This post is written by SoundCtrl co-founder Jesse Kirshbaum
I had the opportunity to attend The Paley Center for Media’s International Council event last Friday.
It featured an away of interesting speakers including Marissa Mayer from Google and a one on one with Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Paley Center CEO Pat Mitchell.
I wanted to go and see the Next Big Thing panel which featured 5 very bright entrepreneurs demoing their products.
Our friend Matt Michelson premiered his new company BackPlane which is on its way to making a major impact. Matt, I like to refer to as the most influential connector of the music industry to Silicon Valley. He runs digital for Lady Gaga and 50 Cent. Now it seems like he works, only for the love. His wife and team are all good people, and its clear that he operates like a naval commander and chief.
Anyway, I got to see his new company BackPlane in action. His partner, Troy Carter (honoree of 211 SoundWave Award at FlashFWD) was not on hand, but I chopped it up with him the night before at a dinner dinner party for Turntable.fm. BackPlane is essentially a hyper-niche community builder and communicator around various subgroups and categories. Their beta involves Lady Gaga and her little monsters.
I know it’s not ready, but after seeing Matt’s presentation and discussing off the record with Troy, I’m quite certain that BackPlane has the potential to be a force in new media, and I’m looking forward to seeing their progression as they gear up to launch in 2012.
