Join us on Wednesday, May 22nd at the Internet Week NY HQ at the Metropolitan Pavilion for the second installment of Music Tech Day – a day of keynotes, panels & classes designed for lively debate and inspiring experiences about the advancement of digital music culture.

Last year we brought you a full day of dynamic speakers ending in an interview with SoundCtrl’s own Jesse Kirshbaum and the legendary industry critic Bob Lefsetz.

To register for a FREE pass to MUSIC TECH DAY visit InternetWeekNY.com and use discount code HQ_MUSICTECHDAY

This year kicks off at 12:00 PM at 125 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011

12:00PM – 12:45PM: Big Data vs Big Engagement 

Success does not just mean driving big numbers, but ensuring big engagement in real time. In 2013, we have seen the rise of real time marketing and its impact on engagement. It’s more than numbers and passive consumption, but detecting if your content is connecting with your audience.

Moderator: Beverly Jackson (Senior Director Marketing and Social, The GRAMMYS)

Panelists:

- Alex White (Co-Founder and CEO, Next Big Sound)

- Brandon Martinez (Co-Founder & CEO, IND music)

- Matt Corey (CEO, Mass Relevance)

- Allison Moore (Associate Director of Advertising, Social Media Marketing, & Consumer Research – ‘stache media, a division of RED and Sony Music Entertainment)

12:50PM – 1:10PM: ooVoo with Warner Music on SXSW Warner Live tech/social 

Warner Music and ooVoo teamed up at sxsw to create VIP concert experiences for half a million fans who could not travel to Austin. For the first time ever, groups of fans could see and hear each other while watching live performances by Macklemore, Paramore, Flaming Lips, Icona Pop and others via ooVoo video chat. Find out how it was done and how they plan to change “music television” forever!

Speakers:

- Larry Lieberman, CMO, ooVoo

- Lori Feldman, SVP Brand Partnerships & Music Licensing Warner Bros

1:00PM – 1:45PM: Best Practices: Going Digital DIY 

Ariel Hyatt leads this discussion with Oberhofer on how to build and cultivate a loyal fanbase, grow personal brands, and sell more music/tickets/merch as an indie or just starting artist. The conversation also includes representatives from some of the leading artist support platforms like PledgeMusic, Indaba, and others to engage artists in a discussion of how they’ve found success using these digital tools and what might still be missing in the space.

Moderator: Ariel Hyatt (President & Founder, Ariel Publicity)

Participants:

- Brad Oberhofer (Artist & Producer, Glassnote Records)

- Jayce Varden (Co-founder & COO, PledgeMusic)

- Nate Lew (VP Partnerships, Indaba)

2:05PM – 2:50PM: Streaming It: The Tipping Point 

Over the past 10 years, the average person’s record collection has shifted from his bedroom wall, to his computer hard drive, to now, possibly, just a feed on his social channels. The industry has witnessed a great shift from traditional purchase models to a growing number of digital streaming platforms that compete based on varying factors such as access, personalization, and social capabilities. This session seeks to understand why access suddenly became preferable to ownership and predict how this model will evolve in an ever-changing landscape of competition and demand. How will we be discovering and sharing music and video in the next few years?

Moderator: Andrew Hampp (Senior Branding Correspondent, Billboard)

Panelists:

- Matt Ostrower (Senior Director of Artist Partnerships & Programming, Pandora)

- Steve Goldstein (CEO and Founder, ZUUS)

- Daniel Hayek (Director Education + Community, Vimeo)

2:55PM – 3:15PM: Game Changer: Revenues in the Virtual World

GIG-IT is the first and only virtual 3-D concert game for Facebook that brings together social gaming, music, fashion and fun. Players will have a unique platform to interact with their favorite musicians, engage with brands in new ways, and showcase their inner artist by sharing their concert creation with the social world. Founder and CEO John Acunto takes the stage to discuss this brand new platform in music and gaming and talk about his experience in investing and developing new music technology over the past 20 years.

Speakers: John Acunto (Founder & CEO, 212 Decibels & GIG-IT)

By Carolyn Heneghan

Photo filter phenom Instagram has revolutionized the mobile imaging world, evolving photography to fit the online social landscape. From dark rooms to Polaroids, from 35mm to digital cameras, photography has been on a wild ride for more than a century, and now mobile phones have disrupted the former notion of cutting-edge image capture yet again—with the helping hand of Instagram.

As the winner of our FlashFWD Award for Best in Mobile & Tablet, we are proud to recognize their efforts and successes this past a year as revolutionaries in mobile and tablet photography, communication, and social sharing.

Why Instagram?

Instagram may not be the only social image-sharing service out there, but it is the most well-known with over 100 million monthly active users. The company has turned so many heads in less than three years of operation that Facebook bought out the blazing photo service for one billion dollars just over a year ago.

Here are a few statistics to illustrate why Facebook might have made such an offer:

• 40 million photos uploaded per day
• 8500 likes per second
• 1000 comments per second

It’s clear that the potential is there and that users can reach each other in a unique and compelling way. While this may be perfectly suited for sharing photos with family and friends, musicians too have found ways to use the service to grow and maintain their online followings.

When the Music Fuels the Photos

Pop stars, indie darlings, famed producers and even the upstarts are finding innovative methods for using mobile montages to share various aspects of their more intimate lives. This might include fairly typical shots like from behind the DJ booth overlooking a crowd or backstage just after the performance, smiling and sweating from the rush of a killer show.

Many musicians have used Instagram as a way to showcase their practice spaces and routines. Others have used it to demonstrate and promote their recording efforts. Any way that they can bring their fans closer to their music and the musical process, they’ve done it. 

Or When Musicians Delve Deeper

Some musicians have taken these photo opportunities one step further and one step deeper into their lives off stage. One way is to take pictures of the tour bus, plane rides and other assorted antics that happen between concert and recording dates, including using geolocation photo mapping for additional context.

Ultimately, you can get an intriguing glimpse at the other side of your favorite musicians’ daily lives. This might include their families, what they ate for breakfast, silly drawings or altered photos, a collection of random items currently in their possession or even a sign they found amusing. You might see photos of non-venue destinations in each city visited, and you can take a peek into what these musicians are interested in when not on stage. Some musicians have shared mobile photos of themselves with other artists and luminaries in the music industry; these can sometimes give fans an idea of whom else in the scene or industry their favorites know personally, are friends with, or whose work they respect.

And It’s All To Increase Fan Engagement

The other potential for musicians and their fans to interact is when fans post their own photos of concerts and appearances on their own Instagram profiles and tag the artist to let them know. This is a prime opportunity for musicians to engage—and even thrill—their fans by liking and commenting on these photos.

What all this boils down to is a chance for musicians to let their fans get to know them on a deeper level. This promotes not only their music but their image and even what they stand for as an individual. The thing about Instagram is that it’s so much more intimate than many other social media profiles these musicians might have. Many artists have their social media channels handled primarily by their marketing team. But with Instagram, there’s a much better chance that you are seeing what is actually happening to the musicians you follow, as these photos will likely come directly from the mobile device they have in their possession—right then and there. This makes fans feel privileged to share this information and have this insight into musicians’ lives, and it makes them more likely to share social media posts and purchase albums and concert tickets. Win-win.

Instagram makes all of this possible with one user-friendly application. What started as an idea for making uploaded mobile photos look cooler and more professional has turned into an awe-inspiring success that professionals across all industries are recognizing, including musicians and the FlashFWD Awards. Only time will tell how Instagram will fluctuate with the changing times—particularly under Facebook’s wing—as photography, communication and social media continue to evolve and adapt. We are especially looking forward to seeing how our FlashFWD Award winner will progress in years to come.

SoundCtrl is proud to present the 4th Annual FlashFWD Awards as a part of Internet Week NY

SoundCtrl’s FlashFWD Awards will take place on May 22 at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City. The event will include special performances by Glassnote-signed EDM artist Robert DeLong, up-and-coming rapper Joey Bada$$, dance crew iLuminate and more. Hosted by It’sTheReal.

A first of its kind ceremony honoring excellence and innovation in music technology, FlashFWD brings together the thought leaders, creators and luminaries of the tech revolution to celebrate the ways we discover, perform and share music. Now in its 4th year, the FlashFWD Awards are a chance to enjoy a night of great performances, recognize our 2013 honorees, and celebrate the future of music.

