4 – the official midem daily news
Sunday 29 January 2012
To befriend or not to befriend?
Y
ESTERDAY’s first panel in the Direct2Fan Camp saw singer-songwriter Michelle Phelan, fan Lorene Pillin and Google Music’s Tim Quirk welcomed onstage by Whitesmith Entertainment’s Emily White to discuss the intricacies of the direct-to-fan (D2F) approach — from an artist’s, a fan’s and a platform’s point of view. Phelan, half of Irish/French folk duo Carosel, told the audience about her experience on Hangouts, Google+’s video-conferencing service, which allowed her “to play personal concerts for some fans from the other side of the world, who I’d never even seen before”. The power of the tools on offer to artists is the real game-changer today, Quirk said. “Google Music is one of those tools, as it is one of the few major music platforms that allows artists to upload their music directly, to sell it at any price they like, or even give it away for free,” he added. But regardless of platform, Quirk said the
key to D2F is targeting your efforts to the many types of fan out there. “There are casual fans and superfans, and everything in between,” he said. So, for example, a casual fan might not go for a “KISS-emblazoned coffin”, whereas a superfan might. “But it’s in all artists’ interests to reach more people,” he added. Quirk believes that Direct2Fan and celebrity are not mutually exclusive. He gave the example of Lady Gaga, who has a strong track record of connecting with her superfans, who have even appeared as part of her stage show. And fans can help artists to raise funds too. “We’re crowdfunding right now with the new service [and midemlab contestant] Oocto, asking fans to help us raise money so we can make our first French/English song,” said the Paris-based Irish artist. “So on the site we’ve made a list of rewards for donations. I’ll even cook for people!” Phelan added: “People forget how much it costs to make music.”
D2F deconstructed: Whitesmith Entertainment’s Emily White (left) singer-songwriter Michelle Phelan, fan Lorene Pillin and Google Music’s Tim Quirk
Midemlab builds bridges between music and tech
T
HE MESSAGE coming out of this year’s midemlab competition for start-ups and app developers is that strength is unity when it comes to gamechanging innovation. “I’m both impressed and pleased to see the bridges that are being built between music, social media and technology,” said Martin Duval, CEO and founder of midemlab partner bluenove, France’s leading consultancy in open innovation. “Bringing in players from outside your core business is very often the best and fastest way to improve innovation.” Positioned at the intersection of music and technology, midemlab showcases the nextgeneration tools that will help executives, artists and brands to engage and monetise audiences. Duval said this year’s 30 finalists, whittled down from over 100 entries, reflect the event’s overarching mission to “reach out into non-music communities to boost and improve innovation”. Duval’s own background also bridges music and technology — he managed Orange’s mobile-music activities before leaving to launch bluenove in 2008. And he would like to see the relationship between music and technology become closer still, particularly in the current economic climate. “With fewer resources to throw at R&D, it makes sense for companies from different worlds to come together to innovate,” he said. The 30 midemlab finalists are pitching projects in three categories: Music Discovery and Recommendation; Marketing and
Social Engagement; and Direct-to-Consumer Sales and Content. This year’s event is sponsored by Vivendi.
Bluenove’s Martin Duval: innovation sans frontiers