thereport ISSUE 410 | 17 OCTOBER 2017

Music’s augmented future 1

ISSUE 410 17.10.17 COVERAR SPECIAL FEATURE PART 1

AR you experienced? he first thing to understand about Cycle report alongside technologies like Kingston; in the years since there have been particularly around its potential to become augmented reality (AR) technology microblogging, social networking platforms a steady stream of experiments around truly mainstream. There are several reasons is that while it may be a hot trend of and 3D printing. and AR. You can read about some of them for this, starting with 2016’s big app craze: 2017, it’s certainly not a new trend. 2008 was also the year when Apple and later in this issue. Pokémon Go (pictured). TSci-fi author William Gibson was writing Google launched their first app stores for In the years after 2008, many of these While catching virtual beasties in real- about the idea of augmenting humans’ vision smartphones, with startups like Layar and campaigns have, with hindsight (and often world locations also seemed gimmicky at first with digital content in 1994, although arguably Metaio early to experiment with “browser” even at the time) seemed like gimmicks; – the mobile game raced to $500m of revenue head-up displays (HUDs) in aircraft were the apps that overlaid information onto the good for getting a few headlines when they and then $1bn. Even in April 2017, there were first example of AR decades before that. phone’s camera feed. launched, then quickly forgotten with no still 65m active players globally, and for many

report AR as we understand it in 2017 has been By 2009, Music Ally was writing about AR obvious impact on sales or fan engagement. of them the game was their first introduction a buzz since 2008, when it was a new entry marketing campaigns for artists like Eminem, The wider tech world is getting very to AR technology. in research firm Gartner’s annual Hype John Mayer, and Sean excited about AR again in 2017, though, Another trend driving the current buzz the 2

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Earlier this month, he told the Independent that Apple sees parallels between the explosion of apps after 2008 and what it hopes ARKit will do now for AR. “Think back to 2008, when the went live. There was the initial round of apps and people looked at them and said, ‘this is not anything, mobile apps are not going to around AR is its use in social apps like take off’. And then step by step things start to and Instagram, with the former’s move,“ Cook said. lenses and the latter’s face filters offering “It is sort of a curve, it was just exponential a range of comic special effects to jazz up – and now you couldn’t imagine your life people’s selfie photos and videos. without apps. Your health is on one app, your With 173m and 500m daily active users financials, your shopping, your news, your respectively, Snapchat and Instagram entertainment – it’s everything. AR is like that. have made one form of AR completely It will be that dramatic.” mainstream, although many of the people Google is following suit with its own set of joyfully flapping their dog tongues or dancing developer tools for Android under the banner with a cartoon hot dog are unlikely to even of ARCore, first released in a preview edition recognise the term “augmented reality”. for developers in August. “We’re targeting In late 2017, there are also the respective 100m devices at the end of the preview,” strategies of Google and Apple to consider. announced Google at the time. “ARCore is Some 2.4bn people globally are now using our step in bringing AR to everyone.” smartphones according to research firm Google is also working on its own AR app eMarketer, while IDC estimates that Android called Google Lens, which will launch later and iPhone account for 99.7% of new this year. It’s like a visual : people will smartphone shipments between them. Both be able to point their smartphone’s camera are betting big on AR. at the real world – landmarks, book covers, Apple has a feature called ARKit in its restaurants, flowers and so on – and get recently released iOS 11 . It contains relevant information back. a set of tools making it easier for developers It’s visual search, essentially, and will make to create AR apps, with dozens having been its debut in Google’s new Pixel 2 smartphones released since iOS 11’s debut in September. this Autumn, with a wider rollout to other CEO has been talking regularly Android devices ahead. Again, this isn’t about the importance and potential of AR in a technology (augmented reality) being the last 18 months. “AR can be really great, promoted, but a use for it that could appeal and we have been and continue to invest a beyond the tech early adopters. and our readers the question is whether that what’s happening in the wider AR market; lot in this,” Cook told analysts in July 2016. Between Google, Apple, Snapchat, means real opportunity for the music industry outlining some of the bullish analyst

report “We are high on AR for the long run. We think Facebook/Instagram and urban-roaming rather than just more gimmicks. predictions for the space; and looking back there are great things for customers and a Pikachus, there’s a significant push to take In this month’s Report, we’ll try to answer to some of the best (and most ridiculous) great commercial opportunity.” AR into the mainstream. But for Music Ally that question, while providing a primer on examples of AR music in the past. :) the 3

