Category Archives: Interviews

Ian Cox (DigiClef) – Interview (Part 2)

Posted on by

This is the second part of my interview with Ian Cox from DigiClef. Remember to check part 1, as he introduced the company and its products there.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU


When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

I have been interested in music since I started learning the classical guitar at the age of 10. I think my first popular music purchase was Kings of the Wild Frontier when I was 12 (the album had been out for a few years, but I liked it).
I mainly borrowed my brother’s music during my early teens which lead to an interest in goth and punk music. I think my first purchases of that genre were The Mission and The Cult.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a file on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

I am not currently in a band. I have been in a few bands but nothing more than just having fun with mates.
I did run an acid trance and techno night in Bristol called Lunacy in the early noughties for a while with some friends. The website for that is not available any more but you can find it on the internet archive. Continue reading →

Ian Cox (DigiClef) – Interview (Part 1)

Posted on by

I have the immense pleasure to share with you the interview I conducted wth Ian Cox from DigiClef, one of the companies that were chosen for this year’s’ MidemNet Lab event. Part 1 is found below, and this is part 2.

Digiclef

Full Name: Ian Cox
Age: 38
Startup: DigiClef
Position: Technical Director

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

DigiClef was conceived by Will Lovegrove and I, founder members of Release Consulting Ltd. Release Consulting was formed at the beginning of 2008 by members of Universal Music’s Digital Initiatives team. We provide IT services and consultancy to the music industry. Later that year we started a new initiative called Release Mobile that provides bespoke mobile application development. Will had the idea one day to provide guitar music on iPhones. As a guitarist myself, I instantly realised the potential of this idea and so embarked upon a proof of concept that eventually became the early version of DigiClef.

As well as the technological challenge there has been a business challenge in getting hold of content from copyright owners. We have partnered with Faber Music using their ePartners programme to get European rights for major publishers. This catalogue has formed the basis of our initial releases. We hope to extend this to worldwide rights in the near future.

In the guitar tab on mobile devices space there aren’t many serious competitors. Where DigiClef differs from is that we are selling legal content and giving away the technology for free where as competitors are selling the application but you have to hunt for your own content on the internet. By keeping the price of the content low and guaranteeing quality (as these are official tabs) we hope to provide a compelling offering for the guitarist.

What was the original launch date?

Our first songbook (The Magic Numbers eponymous album) was published on iTunes on 1st September 2009. We have since launched about 20 songbooks for major bands. We have also launched a free app worldwide called Easy Guitar Buddy that is going to provide educational material to guitarists.

What has been the response so far? In which countries has it been more successful?

There has been a slow but steady flow of sales of the paid for apps. But bearing in mind that so far we have a very small catalogue and have not actively marketed the applications we are encouraged. We believe that once we reach a critical mass of catalogue and have completed all our planned updates that we will have a valuable offering. Continue reading →

Dan Dabner (Songstall) – Interview (Part 2)

Posted on by

This is the second (and final) part of the interview with Dan Dabner from Songstall. If you haven’t done so already, you can check out part 1 here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

When I was younger my mum listened to the singles chart on the radio every Sunday, so I had a feel for some pop music, but my brother introduced me to heavy metal when I was about eight or nine and I think I bought a tape of Metallica’s Black Album so I’d have my own copy.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a file on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

I used to play the keys in the lonelyband a few years ago but sadly the band split in 2006.  I’m not aware of any videos on YouTube but naturally our music was the first available on Songstall!  http://www.songstall.com/thelonelyband Continue reading →

Dan Dabner (Songstall) – Interview (Part 1)

Posted on by

Dan Dabner from Songstall (the startup I introduced you to last week) was kind enough to be interviewed on MusicKO. This is the first part of the interview I conducted with him– proceed here for part 2.

Songstall

Full Name: Dan Dabner
Age: 24
Startup: Songstall
Position: Director

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are the features that (in your opinion) give it an edge over the competition?

The idea for Songstall came from a discussion between my brother and me while we were jamming one evening.  As musicians ourselves we know what it’s like to be an unsigned artist and all the options out there are based around the ideal of getting signed by a big record label.  All the services that offer to help in that long-term goal (promotion, recording, etc) always seem to charge high up-front fees that we know most artists simply can’t afford and prices them out of the market.  That’s where Songstall comes in – you don’t need a record label to sell your music online, and we don’t charge anything to sign up.  We just take a cut on any sale artists make to cover costs so we only make money if they do, which means our interests are aligned with theirs.  In addition, artists get their own customizable shop page so they can set their own prices, choose their own colours and get their own URL they can promote at their gigs.  We’ve not seen another service that offers all of this.

