UYRL

1 — We will soon see the emergence of many different kinds of iPhone-influenced Netbook-like devices; some will be Apple-made but most will not. These devices may be 2-3 times the size of an iPhone and will connect to the Internet in every conceivable way, i.e. 3G/4G, LTE, Wimax, Wifi etc. They will be touchscreen, zoom-interface enabled, cloud-computing, speech-controlled, location-aware, mobile-money equipped, socially hyper-networked, always-everywhere-on, HD-camera equipped and possibly project images and audio or even support basic holography.

In addition to the high-end, fully-loaded and perhaps still rather expensive versions that many of us in the so-called developed countries will gobble up, low cost and more basic editions for the developing markets will be sold in the 100s of millions (think India, China, Indonesia…). These smart gadgets will have very low energy consumption and therefore extremely long battery life, may even sport basic solar-power options, and may ultimately cost less than 30 USD, or even be ‘free’ (why bother to sell the box if you can make a lot more $ with selling services…. Nokia?).

It is these mass-market yet very smart and networked devices, together with cheap or free wireless broadband that will really revolutionize reading, newspapers, books and education; not to mention our music, TV and film consumption habits. Content commerce will be completely redefined as a consequence. As BTO told us a loooong time ago: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet”

2 — Very cheap or free wireless broadband - at fairly high speeds, i.e. at least 2MB / sec - will be available in most places, particularly in the booming new economies of Asia, India, Russia and South-America, and a bit later, in Africa. Funded by the likes of Google and by the future ‘telemedia’ conglomerates, governments, cities and states, wireless broadband will probably reach 3-4 out of 5 people on the globe within 5-8 years. User-generated & derived content (UGDC for those of you that must have an acronym ;), virtual co-production, mobile editing and instant network sharing will explode by a factor of 1000, making control of distribution a very distant concept of the past. UGC or UGDC may make up to 50% of the global content consumption by 2015. Consumers will be (co)-creators, marketers, sellers and buyers, and come in a hundred variations, from totally passive to totally active. Then, indeed, filtering, culling and curation will be the key to success.

3 — Collective blanket licenses that legalize and unlock legitimate access to basic content services via any digital network will emerge, and are likely to take over as the primary way of content consumption, around the world (but in Asia, first). Just like water or electricity which is readily available when moving into a new home, the basic access to content will be bundled into access to digital networks, i.e. via ISPs, operators, telecoms, portals etc. This shift is starting with music (as already done by TDC in Denmark, and Google in China), and will be quickly followed by films, TV, books and newspapers. Access may often - but in local variations - ‘feel like free’ to the user but will in fact generate 10s of Billions of $$ via blanket licensing fees (yes… those pools of money), next-generation advertising and branding, data-mining & sharing, up-selling, re-packaging and many other new generatives. This topic will, btw, be the gist of my RSA presentation tomorrow - if you can’t be there in person, you may want to listen to the live audio, via this link.

I think that governments around the world will call for and / or support the implementation of collective content licenses that wil finally legalize content usage on the Internet, similar to how governments pushed for the radio and broadcasting licenses approx. 100 years ago. Whether these blanket licenses will be voluntary or compulsory remains to be seen - in any case the only alternative is to perpetuate a severely dysfunctional telemedia ecosystem that criminalizes almost all users and stifles innovation while generating virtually zero new revenues for the creators.

4 — Fuel-cells and other next-generation mobile energy sources are a certainty. A serious increase in mobile device power (and therefore, its use) will be achieved by employing next-generation technologies such as fuel cells that could provide for up to 500x the usage time that we have today. This is likely to become a reality in 3-5 years and will revolutionize how we use - and how much we rely on - our mobile devices, especially in countries where there the fixed-line power infrastructure is much less developed or non-existent.

5 — Completely targeted and personalized advertising, delivered largely on totally customized mobile computing & communication devices, will turn the the $ 1 Trillion USD advertising and marketing services economy upside down. Behavioral targeting and user-controlled advertising will, of course, become an even hotter potato and a much discussed challenge, but the good old deal of ‘I give you attention & personal data and you give me value e.g. content’ will be even more pronounced on the Net. In fact, advertising as we knew it is already more or less outmoded and will, during the next 2-3 years, be completely reinvented. Privacy and Trust are the #1 issues here.