ISSUE 410 AR SPECIAL PART 2 17.10.17 Data dive AR TO CONJURE WITH

“I think AR is big and profound,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in August. But how big? Research frms and analysts have been grappling with the challenge of predicting users, hardware sales and content revenues for augmented reality for nearly a decade. Most are still, frankly, pulling numbers out of the air. Here are some of the more useful stats around the emerging AR market. 1.9bn The amount of unique monthly active users for mobile 4.1m AR by 2022 according to research frm Tractica. That Annual shipments of consumer AR headsets by 2021 according to research frm IDC. would be up from an estimated 342.8m users in 2016. That would be up from 4.1m in 2016, so average annual growth (or compound “Mobile AR will power one of the next great user annual growth – CAGR) of 139.7% over that period. interface applications – visual search,” explained analyst Marc Beccue. $3.6bn The market value of augmented-reality devices – headsets 47% The percentage of iPhone and iPad owners who’d upgraded their devices’ and smart glasses – by 2018 according to research frm software to iOS 11 three weeks after its release in mid-September. Important for AR, CCS Insight. That’s up from just $300m in 2015, because iOS 11 is required to run the new wave of ARKit apps. driven by logistics, design, medicine and education. $1.89bn $12.9bn The total amount of funding raised by Magic Leap so far. That’s spread across four rounds including $50m Series A in Expected worldwide spending on AR headsets/glasses February 2014; $542m in October 2014; $793.5m in February 2016 and $500m in and AR content in 2020 according to Greenlight Insights. September 2017. Products released in that time: 0. It reckons $7.1bn of that will be device revenue, while $5.8bn will be from content. It expects the total-spending fgure to balloon to $36.4bn by 2023. 65m The number of monthly active players globally of Pokémon Go in April 2017, 10 months after the AR game launched, showing that it wasn’t just a fash 40m in the pan. In the US, comScore estimates that it peaked at 28.5m users in The number of people in the US who’ll engage July 2016, dropping to below 5m by the end of that year. with some form of augmented reality in 2017, according to eMarketer. That’s 12.3% of the 6 report American population, with the research frm The number of months it took Pokémon Go to generate $1bn of revenue, suggesting that Snapchat lenses and Facebook reaching that milestone in January 2017. Its peak earnings were in late

the stories will be key drivers. July 2016 when the game grossed more than $18m of in-app-purchase spending in a single day. 4

ISSUE 410 17.10.17 AR SPECIAL PART 3 Lens flair AR is a key part of Snapchat and Instagram’s social-apps battle Our is most likely ost Snapchat users didn’t think the world’s first augmented- of it as an ‘augmented reality’ app, even as they shared reality superstar...” another selfie of themselves – , Snap Inc Mwith a flapping dog tongue that was about as AR as you can get. This battle has already made AR a Snapchat’s ‘lenses’ – with the tongue part of the daily digital lives for hundreds soon joined by an array of other special of millions of people, with Snapchat effects – made it a first mover in the and Instagram both keen to continue current resurgence of AR, with tens of developing the technology. millions of daily users checking for new In the former’s case, that includes a lenses every day to augment their snaps. commercial angle. In September, it made The feature has since evolved to include its 3D world lenses available to advertisers, ‘world lenses’ too, which Snapchat users with Bud Light and Blade Runner 2049 the apply to the world around them rather first brands to take advantage here. than to themselves, ranging from cartoon Snapchat is also edging into the art rainbows and artificial sunsets to the now- world, having recently debuted its own famous dancing hot dog. AR art platform featuring pop artist Jeff “Our dancing hot dog is most likely the Koons’ animal balloon-sculptures, which world’s first augmented-reality superstar,” can be spotted and snapped (only digitally) crowed Snap Inc CEO Evan Spiegel in a in locations like Central Park in . recent analyst call, possibly in the hope Other artists are being invited to sign up. that the lens’ 1.5bn video views might Meanwhile, Snap has also hired Hollywood distract investors from the company’s special effects expert Raffael Dickreuter sluggish growth metrics. for the grandly titled role of concept and One reason for that stalling growth, augmented reality designer, signaling its however, is the fact that Instagram has ambitions. Based on the enthusiastically adopted Snapchat’s AR past year, Instagram will be working features along with its ‘stories’ format. hard to keep pace and perhaps even to out- Whether you see this imitation as the innovate Snapchat rather than simply copy it. sincerest form of flattery or a heavy handed Later in this issue, we’ll be considering attempt to eat a rival’s lunch, Instagram’s some of the ways the music industry launch of its own AR effects in May this may be able to capitalise on this, building

report year saw its (much larger) user base adding on what Atlantic Records did with Ed digital crowns, rabbit features, geek glasses Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’ Snapchat lens in and other objects to their faces. January this year. :) the 5

ISSUE 410 17.10.17 AR SPECIAL PART 4 AR hardware in focus Augmented reality in 2017 is being driven by apps on smartphones, but plenty of minds in Silicon Valley (and elsewhere) are thinking about the next step for dedicated AR hardware – from to full-on headsets. The elephant in the room here, of course, is . Google’s frst attempt at a pair of AR glasses, which after a lot of ridicule and not much commercial success, was sent back to the labs for a rethink in 2015. What Google Glass – currently enjoying a mini-rebirth as a business-focused device – reminded us was that, in its current form, AR hardware is essentially about putting a computer on your face. That all poses challenges around the cool factor as well as the awkwardness of how people around you react. Here’s a roundup of some of the current (and rumoured) AR hardware projects that are trying to solve those challenges.

