Posted by annasiegel on April 17th, 2013 – 1 Comment
This morning, 7digital and QNX announced that automotive OEMs and tier one suppliers can now build digital music stores into QNX-based infotainment systems worldwide.
Playing loud music in your car is undeniably one of the greatest joys of driving, or in turn one of the best ways to experience music. Music access in the car has always been a mix of radio and users physical collections; tapes, 8 tracks, CDs. As connected cars become more widespread and music collections more digitized it is partnerships like these that will bring access to a whole new meaning. It isn’t what the average music fan thinks of while singing along to their favourite song while stuck in traffic however, to bring music collections to your car it takes partnerships such as this to lay the framework.
Posted by Sylwia Kacprzak on April 16th, 2013 – 2 Comments
The Financial Times’ annual Digital Media Conference is almost upon us, and will be kicking off on 25th April.
This year our very own CEO and big boss Ben Drury will be in attendance and taking part in The Sound of Innovation panel discussion. He’ll be joined by a few of our fellow music industry experts, including our good friend Geoff Taylor from the BPI, SoundCloud CTO Eric Wahlforss, and Ian Hogarth of Songkick. The discussion will focus on the latest music and technology developments, and what we believe is shaping how people discover, buy, curate, share and listen to music.
We’ll be live tweeting from the @7digital Twitter handle during the panel, from 9.25am GMT on 26th April. Make sure to follow us to get the inside track on the discussion, and check the blog following the event for a full write up.
In the meantime feel free to take a closer look at the Conference’s Agenda and the below video to give you a gist of what you can expect this year.
Posted by Sylwia Kacprzak on April 12th, 2013 – 1 Comment
Here it is another Friday and another portion of fresh Music + Tech news that we think you may find interesting. However, before we sink our teeth into the pie, let’s kick off this week’s piece with a little atypical news. You are likely already aware that Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister and one of the dominant and controversial political figures of 20th century, passed away on Monday. When doing the usual news research we came across two particularly interesting articles on the Iron Lady and her approach to Music and Technology.
Let’s tuck into the music bit first. With all things digital it is easy to have forgotten What the Music Industry Looked Like When Margaret Thatcher Ruled… as described by Digital Music News. The piece puts political roils aside and starts back at 1987 when cassettes dominated recorded music sales taking more than half (53.2 percent) of the market (according to RIAA figures). This was followed by tremendous rise of CDs that quickly accounted for 28.6 percent the same year and would soon power the largest expansion the recording industry had ever witnessed. And while Thatcher was at the height of power, vinyl LPs and 45s were falling into the limbo.
Posted by Caroline Leeming on April 5th, 2013 – 2 Comments
Back once again for another installment of the weekly Music + Tech Round-Up and this week has been pretty fruitful, but before we dive in to our tech-leaning revelations let’s tuck into the music, with one of our all-time favourite record labels.
Label of love: Rough Trade
For the first round-up of this month we’re kicking things off with our label of love, the London-born, legendary Rough Trade. It is an imprint to which we could pretty much ascribe the emergence of the indie movement as we know it today, having nurtured the careers of acts such as Scritti Politti, The Smiths, and later, The Libertines. Established in 1978 by Geoff Travis just two years after he opened the record store just off Ladbroke Grove in west London, Rough Trade was built upon punk’s DIY ethos, and an open and liberal manifesto, for which their eclectic back catalogue of reggae, punk, post-punk and electronica, is much owed. Since then, Rough Trade has heralded some of today’s most-prized indie artists and bands and we have some great offers on their catalogue, from just £4.49. Dig in!
Late in Feb we had the pleasure of visiting the Catalan capital of Barcelona for the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe, an event that runs in tandem to the GSMA’s annual Mobile World Congress. Aside from reveling in the delights of tapas and cerveza, we were excited to be sponsoring a panel looking at the future of mobile music. For us, the incorporation – or you may say coexistence – of music and mobile is king, and the way in which they feed into to one another opens up a world of opportunity. One thing so palpable at an event such as the Mobile World Congress is the need to constantly explore and analyse new avenues for your product and with that, be open to change.
Posted by Caroline Leeming on April 1st, 2013 – 1 Comment
As you may, or may not, know, music is not our only passion here at 7digital, oh no; music is just one of the many things that inspires us to create. Psychology, architecture, design and sociology are just a few things we like to indulge in. From the very inception of 7digital, inhibitions were abandoned and we wholeheartedly committed ourselves to a long (and, at times, rollercoaster) love affair with the ever-developing, ever-commodifying world of technology. Every year we expand our vision, (though never losing sight of our grassroots beginnings), learning more about our own experiences of music, our ideas and, crucially, the ways in which we can truly realise these aspirations. So, you’re wondering, what’s this all about?
Posted by Caroline Leeming on March 28th, 2013 – 1 Comment
It’s been a bit of quiet week here in the UK as we gear up for a long Easter weekend, however, there are a few things we wanted to mention before the week was out!
Glastonbury Reveal 2013 Lineup
The foundations of the music festival industry have been well and truly shaken as Glastonbury just yesterday lifted the lid on their long-speculated lineup for this year’s event. Among the three main headliners are The (mighty) Rolling Stones who will be making their first outing at will be festival’s Worthy Farm base in Somerset, alongside Mumford & Sons and indie rock outfit Arctic Monkeys. Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has taken to twittersphere already, tweeting “Can’t wait to play Glastonbury. I have my wellies and my yurt!”. Now, who doesn’t love a yurt? After a year hiatus to make space (and circumvent) the London Olympics, the 31st Glasto edition is as fruitful as ever, Chic Feat. Nile Rodgers, The Weeknd and The xx looking particularly cosy on the bill, while Disclosure, Julio Bashmore and SBTRKT will be flying the flag for all things electronic. Take a peek at the full lineup here.
With our feet firmly back on UK soil (sigh), we have been shaking off the last few dregs of jet-lag, praying for a little sunshine here in London, and busying ourselves transcribing interviews that we did at The BlackBerry House in Austin last week; watch this space. Speaking of BlackBerry, this week has brought the news of their official Z10 smartphone launch stateside, a handset powered by our digital music catalogue and we are looking forward to watching it fly.
Posted by Caroline Leeming on March 22nd, 2013 – 2 Comments
It is no secret that this music business is a hard nut to crack. It is an industry that thrives on imagination, hard work and life-long passion, but if you’re not in the right place at the right time, sometimes the opportunities you’re looking for can pass you by. This is where Music Gateway comes in. Jon Skinner, the founder and CEO of the company, is a man after our own heart as, fuelled by a desire to bring music-minded people from all over the world together, enable them to communicate, share ideas and, ultimately, achieve, is the core vision for the platform. He wants to nurture a talent-rich community and take-away the legwork that can often stifle creativity and enthusiasm in such a competitive and fierce industry.
Posted by Caroline Leeming on March 21st, 2013 – 1 Comment
The team out and about
With over 100 venues hosting more than 2000 acts from almost every genre imaginable, SXSW is unquestionably the most significant event in the industry calendar for breaking new music. It’s not just the stars of tomorrow that are discovered there, either: this year’s festival hosted official showcases for high-profile acts like Depeche Mode, The Flaming Lips and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and secret gigs by Justin Timberlake, Smashing Pumpkins and Flying Lotus.
Some of the more established acts making a splash this year included Alt-J, who look set to capitalise on their Mercury Prize victory by breaking America, Vampire Weekend, who were there debuting material from forthcoming record Modern Vampires Of The City, and hip hop star Kendrick Lamar, who packed out both Spotify House and ACL.
