heute:pop:blog.  

We’re very pleased to have Spotify speak at our next OpenMusicMedia meet which happens on the 10th March, as always at the William IV in East London.

Spotify is a streaming music service that gives listeners free and legal access to millions of tracks via their desktop client.  It’s a service that has proved popular amongst early adopters and is already changing the way that many people access music.

Join us for our OpenMusicMedia Meet in London next Wednesday (4th Feb 09). This time Songkick’s Ian Hogarth will be leading the conversation as always at the William IV near Old Street Station.

The theme set by Ian is ‘Live & Kicking’ and he’ll be talking about how the industry has boomed over past 9 years and where the concert industry is going to be in 5 years time. How start-ups and technology are going to accelerate that, and what you need to do to get on the train. With traditional recorded music sales in decline is the future of the music industry live? What can artists and bands do to monetize their live performances? Is it sustainable? What changes are we seeing in the live music sector? And what happens if the music doesn’t lend itself to the live arena?

Find more details on the OpenMusicMedia blog and hope to see you next week!

I went to the Digital Music Awards last night together with Dave (who gave me his spare ticket, thanks for that) and this is my verdict: What a soulless event. I’m all for celebrating yourself but last night the no one even attempted to ‘award’ themselves for the work they have done but it was just an excuse to get drunk on the expense account.

Someone made a very interesting point though: he felt that everyone he talked to was only about the marketing and promotion of the music and not interested in the music itself. It reminded him of the way the music industry was acting like back in the 80s. We agreed that the people we saw in the Roundhouse last night are the corporate part of the industry of the future: everyone who was there last night is about innovation and the change of the music industry in the context of ‘digital’ but in 10 years time those will be the decision makers big companies that will slow down innovation.

In other words: last night they were wearing suits for the occasion but they’ll be needing those every day in a few years time.

This time with slightly short notice: If you are in London next Wednesday (10th September) come down to our OpenMusicMedia Meet at the William IV in East London. This time Eric Wahlforss from SoundCloud will join us for what will certainly be a lively debate.

This is a quote from his recent blog post and will explain what we will be talking about:

“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.

(…) 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.”

Please find all details here and looking forward to seeing you next week! 

In his essay earlier this year Wired’s Kevin Kelly outlined his theory of 1000 True Fans. Interestingly enough 1000 is the average number of fans that invest in each successful artist/band on Sellaband, the controversial site where artists aim to raise $50,000 by selling ‘parts’ to ‘believers’.

For our next OpenMusicMedia Meet we’ll be joined by Sellaband’s Creative Director Pim Betist who’s flying into London as our special guest for what should be a very interesting converstation. Come and join in by getting down to the William IV pub next Wednesday 30th July.

For more info go to our OpenMusicMedia blog and make sure you RSVP if you want to come down.

If you weren’t lucky enough to be there for our first ever OpenMusicMedia Meet with Anthony Volodkin from HypeMachine, then here is what you can expect:

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. 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!    

If you are in London tonight feel free to pop into out OpenMusicMedia Meet at the William IV about 10 min from Old Street Station. We’ve got Anthony Volodkin from the Hype Machine telling us more about his great site followed by a broader discussion about blogs in a music context plus beer and food. 

Would be great to see you there, you can find all infos here.

I went to a gig last week to see the first live performance of the band The Accidental. I was highly impressed and maybe even surprised; they sound a lot like Tunng and they even they share one band member (Sam Genders) but I have to say that I probably prefered this to any Tunng performance I have seen.

It was also the first time that I went to the Slaughtered Lamb and I have to say: what a great place! Didn’t think I would find anything like it just of Clerkenwell Road. Lovely people, lots of sofas even decent sound in the downstairs music venue. Will be back there for sure…