The implication is that if your data (within your specific sets of permissions and opt-ins) is used to bring you perfectly synchronized advertising, than advertising really becomes more like content, too. Watch this play out in the mobile advertising space, starting this year, and quite possible boost the global value of advertising-content by more than 100% by 2015. Google will be the main driver here, plus Facebook, Nokia and yes… Twitter (soon to be = Google).

6 — We will witness the more or less complete decline of most forms of physical media within 7-10 years. The very definition - and thus the core economic business models - of newspapers, magazines, CDs, DVDs and books will be completely re-written, and new forms of content packaging will rapidly emerge. We can already see a preview of how this may work in the current mobile applications boom: content as part of software packages; paying for the packaging, the curation, the bundling, the personalization - not just for the zeros and ones that are ‘the copy’. This trend is important not just because it will reflect the users’ (or better… followers’) new consumption habits but also because because of the increasing need to save energy and material costs - and moving from content products to content services will certainly go a long way in this regard. The total decline of printing in people’s homes, and for personal use, will commence, as well.

7 — Paying for privacy will become a distinct option. Today we pay to go online and connect; in the future we may end up paying for the luxury to go offline, disconnect, enjoy the quiet, and give our brain some rest. Maybe if we don’t want to share our click-trails and usage data, we will be able to make cash payments instead - and the more you pay, the more private you can be..?

8 — Travel 2.0: alternatives to ‘actually going there’ will explode: immersive, 3D video, virtual rooms, holography. This is a key development that will nurture new forms of entrepreneurship, education and group working.

Immediacy – Sooner or later you can find a free copy of whatever you want, but getting a copy delivered to your inbox the moment it is released — or even better, produced — by its creators is a generative asset. Many people go to movie theaters to see films on the opening night, where they will pay a hefty price to see a film that later will be available for free, or almost free, via rental or download. Hardcover books command a premium for their immediacy, disguised as a harder cover. First in line often commands an extra price for the same good. As a sellable quality, immediacy has many levels, including access to beta versions. Fans are brought into the generative process itself. Beta versions are often de-valued because they are incomplete, but they also possess generative qualities that can be sold. Immediacy is a relative term, which is why it is generative. It has to fit with the product and the audience. A blog has a different sense of time than a movie, or a car. But immediacy can be found in any media.

Personalization — A generic version of a concert recording may be free, but if you want a copy that has been tweaked to sound perfect in your particular living room — as if it were preformed in your room — you may be willing to pay a lot. The free copy of a book can be custom edited by the publishers to reflect your own previous reading background. A free movie you buy may be cut to reflect the rating you desire (no violence, dirty language okay). Aspirin is free, but aspirin tailored to your DNA is very expensive. As many have noted, personalization requires an ongoing conversation between the creator and consumer, artist and fan, producer and user. It is deeply generative because it is iterative and time consuming. You can’t copy the personalization that a relationship represents. Marketers call that “stickiness” because it means both sides of the relationship are stuck (invested) in this generative asset, and will be reluctant to switch and start over.

Interpretation — As the old joke goes: software, free. The manual, $10,000. But it’s no joke. A couple of high profile companies, like Red Hat, Apache, and others make their living doing exactly that. They provide paid support for free software. The copy of code, being mere bits, is free — and becomes valuable to you only through the support and guidance. I suspect a lot of genetic information will go this route. Right now getting your copy of your DNA is very expensive, but soon it won’t be. In fact, soon pharmaceutical companies will PAY you to get your genes sequence. So the copy of your sequence will be free, but the interpretation of what it means, what you can do about it, and how to use it — the manual for your genes so to speak — will be expensive.

