Zeitgeist 2012 - Year in Review, Music by Kodaline

Digital Transformation: Snakes on a Plane - How to pitch an Innovation by Senior VP for Capgemini Rick Freeman

Digital Transformation: Snakes on a Plane - How to pitch an Innovation: 

Over the last month I have been working with a tech start up team looking at how best to bring a new product to market. This has meant getting deeply involved with the team who have sweated blood and tears to build a product that has masses of potential.  Listening to them and getting right under the covers of the product has been a lot of fun and very energising.   However, what has been really interesting has been the debate and discussion we have had about how best to bring the product to market .....

Amsterdam Dance Event Review, DJ's,Parties and for the love of Tech!

Amsterdam Dance Event - 17-21st October 2012 

What a fabulous week in Amsterdam last week at the annual Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). Along with the Bimbo Jones crew we talked, filmed, blogged, tweeted, created new content, DJ-ed, partied and met old friends and created new ones.

What's there not to like about Amsterdam?  Small, intimate, beautiful, with the world's best DJ's, song writers and producers all in one place for a few days in the beautiful autumnal sun (and a little rain). ADE is split into three broad categories, The Festival, The Playground and The Conference. I spent most of my time in and around the conference, listening, thinking and networking outside Felix Meritis.  And by night dancing to the best DJ's and Divas in the world.
Picture here - Fun and laughter with Marc JB, Alister Jamieson, Lee Dagger and Phil Lorraine.

The part of the conference that I found particularly inspiring was "Music and Bits".  
Music and Bits focused on trends and opportunities in the online world of music. The program featured some of the most creative and original minds in the entertainment industry. Of particular note was Billy O'Connell's US non profit model - CASH Music. Their mission is to help the increasing number of D.I.Y non-signed artists with a platform to sell and promote their music.  Aritsts will be able to sell, promote, manage fan bases, mailing lists and contacts all in one place for FREE! I wondered what the catch was and if there was a big corporate lurking in the depths of the platform code but apparently not. Their strap line " What Wordpress did for bloggers, we're doing for musicians. We're building a free and open platform that’s available to all artists, designed in partnership with artists and labels." World look out, this looks great and could revolutionise how musicians monetise their music. Check out what Billy is doing here - Cashmusic.org website

Talking of Revolutions and D.I.Y., it was good to meet up with Hessel Van Oorschott who is MD of Tribe of Noise.  Tribe of Noise connects musicians online with businesses around the globe in need of original, all rights included, music.  They help Musicians to benefit from free promotion and licensing opportunities and erase the burden of media professionals/buyers who are seeking all rights included music for their business. It's a great model and very challenging to the music business.  Anything that monetises Musicians' Music interests me and I think the Tribe of Noise Gang have a great business model - check out their review of ADE and their panel on  creating a D.I.Y. Gameplan for your music here -   Tribe of Noise ADE review

 Other highlights included BUMA hosting the "Secret sauce of the Youtube Platform" with Jelle-Jan Bruinsma from Youtube NL, Meindert Kennis from Spinnin Records and Jorrit Eringa. They looked at how to get max leverage from your tunes on Youtube and how to increase revenue streams - essential stuff for the musician. Tim Van de Rijdt from Google NL gave helpful tips about using Google Plus and streamlining all your on line activity. Also in the mix was Shamal Ranasighne from Topspin USA - a real honour to meet Shamal, I love his work.

The other stand out group of techies and creatives from ADE were the 365 Mag team pictured to the right.
Marc JB and I visited these lovely people and in a basement in Amsterdam and managed to set up the new Soul Delux page on their platform site with video/social media links, do an interview, photoshoot, film Marc DJing, have a cup of tea, beer and food all in an hour! They have a fabulous team of creatives, writing, editing, filming, laughing and enjoying what they do all in a small Amsterdam basement. Thank you 365 Mag -My kind of Digital Marketing!

