"Interactivity" has been a hot topic of conversation in the music industry lately.
In everything from music videos to live shows to, um, pinball, musicians and businesses are trying to figure out not only how to make their music more of a two-way street, but whether they actually can or should. There is a fair amount of skepticism about whether interactivity is what fans want.
But to Albin Serviant, the CEO of music technology company MXP4, music interactivity is a very old idea. Serviant's company, which has created everything from remix widgets to songs that double as karaoke contests, sees interactive music not just as the future, but as part of the present and the past as well. We discussed that future over e-mail last week.
WAMM: The central idea behind lots of the things you've developed—the karaoke technology, the song editing software—seems to be that it will strengthen fans' relationship to songs, and, by extension, to artists. How do you see this working? Why would being able to deconstruct or put your own spin on a piece of art make somebody more interested in the person that created it? AS: Music is an area where fans have always sought ways to connect with the artists they love—attending concerts, wearing band t-shirts, sometimes even forming their own bands to perform cover versions of their favorite songs. Today's consumers are looking for even more—they want personalized, creative and participatory experiences. And they want to share those experiences with friends. MXP4 delivers on this demand.
MXP4 gives fans the ability to really engage with the music they love and essentially make it their own. With karaoke and remixing technologies, they can make the music sound the way they want it to. With social-gaming capabilities, they're not just more engaged with the music, but with other fans, too. There's even an element of two-way communication with the artists themselves, because soon fans will be able to share their personalized remixes across their social network.
Ultimately, the more fans are engaged, the more involved they feel. This makes the emotional bond with the artists and their much deeper and more personal.
There are several genres that are well-suited to the products and services MXP4 offers, but there are quite a few—folk, metal, punk—whose fan bases are resistant to them; the idea of remixing bluegrass isn't exactly intuitive, for example. What do you expect is going to happen to those genres and forms as music grows increasingly interactive, or increasingly enmeshed with other digital activities? Should their fans be worried? Are you interested in helping them engage with their audiences as well? Music technology such as MXP4 Everywhere doesn't affect the genres that fans enjoy, just how they enjoy them. We do expect to see fans across all genres—from classic rock and folk to hip-hop and jazz—to increasingly play with music using MXP4 technology. How they use the technology and play the music may differ according to genre. For example, classic rock has proven to be very popular in music video games, but folk rock fans may more enjoy the remixing features where they can take certain instruments out of a track to play along. Or a classical music fan might isolate instruments and compare different orchestras playing the same symphony as the music plays.
Obviously, a great deal has happened to musicians in the past five years, in terms of both challenges and opportunities. What role do you see third party service providers like yourself playing for artists? Third-party services are at the forefront of creating new fan engagement and business opportunities for artists. Not only are artists able to distribute music in more ways than ever, but they can deliver the music itself in a host of different forms like remixes, fan engagement apps and social video games. There is also a new world of revenue models that have been created through apps, games and sponsorship opportunities.
Our view is that the artist should be as creative with technology as they are with music. So we created MXP4 Everywhere to make sure they can use our interactive music technology in whatever third party app, service or music format they choose. No longer are they just providing a recording that is passively listened to, but they are offering an entirely new, more engaging experience through the game-like ability to play with the music. They're also providing a platform that is encourages repeat visits—especially through our social games—and virality—through easy distribution through blogs, Twitter and other popular social media platforms.
K'Naan's MXP4 app was made in partnership with Coca Cola
Could you describe that world in more detail? How big is that pie right now? What percentage of it goes to artists? It's difficult to quantify as it's tied into so many industries. But if you look at the apps, games, sponsorship and other related industry, each of them is a multi-billion dollar market. The challenge for the music industry is to continue gaining revenue share in those markets. For example, we can further grow sponsorship revenue by providing more types of music media for brands to sponsor—from concerts to sponsored music apps, interactive albums and music video games.
The percentage the artist gets will also differ according to the industry, music product and artist. However, as artists grow themselves as business and brands, they will increasingly see new opportunities to secure larger revenue percentages for themselves.
There are also many new revenue models emerging, such as multi-billion dollar social gaming micro-transactions market, that apply to the music and music gaming world. These developments give us the inspiration to constantly explore new ways to use interactive music technology to develop new revenue streams for artists.
You've now partnered with several large companies that will be offering your technology as a kind of marketing and fan-engagement feature. But you also offer your editor to any artist who's looking to use it. The partnerships with the bigger companies seem to be going well; have there been any success stories for smaller artists yet? While we have seen some successes and expect to see a lot more. Artists without a large support structure take a bit more time to learn how to effectively use these tools but they are getting there. The bottom line is that any size fan base will benefit from the ability to not only listen to their favorite artist, but to interact and play with their music.
There seems to be a lot of focus these days on the fan experience. How does a company of older people (and, at this point, 25 qualifies as older) tap into that experience? One of the central failings of the corporate, major label system was their failure to understand the kids who make up most of their fan base, after all...what makes you so sure you can avoid that this time? Our technology taps into well-established habits that have been formed over decades and aren't likely to change. For example, people have always loved to sing karaoke, create their own music mixes, play video games and so on. So while what people like to do with music is relatively constant, it's the delivery of music that has evolved. And MXP4 leverages the power of the new digital delivery paradigm.
Our MXP4 Everywhere program opens up the technology for use by a broader base and for a wider range of end purposes. Companies and artists can use it wherever they feel it will be most effective—in games, for advertisements such as on Last.fm and in music formats to make tracks interactive.
By taking this approach, we create the tools that tap into those long-standing habits...but let the industry deliver the experience wherever they are finding kids.
