Five questions for the CEO of Syncofy: A new, independent marketplace for music discovery and licensing

By Kira Grunenberg

As the sub-title above suggests, it is not too difficult to figure out what indie music licensing marketplace, Syncofy, wants to help people do: get music heard and in the hands of those who wish to enhance non-musical media, such as commercials or movie trailers. This week, the proactive startup launched an alpha version of its service (currently on private request) and has made applications available for music creators or people seeking music for licensing. The core of this platform is all about cutting out the middleman. A non-exclusive service, Syncofy is both flexible and supportive of music makers. “Creators keep 100% ownership and control over their work,” is emphasized more than once in the introductory information on Syncofy’s website. Regardless of the user’s role, Syncofy is dedicated to having few barriers between partnering parties. Communications deal solely with music makers and licensees, and no one else.

Discovery is the other half of Syncofy’s services, as media producers are often unsure of what they’re looking for. A search engine targets specific music with various qualifiers including genre, tonality, social media appeal, rhythm, and correlation. The music retrieved is discerned using multiple elements as well, including “acoustic analysis, editorial data, (artist, album and track info, period, etc.), user generated data (search data, downloads, likes, etc.), and other social specific data such as geo and demographics,” as described on the site.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Syncofy can and looks forward to doing for music creators and media licensees going forward. I spoke with CEO/Founder Emanuel Heinstein and got his perspective on where Syncofy will fit in the current music industry, the future of syncing placement in general, and even a few details on their aspirations for mobile capability.

Emanuel Heinstein: Everyone at Syncofy literally breathes music and music brought us all together. I’ve been a DJ and producer for all my life and since I first picked up a book in a small NY bookstore in 1999 that explained the principals of MP3 encoding and the boundless opportunities which it unleashes, I was hooked to the idea, that one day, technology will be able to dis-intermediate the artist business, putting creators back in control. The team evolved through miraculous ways. I can’t tell you exactly how, but coincidence brought us all together and the idea behind Syncofy was so appealing , that it was simply a no-brainer and a logical next step for everyone to join the project.

Right from the start, Syncofy makes it clear that streamlining is its operative mentality. Everything, from your SoundCloud marker-style media player, to self-checkout with licensing, to the very meticulous options for finding and curating different songs for what ever specific needs a non-musical content producer might have, is very fast and straightforward. How do you see this DIY-tinged approach coexisting with traditional structures like the world’s big PROs that already do so much for so many of the world’s artists? Do you believe Syncofy’s mediation between artists and companies is the future of licensing and royalties?

As content spreads beyond traditional media and into the digital world, there is a tremendous need for high-performance monitoring services to catch up with new standards. Syncofy is not in the business of secondary market royalty collections though, and we are certainly not trying to replace PRO services. On the contrary, we would like to see these services evolve into a more reliable tool for artists to be able to collect their hard-earned performance royalties.

Having said this, we are approaching a much more serious problem for the independent artist community and therefore a massive risk of suffocating cultural diversity. As the music models are shifting and are transitioning from purchase to access models, future musicians will know little else than streaming royalties which pay little to no money. For instance, your track needs to be played over 4,500,000 times a month on Spotify to make the US minimum wage of $1,160. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Spotify and use it on a daily basis but we simply have to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Music streaming platforms are the new way to consume music. Musicians will have to rethink their whole business approach.

We see music licensing in its various ways as the one revenue stream that has been continuously growing. So far though, the whole licensing business has been a total chaos, not only for artists and labels but also for those looking for music to license, and no one has emerged as a successful player to solve this problem. Either music licensing companies are trying to monopolize the industry, double dipping on the independent artist’s and label’s hard earned cash, or artists and labels are simply not able to cut through the noise in the thick of things.

Even though this industry is all about discovering and finding the next big act, no one has taken advantage of today’s technology that enables the aggregation and curation of music on a large scale, making it accessible to the industry. As a result, most amazing music and artists are falling through the cracks and are lost. I believe there is a great opportunity for us to create something better than that.

This is where Syncofy comes in. We believe in the disintermediation of the artist’s business. New disruptive technology lets us build an independent marketplace for music where creators keep total ownership and control over their music without having to share their profits. Music providers state their terms under which they are willing to accept a license. Licensees on the other hand will have the option to negotiate licensing terms and conditions directly. We challenge you to find anyone else who offers that.

At Syncofy’s core is its cutting edge music search and recommendation and discovery engine. In order to produce the most relevant search results, the engine combines acoustic analysis, editorial data, user generated date and other social specific data such as geo, demographics as well as frequency of use of search phrases which correlate with social trends. That’s about all the secret sauce we are able to share this far.

It is refreshing that Syncofy doesn’t abandon the color of human preference in its music discovery feature. That said, how do you balance the “human factor” involved with Syncofy’s music curation, with the highly adjustable song filtering systems available to those looking for just the right track to use in syncing? 50/50? More or less?

I recently came across a quote by E.E. Dijkstra, “The question of whether Machines Can Think, is about as relevant as the question of whether Submarines Can Swim.” I think all this disembodied data floating around needs to be put in some kind of context to make sense of it, and technology certainly does its job offering you a bird’s eye view over all of it. However, music is speaking to everyone in a different way. Ultimately, it is up to the music professional working with the site, applications, and service to identify the next big act. We simply acknowledged the necessity for music content to be filtered and curated to actually become valuable to a user. Our music department will of course also be part of this process but to what degree will depend on the task to be accomplished.

Syncofy was clearly keeping a close eye on the various talks and activities happening during this year’s midem conference via Twitter. Since a major part of your company’s objective is to, “steer the music industry into a more sustainable [entity] for music creators…” What are your thoughts on some of the principles outlined in Midem’s circulating infographic that asks, “[Music Industry:] Back to Growth?,” as well as their panel that discussed sync placement, brand integration and pitching to media?

I think music reaches more people than ever before. So in that sense, I think we do okay for now. However we must accept that the days of record sales are finally over. We’ve all seen it coming. For some reason though, most of the industry is still in some kind of “Wile E. Coyote state of mind,” who has just gone over the cliff but has not realized it yet. As said earlier, there is this big elephant in the room and only few people seem to acknowledge it. So unless we break down old structures so that something new can emerge, cultural diversity, which is channeled through independent music, is in peril.

I believe with the right tools and services though we can steer the ship around and I think the right answer is the disintermediation of the artists business. There still will be enough room for labels to get on board and help artist reach their fans.

In the coming months, as you gather data from alpha testers and refine things on the development side, is there anything preliminary you can tell prospective members about the imminent addition of a Syncofy mobile application and/or your ideals for its future capabilities? 

I love my mobile and I love my tablet. I love their touch screens and ease of use and we’re trying to incorporate this look and feel as much as we can within Syncofy’s UX. However, the processing power for those devices is just not there yet and as we improve and incorporate new technologies we want to make sure that they are performing flawlessly. Undeniably, tablets and mobile devices are the future (at least for now) but today still more than 80 percent of all users browse the web using desktop computers or laptops. This number is even higher when it comes to users that are working professionally with computers. And even though native apps currently run faster and are more likely to have access to new mobile device capabilities before web apps do, we believe in a “best of breed” hybrid approach using the right tools for the right job, focusing on both scenarios in which web and native components work together. Choosing the right approach will then better enable us to swiftly adapt to whatever the next hot technology is going to be.

Syncofy is active now via desktop computer. You can request an alpha application today as a “Content Provider” or “Licensee.” Read more at Syncofy.com and follow Syncofy on Twitter @syncofy.

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.

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By Brian Parker

A while back, we covered TicketMob‘s triply segmented ticketing and event management platform for live music, electronic music, and comedy events. TicketMob allowed artists, labels, brands, and festivals to manage their interactions with fans independently of large middleman ticketing companies like Ticketmaster and LiveNation. As of today, under the acquisition of cloud-based event management platform Cvent and subsequent merger with mobile Seed Labs, TicketMob will be known as CrowdTorch, a highly specialized and improved event and audience management solution.

Scot Richardson, CrowdTorch General Manager and founder of TicketMob, explained that CrowdTorch is focused on brands’ individual intentions for event management, with “white labelling being front and center.”  ”We want to give clients an entire toolset to engage with fans’ lifestyles,” says Richardson, regarding CrowdTorch’s goal to keep ticketing internal whilst maintaining a level of trust, transparency, and reliability between event organizers and their fans. A huge focus of CrowdTorch’s efforts will go into developing mobile apps for events that consolidate complete fan experience, from sharing functionality on social networks, to adding VIP packages upon entering an event, and quite feasibly reselling unused tickets for customers who are unable to attend.

With analytics that can track the correlations between promotions and ticket sales, event creators can keep tabs on what marketing methods are efficient to their particular fan bases.  One such application of the social media toolset proved to be instantly successful–an artist offered a $1 discount to anyone who bought tickets through their event app, and gained a 380% ROI. Though Richardson says CrowdTorch is “still scratching the surface of the mobile app developments,” a dedicated platform that offers both solutions and analysis for events seems to be ushering in a new, independent method of interacting with fans.

CrowdTorch is certainly competing with major ticketing hubs on the level of direct ticket sales, but the company isn’t interested in a direct challenge against the current industry standard. Rather, by creating a new method of audience and event management, the new model may emerge naturally over time as a more lucrative option for artists and events. “We’re trying to be a replacement for multiple providers of ticketing, branding, and event management…we’re trying to do all of that for you and to integrate all of the relevant touch points,” Richardson explains of CrowdTorch’s 360-degree approach. And by maintaing the former structure that TicketMob called “verticals,” artists and organizers can customize a total fan experience without worrying about scalpers, disorganization, or a lack of information about programming, lineups, and the like.

With TicketMob’s former LaughStub (comedy), TuneStub (live music), and ElectroStub (electronic music/nightlife) still in place, events can be customized based on category, marketplace, and audience demographics. For example, creating an event with the ElectroStub platform can offer options for table service at a nightclub, with a group of friends splitting the costs via an app. In the same vein, promoters for these events are given a unique set of tools that cater to their job functions. Furthermore, having distinct channels allows event organizers to cater to communities of fans that respond to different types of marketing and promotions, a feat that is much more difficult under an umbrella platform with unlimited options.

Finally, Richardson made clear that CrowdTorch is a highly viable option for working with individual, independent artists. The same solutions are offered at this level with pre-sales, VIP packages, and special opportunities for superfans willing pay for an additional, meaningful experience. By integrating ticketing and audience management tools, points of purchase need not be disparately associated, and artists and fans can expect a more personal relationship without the hassle of hopping around various websites and social media networks to redeem special offers and features.

You can keep up with @CrowdTorch on Twitter, and learn more about the company’s outlook and functionality in the video below:

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If you’ve listened to pop music at all in the last fifteen years, you’ll know the distinctively spacey, minimalistic aesthetic of Pharrell Williams and his Neptunes production outfit. Hailing from Virginia Beach, Virginia, a region known for its involvement in aerospace engineering and research, Williams was intrigued early on by space exploration, the studies of Carl Sagan, and of course, the Star Trek series that inspired his own label’s name.

In the most recent of a series of interviews conducted by Pharrell called ARTST TLK, Williams sits down with Leonard Nimoy, who played the humanoid character Spock in the original Star Trek series. An intrigued and bright-eyed Williams pegs the sharp-witten Nimoy with questions about developing Spock, his time spent in the army, and a directorial endeavor that may have been well ahead of its time.

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Check out more of the ARTST TLK series on YouTube.

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Part 1 of Elliot Wilson’s CRWN interview with R&B crooner R. Kelly will be released Monday, as the next installment in the series. Until then, here’s a quick teaser of the talk (and some frenzied fans) that took place at The Cutting Room in New York City.

