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Beers & Innovation: Music @ Content2.0

The Content 2.0 conference on 6th June 2006 was rounded-off by a special Beers & Innovation session at Albannach on Trafalgar Square, featuring Stephanie Newman from Amnesty International and an interview centering on digital music with Tim Clark, manager of Robbie Williams...

The Content 2.0 conference on 6th June 2006 was rounded-off by a special Beers & Innovation session at Albannach on Trafalgar Square, featuring Stephanie Newman from Amnesty International and an interview centering on digital music with Tim Clark, manager of Robbie Williams...

Report by Dawya Sadani & Deirdre Molloy

Stephanie Newman – Senior Project Manager, Amnesty International 

Stephanie was there to talk about Amnesty’s Make Some Noise campaign. Launched in December 2005 this campaign is about connecting with current artists such as Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Avril Lavigne and Duran Duran in order to record and distribute new versions of John Lennon songs. The aim is to appeal to a massive audience Amnesty usually never gets to speak to.

Amnesty had been offered the opportunity with the Lennon brand and music exclusive rights to leverage the entire John Lennon solo songbook to raise money and build a long-term relationship between Amnesty and this new audience, Stephanie explained.

Amnesty went with the artists into the studio to make films and audio recordings of the whole experience: sessions, interviews, live performances... They have since been made available on Amnesty’s website.

Connecting to a new audience via branded downloads...

They wanted to raise awareness of the human rights issues and raise funds through downloads of tracks of these records thanks to a soft and subtle message driven by the music and the artists. Not wanting to be too pushy about the human rights message, they instead sought to appeal to a new, unfamiliar audience with content they would appreciate and identify with.

The whole experience has been thus delivered in an interesting, engaging and positive way. Some artists have been very involved in trying to transmit Amnesty’s International values towards human rights; others not, but Amnesty has made all the records available for as long as it thought they would be enjoyed by the audience.

Amnesty wanted to use branded content and digital because they thought it was cost effective, measurable and because there is a real, growing interest in the area of music. Plus it’s a way to reach global enough audiences for the association. Amnesty has tried to use this type of content to move towards more interactivity with people, more visibility, and to raise brand affinity.

Tim Clark - Director, i:e Music – interviewed by Tony Wilson

The afternoon ended with broadcaster and Factory Records maverick Tony Wilson interviewing Tim Clark manager of Robbie Williams about the digital world and the music industry.

Tony began the interview by asking Tim when technology first entered his life and when did he think it was about to change the face of the business? Tim said that as far as he was concerned, technology has never really entered his life as he “doesn’t really understand how all this is working”.

"People downloading illegally are customers, not criminals"
- Tim Clark, i:e Music

As a manager his job is fairly simple, Tim remarked, but still he reckons technology is a very exciting for the industry and great thing. The internet for instance, is a marvellous opportunity to get more interactivity between artists and their fans.

The piracy issue was then raised, and Tim observed that he has never been really worried about piracy. In his view, people downloading illegally are customers, not criminals. The download allows them to get to the music very easily, he reasoned, and then they actually go onto to consume and pay for the artists they have dicovered. He cited his eighteen year old daughter as a case in point, who recently went to a jazz concert thanks to downloading and peer-to-peer services, and “paid good money for it”.

"Apple’s 85 per cent share of music downloads is not sustainable"
- Tim Clark, i:e Music

Tony then asked about the money which is made out of the music industry business and where artists figure in the equation, and Tim explained a lot of artists make their money from publishing.

Finally the interview moved towards the mobile delivery of music. Tim explained that it was quite advanced in Korea and in Japan, and that IE Music had worked with T-Mobile and Sony Ericsson to offer live music coverage. However, he said that they want to experiment with it first and see if it is really working for all the artists and not only for the “stars”.

Moving on to Apple’s hegemony in the busisness, Tim said that “Apple’s 85 per cent share of music downloads is not sustainable. The real concern for us,” he stressed, “is how much artists get from each 79p download - 3 or 4 pence is typical and that ain’t great.”

Content 2.0 - 2006 conference Website:
http://www.content2point0.com/2006/

About Anthony H. Wilson:
Tony Wilson is one of the most well-known and influential media people in Manchester. He founded the famous Hacienda nightclub (now closed) and was one of the five co-founders of Factory Records - a label that set the trend not only in music, but also by pioneering a minimalist style of graphic and interior design. He was recently seen playing himself in the film A Cock & Bull Story.

About Tim Clark:
Director of i:e music and Manager, amongst others, of Robbie Williams, Tim is widely respected throughout the industry for his innovative approach to music management and his support of digital media. He is a founder partner, along with David Enthoven, of IE Music, the Artiste Management Company that represents, among others, Robbie Williams, Archive, Sia & Craig Armstrong.

OTHER CONTENT 2.0 SESSION REPORTS

Content 2.0: Mesh Up - Connecting Content To People

Content 2.0: Goodbye New Media Hello Social Media

Content 2.0: Marketing 2.0 Forum

Content 2.0: Can Brands Be Trusted?

Content 2.0: The Future Of Web Search

Content 2.0: Folksonomies - What Are They Good For?

Content 2.0: Search & Enjoy Forum

Content 2.0: The Invisible Culture