I recently started blogging for Techdirt, so keep an eye on that blog or my profile to see more articles by me. Of course, I’ll throw out updates like this one every once in a while, so you don’t have to follow me in 3 different places.
Two articles I recently did for Techdirt:
Tunisian State Secretary Says Censorship Is Fine Because The West Does It Too. The West cannot expect other countries to respect civil liberties, when it keeps in power governments that don’t fully respect our own civil liberties. This is mostly caused by politicians who have no clue what aΒ reality-shift the internet has created and thus pass laws (often suggested by lobbies) that are not in the best interest of their citizens.
The main reason many of the readers of this blog found me, is my thesis on digital communication strategy for the new music business. I am almost ready to publish it and send it out, so if you’re not on my distribution list already, put yourself on there. I promise not to spam you too much. π
Also, I’m moving to Sofia, Bulgaria next week and I would love to find a job that let’s me apply my knowledge and expertise in digital communication strategy and leveraging the power of the ecosystem. If you can help me out or know anyone that can, please get in touch.
I’m trying to figure out how to get data from a particular database and so far it’s #fail. Hopefully someone here can be of help.
1) I asked people where they bought music online. Only the people that buy music online, filled this one in (so some people skipped the question). Multiple answers possible.
2) I asked everyone what kind of music they’re into. Multiple answers possible.
My theory is, that people of one particular type of music (electronic mainly (like house, drum ‘n bass, etc.)), buy music at different places than people that mainly listen to other styles. I know if I take an average of the whole group, I should have a good number to test it against. It probably wouldn’t really matter if I include the electronic music listeners or not.
Anyway, I’ve been messing around with SPSS for half an hour now and cannot figure out how to pull the data out. I know exactly what the table I want should look like… but I have no idea how to construct it.
Any tips? Don’t mind if it’s via Access/Calc queries. Just want to get the info out.
The hypothesis is valuable for my thesis, but not vital… so if it’s really complicated, don’t worry. I’ll graduate with or without the hypothesis π
Drew this model up for my thesis, to basically summarize the way the new music business works for most labels. Does this look right to you? Am I forgetting anything?
Recently I released a paper titled the best practices of the online promotion of new musical content. I pushed it through some networks and sent it to contacts I’ve made while studying the music business and the results have been phenomenal. Giving away something good for free really does work! Some highlights.
I submitted it to Techdirt, probably my favourite technology blog, where Mike Masnick blogged about it. This blog post was then mentioned in the daily newsletter of the ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
It was also posted to the great Make It In Music blog, as a guestpost. Students of the music business course at the NYU were given this paper to read. Someone is even making a Spanish version of it to increase the reach of the paper, especially in Latin America. Thanks Pp! I’ve also been spreading it around LinkedIn with some pretty good results.
Wow!
To be honest, part of the strategy of my thesis was to build some momentum, release it, make it go viral and brand myself as an expert on this topic, but even this paper is making some ripples.
The ironic thing is that in the paper I say that giving away something of value for free can be a great promotional tool… especially if what you’re giving away is easily reproduced and easy to share. The reception of the paper proves exactly that.
Extremely motivated to get that thesis done asap and start utilizing the momentum I’ve built! More soon! π
As the regular readers of my blog probably know, I’m writing my graduation thesis about the future of music distribution. Due to some setbacks and unforseen circumstances, this thesis has suffered some delays. However, using the knowledge and insight I gained in the past month, while studying my thesis’ topic, I have compiled a paper called the Best Practices of the Online Promotion of New Musical Content.
It looks at artists like Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, Mos Def, and Groove Armada, and analyzes what they’ve been doing right and wrong and why they’ve been doing it in the first place.
So while you wait for the thesis and the launch of FutureOfMusicDistribution.com, how about going through this 20 page paper? π
To download and read the whole paper, just use this link:
Over the last weeks I’ve been in Prague, in Greece and have also been working hard on my thesis about the future of music distribution, which is due in about 2-3 weeks. This weekend I’m going to the Bulgarian countryside, which I’m very excited about, since I’ve lived in this country (off and on) for a year in total, but have never seen the core of Bulgaria. The countryside is very important to Bulgarians and I love seeing it, because you see some old practices that have left our western societies for decades.
When I come back, I’ll make a video compilation of all the pictures we took in the last few weeks, in Prague, Greece and then the Bulgarian countryside. It will be great. I promise!
And now a request
I’m doing a survey for my thesis about the future of music distribution. It takes about 9-10 minutes to fill it in and as a reward I offer you 9 free songs of a great variety, one for every minute you spend on the survey. π
Do me a HUGE favour and spread this link around a bit, to music lovers or people that don’t care much for music… It doesn’t matter, I’m interested in all of them. Please consider blogging about it, putting it in your Facebook or Twitter status, etc. and give your friends some free music and help out a student in the name of music and education! π
As you all know, I’m writing my thesis about the Future of Music Distribution. For this thesis I’m going to be doing a survey to add more authority to the findings of my thesis so far. As an incentive for people to fill out the survey, I figured it would be appropriate to offer them FREE MUSIC! π
The idea is as follows:
After filling out the survey, the users will be shown the end page.