What was the original launch date?

We launched the website on Halloween 2009.  How rock ‘n’ roll is that?

What has been the response so far? In which countries has it been more successful?

We’ve had some very positive feedback about the website and the sign-ups are really picking up.  We’ve been most popular in the UK, USA and Canada, though we do offer our service world-wide. Continue reading →

William Rodríguez (Tweet My Song) – Interview (Part 2)

Posted on by

Here you have the final part of the interview with William Rodriguez from Tweet My Song. You can read Part 1 right here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

I have always like music, the first album I might of bought was probably  something from El General ( a spanish Rap Artist)

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a file on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

I am not in a band

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I like so many genres of music I can not pick a favorite it all depends on the mood that I am at a particular moment.
Continue reading →

William Rodríguez (Tweet My Song) – Interview (Part 1)

Posted on by

This is the first part of the interview I had the pleasure of conducting with William Rodríguez, CEO/Designer of Tweet My Song, a service I reviewed here.  Part 2 of the interview (“Music & You”) is here.

Full Name: William Rodríguez
Age: 25
Startup: Tweet My Song
Position:  CEO/DESIGNER

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived?

I was thinking of new ideas like I usually do on a daily basis. I had decided I needed something that can market itself. Twitter is the most viral thing on the internet right now so I decided to look at applications. I then evaluated niches I was interested in. I decided in making something for music. I then checked out twitpic.com and twitvid.com and looked to see if there was something similar in music and could not find anything. That’s when I knew I had to create something for the musicians out there to easily market their music to the millions of Twitter users.

What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

Most distinctive feature is the easy and quick ability to upload your music to be tweeted to your followers and Tweetmysong.com’s followers.

What was the original launch date?

October 15, 2009 Continue reading →

Andy Bull (We Love Festivals) – Interview (Part 2)

Posted on by

This is the “Music & You” part of my recent interview with Andy Bull from We Love Festivals. In case you haven’t done so already, check the first part right here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU


When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

In the 70s. Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder.

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a file on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

I am a DJ. You can download a recent mix:

http://www.mediafire.com/?yjx0lykhmwj

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

Reggae, funk, disco, house, electro. Johnny Osbourne, Roy Ayers, Don Ray, Dennis Ferrer, Wolfgang Gartner.
Continue reading →

Andy Bull (We Love Festivals) – Interview (Part 1)

Posted on by

This is an interview I conducted with Andy Bull from “We Love Festivals” . As you probably recall, I reviewed the site a couple of weeks ago. Here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth!

We Love Festivals

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

From that feeling you get when you arrive back from a great festival and you want to share your memories with everyone who went

What was the original launch date?

May 26th 2008. Continue reading →

Jake Chen (Musefy) – Interview (Part 2)

Posted on by

This is the second and final part of the interview I conducted with Jake Chen from Musefy. You can read Part 1 by clicking here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

Oh man, I can’t remember that far back… I have to say at least before elementary school, since I was really excited during those days when you got the opportunity to try out all of the instruments. Then again, I was already set on the saxophone by then because of jazz music, and I suppose the saxophone really represented that style of music to me. As for that first album, I really can’t remember unfortunately, sorry 🙁 Continue reading →

Jake Chen (Musefy) – Interview (Part 1)

Posted on by

I have had the great pleasure of interviewing Jake Chen from Musefy, the service I covered on its week of launch. The review is split in two parts – part 1 is found below, whereas part 2 is found here.

Enjoy!

Full Name: Jake Chen

Age: 22

Startup: Musefy

Position: Founder

Mr. Jake Chen

Mr. Jake Chen

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

I like to think of Musefy as a virtual representation of the entire local musician community, thus providing ways to branch out and meet new characters that you would normally happen through mutual friends or sheer luck. Right now it’s only in its Alpha stage, so Musefy can only set up musicians with musical groups such as rock bands, jazz ensembles, a cappellas, and so forth. But down the line it’ll reflect all of the local elements a musician or a group might want to connect with, such as friends and fans, upcoming events, performance venues, and more.

As for the idea, I came up with the concept of Musefy after looking for a band to practice guitar with and being completely dissatisfied with Craigslist’s classified ads. To me, after using web applications such as Facebook and Last.FM where information is abundant and easily to sort though, pure text classified ads like those on Craigslist just seem very backwards. And thus Musefy was conceived. It has a powerful matching and filtering system and that is what I think sets it apart from the rest of the crowd. Using Musefy, you can stack multiple requirements to filter out exactly who you need, selecting not only from obvious things like instrument, location, and style, but all the way down to experience level, equipment, to the amount of time they’re willing to devote to a new group. Continue reading →