Thursday

You need to get out more

With the ever increasing accessibility to media there is little need to venture out into the wilderness (especially with this winter weather expected over the Easter break)



News, TV programmes and music are all delivered to our homes 24x7. Time shifted programming, PVR's and music services that learn our preferences and recommend entertainment based on these means our choice is huge – the reasons to leave the sofa are becoming less and less, as Robert Putnam highlighted - the bowling alleys of America are empty.


But what if you do fancy some ‘ old skool ‘ live entertainment?

The challenge

Having as most a music library that is digitally stored and accessed (therefore running into thousands of songs) does mean most of us have a music taste which is generally more varied than our predecessors.

In the past keeping an eye out in the press for tours of bands and artists was a hit and miss affair, relying exclusively on the promotion of these artists to make connections with their fan base.

A new service called
SongKick aims to change this.

Working through a plugin to iTunes or Media player SongKick scans your music library and matches your library and recently played songs to up and coming tours. In addition to this based on your tastes it makes recommendations for other artists which may whet your appetite for an evening out.

Users

We are all time precious - it makes the job far easier than relying on listing and advertising, by also adding recommendations it opens up other avenues of music.

The record company

It gives an immediacy - ‘ we are in the zone ‘the recommendations are relevant to us – with all this choice we act like butterflies dipping in and out of each media channel , capturing our attention when it is most relevant is key.

Bands

For new breaking artists it gives a chance for them to be recognised who may not have a record contract but are touring venues it opens up a new audience to their music.

SongKick recognises tapping into Word of mouth for promotion of music is also essential, ( portals such as MySpace evolved from a user base whose love of music underpinned the service ) so provides plugins which displays tour dates and links to tickets for artists it’s users are blogging about.

Maybe some things are better not spoken about, but while writing this I’ve been alerted Neil Diamond is on tour .. best get those tickets booked.



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