Hardware Beer Faster Stronger

thereport ISSUE 403 | 05 APRIL 2017

Hardware Be!er Faster Stronger

Our pick of 2017’s most exciting music devices and hardware startups 1

ISSUE 403 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE Hardware Be!er Faster Stronger Our pick of 2017’s most exciting music devices and hardware startups

The history of popular music consumption is intertwined with hardware – from the frst gramophones, through Sony’s Walkman, Apple’s iPod and today Amazon’s Echo. Plus, hardware’s role in modern music creation, from iconic turntables to genre-starting samplers and drum machines. In 2017, there’s a renewed excitement in the music industry around hardware of all kinds, from technology giants and nimble startups alike. Whether it’s creating music, listening to it or learning to play it, new gadgets and tech developments are creating new possibilities for musicians, rightsholders and fans. This issue, we ofer our take on these trends, as well as highlighting some of the startups we think are worth following.

DAVIDS AND GOLIATHS giants are punting their own devices. hit. Snapchat makes spectacles while assistant space, which Google has since Two trends worth picking up on as Google has its own-brand Pixel Facebook liked the Oculus Rift headset so also entered – but they don’t have this field background are the hardware efforts of smartphones and tablets, its Daydream much it bought the company, while also to themselves. technology giants, as well as the launch View VR headset and its Google Assistant exploring the potential for other hardware Hardware startups are using pad provided by crowdfunding platforms to smart speaker. in its labs. crowdfunding platforms to not just raise hardware startups. Amazon defined a category with its The investment of these mega- money, but amass their groups of early-

report Apple has always made hardware, of Kindle e-reader, then moved into tablets, corporations is helping to create new adopter guinea pigs to test their products. course, but in 2017 even the traditionally a short-lived smartphone, and now the hardware categories – see Echo’s ignition It’s no coincidence that a number of the software/service-focused technology Echo, which has been a considerable of the smart speaker + voice-powered startups we feature in this report came the 2

ISSUE 403 headphones with built-in capacitive touch 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE features, allowing you to control music by swiping and tapping rather than pressing to prominence first on Kickstarter or buttons or digging your smartphone out of Indiegogo. Crowdfunding is increasingly your pocket. a proving ground for later institutional There are headphones that can record funding. 360-degree audio out in the field; that Sometimes, these startups risk being use AI to learn their wearer’s musical squashed when a big player enters their preferences and adapt accordingly; that market. However, a common scenario may personalise their EQ settings to the ‘earprint’ be for them to be acquired by one of the of the individual listener; and so on. bigger fish and put their talents to work If audio science appeals to headphone within that company. The R&D for the buyers even at a fraction of the rate that future of music consumption can be widely booming bass and clever branding did for dispersed, even if it ends up in the hands of Beats, there could be knock-on effects for a smaller number of large players. the products coming out of Apple and others. SPEAKERS GET SMART INSTRUMENTS Amazon’s Echo is a fascinating case study GET CONNECTED in new music hardware. For starters, it’s a rare example of a cutting-edge technology We can’t lie: there is an awful lot of – voice control and smart assistants – nonsense around the ‘Internet Of Things’ being rolled out in a product that is being 1989’ or ‘Play me Lady Gaga’s last album’. Beats Electronics and Beats Music in 2014, category right now, with products that marketed to a massively mainstream But it has the opportunity to evolve into a much of the coverage focused on the latter make headlines – smart forks, smart socks, audience in Amazon customers. conversation,” he said. “It’s an opportunity service and what it meant for Apple’s then- smart condom rings, even – but have the The Echo is also sparking thoughts to get into a dialogue, to be a discovery nascent streaming ambitions. air of technology solutions to problems about new ways to consume music, with experience driven by dialogue.” Yet Beats Electronics was just as that don’t exist. Amazon having to teach its Alexa assistant The Echo has also shown how devices interesting in its way: albeit headphones The emergence of smart musical how to understand what “Alexa, play Ed intended for the living room, kitchen or as a brand and lifestyle choice, rather than instruments, though, is more interesting, Sheeran’s new song” means in a world bedroom could be the route into the home any particular technological wizardry. particularly when it relates to music where all Ed Sheeran’s new songs are for music; but it has also disrupted some In 2017, this product category is getting education. Much of the action in that released on the same day to streaming of the companies we’ve seen as music interesting, as some of the companies sector is around guitars, with devices services. Or the ability to whip up a playlist hardware disrupters themselves. we profile in this issue show. There are geared towards teaching novices to play. on the fly in response to a conversational Witness the changes afoot within Sonos, From light-up frets to built-in catalogues request like “Alexa, play happy indie music which is retooling its business with more of songs to play along to, there’s frenetic from the 1990s”. of a focus on voice – but also as a bridge and inventive activity going on here. When music:)ally talked to Universal between the different flavours offered by There are also opportunities for Music CTO Ty Roberts in December, he the technology giants. music rightsholders. As instruments proved to be an example of how industry get smart, so music publishers in executives are mulling the potential of HEADPHONES particular will find new partners in

report Alexa and similarly voice-driven interfaces. that hardware sector. Sheet music “Today it’s a command-and-fetch robot: Another key area to watch in 2017 is and guitar tabs have been finding ‘Tell me what the number one song was in headphones. When Apple paid $3bn for digital expressions for a long time now, the 3

