Archive for May 2005

Announced today, the line-up of Line 8:

Hyde Park, London

Coldplay
Dido
Sir Elton John
Keane
Annie Lennox
Madonna
Mariah Carey
Muse
Scissor Sisters
Sir Paul McCartney
Joss Stone
Stereophonics
Sting
Robbie Williams
U2
REM
Velvet Revolver
Bob Geldof
The Killers
The Cure
Snow Patrol

Museum of Art, Philadelphia

Will Smith (host)
Bon Jovi
Maroon 5
P Diddy
Stevie Wonder
Jay-Z
The Dave Matthews Band
Sarah McLachlan
Rob Thomas
Keith Urban
50 Cent
Kaiser Chiefs

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Jamiroquai
Craig David
Youssou N’Dour
Yannick Noah
Andrea Bocelli
Calo Gero
Kyo
Placebo
Axelle Red
Johnny Halliday
Manu Chao
Renaud

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

A-ha
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Brian Wilson
Lauryn Hill
Bap
Die Toten Hosen
Peter Maffay
Circus Maximus, Rome
Duran Duran
Faith Hill
Irene Grandi
Jovanotti
Tim McGraw
Nek
Laura Pasini
Vasco Rossi
Zucchero

BBC full Article

…the time and place of Live 8 - the follow-up event of 1985’s Live Aid concert.

There are very few details about this concert other than Sir Bob Geldof announcing its aim will be to raise awareness of the Make Poverty History campaign.

Sir Bob is set to outline his plans to coincide with the G8 summit and highlight global poverty, he said last week: "Once more into the breach. What started 20 years ago is coming to a political point in a few weeks. "There is more than a chance that the boys and girls with guitars finally get to tilt the world on its axis."

As they - watch this space…

Kevin Smokler

Writer, Editor, Consultant

Q.    Briefly describe your products and services

KS.  I’m the editor of "Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times" (Basic Books, June 2005), a collection of essays by writers in their 20s and 30s that asserts and celebrates the continued relevance of reading, writing and literature in a media-saturated digital age. I also run the Virtual Book Tour (www.virtualbooktour.org), a booktour with weblogs as the tour stops and have a speaking/consulting practice (www.kevinsmokler.com) enabling artists and arts organizations to better use technology to reach new and diverse audiences.

Q.    What cultural trends are affecting your customers and end users?

1) Media Ubiquity and "Entertainment Debt." Arts consumers increasingly have a backlog of entertainment and culture (thanks to iPods, Tivo, Netflix) awaiting them at all times and forever growing.It’s very hard to fit into their cultural consumption schedule with something new when they chronically feel behind.

2) The taste of words like "technology" and "marketing" can mean "soulless" and "corporate" to artists and arts professionals. It’s an old-fashioned prejudice that still hangs around.

3) Generational shift. Artists and arts professionals who did not grow up with computers nor come of age with the Internet don’t know how technology can best fit into their outreach efforts and are worried that audiences of a similar generation won’t respond to it. I see this as less of an impediment and more of an opportunity.

Q.    What other market trends are impacting your business?

KS.  Sharp decreases in federal funding for the arts paired with an increase in "venture philanthropy" means artists and arts organizations must develop greater accountability for projects and demonstrate they are reaching not only intended audiences but bringing in new ones. It’s very hard to call yourself "cutting edge theater" to a grantor if your website gets updated every six months and was created by a board member’s nephew using Front Page.

Similarly, with their time stretched ever thinner, the audience likes to have some idea of what they are getting when they buy a ticket because no one is going to risk a night out (after finding a babysitter, wolfing down dinner and paying for parking) on something they "should see" rather than something they feel they "want" to see. The revolution in personal publishing (blogs, rss feeds, podcasting) is a fantastic sifter. It allows individual artists to not only brand themselves but create open communication and encourage feedback from audiences as never before, all inexpensively and more intimately than traditional marketing efforts. Result: An arts consumer may experiment with offerings off their radar in a low-risk, low time commitment way.

Finally, being "culturally sophisticated" still has huge social cache in the media (see The Bravo Channel, Miramax Films and The New Yorker magazine as institutions that live and die by this) while simultaneously being ridiculed in politics (see the dismantling of presidential candidate John Kerry). Readers, theatergoers, concert patrons and museum visitors often feel isolated and out of step with mass-culture. They are a sophisticated, busy, overworked audience who is still being reached in 19th century terms of arts and culture being "good for you" and not fun, with broccoli instead of chocolate. They want chocolate as much as the person watching "American Idol."

Q.    How is your company reacting to these opportunities/challenges?

KS.  When I consult with writers and artists, I first make sure they know that I am an artist myself and am not about proposing solutions that defy the spirit of their work. I also create price points and sliding scales knowing that 99% percent of my business comes from individuals and non-profits who don’t usually have "consultant" as a line item on their budget.