……………………………………………

2013 SoundWAV Influencer Award: Questlove
Recognizing an individual who has significantly impacted digital music culture through the early adoption or creation of new technology and is seen as a visionary and voice in the music tech industry. Past honorees include: Scooter Braun (2012), Troy Carter (2011)

Best in Discovery: Songza
Recognizing a product or service that has most significantly impacted and improved the way fans discover and share recorded music. Past honorees include: Spotify (2012), The Echo Nest (2011), Hype Machine (2010)

Best in Live: V Squared Labs
Recognizing a product, service or organization that has most significantly improved the live concert experience from either a fan or artist perspective. Past honorees include: Square (2012), The Creator’s Project (2011)

Best in Mobile & Tablet: Instagram
Recognizing a product or service that is breaking new ground in mobile technology and expanding upon traditional fan engagement. Past honorees include: Snibbe Interactive for Biophilia (2012), SoundTracking (2011)

Best in Artist Support: Tumblr
Recognizing a product or service that focuses on giving artists more options in creating and promoting their music independently. Past honorees include: BandPage (2012), SoundCloud (2011), Indaba Music (2010)

Best in Gaming: Soundplay by Pitchfork & Intel
A brand new category recognizing a game, creator or organization that demonstrates innovation in music integration with a gaming platform, be it through soundtrack, virtual marketplace, or unique partnership.

By Carolyn Heneghan and Keith Nelson Jr.

Do you ever feel like your tumbling along with the constant evolution of online and social media? The latest blog platform darling, Tumblr, has paved the way for anyone who wants to share thoughts or media with the blogging world with more than 107.1 million blogs and 50.3 billion tumblog posts.

But what it has also done—and what was most attractive to our FlashFWD Awards considerations—was the fact that they have also provided a unique way for musicians to create interactive content. This content helps them engage with their fans as well as independently promote their music on a regular and more personal basis.

As the winner of the FlashFWD Award for Best in Artist Support, Tumblr is being recognized as a revolutionary platform for musicians looking for innovative ways to reach their fans and explore and strengthen the relationships they have formed with them over time. The platform is also a vessel for sharing and expressing more personal thoughts, photos, and other media to give fans and readers an insider’s look into the mind and daily lives of these artists. 

How Have Musicians Started Tumbling?

Musicians started their Tumblr pages like anyone else would—by blogging. This has included everything from band news and tour diaries to music promotion, personal or random thoughts and funny lines. As a vehicle for musician-fan communication, Tumblr brought the two one step closer together, giving fans something to read to deepen their knowledge and appreciation of the artist(s) they already devote their listening time to.

As users began to discover new functions and possibilities for Tumblr, so too did musicians begin to adapt. Photo-sharing became popular, and musicians jumped on the opportunity to share more behind-the-scenes photos with their fans—anything from antics on the tour bus and setting up for gigs to family photos and what they had for breakfast. They’ve also shared drawings and images they find interesting or funny. This past year also saw GIFs rise in popularity, and musicians began sharing them via the platform as interesting and funny tidbits demonstrating action shots during concerts.

As Tumblr Progressed, So Too Did the Music Industry

One of the next biggest platform changes for Tumblr is the addition of the music widget, which allowed musicians to embed music playlists into their posts and profile sidebars. This includes a collaboration with SoundCloud, which many musicians already use to promote their music. These widgets have given musicians the chance to share their latest tunes with their fans. They also have the ability to share their own favorite music or music that they’re listening to to give their fans a deeper look into their own musical tastes and preferences.

Tumblr’s tag directory makes it possible to include Twitter-like hashtags to make their content more readily available and searchable for Tumblr users. This has allowed musicians to tag their music by genre, subject matter, title and more, and it has helped them become more visible to both current and potential fans. 

Musicians Assimilate into the Twitter Culture and Community

The aspect of Tumblr that is perhaps most enticing for musicians is the reblog function, with which users can repost their favorite content on their own tumblog to share with their own set of followers. Reblogging allows users to feel like a more devoted fan by sharing their favorite musicians’ content with others and by spreading the word of how great they think the music is. This makes it easier for content to go viral across the platform.

Another way that musicians have assimilated into the Tumblr community is through likes and replies. Like most other social media sites, likes and comments are the key to fan interaction in that they let your fans share their interest and speak their mind.

Keeping all of the many uses of Tumblr in mind, we feel that the platform rightly deserves the Best in Artist Support FlashFWD Award. They have helped to transform the online social space for musicians in a way that not many other services have, and they allow them to interact with their fans on a more personal level than some of the bigger social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. As Tumblr continues to grow and progress, we are excited to see where they—and musicians—will end up next.

_______________________________________________________________________

Tumblr’s “Music Evangelist”, Nate Auerbach speaks exclusively with Soundctrl on Tumblr’s increased involvement in music, the changing entertainment industry, and addresses Kanye West’s claim that the Chicago emcee is the reason Tumblr exists.

SoundCtrl: There are over 100 million active Tumblr blogs, how much of that traffic would you say is music related?

Nate Auerbach: We don’t have hard statistics on that. Music is so engrained in the culture of the Tumblr community, who they follow, what they post about and what they share. It also manifests through so many different forms—audio posts, GIFs, photos, videos, quotes, text posts, etc.

SC: Record labels such as Def Jam have their own tumblr, Frank Ocean debuted his album stream (and his controversial coming out letter) on his Tumblr site. Tumblr has become ubiquitous in music promotion. How was music factored into the original concept of Tumblr?

NA: Tumblr is a platform and community that empowers creators to express themselves in ways that best reflect their art. Rather than conforming their content or conversations to fit into a grid or a network, they can mold the platform and how they use it. The concept resonates with all creative minds. Musicians are finding that, after over a decade in the digital age, their album artwork can be important again.

Frank Ocean wanted to engage an emotion with his album premiere. He wanted people to be able to sift through the artwork, and stream his album as one fluid track. Def Jam is not just a record label; it’s a lifestyle brand that has an identity and a voice. Instead of sending out a press release or posting a tweet that says, “look at this video from our artist,”  and clicking to it, they can just post that video. It’s apparent how much music influences traffic, not just on Tumblr, but everywhere. Look at YouTube plays, the most popular pages on Facebook and the biggest personalities on Twitter. That transcends to Tumblr. Many of our biggest blogs and most tracked tags are music-related.  

SC: Tumblr integrated with Spotify in 2012. What else has Tumblr done to help foster easier music discovery and what does it plan to do in the future?

NA: Earlier this year, we launched a community-curated tag page. I’ve appointed several dozen tag editors to promote the best music-related posts on Tumblr. This is where users can discover new music, blogs and bands. We recently improved our SoundCloud integration to accommodate enhanced search and SoundCloud sets. Bandcamp players can now share directly into our player as well. That’s something the blogging community is particularly excited about.

Tumblr is constantly working to improve the product and site experience, enabling users to find more of what they want easier and faster.

SC: A 3rd party app, Babblr has been released which enables real-time instant messaging in the Tumblr dashboard. How would a service such as this help Tumblr’s growing presence in the music industry.

NA: We are super proud of our developer community and we make our API open and accessible for people to build on top of the Tumblr platform. The more people are getting creative with our API, the more people in music will take notice of what they can do with a platform so rich in content and passion. 

SC: It was reported that Kanye West recently recited the lyrics “I’m the cause for Tumblr” during a performance at a MetGala afterparty. How did Kanye influence Tumblr?

NA: How many rap lyrics do you take literally? Lil Wayne says he’s a Martian. Tumblr is influenced by our users and by the creators on our platform. It would probably be more accurate to say that Kanye’s fans have influenced Tumblr. One of my favorite tumblogs is All Yeezy Everything.

SC: Has Tumblr partnered with artists in any official capacity?

NA: Like the Frank Ocean example, we’ve promoted the streams of albums or tracks with artists, as well as the rollout of unique artwork, GIFs and videos. We presented a free show with Tyler, the Creator, on March 11 in Boulder, CO. It was his first solo show ever, and it attracted so many kids that he did a second show that night because he’s that awesome of a dude to his fans. You can view some links here, here and here. We also helped Alicia Keys to find artists on Tumblr to help her cover her recent tour in unique ways. This was her vision. Some examples are here, here and here. Check out her blog. It’s super awesome. This week we will be announcing another event. Stay tuned for that.  

SC: How can Tumblr help an up and coming independent artist?  

NA: Tumblr allows up-and-comers to plug into pre-existing communities and carve out their own niches. They are given an abundance of tools with which to engage potential fans and generate unique conversations that emanate from their art and their inspirations. A great way to build your fan base is to find the folks who love you already, and see how you can multiply them. Our social tools are all about positive interactions; we don’t have commenting that leads to negativity. Artists can search their names to see what people are posting about them, click on their blogs to see what else they like, what they reblog, etc. They can use it to learn a lot more about who the fans are that will support them. Artists can also build full-on websites off of the Tumblr platform and optimize their web-facing presence, for almost no money, while also reaching kids where they hang out—on the Tumblr dashboard. Tumblr can serve as a complete hub for bands so they can control their navigation. Our integrations allow them to publish content easily and in a manner that is easily transportable and sharable.

The answer to this question can be an essay, but I’ll just stop there.

By Keith Nelson Jr.

RapGenius took the novel idea of lyric annotation and transformed it into a truly revolutionary evolution of peer-to-peer information sharing. The self-described “Wikipedia of Rap” includes video explanations from artists themselves, interpretations of news stories with the new News Genius and even Bible verses.  Just over three years after its inception, RapGenius has not only expanded music discovery, but made the experience user-created.