More of the WatchLOUD series can be found here at their website.

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by Brian Parker

CanOpener is the impressive new app from audio engineer Devin Kerr and software engineer Rob Stenson, which optimizes the spatial balance, equalization, and sound pressure level for listening to music in headphones. CanOpener uses Kerr and Stenson’s proprietary crossfeed algorithm ,which corrects the discrepancy between listening to music in headphones and listening on loudspeakers.

Music produced on loudspeakers is specifically mixed so that the audio coming from the left and right speakers in a stereo channel are experienced by both ears. However, in headphones, music from the right channel goes only to the right ear, and music from the left channel goes only to the left. This leaves a significant angle of sound out of the mix, without which music lacks a level of depth and wideness.  CanOpener’s Crossfeed function allows you to adjust this “wideness” to achieve a more accurate listening experience. Furthermore, CanOpener allows you to pick your headphones (or any other output device) from a list, allowing optimization for specific models.

CanOpener also sports a beautiful equalizer with various presets and spectrogram skins, making the interface both functional and appealing. The app volume is adjusted based on SPL in decibels, rather than Apple’s typical, arbitrary click-and-drag volume slider. An additional feature of CanOpener is the dosimeter, which measures your exposure to sound level over a period of time, meaning you can keep an accurate tab on the safety of your ears during listening sessions.

We had an opportunity to ask Rob Stenson a few questions about CanOpener’s background and functionality, as well as how he and Devin envision the app for the future.

SoundCtrl: When did you develop the concept and prototype of CanOpener? What were your backgrounds before this project?

Rob Stenson: Devin is an audio mastering engineer with a background in sound engineering and psychoacoustics. He developed CanOpener’s core crossfeed algorithm and equalizer as part of his masters thesis on spatial audio processors at the University of Michigan. I’m a software engineer specializing in interfaces, although my background in college was architectural history. Before starting work on CanOpener, I was a software engineer at Twitter, working on the twitter.com interface.

We started work on the iOS version of CanOpener in January of this year, after a mutual friend put us in touch; he realized we had complementary skill-sets, and a shared interest in music (I’m a banjo-player when I’m not writing code). From there we just started widdling away at the app you see now. Here’s a visual history of the app, from the first prototype to the current release.

SC: In the future, do you see CanOpener supporting streaming music apps?

RS: While we do hope to integrate a streaming service — like Rdio, Spotify, or Bandcamp — we’ve been unable to contact those companies to work out licensing deals. We actually have an in-house proof-of-concept that streams directly from Spotify, and it’s a blast to play around with. But, at present, our hands our tied by the various companies API’s and terms-of-service agreements.

SC: Will CanOpener ever function as a mobile device’s complete EQ/audio enhancement system for all of its audio?

RS: We would love to make this happen, but apps on iOS and Android are highly sandboxed, meaning it would be quite difficult (probably impossible without major changes from the device manufacturers) to pull off this level of integration. Something like Audiobus comes close, but that’s more focused on music-making rather than listening. Of course, if Apple did make some changes to their audio system (recent changes in iOS7 hint at this), we would definitely take advantage.

SC: At what stage in the iPhone’s audio chain does CanOpener process sound?

RS: We access audio files in the same way as the stock Music app on iOS, so our app handles everything from reading samples out of a file to passing them directly to the audio output. All of the CanOpener DSP is applied right before we send the samples to the hardware, so it’s the last thing to happen in our audio chain.

SC: Is CanOpener available for both iPhone and Android?

RS: At the moment, CanOpener is iOS-only. We’d love to support Android (and we’ve had quite a few interested customers ask us for an Android version), but a few factors are working against us: Android’s audio system is less sophisticated than iOS’s, and there are so many Android devices out there that we’d have to measure in order to provide the level of quality characteristic of CanOpener on iOS. The major reason though is that we’re only a two-man operation. (Hopefully there are some Android audio programmers reading your post, we’d love to get in touch.) That said, CanOpener is available on Mac OS X as the FHX add-on to the the Fidelia app by Audiofile Engineering.

SC: What are the next stages of updates that you’d like to develop for the app?

RS: We have some very cool in-app purchases planned for 2014, as well as some overdue features (like iPad landscape-orientation support). We’ve also started work on a few other apps, including Speaker+ (currently in beta tests).

CanOpener is currently available on the iTunes App Store for $2.99. Stay tuned to the Good Hertz website for new mobile audio apps, and CanOpener via Twitter @CanOpener.

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By Brian Parker

We’ve all been there: you purchase tickets for an event months in advance and on the day of the event, an unexpected situation arises and you are suddenly unable to attend.  The hassle of selling tickets on StubHub or Craigslist is frustrating and ineffective if showtime is within 24 hours. It almost seems easier to give rogue tickets away to a friend or to just pocket them, wistfully hoping your family cancels their impromptu visit.

Enter Lyte, which offers a quick solution to “offloading” unused concert, performance, and sporting event tickets in crunch time, reimbursing you at or near face-value.

Lyte founder Ant Taylor recognized the lack of a dedicated platform that would allow sellers and buyers to save money on tickets at the last minute. He explained that a whopping 17-25% of tickets for sold-out shows are unused partially due to scalpers, but that a large portion of those are a result of fans who simply couldn’t make it. Despite the prevalence of large ticket resell platforms like StubHub, Lyte’s goal is to make the process quick and easy, with a 10-minute turnaround time from sell-to-buy.Logistically, plans to partner with venues will allow Lyte to function with varying ticketing systems and hopefully, a digital will-call system will in the future will make Lyte’s ticket transfers seamless at the door.

Lyte will charge only around 15% commission on their ticket sales, which keeps tickets prices reasonable and attractive to buyers. After discovering that scalpers were charging upwards of $5,000 for tickets to a secret Arcade Fire show in Brooklyn last month, Taylor ensures that Lyte buyers will pay as close to face value as possible. Security for these transactions comes first from Lyte’s research in determining original ticket value, but also through Facebook integration, which will help keep scalpers at bay.

Lyte is able to recognize suspicious activity from its backend, which will also help them analyze data on listings, music trends, and the demands of sellers and buyers. Taylor hopes to build a full market platform by developing a trustworthy network of music and entertainment fans, with Lyte being the go-to method for selling off tickets between friends and strangers alike. Taylor adds that building a full marketplace for will require “finding the right buyer at the right time,” and that Lyte is focused on making it easy for sellers to sell, especially in the early stages of the startup. ”It might require us taking a revenue hit to get the fan to the event. But the key is to make this common sense, and to build the structure community by community.”

Visit Lyteup.com to upload your tickets, and stay in touch with the Lyte community.

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By Brian Parker

Far from the ubiquitous DJ trio or even live electronic music group, the London Modular Alliance comprises three producers, Simon Lynch, Gavin Pykerman, and Phil Ventre, who forgo computers and digital interfaces in exchange for a more spontaneous, analog method of music production and creation–modular synthesis.

A modular synthesizer is a customized synthesizer made up of several separate analog modules that perform discrete functions. Some modules function as sound sources, others as sound processors, and the number of combinations of elements within a synthesizer is essentially infinite. A shift back towards modular synthesis and analog production in general is gaining popularity amongst electronic producers, as these systems can be custom-tailored in any number of flexible configurations to fit individual setups and preferences.

The members of London Modular Alliance just founded a namesake shop called London Modular in Hackney, East London, and is the city’s first modular synthesizer showroom. The shop is one of the first of its kind to function as a workshop, showroom, and retail store for modular users to test, buy, and experiment with new hardware. We had an opportunity to speak with the owners about the background and inspiration behind this innovative outlet for modular enthusiasts.

SoundCtrl: What is the background of the owners of London Modular? Are you musicians, engineers, producers?

London Modular : We’re 3 producers who met randomly a few years ago through the electronic music scene. We release under the aliases of Pip Williams, Yes Effect and Koova.

SC: When did you realize there was a gap in the market for a dedicated modular synth shop?

LM: The store was set up not because there was a gap as such, but more because we all shared a strong passion for modular synths and were frustrated that there was nothing closer to home where we could test out modules. Everything we’d bought previously was based from a YouTube video. When you think about it, that’s just crazy, people blow thousands of pounds on systems without even trying them out! At least now we can offer detailed demos to customers so they know exactly what they’re buying into.

SC:  Where do you source modular elements and components? Is LM building its own components in-house?

LM: Most of our stock comes direct from the company making the products. The only thing we stock that’s linked directly to London Modular is the Eastwick case range. This is Simon’s project and we’re very happy to have them in store. They look fantastic!

SC:  It seems like there’s a very unique opportunity to address the shift towards laptop production and DAWs, do you think LM will help boost a trend back to analog synthesis both live and in the studio?

LM: We can definitely highlight how expressive and interesting modulars can be. They work equally as well with or without a computer at their side. With these systems you have the freedom to break away from the DAW and the opportunity to create unique stuff which can’t be replicated with soft synths. The fact that you can tailor your setup to your style is a huge pull for a lot of people, so it’s very possible there will be a trend back to analog.

SC:  Do you have any advice for musicians looking to segue into modular systems?

LM: The best advice we could give is to thoroughly plan what type of sound you want to achieve from your system. This will drastically affect what modules you’ll be buying. Also, don’t just be lured by current ‘trendy’ modules because there’s a hype around them. Some of the older bits, from the likes of Doepfer, still sound brilliant but are often overlooked.

SC:  Do you plan on having events/seminars/workshops at the new location?

LM: We’ll be getting manufacturers to pop in to do informal chats and showcase their new products. We will also be encouraging customers to bring their cases in store to test them out with other modules we have for sale to see how well they integrate with their current set up.

SC:  Are there any big clients that have shown support for LM?

LM: We’ve had tremendous support and custom from some very influential and well respected names on the current electronic music scene. We’ve just had our first “Modular Revue” event at a local venue with Untold, DMX Krew and DeFeKT playing 100% modular, live. The event sold out, many punters had to be turned away at the door to avoid overcrowding! We’ll be doing these on a regular basis, always unlisted.

SC: If I’m interested in building a modular rack myself, are there any first pieces or combinations of gear that you recommend?

LM: Given there are so many manufacturers and module options, for a first-time buyer, getting involved can be overwhelming. It’s not something you can just dip your toe into as you won’t really get the benefit. It’s something that needs an investment of time and energy to really reap the rewards. We’d recommend coming in to our showroom for a proper chat to get to know exactly what you want to achieve and go through the options.

SC:  How can we can stay in touch with London Modular and up to date with news?

LM: We have the website www.londonmodular.co.uk which has a newsletter subscription. This will cover upcoming events and stock coming in. The most up-to-date info can be taken from Twitter (@londonmodular) and Facebook where we post as London Modular Alliance.

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Last week, the new micro-music video app Mindie was launched, creating a new platform for creating and sharing short videos set to song clips. Mindie steps into the mobile world with apps like Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, and the recently launched MixBit, but shifts the video focus to sharing and building communities through music. With an incredibly clean, full-screen interface, Mindie is easy to use and effortless to browse–pick a song from the iTunes database, record a video of short clips, and publish and share your new music video on Twitter, Facebook, and of course, Mindie.

We spoke to co-founder Grégoire Henrion about the concept, functionality, and future of Mindie, and why the app is creating its own space in the world of social media.

SoundCtrl: Can you tell us a bit about Mindie and where you’re from?

Grégoire Henrion: We’re based in Paris. We’re a little startup of four people working on Mindie, and we started working on it about two months ago. The parent company is called Ever.

SC: Do you have other projects under the Ever umbrella?

GH: Ever was a former project, it was our first app but we never really launched it. It was still in beta, then we decided to change the idea to make something simpler and based on music, so we came up Mindie.

SC: So how did the concept of Mindie come about?