ISSUE 403 Daydream View, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and But each reflects an interesting trend 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE PlayStation VR on the VR side, and the or a creative approach that we think the HoloLens or whatever Magic Leap comes music industry could be thinking about but instruments with that kind of content up with on the AR side. as it evolves its own strategy for working at their core represent a new revenue We always twitch when someone on a better – and, yes, faster and stronger too – stream that could grow quickly. conference stage trumpets that “content is with the hardware world. Another aspect to this is the fact that king”, but the cliché does apply to VR and AR. modern music hardware doesn’t exist in These headsets need creative, immersive and MIGHTY AUDIO a void. Pretty much all the music-making inventive experiences if they’re to take off www.bemighty.com devices covered in this report are designed – and music could play an important part in The premise of this is simple: take your to work with smartphones and tablets providing those experiences. music-streaming anywhere without the via companion apps: a combination of A label (with its artists) and a VR/AR need for a smartphone. Mighty raised hardware and software. ROLI’s Blocks are hardware firm (with its technology) has $300k on Kickstarter in early 2016 for its just one example of this where musicians powerful partnership potential, and in a iPod Shuffle-like clip-on device. Users pair – via downloadable ‘soundpacks’ – have a way that delivers value to both the player with their smartphone, log in to role to play too. sides, in contrast to the Spotify, then sync playlists wirelessly music industry’s grumbles for offline play when the phone is left FEELING MIGHTY REAL about the ultimate value at home. exchange of the iPod all The device can store up to 4GB Virtual reality isn’t the focus for this report, those years ago. of music and offers up to 48 hours although you can read our take on the So, this is music:) of playback time, with its marketing VR market in our recent primer, which ally’s hardware issue, materials focusing on joggers and was published in March. But VR and the with an emphasis on the hikers. Mighty claims that it believes related world of augmented reality (AR) – startups rather than the a screen to be “unnecessary”, so the represented by Magic Leap and others here big-tech players. We don’t player’s controls consist of audio- – has its own hardware story to tell. think every company here regulator buttons plus a headphone Even for the biggest technology is certain to be a winner. socket. Users can also toggle firms, VR and AR are a challenging sell Indeed, we see flaws in a between playlists, thanks to software to consumers beyond the early adopters number of their technologies that ‘reads’ out their names to get who’ll snap up headsets like the Gear VR, and/or business models. around the no-screen issue. For now, Mighty only works with Spotify – the colour scheme of green ‘n’ black on its Kickstarter prototype gave that away, mirroring Spotify’s own brand identify – but the company says future software updates could add compatibility with other streaming services. The player costs $85.99, positioning it as a lightweight way to carry music around, not to mention being much

report cheaper than having to replace a phone if it gets smashed while out running or hiking. the 4

ISSUE 403 includes music AND films/TV shows. Electric 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE Jukebox must also figure out whether its service needs to exist outside the living The startup sees this as a huge market room: for example, in that other bastion of in waiting, with evidence of the popularity mainstream music-listening, the car. of running and workout playlists on Spotify possibly backing that up. Yet the competition PRIZM here is smartphones, which for many people www.meetprizm.com have already killed off the desire to buy a separate digital music player. Smartphone armbands for active types only cost a few dollars, while persuading modern mobile users to leave their phones at home is a big ask – you can hike up a mountain with a Mighty, but you can’t use it to take a celebratory selfie at the top. Or call the emergency services if you get stuck.

ELECTRIC JUKEBOX www.electricjukebox.com British startup Electric Jukebox has had several false starts. It was originally marketed to early adopters, music Prizm first appeared on music:)ally’s radar unveiled in October 2015 as a “plug and obsessives and the affluent, rather than the in 2015 as a Midemlab finalist, although the play” streaming subscription for the kind of truly mainstream audience whose French startup had already raised $161k on television, via an HDMI stick and a motion- music habits revolve more around radio and Kickstarter to build its device for turning sensing remote-control. Robbie Williams CDs. Electric Jukebox hopes its device- speakers into a “learning music player”. and Sheryl Crow were on board as playlist oriented pricing model will appeal more In 2017, it has just raised its first round of curators, and founder – ex-Omnifone man than a £9.99-a-month Spotify or Apple institutional funding (€1m) from investors Rob Lewis – announced a pre-Christmas Music subscription to this audience. including Deezer founder Daniel Marhely. release date. It is true that the music industry hasn’t What does the company do? Its Christmas came and went, as did a always had the most positive attitude pyramid-shaped device – “the music brain” revised Easter 2016 launch date. Electric towards the mass-market audience – – connects to a speaker, and then gets Jukebox also abandoned plans for its seeing supermarket CDs and celebrity- its owner to create a profile with some US launch, citing the legal controversies fronted compilations as a necessary evil of their favourite music. They can then around mechanical royalties payments that isn’t necessarily reflective of the press a single button to start a stream of there. Finally, the device and service ‘cool’ factor they see their business as tracks. Although it can pull content from launched in November 2016 in the UK, trading in. Electric Jukebox, on the other streaming services, YouTube and local with the £169 hardware including a hand, is unapologetically and refreshingly MP3 files, Prizm is also licensing its own year’s worth of music, before users must mainstream. catalogue of music directly from labels. choose whether to take up a £52 annual The price may be one challenge here: The company says that, over time, subscription. £169 may be seen as a lot of money, Prizm will learn each user’s habits, and will