SoundCtrl: What inspired the idea for RapGenius? 

Mahbod Moghadam: I explained this line [From Cam’ron’s “Family Ties”] to Tom – he was inspired to build the site overnight. He is a genius! My explanation was incorrect by the way – the community has since fixed it.

SC: What were some of the most surprising lyric explanations from artists?

MM: 2Chainz’ explanations are charming. Sheryl Sandberg‘s explanations are the bomb!

SC: The RapIQ feature is an intriguing feature of the site which rewards users for good contributions. How are individual annotations judged and by whom?

MM: There is an extremely complex algorithm! Modern Rap IQ is a reliable indicator of ACTUAL IQ. Some of the smartest geniuses in our whole community, of course, are the verified artists.

SC: RapGenius extends past simply annotating rap lyrics and gives the same attention to news stories, Bible verses, speeches and more. What else will be annotated?

MM: News Genius is blowin up! Check out the entry from the Mississippi Innocence Project. Pretty cool, huh?

SC: That is an incredible expansion of the RapGenius brand. You began including video explanations from artists and even giveaways. What are some other potential measures Rap Genius may take to further connect the artist and the fans? 

MM: You tell me homie! Eventually we want EVERY musician to have a Rap Genius verified account – step one is to sign up!

Back in December, we covered the launch of Piki - an app by the same team that brought us Turntable.fm that combines several elements of online radio and powerful social features to create a platform that emphasize’s the interpersonal component of the music listening experience.

Today, Piki launches on the web in addition to their mobile platform with a fresh new interface…

New Piki listeners will sign up, get a screen name, see an animated explanation of how Piki works and “pik” their first song. That song selection prompts some suggested users in addition to a friend search via Twitter, Facebook and Turntable. Friends who are not yet using Piki, but should be, can be sent an invite (invites are now unlimited)

After that, the listening beings. The music player on the web interface is brand new and follows the simple, sleek design of the mobile version. On the web interface listeners can also adjust the frequency of a person’s Pik’d songs playing in their feed, easily add emojis to songs, and quickly dedicate songs to fellow listeners. 

Go check out Piki and “pik” your first song… mine was “Mirrors” by Justin Timberlake and the first suggestion I got back was “Back to Life” by Soul II Soul… groovin now.

By Jason Epstein

We all know what Billboard charts are, but did you know that they’re an ever-evolving entity, always adapting to the persistently shifting landscape of music consumption?  We spoke to Billboard Editorial Director, Bill Werde about his hand in the Billboard chart’s recent recalibration, ways to define “success” in the music world and the future he envisions for Billboard charts.

SoundCtrl- Harlem Shake became #1 on the Billboard charts thanks to the recalibration that took place to take YouTube views into account.  Can you tell me how this came about and what goes into recalibrating something of that scope?

Bill Werde- The Billboard charts are always evolving – never more rapidly though than in recent years – as this dynamic, digital wave of platforms and distribution methods for music has rolled in.  We’d wanted to add YouTube data to our charts for quite some time, but we couldn’t do it until both YouTube and Billboard felt the data was ready for prime time in terms of integrity and dependability.  The second we crossed that threshold, we added the data.  It turned out to be a perfect storm, because the week we did, “Harlem Shake” broke.  That song did more streams than any previous song, [as measured] by magnitudes.  It made “Gangnam Style” look trifling by comparison, and we all know what a massive global smash that was.

As far as the recalibration itself, it’s weeks of trying different formulas once we can begin to process a new data stream behind the scenes, to make sure the weighting ultimately delivers a chart that is reflective of what Silvio Pietroluongo, our charts director and I feel is happening in the market place.

SC- In the long run, what’s more beneficial for an artist in both the short and long term: to rank highly on the Billboard Hot 100, or the Billboard 200?

BW- This presumes there’s only one way for an artist to create a meaningful trajectory in 2013.  What’s great about music these days is that there are dozens of ways for an artist to create a fan base and momentum.  It used to be the only way to be a star was to get your song on radio and then sell lots of albums.  These days, you have artists like Pitbull who may not sell a ton of albums, but instead sell so many singles they can make just as much money as big album artists.  And of course, Pitbull cleans up on the road – fans want to hear all those hits.  Or perhaps more to the point, you have Psy, who clearly had a massive, undeniable, global smash hit with Gangnam Style before radio ever really started to play it.  I think you’ll see a lot more of that in the coming years.

So I don’t think it’s really a question of what chart is best for an artist – it really depends on what sort of artist you are, and what your goals are.  I think what never changes though, is that the artists who stick around will be the ones that find meaningful and honest ways to connect with their fans.  You have to stand for something, mean something to people.  You have to be a real artist to transcend the Billboard charts entirely – to be bigger than any one song or album. That’s when you really win.

SC - What can you see in the future of Billboard.com and music charts ingeneral?  Is there another recalibration on the horizon to take streaming music or another form of audio consumption into account?

BW- There will always, always, always be another recalibration on the horizon.  We’ve been charting music for more than six decades.  We were the chart of record when vinyl 45s were what mattered.  We were the chart of record when 8 tracks were hot.  You get where I’m heading with this – CDs, digital downloads, streams, it doesn’t really matter to us; Billboard charts what’s happening in the marketplace for music.  If in 10 years people listen to music by having it beamed into their heads, I’m sure we’ll have the Billboard Cranium 100 chart.

In a more specific way, we’re doing a lot of work behind the scenes right now on acquiring and processing data at faster speeds so we can create a whole suite of products.  I can’t say too much about it yet, but I’ll say this: once upon a time, Billboard charts were basically just ascii text: non-interactive lists of songs and artists.  Today you can export our charts from Billboard.com and use them as playlists in Spotify and Rdio.  We use our charts as jumping off points for people to discover news, videos and more about those artists and songs. My expectation is that in the very near future, the Billboard charts will be living, breathing, time-and-space shifting representations of what people are listening to in particular places, on particular platforms and so on.

By Jason Epstein

Virgin gaming is an online service that allows gamers all over the world to challenge each other in cash- and prize-fueled competitions.  Just register, choose your game, pick your style of play, challenge players (or use VG’s matchmaking system) and play directly on your console to get started.  After completing your game, Virgin Gaming automatically updates your results and awards the winner with a payout.  They offer a standardized skill rating system, a Fair Play guarantee, and dedicated customer support to make sure that all gamers are getting an unbiased shot at their cash.  We spoke to Virgin Gaming co-founder Billy Levy about the service. 

SoundCtrl – What kind of gamer is usually drawn to Virgin Gaming?

Billy Levy – Virgin Gaming attracts gamers from all walks of life as our platform rewards both casual and avid gamers alike.  The typical gamer is male, 18-35, tech savvy, affluent, socially influential with above average disposable income.  We have registered over 2.3M gamers from over 220 countries around the world with a massive presence in the US, UK, Mexico, Canada and Western Europe.  Virgin Gaming players are heavily competitive and enjoy adding an extra layer of fun/pressure to the gaming experience by placing a small wager on the outcome.  Currently we offer an array of sports titles (Madden, FIFA, NBA 2K, NHL) as these games are inherently competitive by nature; so our users are very male and big sports fans.  Given the intersection of sports and music…music is a key passion point of our members as well.

SC – A lot of people might be wondering, How is this different (and better) than gambling?

BL – Virgin Gaming offers cash competition games of skill.  Games of skill are regulated differently and not considered to be gambling as gambling occurs in games of chance.  The games and competitions we offer are skill based.  It’s better than gambling because it’s your skill that dictates the outcome of the game.  If you are gambling and place a bet on the Knicks and they lose because Melo had a bad game, that’s totally out of your control.  On Virgin Gaming, gamers control the outcome!

Another advantage to Virgin Gaming is that you do not have to be the best player in the world to win, as we have tournaments and competitions for gamers of all skill levels and have a multi-tiered payout system in which most players win money after winning just one game in any VG tournament.  We also do matchmaking on the platform to match up players against gamers of a similar skill level and ultimately compete based on their knowledge of the game itself, the various formations, their understanding of the nuances, strategies, etc.  With Virgin Gaming, practice makes perfect and many of our players compete for free, prior to entering into cash based tournaments or head-to-head games.

Also, aside from playing for just cash, gamers have been able to win some amazing experiential prizes from trips to the Super Bowl to playing for $100k cash and a brand new car at the NBA All-Star Game.  In total, gamers have won over $32M playing video games!  That’s pretty amazing!

SC – What new games are being added and what new developments are being made for Virgin Gaming in the near future?

BL – Lots of new games coming down the pipeline…can’t disclose that just yet, but be on the lookout for some major announcements in the coming weeks.

Some new developments:

• Xbox Tournaments with Virgin Gaming (the VG experience without ever having to leave your console) launched on April 9^th.
• Mobile gaming for cash (mobile games and challenges from your device) –  later this year we will be launching cash-based competitions in some of the world’s best mobile titles on iOS and Android.
• User generated tournaments (gamers set the invite list, prize pool, payout structure, etc.) – coming soon.