Authenticity — You might be able to grab a key software application for free, but even if you don’t need a manual, you might like to be sure it is bug free, reliable, and warranted. You’ll pay for authenticity. There are nearly an infinite number of variations of the Grateful Dead jams around; buying an authentic version from the band itself will ensure you get the one you wanted. Or that it was indeed actually performed by the Dead. Artists have dealt with this problem for a long time. Graphic reproductions such as photographs and lithographs often come with the artist’s stamp of authenticity — a signature — to raise the price of the copy. Digital watermarks and other signature technology will not work as copy-protection schemes (copies are super-conducting liquids, remember?) but they can serve up the generative quality of authenticity for those who care.

Accessibility — Ownership often sucks. You have to keep your things tidy, up-to-date, and in the case of digital material, backed up. And in this mobile world, you have to carry it along with you. Many people, me included, will be happy to have others tend our “possessions” by subscribing to them. We’ll pay Acme Digital Warehouse to serve us any musical tune in the world, when and where we want it, as well as any movie, photo (ours or other photographers). Ditto for books and blogs. Acme backs everything up, pays the creators, and delivers us our desires. We can sip it from our phones, PDAs, laptops, big screens from where-ever. The fact that most of this material will be available free, if we want to tend it, back it up, keep adding to it, and organize it, will be less and less appealing as time goes on.

Embodiment — At its core the digital copy is without a body. You can take a free copy of a work and throw it on a screen. But perhaps you’d like to see it in hi-res on a huge screen? Maybe in 3D? PDFs are fine, but sometimes it is delicious to have the same words printed on bright white cottony paper, bound in leather. Feels so good. What about dwelling in your favorite (free) game with 35 others in the same room? There is no end to greater embodiment. Sure, the hi-res of today — which may draw ticket holders to a big theater — may migrate to your home theater tomorrow, but there will always be new insanely great display technology that consumers won’t have. Laser projection, holographic display, the holodeck itself! And nothing gets embodied as much as music in a live performance, with real bodies. The music is free; the bodily performance expensive. This formula is quickly becoming a common one for not only musicians, but even authors. The book is free; the bodily talk is expensive.

Patronage — It is my belief that audiences WANT to pay creators. Fans like to reward artists, musicians, authors and the like with the tokens of their appreciation, because it allows them to connect. But they will only pay if it is very easy to do, a reasonable amount, and they feel certain the money will directly benefit the creators. Radiohead’s recent high-profile experiment in letting fans pay them whatever they wished for a free copy is an excellent illustration of the power of patronage. The elusive, intangible connection that flows between appreciative fans and the artist is worth something. In Radiohead’s case it was about $5 per download. There are many other examples of the audience paying simply because it feels good.

Findability — Where as the previous generative qualities reside within creative digital works, findability is an asset that occurs at a higher level in the aggregate of many works. A zero price does not help direct attention to a work, and in fact may sometimes hinder it. But no matter what its price, a work has no value unless it is seen; unfound masterpieces are worthless. When there are millions of books, millions of songs, millions of films, millions of applications, millions of everything requesting our attention — and most of it free — being found is valuable.

The giant aggregators such as Amazon and Netflix make their living in part by helping the audience find works they love. They bring out the good news of the “long tail” phenomenon, which we all know, connects niche audiences with niche productions. But sadly, the long tail is only good news for the giant aggregators, and larger mid-level aggregators such as publishers, studios, and labels. The “long tail” is only lukewarm news to creators themselves. But since findability can really only happen at the systems level, creators need aggregators. This is why publishers, studios, and labels (PSL)will never disappear. They are not needed for distribution of the copies (the internet machine does that). Rather the PSL are needed for the distribution of the users’ attention back to the works. From an ocean of possibilities the PSL find, nurture and refine the work of creators that they believe fans will connect with. Other intermediates such as critics and reviewers also channel attention. Fans rely on this multi-level apparatus of findability to discover the works of worth out of the zillions produced. There is money to be made (indirectly for the creatives) by finding talent. For many years the paper publication TV Guide made more money than all of the 3 major TV networks it “guided” combined. The magazine guided and pointed viewers to the good stuff on the tube that week. Stuff, it is worth noting, that was free to the viewers. There is little doubt that besides the mega-aggregators, in the world of the free many PDLs will make money selling findability — in addition to the other generative qualities.

