All your face are belong to us...

If MySpace is Tesco, and Facebook is Sainsbury, does that make Bebo Morrisons?
Solid article about latest Nielsen Net Ratings figures for social networks here.

One thing that's struck me about the social networks is the brand loyalty and "switching" taking place as people find not only a social site that they like using, but that hooks them up with their friends and people they'd like to be associated with. There was some talk recently about the social divide of social sites, with MySpace being the more popular in terms of number but seemingly more down market and for the hoi poloi.

Have no comment to make as yet. Work to be done.

I'd like to teach the world to sing....

Nice ad placement on the Aint It Cool Website, advertising Coca Cola's music service. Simple rich media MPU in the far right (below the fold though, so I'd ask for some money back) with their top ten chart, "as voted for by you the listener". What's nice is that you can click on any of the tracks and it'll launch a neat little flash media player and play the full version of the track, then go on to play the rest of the chart.

You can add tracks to a favourites list, vote for tracks and help them climb up the chart, or change channels and listen to something else entirely (including brand endorsed podcasts).
Tracks are categorised by territory (nice brand echo there) and you can download a desktop version of the media player. Simple "send to a friend" mechanic spreads the love to your close ones.

Ooh, ooh, you can get the html for the player and embed it in your own website / myspace profile. The only thing missing is a link through to the coke website, which may be because its been cleverly hidden, is unneccesary, or is an oversight on an otherwise over enthusiastic creative team.

You can see the full web experience here (although I had trouble loading it in Firefox).

Good stuff.

Your mum!

Fact...mum's are neglecting their kids in favour of the internet. Dad's have been doing this for years, so I'm surprised its taken mothers so long to cotton on. If you can't beat them, join them, or something. Now, all we need is a Huggies campaign to put this research to good use.

EIAA report here

Credit to the Stream for bringing it to my attention.

Hi Fidelity

Record labels have cottoned on to the fact that the way we acquire and enjoy music has changed dramatically. In the days of the gramophone, music was very much a collective experience, exclusively for gatherings or family occassions, and rarely done in solitude (akin, so I hear, to whipping out a copy of Razzle on the Northern Line).

Whilst technology has offered vast improvements in terms of playback, both in quality and convenience, the combination of the MP3 player and the internet has taken the enjoyment of music into the personal realm, but the discussion and discovery of music into the wider online community. Look at the raft of community sites, and the recent acquisition of LastFM by entertainment stalwart CBS radio, and you'll quickly grasp that not buying music doesnt mean the revenue has dried up, it's just coming from a different source.

Anyway, some nice sites worthy of your attention.

MOG - US site, one year old, and a nice mix of proper community features, blogging, sharing of music (including full length tracks), and media. And it has a "magic button" (no, I'm still getting to grips with what it actually does). What's really nice is the way it populates your profile automatically, by whizzing through your music folder on your computer and posting it to your page.

Live Plasma - Interesting search engine, giving a visual map of bands / artists based on your search and helping you discover related music, music in films, etc etc. Works for films, actors and directors as well, all linking out to Amazon so you can buy the object of your desire.

Seeqpod - A search engine for music! Really simple. Does one thing very well. Search for a track or artist and it will search the web for tracks or video that match your search. Sign up and you can save your playlists and send recommendations or full lists to friends. Each search result includes a link out to related news, blog postings etc. Very nice. Very simple. Most of all, very useful and usable.

Happy listening!

Altogether now, one two three...

Been looking at the future of the music industry recently after a colleague of mine recommended to a major high street retailer that they should ditch selling records and turn their high profile stores into something akin to Nike town. The retailer in question, whilst offering a great way to lose £40 in a lunch break, have indeed taken a long time to "get with this web thing". For ages they refused to lower their prices, charging £14 or more for a chart album when their online rivals (no, not the good ship CDWOW) were selling the same UK product for £7 to £9. DVD's were no different (£24 versus £12) and only back catalog re-issues offering any kind of value (have you seen how many Tina Marie albums you can get for £40?).

The truth of the matter is that currently, digital sales account for approx 3% of total revenue compared to 87% of CD sales, so nobody's going for an early bath just yet. However, the nature of how we all discover and acquire (not always buy) music is evolving rapidly and within a few years the landscape will be considerably different.

There's a good article about the future of retail here from the BBC (who have been great at documenting this drama as it unfulrs (see next post).