I’ll get some cover art, plus 10 tracks. I’ll put the cover art at the top, then tracklist:
1. Artist – Song (Download)
2. You – Your song (Download)
3. Artist – Song (Download)
etc.
The word download will link directly to the song, whereas I’ll make the artist name link directly to the profile page / website of the artists. It should be a good deal for everyone involved I believe π
I’ll also offer the whole thing in one ZIP file, and will include an information file with all the websites etc. I’ll also edit the artist websites into the ID3 info of the MP3’s.
Will do my best to make this a good promotion opportunity for all those involved!
Please get in touch with me asap, because I want to launch the survey within the next 36 hours!
And to my fellow expat bloggers who are reading/viewing this…please do something similar! I’m very curious to see how you’re living! π
BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria and travels in the region, but like to ponder about the future also. If youβd like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.
When I got back to Holland I first moved back to my parents but really want to live in my old city, Utrecht, again.
How I Got There
I looked at a few places online and replied to some, was invited to one. They were renting out a furnished room for 5 months, since one of the guys was moving abroad for his study. I figured I’d take the offer and just find something new in the summer – but it turned out I was moving to Istanbul, so everything worked out perfectly.
How I’ve Lived There
It was an all-male house and in the half year I lived there I lived with Remco, Niels, Jurre, Tim and Pim. It was an all-male house with a nice living room and everyone had quite spacious rooms. The bathroom and kitchen were also quite big. This is the only time I’ve lived in an all-male house and I never expected to enjoy it like I did. After this place I moved to yet another all-male place…
Well, not really Turkish prison, it was a state dormitory in Istanbul and one of the better ones. It just wasn’t for me though.
How I Got There
I decided that in Bulgaria I didn’t get the culture shock I anticipated, so I decided to take it one step further. The language course I was taking housed me in this place for 3 weeks. I couldn’t wait to find my own apartment.
How I’ve Lived There
Well, I got some flu from the climate change, so I spent a lot of time near the toilets, which were not European toilets, no they were holes in the floor, with a little tap for water and a little bucket to use for washing your ass… with your hand. There were no power outlets in the room, so I had to go to communal study areas to charge my telephone or to use my laptop. There was also no wireless internet, but there was an internet cafe in which I spent quite a lot of time. See the video below for my impression of this place:
There were some fun parts. Every morning I’d meet with the international students for breakfast and we were off to the language course and in the evening we’d often leave the place to go have a beer somewhere. It was nice, but it still sucked. More than Uilenstede. Much, much more.
I got in touch with an agent and looked for a few flats. We were in a rush because we had to move out of the dorms, but plans fell through and in the end we couldn’t finance the flat we found. I got to work with some friends at my university and called a whole bunch of places, but with no luck. I ran into a Danish guy I knew and he gave me the card of his landlord and told me the guy had more places. I then called him and he said “ok, can you meet me in 1 hour at the Starbucks in Moda? Ok, bye”. Well, I rushed my way to find the place, since I had never been there before. I found it on time and the guy showed me three affordable apartments. I said I’d probably be interested in one of them and the guy immediately gave me the keys. I told him I’d have the rent in a week as I needed to find some flatmates, which was no problem.
How I’ve Lived There
I found 3 flatmates; one from Germany, one from Italy and one from Poland. 2 guys, 2 girls. I figured it would work well, however I should have listened to my feelings when getting my flatmates in. There was one person that didn’t sit too well with me from the beginning, but I ignored my gut feeling, because I really needed to fill the flat up and let this person in. Because of this, I could never really feel at peace or at home in the apartment, which was a shame, because it was in a beautiful location. Looking back, I also realize I had a slight culture shock and it was hard to deal with that if there’s no place where I can really be at ease and feel at home. Also, just when I arrived I got some stomach flu – maybe because of the change in climates – and it stayed with me for about 4 months (maybe it was stress though). It was a great half year though, living in Istanbul. I had a really light schedule in university and had plenty of time doing things that really mattered; like developing my knowledge about topics I’m interested in and networking with people there – oh and of course hanging out with fellow students.
That’s it. Part 3 soon… Including a video of my newest apartment here in Sofia, Bulgaria! π
BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria and travels in the region, but like to ponder about the future also. If youβd like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.
He had some interesting things to say, like his principle of Music Like Water, which states that in the next few years, users will be paying a tax in some way to collectively license musical content. I had a talk with him for about 25 minutes which I posted on my thesis blog.
If you want to have a listen to it also, you can download it as an MP3 or use the stream below.
When I got back to Holland I first moved back to my parents but really want to live in my old city, Utrecht, again.