report Electric Jukebox’s motivations particularly when compared to, say, paying even be able to understand when multiple make sense: the company thinks that £119 for an Amazon Fire TV Stick (£40) people are in the room, using Wi-Fi and subscription streaming has been mainly plus a year’s Prime membership (£79) that Bluetooth signals from smartphones and the 5

ISSUE 403 others are turning to technology and 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE audio science to stand out from the crowd. Nura, for example, makes the bold claim (in time) fitness trackers, adapting the of being “the world’s first headphones music accordingly. The promise: “It is able to automatically learn how you hear and to tell the difference between a gentle adapt the music to provide your perfect awakening, an afternoon reading, and an sound”. evening with friends.” This is another Kickstarter-fuelled Prizm’s business model involves selling product, having raised $1.8m on the its device for €149, which includes a year’s crowdfunding site in 2016. The headphones worth of access to its music catalogue. work via a setup process the first time After that point, it will charge users €39.90 they are worn, recalibrating the settings a year, or offer them free access to internet based on the feedback from a series of radio stations. There’s a question around tones played to the wearer. Each set of whether people looking for this kind of headphones can store multiple profiles, device will simply want to hook it up to an should the owner want to share them with existing streaming service like Spotify or someone else. Apple Music. With its “Did you know that your hearing Having said that, those companies OpenWhyd, shifting its efforts into building startup, though: we will be interested to is as unique as your fingerprint, your face haven’t shown much appetite yet to extend a connected speaker. see whether or not it raises new funding and your voice?” question, Nura is exploring their machine-learning features to the “We are about to launch our premium to fuel its move into hardware – and a similar territory to software startup Mimi. idea of multiple people listening in a home. voiced controlled speaker that will competitive pool of extremely big fish. The company is talking the talk well, Prizm could offer some pointers for any surround you with its deep and powerful although the price of its headphones future developments along those lines. 360° sound,” the company told its users. NURA – £246 – means they are not yet a The result is an Amazon Echo competitor www.nuraphone.com mass-market proposition. That said, the WHYD which looks beautiful, but promises “crystal High-end headphones predate the digital Nuraphones cost considerably less than www.whyd.com clear sound with deep and dramatic bass era in music by several decades. Ads for top-end products like Fostex or Ultrasone, Whyd, another startup from France, wasn’t in all directions” – targeting one of the few headphones by Philips, Koss and others which run into thousands of pounds. a hardware play when music:)ally first perceived weaknesses of the Echo: it’s would regularly run in consumer magazines encountered it in 2012. audio quality. in the 1970s, promising an audiophile utopia Then, it was a social music discovery Whyd’s speaker includes Echo-style where the music would “come alive” with website, designed for people to search voice controls, as well as the ability to the sound “as the artist intended”. for music on YouTube, SoundCloud and tap and swipe on its glass touch-panel Sony’s Walkman, and the early music blogs, collecting it in one place to control music. The company is also MP3 players era were more about and following other users with interesting taking a Switzerland-style approach to the convenience than audio quality, tastes. In early 2014, it raised $700k of seed sources of that music: it already connects while pre-Apple Beats Electronics funding, before launching an iPhone app with Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, was arguably the first brand to turn that summer. Google Play Music and SoundCloud. headphones into a style-conscious, Two years on, and Whyd changed Whyd sold out of its first batch of aspirational consumer market, with tack, having discovered – like many speakers in early 2017, and is operating a the products displayed in public akin startups before it – that social music waiting list for its next run, while learning to a branded T-shirt.

report aggregation is a startup sector without an from the usage of those initial customers. While other celebrity-backed obvious business model. In August 2016, Competing with the likes of Amazon, headphone brands have tried (and it open-sourced that existing service as Google and Sonos is a big challenge for a often failed) to repeat Beats’ success, the 6