GH: The idea of Ever was that you could make albums of photos, notes, and music, and we found that users loved associating music and images. So when we decided to do something simpler, we wanted to do something with music and images– we just had to find the right format. The music idea was perfect, because music videos are popular on YouTube but not widely used in social media.

SC: Are there any competitors or other apps from which you try to differentiate Mindie?

GH: I’m not sure we’re competing with Vine and Instagram because they are based on video sharing, and we are more like music sharing supplemented by video. It’s not the same gesture, it’s not the same thing that happens in your mind when you want to create something. So I don’t think they’re competitors. We are creating our own market that doesn’t really exist yet, but can grow very fast.

SC: It’s great to identify that opening. Do you think of it as a platform to promote artists?

GH: It could, of course, be a very good platform for promoting artists, but the first step is building a community and then seeing exactly what that community is. It’s a great opportunity for artists and brands because music is powerful vector of communication. So we’re definitely thinking about it, but we’re currently testing it on users and trying to see what they are doing with the app.

SC: What platform is the music coming from within the app?

GH: Currently it’s iTunes’ API. They offer a 30 second preview, and we take the first 7 seconds. There’s no violation.

SC: So there’s no copyright issue with that?

GH: No, we have access to iTunes previews, and there is a link to buy the song from the iTunes store. So it’s a closed circuit.

SC: Are you thinking of expanding to other streaming platforms?

GH: There are other possibilities like Rdio’s API, Soundcloud’s API, and Deezer’s API, but we thought about how we could work with those platforms.

SC: It’s amazing how many different interpretations there are of one song, are there ways to rank popularity?

GH: Currently we sort through the videos and tag the coolest ones “Best Mindie.” But later we’re working on a ranking system of popularity to make more possibilities to explore music videos through the app.

SC: Will there be a desktop or online app in the future?

GH: We currently have a web view, but a desktop app is not in our scope currently. We’re a little team so we have to focus on mobile as it’s very difficult to develop for mobile.

SC: The design is very clean, how did the idea for the interface come up?

GH: The idea is to erase the interface–we want it to be immersive and simple. We want people to forget that they’re on an app, and we want the experience to be very simple, like watching TV. So this is why there is no background and most of the interface is full screen images.

SC: What are the future plans for Mindie?

GH: Our app for Android will come in a few months, but right now we’re focused on ways to explore Mindie within the app. We’re also focusing on interactions between the users like sharing and mentions, so that we can really build a community.

The Mindie app is currently available for free on the App Store. 

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by Dave Mainella

Music composition and performance has always been both a reaction to and a catalyst of technological innovation. thinkplay continues that tradition by introducing the first software for building, sharing, and performing with ePedals. By combining the mapping of audio samples, video clips, and effects with real-time instrumental performance, thinkplay aims to help facilitate the future of music creation.

We had the opportunity to talk with thinkplay co-founder and CEO Jesse Orshan about intuitive music technology performance, thinkplay’s relationship with other DAWs, and the future of ePedals.

SoundCtrl: How did you come up with the idea for thinkplay?  Are you musicians and did this develop out of a technical need to stimulate artistic creativity?

Jesse Orshan: I grew up my entire life playing the guitar, and I believe thinkplay manifested itself not from a pivotal experience, but from a variety of realizations about the transformations underway in musical composition, performance, and culture. I have attended many series of concerts, most notably Phish and Pretty Lights, whose juxtaposition in performances challenged my notions of musical talent. I saw instrumental technicality on the one hand, and a man standing behind a laptop on the other; yet they both struck me as spectacular. I believe this fostered the question in my mind, what could happen if these worlds found a bridge? Why do the worlds of instrumentation, hip-hop, and electronic music feel so disparate? The more I began to search, the less satisfied I became with any of the answers.

I first typed out a paper on a new concept known as ‘thinkplay’ roughly 2 years ago in my dorm at Cornell. Following that, my business partner Brendan and I recruited a team of engineering, design and business students from Cornell to begin developing the software. Playing an instrument was a requirement for joining our team, and this allowed us to foster a group that worked on pure musical passion. The goal of thinkplay is to expand conceptions about the capabilities of instruments. We know the artistic creativity to enhance performance value is out there and we designed thinkplay specifically for this purpose.

SC: Will thinkplay be released only as desktop software?  Are mobile or tablet platforms in the works too?

JO: Beta, scheduled for a closed release by the end of the year, will be desktop software. Although we have not yet developed mobile platforms, mobile features are on the horizon once the desktop version launches.

SC: Software tools for performing through digital effects, with live sound manipulation, and by triggering samples is common practice for a lot of artists.  How do you hope to differentiate yourself from platforms like Ableton Live or Cycling 74′s Max?

JO: Quite often, we are asked “how can thinkplay compete with a company like Ableton?” The question shouldn’t be “how will we compete?” but rather “how will thinkplay leverage what Ableton and similar companies already offer?” We see huge potential for a symbiotic relationship with these types of DAWs. thinkplay will allow users to bring in audio samples, loops, beats, etc. from any source. This means a practiced Ableton user can continue using Ableton’s software, and then import creations into ours. This applies for any other program. With that said, thinkplay brings its own value to the table.

First, a team of brilliant music-tech grad students developed thinkplay’s interface with the user and the user’s instrument in mind. The resulting design is intuitive and understandable. thinkplay allows artists to drag and drop audio and video samples of any length to specific notes (on an instrument) via a virtual fretboard on the screen. The concept itself is also intuitive: when a note is hit, a clip is triggered. Once brought over, the virtual fretboard interface makes it super easy to move and manipulate the audio and video clips.

Secondly, thinkplay has a second focus on the visual performance dimension. thinkplay allows users to upload video content and set video triggers to instrument notes. An artist can drag a video, or a portion of one, onto a note and trigger it the same way as an audio clip. The concept of live, video-sync triggering is so simple but has far-reaching implications. Visual music has become a major feature of live music and is no longer just for professionals.

Finally, artists can design and brand the look of the ‘ePedal’ that house their triggers and creations. These ePedals can be shared and/or sold to other musicians of various instruments through our PedalSphere. For example, if an EDM artist assigned a sample or track to a virtual keyboard, branded it, and then uploaded the creation to the online store, a guitarist can download and us it. Although the creation was mapped for a virtual keyboard, thinkplay can automatically remap the audio/video samples to align with a guitar fretboard. We envision the ePedal will facilitate sharing music between artists, and bridging gaps of instruments and genres. With the potential for a guitarist to blend dubstep or a rap vocal with traditional playing, there is also the opportunity for new genres of music altogether.

SC: The opportunity to share and sell ePedals is an interesting draw, creating a unique marketplace.  Are there any potential issues regarding copyright and the legalities of selling samples and triggers of licensed material?

JO: Like all platforms that allow for user-generated content, copyright legalities are a potential issue. With this in mind, we are utilizing the same copyright model as YouTube. Basically, if a user uploads any copyrighted material to thinkplay’s PedalSphere, the copyright owner can contact and request we remove the content. We are currently working with record labels to allow popular artists to build and sell ePedals with their own content in the PedalSphere. Though some thinkplayers will certainly use samples for inspiration, we expect that artists who build their own samples/tracks will be the ones who shine.

SC: How do users perform using the software interface?  Is there functionality with external controllers via MIDI etc?

JO: Think of the laptop screen as a new type of pedal board. The artist connects his/her instrument to the laptop and then connects the laptop to an amp and/or a monitor. The software will also work with any MIDI controller or keyboard.

SC: You have an upcoming Beta release.  Do you have a release date, and will that be available for everyone?

JO: The thinkplay beta will be in closed testing by the end of the year. Our team members will share copies with a few musicians and producers we believe will do great things with the software. This will help us better understand our consumers’ needs and perfect the software before releasing it to the general public. In the meantime, we are exploring partnerships with several high-profile artists in hopes of giving future thinkplayers inspiration, and a preview of how awesome the product truly is.

SC: What else does thinkplay have in store?  What are your next steps moving forward?

JO: You can count on us to continue releasing videos that blow minds and demonstrate the endless capabilities of the software. We are hoping to generate a buzz and strengthen our following so by the time we go live, we will have created a community of musicians ready to unleash their talent and creativity via thinkplay. We are so amped to share thinkplay with the world, and can hardly wait to see what people do with it.

The post [Interview] Jesse Orshan, Co-Founder and CEO of thinkplay appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

The avatar-based DJ service Turntable.fm has taken quite a journey. Introduced to the market as one of the most hyped music startups of mid-2011, the company has since struggled to stay relevant. Now, the startup is adjusting how it taps into live & social with an elaborate re-launch: Turntable Live.

Turntable Live provides affordable, engaging, high-quality access to live music. The company makes a big bet on social, introducing smart, engaging elements that help break the screen barrier between artists and viewers. The expected inclusion of chat, tweets and photos are commonplace, but Turntable Live also allows the band to see their fans, making the experience more dynamic for everyone. The added luxury of a detailed list of viewers and their contributions can provide artists with great opportunities for post-show insight and interaction.

The team at Turntable HQ in Soho, New York personally creates and launches each show page through which tickets are sold. Artists set a goal and if enough digital tickets are sold, the show is on. The logistics of putting on the show are low stress for bands as well. After tickets get sold, the group just shows up at the Turntable office and all audio/video equipment is provided. Icing on the cake? Artists receive 70% gross revenue return.

Right now, the company has four scheduled shows held in conjunction with the also newly launched CBGB Festival in NYC, which started this past Tuesday and continues through Sunday, the 13^th.

We sat down with Billy Chasen, Co-Founder of Turntable.fm, to talk about this new transformation and where they’re headed.

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SoundCtrl: What was the primary motivation for this relaunch?

Billy Chasen: One of the most exciting parts of turntable.fm has been when artists stop by rooms and hang out with fans. Fans love it and artists feel more connected from it.

But turntable.fm was never a product with live audio or video. We wanted to reimagine live performances online and bring something that connects both fans and artists without being at the same physical location. Something 2-way, expressive and highly engaging. We also wanted to build something that helps artists. Now that artists are touring as their main source of income, we wanted to give them a platform to reach more of their fans.

SC: What brought the Turntable team together with the CBGB Festival?

BC: CBGB is a NYC icon and we’re just a few blocks away from its original location. They were also intrigued by what we’re doing, so everything fit together perfectly.

SC: How has the reception and participation been for the first few shows during the CBGB Festival thus far? Is there a trend already visible for how fans are choosing to engage while listening?

BC: Yesterday was actually our very first show! We had several test shows over the last couple months, but our first public one was last night and it was a great time.

SC: A major strength I see with Turntable Live is the extra attention paid to social connection – the two-way mirror for instance. How does that feature help to bridge the digital gap?

BC: Nothing can replace being physically together with someone else. Skype is the next best thing you can do when apart from someone. It’s the same thing with concerts. It’s not just TV. People want more. People can send photos, ask questions, and talk back to the artist.

SC: Right now you stream all performances from your NYC HQ. Do you plan on eventually expanding to other music-heavy epicenters?

BC: Absolutely. This is our first studio set up, but the goal is to open them up wherever artists are.

SC: In addition to digital tickets, is there any interest in allowing a limited number of people to attend performances in real life at Turntable HQ?

BC: We’ve thought about that and it’s definitely a possibility. I think it would be more up to the artist.

SC: How does Turntable Live scale up? Bigger artists? Bigger venues? Bigger audiences?

BC: We’ve learned a lot from scaling turntable.fm and brought that to building Turntable Live. The key will be having people love the experience and that in turn will bring more people and bigger artists.

SC: If you could have any artists on Turntable Live, who would it be and why?

BC: LCD Soundsystem with secret guest star Daft Punk, playing at our house.

