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!

The Correspondents at the Hi Fi Cub Leeds by Bill Moody

Love live Music welcomes new music blogger Bill Moody to our blog. Bill reports on his night out at the Hi Fi Club in Leeds.

I’m still trying to piece together how many musical genres are mashed up into this act and ‘act’ seems more appropriate in the vaudeville sense rather than ‘band’. Scat vocals, ragga chanting, lindyhop styles, a soupcon of jazz get a powerful backbeat which is just as eclectic. Mr Bruce is a longer skinnier Cab Calloway from the Golden Age of cinema. Mr Chuckles is master of the darker deck arts and makes it modern.
Brilliantly off beat and original they make the mash of 20s swing and Amen Break powered jungle a far more likely marriage than first thought. If Bertie Wooster was fed a litre of Lucozade this is how he would dance the Charleston. I don’t know what he’d have to be fed to make Bertie hang off a ceiling girder and stage dive from there but that’s what we got. Who knew that bluebottle iridescent leggings and Tudorbethan jacket and architect’s round glasses would work either? I’m lying about the leggings. I only saw those on YouTube. The dancing was so frenetic and the crowd were so tightly packed I ouldn’t see much but a blur of fringe and a big grin. Everything is so mixed up it can’t be given a genre. I’m not even going to try or I’ll end up with a word like Tesco. Techno/disco/90s. Remember? Answers on a robopigeon telegrammymail please.
The Hi Fi Club Leeds is a tiny basement (like trying to perform “on a skateboard” according to Mr Bruce) and the atmosphere is great. They have a fantastic mix of music with the emphasis on fun and funk. I haven’t been here since Marva Whitney and Osaka Monoaural about 18 months ago but you get the idea about the variety just from seeing Marva and these guys in the same review.

Jack Jackson: Rhythm and Radio Fun Remembered - Thank you Stephen Garner

Last Thursday, 27th October 2011, BBC Radio 4 Broadcast the following programme about my grandfather Jack Jackson and his legacy to our family. It was great fun making the programme and celebrates the musical and artistic legacy that he has created within the family.

If you have a spare half hour, have a listen on iplayer. International listeners can access the link too:

BBC Iplayer Link - click here

Here is the BBC Radio4 Programme description:

Exploring the legacy of musician and broadcaster Jack Jackson through the lives of three generations of his family.

Kenny Everett said of him 'He was the first person to have fun on radio', and although he inspired many broadcasters and musicians it is the incredible impact Jackson still has on his family over thirty years since his death which proves the most fascinating.

This programme uncovers another Jackson dynasty overflowing with musicians, record producers and artists all striving to preserve his memory and make their own impression on the world. His two son's established a recording studio, used by artists such as Elton John, Tom Robinson and Motorhead. His daughter is a successful artist and designer and several of his grandchildren are forging effective careers in the music business - one of which co-founded production group 'Bimbo Jones' which has taken numerous number ones to the top of the dance charts. His great grand children are all encouraged to be musical.

Jackson's career in entertainment spanned fifty years and he is recognised today in the Sony Radio Hall of Fame.

Jackson formed his band in the thirties and was a regular at London's Dorchester Hotel. He became a disc jockey in 1948 on the BBC Light Programme. His innovative programmes featured a mix of linking his voice with comedy clips and popular music. According to his grandson Marc he was the first broadcaster in Britain to introduce the technique of sampling and to present a "clip show" programme.

He is also cited as the man who gave the BBC the nickname 'Auntie' and the first voice heard on ITV.

Jack Jackson died in 1978, but over thirty years later his spirit is very much alive in the daily life of generations of Jacksons.

His memory has touched every branch of the Jackson family tree and as this programme reveals they all respond to his influence in a variety of interesting and different ways.

The programme is produced by Stephen Garner.

R.I.P Steve Jobs - So what did you achieve in the last ten years?

Having had a restless night, I am in the middle of an 18 date music festival right now Oxjam Chorleywood and am fueled by adrenaline and caffeine in equal measure, I carelessly checked my twitter feed to find that in the early hours, Steve Job lost his battle to Pancreatic Cancer. 


So very sad indeed. 


On reading through the Financial Times blog early on Thursday morning, I was reminded of some of the amazing things that Steve Jobs achieved in the past ten years. I micro blogged these in to my twitter feed and as stand alone statements.


To say that this guy achieved a lot in the past ten years in an understatement. 
My mantra in life is "Anything is Possible" but I do think Mr. Steve Jobs has taken this to a new level. 
Thank you Steve for your incredible productivity, for caring about form as well as function and for delivering to our generation the most sexy product that do amazing things.


This is a copy of my twitter feed - you might need to start at the bottom to get the events in order: 




Jobs loses battle with pancreatic cancer at 56, thank you for your huge contribution to technology & the way we listen to music #RIPSteveJobs
7 hours ago 

Apple's board, which Mr Jobs now chairs, signals its confidence in 50 year old Cook by awarding him one of the largest stock grants in history
7 hours ago 

25/08/11 - Jobs resigns as Apple chief executive 7 months after going on medical leave & asks the board to name Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook as his successor.
7 hours ago 

August 2011 - Apple briefly passes ExxonMobil to become the most valuable company in the world by market capitalisation.
7 hours ago 

March 2011 - Jobs appears at an event announcing the iPad 2. Apple's stock rose 2% in the minutes after Jobs began speaking
7 hours ago 

January 2011 - Jobs tells Apple employees that the company has granted him a medical leave of absence, he continues as chief executive
7 hours ago 

2010 Jobs unveils Apple's the iPad. Apple sells 4.2m of the devices in three months. Apple's stock market value soars to $180bn
7 hours ago 

2007 - Apple introduces the highly-anticipated iPhone, the company's first foray in to mobile phones
7 hours ago 

Jan 2006 - Walt Disney acquires Pixar for $7.4bn. Jobs, who founded Pixar takes a seat on the board & becomes the company's biggest shareholder.
7 hours ago 

Sept 2005- Jobs launches the iPod Nano. iTunes downloads top 500 million. 1 million videos are sold from iTunes, 19 days after video iPod launch

Just a few amazing statistics from Mr. Steve Jobs and his life in the past 6 years....

And the last thought from Mr. Steve Jobs:






'Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.'


- From Rob Lawrence's blog: http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8be9856424a6d34ad5bef7297&id=499ff5b28e



Thank you Mr Steve Jobs, you poured yourself out for us and encouraged us to follow our hearts and do great things as ultimately we have nothing to lose. If I have can have a tiny part of that courage in my life, I will be doing well.

R.I.P Steve Jobs
6th October 2011