ISSUE 403 to the wearer at the event and also become 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE part of the light show – with 16m colour options, each show can be vastly different. HURDL By linking to a fan’s mobile number, www.hurdl.com Hurdl is trying to ensure that the Many of the early digital innovations relationship continues long after the event. around live music were about big data and It’s tackling one major challenge in the more efficient ways to sell tickets. Then live business: the fact that people can be came smart wristbands to charge with marketed to before and during a gig, but as cash and speed up bar and merchandise soon as they leave, the relationship often stand queues. Beacons helped serve a goes cold. similar function and also evolved to be a Hurdl has plotted an interesting way to give loyal customers at venues and business model to underpin all this. It festivals rewards. Then Coldplay toured sells the hardware to venues and festivals, with interactive wristbands that changed then takes a cut – typically 15% – of any colour and became part of the show. merchandise sales that it drives. Hurdl Scooping up a lot of what has been also aggregates the data from each event, happening in isolated silos, Hurdl launched and sells subscriptions to access that the Pixl in 2016 with a tag line of creating information. a “direct relationship with fans through It’s still early days, but tying together immersive experiences”. What that means isolated digital strands around live music MAGIC LEAP those ambitions, though. In December is an LED wristband for concertgoers. is a tantalising proposition. Hurdl is www.magicleap.com 2016, tech site The Information alleged that When activated via a mobile shortcode, the also currently part of the first cohort of Building an augmented reality headset one of those demos had been created by a device can push discounts and promotions Techstars Music startups. from scratch is an expensive business. Just visual-effects studio; and furthermore that ask Magic Leap, which has raised nearly Magic Leap was struggling to squeeze its $1.4bn so far – including a $793.5m round in hardware down from a bulky helmet to the February 2016 – to fuel its ambitions. The promised pair of glasses. company is both a hardware and a software Abovitz hit back, blogging his vision play: it’s making an AR headset as well as of “flying squirrels and sea monkeys and the games and experiences to showcase rainbow powered unicorns” while promising its ability to project digital content into the to “manufacture hundreds of thousands of real world. systems, and then millions”. Stunning demos posted on YouTube The hype around Magic Leap has bred and a Star Wars deal have raised cynicism about those promises, though. anticipation to a fever pitch about what This February, Business Insider suggested Magic Leap’s technology will be able to that its engineers were “scrambling” to accomplish. “We are building a new kind produce a working prototype, while also of contextual computer. We’re doing predicting that the first consumer model something really, really different,” CEO could cost more than $1k. Romy Abovitz told Forbes in November The future of digital interaction, or an 2016, although he also warned that the first expensive white elephant? Magic Leap has

report consumer version of the headset might still much to prove, but whatever happens, its be 18 months away. journey and technology are still likely to be Recent months haven’t been kind to fascinating to watch. the 7

ISSUE 403 and its soundpacks. Blocks is a fascinating internet, enabling its owner to share their 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE product, but the proof of its usefulness performances and stream tracks to play will be in the music made using it. Still, as along with. This could make the Sensus a combination of music-making hardware, appealing for experienced guitarists keen touchscreen software and sonic input from to try some new digital tricks, but also to artists, there is a lot of potential here. novices looking for an inventive way to learn to play. MIND MUSIC LABS “Today there are many incredible www.mindmusiclabs.com evolutions happening in music and There is much more to Swedish tech than technology; from VR and AR to interactive Spotify. Mind Music Labs is also based in performances – but everything is still Stockholm and has spent the last year being happening off stage. While on stage, acclaimed at various European music and musicians are still using technologies from technology conferences for its Sensus ‘smart the 1950s,” said CEO Michele Benincaso as guitar’ prototype. The company also ended the seed funding was announced. 2016 by raising SEK 2m (around $220k) in seed “We strongly believe that evolving funding to take the product forward. musical instruments and allowing The Sensus looks like (and can be musicians to seamlessly interact with each played like) a normal guitar, but all manner other and with their audiences is the key to of technical tricks are built into it. The the next real revolution in the industry.” device has a workstation built into it that The initial audience for the Sensus may lets the player manipulate the sounds – be limited, but once the instrument goes on theoretically doing away with all manner sale, there is potential for partnerships with of effects pedals, amp settings and crafty prominent guitarists to show what it can ROLI a wider audience with its £599 Seaboard post-production tricks. do, and put it high on the Christmas lists of www.roli.com Rise: a more portable, affordable model for The instrument is also connected to the digital fretboard warriors of all ages. Reinventing the piano/keyboard may musicians. seem like a tough challenge, but since Since then, ROLI has made some 2014, British startup ROLI has been interesting moves. It bought social music wowing people with its demos at music collaboration startup Blend in October and tech conferences. Its first product, 2015, then launched a pair of music-making the Seaboard Grand, let players bend apps called Noise and Seaboard 5D – notes using its rubber keys, much like the former including ‘soundpacks’ from a guitarist does. ROLI also grabbed our artists like Grimes, RZA and Steve Aoki. attention with its $12.8m funding round A $27m funding round in May 2016 – with in 2014, thanks to investors including UMG involved again – was followed that SoundCloud and Sonos-backer Index November by the debut of ROLI’s most Ventures and Universal Music Group. interesting product yet: Blocks. The original price of £1,599 for a 37-key It’s a modular music-making system model and £2,499 for a 61-key edition made designed to work with iOS devices, built the Seaboard Grand a pricey instrument, around a $179 ‘Lightpad’ pressure-sensitive

report albeit one that attracted praise from the pad for creating beats and melodies. likes of Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman. But Add-on blocks will supplement other by September 2015 ROLI was targeting audio features, tied in to the Noise app the 8