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

The post [Interview] Billy Chasen, Co-Founder of Turntable.fm, Discusses Turntable Live appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dave Mainella

Vine gives you your 6 seconds of visual fame.  And Instagram recently launched competing video functionality.  But JamCam brings music into the equation.

JamCam, designed by 23-year-old Matt Loszak and available for iOS, allows users to create 15-second videos without interrupting the song already playing on their iPhone.  In fact, it pulls the song into the app, creating a soundtrack that matches perfectly.  Running with the mantra “record video, but don’t stop the music”, JamCam aims to facilitate the creation of short music videos inspired by both the visual and audial moments.

Functionality is actually somewhat of a mix between Vine and Instagram.  Users can edit video by tying individual shots together, and the song playing is automatically brought in based on the same rhythm of edits.  The culmination is a 15-second masterpiece.  The time limit is significant; video (with soundtrack) can be shared to Facebook, Twitter, and, of course, Instagram.

We had a chance to talk with Matt Loszak about JamCam, its position in a the video-app space, and what to expect as the young app looks to establish itself in the music tech world.

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SoundCtrl: What was the inspiration behind JamCam?

Matt Loszak: I had the idea for JamCam while on a road trip with some friends. We were driving down a beautiful country road in Australia, and the music just seemed to match the moment perfectly. I opened up the iPhone’s camera app, but since the music was also coming from my phone, the music stopped! After a few weeks of thinking and planning, JamCam was born out of that frustration.

SC: You are the sole creator and developer.  Is it a one-man show, and if so, will that change?

ML: For now, it’s just me. I do have big plans for JamCam, so when the time comes that I can’t keep up with the workload involved, I’ll bring other people on board. But while JamCam is young, I plan on keeping complete control of the product and its direction.

SC: How long have you been developing JamCam?  Was this reactionary to the Instagram and Vine video space?

ML: I started developing JamCam at the start of August of this year, and it hit the App Store near the end of September. I had to do a fair amount of research into audio sessions with Apple’s SDK in order to accomplish what I wanted – it turned out that no other app (that I could find) actually didn’t interrupt the audio when opening a camera session. In the end I figured it out!

I was pleased to see that Instagram enabled video upload from the camera roll in early August, which was very timely. Vine was definitely a big inspiration in the shooting method (pause and resume). The difference at the moment is that JamCam is a tool first, and a sharing utility second — Instagram and Vine are social networks first and capturing tools second.

SC: I’ve read that the JamCam app works only with DRM-unlocked songs.  Other than that, are there any other song limitations?  Were there any licensing or copyright issues?

ML: The only other limitation that I can think of is songs that are in iCloud, but have not yet been downloaded to the device will not work. The reason for this is that JamCam uses the raw audio file with your video, so if it’s in the cloud (and not on the device), Apple doesn’t give other apps access to it.

As for copyright issues, JamCam essentially accomplishes the same type of thing as iMovie (or other video editing software), in that you can add audio to video. The difference is that JamCam does it in one step, and lets you hear the music you’re grooving out to while you’re shooting the video.

SC: Do you expect JamCam to gain traction as a stand-alone app?  Are Instagram and Vine your competition?  Or do you view JamCam as a tributary to those video social media outlets?

ML: For now JamCam is in many ways a tributary, but I expect that to change. The initial interest in JamCam was much greater than I expected – it really seems like something people have either been waiting for, or didn’t realize they even wanted (but now do). It went viral on Reddit the day after it came out, reaching the #1 spot in the iPhone category! So I think it has potential to be a standalone app, but it needs some attention to the community side.

SC: You also created Vibrauto, a music discovery website.  Did that project influence the development of JamCam at all?

ML: Yes and No – I’ve been very interested in the intersection of music and tech for a while now, and have been experimenting with different ideas. I think what’s interesting about JamCam is that it has potential to be a real force for discovery in addition to creativity. For me (and probably many others), music is very much tied to experience. This could mean situations, emotions or otherwise. Browsing a JamCam community of music videos could be a powerful way to find songs that might not have appealed or made sense to you otherwise.

SC: JamCam launched just a few ago, but what can we expect moving forward?

ML: I alluded to it before, but I definitely see JamCam going the community route. Whereas Vine, Instagram and others are based around browsing a network of people and their creations, I envision JamCam being centered around the songs themselves. Imagine browsing JamCam by song, where each song would have its own crowd sourced music video that could even be different each time you watch it (pulling videos from different users). This also has great potential for helping artists fuel discovery and engagement, so I plan on partnering up with some talent in that way in the future!

The post [Interview] Matt Loszak, Founder of JamCam appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dave Mainella

Those in attendance at last Tuesday’s SF MusicTech Summit were treated to a full day of thoughtful events and discussions from some of the brightest and most forward-thinking in the industry.  SoundCtrl Co-Founder, Jesse Kirshbaum, had the opportunity to lead a conversation and Q&A with Funkmaster Flex, the legendary DJ and producer on the leading edge of radio and digital.

Funkmaster Flex has a full and diverse resume, as one of the premier radio DJs for the last 20 years and as someone who’s turned the art of radio DJing into a successful digital brand – with a website that attracts over a million unique visitors and an app attracting 16 million page views a day.

The two discussed the evolution of radio, DJing and the “mix-tape”, and finding and playing new music, in a 20-minute conversation spanning the history of hip hop.

Talking with Kirshbaum about his early days at Hot 97 and in New York’s hip hop scene, Flex offered a unique perspective on the lineage of the genre.  Flex mentioned the 90′s in particular as a turning point for the music.  “The 90′s were key,” he said, “because it was a period where we thought hip hop might go away.  We didn’t know it was going to be mainstream, but it was getting more ears, more eyes.”

Kirshbaum recognized that Flex has the top rated radio show in all of terrestrial radio, to which the joking and humble DJ replied, “I’m number 1 by far.  But you know, I’m probably one of the few DJs around the country still allowed to pick their own music and records, and that’s something that I’ve never abused.”

Before taking questions from the attentive audience, Kirshbaum asked Flex’s opinion on developments in the music tech space.  The DJ targeted streaming music services as both a drawback and an opportunity for the evolution of a different kind of radio.

“There are a lot of good streaming services for the hits,” Flex explained.  “But I would like to see a lot of these streaming services try to really be radio.  They’re going to have to break artists.  And they’re going to have break music.  And they’re going to have to break talent.  I think where it’s going to go.  You’ll go to a streaming service and hear the hits, something new, and something unsigned all in the same place.”

Visit www.inflexwetrust.com

The post Recap: Funkmaster Flex at the SF MusicTech Summit appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

We all know what happens when light hits a crystal. The light is refracted and dances about, creating a visually pleasing physical reaction. Now what happens if you introduce colored LEDs, a wealth of crystal-simulated mirrors and electronic dance music courtesy of female producer-and-vocals duo Krewella? 2013 FlashFWD honoree for Best in Live and leading visual arts studio, V Squared Labs presents: the Volcano.

VJ and founder of V Squared Labs, Vello Virkhaus and lead designer Amanda Hamilton teamed up with fabricator and technical engineer Stefano Novelli to create this architectural masterpiece using reflection mapping to create the synthesized crystalline structure. At 30 feet by 18 feet, the Volcano superstructure is destined to travel to more than 50 venues across North America, acting as a visionary centerpiece for each explosive show.

Making of The Krewella Volcano from V Squared Labs Inc. on Vimeo.

This “Sketch to Stage” video features different chapters of what went on behind the scenes to make the superstructure a reality. “Design” features some of the original sketches and schematics of the Volcano in its early stages. “Fabrication” shows the incredible amount of effort that went into creating the structure itself, from constructing the framework and skeleton to manufacturing the crystals and light panels. “Building” demonstrates the assembly of each piece of crystal structure and the software that brings the Volcano to life. In “Rehearsal,” Krewella comes in to get a feel for the structure and rehearse their routine coordinated with the Volcano itself. The final chapter shows the duo performing live in Austin, TX, using their new and improved light show.

We had the pleasure of interviewing V Squared Labs’ Amanda Hamilton, the lead designer for the Volcano project, to learn more about what went on behind the scenes and what fans can expect from this state-of-the-art piece of lighting, made especially for Krewella.

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SoundCtrl: How was the idea for the Volcano inspired? Was there a specific moment or event that triggered it?

Amanda Hamilton: The inspiration came from Krewella’s Play Hard cover art, which depicts a crystalline explosion. Creating a volcano of exploding crystals became the premise of the design, so from there I studied the mechanics of crystal growth and their formation in nature. The mirrors as a material choice were to enhance the crystalline quality, and their explosive formation focuses your eye on the performers in the center. The crisp definition between the lighting effects outlines the separation of the crystal outgrowth from rocky cluster, and the LED screen acts as an overall environment and light source for the form.

SC: What was the process like transforming the Volcano from ideas to pen and paper and then to a physical centerpiece?

AH: So amazing. As an artist, having a client come to you with the idea of a “crystal volcano” is pretty exciting in itself. After discussing the circulation of the performers and necessary aspects of functionality, it was all form-making and light effects from there. Taking basic material ideas into physical experiments was the most fun, and getting to execute it at an even larger scale was a dream come true.

SC: What do you think is the most innovative and/or impressive aspect of the Volcano’s design?

AH: I think the complexity we achieved through very simple principles. Once we had a mock-up crystal made, we were able to grasp the light potential. There were minimal facets, and we tested it with just a few lights. After seeing the amazing effects on a small scale, we knew that a larger scale was going to produce even more intricate results.

SC: How did you make this massive structure portable for use on the Krewella tour?

AH: I worked with our fabricator, Stefano Novelli, on this aspect of the project. I knew the different configurations that the client desired, so I broke the crystals up into pieces that were small enough to transport while still making sure that the seams were corresponding with the configurations. Stefano made sure every joint and connection was feasible for a tour and simple and quick to assemble.

SC: How exactly will Krewella be interacting with the Volcano, or how will the Volcano interact with the music?

AH: The crystals hide various sets of stairs and platforms that they are able to move around and perform on. This allows them to look like they exist within pieces of the volcano itself. The exploding form is based around a central point which is also where their DJ booth sits. This is meant to draw the viewer’s eye directly to them. The different lighting effects inside and outside the volcano are all programmed with specific looks and colors based on Krewella’s set. Our VJ, LD and the music itself are responsible for the speed and rhythm of these effects.

SC: What reaction do you hope to get from fans who see and experience the Volcano live?

AH: I hope that it takes the music and performance to the next level. The entire structure is meant to enhance the music and aid the performers in creating the experience they’ve always dreamed of. Their fan base is so strong already, so in a way this gives back to the fans who have stuck out Krewella’s performances with no visuals whatsoever.

SC: Do you envision any updates or changes you might make to the Volcano either throughout the tour or after?

AH: We would love to expand upon the Volcano for future tours, maybe adding more pieces and platforms throughout.

SC: How do you plan to use the Volcano once the tour is finished?

AH: It is Krewella’s to keep! We only wish we could keep it here at the lab.

“My team at V Squared Labs and I are always pushing the envelope with existing technology to generate new forms of experiential visual art. The Volcano is our next experimental design integrating lighting, reflection mapping and sculptural form. We are very excited to bring the audience along on this amazing musical and visual journey.” – Vello Virkhaus, Founder of V Squared Labs

The post [Interview] With Their Stunning Crystallized Volcano, Krewella Hopes to Blow Fans’ Minds appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

After surprising success in the music industry, the founders of competitive social media platform WomStreet are geared to launch their new, music-focused Spotlight.fm. Spotlight.fm will host competitions by musicians and labels, in which artists will submit their songs and remixes to earn spots on tours, features on albums, and gain exposure with a new base of engaged music enthusiasts. Artists will create free profiles that allow for easy submissions when new opportunities arise on the site. Using WomStreet’s “active-user” platform, fans interact with the hosts, competing artists, and other members of the Spotlight community by voting in contests and sharing their votes via social media channels.