By Jesse Kirshbaum - CEO and Co-Founder of SoundCtrl

For the third time, I had the privilege of attending and covering the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference. (See 2011 and 2012′s recaps here and here). 

This year’s conference was at Hamerstein Ballroom, and was very polished and well done. Although the speakers seemed more isolated and harder to connect with than in the past, the talks were great and got some excellent take aways from what I did attend.

On Tuesday, our own Dana Sedgwick made it down to see Troy Carter talk about evolving technologies and investment philosophies.

I missed Downloaded, the Napster documentary, but it sounded cool. It’s definitely on my hit list. I was also too hungover after the GIG-IT launch party to make it to Rap Genius. But I love those guys (Mahbod Moghadam, Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory) and it sounds like they killed it.

Jonah Peretti's keynote

Jonah Peretti, CEO of Buzzfeed gave an enlightening talk about social content. The slide shown above summarizes his points.

Also got a chance to see Dennis Crowley, CEO of FourSquare, talk right after Jonah. The interviewer was tough on him, but he talked about his vision, haters, his Boston Marathon experience, and FourSquare’s revenue. We have no reason to suspect anything but big things from him and his team.

Guy Oseary and Ashton Kutcher

The highlight of the conference for me was seeing Michael Arrington chop it up with Guy Oseary and Ashton Kutcher. Ashton was his normal charming self. Well spoken in a casual way, he talked about how the two met and started A-GRade.

As it pertains to music, Guy is a big believer in the next frontier being “Streaming and Curation.” He’s betting that Spotify will ultimately be successful, and that labels will be able to come together and support each other.

On Tuesday at Capitale in NYC, Gig-It threw one of the biggest, most impressive launch party we’ve ever seen for a startup. The Facebook game, which allows users to create their own virtual concerts, customizing everything from the performers, to their set lists, venues, special effects, and even their wardrobes. Gig-It took aim at the king of Facebook games, by branding the event with their hashtag, #thisaintnofarm.

Gig-It pulled out all the stops, and featured abbreviated performances from the likes of Miguel, Elle Varner, Fabolous, 2 Chainz, and Nas. DJ Khaled and LaLa took care of the hosting duties, while Miami’s DJ Irie spun between sets. Randi Zuckerberg was also on hand to lend her endorsement.

For more info on Gig-It, which officially launches this Spring, visit Mashable.

By Kareem Clarke

V Squared Labs, started by Vello Virkhaus, is a visual art production studio located in Los Angeles California. The V Squared Labs team is composed of VJ’s, visual artists, animators, programmers, and architects that together create amazing visuals for a concerts, festivals, commercials, and lots more. Through collaborations with other production teams and weeks of preparation, the V Squared Labs team has been responsible for the visuals of the Ultra Music Festival, the visuals and performance booths for the tours of Skrillex, Datsik, and Infected Mushroom, a Grammy after party for Hyundai, and a notable tour for Brazilian electronic musician Amon Tobin.

Below is our interview with Vello Virkhaus the CEO & Creative Director of V Squared Labs:

SoundCtrl: How did V Squared Labs get started?

Vello Virkhaus: By a love for created visual art. Initially we did a lot of experimental work.

SC: What was your first big project?

VV: Our first big project was with Korn. They helped us establish ourselves in LA and in entertainment in general. The project involved lots of collaboration with different directors which was great. Then we were able to create an interactive DVD with Korn that landed on Billboard and led to more work with Korn and meeting people all around the world.

SC: What has been your biggest project/what project took the longest amount of prep time?

VV: Ultra Music Festival was the biggest project this year. That took about 2 and a half weeks of prep work. Also The Hyundai Grammy after party was a pretty big deal. We created a reflective room for them and that took about 3 weeks. On average, it takes about a month or so to prepare unless there is any kind of content creation involved. Then it takes a lot longer.

SC: How did you get to work with Amon Tobin, how was that experience and about how long did it take you guys to prepare for that?

VV: The Amon Tobin project took about 15 weeks of preparation. We were recommended for the project through a mutual friend and from there, we built a team for the project. The biggest challenge of this project was that we started from nothing. There was no software or anything to go off. We had to write our own software that included face mapping and many other pieces that were all built into one system. This project was definitely the most challenging project we have had thus far but also the most rewarding. Amon Tobin is one of the most awesome artists we have worked with, he was very involved.

SC: Where do you see V squared labs in 5 years?

VV: We will continue to grow, be competitive, stay successful, and do more music projects and commercial projects. Also get more into the agency market and advance our interactive projection techniques.

SC: Where do you see the industry in 5 years?

VV: Just advancing and having bigger and better shows. I see a lot of great things; new aesthetics and new artists. The importance of visual art is growing stronger between visual artists, lighting and visual media especially in EDM. Potentially more credit will be given to visual artists, perhaps licensing and general recognition.

I definitely see more opportunity in the future. Competition creates advancement.

By Kira Grunenberg

Teenagers or early 20-somethings might say that upon hearing “NPR” come up in conversation, thoughts of people much older than them with jump to the front of their minds; as well as thoughts of content that cannot possibly be relevant to anyone their own age. Well, if there was ever a time to ditch the demographic stereotypes surrounding NPR and its programming, now is it. While NPR offers coverage on an array of different content that breaches everything from international politics to science, sports, and art, (the first of which might not be at the top of a teen’s priority list), NPR Music, dedicated exclusively to just that, has moved forward leaps and bounds in their quest to widen appeal toward people of all ages and interests when it comes to which artists and genres are featured.

Nearly everything about NPR Music has stepped into the 21^st century. Its availability spans terrestrial radio, digital streaming via the official NPR Music website, an app exclusively for NPR music’s content and of course, accounts on many of the major social media platforms, including: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram.

There are 11 specific programs hosted through NPR Music, individual pages for seven genres (Rock, Jazz, Classical, Hip-Hop / R&B, Folk, World and Electronic / Dance) and four regularly updated blogs that often provide perspective that is much more raw than that of a typical Top 40 radio station. 

When it comes specifically to new music discovery, NPR Music is undeniably a top dog in the business. Their “Tiny Desk Concerts” and “First Listen” programs are exceptionally good in this matter for two very strong reasons:

1) The stronger feeling of artist-to-fan intimacy associated with Tiny Desks’ exclusive video sets, which are shot right in the NPR Music office and not more than a step’s length away from the artists themselves. 

2) The albums selected for advanced listening are often times highly buzz/blog worthy and the availability of the streams usually precedes the public release date by several days –many times even longer than a full week and are accompanied by an overall review to boot.

The NPR Music team is poised to become an even more frequented destination for both new artists on the rise and established artists with new records to promote. (See also: this piece from the Wall Street Journal on the current status of NPR vis-à-vis music). The perusal of NPR Music’s webpages and listening to their programs and podcasts means exposure to both fresh and familiar names, epitomizing music discovery.

The inclusion of deeply personal and non-predictable artist interview content could solidify NPR Music even more. Not surprisingly, the staff knows this too, as their World Cafe series hears artists offering lesser-gossiped, more fleshed out insight to things like the inspiration behind songs, tabloid rumors and other Easter eggs fans might not hear though other discovery outlets. 

Amy Schriefer, Senior Product Manager with NPR Music, spoke with me about her thoughts on the importance of strong radio programming, the nuts and bolts behind NPR Music’s selections, and how the brand plans to continue changing and refreshing the music discovery scene, as well as itself.

SoundCtrl: NPR as an organization and iconic brand, has been around since the 1970s but more recently has gained a lot of recognition and popularity in mainstream media -particularly amid online communications. Clearly we can see you’re doing everything possible to expand your audience and demographics. What would you say is the one thing you knew the NPR Music branch needed to do in order for this change to effectively happen as it has?

Amy: To me, public radio has always worked to expand audience and demographics, to varying degrees of success. Our member stations rely on listener support, so their very model is one of outreach and engagement. When NPR Music formed in 2005, our goal was to aggregate the best public radio music programming across the system and create a powerful platform for music discovery and discussion. Bringing together all of the amazing programs, stories, interviews, videos, and digital streams demonstrates the scope of public radio music, but also our collective reach.

SoundCtrl: Since NPR Music is now often referred to as a top-level source for finding music, how does the NPR Music team decide on the chosen featured music or artists? Specific blogs? Online buzz? Employee suggestions? All the above?

Amy: We work with the top DJs in public radio to identify new music. Our staff includes critics, reporters, and hosts across genres and we also work with the arts and culture reporters on the NPR news magazines. Like any music fan, we’re constantly connected our favorite music sources, looking for new music, but also combing the archives for the music that came before and that shaped these new sounds and searching for the music that helps to tell the story of cultural moments, past and present.