These are a few conference highlights of many at ADE 2012.
I loved the emphasis on Tech matching the music and facilitating it's promotion - an essential process to monetise it.
I would have loved to have seen more women in the tech seminars. If I missed any of you, leave a message or get in contact with me through my twitter account - @LoveLiveMusicUK.
It was great to meet old friends and new and big shout outs go to my dear friend DJ Ron Slomowicz who interviewed DJ's tirelessly, the gang of Divas especially great to meet the wonderful Victoria Aitken, gorgeous Inaya Day and creative Ashleigh K and the other divas I had met in Miami last year, Crystal Waters, Barbara Tucker and all at the DEF party. Great to meet Darude and Randy Boyer again at the 7stars and Enmass Label showcase.



We also had a lovely meal with the wonderful Lainie Copicotto and super talented Ineabell from NYC having fun talking about English Christmas puddings and lighting them each year with Brandy - a strange tradition we have! Lainie yours is in the post minus the flames!

My last picture is of the talented Chris Cox and I at the Mn2s's Def celebrations with David Morales, Frankie Knuckles and Hector Romero with the "Divas"! What a great night and my look of excitement pretty much sums it all up. Such incredible talent all in one room, all in one city. 





Thank you ADE 2012 until next year!

Sally Jackson Freeman - Love Live Music UK

Mixing it up on a Friday afternoon ....Marc JB V Jack Jackson

If you take one DJ/Remixer and Producer - Marc JB

And let him loose on his Grandfather's Jack Jacksons Swing song ....

This is what you get ....

Enjoy!

The Amsterdam Dance Event starts next week, who's going?

The international Dance industry assembles in Amsterdam next week
More than 200.000 visitors expected at the record-breaking 17th edition of Amsterdam 
Dance Event.

From next week, Amsterdam will be the centre of the international Dance 
industry when for five days straight, the 17th edition of the Amsterdam Dance 
Event (ADE) takes place. For years, ADE has been the biggest international club 
festival and the world's most important music conference for Dance and 
Electronic Music. This record-breaking edition, which starts on Wednesday the 
17th of October and lasts until Sunday the 21st of October, will expand even 
more with the biggest artists and special events for different target groups in 
the scene, attracting 200.000 festival visitors and more than 3500 music 
professionals from 65 countries.

Over the years, ADE has become the go-to festival for electronic music, on which many 
artists and music professionals plan their calendar around. Starting next week, 
Amsterdam will welcome over 1700 artists from the international Dance scene with 
names as big as Armin van Buuren (NL), David Guetta (FR), Laidback Luke (NL), Fatboy 
Slim (GB), Richie Hawtin (CA), Afrojack (NL), Paul van Dyk (DE), Junkie XL (NL) and 
Chase & Status (GB). In addition, some of the biggest promoters in the world will host 
spectacular events such as Headhunterz and Dirty Dutch in the Ziggo Dome, the threeday Awakenings at the Gashouder and the DJ Mag DJ Top 100 Awards at the Convention 
Factory. Furthermore, many of the scene's biggest artists will play at the most 
unexpected places, such as Afrojack hosting his night 'Jacked' at Pop temple Paradiso, a 
Junkie XL show at the world-famous Concert Hall, Solomun at Schram Studios, Hed 
Kandi at the 'Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ', and various label showcases at the CUE Bar. At 
nighttime, a total of 300 Dance events are scheduled in more than 75 clubs: a world 
record which again underlines the significance of this festival in the international Dance 
calendar.
ADE is also proving to be forward-thinking and ambitious with their day program. Today, 
the Dance scene is at the forefront of the music industry, both culturally and 
economically, and as tradition will have it, ADE will prove yet again to be the most 
important business platform in the Dance music industry. At six different locations, the 
day program offers an array of conferences and networking opportunities focusing on 
music and technology, VJs and visuals, harder Dance styles, new talent, education for 
students and many other relevant topics. More than ever, ADE has specifically 
customized its program for the various target groups in this scene. There is the exclusive 
Hard Dance Event representing the harder styles; ADE University with a packed program 
in which artists and prominent professionals will give unique lectures, presentations and 
interviews to a select group of up-and -coming music professionals spanning a three-day
period; the popular ADE Next for young musical talent and the Music and Bits program 
which focuses on the latest developments online. A brand new initiative is the promising 
ADE Playground which will connect the nighttime festival-goer, in possession of a special 
ADE CARD, to an exciting day program consisting of exhibitions, in-store showcases, 
pop-up stores, film screenings, goodies and surprises all interwoven with every facet of 
Dance culture.