Ahead of the October 1st launch date, SoundCtrl spoke with Spotlight.fm’s Head of Business Development, Taylor J. Winum. We spoke to Winum about the concept behind Spotlight, the user interface and technology, as well as the scope of the company’s growth moving forward.

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SoundCTRL: What types of contest opportunities will be offered on Spotlight.fm?

Taylor Winum: Spotlight.fm is actually the new comprehensive music-focused version of our previous platform, Womstreet, which gained over 70k users in just over a year. Womstreet was meant to be used for small brands and unexpectedly gained significant traction in the music sphere. Spotlight.fm will offer a multitude of competitive opportunities for artists and fans across the country, and eventually internationally. Artists will create profiles to submit original songs or remix stems of popular tracks to earn opening slots at shows and gain exposure through premier musicians and labels. Headlining artists can virally market entire tours by offering local artists the chance to open shows at each stop. The platform will also offer active fans the chance to win free passes to shows and festivals just for offering their opinions.

SC: Are the contests/competitions based on votes, and if so what is the process to vote?

TW: The way in which contests operate is up to each individual opportunity host. They will have the option to select winners using fan voting or no voting. If the host choses to utilize fan voting, they will have the option to pick winners from the top 5,10,15, or 20 most voted. These opportunities are not meant to be popularity contests–rather, voting helps promote the event, brand, or song across social media and provides a mere indication of each artist’s following. If the host choses to use voting, they will also afford a pair of free tickets to a randomly selected voter in their contest. This ensures that both artists and fans are being rewarded for their submissions and input.

SC: How does spotlight differ from a contest site like Indaba Music or SonicBids?

TW: First off, Spotlight is free to the contest host, the competing artist and the fans. We want everyone to use this and we feel charging fees only inhibits the overall growth of our network. We will make money on the backend of the platform through sponsorships, ticket sales, and content licensing. Additionally, contest hosts will be able to access premium features like detailed analytics and embeddable content widgets.

Spotlight will also become a database of emerging artists, songs (like SoundCloud), and music businesses. All of our content will be indexed and our homepage will showcase the most successful artists and tracks. All of this data is very valuable and will assist talent agencies in gaining a competitive edge by identifying trending artists.

Spotlight will also be hosting it’s own user-generated events across the country to popularize the concept of invigorating local music communities.

SC: What are the criteria for a contest or competition that can be hosted on Spotlight?

TW: The whole idea behind Spotlight is giving artists and fans in each music community a voice in their digital and live music experiences. We want to bridge the gap between talent discovery and the rate at which music is produced in a digital society. So the only criteria for hosting contests is that it needs to offer legitimate opportunities for artists and fans. These competitive opportunities are really only limited to the creativity of the host creating them.

SC: Will Spotlight contests be limited to major label artists? Is there any affiliation an artist needs to hold a remix contest for one of their own songs, for example?

TW: Spotlight is a completely self-service and user-generated platform. This means that anyone can host a contest as long as they’re trying to create positive opportunities. We want to give anyone the tools to become a promoter simply by using our platform.

SC: Are there separate access points and features for fans and artists, or will everyone use the same interface?

TW: Fans can simply login with their Facebook or create a quick Fan account with an email and password. Artists need to create a profile with general info about themselves and their music. Then when they upload their submissions to opportunities, these songs will appear on their profile and include information regarding the submissions, plays, “hearts”, and downloads.

SC: Will Spotlight integrate streaming music platforms (like SoundCloud, Spotify) or have proprietary technology for its artist profiles?

TW: Behind the scenes, Spotlight uses similar technologies as SoundCloud and Spotify but we’ve created our own design and functionality to ensure that we provide the experience we want for our users.

SC: Will Spotlight have iPhone and iPad apps?

TW: We are currently working on a comprehensive app that will maintain most of the functionality of the website. It will also include a Spotlight.fm radio that will shuffle through songs on the site by analyzing your personal taste in music. It will be a great way to discover new music from emerging talent all across the globe.

SC: Do you see Spotlight expanding into other branches of entertainment and the arts, such as film, dance, visual arts, etc.?

TW: Of course, we want to provide opportunity to everyone in the arts. As we build the technology and strengthen our relationships within the industry, we will continue to evolve.

The post Spotlight.fm Helps Artists Earn Placement on Tours, Features on Albums and Much More… appeared first on SoundCtrl.

by Dave Mainella

Last week, music streaming service and 2013 FlashFWD winner of Best in Discovery, Songza, announced a successful round of equity financing to the tune of $4.7 million.  Among the many investors are two additional FlashFWD honorees – Troy Carter and Scooter Braun – both of whom were recipients of the FlashFWD SoundWAV Award.

Songza is gaining significant traction since the 2012 launch of its Music Concierge feature that emphasizes situational listening.  The company is quickly shaping up to be a leading lifestyle-enhancement music streaming service, where music and playlists facilitate moods and situations.  Songza hopes to similarly bring personal and curated brands to the listening audience through non-disruptive native advertising.

We had the opportunity to talk with Songza co-founder and CCO Eric Davich about the recent financing, native advertising, and the musical curation of our everyday lives.

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SoundCtrl: Native advertising is meant to incorporate brands into the musical experience of a user’s daily routine.  Can you describe how this advertising will continue to enhance the lifestyle of the listening audience?

Eric Davich: Everything we do on Songza is aimed at making what you’re doing right now better. With Sponsored Moments, our new native advertising solution, we are providing brands with the capability to tap into the personal, trusted connection we have with our users in order to provide contextually relevant experiences at the right place and the right time. So far we’ve worked with brands like Taco Bell and Samsung to provide the Songza audience with great experiences for “Getting Hyped” and “Going Back to College,” and as we continue to integrate more partners you can expect to see brands providing valuable experiences for every moment from everyday situations like “Drinking Gourmet Coffee,” and “Working Out,” to quirky, aspirational scenarios like “Saving the World” and “Quitting Your Job.” In all these cases, we work closely with brands to tell their story with the personality and human touch that Songza users have come to expect from our team of expert curators.

SC: This round of financing include investments by Lady Gaga manager Troy Carter and Justin Beieber manager Scooter Braun.  Will these industry experts help to move Songza forward in any way beyond just the financials?

ED: Our investors and advisors have been extremely valuable mentors and partners. Their passion for our product and our team has been an invaluable resource in growing and scaling every aspect of our business and will continue to be especially important in evolving the ways that we continue to innovate, grow, and monetize our platform. We’ve already had the pleasure of working directly with Atom Factory, Scooter Braun, William Morris Endeavor, and their clients in order to provide great experiences for both their fans as well as the Songza community as a whole.

SC: How will this round of funding directly affect the implementation of native advertising?

ED: We’re a small team (currently 28) with limited resources, so it’s that we continue to add more all-stars to our roster as we grow. This new round of funding will help us add to grow our already amazing team with key engineering, sales, editorial and marketing hires so that we can continue to innovate and improve the user

experience while dedicating a great deal of attention to our clients and business partners.

SC: Songza successfully curates music, and curating advertisements seems to be a logical extension of that.  Does Songza take an active roll in seeking out advertisers to best fit the many moods and experiences of its playlists? 

ED: Absolutely. In the digital age, consumers have become increasingly savvy and immune towards traditional advertisements. In order for brands to actually reach consumers in a meaningful way, they need to contextualize their message in a way that relates to the consumer’s context – not just who they are and where they’re from, but also what they’re actually doing at that very moment. An athletic apparel brand, for instance, has a lot of valuable products to provide to

consumers when they’re “Working Out,” but a consumer will be less receptive to purchasing sportswear at a moment when it’s not relevant like “Bedtime” or “A Fun Cocktail Party.”

SC: Do you hope native advertising will cause users to be more forgiving of ads during Songza’s free music listening experience?

ED: We don’t think that users hate ads, rather they hate ads that are irrelevant to them as individuals. The beauty of Songza’s native advertising solution is that it provides new forms of branded experiences, but also allows brands to better target their traditional ad units in a much more powerful and relevant way at a place and time in which a consumer will be most receptive to the brand’s message. Collaborating with brands on this type of content that’s both native to the platform as well as the user experience helps us better improve every possible moment of our users’ lives.

SC: You’ve announced brands such as Samsung, Nissan, Taco Bell, and Victoria’s Secret PINK as early adapters of the native advertising platform.  Is there now a proven record of greater advertising success over traditional, and potentially more intrusive, advertising?

ED: We’ve had great success so far. With the first native campaigns we’ve done, we’re measuring user engagement with brands not only in terms of clicks and impressions, but also in terms of days spent with brands and users that save branded playlists as one of their favorites. In all the examples you mentioned, these brands have also seen an increase in users that are explicitly broadcasting their brand story and message through social networks as well as frictionless sharing via our deep integration with Facebook’s timeline.

SC: In addition to native advertising, Songza also offers brands options like Pre-Roll Video and Type-In ads.  Do you expect to see a shift in advertising preference from those traditional models to the more integrated native advertising?

ED: The pre-roll video and branded captchas that we’ve recently integrated are great, high impact units that allow us to monetize in a way that doesn’t have to interrupt the user experience in the middle of their listening session. It also makes the relationship between advertisers and consumers very clear in that completing a captcha or watching a video ‘unlocks’ commercial free listening.

Furthermore, we’ve been able to leverage these types of ads to complement our native campaigns to present a high impact ad when a user has opted in to a branded experience. With Taco Bell, for instance, if you opt in to their experience for “Getting Hyped” and click through to listen to their “Hyped All Day” playlist, you’ll see a short video pre-roll that showcases their new Fiery Doritos Locos Taco before you begin listening. This enables brands to provide first a useful tool with the experience in the Concierge followed by a point of purchase. In other words, we think brands will be more successful if they flirt with you before asking for your number.

The post [Interview] Eric Davich, Co-Founder & CCO of Songza appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Jerell Tongson

On Tuesday, September 17^th, a new image-based music streaming app called Moodsnap will make its debut on the iTunes app store. Using the expansive Spotify library and The Echo Nest’s data algorithms, Moodsnap allows users to listen to curated music stations based on collections of images.  Music selections are crowd sourced, collaboratively chosen and tailored to the tastes of individual users.  The target goal is an “instinct-driven experience designed for music fans who are overwhelmed by choice in today’s digital world.”

Recently named a “Notable Startup” by the SF Musictech Summit in 2013, we spoke Founder & CEO David Blutenthal in advance of the launch this week.

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SoundCtrl : Where did the idea for Moodsnap come from?

David Blutenthal: My team and I were inspired to capture those very human musical attributes in order to deliver a listening experience that makes a person feel known and understood. What’s missing from today’s music apps is the perfect balance between contextual relevance, trusted curation, and simplicity through intuitive design. Our mission with Moodsnap ™ is to deliver on all three.

Our idea to categorize music stations by images stemmed from psychological research on the power that visual imagery has on emotion and decision-making, coupled with implicit knowledge and what we saw in the music and photo app marketplaces as both lacking and trending. By displaying a spectrum of life’s emotions not in words, but in photographs, Moodsnap ™ allows users to FEEL what they want to hear, rather than search through exhaustive and often un-relatable text-based categories. This intuitive experience is designed for music fans who feel overwhelmed by choice in today’s digital world, providing more time to simply live in the moment.

SC : How do you envision people utilizing Moodsnap in their daily lives?