ISSUE 403 Users, depending on their ability and SMART HEADPHONES 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE confidence, can toggle between two From 3D sound and capacitive modes. Magic Mode promises the ability touchscreens to AI: the next generation of MAGIC INSTRUMENTS to play chords “with a single button technology for the ears of music fans www.magicinstruments.com press and a strum of the strings”, while Magic Instruments’ MI Guitar might look Traditional Mode offers the traditional AGLAIA like a cross between a Guitar Hero paddle chord fingerings. The idea is that learners www.aglaia.no and those cardboard guitars that fans take can switch from one to the other as their to AC/DC concerts to “play along” on when skill increases. The guitar also comes with a Angus Young does a solo, but looks – as we companion mobile app with songs to learn should all know – aren’t everything. and play along with. The company has a marketing line As with other smart instruments with of “strum a song in the time it takes to an educational focus, that shows an to listen to the same music without the listen to it”, which may be a conscious (or opportunity here for music publishers: need for a headphone splitter. Finally, an subconscious) nod back to seminal 1957 a new way to get their sheet music and amplify mode turns the headphones into a guitar tuition book Bert Weedon’s Play In A guitar tabs into budding musicians’ loudspeaker. Day, which gave some of the most famous hands. Magic Instruments is also enlisting British guitarists of the 1960s their start on musicians to sing the MI Guitar’s praises. OSSIC X the instrument. “For people who don’t have the time to www.ossic.com The MI Guitar is aimed at both learn the guitar, Magic Instruments is the novices to give them a sense of musical ultimate shortcut,” says Muse’s Matt Bellamy Like an aural Transformer, these progression and satisfaction straight out of in an endorsement placed prominently on the headphones adapt depending on the use the gates, as well as helping those who are company’s homepage. “For singers and non- context. A variety of earbud designs and a little more advanced to learn new tricks guitar playing musicians, it’s also great tool shapes snap on and off magnetically and and techniques. for songwriting.” can be customised depending on what you want to use them for – “everyday use” (i.e. walking about), exercise etc. Great in theory, but the practicalities and fiddly size of the earbuds could make this the audio equivalent of the sock drawer with the odd stray sock and no match to be found. Positioned as companion headphones for HUMAN VR headsets, gaming and home cinema, www.humaninc.com the big sell for this former Abbey Road Red With visual marketing that puts you in startup is about hearing in “accurate 3D mind of Ex Machina, Human is pushing sound”. It uses “head-tracking” technology hard on the “minimalistic”, “ergonomic” to adapt the sounds you are likely to hear and “futuristic” buttons. The sell here is depending on how you move. It’s about that its product is the next evolutionary immersing the listener in sonic fields so step in wireless headphones with not they experience the sound in whole new one but three USPs (it hopes). The first is ways. Like VR headsets, however, some

report capacitive touch, with the ability to swipe users might experience the symptoms of to adjust the volume etc. The second is motion sickness until they normalise what a social mode, enabling multiple users they are hearing. the 9 MUSIC-MAKING TOOLS ISSUE 403 has “programmable hot keys” on the side fretboard of any guitar. The device – also 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE of the cans, a linked app that allows instant Pop-up studios, connected guitars and the called FretX – drummed up $123k of pre- access to Spotify playlists, the ability to frst Apple-certifed smart piano jostle for orders on crowdfunding site Indiegogo in HOOKE AUDIO share those playlists to social media and attention late 2016. The $89 device works by using www.hookeaudio.com speed dial for phone calls. Users can also lights to show learners where to place their swipe the side of the ‘phones to adjust the STUDIO STICK fingers for certain chords, controlled by a volume, change songs, pause playback or www.studiostick.net companion app. access Siri. THE ONE VINCI www.smartpiano.com www.vinci.im

Another player in the 3D audio space, but positioned more as being for general There are already some pretty decent use rather than VR/home cinema. It also ‘mobile recording studio’ apps for The One rejoices in the title of being “the works in conjunction with smartphones to smartphones and tablets. Studio Stick isn’t first ever Apple Certified smart piano”, allow users to record audio and video in just an app, though: it’s a pop-up device although the company is actually selling 3D so has both a speaker and microphone including a microphone, pop filter, reaction two devices: the $1,499 One Smart Piano; built into it. The developers argue that the filter, phone/tablet holder and a stand that and the more affordable $299 One Light fact smartphones record audio in mono adjusts up to six feet in height. The device Keyboard. Both devices connect to an means the resulting sound is flat and has yet to go on sale, but sounds ideal for iPad, then teach the owner to play using lacks nuance or depth, so this will elevate artists who like to record on the go – and a mixture of video lessons, light-up sheet home recording and playback into brighter are prepared to turn any hotel bathroom music and piano-focused games. The spaces. into an impromptu vocal booth. app currently has a catalogue of more than 2,000 songs – again, showing the MUZIK FRETX opportunity here for music publishers. www.muzikconnect.com www.fretx.rocks DODEKA www.dodeka.info Yet more 3D headphones, but this is no ordinary 3D – this is “intelligent 3D”. That means a dash of artificial intelligence, with Vinci’s headphones having voice control and a voice assistant baked in. On top of this, the headphones promise to learn your musical preferences the more you use them, while also “measuring your vitals” Every new technology has to have a “X of to understand your biorhythms. Show- French startup FretX is in the same

