Dave Haynes

I was re-organising some music the other week when I dug out a real blast from the past. Despite it being a few years old now, I figured I really should get it up on SoundCloud.

The music in question is InSoul Sessions Vol. 2 - a compilation album mixed by myself and DJ partner Tom McCarthy and released in 2003 on Inspirit Music. It was strange listening back to it as I hadn’t heard it for a while but some of the tracks still sound awesome; Dharma One’s ‘Belong’ being one of those.

Anyway, as I’ve been doing quite a bit of reminiscing lately (due to my impending fatherhood) I thought I’d share it with you. Plus it’s a good excuse to be using my SoundCloud account here on this blog.

There’s a few more tracks and remixes we did from around this time that I’m gonna dig out as well, so keep your eyes peeled.

Last week I was lucky enough to get a beta invite for JamLegend.com (and haven’t stopped playing since). I’ve been extremely impressed by what I’ve seen so far and it is definitely a worthy edition to the music gaming space which has included the likes of Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Tap Tap Revenge (iPhone).

JamLegend is quite easy to explain… put simply, it’s Guitar Hero but online. I found the site fairly glitchy at first on one of my machines, but it works perfectly on another. And the fact that it’s online gives JamLegend several advantages over Guitar Hero:

1) MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER. Being online gives you massive reach and you could potentially play in a tournament with 1000s. We had a quick duel online at our office last week and it was one of the most fun 30 minutes I’ve ever spent at work! So far you can only play along as the guitarist but it looks like you’ll soon be able to play bass, guitar or drums giving the game a more ‘Rock Band’ feel. Personally I’d love to see some kind of DJ-orientated version for more dance/electronic based music.

2) DOESN’T REQUIRE ANY SPECIAL HARDWARE. With Guitar Hero you have to already have all the kit; a Playstation, some special guitar controllers etc. For JamLegend it’s just a browser, a keyboard and you’re ready to rock. Holding your keyboard in your hands like a guitar works surprisingly well! You’re not just confined to playing in your front room after a few beers down the pub either.

3) IT’S FREE. This has to be the biggest selling point. But what’s perhaps even more impressive is that despite the zero price tag there’s clearly a very strong model and valuable business here. Potentially there is money to be made from pre-game ads, affiliate links to music and/or downloads, premium user accounts, brand tie-ins (I already noticed an Adidas-placed track). The potential reach is massive too. There are already quite a lot of online-game companies making healthy revenues and there’s no doubt that JamLegend will be embedded on to bands and fans websites and we’ll see a facebook application soon.

So what’s in it for the artist? Well currently JamLegend are only really offering promotional value. On their Artist Sign-Up page they state:

Bands that have been on Guitar Hero have received huge publicity boosts. Dragonforce’s album sales increased from 2,000 to 40,000 albums per week after being on Guitar Hero 3. Similarly, Motley Crue’s single last May sold 4x more copies through Rock Band than on iTunes and Amazon.com combined. Some day, artists on JamLegend will experience the same effect.

Whilst I definitely believe in this and would recommend it to bands looking for exposure it would be nice to see some other monetisation opportunities introduced for artists/bands using the JamLegend platform (publishing royaltyies at least). Nevertheless I have to admit I have at least two of the songs stuck in my head as a result of playing them and this is a great way for fans to connect with their favourite bands. Hopefully JamLegend will allow more artists and bands to have their songs played along to as opposed to other titles like Guitar Hero and Rock Band that really concentrate on just the most well known material.

I’m looking forward to seeing the service come out of beta. In the meantime I have just a handful of invites for anyone wanting to check the site out: http://www.jamlegend.com/register/338412772d6034d2


JamLegend Trailer from JamLegend on Vimeo.

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We’re pleased to announce the next instalment of the OpenMusicMedia Meet and this time we have Eric Wahlforss from Berlin-based startup SoundCloud as our special guest. In a recent blog post Eric argues that in a post-scarcity publishing world, the key is to own the most relevant copy. As he explains:

This sounds a bit cryptic, agreed. Let me try to explain what I mean. The point I’m trying to make is actually very simple. The Web is a giant copying machine. And yet, if people can avoid having to copy something, they will. The problem is that today, the music industry suffers quite a bit from illegal file sharing–a giant copy party. What is going to happen over the coming years is that this copy fest will wind down. Yes, it will! And the reason for that is that there will be services that let people listen to their music without having to copy files and manage them.

Let’s go back to the cryptic title of this post… The key, being a music service or a label or an artist in this world of link-passing, is to own the most relevant copy. With most relevant I mean the most happening copy, the most accessible copy, the most usable copy, the coolest copy, the earliest copy, the most exclusive copy, the copy with the best sound quality, the most permanent copy, the most social copy, the most remixed copy, the most authentic copy, the most interoperable copy, etc.

As usual expect a lot of good conversation, interesting people and plenty of debate before during and after we hear from Eric. For the uninitiated here’s some more info.

WHAT: the OpenMusicMedia Meet is a group that gets together regularly in London to discuss, explore and shape the future of digital music and media. The format is open and everyone is invited. The group serves as a meeting point for people with similar interests and open up conversations between them. Everyone is encouraged to hang around after the discussion to eat and drink. The William IV serves great food!

WHO: A melting pot of label execs, journalists, social media types, digital distributors & retailers, entrepreneurs, music geeks, bloggers and future thinkers. The group is open to anyone who has a professional or personal interest in this space.

WHERE: Upstairs at the William IV pub. Just a 5 min stroll from Old Street tube. http://www.williamthefourth.com/

DRESS CODE: Informal. No vested interests, no politics and no agendas.

ADMISSION: An open mind, open ears and a passion for the topics discussed. There is no charge, though the more booze you buy the nicer our hosts will be. After our discussion we encourage everyone to stay and enjoy the great food at the William IV. Looking forward to seeing you all there!