In everything from music videos to live shows to, um, pinball, musicians and businesses are trying to figure out not only how to make their music more of a two-way street, but whether they actually can or should. There is a fair amount of skepticism about whether interactivity is what fans want.
But to Albin Serviant, the CEO of music technology company MXP4, music interactivity is a very old idea. Serviant's company, which has created everything from remix widgets to songs that double as karaoke contests, sees interactive music not just as the future, but as part of the present and the past as well. We discussed that future over e-mail last week.
WAMM: The central idea behind lots of the things you've developed—the karaoke technology, the song editing software—seems to be that it will strengthen fans' relationship to songs, and, by extension, to artists. How do you see this working? Why would being able to deconstruct or put your own spin on a piece of art make somebody more interested in the person that created it? AS: Music is an area where fans have always sought ways to connect with the artists they love—attending concerts, wearing band t-shirts, sometimes even forming their own bands to perform cover versions of their favorite songs. Today's consumers are looking for even more—they want personalized, creative and participatory experiences. And they want to share those experiences with friends. MXP4 delivers on this demand.
MXP4 gives fans the ability to really engage with the music they love and essentially make it their own. With karaoke and remixing technologies, they can make the music sound the way they want it to. With social-gaming capabilities, they're not just more engaged with the music, but with other fans, too. There's even an element of two-way communication with the artists themselves, because soon fans will be able to share their personalized remixes across their social network.
Ultimately, the more fans are engaged, the more involved they feel. This makes the emotional bond with the artists and their much deeper and more personal.
There are several genres that are well-suited to the products and services MXP4 offers, but there are quite a few—folk, metal, punk—whose fan bases are resistant to them; the idea of remixing bluegrass isn't exactly intuitive, for example. What do you expect is going to happen to those genres and forms as music grows increasingly interactive, or increasingly enmeshed with other digital activities? Should their fans be worried? Are you interested in helping them engage with their audiences as well? Music technology such as MXP4 Everywhere doesn't affect the genres that fans enjoy, just how they enjoy them. We do expect to see fans across all genres—from classic rock and folk to hip-hop and jazz—to increasingly play with music using MXP4 technology. How they use the technology and play the music may differ according to genre. For example, classic rock has proven to be very popular in music video games, but folk rock fans may more enjoy the remixing features where they can take certain instruments out of a track to play along. Or a classical music fan might isolate instruments and compare different orchestras playing the same symphony as the music plays.
Obviously, a great deal has happened to musicians in the past five years, in terms of both challenges and opportunities. What role do you see third party service providers like yourself playing for artists? Third-party services are at the forefront of creating new fan engagement and business opportunities for artists. Not only are artists able to distribute music in more ways than ever, but they can deliver the music itself in a host of different forms like remixes, fan engagement apps and social video games. There is also a new world of revenue models that have been created through apps, games and sponsorship opportunities.
Our view is that the artist should be as creative with technology as they are with music. So we created MXP4 Everywhere to make sure they can use our interactive music technology in whatever third party app, service or music format they choose. No longer are they just providing a recording that is passively listened to, but they are offering an entirely new, more engaging experience through the game-like ability to play with the music. They're also providing a platform that is encourages repeat visits—especially through our social games—and virality—through easy distribution through blogs, Twitter and other popular social media platforms.
K'Naan's MXP4 app was made in partnership with Coca Cola
Could you describe that world in more detail? How big is that pie right now? What percentage of it goes to artists? It's difficult to quantify as it's tied into so many industries. But if you look at the apps, games, sponsorship and other related industry, each of them is a multi-billion dollar market. The challenge for the music industry is to continue gaining revenue share in those markets. For example, we can further grow sponsorship revenue by providing more types of music media for brands to sponsor—from concerts to sponsored music apps, interactive albums and music video games.
The percentage the artist gets will also differ according to the industry, music product and artist. However, as artists grow themselves as business and brands, they will increasingly see new opportunities to secure larger revenue percentages for themselves.
There are also many new revenue models emerging, such as multi-billion dollar social gaming micro-transactions market, that apply to the music and music gaming world. These developments give us the inspiration to constantly explore new ways to use interactive music technology to develop new revenue streams for artists.
You've now partnered with several large companies that will be offering your technology as a kind of marketing and fan-engagement feature. But you also offer your editor to any artist who's looking to use it. The partnerships with the bigger companies seem to be going well; have there been any success stories for smaller artists yet? While we have seen some successes and expect to see a lot more. Artists without a large support structure take a bit more time to learn how to effectively use these tools but they are getting there. The bottom line is that any size fan base will benefit from the ability to not only listen to their favorite artist, but to interact and play with their music.
There seems to be a lot of focus these days on the fan experience. How does a company of older people (and, at this point, 25 qualifies as older) tap into that experience? One of the central failings of the corporate, major label system was their failure to understand the kids who make up most of their fan base, after all...what makes you so sure you can avoid that this time? Our technology taps into well-established habits that have been formed over decades and aren't likely to change. For example, people have always loved to sing karaoke, create their own music mixes, play video games and so on. So while what people like to do with music is relatively constant, it's the delivery of music that has evolved. And MXP4 leverages the power of the new digital delivery paradigm.
Our MXP4 Everywhere program opens up the technology for use by a broader base and for a wider range of end purposes. Companies and artists can use it wherever they feel it will be most effective—in games, for advertisements such as on Last.fm and in music formats to make tracks interactive.
By taking this approach, we create the tools that tap into those long-standing habits...but let the industry deliver the experience wherever they are finding kids.