report Y” hard sell and Muzik One claims to be offs will also appreciate the customisable space as Mind Music Labs and Magic Dodeka is another smart piano, but this “the smartphone of headphones”. A snappy visualiser on the side of the headphones, Instruments, but rather than a smart guitar, one doesn’t look like your average Joanna. phrase, but what does it actually mean? It giving passers-by a reason to stare. its product is a device that attaches to the “Our new system introduces an alternative the 10

ISSUE 403 REVIVE acupuncture. The Basslet is intended to be 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE www.yesitis.fr/revive.php an embellishment for headphones, enabling people to feel music as well as hear it. A bit music notation together with innovative like those SubPac vests or seat covers that keyboard and xylophone designs,” explains drove bass right through your body, but the company. That notation system swaps portable so you look like you’re wearing a notes for what look like black censorship FitBit rather than a flak jacket. bars, while its keyboard sets all its white world. 3Dvarius, for example, is an ‘electric and black keys on the same level. The violin’ that uses 3D printing to ensure it is SOUNDBRENNER company is also working on a mobile app customised to the buyer’s tastes. “Engrave www.soundbrenner.com to showcase all this, while suggesting that a personal message, give it the name it its combination of notation and hardware deserves, select your bridge and tuning changes will be perfect for musicians who pegs…” That comes at an eye-watering want to improvise. price, though: $7,048 and upwards. Another curveball from the Internet Of Things. Revive involves attaching an RFID ARTIPHON OTHER MUSIC HARDWARE chip to any object – vinyl records are the www.artiphon.com most relevant example for music:)ally readers QLEEK – which enables it to be scanned by any www.qleek.me NFC-compatible smartphone. “Thanks to Revive, the user is redirected to a platform on which he will have access to exclusive and original content around the artist’s The app-store era brought a glut of universe,” explains the company’s pitch. The metronome apps aimed at musicians. wider trend here is trying to bring digital Soundbrenner is trying to take the next The Artiphone Instrument 1 might look like connectivity to physical music products. step with a wearable metronome. Designed a massively elongated Nintendo Switch, to look like a wristwatch, it enables but it’s an attempt at creating a jack-of- BASSLET musicians to “feel” the rhythm on their all-trades musical tool. The idea: a versatile www.lofelt.com wrist or ankle, so that they can play along fingerboard that can be tapped to trigger without hearing it. The device is controlled beats and loops; pressed like piano keys; from a smartphone app, complete with the strummed like a guitar; or bowed like a ability to store favourite rhythms. Taps on violin. “One instrument that lets you be its face adjust the tempo or pause it. the whole band,” as the company puts it. The company originally raised $1.3m on Qleek describes itself as “the record player MERCH ROADIE Kickstarter in 2015, but its device is now of the streaming era”. It’s an attempt to www.merchroadie.com going on sale for $399. give streaming playlists a physical form. This is basically a vending machine in a How? On a biscuit-sized hexagon, you load flight case. Artists can take a small pop-up 3DVARIUS up playlists and give them a cover design. retail store with them on the road. There www.3d-varius.com Then you slot them into the Qleek player, is a touch-screen interface and users pick We hear a lot about personalisation in which looks like a wooden bowl with a Like Meghan Trainor, the Basslet is all what they want, pay by card and then the music-streaming world, thanks to hexagon-shaped depression on the top. about that bass. Its developers describe it the items are dropped into a gulley at

report algorithm-driven playlists like Spotify’s You can then store all your “playlists” on as a “silent subwoofer” that is worn on the the bottom. This, of course, means only a Discover Weekly – but personalisation is a wall-mounted hive (yes, really) – making wrist to deliver bass “straight to your body” limited range of merchandise can be fitted also a trend in the musical instruments this as much about room decor as music. – like Bootsy Collins taking up a career in in and smaller items (T-shirts, badges etc.) the 11

ISSUE 403 watching HD video. More interesting is customise clothes before buying them – 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE BEYOND MUSIC its new Avegant Light Field technology, there’s potential here for bespoke music From smart glasses and haptic wizardry to unveiled in March. It puts virtual objects merchandise. personal drones and smart robots: how can “right at your fingertips” – an intriguing music mesh with this hardware? exploration of mixed reality. AIRDOG www.airdog.com VUE SMART GLASSES ULTRAHAPTICS www.enjoyvue.com www.ultrahaptics.com