MAGIC LEAP for gaming as well as other uses – Music Ally once had a demo of Minecraft which, though technically impressive as it beamed the blocky world onto a table in front of you, wasn’t actually as fun as playing the game on a console or PC. has also teamed up with the NFL, hinting at a future for sports watching on the HoloLens. However, the company’s strategy does not revolve purely around its own devices. Windows is also a platform for “mixed reality”, with five headsets already available ranging from $399 to $499. Travel, sport, Magic Leap has been making headlines culture, games and live concerts – the since 2014 with its plans for an AR headset latter should be of interest – are among the and accompanying software platform that likely uses. aims to show what happens “if computing could spill outside of the computer”. VUZIX What is it? That’s still something of a mystery. Magic Leap’s video demos – which is close to launch, but has not yet shown MICROSOFT The selling point of the M100 Smart Glasses have been the subject of speculation about off the product, let alone allowed reviewers Microsoft is going with the term “mixed is that they are the first commercially just how much they were ‘augmented’ in near it. reality” rather than “augmented reality” for available smart glasses on the market. post-production – have shown a strong Well, it gave a demo to Beyoncé, who its initiatives in this area. It was one of the They can take photos and shoot (and play gaming angle. reportedly was unimpressed. We’ll find out first companies to get hardware out, albeit back) video, with the company claiming The idea remains digital (or video- if the world is ready for Magic Leap’s AR to developers only, with its HoloLens. they “provide the features and capabilities

report realistic) characters appearing in the world jelly in the coming months, as long as it Described as the world’s first of a modern smartphone in a hands-free as you look through the glasses. The isn’t vapourware. “untethered, self-contained holographic wearable device, minus a cellular radio”. company says its “mixed reality” headset computer” it has been deployed already The M300s offer “hands-free mobile the 6 ODG ISSUE 410 32GB using an SD card) for use with apps 17.10.17 AR SPECIAL PART 4 and video content. It sees its USP as each lens on the glasses having its own display iterations of the that sits right on the user’s field of vision same basic and projects the AR experience onto their product). There’s surroundings. Again, not cheap. They sell the Smart Helmet for £799. (pictured below) that is aimed at the workplace – like SNAPCHAT SPECTACLES – giant factory spaces – that THE AR EDITION? computing” gives workers real-time data on while the iWear their environment and thermal Video Headphones vision to improve efficiency and safety. Again, a meshing of AR and VR. The come in two versions, one offering a home The Smart Glasses are also primarily company raised $58m at the end of 2017 theatre viewing experience and the other aimed at workers to remotely assist and has already made smart wearables for promising to put you in the cockpit of a colleagues, with the company heavily the US military. The R-8 and the R-9 are drone (so probably not good for anyone pitching it at medical professionals. its consumer-facing smart spectacles (or, with vertigo). The prices are still not even The Qube works with the company’s as they insist on calling them, “glasses for approaching a mainstream option, starting SDK and comes with inbuilt cameras and the masses”), with the R-7 aimed at the at £799 and rising to £1,499. That said, the sensors to allow “for easy prototyping, workforce. iWear Video Headphones retail at a more testing, and measurement”. They apparently offer “extra-wide- reasonable £229. Finally, the Smart Hud is aimed at road field-of-view for enterprise design and safety, where information is projected on visualization, gaming and entertainment, DAQRI the car windscreen and not to a device and extended reality development”. Both File under: in development (possibly). like a sat-nav placed where the driver may are available later this year, but are not Snapchat already has smart spectacles in An AR spread bet of sorts in that there are temporarily have to take their eyes off the expected to be cheap, with rumoured price the market that link to your account, but multiple products on offer (unlike Microsoft’s road to see. tags being between $1,000 and $1,700. this is apparently only a warm up for the 2.0 version that could go heavy on AR. EPSON BT-200 Riding the wave of that dancing hot SMART GLASSES dog, this would seem a natural next move for the company. And filed patent details Primarily being pitched at the developer suggest it is moving in here – or at least community, they come with a camera covering off the possibility. “The glasses built in as well as GPS and a gyroscope. […] gather images using image On top of this, they have 8GB of internal sensors and use those images memory (with the as a basis to generate and option to boost present augmented reality that by a further information to the user via display,” the patent says. :) report the 7