SoundCtrl: Even though NPR Music is trying to appeal to younger listeners, do you feel there is something still inherently more “adult” about things like the platform’s artist interview content, due to the fact that questions and scenarios addressed often go far beyond the surface layer of shocker headlines and the circulating gossip topic(s)?

Amy: NPR strives to be a trusted source for story-telling and analysis. I don’t think there is anything inherently “adult” about that. I think music fans of any age seek more information and greater understanding.

SoundCtrl: Does NPR Music have any new promotions, strategies or programs in the works for the near future that we can anticipate? 

Amy: We plan to continue to develop our story-telling tools, particularly using video and multi-media, and making sure our content works seamlessly across platforms–radio, digital, mobile, etc. The DC office also just moved to a new building, taking the Tiny Desk along with it, so look for a relaunch of our Tiny Desk Concert series in the near future.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

SoundCtrl is proud to announce our nominees for the 4th Annual FlashFWD Awards – honoring excellence and innovation in music technology.

Every year, we’re excited by the steady and explosive growth of technology that is changing the ways we create, perform, discover and listen to music. Since the inception of FlashFWD in 2010, we’ve seen the industry shift, adjust and evolve many times over.

This year, there are simply too many companies and individuals we wanted to recognize. We feel compelled open up the conversation to you – the artist, the fan, the influencer – who do you think deserves a 2013 FlashFWD Award?

Submit your vote for each of our six categories through our 2013 ballot hosted right HERE on SoundCtrl!

Best in Discovery | Best in Live | Best in Mobile & Tablet

Best in Artist Support | Best in Gaming | SoundWAV Influencer Award

See if your favorites make the cut on Wednesday, May 22nd at the Gramercy Theatre where we will welcome nominees, artists, entrepreneurs, and industry elite to celebrate our 2013 honorees, with special performances by guests TBA.

The voting period ends in two weeks and honorees will be announced in May. Congratulations to all our nominees and looking forward to another amazing FlashFWD season!

To check out what went down in 2012, visit our recap HERE and check out what past winners think about FlashFWD HERE.

If you’d like to receive a press pass and/or interview the SoundCtrl board about the event, please email flashfwd@soundctrl.com.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Best in Discovery: Past honorees include Spotify (2012), The Echo Nest (2011), Hype Machine (2010)

Recognizing a product or service that has most significantly impacted and improved the way fans discover and share recorded music

1) Songza 2) NPR Music 3) YouTube 4) Mixify 5) Rap Genius

Best in Live: Past honorees include Square (2012), The Creator’s Project (2011)

Recognizing a product, service or organization that has most significantly improved the live concert experience from either a fan or artist perspective

1) Boiler Room 2) V Squared Labs 3) Superfly Presents 4) ID&T

Best in Mobile & Tablet: Past honorees include Snibbe Interactive for Biophilia (2012), SoundTracking (2011)

Recognizing a product or service that is breaking new ground in mobile technology and expanding upon traditional fan engagement

1) Pheed 2) Groovebug 3) Biobeats 4) Instagram

Best in Artist Support: Past honorees include BandPage (2012), SoundCloud (2011), Indaba Music (2010)

Recognizing a product or service that focuses on giving artists more options in creating and promoting their music independently

1) Tumblr 2) Jamplify 3) PledgeMusic 4) (New) Myspace

Best in Gaming: A Brand New Category

Recognizing a game, creator or organization that demonstrates innovation in music integration with a gaming platform, be it through soundtrack, virtual marketplace, or unique partnership.

1) Video Star App 2) SoundPlay by Pitchfork 3) Kinect for XBOX 360 4) Virgin Gaming

SoundWAV Influencer Award: Past honorees include Scooter Braun (2012), Troy Carter (2011)

Recognizing an individual who has significantly impacted digital music culture through the early adoption or creation of new technology and is seen as a visionary and voice in the music tech industry

1) Bill Werde 2) Jimmy Iovine 3) Amanda Palmer 4) Guy Oseary 5) Questlove

2013 FlashFWD nominee Songza has released version 3.0 of their much-beloved iOS streaming app. The company also announced they have surpassed 6 million app installs.

To vote for Songza (or anyone else) for a FlashFWD award, visit our voting page. Voting closes end of day tomorrow, so don’t wait!

For the full story, visit Billboard.biz

By Dana Sedgwick, @danasedgwick

As part of our continuing coverage of Disrupt NY, I headed over to the HQ yesterday to catch TechCrunch’s Josh Constine in conversation with Troy Carter, CEO & founder of Atom Factory and co-founder of Backplane.

In general, I was disappointed by TechCrunch’s line of questioning that trended towards a mistrust of the convergence of technology and music – that somehow these two industries were bound to always be at odds.

The opening question was very telling, “Has tech screwed the music industry?”

But Carter’s response was genuinely hopeful rather than apocalyptic, citing that technology has always driven music sales (the creation of the CD anyone?), and that although recent innovation has forced change within the industry, technology will eventually help it scale.

Later in the conversation, he also recognized the music industry’s molasses-like adaption to the changing landscape, calling in particular for a new generation of music publishers who can see the value in lowering the barriers for young tech companies to obtain and license music.

When asked where the holes are in the music tech space, Carter mentioned the continuing battle for in-car entertainment, no doubt a space we’ll continue to watch evolve as terrestrial radio struggles and satellite radio competes with internet music subscription services.

He also pointed out the need for better solutions in tour routing and coordination.

“It’s a waste the way we route tours now… It’s not based off of real data, for the most part its just guesswork. We need a better system and cleaner data to really understand how to maximize revenue.”

But for me, the biggest takeaways were found in how Carter discussed his personal investments (Spotify, DropBox, Uber), and the areas he’s looking to invest in next which include health and education.

Carter described his investment philosophy as mirroring the methods he uses to find excellent artists.

“We look for dynamic founders… And we treat the founders the same way we treat artists. Most of the guys who come to us have come through trusted filters… whether it’s Menlo, Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, we invest alongside of some smart guys. And in the music industry I stay close to people with really good ears. It’s the same filter, same process.”

Also interesting was Carters’s opinion on celebrity investment, which he seemed hesitant to give despite Constine’s insistance that earlier he’d called it “just a fad.”

Carter has worked closely with Ashton Kutcher and Will.i.am, describing them both as some of “the smartest guys I’ve ever met with a clear understanding of product.”

But in general, he preached not to “use celebrity for the sake of celebrity.”

“Celebrities can’t add rocket fuel to a bad product… but when you have a great product and you marry that to a celebrity fan base where the fans get value and the celebrity gets value, and they’re incentivised by investment or getting value share, then that’s the perfect marriage.” 

Troy carter is the CEO and Founder of Atom Factory and is a past FlashFWD SoundWAV Honoree (2011).

By Greg Kumparak via TechCrunch

“Hot damn, the Disrupt NY 2013 Hackathon was great. Even with the hackathon over and the winner declared (Way to go, Rambler!), we keep finding more projects we want to highlight.

Built in just 24 hours, Game Of Tones is a proof-of-concept game that, with a bit of work, could teach you to play the actual guitar (versus, say, Rock Band — which, while a great game, is about as effectiv

Game Of Tones works in unison with a real-life electric guitar, paired to the computer through a line-in converter. As you strum, notes are fired from the neck of your on-screen hero’s guitar. Different chords result in different attacks, currently represented as notes of different hues. Strum an A, and blue notes fire out; strum an E, and red notes are fired…

The team says they’d like to expand the concept into something more, mentioning the possibility of some sort of forever-runner platformer with enemies vulnerable to different chords, or a multiplayer shredding battle.”

Check out the demo and the full post on www.techcrunch.com

By Kira Grunenberg

Find the full review of Soundwave here.

Soundwave is a brand new music discovery and sharing app, developed by a team of creative people based in Dublin, Ireland. The app’s active use has been a long time in coming, as the company began its work in February 2012.

Recently having attended the South by Southwest Festival in Austin this past March, and having shown their hard work in action, Soundwave is now signing up users for its newest beta version and working furiously to make the app better everyday. Brendan O’Driscoll, Founder of Soundwave, chatted with me about the app inspiration, its global potential and even gave a peek into the next “wave” to come:

SoundCtrl: First of all, congratulations on the beta launch. It’s been really neat watching you and the rest of the Soundwave team evolve, even in the short time I’ve been following along prior to SXSW. Music blogger Damien Joyce deserves a nod here, as he was responsible for introducing us to one another!

While this might be one of the most obvious starting questions, I think it presents a worthwhile level of intrigue: Why is Soundwave here today? Where did this concept come from? Considering that in recent times, music discovery apps have seemed to multiply faster than users can download them, the desire to push through with something you are convinced has its own character must mean your source of inspiration is something really striking…

Brendan: We always thought that finding new music was a chore and were constantly looking for simple new ways to find new music. Apps, websites and clever recommendation engines weren’t keeping our attention either so we spent most of the time asking each other and our friends about what new songs we had recently found.