These eight qualities require a new skill set. Success in the free-copy world is not derived from the skills of distribution since the Great Copy Machine in the Sky takes care of that. Nor are legal skills surrounding Intellectual Property and Copyright very useful anymore. Nor are the skills of hoarding and scarcity. Rather, these new eight generatives demand an understanding of how abundance breeds a sharing mindset, how generosity is a business model, how vital it has become to cultivate and nurture qualities that can’t be replicated with a click of the mouse.

In short, the money in this networked economy does not follow the path of the copies. Rather it follows the path of attention, and attention has its own circuits.

1) Ganja is legal in Jamaica and everyone walks around smoking spliffs.  (True/False)

2) When Columbus “discovered” Jamaica in 1494, he found the Arawak Indians harvesting large fields of Ganja. (True/False)

3) Rastas were the first people to smoke Ganja as part of their culture. (True/False)

4) All Rastas smoke Ganja and drink alcohol casually. (True/False)

5) Rastas believe that Ganja was the plant found on King Solomon’s grave. (True/False)

6) Bob Marley smoked Ganja. (True/False)

7) Rastas were the first Jamaicans to use/smoke Ganja. (True/False)

Okay, so I hope that wasn’t too difficult. Since nobody cheated, we are going to go through the answers.

1) False - Ganja is illegal in Jamaica.

2) False - Although, nobody is certain about who brough Ganja to Jamaica, the early English settlers in Jamaica and the United States of America were fond of using Ganja for medicinal purposes and to create clothes.

3) False - The Ancient Hindus of Nepal and India were the most famous smokers of Cannabis in the ancient world. In fact, the word Ganja comes from ancient Sanskrit.

4) False -  A devote rasta will smoke ganja, but will never drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes.

5) True - Rastas believe that marijuana was the special herb found on King Solomon’s grave. This is an instrumental part of Ganja in the Rasta believe.

6) True - Bob Marley certainly smoked Ganja.

7) False - Before the rastafari movement in the 1930s, other Jamaicans used Ganja for medicinal purposes, for teas, and for special blends with tobacco. Once the rasta movement gained strength, the usage of ganja went to a “higher level.”

Etana’s debut album is appropriately named “The Strong One”. She brings much needed new, female, blood to the reggae scene. Listening to her album, one can tell she is in her comfort zone, the songs just reflect honesty and fell very genuine. It shows that the Rastafarian singer from the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica truly believes in the subjects she’s signing about.

“The Strong One” contains a generous sixteen songs. Reggae music spanning different styles and themes, a testament to Etana’s versatility. Thankfully, quality was not neglected, all sixteen tracks are strong and can stand on their own. Etana’s beautiful voice together with her singing and songwriting capabilities make this an excellent reggae album and a great first step for her solo career which, judging from this album, should go a long way.

Since they started the “Reggae Gold” franchise in 1996, VP Records has consistently delivered great albums. These albums are put together to reflect a sample of the best reggae songs for their respective years. “Reggae Gold 2008″ is no exception. It features sixteen of 2008’s strongest reggae and dancehall songs from various artists. It has something for everybody with a wide variety of styles ranging from roots vibes to heavy hitting dancehall tracks and club oriented reggae party songs.

Sam Lufti, Britney’s former “manager,” had his sister testify on his behalf on Wednesday; his sister reported that Britney had said in recent months that she was actually afraid of her father and wanted help hiring her own lawyer.

If you somehow missed it, Britney’s dear old dad is seeking a long-standing restraining order against Lufti, who used to pal around with Brit Brit during her more crazy times.

Christina Lufti reported that Britney told her that she was afraid of her father and wanted Sam’s help hiring an attorney. Just after the judge rejected a motion to dismiss the restraining order, twenty-five-year-old Christina was introduced as a surprise witness.

Christina claimed it was she who handed the prepaid phone to Britney, so that the singer could contact her brother. Christina claimed she repeatedly called the number in order to make sure Britney was safe, but upon questioning from Jamie Spears’ attorney, Christina could recall neither the phone number of the prepaid phone nor her brother’s phone (which, come on, is ridiculous – who knows phone numbers anymore these days; it’s all about the memory).