will work best. But, like an ATM, it can be topped up and means that there is an extra Some music video makers have already retail point at venues or festivals that doesn’t experimented with drone filming, but require anyone to continually staff it. action sport is this technology’s big heartland at the moment. AirDog’s drone is PHONOTONIC More virtual stuff in the real world here, but well worth a look – automatically following www.phonotonic.net It’s fair to suggest that if AR smartglasses this time it’s technology to feel things that and filming its subjects. Safety concerns are going to be big, the likes of Apple, aren’t really there. Ultrahaptics is “using accepted, imagine giving this to a band Snapchat and Facebook will probably ultrasound to project sensations onto a headlining a festival. dominate the category. Vue is worth hand… from invisible buttons and dials that watching, though: its smartglasses connect you feel when you need them, through to SONICAM wirelessly to a smartphone, and include tangible interfaces that track your hand”. www.sonicam.co bone-conduction tech for music, calls and notifications without earphones. UNMADE www.unmade.com AVEGANT www.avegant.com Avegant’s Glyph headset Ever thought that the Theremin wasn’t looks like a Star Trek small enough or multi-sided enough? visor, but is pitched as Phonotonic looks like a space age stress a “personal theater” for ball, but one that lets you create music kinetically by swinging it around in your hand. The interior sensors communicate Samsung and Nokia have launched well- via Bluetooth to your phone for playback. received 360-degree cameras. Startup It is presented more as a form of relaxation Sonicam has ambitions to take them on. or a game (you can add a second sensor Unmade’s technology is partly about Its spherical camera films at up to 4K and “battle” friends) than as an instrument installing hardware in knitwear factories, resolution and uses 64 microphones to

report per se, but it can’t be long before a tech- helping them “add unique orders alongside record sound, with the ability to stream friendly star (Björk? will.i.am?) spots it and existing bulk production”. People can video live too, stitching footage together uses it for their music. then use its ‘personalisation editors’ to on the fly. the 12

ISSUE 403 05.04.17 COVER FEATURE

JOLOMO BLITAB www.jolomo.io www.blitab.com ROKID PORTL MEDIA Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s got the Accessibility is an often-overlooked www.rokid.com www.portlmedia.com quirkiest smart-home gadget of them aspect to modern mobile devices, Yes, there’s Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant Amid much talk about the declining earnings all? JoLoMo sounds like an acronym for a even with the efforts of Apple and and Cortana, but if you want a virtual of Uber drivers, perhaps Portl can help them new category of app or the “ft. artist” on Google. Blitab is an interesting attempt assistant for your home, why not make it a drum up some more cash. The company’s an EDM single, but it’s actually a startup to solve problems for blind and smart Chinese robot? Armed with $50m of hardware is a touchscreen to install in the working on a ‘smart mirror’ prototype visually impaired people: a Braille funding, the company hopes its AI-toting back of car headrests, providing content – capable of functioning as a touchscreen device that displays “small physical product will find an audience of smart- music partnerships could be one way forward computer, controlling music and other bubbles” to read text and navigate around home owners. – plus advertising. home features. other content. :) report the Steven Gerrard to receive 2017 Legend of Football Award MONDAY 2ND OCTOBER 2017 GROSVENOR HOUSE, PARK LANE This is your opportunity to attend an unmissable evening of football and fundraising celebrating the achievements of our 2017 Legend of Football, Liverpool and England hero, Steven Gerrard.

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ISSUE 403 05.04.17 MARKET PROFILE Colombia

COLOMBIA

STATS f Population 46.7m Colombia is doing be!er than d any other developing nation in GDP per capita $14,200 providing aﬀordable internet h access to its population...” Internet users 24.3m – Oscar Castellano, c Deezer Broadband connections 5.5m There is plenty of optimism about the digital music industry in companies to access music from labels and i Colombia as its revenues crossed the 50% threshold before artists and thus easier for fans to get the Mobile subscriptions 57.3m the likes of Brazil, Germany and the UK music that they want from those platforms,” Active smartphones 16.8m he adds. very year a number of countries pass America, with 70% of consumers expected to Juan Sebastian Ortiz de Zaldumbide, co- Active tablets 1.1m an important stage in the transition have become mobile users in 2016. founder of Colombian management company to a digital music economy, when “According to the 2017 Affordability Sources: IFPI/CIA World Factbook M3 Music, says that the music industry in revenues from digital music cross the Report, Colombia is doing better than Colombia “has been through a process of E50% threshold. In 2015, Colombia was one of any other developing nation in providing 2015, revenue from subscription services was professionalisation that is making musical the four global markets to take this step, with affordable internet access to its population,” $10.05m, up from $5.78m in 2014. Revenue projects (bands, companies, producers, etc.) digital jumping to 52% of its recorded music says Oscar Castellano, CEO Americas for from ad-supported streaming fell slightly, more stable and profitable”. revenues according to the IFPI. Deezer. “This is largely down to the Vive from $5.37m in 2014 to $4.88m in 2015, while “Colombia’s music industry is a very The fact that Colombia has made this Digital plan which, through technology, total digital revenue was $17.7m. Overall young one, mostly led by entrepreneurs who transition ahead of places like Germany, is enabling more online connections to recorded music revenue rose 16.4% in 2015, have been contributing to the specialisation Brazil, France and the UK is significant for a rural communities. As a result of this, more the country’s fourth straight year of double- in the different areas of the business,” he country that has, of late, put considerable people are now able to access content digit growth. adds. “Now, for the first time in Colombia, effort into developing its digital economy. both through computers and phones, which Castellano says that streaming services we have booking agencies, management Vive Digital Colombia was a plan put in place is creating opportunities for streaming in Colombia have benefited from recent companies, concert and festival promoters by the Colombian government in 2010. It platforms to engage with new users.” improvements to music licensing “making and indie labels signing new artists. This, in managed to quadruple the country’s internet Colombia’s increased digital maturity it much more accessible for streaming addition to the major labels starting to sign connections over just four years and is now can be seen in the boom in subscription platforms to deliver a broader selection of indie or alternative acts, instead of just the