Then one day when I was working in Sweden, I was coming home from work and saw a tall, blonde Swedish girl almost walk into a tree because she was so engrossed in the song she was listening to. I immediately wondered if there was a way for me to find out what the song was- and I looked around for apps that could give me this info- but there were none.

That week, I Skyped with my cousin Aidan and discussed the idea further. After some initial validation of the idea from musicians and friends, we applied to the NDRC LaunchPad Programme in last spring with the Soundwave idea and a hunch that we were on to something quite unique in the crowded space of music discovery.

There are apps that help you identify a song playing in a club (Shazam), record your own song (SoundCloud), listen to a song on the radio (Pandora), and music subscription services (Spotify and Rdio) where you can listen to a full song. But, if you are looking to find new music based off of what your friends listen to, your current location, or even discover what the most popular hip/hop songs in Brooklyn are right now, there was no efficient method in the space. 

Soundwave’s objective is to make it easy and fun to find new music in a way that provides highly relevant content to you. Its your app that shows what your friends, family and favorites (musicians, athletes ,celebs) listen to which gives you inspiration when your finding new music!

SoundCtrl: Continuing with this theme about your inspiration: The “Music Map” feature has to be my favorite aspect of Soundwave’s interface, as well one of the strongest factors to set the app apart. Are you, or the rest of the team, heavy travelers and is that what brought this feature into being?

Brendan: Yes, travel did influence the ‘Music Map’ feature. When I lived abroad in Sweden I was exposed to entirely different tastes in music, and I shared my song discoveries with friends in Ireland via Facebook and Twitter. And likewise, they kept me in the loop with music trends in Dublin. Now, with the Soundwave app, I can simply draw a circle over Texas, Amsterdam, or Sweden and see what songs are actually playing in real-time. With Soundwave, I can instantly learn what is trending in that location. No other app out there combines social, location and music discovery in such a hyper-local and relevant way- it’s the new SoLoMo- it’s SoLoMu!!

SoundCtrl: Might you share with us some thoughts on your trip to SXSW? How was the reception to Soundwave as a new service and concept?

Brendan: SXSW is the dream for a music start-up- it is the place where you literally run into the key movers and shakers in the tech/music scene- from Robert Scoble to the founders of Foursquare and SoundCloud. We are based outside of the US, so we were looking to make some headway in the US- and SXSW provided us with the perfect forum to show off the app and build a number of strategic partnerships.

SXSW was also great for trialing a marketing stunt- we asked a local dance crew to preform on 6^th street with no audible music- just with headphones on. Curious spectators could only find out what songs they were dancing to by checking out our #SXDancingGuy Twitter feed or by signing up for the app beta.

After SXSW, we rented an RV and drove across the US to Las Vegas and San Francisco for some very productive follow-up meetings. All in all, our trip to the US was quite the adventure! As you can see from the pin drops attached, it was also a great way to test the location aspect of the app. On our next trip over, we want to curate the top plays for Route 66 – how cool would that be!

SoundCtrl: As I alluded to in my full review of the app, do you think Soundwave has the potential to help reduce some of the homogeneity of music in the western world, knowing that playlists of anyone, in any part of the globe, are only a sound circle drawing away?

Brendan: Soundwave gives you the ability to ‘explore the latest music trends in New York while on the bus in London’. Music began as a community based and tribal event. Even today, each community has it’s own unique vibe and music taste. With Soundwave, you can tap into that from anywhere in the world.

SoundCtrl: Regarding some of the technical factors involved in using Soundwave: I noticed that when the app cannot retrieve a song’s metadata in order to play it back, users get routed to an internal version of YouTube to cue up an available version of that same track for listening. However, it seems international content barriers are blocking the way when it comes to hearing some of these songs in other countries. Does Soundwave plan on mitigating this issue with future releases or is this more of a deep rooted legal battle with global PROs and access limitations, with which you are not wanting to tamper?

Brendan: We did not set out to become a music player like Spotify or Rdio; Soundwave works side by side with these existing music providers as an aggregated music discovery feed. The problem we found with content providers is not that they don’t have enough content. They have too much. Spotify has a library of over 20 million songs and users often freeze when faced with this amount of choice. As a result, we wanted to position ourselves as a content discovery platform and not a content provider. As you mentioned, this means we can steer clear of any licensing issues Regarding YouTube content availability – that’s all on YouTube’s side. We’re working on a smarter results system now that only returns “available content” and also chatting daily with the team at YouTube. Regarding your questions above about “Most Liked and “Most Disliked” charts, those charts in the ‘Explore’ section of the app are compiled globally –every user of Soundwave is included in this data. The ‘Explore’ section is where we plan to put interesting content we want to feature for our users –new bands to join the app, top ten charts of popular music festivals etc. But at the moment it is where the global charts live. We plan to have more specific charts searchable by genre, groups and location down the line. Right now you can see an individual user’s Top Charts, and in the next build you will be able to see location charts when you draw a sound circle on the map.

SoundCtrl: Can you tell us any new capabilities or specific features you are hoping to develop in future versions of Soundwave?

Brendan: Our development team is hard at work ensuring that we will be able to pull song listens from all music players. We currently collect song listens from Google Play, Rdio and all native smartphone music players, but we plan to expand this offering in future releases.

We are also working on a groups feature- you can organize your friends into groups- ie ‘Indie Music Fans’ and specifically recommend songs to a particular subset of followers. 

We also see a strong use case developing for large events and music festivals. Next year we hope that Coachella attendees can draw a Soundwave circle over Indio and see the most liked, disliked and played songs by genre in real-time. We have big plans for the future, so stay tuned!!

Currently, we are in beta collecting feedback from a growing Irish community of users. We are optimizing on both platforms, both Android and iOS and currently work on tablets too- so readers- sign up for the beta right now at www.getsoundwave.com.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

By Caroline Heneghan

Have you ever spent several minutes or even hours refreshing your Twitter feed for all the latest news, gossip and hashtags? For some, this time at the computer or watching from your mobile device may have even replaced time spent sitting in front of the TV. But wouldn’t it be even better to not have to sift through all the noise to get to the meat of the best and most important updates to you? Now with Trending 10, a production of Trident, Fuse and of course, Twitter, you can.

As a product of Fuse, the national music television network of the Madison Square Garden Company, you can expect Trending 10 to involve all things music—when it comes to Twitter at least. Instead of sifting through endless Twitter updates trying to find your favorite artists’ latest thoughts, tour updates and the like, Trending 10 will curate these posts to bring only the best and most relevant trending bits to the conversation. In fact, the entire conversation will be exclusively driven by updated Twitter feeds and real-time Twitter conversation spikes—the first multiscreen and multiplatform Twitter TV show of its kind.

The way it works is that Trending 10 shares the top 10 trending music-related stories of the day straight from Twitter. To do this, the exhaustive Twitter posts are filtered through Fuse’s Heat Tracker technology, which determines which artists are currently generating the biggest racket in the Twitterverse. The real-time online social conversation of music lovers drives every aspect of this program, including the broadcast itself, “sneak peek” digital shorts, exclusive sharable content like interviews and articles and live online access to the Heat Tracker at Fuse.tv/T10.

The Heat Tracker on Fuse’s website is currently a mass of multicolored circles with different artists’ photos whose sizes correspond to the depth and breadth of conversation on Twitter. Along the bottom is a graph that demonstrates which hours of the day feature the most Tweets. These features can help you stay on top of all of the music Twitter conversation as well as get a clue as to what the show might cover that week. Trending 10’s own Twitter account keeps you posted on show times as well as sneak peeks into subjects being featured on that week’s show.

All in all, cofounder and gum producer Trident, through Trending 10, aims to facilitate the social media conversation, brought to you by yet another screen—your TV—and engage viewers and followers of the show through all of its social channels. This interaction will help Trident access its customers at their every gum-chewing moment—standing in line at checkout, commuting, etc. Fuse allows Trident to reach their music-loving customers in unique and interactive ways, making the brand more accessible using a fresh platform that contextualizes the social conversation of the day.

The Trending 10 half-hour countdown show airs weeknights at 7:30e/6:30c on Fuse’s linear network and is hosted by Yasmine Richard of Top 20 Countdown. The program also features guest hosts like Dan Brown and Elaine Moran.

By Kira Grunenberg

Soundwave, a fledgling company based out of Dublin, Ireland, has stepped into the digital music arena with their namesake app. They offer music listening, discovery, liking and sharing, much like any other music app out on the market already – but Soundwave has got the formula laid out in a surprisingly different and very cool way.

Much in the way that Twitter has – for better or worse – led to a greater importance of the speed of dissemination of information, Soundwave’s “Music Map” feature also emphasizes instantaneous awareness and real-time coexistence of music through the world’s digital devices. Anyone logged into and actively scrolling through Soundwave will see artists and songs in the feeds of those they follow. The songs shown are often playing at that very moment, and the rest is backlog of what one’s followers were listening to farther in the past as one scrolls downward. The map feature turns the user into that of a virtual musical jet-setter. 

