OpenMusicMedia #10 - Don't Just Listen!
Event Info
Description
OpenMusicMedia London is back. It seems like quite a long time since
our last session on Creative Commons with Joi Ito. But the good news is
that we have our venue, the William IV pub, back too. If you haven't
been before, it's tucked away on Shepherdess Walk, just a 5min walk
from Old St tube station. We'll be there any time from 6pm so feel free
to come straight down after work and grab a pint (or two) before we
move upstairs for an hour of discussion at about 7pm-ish. Stick around
afterwards for more drinks and we'll be trying out the new menu of pub
grub (their sausages are award-winning, apparently!)
So what's
been on our minds? Well a number of things actually. We're now busy
planning topics and themes for the next few meetups, so if you have any
input or suggestions then please let us know.
For the first
session we'll draw our references from an article that recently
appeared in Wired about 'Interactive Music' (we'll link it up below).
Admittedly that's a very vague term that can be interpreted in lots of
different ways. But we want to have as wide a conversation as possible.
And to lead that conversation we have Michael Breidenbruecker, founder
and CEO of RJDJ, the 'reactive music' iPhone app. RJDJ shot to the top
of the iTunes music app charts when launched and has since released a
plethora of different 'scenes' and artist apps for the likes of Little
Boots. Michael will tell us more about why RJDJ came about in the first
place and what his vision is for their own app and the genre of
reactive music that they are hoping to pioneer. In the room we'll also
be joined by several people involved directly in these topics who can
share their insight, like Jeff Marois from MXP4, a company that is
pushing its new interactive music format. Everyone's welcome, so please
come down with your thoughts & questions and get involved in the
discussion.
So what are the issues we might talk about? Well, it
seems that we've seen an explosion in Interactive Music applications in
the past few years. From the big hit music console games to quirky
iPhone apps, online platforms for music creation to easily accessible
remix tools. Often the web underpins all these, adding a social layer
allowing users to share and collaborate on a global, contextually
relevant or hyper-local level.
As the copy-driven, leanback,
consumption driven music industry continues to decline some see these
things as a potentially valuable new revenue stream. One that is harder
to copy, more viral, a way to 'engage with fans'. But is this really a
new business or simply a marketing gimmick that just tries to promote
the existing products of the music industry?
And interactive
music isn't just about the business of music. Shouldn't we be thinking
about it in a wider context? Some argue that the phenomenon is little
to do with a declining industry trying to reinvent itself. A bigger
claim is that we are actually seeing the dawn of a whole new era where
people want more from music. They want to play with it, influence it,
take part in the music creation process or make their own mix to share
with friends.
I want to do more than just listen to music.