Second, I avoid jargon and technospeak at all costs and focus on results. Podcasting allows a community radio station to attract busy, preoccupied listeners not "increase audience share through deployment of alternative programming channels."

Third, I continually remind then that this is supposed to be fun. The future is a great big sandbox waiting for us all to dive in. Here’s your pail. Lets go.

Q.    Can you expand on what ‘end user’ trends are driving demand for your products?

Statistics say the arts are cash starved and neglected by upcoming generations. True. Yet arts and cultural consumption is increasingly how we spend our time, money, and how we even shape our identities in a global digital society. Your iTunes playlist is often more an indicator of your personality than your job, your religious affiliation or where you live. I help writers, artists, publishers and arts organization sit at this media feast and know they don’t have to spend a ton of money or have two years of learning curve to claim their seat, that the opportunity for relevance and vitality in the 21st century is there, waiting for them.

Kevin and New
York-based contributors to the book will be appearing at a reading
& NYC release party at Galapagos Artspace on June 7th.

The ‘4C Interview’ is a new regular section on PSFK where we ask senior
execs (and consultants) in a myriad of industries what cultural trends are facing their
business today. If you know of someone who’d like to participate in this column, then email Piers at piers@psfk.com. Thanks.

The NY Times Magazine wrote about the Nike iD store in Manhattan’s Nolita at the weekend reporting that the concept store is built "as much as amonument to personalization as it is to exclusivity." The store’s door policy is to invite influencers, celebs and lucky regular folk who struck it big in the online iD lottery. We’ve mentioned our view on all this circumstance and pomp before.

Anyway, the NYT took down artist Sarah Morris, desiner Narciso Rodriguez and basket ball player Vince Carter to create their own signature sneakers. Check out the article - it’s amazing that faced with a multitude of color choice, the three chose very simple mono-color versions for themselves. Can we be truly left alone to create our unique products (don’t we have enough to do, already?) - maybe, we all need a little helping hand.

NY Times Article

Related PSFK Articles
Site Visit: Filativa Store
IDividualsim

Beginning June 9, coach passengers who want anything other than soda
will have to pay for it on Northwest Airlines. The airline waved goodbye to free meals in February and now they dropped the free pretzels.

Commenting on this, Ad Pulp says,

"The airline says no more pretzels will save the airline $2 million a
year. Isn’t that a drop in the bucket operating costs? I think this is
yet another sign of airlines’ sticking it to customers that have put up
with more and more crap every time they fly."

Detroit Free Press News
AdPulp Comment

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June 8th, 2005.

Last weekend’s UK Music Chart was topped by a ringtone of a frog. The ringtone was originally the idea of Daniel Malmedahl, a computer
salesman from Gothenburg, whose impersonation of a two-stroke motor
scooter reduced his friends to tears of laughter. It was posted on a
website where it was discovered by another Swede, Erik Wernquist, a 3D
graphics designer, who drew a cartoon to match the sound.

His
blue frog with prominent belly button and 1950s-style crash helmet was
picked up by ringtone company Jamster and heavily promoted by the
company across all mediums. Jamster has made more than £10m from people
downloading Crazy Frog ringtones.the chart was actually topped by ringtone king Crazy Frog. An
intensely annoying, half-naked, motorcycle-riding frog who deserves to
be sent to the lowest circle of hell is the most popular record of the
week.

As the Guardian Newspaper blog comments:

"Despite the comedy factor in these shenanigans, it does
show one important thing: the power of ringtones. Go into any school
and you’re likely to hear Crazy Frog - or one of his irritating
siblings - ringing out across the playground."

The tune outsold Coldplay’s new release four to one.

Guardian Blog

The New Scientist is offering readers a unique opportunity to improve their brain power through a few simple lifestyle tricks. 

Here at PSFK we want to ensure you are equally as ’stimulated’ so, apart from the obvious of keeping your grey matter active, the following can also improve boost your brain’s performance:

• Eat baked beans on toast for breakfast;
• Learn a musical instrument;
• Listen to stories;
• Get more sleep;
• Do more exercise;

Guardian Article

Two reports marking the ‘Silver Surfers Day’
have outlined the prevelance of internet use amongst the over-55s.
Even though only 35% of people in this age group are using the net,
reliance on the medium is also increasing, with over 50% of them
claiming the net gives them a new lease of life.

Other findings from the report:

• 43% search for far-flung friends and family
• 22% play web games such as bingo
• 7% regularly visit online dating services and chat rooms
• Half of over-50s said life without the net was unimaginable.

"I
love playing poker and bingo online with people all over the world. I
find websites are a great way to meet new friends. My grandchildren
call me ‘cybergran’!" said Bradford surfer, Elizabeth Sheridan, 73.

Generation Nation
BBC Article