DB : At a fundamental level, we envision people utilizing Moodsnap in a very instinct-driven way, to quickly find music that resonates with them in a particular context or moment, which is another way to say, to match “how they feel or what they’re doing”. Say for example, you’re leaving the office at the end of a hard day. Maybe you want to listen to something that will make you feel better, or perhaps feel relaxed, or yet again maybe feel like sulking in your frustration for a little while. You need some tunes that empathize with that. That user would instinctively choose a photo that resonates at that moment. Maybe it’s a picture of someone chilling out on an idyllic beach drinking a beer, maybe it’s someone pulling their hair out with frustration. In just one tap, the tunes start flowing.

SC : Does the Moodsnap team initially form a foundation of “beach songs” or “starry night” that users can alter through their usage? What informs those decisions?

DB : When a new Moodsnap station is created, our internal team along with a small hand picked group of curators, creates the initial foundation of music for that station, drawing from a variety of genres. 30-40 songs or so. Since all of the music associated with each image is hand picked, we need to seed users with something so they can tap and play without repeating songs, or without hitting a dead end.

Our hope is that contributors quickly latch on and add a diverse array of music that fits that photograph in some way. The process is truly one of human curation at scale, which is then sorted programmatically by energy (using Echo Nest APIs), and finally filtered dynamically to our understanding of each listeners taste. Since subjectivity and personal taste on the music contributor side plays a great role here, the delivery algorithm for listening has to be on point.

SC : Has anything surprised you from beta testing?

DB : Most definitely. One is that people see different things in a photo based on their perspective, life experience, gender, or otherwise.  For example, we have this one Moodsnap station of a man in a gay pride parade. It’s bright, colorful and feels very celebratory.  Depending on a particular user’s life experience and knowledge of what a pride parade looks like, some see Brazilian Carnivale, some see Mardi Gras, some see a Pride Parade, while others just see the expression of happiness and joy that exudes from the man’s face.  Compared to other photos that are much more specific to a universal theme, and are less ambiguous, the music we’re seeing being contributed to the “parade” station mirrors that ambiguity…think of songs ranging form George Michael to Seu Jorge to Dr. John.

We decided to keep the station in there for the launch so we can learn more from people. Ultimately we’re learning what rules govern a great Moodsnap station so that people’s listening experiences match their expectations based on a shared perception.

SC : What led to your decisions to use the Echo Nest and Spotify API? Are there plans for expansion past premium Spotify users into other streaming platforms?

DB : Regarding Spotify ®, in addition to that we’re all huge fans and users of the platform, they provide developers with an amazing set of API tools, which allowed us in an agile manner to build this differentiated interactive experience, and under a low cost structure…. In terms of available market size, Spotify has a largest international market share of subscribers among the on-demand streaming services for which we could position Moodsnap as a free value-add.

[Also], it was important to us that Moodsnap support the artists whose music makes our app possible, and there is simply no way we could have built a legally sanctioned version of Moodsnap without leveraging a platform such a Spotify.

The Echo Nest is doing amazing things for the next generation of music consumption, discovery, and delivery products and services. They are truly mastering the art of big data music intelligence. Like Spotify, they provide developers (like us) access to non-commercial use APIs, allowing us to sort music intelligently based on a number of parameters. We view The Echo Nest as a long-term partner as we continue to scale and grow into revenue generating business.

On the expansion note, we see the whole picture concerning options and reasons to expand to other music and mobile platforms, but for now we’re taking things a step at a time.  It’s logical that upon early success, an Android version will soon follow, and we are also looking into creating a tangential “lite version”, which we could offer to a broader userbase, that would be limited in features but still offer the core of Moodsnap’s image-based and instinct-driven experience.

SC : There has been a recent surge of popularity behind image/video based apps – Instagram & Vine being the most prominent. How do you see Moodsnap mingling with these types of services? Do they compete or amplify each other?

DB: Excellent question. We see ourselves as a joint value-creating player in the photo-sharing ecosystem, that can leverage these apps’ distinctive competencies in order to co-mingle, and thus amplify the experiences for our respective users. We are open to discussing creative options that complement other services, whether through strategic partnerships, cross-promotional campaigns, or API integration, with goals to build economic and social value in our shared ecosystem.

SC : Down the line, how do you foresee monetizing Moodsnap?

DB: Our strategy is to take a validated learning approach toward minimizing product-market risk at each stage of the venture’s development in order to meet business goals. The first stage of Moodsnap’s business strategy is to ensure that users are adopting the product as a lifestyle enhancer and that we’re seeing increased traction based on inherent viral factors. Having a strong demand-pull is crucial. Monetization will be a result of reaching significant scale, and we have a roadmap for revenues to eventually come from both from B2B and B2C opportunities.

SC : If you could see any artist picking up Moodsnap, who would it be and why?

DB : We will all see soon but I feel up-and-coming artists particularly have a lot to gain by exposing new people to their music, based on the context they want those songs to be heard.  New York based singer/songwriter Amber Rubarth comes to mind. She has beautiful songs about heartache and the pangs of love lost, and others that feel profoundly intimate, cozy, and full of love. You’d have to really know her catalog to get that. Moodsnap will allow for artists like her to unearth deep cuts (lesser known tracks) that most people might not otherwise notice, but in context, they come alive and leave their mark on you. In my opinion, her song “In The Creases” would fit a Moodsnap station conveying the former set of heartbreak emotions, while a song like “Mirror” would aptly be attributed to the latter.

Watch the Moodsnap.fm Boston New Technology Presentation (2013) here

The post [Interview] David Blutenthal, Founder & CEO of Moodsnap appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

With soaring ticket prices and dedicated venues in major cities, music fans often miss out on experiencing their favorite artists’ live performances. Enter EVNTLIVE, an innovative digital venue that broadcasts HD concerts to your computer or mobile devices. Not only does EVNTLIVE offer high-quality streams of live and on-demand concerts, it also allows fans to customize their experiences, controlling camera angles, chatting with other concertgoers, and accessing exclusive content like backstage interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

Though EVNTLIVE is technically still in its beta stage, it has already broadcast several concerts in the last few months since launching, featuring Bon Jovi, Wale, and The Lumineers, and the platform has been praised by the music and tech industries alike.

We spoke with Co-Founder & CMO David Carrico and CEO Judy Estrin last February (see that interview here) and caught up with Carrico yesterday about EVNTLIVE’s proprietary social features, the process of putting on a show, and what to anticipate for the future of the digital concert experience.

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SoundCtrl: How long has EVNTLIVE been up and running? How many concerts have you now broadcast?

David Carrico: We launched on April 15 2013, so we’ve been up and running for a little over four months now. We’ve broadcast about fifteen to sixteen shows in the last few months.

SC: In our last interview, you stated that EVNTLIVE wasn’t intended to replace a live concert experience. How does the platform bring in some of the elements of the highly social and communal atmosphere of a concert?

DC: The analogy that I like to use is that we know that being at a show is not a replaceable experience, but we do like to take the digital features that we have to make it as much like being at a show as possible. So for us that means while shows are being broadcast on EVNTLIVE.com, users are able to talk to each other using our own chat mechanism about what they’re watching during the show. Users are able to select their own camera angle, so in addition to the live directed feed they can watch one of the artists, whether it be the guitarist or the drummer, or the DJ cam or the crowd cam. Through iTunes, users are able to download music by the artist they’re watching without leaving the page, they’re able to read up more about the artist, and perhaps watch all-access backstage interviews or extra content that we’ve shot related to the artist or the story behind the show.

SC: What kind of technical specifications are required to have a concert streamed in terms of video and audio? How do you go about setting up the recording and streaming of EVNTLIVE events?

DC: Everything we do is incredibly high-end–we like to think of ourselves as a curated digital venue in the sense that we’re only looking at four to six shows a month. The majority of shows we’re doing are six to ten camera HD broadcast television-quality shoots. A lot of planning goes into camera placement and live direction of shows so they’re really the highest quality possible.

SC: Do those features carry over to EVNTLIVE on the iPhone or iPad?

DC: We don’t have native apps yet, but we will be releasing them. Right now the mobile and tablet versions are all HTML5, so you can watch on your cell phone, you can watch on your tablet, you can watch on your computer, and the content is the same on all the devices.

SC: Are you broadcasting primarily from a specific location, or are the concerts worldwide?

DC: The majority of shows we’ve broadcast have been in the United States but we’re talking about shows in the UK and other countries as well. And we’re always streaming those shows internationally, regardless of where they’re taking place.

SC: Will a breaking artist have smaller-scale options within EVNTLIVE where they can gain and grow fans?

DC: Perhaps. At this point however, EVNTLIVE is focused on bringing artists that are already incredibly popular to an event broader audience. There are so many people living in places around the world that a major artist simply won’t tour, since an artist can only tour so many dates a year. Yet there are so many fans internationally. So our goal is to give people who couldn’t make it to the show for whatever reason, be it financial, geographic, the opportunity to see their favorite bands and festivals.

SC: What is the pricing plan or subscription?

DC: At this time all the live webcasts are free. We have the option to offer pay-per-view webcasts but the idea of the business model going forward will be to partner with brands to have some integration in the webcast to help drive revenue for the artist.

SC: Are your relationships with the artists through booking agencies and record labels?

DC: Our relationships extend to agents, managers, and record labels. Typically to do a webcast, all of those parties need to buy in and be interested in participating. 

SC: You mentioned in the last interview that 3D would be a possibility for the future. Are they any plans you have to use new technologies to bring together artists’ fans in a live community setting?

DC: We have ideas about how we could experiment with translating the experience of EVNTLIVE in different ways. One of the things we’ve been interested in looking into in the future is that there are sports bars–why couldn’t there be concert bars? Why couldn’t there be places where people could congregate remotely to enjoy a show if they couldn’t be there across the world? So there are certainly lots of physical opportunities and social opportunities, as well as people just being able to enjoy from their tablets or smartphones in their living rooms.

The post [Interview] David Carrico, Co-Founder & CMO of EVNTLIVE appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dave Mainella

Radio is not dead, and Mixcloud is making sure of it.  Mixcloud, in it’s mission to rethink radio, provides a centralized platform for connecting traditional shows, Podcasts, and DJ mixes with the listening audience.  Matching the content demands of the modern and global consumer with the needs of the broadcaster, DJ or otherwise, is a challenging process.  But Mixcloud does it well, and as a result, places the young company in a strong position for internet radio success.

Mixcloud was founded by four friends from Cambridge University in 2008, launching in 2009.  Nico Perez, one of the co-founders, explains, “We had a student radio show and wanted to reach more people.  We used to DJ, and still do today, and we were listening to a lot of DJ mixes and radio shows across the web, through platforms like YouSendIt and iTunes.  But they were scattered around across the web.”

The concept for a focused, one-stop platform full of radio and DJ content grew out of personal frustration.  “There was no YouTube equivalent for radio,” Perez continues, “And so we tried to connect DJs and radio shows with an audience through a centralized point.”

Because of the connection with the DJ space, with personal relationships established in those circles and networks, Mixcloud evolved into a hub for DJs eager to share mixes and sets of music.  Around 90 to 95 percent of content on Mixcloud is music-based, but a growing collection of talk radio promises the option of diversified programming.

Mixcloud has started to work with some terrestrial radio stations, including Kiss FM(UK), Absolute Radio, and XFM.  These relationships are ones Perez hopes to continue to develop.  “Right now we work with a lot of individual DJs, somewhat grassroots-based, and some with larger followings.  Direct to consumer is much easier to do for a startup than building commercial relationships.”

Mixcloud offers a free and easy-to-use platform that allows anyone to broadcast.  Curatorial tools like “popular” and “recommended” categories simplify the process of finding Cloudcasts you might like.  Listeners “follow” favorite DJs and broadcasters to receive updates.  And Mixcloud offers broadcasters links and widgets to help distribute and promote their content.