report focused on boosting mobile connectivity. As streaming, which contributed more than 50% music to fans”. “We believe our market focus mainstream acts as we know them. All of this a result, Colombia has become one of the of the country’s total digital music revenue in and the laws around licensing and copyright is just starting, so I predict several more years most advanced mobile phone markets in Latin 2015, after almost doubling year-on-year. In changed to make it easier for streaming of expansion.” the ISSUE 358

ISSUE 403 05.04.17 MARKET PROFILE Colombia continued...

Against this, a couple of potential RECORDED MUSIC SALES DIGITAL MUSIC REVENUE BY FORMAT, difficultiesDIGITAL hang MUSIC over the REVENUEColombian music BY FORMAT; (Volume, million units) IFPI FIGURES market.MUSIC At the ALLY tail end DATAMAP of 2016, the Colombian FIGURES (Source: IFPI) (In US$ millions / Source: IFPI) government(In US$ millions announced / Source: an increaseIFPI, Music in Ally) VAT, which has resulted in a 7% increase in 2.5 12 mobile60 internet costs. More importantly, perhaps, digital subscription services like 2.0 10 Deezer50 and Spotify are now subject to VAT at 19%, with this price increase being passed 8 onto40 consumers. Spotify, for example, has 1.5 increased the cost of its Premium service 6 from30 COP 11,499 ($3.95) to COP 14,900 ($5.11), 1.0 while the Family plan has gone from 4 COP20 17,249 ($5.92) to COP 22,900 ($7.86). The other potential headache comes from 0.5 2 wider10 problems in the Colombian economy, which was affected by the collapse in oil 0.0 0 prices0 in 2016. The Colombian peso has also 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 fallen greatly 2011 over the 2012 last two years.2013 It lost 2014 2015 a third of its value against the dollar in 2015, Single downloads Mobile personalisation CD accordingDownloads to the EconomicAd-supported Commission For Subscriptions Other physical Full album downloads Paid/freemium Latin America & The Caribbean. Recently, Ad-supported streams subscriptions however, the Colombian government has acted to boost these economic problems: in February 2017, President Juan Manuel Castellano also expects the growth of a Bogota office in November 2013. Spotify, content in Colombia. (Deezer, incidentally, Santos launched Colombia Repunta, a plan to digital music in Colombia to continue into said to be second in Colombia streaming has a similar bundle deal with telco Tigo.) increase government spending to improve the 2017 and “for the foreseeable future”. “With after Deezer, is also reported to be focusing country’s infrastructure, which it expects to +50m mobile subscribers in market and more on the country. According add 1.3 percentage points to GDP growth and than 16m smartphones, the penetration of to a report in Colombian to create 800,000 jobs. streaming is still in its infancy,” he says. “As newspaper Portafolio (right) “I feel very optimistic about the future a reference, revenues are increasing in Latin from August 2016, the of digital music industry in Colombia,” Ortiz America by four times more than the global Swedish company is looking de Zaldumbide concludes. “But I think average, so we can see that there is a huge to tie up more telco deals the biggest challenge is that we all have appetite for music and streaming in particular in Colombia, like the one to be prepared to reinvent ourselves, our across the region.” it currently has with ETB, businesses and the way we consume music. Little wonder, then, that Deezer has which gives ETB’s subscribers And I would like to quote my colleague

report made Colombia – already one of its top free access to Spotify Scott Cohen on this one: ‘So you think you three markets in Latin America – into a Premium for a year; and also understand the digital music business? It strategic priority in the region, after opening wants to create more local just changed again.’” :) the 16 Music Ally is a music business information and strategy company. We focus on the change taking place in the Music Ally is an ISSUE 403 industry and provide information and insight into every aspect of the business, consumer research analysing 05.04.17 example of perceptive the changing behaviour and trends in the industry, consultancy services to companies ranging from blue journalism at its chip retailers and telecoms companies to start-ups; and training around methods to digitally market your best, with unrivalled artists and maximise the eﬀectiveness of digital campaigns. We also work with a number of high proﬁle music Andrew Fisher, events around the world, from Bogota to Berlin and Brighton, bringing the industry together to have a good CEO, Shazam coverage of the commonsense debate and get some consensus on how to move forward. Entertainment digital music sector”

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