The phone is actually the cause of the entire case – when Jamie found it he confiscated it, immediately understanding that it meant that Britney had been in contact with both Lufti and her ex Adnan Ghalib.

The whole thing is absolutely ridiculous – Britney is being treated like a thirteen-year-old who was caught climbing out of her bedroom window.

But then again, she has been a complete public disaster over the last few years.

TASCAM, a division of TEAC America, Inc. and Garritan Corporation announced the completion of the sale of technology assets relating to GigaStudio, Gigasampler, GVI, Gigapulse and all Giga products. Gigasampler revolutionized the music industry when it was introduced in 1999 and its importance in the music world cannot be overstated.

Giga products enjoy exclusive rights to Endless Wave technology, a patented system which allows large samples to be streamed directly from the hard drive with low latency. Giga became the professional’s sampler of choice for many film, game and television composers, including many high-profile musicians.

Giga has led the industry throughout the past decade. Garritan also has a history with Giga, and the Giga technology fits into Garritan’s mission to revolutionize music technology and provide musicians with the tools needed to make great music.

“After reviewing over twenty companies, we believe that Garritan is the best candidate to carry on development of the Giga platform,” stated Derek Davis, EVP/COO of TEAC America, Inc.. “Garritan has demonstrated a sincere interest in building on the present Giga technology and taking it to the next level.”

“We’re very excited about this opportunity and proud to own some of the very best sampling technologies on the planet” said Gary Garritan. “Acquiring the Giga technology helps us achieve our vision of providing the best tools to make great music available to all musicians.”

Garritan will be announcing its plan for the assets in the coming months. For more details, FAQs and information please visit www.garritan.com

According to the Garritan company FAQ: “Our plans are in the prelimary stages. We are evaluating how to incorporate Giga technologies in our future products. We will extensively develop the Giga technologies and take them to the next level. The Giga software product line ended in the summer of 2008, but we plan to continue the legacy of these products in new forms. We have taken the first step by acquiring the Giga technology assets from TEAC. We have a great programming team that is working with the software code. And we will consult with appropriate experts, as needed. Now it will be very important for us to get input from our users. This will help us with ideas and to chart a course of action. We will share our plans as they develop and mature.”

Open Labs, a recognized leader in innovative computer-enhanced musical instruments based in Austin, Texas, debuted their new DBeat instrument today at Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany. The DBeat marks the first product developed by Open Labs specifically for the DJ and electronic musician market by incorporating a broader range of sounds, powerful DJ hardware and industry leading software for unsurpassed live performance and studio capabilities.

Live demonstrations of the new DBeat instrument are available at Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany (Hall 5.1, Booth #D99B). Open Labs’ Chairman and Co-founder, Victor Wong will also participate in a DBeat product overview and Q&A session during a live 2-hour broadcast from Austin on www.OpenLabs.com airing at 4:00pm CDT on April 1, 2009.

“There is a growing multitude of DJs and electronic musicians that not only perform live but are also DJ producers, and this instrument blows the door open for that group.” said Victor Wong, Chairman and Co-founder of Open Labs.

The DBeat instrument was engineered for portability and power. Encased in an ultra-light aluminum chassis and weighing only 20lbs, the DBeat boasts more than 10,000 sounds with an additional 14GB of sounds that come with the included, full feature version of Ableton™ Live 7. Live DJ performance capability is taken to the next level with the inclusion of Open Labs’ edition of GURU™ and the proprietary virtual instrument host Riff™ - making DBeat the ultimate tool for using VSTi’s in a live setting.

DBeat comes loaded with a plethora of fully mappable real-time controllers, including Open Labs’ exclusive Bump MP™ drum pads, the Mix/Edit digital audio workstation panel, and comprehensive DJ controls including a cross-fader. DBeat puts “the feel” back in making music by including an integrated trackball, iPod-compatible cradle and 12-inch capacitive touch screen, which will be multi-touch capable with Windows 7 update.

The ability to directly connect USB turntables and the compatibility with virtually any software, including Deckadance™, Serato Scratch Live™, Traktor™, Pro Tools™, Reason™ and many more, make DBeat the ultimate DJ solution for studio, stage and club use.

