This content feature on Kaffeine Buzz, TheConnected.Buzz, is a roundup of festival, live event, music business, and technology news.
Umbel Expands Multi-channel Fan Engagement Services With Lodestone Acquisition
As the challenge of converging disparate siloes of valuable data into unified, actionable insights is lessening, solution providers are also coming together to make data access and campaign creation even more powerful. Umbel, the Austin-based data aggregator and software company, has acquired a fellow Austin tech company, Lodestone, which specializes in a multi-channel fan engagement.
This Lodestone acquisition is expected to strengthen Umbel’s fan engagement service offering in their client sectors, including sports (Wimbledon, Phoenix Suns, Florida Panthers), media (USA Network, The Texas Tribune, Condé Nast), entertainment (AEG Live, Bonnaroo, Superfly, Bottlerock, Front Gate Tickets), and nonprofit (Denver Museum of Nature and Science, California Film Institute).
The data company will be able to offer clients over 70 different ways to engage with fans where they live and work: in mobile apps, in-venue, on-air, online, and on social media.
MØ Partners with Microsoft and Fans to Make Her Digital ‘Zine a Reality
Fanzines have played a treasured part in music’s history. As more aspects of life have moved online, the beloved DIY medium is as scarce as the mixtape. Denmark’s rising pop star, MØ, has brought back the fanzine, blending the print past with the digital present.
As the voice of the most streamed track of all time on Spotify, “Lean On,” and with over 3 million YouTube views of her new single, “Final Song,” MØ continues to venture into new territory. When she was inspired by her love of 1970s and 80s fanzines and decided to make her own digital and print version, “Empty Billboards And Overloaded Minds,” she turned to Microsoft for the tools and her fanbase for the content.
“I wanna do a ‘zine because when I was a teenager and up until now I’ve always loved the ‘zine’ format,” the singer explained on the MOxSurface microsite, sharing how she used to collaborate with others to make ‘zines that had both political and creative tones. “We live in a time where the world is on the internet – the 2nd reality – and together I think it could be interesting to see what creative output we could come up with. Mixing the scissor/paper generation with the copy/paste generation.”
Can Artist and Fan Collaborations Avoid Being Cheesy Campaigns?
The band OK Go has become infamous for their beyond-this-world and high-bar-setting production behind music videos. Their last one for “Upside Down & Inside Out” was gravity-free, for fuck sake. Now, “A bunch of people asked if we are open to doing a fan-collaborated music video,” said OK Go singer and frontman, Damian Kulash, in a recent #ASKOKGo video message to said fans. “And the basic answer is, ‘Yes.’”
And yes, that basic answer also accompanied a “however…”
ulash stated his hesitation, and it’s justified. He and the band do not want to give up creative control. The other potential caveat is, fan involvement in an OK Go music video may accompany an infusion of brand dollars to make it happen. The last thing the band or Kulash want is to tarnish their stellar reputation and ability to sleep at night because this new exciting, mind-blowing idea for an OK Go video turns instead, into some marketing campaign for some company with some bucks to throw at the project.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Coldplay Cover Viola Beach during Glastonbury Set [NME]
Christ Martin and the rest of Coldplay gave fans and those of Viola Beach a wonderful tribute during their Glastonbury set, explaining how the Warrington band that lost their lives earlier this year “reminded us of ourselves in our early days.”
Instead of covering a song most expected, “Heroes” by David Bowie, “We’re going to create Viola Beach’s alternative future for them and let them play Glastonbury for a song.”
He added, “this would have been [Viola Beach] in 20 years.” The band then projected a live performance of “Boys That Sing” from Viola Beach, playing alongside the recording.
Man dies in hospital after ‘catching on fire’ at Glastonbury Festival [EVENING STANDARD]
The man, who is in his 20s, was airlifted from the festival site at Worthy Farm in Pilton on Monday evening.
Avon and Somerset Police said they were treating the death as “unexplained” and did not believe there were suspicious circumstances.
“The man suffered serious burns and was taken by air ambulance to Southmead Hospital in Bristol. He was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where he sadly later died.”
Glastonbury Are Set to Release Their First Ever Live Album [DIY]
Announced a few days prior to this year’s festival kick off, Glastonbury will release their first-ever official live album, featuring performance recordings of Foals, Wolf Alice, The Last Shadow Puppets, Adele, Coldplay, Adele, Muse, and more. The album will be released July 11th on Parlophone Records in dedication to Jo Cox, the Labour MP and activist, with proceeds being donated to Oxfam’s new Refugee Crisis Appeal.
Why You Probably Won’t Get to Use Your Ticketmaster Vouchers [New York Times]
Many Ticketmaster customers who logged onto their account to see about getting their free and discounted tickets, as a result of a 13-year-old lawsuit against the company over its fees, were met with this message, “Over $10m worth of ticket vouchers have been redeemed and the eligible events have been closed. Please check back periodically for event listings as we anticipate making additional inventory available next week.” That was that week. This is this week. Thus far, it’s the same message. Time will tell.
Why Bots Are About to Take Over Business [AdAge]
Bots are beginning to allow brands to speak for themselves. Through ‘conversational commerce,’ customers can have a conversation with a brand, in the moment, about their wants and needs. FAQs are now a conversation. It means customer service is now a conversation. It means everyone gets an assistant with bots.
Expect to see more of this AI technology being used in the live events space in the near future.
Twitter Is Bullish on Periscope as Brands Adapt to Livestreaming’s Growing [ADWEEK]
From the week of advertising, marketing, and branding pat on the backs, Cannes Lions, Adweek reported how Periscope’s live streaming value gained major points during the U.S. House of Representatives gun-control sit-in on the Congress floor. When the CSPAN cameras were shut off, House Reps broke out their Periscoped-equipped phones to enable citizens to continue watching.
Periscope has given birth to more than 200 million live broadcasts from some 10 million accounts on the mobile app. Brands are increasingly interested in live video, said Joel Lunenfeld, vp of global brand and creative strategy, who cited how Harley-Davidson rolled out one of its 2016 bike lines on Periscope.
Facebook signs $50 million worth deals with media companies for live-streaming service [The Times of India]
Facebook Inc has signed deals worth more than $50 million with media companies and celebrities to create videos for its live-streaming service. Nearly 140 deals in all include CNN, the New York Times, Vox Media, Tastemade, Mashable, and the Huffington Post, Kevin Hart, Gordon Ramsay, and Deepak Chopra.
Alicia Keys is done playing nice. Your phone is getting locked up at her shows now. [Washington Times]
When fans arrived at the Highline Ballroom for the sold-out Alicia Keys show, they were met with a door person who let them know it was a “phone-free event.” What did that mean? No, not airplane mode or pretending to turn it off. All cell phones went into a locked pouch and given back to the fan to carry with them during the show. “If you had told me you were going to put it in a locker, I’d have been pissed off,” said one fan.
Panorama Music Fest Turns Up the Tech [Smashd]
The three-day New York festival taking place July 22-24 is expected to have a heavy emphasis on technology in Panorama’s The Lab, where attendees can take in various interactive art installations inside a massive spherical theater.
“What can I expect in The Dome? I would say a technological experience like you’ve never had at a festival,” raved Justin Bolognino, chief experience officer at Meta.is, the agency responsible for The Lab’s design.
