Monday, April 30, 2012

[Music Monday] Taking OpenEMI's Torch And Taking It Further #unresolved

On April 22-24, 2012, a conference aptly named Rethink Music was organized by the Berklee College of Music in Boston. They basically brought together professionals from all over the music industry - from media, from the music labels, from artist management, and even from technology companies like Youtube, Rhapsody and Echo Nest (you can look at the whole speaker roster here). But one of the most interesting things announced and discussed at Rethink Music, in my opinion, is OpenEMI.

The basic concept of OpenEMI is to provide access to startups who want to create music applications and services based on EMI's music library - and if the app is interesting enough, EMI may partner with the startup to develop it further. You can either request for a access to a wide range of songs, or request deeper access to single artists with more audio, video and other content. This developer-friendly system is supported by Echo Nest, the company that also has a wider-range API for music applications that power services like Spotify's Radio feature.

Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

[Wooz.in] NewYorkarto: Orang Jawa Ngerap Di New York



Pada tanggal 27-28 April 2012, Jogja Hip Hop Foundation menyelenggarakan pementasan berjudul "NewYorkarto: Orang Jawa Ngerap Di New York" di Taman Ismail Marzuki. Pementasan ini cukup unik karena menggabungkan Hip Hop, gamelan dan orkestra, dengan lagu-lagu rap dalam bahasa Jawa. Kutipan dari website Hiphopdiningrat.com:
NewYorkarto adalah sebuah konser restropektif perjalanan Jogja Hip Hop Foundation (JHF) dari panggung-panggung di tengah kampung di kota asalnya Yogyakarta hingga ke ibu kota kelahiran hip-hop; New York (US). Konser ini akan menghadirkan repertoar lagu-lagu Jogja Hip Hop Foundation (JHF) yang digubah ulang oleh Djaduk Ferianto dan Kua Etnika, serta dikemas dalam sebuah narasi besar yang dirancang oleh seorang dalang wayang kulit, Catur Kuncoro.







Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.

Monday, April 23, 2012

[Music Monday] Music Labels, Make Something Simple And Put It On The Web!

As covered by DailySocial a few days ago, Touchten launched a music app in collaboration with Aquarius Musikindo, one of the 'major independent' labels (this is the term they use in the industry to note a large music label not affiliated with the Big Four: Sony, Universal Music, Warner Music and EMI). This move deserves applause as it shows that the music labels are willing to try out untested new waters, instead of trying to find a new medium to repeat the old business model of record music and profit by amount of sold copies.

I mean, if we're going to move on from the issue if piracy, we might as well try something new. The increasing trend of concerts being a major income contributor for musicians has emphasized that the recorded music itself, obtained legally or illegally, is a way to sell a music experience, which in some cases in better enjoyed live.

I think if you checked each person who came to a Katy Perry concert, not all would have bought the original CD - but they definitely have paid full price to buy the concert tickets. Why? Because the concert is an irreplaceable experience, with different meaning to different people. Just like the songs themselves.

Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

[Wooz.in] Microsoft Campfire



Wooz.in was honored to be appointed as the Audience Experience Partner for last week's Microsoft Campfire event at *Scape Orchard, Singapore, organized by e27. The Wooz.in system was used for online preregistration for those who wanted to participate in the 2-day event, after which the preregistered attendants could just come to the registration desk at the event, confirm their identity, and get their RFID wristband.

Read the rest of the post at the Wooz.in blog.

[Wooz.in] Roro Mendut: Kisah Kasih Tak Sampai



"Roro Mendut: Kisah Kasih Tak Sampai" adalah sebuah pementasan dari Banyumili Productions, dan didukung oleh Djarum Foundation. Pagelaran yang diadakan pada 14 April 2012 kemarin, menampilkan antara lain Happy Salma, Ray Sahetapy dan Tio Pakusadewo. Cerita ini berlatar belakang era Kerajaan Mataram pada tahun 1600-an, di bawah kekuasaan Sultan Agung, dan bercerita soal kisah seorang gadis yang harus memperjuangkan dirinya.

Wooz.in turut hadir untuk mengabadikan acara istimewa ini.

Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.

[Wooz.in] LA Lights Menthol Sayfestville, 13-14 April 2012



Tempo hari tim Wooz.in sempat meramaikan acara Sayfestville di Gelanggang Renang Senayan, Jakarta. Acara ini diramaikan oleh artis-artis Indonesia seperti Indra Aziz, Stars & Rabbit, Bonita dan The Groove, dan artis-artis internasional seperti Rasmus Faber, Emily McEwan dan Colbie Caillat.



Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Why You Should Care About Ringback Tones #unresolved

For many in Indonesia, the ringback tone is somewhat of a controversial issue; drawing the ire of many, and polarizing related industries into an almost "for-and-against" situation. But not too long ago, ringbacktones were the craze of the moment and the darling of the music industry (and remains the darling of the music industry, depending on who you ask). And not only the music industry - the soaring growth of the ringbacktone market was one of the first indications that Indonesia, as a digital content market, is simply different from other countries and plays by different rules.

I have been writing about how music startups have actually been around in Indonesia for the past 6-7 years or so, and I felt if fitting to dedicate the last post in the series to discuss the ringback tone. Popularized in Korea to replace that boring connecting tone when you wait for the person on the other end to pick up your call, ringback tones (also known as 'color ringback tones', as they added 'color' to your ringback tone), the technology was imported into Indonesia in 2004 where both Indosat and Telkomsel started building their ringback tone services and offered them to the public later that year. The telecommunication companies approached the music labels to obtain attractive content for these services; negotiations took place, and business deals were agreed which were to define the business model for ringback tones across the industry.
 Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Forgetting About Digital Piracy (#unresolved)

It all started with a chat. I came late, so I didn't get to see this presentation by Robin, but the blog post covers it pretty much (it's a good read, so if you haven't read it, read it now!). Robin basically says that the digital era is a major shift in many things and should not be viewed as just a new 'channel', but also a new way of thinking. Taking a different approach, so to speak. I've written about this several times, even here on Dailysocial, and I generally believe that the audience has changed - not only because of things going digital, but a true paradigm shift in the industry itself. The changes happened in large part due to the digital, unlimited copying nature of the Internet, but it impacted non-Internet industries as well.

But let's step back a bit and look what a business is. Many businesses basically take one thing - a product or a service - and try to sell it as many times as they can, with minimum effort in modifying the product, so that at some point the money they invested in making the product or service can be recouped, and they can make a profit. So the recorded music business, in essence, is not selling music, but selling the music product; i.e. CDs, cassettes, vinyls. Produce and record one time, and essentially sell copies of that recording. Even music copyright is constructed around this - the payment of royalties based on the amount of copies sold. So of course, any copy obtained without any payment of royalties, is viewed a copyright infringement. The act itself - whether or not for commercial gain - is known as piracy.

Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Microsoft Campfire Singapore with Wooz.in

This Friday to Saturday, Wooz.in will be in Singapore to support Microsoft Campfire, a 2-day event for developers, designers, UX experts and entrepreneurs. This event is supported by e27, who will also be holding their Echelon 2012 Singapore Satellite event on Day 2. This event will be held on April 13-14, 2012 at *Scape Orchard Link Singapore.



Now it's not too late to register, so if you're interested, you can register here - powered by Wooz.in.

(original blog post here)

Monday, April 2, 2012

[Music Monday] Actually, Music Startups In Indonesia Have Been Around For A While (Part 2)

Last week, I wrote a basic introduction of the unsung music startup in Indonesia, the content providers. This week I want to write a bit more about how they came into being and how they make money from digital music. Of course, any industry that makes tons of money is not without controversy, so I’ll also touch on that. But on the whole, the ringtone market in Indonesia actually was born from what we now call crowdsourcing – as back then it was easy to make monophonic ringtones, with your PC or even with your phone, people made and shared their creations through online forums. Then somebody had the idea to sell these homemade ringtones to others. Eventually, they started hiring people to make these ringtones themselves.

In the early 2000s, companies wanting to capitalize on the ringtone business had to use  a premium 0809 number through a landline number – the same prefix used for premium sex calls – where a user would select a ringtone via the Interactive Voice Response system, and then the ringtone would be sent directly to the mobile phone. Early players were PT Katagiprima (now Iguana Technology), and Klub Mobile. Klub Mobile was notable since they were shut down by a lawsuit from the song publishers in 2003, who sued because Klub Mobile was selling their intellectual property – songs – without permission and without any royalty payments.

Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Arjuna Wiwaha: Quest For Ultimate Power



Mirwan Suwarso Productions menggelarkan sebuah pertunjukan unik yang menggabungkan wayang, tari dan sinema dengan cerita “Arjuna Wiwaha: Quest For Ultimate Power”. Acara ini digelar hanya satu hari, pada hari Sabtu, 31 Maret 2012 kemarin, dengan tiga waktu pertunjukan. Mengutip dari website Drama Sinema:

Kisah perjuangan Arjuna untuk mencari makna kehidupan, dan bagaimana ia ditugaskan oleh para Dewa untuk mengalahkan raja raksasa Niwatakawaca yang maha sakti.

Peran utama Arjuna diperankan oleh Volland Humonggio, Marcella Zalianty memerankan Batari Supraba, dan musisi muda asal AS Max Morgan memerankan Batara Guru.















Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.