The service has been very well-received.  Mixcloud, with the release of its iOS app three months ago, announced that they had surpassed 10 million active users across all platforms.

A large part of Mixcloud’s success, and a big reason why it will grow and compete well with other DJ-heavy platforms like Soundcloud, can be attributed to its music licensing agreements.  Mixcloud is licensed by SoundExchange, PRS for Music, and the PPL, requiring that broadcasters submit tracklists along with their Cloudcasts.  Playback of copyrighted material is tracked and reported, ensuring the copyright holders ultimately get paid for the appearance of their original work.

This is an important distinction from something like Soundcloud.  While it comes with its drawbacks – a user can’t stream a song on demand or download the track – the positives will prove beneficial in the long run.  “The artists get compensated and DJs don’t receive take-down notices for uploading unlicensed content,” Perez explains.

There’s an educational element as well.  Perez tells us that there’s some confusion in the DJ community about what needs to be licensed, a lack of information that Mixcloud aims to help remedy.

Keep an eye out for Mixcloud as they continue to clean up the site and solidify a redesign.  A refresh of the main desktop site, dubbed MixcloudX, will we be released at the end of the year.  An Android app, currently in development, is scheduled for release in Q4 as well.

The post Mixcloud Rethinks Internet Radio appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

For four years, Creative Allies has been building a community to unite graphic designers and illustrators with musicians and brands to create unique artwork for promotions, campaigns, albums, and even full-on brand identities. With an “alliance” of over 50,000 designers, Creative Allies has created a new model that opens up the design process to larger audiences. By running open contests, designers can submit their original artwork with fans voting for and ultimately deciding on the winning design.

After working as Creative Allies’ Head of Business Affairs, Kevin Carroll was named COO of the agency last month. In a recent interview, Carroll shares his experience, insight, and outlook for Creative Allies as they expand their model and broaden their scope for the future.

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SoundCtrl: What about Creative Allies distinguishes it from the traditional model of creating and selling merchandise?

Kevin Carroll: When Creative Allies was founded, one of the ideals was to see if we could connect the music space with an opportunity for talented graphic designers and illustrators. We ran into a lot of people who went to school and earned a degree, but were waiting tables and looking for jobs. The founder Sean O’Connell had the idea of going to some design schools, taking his contacts in the music industry, and starting off running some contests to create content for the music space.

SC: So it started at the record label level?

KC: Pretty much. We found some labels that were interested and were looking for something different, and now we have more of an augmentative plan. With the amount of social reach we can bring to each contest, we also provide a wonderful marketing opportunity for every band involved.

SC: Were there any specific market trends that inspired CA, or is this more about simply democratizing the process?

KC: The thought is for the fans to have the opportunity to express themselves as to what the music and artistry really means to them. We’ve got a wonderful example with Paramore who essentially challenged their fans to express what [Paramore's] latest project should reflect visually. We had the same sort of success with Slipknot, who basically told their fans, “We’ve got eight albums and we’ve been doing this for nineteen years – show us what our music looks like to you.”

SC: So it’s showing the value of the fan base.

KC: Right. With all of the socialization ties we have through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the bands can say, “Hey we’re doing this [contest],” and their fans find us and our built-in communities. We can alert them as soon as something is coming across so it’s a double-win for the fans of the artists and for the fans of the band.

SC: How does the artist communicate his or her intention, and is there an option to fine-tune the designs?

KC: There are multiple ways that that can happen. First, we’ve got a really great creative team down in Asheville, NC with Jake Rosenbloum and Rachel Whaley, who do all of the creative designing of briefs. They’ve learned the sweet spot for how we’re trying to get the artwork reflected back from what the artist’s demands are. In all candor, it really depends at what level the artist wants to be involved. Mainly it’s left up to their people, but in some cases the artist is really hands-on. We had Michael Franti do a promotional design greeting saying what he was specifically looking for in a tour poster.

SC: So it’s a customizable experience, as open or as specific as you want it to be.

KC: Right, and we’ve got one out now where we wanted people to reflect what the music of Elvis Presley means to them, without it being a facially focused Elvis design. We’re getting some really creative stuff back.

SC: Do you see this expanding to other industries?

KC: We actually have. We did the 20th anniversary can for Arizona Iced Tea, which is one of the first brands we were involved with. And then we morphed into doing a series with Toyota last year with several different concert stops, and we did a tote bag for each one. This past spring we did Ben & Jerry’s “Shirt Happens” promotion where the winning allies’ t-shirt designs are actually sold in the stores.

SC: And I saw you’re running a contest for a baseball team?

KC: Yeah, it’s actually a major manufacturer in the sports base. We can’t say who’s sponsoring it, but they’re looking for a new, hip image for a baseball product they plan to launch next season – we’re getting some great stuff.

SC: Do you see the format expanding into the digital territory with apps and websites?

KC: We can do whatever a client would like to see happen. We’ve delved into logos and also other physical products, but we have the capacity to do just about anything you can imagine. It really depends on the vision of the client and how they’d like to use our services, but we’ve been able to put it together and do a little bit of everything.

To check out the current contests and to see winners of past contests, visit Creative Allies.

The post [Interview] Kevin Carroll, COO of Creative Allies appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dana Sedgwick

It’s not too long ago that the residents of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood were lounging in McCarren Park taking in the sights and sounds of the JellyNYC pool parties and BBMing their other friends to tell them why they should be jealous (ha).

Today, those same hipsters are capturing short videos with their smartphones and one of the creators behind those parties has figured out a fun (and creative) way to share them.

Sympler is video-mixing app. Its interface is simple, based off of the classic MPC. Each spot on the grid can be populated with anything saved to your camera – Vine, Instagram, stills, clips, etc. Music is key to the equation, allowing those of us less comfortable to find a flow, but also allowing for sophisticated producers to create something next level… tapping each tile in time to the music produces a fully edited video in seconds.

We sat down with Founder, Alexander Kane, to talk about his vision to lower the barrier to participation in video creation and heighten the level of creativity at the same time.

Download Sympler from the App Store here

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SoundCtrl: People know you best as the man behind JellyNYC, the infamous “Pool Parties” and the concerts down at Williamsburg’s East River Park. How did you get into app development?

Alexander Kane: Before JELLY and Pool Parties I was a music video director and always had a nagging urge to involve a wider audience in the process. For too long filmmaking and video has been reserved for the few.  So, as Pool Parties was coming to an end, it felt like the right time to build a product that had the same democratic spirit. What Pool Parties did for partygoers Sympler does for budding video makers.

SC: Did your experience in creating these extravaganzas drive any inspiration for the app?

AK: Definitely. The spirit of Pool Parties is very much core to the philosophy of the app. Democratizing fun for creative kids is still what we’re doing. With Pool Parties we deliberately had very few barriers during the first few years.  There was a ‘no VIP’ philosophy.   As producers, we didn’t create the experience, we provided the necessary elements to let the audience define the narrative.  That was what made Pool Parties so special.   Also, the transformative power of music was key.   Sympler provides users with the necessary elements, leverages the power of music, and trusts the user to tell their story.

SC:  Who is the full team behind Sympler?

AK: It’s me and Ben Jenkins who comes from the brand innovation and youth advertising world. While I was directing music videos and running JELLY he was studying the motivations for the young consumers of brands like Coke, Axe, PUMA and Levis. He’d been working on building tech solutions for those youth audiences for the last 14 years. We’ve also worked with Jonah Warren and Steven Sanborn, two great developers who have experience in game design and interactive experiences.

SC: This app is coming just as mobile video sharing is become more and more common – Instagram, Vine, & Snapchat all allow users to capture short video and share it with their friends. How do you envision Sympler co-mingling with these types of products?

AK: Yes – it’s pretty good timing. The ecosystem is actually pretty key to us for a couple of reasons: Firstly Vine and Instagram are constraining people to smaller clips which is good for us as we help you mix together those short clips. Secondly people are just becoming more comfortable with video as a medium and they’re more inclined to share their output now. Sympler is great for mixing and editing content from different sources in an organic and rhythmic way – whether it’s stills from Instagram, 6 second clips from Vine or heavily treated video from 8mm – we become a really easy way to mash up content from the various sources. So the more video apps out there with filters and effects, the better for us.

SC: We’ve all seen examples of how some creatives have taken easy-to-use products like Vine and Instagram and taken them to the next level… have you seen any instances on Sympler that have surprised you or taken the app in a direction you didn’t imagine?

AK: Yes – we’ve given it to a few music producers who are already adept at mixing beats and sounds. They’ve manipulated this as they do their music mixing tools and turned raw video content into music. The other surprise was the way that some people have used this as a final compositing tool after creating video and images in other apps and finishing it off in Sympler.  We were also surprised by how diverse the output from our users has been.  What we expected going in was that timing and rhythm was at the core of the barrier to quality video making.  Which is why we put music in the foreground.  Once someone feels confident mixing a video to a beat, his or her output changes dramatically.  They start using Sympler to create videos of all different genres.

SC: If you could put this app into the hand of any artist, who would it be and why?

AK: This is a tough one.  There are so many out there who we want using the app, because we’d love to see what they create with it.  Michel Gondry comes to mind.  He’s someone who I admired as a young music video director. Not only is he a visionary filmmaker, he’s also a drummer.  I have a feeling he’d create some crazy shit with the app.   Other artists include: Jay Z’s DJ – Young Guru (whose manager we’re already speaking with). Young Guru isn’t just a great DJ and sound engineer but is all about educating kids and leveling the playing field when it comes to his craft and creativity in music.

The post With Sympler, Video Mixing is as Simple as Tapping Out a Beat appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dana Sedgwick

It’s that time of year again… when everyone pimps their SXSW panel and asks you to vote for them. Well we’re throwing our hat into the ring and are proud to submit an intimate conversation with a legendary radio host turned digital curator DJ Funkmaster Flex – Building Your Digital Brand.

We caught up with Flex last May at our 4th Annual FlashFWD Awards where he came to support Best in Discovery winner, Songza. At SXSW, our own Jesse Kirshbaum (Co-Founder of SoundCtrl, CEO of NUE Agency) will have the chance to sit down with Flex and dive into the particulars of how he continues to push the needle in music culture, industry and tech.

Funk Flex has been America’s #1 radio personality for more than a decade – reaching more than 3M listeners a week on Hot97. Every night between 7PM-12AM, an estimated 10% of all the NYC metropolitan radio audience is listening to him – making him #1 in his time slot. A magnet for brands and notorious for breaking artists, the Flex bomb on a song ultimately marks it as the next big hit in clubs, on the radio and all over the world.

In addition to on-air, Flex has also developed an impressive presence online including his website InFlexWeTrust.com, his Funkmaster Flex app, and various other strategic partnerships with emerging tech companies.

In this dual session, we will break down how Flex has become one of the very few to successfully maintain a strong, traditional relationship with listeners – via radio – while building a digital arsenal that rivals any artist at a major label.

You can VOTE HERE and please be sure to share it with your friends.. we promise to share some BBQ with you in 2014. See you in Austin!

The post Vote for SoundCtrl & DJ Funkmaster Flex at SXSW Interactive 2014 appeared first on SoundCtrl.

by Dave Mainella

Concert curator and all-in-one ticketing app WillCall announced additional funding last week, a round of investing that brings on talented industry experts and positions the company to make a push into the pockets of concert-goers.

We had the opportunity to talk with co-founder and CEO Donnie Dinch about building relationships with music venues, the social aspect of concert attendance, and how the mobile app (for both iOS and Android) aims to facilitate and amplify going to shows.

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SoundCtrl – How did the idea for WillCall come about?