For years now, the ADE Conference has proven to be one of the most important 
platforms for electronic music, where plans, connections and projects come into being 
which will then go on to dominate the year to come. The highly-acclaimed day program, 
which connects up-and-coming talent to the absolute top of the industry, students and 
start-ups to the superstar DJ and CEO, has, for the fifth year in a row, completely sold 
out. Like every year, ADE will yet again receive an enormous delegation of prominent 
guests from the international music industry. ADE offers them the opportunity to attend 
both huge and intimate workshops and masterclass sessions, interactive Q&As, panel 
discussions and other networking sessions, along with the possibility to discuss the latest developments and to establish important new business contacts.
ADE takes place from the 17th of October till the 21st and is organized by The 
Amsterdam Dance Event Foundation, an initiative of Buma.

For more information go to The Amsterdam Dance Event Website
Love Live Music will be present at ADE with our Associates and Artists and DJ's that we work with.

If you would like to meet up please send us a message through the blog or a tweet @LoveLiveMusicUK

Sally Jackson Freeman

Good News! Small Venues no longer need a live music licence. Musicians get Busy!

As of today, 1 October 2012, the Live Music Act comes into force. Essentially this means Small venues in the UK will no longer need a licence to stage live music between the hours of 8am and 11pm. Pub Rock rules and restaurants and cafes will be able to have spontaneous live music without the paper work and previous restrictions.

 I think this new law will be great for musicians and live music bars/pubs/cafes alike and reduce the amount of bureaucracy at the local council level. So what are the nuts and bolts of the Live Music Act? I found a great blog by Cousins Business Law which summed it up quite nicely and is reproduced here -  Click here for their website. This law applies to UK venues.

The Live Music Act comes into force on 1 October. The government (Department for Culture Media and Sport) has also issued a draft paper for consultation by 28 September, so the Guidance will only come after the new provisions are in force! A new revised statutory Guidance is due to be laid before Parliament on 31 October 2012.

So what are the changes?
Firstly, note that the Act only applies to Live music. So playing recorded music by DJs and other types of regulated entertainment will still require a licence and will be subject to conditions.

Dancing: where a venue has a premises licence to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises and for dancing, and has a permitted capacity of no more than 200, any licencing authority imposed conditions relating to the dancing will not have effect unless they were imposed as necessary for the prevention of crime or disorder or public safety, or were imposed on a formal review. This is not new. But what will remain a bizarre anomaly is that any recorded music played to accompany the dancing will still be and will be subject to licensing authority imposed conditions, and as any conditions are most likely to be about the music, I see little achieved by this provision.
Only dancing to live music or unamplified music which qualify as set out below will in effect be free of conditions.

Live Music:
1) Amplified live music: live music in premises authorised to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises satisfying the capacity limit of 200 will not be considered regulated entertainment  in the first place, and will not therefore require authorisation under a premises licence or a temporary event notice, if it is limited to live music between the hours of 8 am and 11pm (longer if a special celebration has been declared) and the premises are open for the sale of alcohol. Also note that amplified live music in workplaces for no more than 200 people will not require a licence. But conditions can be imposed on a review of a Premises Licence as if it was regulated entertainment.  

2) Unamplified live music: between 8am and 11pm it is not deemed regulated entertainment at all, whatever the capacity of the premises, and whatever type of premises, whether licensed or not, and so again no conditions can be enforced unless it is on a Review, which of course only apples to premises with a Premises Licence.
If a Premises Licence does authorise live music, any conditions will not have effect as far as live music satisfying the capacity limit and hours is concerned, unless again they are imposed on a Review of the Premises Licence.
And note the position with beer gardens. The draft guidance makes it clear that only beer gardens included within the Premises Licence-identified as such on the plan filed with the Licensing Authority, will come within the new regime for live amplified music. If they are not, they can still be used for unamplified music between 8 am and 11pm without a licence.