Want to see what’s playing, this very second, in all of Africa? Hit the “draw” button on the map and a free form tool activates, converting the drawing of a simple circle with one’s finger, into a designated search area. Soundwave refers to these as “sound circles.” If there are any Soundwave users within the hand drawn area, Google Maps-style dropped pins appear and one can either zoom in, to see exactly where the music is active, tap the pins right from the map to see the where each song is playing right off the map, or, hit the results tab and see the songs in list form for immediate perusal. Might not seem like much of an adventurous undertaking at first but, just start exploring the world –by continent, country or crowded metropolis, and it becomes very hard to pull away.

Despite the internet’s reach, the fact that it still takes a considerable amount of effort or communication simply to find out what native artists are popular in another country says a lot about how segmented the global music scene still feels –particularly when searching within the US.

Once a user has compiled a sizable feed full of likes they have put on others’ tracks, “giving back” and building one’s own library might incite a bit of frustration. “Where’s the upload button?” “Where’s the mic feature to identify and convert music playing at my local bar?” Soundwave has neither of these. This begs the question of how tracks come to be in the app at all. The answer is that there are no buttons or converters to deal with whatsoever. (It took me a little while to figure this out because I skipped the initial intro pages, believing the interface would be self-explanatory). The only requirement to build oneself up as an avid Soundwave user, is to listen to music. That’s it –really. The only catch to that is that the music has to be played on the device loaded with the Soundwave app. The app automatically detects when a user has music playing on their device’s native music app and after a song plays, the information is quickly and accurately retrieved and put in one’s Soundwave activity feed. Listening to an hour long mix during a workout at the gym? That’s an easy 9-10 tracks added to your feed by the time the playlist ends. Music you are finding and enjoying in the app from others can also be played while it is minimized and you are doing other things. Users can also access their in-phone cameras to pull different photos to use as their profile image.

The rest of Soundwave’s features are very comfortable and familiar. The usual jargon of “Like” and “Follow” have been mentioned but “Buckets” and “Humdingers” are two terms new to the scene. The former term acts like a sharing feature. Hit a song to play and if that song is something you want another user that you follow to hear, tapping the “Bucket” feature will bring up a list of one’s followers and a single tap will “drop” the currently cued up track into that person’s bucket. So long as the filter to hide bucket activity is not turned on, the next time the selected user logs in, the bucket symbol with the chosen song will be in their feed, telling them the song came as a recommendation from another user. There is also a bucket section where users can go just to see what others have left them, much like the “@” reply feature on Twitter. Humdingers represent something akin to super-favorites, as they have their own filter and can be singled out for easy access and replay, as well as being songs users can select to represent their “song of the moment” that will sit alongside their user name on their profile. Ratings are Soundwave’s version of the Like and Dislike a la Pandora, but, a large or small number of either has no bearing on a user’s ability to play their music –even if everyone were to give it a dislike. The purpose of the feature for the moment, is to help gage and determine the most liked and disliked tracks. 

Seeing as Soundwave is still in beta, there’s room for devlopers compassion, as the app is going to be changing even more profusely in the coming weeks and months, to be sure. Still, this is where questions start arising. The ratings system, for example, with the “most liked” and “most disliked…” what are the grouping parameters for compiling those lists? Are they lists made up of songs from people I follow? My immediate geographical location? State? Global Soundwave users? The fact that Soundwave is intended to highlight groups to show what’s trending and popularly played in the real world… well, I would want to know which “sound circle” of people made the Top 20 what it is.

Furthermore, is there a way to delete songs from a user’s feed? Suppose one’s iPhone or Android is left playing music on the table while one’s hands are full doing something else. Unexpectedly, the music shuffle feature cues up a horribly embarrassing guilty pleasure song from 10 years ago and it syncs with Soundwave before the song can be changed. The ease with which Soundwave’s very fluidly disclosing nature could unleash “TMI” upon anyone who one might know also using Soundwave, is not the most fun thing to think about.

If alerting people to your exact location is not something you want, Soundwave might not be your socialization form of choice. (The pins themselves are anonymous but if you sign up via Facebook, any location info you have filled in there will be automatically listed in your Soundwave user information). Though spreading around favorite songs probably is not a cause for alarm.

Soundwave being at the stage it is right now, the social grouping-focused app seems to be in very sharp form. There are going through some expected growing pains of the beta world –crashing, slight lagging and such– but the system in place offers to report any or all bugs a user experiences with the app. The company plans on remaining in private beta into the near future, in order to address these minor issues and to improve the total user experience through observation and feedback, which can be provided directly from the feedback menu in the app. 

The current incarnation of the private beta is full but you can sign up to be in line for the next “wave” by visiting this page.

There’s also a special bonus if you are really anxious to try the app out ASAP: The Soundwave team has uploaded a mini game onto their site and after you have landed on the waiting list, if you play the game and make it to level 12, you jump the line to the front of the digital queue. Make it four more levels up to 16 and Soundwave names you a permanent VIP!

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

By Carolyn Heneghan

In the art form of stippling, you assimilate dots to form a complete picture. In the art form of Stipple, you assimilate media to form a complete branding solution. Tech startup Stipple weaves together complex forms of media and tags this information to enriched web images for interactive and easily activated content at users’ fingertips. Content creators: Listen up.

Images are pervasive on social media and the web in general, so it’s no wonder that they are at the forefront of Stipple’s digital advertising strategy. You can’t log in to Facebook or Twitter without being bombarded by images from your friends and the brands that you follow. Wouldn’t it be a novel idea to be able to access still more content right from that image? And to take it one step further, wouldn’t it be great if that content remained attached to the image no matter where it might be shared?

While often labeled as a tagging service, Stipple goes far beyond typical tagging capabilities. Users are likely already familiar with tagging people and places in photos, say on Facebook. But once that photo is shared beyond its place on Facebook, the tags are lost on the blog, website or other social media profile it has been shared on. With Stipple, the content is woven directly into the very fabric of the image and thus travels right along with that photo wherever it might end up.

Just this past week at the Ad Age Digital Conference, the company officially introduced its new Stipple Shopping component to increase the ease and accessibility of ecommerce for brands and musicians. Reaching fans and customers has never been easier, as consumers can now purchase products, say albums and merchandise, from right within a photo posted on the band or musician’s website, Facebook, Twitter and the like.

“[Stipple Shopping] revolutionizes online purchasing by enabling brands to share the needed information for consumers to make informed purchase decisions,” says Stipple CEO and founder Rey Flemings. “Let’s stop asking consumers to open multiple browsers to hunt down, explore and compare products—steps that create friction in the sales process. Now, consumers will be able to explore, compare and purchase products without ever leaving the image that they’re looking at.”

And for musicians, he adds, “Instead of asking your fans to click to your website to checkout your albums and merchandise, you can now take the best of what your site offers directly to them through images everywhere.”

While Stipple might generally be more brand-facing, musicians stand to benefit in their own unique ways. According to Flemings, “Music is part of Stipple’s DNA.”

“Stipple enables musicians to package relevant content and deliver it through photos to their fans across the web and social media,” says Flemings. “This means musicians are no longer limited to sharing just a song; with Stipple, in a single image they can share a video from the latest tour stop, backstage pictures, the ability to like the band on Facebook, purchase the latest album on iTunes and more.”

“It’s a win-win,” Flemings continues. “Fans get richer interactive content at their fingertips, without ever needing to leave the image or web page they’re looking at. Musicians drive much deeper engagement and ensure that their content is presented exactly how they want it, including the ability to drive revenue.”

Stipple continues to further the reach of images and in-image content through its Editorial offerings. Flemings says, “Stipple’s Editorial offering enables brands and musicians to place interactive content and messaging in images that contain their products. For example, if a band gets reviewed in Vibe and other websites, Stipple enables the corresponding band to place a video, buy on iTunes button, Facebook ‘like’ button and more within the editorial photo that accompanies the article. This is a great win-win-win. Consumers get more relevant content regarding the story they’re reading. Bands reach consumers in an editorial context and further engage consumers that are interested in their music. Publishers get deeper reader engagement and the opportunity to drive revenue from their images.”

This venture is not one simply in the works for bands here and there to dabble with. As an established web tagging, ecommerce and advertising solution, Stipple currently works with “many talented musicians and labels,” says Flemings, “Including Justin Timberlake, Warner Music Group and others.”

Stipple has produced a case study to take a closer look at their successes with Justin Timberlake and his promotions for his latest album, tour and appearance on Saturday Night Live. With three posts each on Facebook and Twitter, Stipple’s interactive images engaged an average of 74% of viewers with a 7.5% click-through rate and 146 sites reached through sharing, including premium sites like Glamour, Paste, Vibe and The Hollywood Reporter. This is a huge number of engaged users from just a few posts and nearly 540,000 image views. These clicks are equivalent to 40 million in ads, and the engagements are equivalent to 400 million in ads. You do the math.