The DBeat instrument ships complete with the following:

· More than 10,000 high-quality sounds, plus an additional 14 GB included with the full-feature version of Ableton™ Live 7;

· Open Labs’ proprietary virtual instrument host Riff™ - the ultimate tool for live performance using VSTi’s;

· Bump MP™ 17-pad drum module controller paired with Open Labs’ edition of GURU™ that includes eight engines, note repeat, chromatic mode, transport and more, taking it far beyond the capabilities of an MPC;

· Mix/Edit digital audio workstation controls include 8 plus 1 fully customizable faders, knobs and soft keys, and an additional 8 mappable knobs with a 2×20 LCD readout;

· DJ panel with cross fader, 7 knobs, 2 encoders for pitch/BPM and 8 buttons all assignable to key parameters for live performance;

· 12-inch capacitive touch screen (multi-touch capable with Windows 7 update) with an integrated trackball and an iPod-compatible cradle

· Comprehensive I/O capable of up to 24bit/96KHz audio with 4 in / 6 out including 2 phantom-powered mic-pres with DI’s, S/PDIF I/O and MIDI I/O;

· Unlimited capability for running third party plug-ins, VSTi’s and applications, including Deckadance™, Serato Scratch Live™, Traktor™, Pro Tools™, Reason™ and many more;

· Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner, and FireWire, USB and Ethernet ports for easy connectivity;

· Portability perfect for DJs, music producers, and musicians on the go (26”L x 14”W x 5”H) and weighs approx. 20lbs;

· Open Labs’ Edition of Windows™, specifically configured for music production; and

· One year of Open Labs Gold Support Services which include: one-hour “Get to Know Your Machine” session, remote desktop support via Internet in addition to phone and email support, and full parts/labor warranty coverage.

The DBeat will be available for $3,999 USD ($3,499 for pre-orders) in June 2009, directly through Open Labs at www.openlabs.com or through an authorized reseller listed on the Web site. Full technical specifications for DBeat can be found at www.openlabs.com/DBeat-tech.html.

About Open Labs

Headquartered in Austin, Texas — at the crossroads of music and technology– Open Labs develops and markets cutting-edge studio and musical instrument technology. Since 2003, Open Labs has been the recognized leader in providing musicians and producers of all genres, with high-performance portable instruments that combine all the equipment found in a professional music studio with unsurpassed live performance capabilities. A-List artists currently using Open Labs products include: The Crystal Method, Timbaland, Jonathan Davis (Korn), Morris Hayes (Prince), Jesse Carmichael (Maroon 5), and Jimmy Nichols (Faith Hill), to name a few. For more information on Open Labs, please visit www.openlabs.com.

R&B superstar Kanye West has come up with another curveball: he’s retiring from music in order to focus on his expanding blog empire. West has been hailed within the industry for his pioneering blog, and it seems the advertising revenues are increasing enough to make him decide to devote more time to it.

“It makes perfect sense,” said the star in, yes, a blog post. “People can BitTorrent my tunes all they want, but they can’t touch my ad dollars when I blog about interior design or fashion. It’s the way forward.”

West also says that if he does return to the studio at some stage, he’ll only release music through his Twitter feed, with lyrics limited to 140 characters. “It’s a challenge, but that’s what I thrive on,” he said.

Following Buika’s sold-out US debut concert in Miami in 2007, South Florida audiences have been anxiously awaiting the return of Latin music’s most acclaimed new star. Her enchanting voice and overwhelming stage presence left the audience mesmerized. The wait is over for what is the most anticipated show of the year. Buika returns to Miami for one night only on Thursday, July 9th 2009 at the historic Gusman Theater in downtown Miami.

Born to African parents from Equatorial Guinea, Buika grew up in Majorca, Spain, and is now based in Madrid, Spain’s melting pot and most multicultural city. Buika spent much of her childhood in the company of the island’s gypsies, who introduced her to their flamenco repertoire and attitudes. Buika is at the crossroads of many genres, a place where jazz, funk, flamenco, copla and neo-soul come together in a sublime, musical pact.

For tickets call Ticketmaster: (800) 745-3000 or visit the Gusman box office.

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