Entertainment Facilities:  finally, an opportunity has been taken to abolish the often confusing requirement that entertainment facilities themselves have to be licensed as regulated entertainment . So it will no longer be necessary to be licensed just because you have a dance floor and amplification, or perhaps a stage. It is the entertainment itself which may need an authorisation, unless it is small scale live music only or unamplified music, as described above.
If you need any help in understanding this new world of music and dancing licensing please give me a call. These legals were written by Nigel Musgrove, specialist in Licensing law. Give him a call if you are confused - Thank you Nigel.
Tel: 0845 003 5639  

The Guardian quoted Jazz musician Buster Birch today describing the change as "a huge thing", adding that live music is "very important for our society and our culture".  UK Music, the group which represents the music industry, estimate that up 13,000 more venues could now start holding live music events.

We at Love Live Music are passionate about Live Music in small venues and agree with Buster and UK Music.  Hopefully this new law will facilitate a greater amount of Live Music throughout the UK and encourage greater business in our Pubs, Cafes and restaurants.

So look forward to Live Music gigs springing up everywhere, Musicians dust down your instruments, talk to your local pubs, restaurant and cafe owners and get playing! I look forward to listening to some of you in the next few months.

Sources: The Guardian, BBC Website and Nigel Musgrove http://www.business-lawfirm.co.uk/Default.aspx

Sally Jackson Freeman

1/10/2012

Digital Transformation: Why I love the London 2012 volunteers by Rick A Freeman

Digital Transformation: Why I love the London 2012 volunteers...: This blog is inspired by the 70,000 games makers who gave freely of their time and energy in support of London 2012.   Top job – you have m...

FREE Live Music in London this summer

Free Live Music in London this summer during and post 2012 Olympics

  A couple of you have been asking me about where you can see the best Live Music in London this summer. So here is the latest news and availability for FREE live gigs.

BT River of Music - 21st- 22nd July

Hundreds of exceptional events combine this summer to form the London 2012 Festival but one of the most eagerly anticipated is the BT River of Music series of concerts. This weekend some 1,500 musicians from more than 200 countries will gather to perform at six separate stages along the Thames for a free music festival. Each of the stages represents a different continent and it’s musicians from that region that will contribute to its programme. The Scissor Sisters headline the Americas stage at the Tower of London; Beverley Knight appears at the Europe stage which is divided between Somerset House and Trafalgar Square; the Noisettes feature on the Africa stage in London Pleasure Gardens, but this is also a one-off opportunity to experience authentic performances from lesser-known musicians that rarely have the opportunity to play in London.


Please note that tickets for the Americas stage (Tower of London), Europe stages (Somerset House, Trafalgar Square) and Saturday at the Africa Stage (London Pleasure Gardens) are now completely fully booked and there will be no tickets available over the weekend of the festival at the site.

Get your FREE tickets for Africa (Sunday), Asia and Oceania here: FREE TICKET LINK

FREE tickets to BT London Live During the Olympics

Don't worry if you didn't get any Olympic tickets the games will be streamed lived to Hyde Park, Victoria Park and Trafalgar square every day of the Olympics in the BT London Live Event.

Open every day at 11am you can get guaranteed entry to the Hyde Park arena before 2pm to experience the screenings of all the Olympic medal events, sports participation and daily arts and cultural events.*
*Guaranteed Entry Tickets for August 4 at BT London Live Hyde Park are valid from 7am until 9am. Guaranteed Entry Tickets for August 7 at BT London Live Hyde Park are valid from 8.30am until 11.30am. (Subject to license)
Guaranteed Entry Tickets do not allow for readmission to the site, however customers will be able to rejoin the queue. Admission will not be guaranteed. You can book Guaranteed Entry up until 23:59 the day before your chosen date of attendance.

There is loads of great live music from Tom Jones to Paul Carrack, The Feeling, Temper Trap and others.

Victoria Park in London's East End will host live music across the 17 days & include Alexandra Burke, Soul II Soul, Norman Jay and Friends, Club de Fromage, Courtney Pine, Sean Rowley’s Guilty Pleasures, Slow Club, Sound of Latin London and more.
You can also have a go on a special zip wire and Observation Wheel at extra cost.



ParaOlympics - Live at Trafalagar Square - 29th August - 9th September 2012


Live Music continues to be a part of the BT London Live experience during the Paralympics, with a concert planned each evening.