ISSUE 410 17.10.17 AR SPECIAL PART 5 Music’s AR history Labels and artists have been experimenting with AR for nearly a decade already

s we noted in the introduction to AUGUST 2009 hold up a printed or mobile version of a to track bassist Murdoc across the world this report, the music industry Sean Kingston’s special icon, triggering Mayer’s video with could (almost) be seen as a prototype for is no stranger to AR, with labels promotion saw them appearing in the background. Pokémon Go. having experimented with it as a fans using their Amarketing tool since 2009. One problem webcams to scan DECEMBER 2009 JUNE 2010 is that AR has never made it beyond the his CD booklet, experimental part of label budgets to then sing along to There are things you didn’t know you become a standard part of the marketing his ‘Fire Burning’ needed until someone invents them. mix. But looking back over the good, bad track, with an There are also things you definitely don’t and crazy campaigns may be a valuable animated Sean need even when someone invents them. source of ideas. dancing around An Asher Rosh AR business card is one them. “If I get a of them but is still wonderfully ridiculous. MAY 2009 10-year-old kid to Fans scanning the card with their webcam get engaged with would be taken to… his website. Almost Sean Kingston by building a video and admirably pointless. showing it to his buddies, I just turned on four more guys and gals to him,” said Epic This wasn’t an official Beatles project, JUNE 2010 exec Lee Stimmel, accidentally inventing but AR startup Layar used the band as a Musical.ly a few years early. demonstration of its new mobile app. The demo took the form of a Beatles-centric OCTOBER 2009 storytelling tour, where fans could point their smartphones at the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing and see an animated version of the band walking across.

MAY 2010

Gorillaz have been making waves with an AR app in 2017, but their first dabble with Polydor was at it again with a promotion the technology was seven years before for the Rolling Stones, through a dedicated that. Their Plastic Beach campaign layer for the Layar app called Exile On Your Polydor UK’s digital campaign for Eminem’s More webcam japes here, with John included a partnership with telco O2 that Street. It tied in with the latest re-release Relapse album included an “augmented Mayer’s promo for ‘Heartbreak Warfare’ involved fans using the band’s app to of the Exile On Main Street album, with

report digital art competition” for fans who could hailed as the first AR music video, although snap AR codes printed in newspapers and fans able to stick virtual posters to real- use a printout, a webcam and some online another project from Los Valentinos magazines to bring the band “alive” through world locations, adding snippets of songs tools to create their own 3D visuals. narrowly beat it to that punch. Fans could animations. A feature using GPS mapping for others to find. the 8

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JULY 2010 for the release of their The Hunter album, DECEMBER 2011 It was only a matter of time before let fans unlock content by scanning the Linked to Kylie Minogue’s Goddess someone meshed AR and Spotify. album sleeve; but those who bought the Edition pop-up book, you could have “a Monarchy took over the Spotify desktop D2F version got an even more enhanced miniature dancing Kylie in [your] hand at client for a weekend and, via the Vault app AR version where they could unlock all time”. Thankfully less creepy than such for iPhone, users could take a photo of a exclusive content. The more you spent on a description sounds, it was quite a clever specific image and unlock a special remix. the physical release, the more content you embellishment for the overall campaign. Mercury Records hailed it as “the first could access. music campaign of its kind” at the time. FEBRUARY 2012 whip up avatars but rather as a mechanic SEPTEMBER 2011 OCTOBER 2010 to get free music. If you bought the AR startups like Blippar and Zappar trained physical version of the album, you could their sights on pop artists in 2012 as a way hold the cover up to your webcam and to push their tech into the mainstream. unlock a download of new tracks and The Wanted worked with Blippar to add alternative takes from the album sessions. AR to their tour programme, with icons A nice way to reward purchasers. dotted throughout that could be scanned to unlock virtual photos, videos, tracks and AUGUST 2011 competition questions.