The possibilities of this service for brands and musicians are limited only by their content and imaginations. Check out this presentation from Stipple’s appearance at the Ad Age Digital Conference last week to learn more about the company and how it is “Rethinking Digital Advertising.”

By Keith Nelson, Jr.

Ever since social media connected every human with one another, word of mouth’s promotional value has increased exponentially with Facebook statuses acting as digital billboards. How do you revolutionize a constantly changing medium? Reward fans for being fans. Former Goldman Sachs employees took that idea and manifested it into a social reward service called Jamplify where artists can reward fans for constantly promoting the artist. Given their own custom URL, fans can share the artists’ music, music video, etc to Facebook, blogs, and a variety of other online platforms which can help them garner prizes set by the artist for the fan with the most referrers.

The service, which started in August of 2012, is not some unknown powerhouse. In March of this year, the startup raised $600,000 from an array of investors.

Jamplify co-founder Moses Soyoola spoke with SoundCtrl about the rise of Jamplify, its future, “Jampaigns,” and more.

SoundCtrl: How did the idea for Jamplify form?

Moses Soyoola: Our CEO Andy woke up one morning to a music video in his inbox that had hit 300,000 views just from word of mouth. It sparked the idea that fans can be a powerful marketing asset and that artists need better tools to drive word-of-mouth.

SC:  What has the past  year meant for the Jamplify brand?

MS: We launched Jamplify in August and have had a really exciting year, winning best startup in marketing and social engagement at Midem and best startup at Canadian Music Week. In the last nine months, we’ve worked with big players in the major and indie label communities and with names like 50 Cent and Bruno Mars. The last year has been amazing, but it’s just the beginning.

SC: Jamplify turns an artists’ fanbase into a digital ad agency with allowing them to promote their own unique link. Why this method?

MS: Fans are powerful and effective marketers. By giving each fan their own unique referral link, the fan can spread the word wherever they have social reach, whether Facebook, Twitter, or obscure community forums where they might be active. The average fan drives 50 referrals withJamplify, and that’s a testament to their creativity and tenacity in sharing their link around.

SC: What has been the most common “ScratchBack” offered by artists? What has been the strangest or most inventive?

MS: Most common: free tickets to shows. Most inventive: a day in the office with 50 Cent at G-Unit records to do a 12-photo shoot and make a 50 Cent calendar.

SC: Since Jamplify rewards users for referring links do you think this could cause the artist to have momentary fans instead of long lasting fans that are more engaged?

MS: Because the rewards are always things related to the artist rather than something like cash or an iPad, the fans that promote are the ones that really care about the artist. A person isn’t going to try to win tickets to a show if he/she doesn’t actually like that artist. In a lot of ways,Jamplify helps artists develop stronger relationships with their most influential fans. We’re building in a host of new features which will enable artists to reengage their promoters around all of their content releases and deepen those relationships over time.

SC: What will the new $600,000 in investment money rouded up last month go towards?

MS: The $600,000 investment will be focused mostly on product development. We’re building Jamplify into an ongoing digital street team platform that will provide long-lasting promotional value for the artists we work with.

SC: Jamplify connects to YouTube but are there plans of expanding the connection to other streaming platforms such as Spotify and SoundCloud?

MS: We’ve already run jampaigns for embeds from SoundCloud, and we’re set up to do jampaigns for Spotify or any streaming platform. Jamplify can be used to promote anything with a URL – so Spotify playlists, Rdio playlists, etc are all fair game.

SC: What are the people at Jamplify actively working on improving about the service?

MS: We’re really excited about the data that we can show artists on their top influencers. These are fans that can reach thousands of people with a tweet. Our goal is to help artists identify and foster a stronger relationship with these valuable fans. We’re building in all sorts of functionality to make this happen.

SC: What are the plans for 2013?

MS: 2013 is about helping artists get more than ever from word-of-mouth. We have a great group of artists that we’re working with today, and we’re excited for the Jamplify community to grow as more artists sign up.

By David Chaitt, SoundCtrl Board Member

Going to Ad Age Digital Conference, I had little or no understanding of photo app developer Aviary. Tobias Peggs, their CEO, was one of the most fun and informative speakers I’ve seen in a while. He gave the audience a full download on all things #mopho aka mobile photography, which is a term with which I admittedly wasn’t familiar.

Aviary powers the photo editing functionality for 3700 apps including Wallmart, Twitter, Flickr, Photobucket, and their own app. Their filters have been used on 3.5 Billion photos. Needless to say, they are experts at what they do. They know what #mophos want.

During his presentation, he also briefly alluded to a recent partnership with Atlantic Records for the launch of Portugal. The Man’s new record “Evil Friends”. All I gathered was that users could download a photo app powered by Aviary where special photo filters could allow users to create stickers inspired by the band.  Take a look at the Instagram photo stream to put a visual to what this exactly means.

To get a little more context and detail to what the partnership entailed, I reached out to Atlantic and was put in touch with their Director of Digital Marketing, Thanh Nguyen.  He had the following to add:

John Gourley, Portugal. The Man’s frontman, is also a visual artist. Along with his art collaborator, Austin Sellers (together known as The Fantastic The), Gourley designs all things visual for the band—album covers, photo illustrations, tour sets, and more.

The Evil Friends sticker pack with Aviary was a perfect partnership, as John was already creating images on his own by drawing on photos to correspond with the theme of the album, Evil Friends , and posting them on the band’s Instagram. Aviary’s technology allowed us to give fans a chance to create their own artwork inspired by John’s.

Because Portugal. The Man has always been so hands-on in all visual aspects of their music, a photo centric campaign just felt very natural for both the band and their fans.

Aviary has an amazing product with a large network of users, so they were the perfect partners for us. It’s often easy to have low quality photos/submissions when you’re running a UGC campaign, but with an app like Aviary and the Evil Friends sticker pack, a casual user can easily create their own images in line with the artist’s vision and aesthetic.

Whether you’re a fan of the band or not, it’s probably a good idea to download the app and try to think about how you can push the needle a little more to engage all the #mopho junkies out there.

By Rip Empson via Tech Crunch

“… a platform for live concerts isn’t exactly a new idea. In fact, it’s been floating around for years, but those entering the space have been hamstrung to an over-abundance of friction stemming from royalty and licensing issues and having to convince venues to install the technology and hardware — among other things. As a result, live online music has been slow to take off…

Concert Window co-founder Dan Gurney tells us that the startup is beginning to hit its stride, having quadrupled revenue over the last five months, added a handful of employees and is now broadcasting over 100 live shows each month. The startup has been able to do by broadcasting live concerts over the Web, allowing you to listen and watch as the concert happens from the comfort of your couch. To address the friction for venues mentioned above, Concert Window attempts to take the work out of the hands of venue managers — all the venue needs is an Internet connection…

By offering a mobile experience, a relatively steady stream of concerts and allowing fans to chat with each other and leave feedback for artists, Concert Window hopes its v2.0 can give it a leg up on the competition.”

For the full story on Concert Window and more on new potential competitor EvntLive, visit www.techcrunch.com

Twitter #Music is now up and running as Twitter announced this morning on Good Morning America and via a blog post.

According to the post, which claims that the new service will “change the way people find music,” Twitter #Music will utilize twitter activity to “detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists.” It also places an emphasis on what music artists themselves are listening to and follows a spiderlike web of tweets and engagement to draw connections between artists with similar tastes.

Currently, the service pulls its music from iTunes, Spotify, or Rdio. By default, previews will come direct from iTunes but Spotify and Rdio subscribers can log into their accounts to access full streams… pretty smart to engage across multiple platforms rather than creating a clear alliance with just one and cannibalizing other listener activity. Twitter also claims that it will make a concentrated effort to “explore and add other music service providers.”

The browser version is very user friendly and is reminiscent of We Are Hunted’s design, with artist’s images loaded into squares that when clicked, allow you to listen to the track, follow the artist, compose a tweet or go purchase the song.  Also pulled from We Are Hunted’s interface is the ability to rearrange the checkboard based on filters like “Popular,” which sources music that is trending on Twiiter, “Emerging” which claims to find hidden talent found in tweets, “Suggested” which suggests the music your favorite artists listen to, and “Now Playing” which is music tweeted by the people you follow.

All in all, it’s a bold move from Twitter which as long desired to enter the music space. Twitter is ripe with data that can make connections between fans, artists and music that is visible nowhere else. The app is available in the App Store and the web version is live now. 

Multi-media lifestyle powerhouse VICE tossed its hat into the electronic scene today with the launch of an online EDM channel called Thump.

The trailer below preceded the launch, describing the channel as a culture hub for everything electronic music:

“Through original videos from the most electrifying events around the globe, to weekly music video premieres, mixes from the most forward-thinking DJs, and an engaging slate of editorial and blog features, THUMP offers a unique portal into the culture of electronic music.”

Time will tell if this outlet can compete against the explosion of similar sites such as DJZ, elektro daily, and MOX.tv.