BT London Live relocates to the iconic London landmark for the Paralympic Games, featuring Channel 4 coverage of the Games on a 60m² giant screen daily between 11am to 11.30pm.

Aspiring able-bodied and non able-bodied athletes alike will also be able to experience and try out a range of Paralympic sports in what will become one of the world’s most iconic sporting venues – albeit just for 12 days.

Guaranteed Entry tickets are not available for BT London Live Trafalgar Square which offers walk in entry at all times, on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to capacity.

Itunes festival at the Roundhouse Camden, London - FREE TICKETS FROM THE WEBSITE


The iTunes Festival is coming back in September 2012. There will be more than 60 artists to perform 30 consecutive nights of brilliant live music at the Roundhouse in London. This year’s spectacular line-up includes Usher, Jack White, Norah Jones, One Direction and more. Every ticket to the iTunes Festival is free—you can apply to win tickets to any performance.

If you can’t make the gigs, watch the shows live or view them afterwards for a limited time on your computer with iTunes, or on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with the iTunes Festival app. You can also stream the concerts to your big screen wirelessly using AirPlay and your Apple TV.

I hope this has helped. London really is giving away tickets to the best Live Music in the world.
#LoveLiveMusic

Essential Reading - The Science of Email Timing

Ever wondered the best time to send out your emails? 

Read Bobby OWsinski's useful overview

Thank you Bobby - a superb Blog

As I’ve posted here before, your email list is one of the most powerful marketing tools that an artist or band (or a business or brand) can have. Recently some data courtesy of Dan Zarrella and Pure360 has shown that there is a definite science behind the timing of sending your emails, just as there is for posting on Facebook and Twitter. Here are some tips and tricks for getting your email timing just right. Remember that all times are Eastern Standard Time.

Before sending an email, consider:
6AM to 10AM: The second most prevalent email opening time is at the the beginning of the working day.

10AM to Noon: Consumers are not opening marketing emails, choosing instead to focus on work.

Noon to 2PM: Consumers are unlikely to open emails during their lunch break, choosing instead to spend their time on news and magazine alerts.

2PM to 3PM: Right after lunch consumers remain focused on work, responding mostly to email offers related to financial services.

3PM to 5PM: Consumers start thinking about their personal situation and as a result, more emails relating to property and financial services are opened during this time period than any other.

5PM to 7PM: Consumers tend to open business to business (B2B) promotions during this period, but also open more holiday-type promotions during this period than any other.

7PM to 10PM: The time period when recipients are most likely to respond to consumer promotions is when they get off work.

10PM to 6AM: This is an email dead zone, as most sent during this period are ineffective.

Here are a few other timing issues to consider:

• Bounce rates are highest in the morning.

• Open rates are highest during the weekend by 45%.

• Open rates are 53% higher in the morning.

• Click rates are 10% higher on the weekend and early morning.

• The most effective sending frequency is 1 to 4 per month.

• Conversely, the unsubscribe rate is higher at 1 to 4 per month, but levels off at 8 to 31 per month.

• The highest unsubscription rate occurs among those who have been subscribers for less than 10 days.

• The highest click-through-rate (CTR) is with those who have been subscribers for less than 10 days.

A common question after reading the above tips is, “What if my fans are spread out in different time zones?” This one is easier than you think. All email services like iContact, Constant Contact, Mail Chip, etc. provide the ability to segregate your mailing list into groups and schedule your mailings. Simply divide your list into the various different time zones and schedule your email blast accordingly.

To sum things up, don’t send those promotional emails out without first thinking about the timing. It could mean the difference between your fans reading it or not.

For more on Music 3.0 music promotion techniques, visit the Music 3.0 blog.

This is a great article and these principles can be applied to your marketing strategy whether you are in the music business or just trying to get your product out there.

Sally Jackson Freeman

Marilyn at MOMA

Looking through some of my pictures from 2011 and here is a Marilyn Print by Andy Warhol that is hanging in MOMA, NYC. I would highly recommend a visit to this art gallery. They were very relaxed about taking photos - so all copyrights belong to MOMA for this image. Happy New Year!