Archive for November, 2011
Facebook Won’t Die But Should be Corrected
Recently, Facebook met with the Federal Trade Commission and the rumor is that the end of the social media platform is near. Before you go into an irrational panic and began downloading all those beloved pictures, continue reading. The FTC met with Zuckerberg and probably his Chief Privacy Officer, Michael Richter, to settle upon a 20-year agreement that promises governmental privacy policy oversight. Lance Ulanoff of Mashable believes this could be the most detrimental move made against the world’s largest social network but we argue to disagree.
Facebook has been established as the most innovative and customer conscience product since its creation in 2004. The company has periodically blundered its ability to properly monetize the massive amount of network activity, which is one of the primary causes for the FTC’s involvement. Taking all of this into account, however, Facebook is great at going into new directions and growing from its mistakes. When the original privacy issues broke into the news Facebook immediately instituted safeguards and methods for control. Before the FTC meetings Facebook listed 20 new privacy control tools that would be available over the span of 18mos. When you think about it…that’s faster than what most companies can deliver.
So—yeah—we think it’s great that Facebook was reprimanded for the most part but the company has the ability and ingenuity to continue moving forward. Besides, how can you not like and agree with a company whose biggest move this year has been a partnership for music?
The Social Stream of Music
With the creation of websites like Last.FM and music services like Spotify, people are seeing a major increase in the amount of music being streamed over the internet. Of course this is all part of the movement to digitize oneself but at the base of the notion, people like sharing music more than they like the idea of owning it. Some of you may be thinking that this means the end of iTunes. Well, the Apple company hasn’t seen a considerable drop in sales since the launch of Spotify in the U.S. but it has definitely restructured how things operate. With the launch of iTunes Match, the Apple cloud service for music, Google and Amazon have seen a need to create more social and online options for customers who want an increased mobile form of music sharing and downloading.
By looking at the motion graphic above you’ll realize that streaming music is becoming the dominant form of listening to songs and sharing the ones you like. Let us know what you think because we’d love to share our favorite songs with you!
The Growth and Collection of Google
With the creation of Google Music, a lot of companies and individuals are beginning to question how far Google intends to spread its influence. Speculators of the burgeoning corporation believe that Google creates many of its world acclaimed services and applications not to make an impact in a desired sector but to curb the growth of companies who have already staked a major claim in their industry. Some believe Google’s Buzz service, for example, was intended to be a stab at the growth of Facebook. But, the issues surrounding Google’s growth is not a question of legitimacy but rather the implications derived from its “ownership” of the World Wide Web.
How to Effectively Interpret StereoPill Data
StereoPill was designed to be a music insight generator, but not necessarily a playlist generator. The application is intended to help understand the musical tastes of the attendees for an event, thus StereoPill has provided thousands of users with invaluable insight and song suggestions.
Once StereoPill voting is completed and its time for your event, the data can either be programmed into an ipod (or itunes, or similar application) or turned over to a DJ. StereoPill strongly recommends using a DJ and not going the ipod route, and suggests trusting your DJs’ judgement, and providing the StereoPill data to them as a starting point rather than a rigid playlist. There are significant advantages to using a DJ rather than an ipod for your event. Don’t get us wrong, ipods are great for the gym and bus rides, but not for dance parties. Here are some advantages to using a DJ:
- A good DJ understands how to read the crowd and mix music together. As part of this, they typically judge whether its worth while to play an entire song or just part of it. For example, the 5 minute long “Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga was heavily voted on—it worked very well for the first 2 minutes, however by 3 minutes in, the crowd got bored, and the dance floor started to thin out, so at that point it was best to transition to the next song.
- A good DJ understands the science of mixing and tempo. For example, for a recent college party, “Hello” by Martin Solveig and Cali Swag District’s ”Teach me How to Dougie” were the 2 most requested songs. As a professional DJ, I knew that playing these songs consecutively would have been the music equivalent of a train wreck, due to their significantly different tempo.
- A good DJ has remixes and mashups that are often more effective versions of songs that have been requested.
- Lastly, a good DJ can understand which songs people may have not to thought to vote on but may be much more excited to hear. For example, at a recent wedding, “Empire State of Mind” was the #1 voted song, and worked great, we the played “No Diggity” by BlackStreet which did not receive any votes-but was actually even more successful than “Empire State of Mind.”
StereoPill Has Finally Arrived
StereoPill is finally here! The application itself is a remarkable development that gives partygoers and general attendees a voice in the creation of an awesome event. But, StereoPill isn’t simply for your everyday partier. By gathering some information from those attending an event, StereoPill is meant to be a party planner’s best and most valuable friend.
How can you make the most of StereoPill? Since attendees vote for songs on a rating system, the highest rated songs are those that most people want to hear. The program will begin to structure the requested songs based on their rating which will give you an idea of what people want to hear as the party gets underway. Remember, this is not a playlist but simply a guide to what kind of music you should probably play. Obviously you can use the information gathered however you want—even if you’re not a party planner.
We’re going to have a lot of cool new additions in the upcoming months, but in the meantime what are you waiting for? Hop over to StereoPill and start playing around with the application that you’ll use every time you’re planning your next big event.
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