Not an artist AR app but rather a label one. SEPTEMBER 2012 Reduced to trying to reboot an ailing music PIAS Entertainment’s app worked via QR career through a reality TV series, Vanilla codes – another technology that has come Ice also got involved in AR through Ice in and out of music marketing fashion down Yourself. Via a webcam, fans could pull the years – to get information on its artists Japanese singer Hatsune Miku was already faces to a soundtrack of ‘Ice Ice Baby’ as well as access to music and videos. an entirely virtual character, but her AR app while Vanilla did his candle-like chump- broke new ground in terms of its business waxing in the background. AUGUST 2011 model: sponsorship. Through a deal with carmaker Toyota, pointing her app at NOVEMBER 2010 a barcode would see Hatsune pop up alongside a Toyota Corolla car to perform added new features to their O2- a live set. powered AR app, enabling fans to magic The Rolling Stones came back for a second up band members, submarines and even NOVEMBER 2011 swing, using the gorilla that appeared Plastic Beach itself when the band played on the artwork for their Grrr! compilation at the O2 venue in , using markers For the 80th edition of the evergreen album. The partner here was another placed around the venue. Now That’s What I Call Music series, EMI startup, Aurasma, whose app enabled worked with startup Blippar to give users an fans to superimpose the hulking simian JANUARY 2011 “enhanced CD menu” where you could see on landmarks including Big Ben and the

report the album track list, hear audio snippets, Empire State Building. Glorious nonsense, Flying Lotus – to promote the Another twist on the “rewarding fans who watch videos and even rate tracks on but a fun part of one of the best marketing Cosmogramma album – used AR not to bought the album” strategy. Mastodon, Facebook. campaigns of that year. the 9

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OCTOBER 2012 MAY 2015 One of the high points for music AR in terms of profile: One Direction were in their heyday when Zappar worked with Sony Music on an official app for the boy-band called One Direction Picture Book. Fans who’d paid £40 for the box-set version of their Take Me Home album could point their smartphones at its book to get exclusive photos and videos. When enough people visited each location, Robbie Williams promoted his Take The exclusive videos were unlocked for Crown album in conjunction with London’s MAY 2014 everyone. free daily newspaper Metro. Fans used his Mobile Roadie-powered artist app to scan JANUARY 2017 an ad to watch a “making of” clip about the Little Mix got on the Blippar video for his song ‘Candy’. bandwagon to let fans unlock As Ed Sheeran returned with the first new content around their latest tracks from his Divide album, one of them NOVEMBER 2012 single at the time. The video made a sneaky debut as a Snapchat for ‘Black Magic’ was viewable lens. A 30-second clip of ‘Shape Of You’ if fans followed clues peppered accompanied a lens offering a pair of shiny through Little Mix’s social media sunglasses for people to snap selfies with. channels, including Periscope, “We didn’t pay anything for it. It can cost and scanned them through the $500,000 a day in the US to do a lens,” Blippar app. When they also Atlantic Records UK’s GM Mark Mitchell released the album artwork, it told us in April. That’s an important point: could also be viewed through Snapchat’s willingness to bring artists and the Blippar app to access more labels into the AR world won’t always come content. with a demand for cash.

After a quiet 2013, music AR came back to AUGUST 2016 life in 2014 with a collaboration between and Underworld’s . With Pokémon Go fever in full swing, Someday World got fans to point their Sony Music US Latin used it as inspiration phone at the sleeve art to “watch and for a location-based campaign with explore as new ‘outsider architecture’ boy-band CNCO. Via a partnership with

report metropolises spring into life around their startup Landmrk, fans were invited to record”. Or just listen to a track if that was visit “hotspots” across Latin America too overwhelming. and Spain to hear tracks from the album. the 10

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APRIL 2017 technology. The original video’s hand- drawn sketches are transposed into the modern fan’s environment: an impressive tech demo, but also a possible pointer for future new videos.

OCTOBER 2017

One of the first artists to get involved with of AR that we have seen as it creates a A-ha’s 1985 video for ‘Take On Me’ (below) the AR features on social apps was Bruno whole world rather than whacking a bit of remains one of the most important Mars, who got his own ‘effect’ for Facebook AR over things and hoping for the best. and innovative videos of all time. US Camera – its equivalent of Snapchat’s startup Trixi Studios has now revisited it lenses. Fans could add doodle-animations JULY 2017 three decades later using Apple’s ARKit based on the video for ‘That’s What I Like’ to their own videos shot within Facebook’s app (above). “The more fun that fans have and the more they dance, the more the effect reacts to them,” said Atlantic executive Paul Sinclair. Don’t believe him? Just watch. The latest Michael Jackson compilation JUNE 2017 Scream benefits from a tie-up with Shazam to use its “visual recognition” It’s like they’re obsessed. For their Humanz features. Fans pointing the app at a poster album, Gorillaz returned again to AR that comes with the album can unlock with a bespoke app (funded by Deutsche an AR experience, complete with virtual

report Telekom) where you could explore their ravens and smoke. It was the first global house from the video for ‘Saturnz Barz’ AR initiative from Shazam, and the first to (above, middle). It is one of the best uses involve physical album artwork. :) the 11

