnering For Innovation London – £5m for Metatdata Production Tools
November 8, 2010 in Events
Date 16 November 2010 from 10:00am – 2:00pm
Venue: Wallacespace, 22 Dukes Road, Kings Cross
London, WC1H 9PN, UK
Cost: Free
Event Website
£5m Up For Grabs for Collaborative R&D Projects!
Metadata Production Tools Competition
The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) is investing up to £5m in collaborative R&D projects looking to create tools that make the production of content, such as film, music and computer games, more cost-effective, less risky and yield greater value through new advanced uses of metadata.
by Ardrich
The end for Sony Walkman
October 26, 2010 in Blog, News Roundup
Guest
The news today that Sony would no longer be making its cassette Walkman filled me with nostalgia. I still remember myself and my younger brother getting our first Walkmans for Christmas roughly 10 years ago. I think the only cassette I had to play on it then was ‘The Simpsons’ album.
The creation of the Walkman was a real innovation as it allowed the user to listen to their own collection of music wherever and whenever they chose to.
The Walkman was born in 1979, when the Sony chairman asked his designers to make an item which would help him pass the time when on business trips, and allow him to listen to his favourite operas. Since its release the product has sold over 200 million units.
