Welcome to June’s edition of the Vizeum digital newsletter where you can download free music legally; become a human joystick; get paid for blogging and watch Groove Armada at the ICA, or if you can’t win tickets, at SecondFest.
Tuesday 3 July 2007
Inspiration #1: Online radio stations unite
More than 14,000 Internet radio silenced their airwaves on June 26th protesting against the new rules in the US increasing the royalties paid by Internet radio stations from a percentage of their revenue to a flat fee per song.
The increase is likely to put the majority of the Internet radio stations out of business and is criticized for damaging diversity and leaving only mainstream radio to thrive.
Other Internet pioneers are trying to break existing models and encourage free legal downloading and paid downloads of unsigned acts.
Goodstorm’s mixtape application ‘Capitalism done right’, enables unsigned bands to upload tracks and sell to fans via a widget on their social network profile (facebook, myspace, blogger etc). Fans can also share the love by posting a playlist on their own profiles that tracks can be purchased via.
In a collaboration between some senior technology players and Peter Gabriel, we7.com is an attempt to satisfy all musical interests. A 10 sec ad is grafted onto a track based on genre, demographic profile and suitability to advertising message; paid for by the advertiser, the track is free for the downloader yet the artist still gets paid their dues.
Inspiration #2: Making gaming a mass platform
MSNBC.com (the online news joint venture between NBC & MSN in the US) have refreshed an old arcade video game favourite and brought engagement to a more shared experience with their ‘crowd gaming’ game newsbreaker.
The audience of Spiderman 3 at the opening weekend in theatre in LA, were turned into human joysticks as motion sensors tracked the collective effort to manipulate the paddle and collect the news headlines to collect points. Although beyond a leaderboard on the online game, it’s not clear what the mass audience can then do with said points.
A video of the experience can be viewed at youtube and the game played online.
It’s an interesting variation of the traditional cinema ad, and whilst it may not work against non-action releases, 73% of players surveyed recalled the MSNBC.com brand and could be to used to encourage the audience to participate with the ad and influence it’s outcome or even create their own.
Innovation #1: Bloggers put on the payroll in Sweden
The Swedish version of the metro have recently launched a ‘get-paid-per-view’ blogging system.
Bloggers are invited to set up a blog at Metrobloggen.se, as soon as an individuals blog achieves 5,000 page views per month Metro sends the author a mastercard credited with 150 swedish kronor (USD 20/EUR 16).
Is the offer of cash for characters motivating enough to move your blog from one platform to another? Could a blogger make more money by adding Google adwords to their page? Is the lure of official publication more luring than the freedom of sole cyber space? Does the metrobloggen platform add any value for consumers that can’t be derived from traditional blogger publishing tools?
Could similar armies be recruited to tell stories about brands and be rewarded for their page views?
Innovation #2: Who wants to wear a Skype Headset?
T-mobile bridge the gap between mobile phones and landlines via the Internet with their http://www.theonlyphoneyouneed.com/service.
Buy an appropriate handset, add on hot spot @ home to your call plan, plug in the @ home wireless router and be based in the States, and you can cut down your phone bills by seamlessly switching from mobile to landline using wi-fi, whenever within reach at home or at one of the 7,000 nationwide Hotspots.
On a similar vein is the Fon product, a community based wi-fi project whereby users sign-up to share their wi-fi through the Fon network and then receive 50% of the net revenue generated each time a visitor purchases a Fon access pass via their Fon spot.
Creativity #1: No need for sunshine for festivals this July
Music remains a popular mechanic to engage with consumers, however this time it gets Virtual. Intel and The Guardian bring those adverse to portaloos and mud Secondfest – showcasing short films, line dancing, a secret beach party and exclusive performances from the likes of Groove Armada, Hot Chip, Coldcut, New Young Pony Club, Pet Shop Boys and Rob Da Bank.
For those preferring their gigs less virtual, iTunes have teamed up with the ICA and more than 60 of the world’s hottest acts to offer competition winners tickets to exclusive, intimate gigs; what do iTunes get out of this nice competition based promotion beyond kudos? The gigs are then available for purchase from the iTunes store…
Creativity #2: Spotlight on NMA’s Grand Prix Winner
In response to the release of figures from ChildLine, the NSPCC wanted to raise awareness of teen sexual abuse, provide information about how to get help for themselves or others and create a sense of community to facilitate discussion.
With one in two children using social networks to share problems and get advice online from people their own age, the NSPCC set up profiles with Bebo, ran a series of ‘speak-out-Sunday’ events in Habbo and editorial content within mykindaplace. The teens were driven to a microsite, a safe online community for children to talk about abuse and learn how to stop it.
The campaign smashed it’s CTR and response targets, with 1 million kids spending an average 5 minutes dwell time per visit, and is due to be expanded in 2007 to encompass further social networks.
Just For Fun: How much are you worth?
Ever wonder how much you could get on the open human market? Go to humanforsale.com, where they’ll attempt to place a value on your life and paste it on your blog/profile for all to see. I’m worth $1.27 million…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