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uring the research for this issue of of fun filters for their augmented reality music:)ally, we happened across a features, and that brings an opportunity for AR: what’s in it for you? music activation within Snapchat music partnerships: Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars that hadn’t previously been and Ed Sheeran have been some of the first Dreported on. examples this year, but there will be more. No standalone commercial model yet, but partnerships to be done Holding our finger on the screen This is about turning a 30-second audio to access Snapchat’s world lenses led clip into an eminently shareable creative to us discovering some virtual flamingoes element for fans’ own videos: a use for accompanied by our personalised UGC that doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t) Bitmoji avatar, dancing along to Dua set off warning in lawyers’ offices Lipa’s ‘New Rules’ with a prominent credit throughout the industry. on the screen. There is, of course, a question around The lack of public data for Snapchat the economics of this kind of activity. As lenses means we don’t know how many a freebie from Snapchat – as Ed Sheeran’s times this lens has been used, let alone ‘Shape Of You’ lens was in January – it’s an how many times the resulting videos have easy decision. But as getting a branded been shared. But it’s a strong pointer artist lens/filter onto these apps becomes to what we believe is the most logical a paid-for promotion, its return on strategy for the music industry to take investment will need to be carefully judged: advantage of AR in 2017: partnerships with how will these AR activations really drive the popular social apps that are making streams and ticket sales, as opposed to this technology mainstream. just awareness? Or to put that another way: the It’s fair to say that dancing flamingoes arguments for Dua Lipa launching her are a long way from much of the own augmented reality app, or trying to technology industry’s excitement around persuade fans to download a third-party AR, with mixed-reality headsets and app like Blippar or Zappar in order to watch smart spectacles. There is little her jumping out of a poster or album commercial incentive to build an artwork, are exceedingly slim. But getting expensive AR experience for those devices her music in front of tens of millions of unless a brand is willing to foot the bill: Snapchat users – some fans, but many as with virtual reality, there may be more new to her work – is a smart move. opportunities there. There’s a familiar tale of music’s A company like Microsoft, which is intersection with technology here: new putting significant investment into its consumer tech always needs creative mixed-reality platform, might also be an content to show off its potential, and attractive partner. music/musicians are often in demand for Why not approach Microsoft with an that reason – even when the business idea for an ambitious, expensive artist AR models around their participation are fuzzy app that would showcase its platform, and

report or even controversial. see if the tech giant is willing to fund it? So, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook… Again, the same dynamic is at work in the all these companies need a steady supply VR world. the 12

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Startup Landmrk’s work with Shakira (pictured right), alt-J and CNCO has shown some interesting potential for adapting the Pokémon Go flavour of augmented reality for music, turning audio and video assets into digital treasure to be hunted in the real world. But here again is the potential for partnership at an even bigger scale: how can music labels work with Pokémon Go itself – complete with its 65m active players – to do something interesting around location and AR? (The difficulty being that developer Niantic’s business model is more about driving people to visit retailers like McDonald’s, and that doesn’t quite translate for music. For example, imagine artists could and should be coming up with stories into those? If AR becomes one February. Even the very-public flop of a big star turning every venue on their tour ideas and going in to pitch them – and the of the ways people navigate the world, Google Glass doesn’t dampen this kind of into a Pokémon Gym with rare Pokémon to same for Google too. The overall message how can live music venues ensure they’re enthusiasm. “I think it’s really important catch. But making people buy a gig ticket here is that if AR has got you creatively popping out of the screen in effective (but for media industries to start thinking about might be challenging if they could just excited, there are a number of technology not intrusive) ways? this,” she added. hang about outside catching them all.) companies you can take ideas to either The keenest AR evangelists see a future And so it is, even if what you’re thinking Apple and Google’s push into AR standalone or as part of a wider “original in which AR isn’t something we have to is that the two-to-five-year timeline is with their respective ARKit and ARCore content” partnership. squint through a smartphone or wear extremely unrealistic. But if we are moving technologies also presents an opportunity The key to AR has always been to look a bulky headset to access. Their vision towards a future world of ubiquitous smart for the music industry. Here, too, there are past the hype and some of the unrealistic is a future where smart glasses are a glasses and similar devices, it will do the tech companies who want great content – expectations. For example, we remember mainstream accessory. music industry no harm at all to creatively apps in this case – that can be a technical one pitch about AR being brilliant for “In two to five years’ time, I wouldn’t and carefully engage with the platforms, showcase for AR and help bring it into the festivals: the ability to navigate a site be surprised if smart glasses will almost apps and technologies available now. mainstream. with information on artists and stalls replace our smartphones,” said Devi Kolli Augmented reality certainly isn’t “the The fact that both companies have superimposed on the camera feed from of AiSolve in her keynote next big thing” for the music industry; music streaming services could be a factor: your smartphone. The prospect of speech at the but if it’s part of our future if Apple has been funding and producing chewing through a day’s battery FastForward technology use as humans, then documentaries about artists to bolster life in a couple of hours of this conference in music will surely have a role to ’s appeal, perhaps there may put paid to that idea. play. 2017 feels like a good time to be similar conversations to be had around Healthy scepticism shouldn’t start scoping out what that role ARKit: and that a willingness for an artist mean an unwillingness to might be by continuing what’s

