Friday, December 12, 2008
We have now developed accounts in Flickr and note that in our blogging of pictures in blogger, that a blogger account requires a gmail address and password , and that these pictures are then repositised in picassa. A yahoo email account is required for our subscriptpion to a flickr account. We have also developed a delicious.com account to repositise our web pages of interest.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
So many accounts
usb in lieu of cd
New USB DDA albums from artists including Sneaky Sound System will cost the same as a regular CD.
Photo: Mauro Pomponio
Bonus content for fans on USB-stick albums
The Australian music industry is getting behind a new locally developed music format that will allow consumers to access an ongoing stream of bonus content and listen to their collections from any computer or mobile phone.
From this week albums from Sneaky Sound System, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and local indie acts Grafton Primary and Skipping Girl Vinegar will be sold on USB sticks featuring new "DDA" digital album technology.
People who buy the albums register with an online locker system that not only makes a back-up of the songs - which can then be accessed from any other computer or mobile phone - but also provides access to a swathe of bonus content provided by the artist on an ongoing basis such as photos, videos, lyrics, artwork, new tracks and even concert tickets.
The creator of the technology, Scott Murphy, from Melbourne, said he was testing the market with Australian artists and would produce an initial 15,000 units this year. In February new DDA albums would be released from artists including John Butler Trio, Lior and Quan of Regurgitator fame.
Murphy, a 25-year record industry veteran who has patented the technology, said USB DDA albums from British and American artists would be on sale in those countries by the second quarter of next year.
"It's bringing the album experience to the internet and creating a bridge between artists and the people who buy their music, which is something they haven't had to this day," said Murphy, 41, who designed the technology during the dot-com boom of 2000.
"Sneaky Sound System could be touring America, take all these fantastic digital photos and within five minutes of taking them they can upload them to their 20,000 activated users."
Sales of physical CDs are plummeting and, while digital downloads are experiencing explosive growth, they are not accounting for the loss of physical CD revenue. This suggests an increasing proportion of people are obtaining their tracks illegally from download sites.
Murphy said he did not expect his USB DDA albums to be the music industry's saviour but the technology would appeal to hardcore fans looking for a deeper, ongoing relationship with their favourite artists.
"It's not just a one-off experience, it's an ongoing experience. Yet it sells for the same price as a CD," he said.
Artist whose albums are sold on the USB DDA format are given their own personalised web space, which they can use to push out new content, while fans can hang out in dedicated online forums.
The DDA web interface will also push through the latest music news and allow users to burn CDs and create playlists.
Murphy said the tracks provided on the USB drives would be free of DRM locks. Customers who lost their music or suffered computer problems could download new copies from the online locker.
The DDA USB albums can be bought from Sanity, Virgin, HMV and Leading Edge Music stores as well as online at Waterfront Records.
Like a CD package, each DDA has album tracks, lyrics, liner notes/credits, photos and artwork. Unlike a CD package, a DDA can have hundreds of tracks (over varied file formats) and thousands of photos. And significantly, the DDA owner also gets their own space within the D:Net Media System - ‘myDDA’. Not just a back up of each user’s content, myDDA is a means to acquire new content, and access the content they own, from any internet enabled computer. Other online features include a non-stop music news service and exclusive artist forums - a great way to socially network with like-minded people. Importantly it’s all about content, which is owned by the consumer and stored locally and remotely for them. It’s not content they visit when online at someone else’s website. Each DDA features its own player, track list builder, media transfer unit (with a simple click to transfer playlists to iTunes > iPods and burn CDs), a video viewer, plus interaction with the users Facebook page!
Each DDA owner can also access their myDDA from their mobile phone - all the content THEY OWN plus news and their Forum posts and replies, on their own mobile myDDA application.
All for the price of a CD.
This DDA format offers new levels of freedom of use. Freedom to enjoy music whenever you want, wherever you are, utilising whatever digital music player you like. A DDA offers all the content of a CD plus a whole lot more. It does so as an ongoing experience, building a bridge between consumers and artists.
The DDA at last marries the physical and digital worlds of music. It operates under the assumption that people want greater value for money than what the CD format delivers. They want a rich, ongoing, digitally connected experience and they demand to pay no more. A DDA costs the same as its CD equivalent, yet offers a greater world of experience.
DDA and its D:Net Media System were initially designed by Australian music industry stalwart Scott B. Murphy back in the dot-com boom of 2000. Murphy, an early adopter of the personal computer age, the internet and the world wide web, was frustrated with the so called ‘futurists’ constant declarations that the recorded music industry would soon ONLY involve the trade of faceless, track by track, digital files.
"I thought that surely we could get smart and have the internet carry a much richer experience for consumers - an audio visual experience, which artists would love to create. Surely the internet could be used for closer, direct relationships between artists and the consumers of their music. Why can’t we bring the mainstay of the recorded music business - the ‘album’ - into the new millennium?" said Murphy, back in 2000.
By 2002 the basic system was designed and Patent Applications filed.
For the next few years Murphy, not being a programmer or computer designer ("just a simple record guy", he says) researched what the market needed and how to deliver it. He enlisted the services of Australian music business colleagues both as financiers and mentors, such as Michael Gudinski (Mushroom Group/Frontier), Vivian Lees (Big Day Out), John Woodruff (The Music Network/Savage Garden), John Watson (Silverchair, Missy Higgins, Wolfmother), Michael Chugg (Chugg Entertainment) and Sebastian Chase (MGM). During this period Michael Smellie resigned from his post as Global COO for Sony BMG and returned to Sydney. He signed up as an investor and became Chairman of D:Net Media Pty Ltd.
A prototype was developed in May 2007 and demonstrated to record company executives and artist managers all around the world to enthusiastic responses. "Most people who saw it responded with a "wow... we’ve never thought of heading in that direction - very compelling" says Murphy "and they offered to help get it into the market place".
A strategic decision was made at this time to roll out the DDA and its supporting D:Net Media System using the USB platform, which is both cost effective to produce and is used e in computers worldwide. At last, a bridge was being built between the physical and digital music worlds. One that fitted into the existing recorded music industry framework and delivered ease of use and a multitude of options for consumers
Armed with such results, the D:Net Board approved plans to raise funds to build the commercial-ready system and undertake a test marketing period in Australia. This begins with the commercial release of the first ever DDAs:
Sneaky Sound System ‘2’
Grafton Primary ‘EON’
Skipping Girl Vinegar ‘Sift The Noise’
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu ‘Gurrumul’
Various Artists ‘Home Grown Roots VOL3’ (featuring: Paul Kelly, John Butler, Ash Grunwald, Mia Dyson)
All available in all good record stores from November (distributed through MGM).
"In an age of varied options for the consumption of music - a la carte online sales like iTunes, CDs, vinyl, downloads direct to mobiles, subscription services, ad funded models.... there will never again be one dominate format for the recorded music business" predicts Murphy. "However, I’m confident that the DDA will quickly obtain a decent global market share of this business - it fills a niche that no other format/offering has so far and I believe it’s a niche that will suit many".
MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Anouk at AVM Publicity - email: anouk@avmpublicity.com