Berklee today is the official alumni publication of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a forum for contemporary music and musicians.
Issue link: http://berkleetoday.epubxp.com/i/67927
Hackers' Heaven As part of "Rethink," teams of hackers gathered at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge to create new apps. A panel discussion titled "The Intersection of Content: Music + Video" featured (from the left) Rio Caraeff of Vevo, Robert Fernandez and Junior Goris of Pitbull, and team Karmin: Nils Gums '06 (manager), Amy Heidemann '08 (vocalist) and Nick Noonan '08 (keyboardist and singer). shared the anecdote of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and how he created the company. After a trip to Italy, Schultz opened a café called Il Giornale in Seattle. He played opera music all day, there were no seats, and the entire menu was in Italian. It took more than 1,600 angry paying customers for Schultz to realize his mistakes. He used the lessons learned to create the success that Starbucks has become today. Building a Brand An artist's external image and branding are just as impor- tant as his or her internal entrepreneurial drive. Rob Stone of Cornerstone and Geoff Cottrill of Converse both partici- pated in a panel discussion on building an artist's brand. The two collaborated in creating Converse "Rubber Tracks," a studio in Brooklyn that enables emerging artists to record music for free and keep creative rights. The studio effec- tively boosts the artist's awareness while empowering the Converse brand. "The definition of record labels needs to change, because artist needs have changed," Stone advised. Cottrill agreed, adding, "I don't think brands should be in the business of running a record label, but we can certainly help artists along the way." Despite the array of technological advancements, live engagements are still the driving force behind sustaining an artist's career. During the presentation "The Future of Live Music," David "Boche" Viecelli, the founder of the Billions Corporation, argued that live performances are the only way an artist can remain memorable and meaningful. Echoing President Brown's remarks, Viecelli concurred that artists must take responsibility, and live shows are a crucial area where an artist has total control. "The future of live music is the future of music, period," Viecelli asserted. Rethink Music held a music industry start-up competi- tion, called the Genesis Project, which accepted business proposals on how to effectively rethink music. The winning submission, "Have You Heard?," leverages information from music-streaming services like Spotify to make sharing and lis- tening to music more rewarding for fans and more lucrative for artists. The idea uses gaming elements with incentives such as discounted music and backstage passes for increased sharing and interaction with the artist. As the winning pro- posal, "Have You Heard?" was awarded $10,000 in legal and consultation services, as well as meetings with venture capi- talists to help give the innovative means of rethinking the industry a forward momentum. Nick Susi earned his degree in music business and management and collaborated with President Roger Brown on the Music-Maker Case Study Series. Now in its second year—and expanding—the "Rethink Music" conference added Hackers' Weekend to the roster of offerings. The event invited "hackers" from around the world to collaborate in building new music applications. The event drew some 80 technology developers to Microsoft's New England Research and Development Center (NERD) in Cambridge. Over the course of just 24 hours, each hacker team built app prototypes, providing innovative ways for music enthusiasts to discover and interact with what they love. The event was presented in association by music application platform The Echo Nest. The Echo Nest has hosted similar Music Hack Days in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and several countries across the globe. Past Music Hack Days have led to viral successes such as Drinkify, a lighthearted alcoholic beverage recommendation site based on users' musical tastes. The companies involved allowed hackers to pull information from an application programming interface (API), and the hackers used that information for their apps. For instance, Songkick's API provided hackers with information on concerts and tour dates, and Spotify's API allowed hackers to interact with a catalog of songs and albums. Paul Lamere, the director of developer platform at The Echo Nest, announced the winning music apps, stating, "These are not just ideas. They are actually building them." Hackathon winners included Kinect Bomba, whose hack was inspired by the classical Puerto Rican dance Bomba, in which dancers control the rhythm of the percussion with their movement. The prototype used an Xbox Kinect receiver to recognize users' dance movements. Those movements were then mapped to trigger certain sounds and samples of drums, voice, bass, and piano. As the user dances, the music plays along. Moreover, Concert Playlist Generator used Songkick's API to pull information about which concerts users have bought tickets to attend. Based on the results, the hack then tapped Spotify's API to automatically generate a playlist based on the artists that a user would see in concert. Essentially, the app builds excitement for and awareness of upcoming concerts. The Byrds & the Bee Gees app gave a comedic glimpse into what users' parents might have listened to at the moment during which they were conceived. The app takes a user's birthday, subtracts nine months from the date, and generates a Spotify playlist of the hits at the time. Paul Lamere himself received an honorable mention with his Map of Music Styles. The interactive web encourages users to sift through hundreds of genre tags, ranging from alternative rock to everything as obscure as Norwegian black metal. Users can click a tag to listen to music and discover how different types of music relate to one another. Overall, Hackers' Weekend was a success, leading to the development of a new means of music interaction, discovery, and education. Spring 2012 25