report to experiment with that could pay off for experiment, though. For example, if there already been nearly a decade of them on Apple Music. are startups exploring location-based experimentation. :) Again, creative labels and managers/ AR storytelling, how can artists get their the 13

ISSUE 410 17.10.17 AR SPECIAL PART 7: BEYOND MUSIC ARKit innovation Try these non-music apps for a glimpse at AR’s current potential 01 THYNG dance patterns. “A tool to practise steps 01 02 Layar was trying to open AR up to user- and rhythm anywhere, anytime…” generated content years ago. Thyng is a modern incarnation, encouraging people to place their own photos and videos into the real world. The ability to add marketing recipes and ‘Buy Now’ buttons may be of more interest to marketers though. 04 02 HOLO

Developed by 8i, this app had a blaze of publicity in the tech media earlier this year. Its pitch is the ability to “place a hologram of your favourite character into your real world”. Spider-Man, Buzz Aldrin, pop duo Superfruit and German footballer Jerome Boateng are among the options.

03 VUFORIA CHALK

If you’ve ever grappled with flatpack furniture or stared in bafflement at a new device, this (US-only for now) app is interesting. You can “share a live view of a problem” while scribbling on the camera feed, to get someone to help you out with whatever your problem is.

04 DANCE REALITY

The most musical of the 10 apps featured

report here: this is for people learning to dance. It places virtual footprints on the floor in front of you to step on, while learning common

the 03 14

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05

08 06

05 THOMAS & FRIENDS MINIS 10 cases for AR. Retailer IKEA was early out of A number of developers are making AR apps the blocks with this app, with sofas, chairs, The Quartz news app has been around for and games aimed at children, including some coffee tables and more to size up in your some time: in fact, it was previously heralded big brands. The world’s most famous tank surroundings. for using a chatbot-like interface to deliver engine already has an ARKit app, for kids to news stories. Its new ARKit features can take build a virtual track in front of them then run 08 PAINT SPACE AR an “interesting object that’s in the news” trains around it. and render it as a 3D model in AR. A bit of a Google’s Tilt Brush app for drawing in mid- gimmick, but fun with it. :) 06 AR DRAGON air in virtual reality has received plenty of praise. Paint Space AR is the equivalent for According to research firm SensorTower, this augmented reality: scribbling in thin air and app from Australia is the most popular ARKit then screenshotting the results to share. game so far. It’s a character-focused app where players care for a virtual dragon, who 09 DUBFACE capers about in the real world while growing older day-by-day. Another early ARKit example of user- generated content around AR. Dubface gets 07 IKEA PLACE you to take a selfie, then maps that onto a 3D animated character, who can then be overlaid 10

report The ability to digitally ‘place’ furniture in your on the real world to create snaps and videos house before deciding whether to buy it has 07 to share. Snapchat is doing similar things with long been one of the suggested key use its Bitmoji avatars. the 09 15