Donnie Dinch – We were sitting around listening to KEXP, a great radio station in Seattle when the Shout Out Louds, easily one of my favorite bands at the time, played a set in the studio. I was pretty upset that I didn’t know until that moment that they were in town — and of course it was way too late to buy a ticket. This sparked a whole discussion on why we didn’t see more shows, and we wondered if lack of awareness was an industry-wide problem.

SC – In addition to concert tickets, the WillCall app also includes options to tip artists and purchase merchandise and custom packages – a one-stop shop to pay for everything. Is that the intended appeal for the concert-goer, ease of use and functionality?

DD – Absolutely. We think the entire experience of going to a concert should be completely seamless. Payments create a lot of hassle during a show, and that hassle can suck up a lot of brain power which saps the fun out of a night out. Anything we can do to make things easier is a good thing.

SC – WillCall incorporates social media by sharing purchases on Facebook and Twitter and by notifying users of friends’ activities. How do you hope to grow the social component of the app?

DD – People rarely go to concerts alone, so there’s a lot of opportunity for us to make the process of getting together with other people easier. For example, the use case of buying more than one ticket to a concert and not knowing who you’re going with yet  is extremely common. We can build out social features that support this behavior.

SC – You’ve mentioned the importance of working with venues, offering venue owners analytics about attendance and ticket sales as one way of recognizing that importance. Are there other things you hope to offer venues in the future?

DD – Admission to a show is just the first part of a larger experience. We’re interested in optimizing every transaction and interaction that takes place during the course of attending a show. Drinks, merch, food, transportation — there’s a lot of friction to reduce inside and outside of the venues.

SC – Can you describe the process of working with venues? Is it a matter of establishing a relationship and partnering with a club, or is it more of a concert-to-concert basis?

DD – Building relationships within the existing music scenes in San Francisco and New York has been an area of strong focus for us. We work very closely with the venues, promoters, and artists themselves on each show.

SC – Do you find some venues to be reluctant to work with you?

DD – Once venues understand the value we’re adding, they’re really excited about working with us. We bring very focused marketing and amplified event awareness. It has an additive network effect that venues really appreciate.

SC – Have venues sold more tickets by selling through WillCall?

DD – Absolutely. Not only are we helping venues grow their audiences at the shows they’ve already booked, we’re creating an environment that facilitates more people going to live shows more often. Streaming services like Spotify have surfaced so many more incredible musicians. While there may be fewer artists that can sell out 10,000 person rooms, there are many more that can sell out 500 person clubs. The club level is what interests us right now. We’re creating a casual use case that facilitates people seeing a show as often as they go to a bar or a coffee shop.

SC – This round of funding includes investments by music industry “heavy weights” Sean Parker, Oliver Luckett, Coran Capshaw, John Frankenheimer, and Bruce Flohr. You must be excited to work with such a talented group, who’s experience includes, but is certainly not limited to, artist management and A&R. What else do these people bring to the table, and how will they help WillCall yield tangible results?

DD – It’s pretty exciting to have so many smart people with deep industry experience involved with WillCall. They bring insight and perspective on the intersection of music and technology that few other people have access to. Beyond that, they bring a passion for innovating music that lines up with our mission to make live music a bigger part of everyday life.

SC – WillCall is currently available in New York City and San Francisco, with Los Angeles coming in the near future. Does this round of funding provide the opportunity to expand regional markets even further?

DD – Absolutely. We’ll be in LA next, and some other cities soon after that. We’ve been lucky to see great interest from cities with robust music communities domestically and in some international markets.

The post [Interview] Donnie Dinch, Co-Founder & CEO of WillCall appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dana Sedgwick

Seattle had the chance to get to know its hometown hero last night, Macklemore, as he took the stage with Rap Radar founder Elliott Wilson for the fourth installment of new series #CRWN.

An “inside the actors studio”- esk event, CRWN features down to earth interviews with rappers that are filmed in front of a live audience and then hosted online with content partners Electus and 2013 FlashFWD nominee, Myspace. Past episodes have showcased Tyler the Creator in NYC getting personal about the death of his grandmother and Wale in DC talking about his latest release The Gifted and the potential Album About Nothing.

Last night was no exception as Wilson dug deep with Ben Haggerty, AKA Macklemore. Check out some photos from the night below and keep your eyes peeled for the release of the episode here.

(photos by Jordan Nicholson)

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The post New Interview Series #CRWN w/ Elliott Wilson is Making Waves Coast to Coast appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dave Mainella

One of the most remarkable adaptations of progressive technology and social engagement is Fancam, bringing gigapixel photography to large-crowd events and share-worthy immersive experiences to thousands of fans.  We got to talking with Fancam CSO Stefan du Toit about the secrets behind the process, brand outreach, and mobile marketing & interconnectivity.

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SoundCtrl - The Fancam website explains that, in creating these giant images, it’s not the technology that makes the magic… it’s how and by whom it’s used.  Who are these very special people that make up the photography and production teams?

Stefan du Toit - The passion that the Fancam experience instills in the user is mirrored by the team that put these together.  We have about 30 worldwide specialized photographers with years of experience in event photography.  This ensures that the raw material of each Fancam, i.e. the digital images, are of the highest quality.  The next step in the process is our production teams that stitch together these gigantic images, and then painstakingly go through every part of the 20 gigapixel image to ensure each fan is as clear and visible as possible to recreate the memory.  As a Fancam goes live 24 hours after the event, the production team often burns the midnight oil.

SC – Capturing the Fancam image takes between 3 and 15 minutes, producing hundreds of images with a composite resolution of around 20 gigapixels.  That’s a lot of data in a short amount of time!  What methods and practices have you developed to minimize that time? 

ST – All credit for this technique goes to our Director of Photography, James Taylor, for pioneering this technique.  Although I cannot give away our trade secrets, James developed this method and it is part of our rigorous training to become a Fancam photographer.

SC – How much planning happens before those crucial minutes take place?

ST – As with every event, planning is key.  This starts weeks before the event when our operations team works with the event team to ensure that the Fancam photography is not intrusive.  Our photographers will do a pre-shoot the day before to determine the best shoot position, light settings, lens selection, and access points.

SC – Exploring the Fancam portfolio, every single face appears incredibly clear and detailed.  What kind of editing goes into adjusting the imperfections of the captured images, to make sure “each and every fan is presented in the best way possible?”

ST – When ‘stitching’ a composite image, computers basically have to make millions of prioritization decisions and merge images accordingly.  They need to decide which pixel to keep, which pixel to delete, and which to adjust; the better you understand the process and the math behind it, the better you can customize the algorithms used to do the job.

Our particular strength lies in matching the correct photographic approach to the correct algorithm and then optimizing the hardware to work best with that selection.  It literally comes down to things like the type of RAM you use.

After you’ve checked all those boxes, the last thing to do is good old Photoshop manual labor. Hours of feathers erasers, levels, and polygon selection tools.

SC – The process of “tiling” the huge composite image into thousands of smaller images creates a layered approach that allows users to zoom in and explore without having to download large amounts of data, much akin to the technology behind Google Maps.  Are there other technological tools and methods of gathering and presenting Big Data that Fancam has adopted?  Are there some that you’ve pioneered?

ST – The short answer is yes.  We have a dedicated development team who ensures that we keep innovating.  Fan experience is their key objective, and the most recent accomplishment is our native iOS and Andriod apps, which are the first of their kind.

SC - Fancam is an attractive tool for brands to extend their reach beyond the single event, allowing fans to relive and share their experiences.  How can brands continue to directly connect with fans through Fancam?  Is there an integration of video and other interactive components?

ST - Because the Fancam technology was built from the ground up, we have a number of interactive features available for brands to connect with the fans on a Fancam.  Some of my favorite features include embedded pre-roll videos, ‘green screen’ videos placed within the crowd, customization of tags and treasure hunts.

The important thing however is to match the goals of the brand with the appropriate media or technology – and that’s something we’ve become really good at.

SC – You’ve done more than 250 events to date.  Has there been an increase in demand for Fancams?  Is the market for music events equally as strong as for sporting events?

ST – Yes, there has been.  More and more brands are looking for tangible, quantifiable returns on investment in the digital marketing space and because we’ve been able to consistently deliver great stats and data, interest is on a very pleasing curve. 

Historically, music makes up about 40% of all Fancams, and we expect this to keep growing as artists and brands see the value in connecting with fans through digital content.

SC – A truly global enterprise, Cape Town-based Fancam works with clients and events around the world.  How have you found fan engagement and response to differ from country to country?

ST – I would say that activation success has more to do with the type of the event than the location of it.  Fans at a music festival, for instance, are usually a more fragmented community than, say, a home game for a college football team.  In the football example you’ll find that the ‘degrees of separation’ between fans are much less than in the case of the music festival, where you will find fans of several different bands ‘co-inhabiting’ the same event.  Understanding these differences is really important, and knowing how to incorporate this understanding into digital marketing activations even more so.

The short answer, however, is no; Real Madrid fans are just as crazy about their team as Green Bay Packers fans – and luckily for us, they all like tagging themselves.

SC – 46% of Taylor Swift’s Fancam views were on mobile devices.  What was the breakdown of views between mobile browser and mobile app?

ST – Spherical gigapixel images have not been viewable on mobile devices until we released our app two months ago and the HTML5 viewer will only go live at the end of August, so making a call on user preference at this stage would be premature.  What we I can say is that we had 38,000 downloads of the iOS app for the recent UEFA Champions League Final in London and that it has had a significant impact on share-ability of the activations.

SC – It seems counterintuitive to view such a huge image on such a small device as a smartphone. Does the value to the user lie in sharing and interacting with the image and not necessarily in the picture itself? What do you think explains the popularity of mobile?

ST – That’s an interesting point, although I think with devices like the Nexus 7 and the iPad mini blurring the lines between smartphone and tablet, mobile is quite a diverse category in itself.  My personal preference is for a bigger screen experience, but the most important thing from an activation point of view is to be able to serve the fan in terms of whatever his or her preference is, and sometimes immediacy and access is more important to them than screen size.

We’ve also found that users have become more and more comfortable consuming high quality content on a smaller screen, so the general market direction has had a positive influence on the consumption of our content as well.

SC – Another high-profile artist that Fancam has worked with is U2.  An amazing intitial response in South Africa resulted in a total of 24 Fancams during the 5-month sold-out tour across the US and Canada.  Was the U2 tour a milestone for Fancam?  What kind of response was generated?

ST – The U2 tour was indeed a milestone for Fancam.  Not just because of the prestige of working with such an amazing team of people, but also because it is our CEO’s all time favorite band and one of the reasons he set out to create the technology.

SC – Does Fancam plan to introduce any upcoming new features, for either client or user?

ST – Fancam is constantly innovating for both the client and the user/fan.  We just completed our first Fancam in Russia for Red Bull and integrated the popular social platform ‘VK’, as an additional authentication tool for tags as well as another option for Russian fans to share the content.  The focus, of course, is to ensure that the fan has a great experience and that the sharing is easy and intuitive. 

Innovation for our clients has mostly been behind the scenes and we have put a lot of effort into delivering a turnkey solution for brands and agencies that work with us.  We know that most marketers are overworked and underpaid, so we provide everything from in-house design to social media activation.

SC – Where do you expect this field of large crowd gigapixel photography to go moving forward?  What’s the next step for Fancam? 

ST – Our goal is for Fancam to become a standard offering at most special events.  Every day more fans and clients get exposed to the technology so the awareness is building.

In terms of additional functionality, Fancam’s focus over the next year will be around integrating fan generated content.  Fans love Fancam as it is a post event congregation point, and enabling fans to upload comments, photos, and other social components will be a logical next step.  We also find that our clients often come up with a lot of the innovative ideas and we love to respond by making it happen.

The post [Interview] Stefan Du Toit, CSO of Fancam appeared first on SoundCtrl.