ISSUE 410 17.10.17 MARKET PROFILE Netherlands

NETHERLANDS

STATS f Population 17m d GDP per capita (US$) $50,800 ø Total music revenue Market growth is almost per capita (US$) $14.3 entirely thanks to the growth of h subscription audio streaming, Internet users 15.8m which has by now really been c embraced as the mainstream way Subscription streaming helped propel the Netherlands back into the Broadband connections 7.1m of music consumption by the top 10 recorded music markets and with strong competition in the i Dutch...” sector, there is plenty of optimism and scope for further growth Active smartphones 15.4m – Michel Van Buten, he Dutch typically celebrate big to €79.5m ($93.5m), according to Dutch Active tablets 5.8m Sony Music Benelux occasions with the kind of frenetic recorded music association NVPI. Sources: IFPI food eating that would give many Streaming income rose 24.9% in the same outsiders heartburn. So what effect period and now represents 65% of total 2016T had on the Dutch music industry turnover, while income from downloads local marketing efforts of Deezer as well as The recent NVPI figures don’t break waistline we can only wonder given that fell 19%. Overall digital income in the Dutch telco KPN and its partner Spotify – down streaming revenue into constituent the country celebrated two important first half of 2017 was €55.4m ($65.1m), an “but also because the Dutch artists, music parts, although the IFPI’s full-year figures milestones. Firstly, the Netherlands made increase of 24.9% on the first half of 2016, industry and media have really supported for 2016 show that subscription audio the top 10 recorded music markets for while physical income fell 16.8% to €24.1m streaming from the start”. brought in the lion’s share of revenue for the first time since 2012, with revenue up ($28.3m). Among this, vinyl was a highlight, Spotify is the market leader in the the year at $85.01m, compared to $3.07m 9.3% to $243.4m; and secondly, streaming with income up 21%. Netherlands, but Van Buyten says for ad-supported audio streams and income overtook that of physical sales for “Market growth is almost entirely that Apple Music and Deezer have $6.09m for video streams. the first time, climbing 39.6% to $94.2m, thanks to the growth of subscription audio also performed extremely well, adding “Revenue from ad-supported audio while physical revenue fell 5.4% to $68m. streaming, which has by now really been subscribers both organically and through [Spotify free tier] and video streaming The good news continued in September embraced as the mainstream way of music bundled deals with telcos. This strong [YouTube] grows too, but its impact in

report with the release of the country’s recorded consumption by the Dutch,” says Michel performance has helped subscription absolute numbers on the total market music sales for the first half of 2017, in Van Buyten, co-MD of Sony Music Benelux. streaming to dominate the Dutch music numbers is negligible and keeps getting which overall revenue increased 8.5% He says that this shift is thanks to the streaming market. smaller,” Van Buyten says. the 16

ISSUE 410 17.10.17 MARKET PROFILE Netherlands continued...

leaving clear room for expansion. Van Buyten RECORDED MUSIC SALES DIGITAL MUSIC REVENUE BY FORMAT, says that “an ambitious but realistic goal” (Volume, million units) IFPI FIGURES should be to have a streaming subscription (Source: IFPI) (In US$ millions / Source: IFPI) penetration of around 70-80% of Dutch households or 6m total subscriptions. “Dutch 15 100 consumers and businesses are generally rather quick in adopting new technologies in all aspects of life – and music is not an 12 80 exception,” he adds. Looking forward to the end of the year, 9 60 the NVPI expects full-year growth to be similar to its half-year figure, a result that 6 40 could, conceivably, push the Netherlands above Italy in the ranking of global recorded music markets. “The Netherlands 3 20 has transitioned to a virtuous cycle, where increasing revenues lead to increases in 0 0 A&R spend and more choice for fans,” 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 says Jessurun. “The change came because increasing numbers of Dutch music CD and other physical Single downloads Paid/freemium fans are signing up to, and staying with, Single track downloads Full album downloads subscriptions subscription music services.” Digital Ad-supported streams Overall, then, Jessurun is optimistic. “I am excited about the future of the digital music industry in the Netherlands,” he There seems to be consensus within the think we have reached the end of the more competitive, as Apple Music and says. “All the building blocks for further Dutch music industry that music streaming growth yet – subscription audio streaming Deezer grapple with Spotify for market growth are in place. We have a strong A&R can keep growing there, too. “I think this will most likely keep growing, both in share, while a new local competitor launch base which is enabling us to put out a flow trend can continue; penetration of music number of subscribers and revenues. But in July 2017 came in the form of Juke, which of great new music and fans are getting subscription here hasn’t yet reached the the level and pace of this continued growth has backing from media giant Talpa Radio a great experience from subscription levels we’re seeing in the Nordics, so in the short and longer term will depend and electronics chain MediaMarkt. The new services, with increasing numbers signing there is plenty of room for growth,” on things like the future of existing service, which allows users to up. I think there is scope says Martin Jessurun (pictured), telco bundle deals, the entrance listen to music channels from to grow the digital president of Warner Music and performance of new Talpa, as well as a library of business still further if Benelux. “But it’s vital that services, a solution for the 40m songs, is targeting 1m we can address issues we continue to supply great value gap and so on.” users within two years. like the ‘value gap’ and new music to keep attracting Certainly, the environment On launching Juke, Talpa take advantage of new

report and retaining customers for in the Netherlands looks Radio and MediaMarkt technology such as AR subscription services.” promising for further streaming claimed that Dutch streaming and VR as it continues to Van Buyten adds, “I don’t growth. The market is becoming penetration had reached 30%, develop.” :) the 17 Music Ally is a music business information and strategy company. We focus on the change taking place in the Music Ally is an ISSUE 410 industry and provide information and insight into every aspect of the business, consumer research analysing 17.10.17 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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