2007 November « ..::Ash 2.0::..

I am 168 hours Nicotine free and I am losing my mind!! November 19, 2007

Posted by ashz in General, Rants, Video content, web 2.0.
1 comment so far

Hi! How are you guys doing? I have not been blogging for a long time as you can tell as I was recovering from very extreme side effects of trying to quit smoking ( I have stopped for 7 days now, and I still have the withdrawals) and loads of pending paperwork and media planning. Seriously. More things are piling up and I really think that I should chill for a moment to ease my brains…So to start things slow, I am just going to share some videos that I amused me over the past few days:

The Air Guitarist:

Check out the Hello Kitty breast plate and the pants, was he really tearing it up or was he scratching his…well you get the idea.

Now check out this one, a classic Indonesian Dangdut song:

The hair and the pants are mindblowing!

But the winner of my weekly brains blender video award goes to:

Please…Just check out the lyrics!

So now we know where Michael Jackson ripped the song from!

Must…Not…Think…of….Cigarettes….

Some random thoughts and ideas on music 2.0 November 7, 2007

Posted by ashz in Asian Music Scene, DRM, Malaysian music scene, Mobile content, Music 2.0, downloads, mp3, music, music business, music piracy, technology, technopreneur, web 2.0.
4 comments

1- Bands should go Indie, and treat their music as water, yeah a resource which should be managed and marketed in volume, not per copies, bundling and cross selling their products as an “experience” is the way to go

2- Telcos and brands should start exploring the dance community as another untapped market, the demographics are just right for aggressive product cross selling

3- Mobile advertising is an interesting idea to explore

4- A flat music subscription fee for unlimited music downloads is another solution against music piracy in Asia

5- According to Gerd Leonhard, mobile devices are the new Internet platform, companies should harness this new territory NOW!

6- I strongly urge Major labels to work together to develop a competitor portal to itunes, this time, instead of developing another ipod, venture into mobile devices and interoperability

7- I think there is no passion in the music business anymore, well, at least in Malaysia. The executives don’t even know what the band sounds like, its just dollars and cents talk. So angry.

8- Events and concerts should start selling mobile content of their featured artist and bundle it with other merchandise. My personal case study on this is with the recent Global Gathering. 1146 ring back tone downloads in 2 days is not bad at all..

9- Mr. Sandy Monteiro, thank you for the new RBT model, now THAT new model really makes sense. I apologize for the bashing, I received info from very bad sources. As for Maxis, this new model makes more sense and on behalf of the music industry, I totally support it. I can only publish the new business mode after it is made public. Just watch out for this space!

*This is subject to changes from Maxis

** I might be removing this info if Maxis feels that it is inappropriate for me to publish this

10- I think Maliq & D’Essentials’ new album is totally AWESOME!!

Parkdrive and I- A very special trip to Jakarta November 2, 2007

Posted by ashz in Asian Music Scene, Dj Gear, General, Music 2.0, Rants, music, web 2.0.
3 comments

Remember Parkdrive that I blogged about awhile ago? No? Let me refresh your mind, I discovered this band a couple of months ago by accident. I was blown away with their production quality and sound that I decided to contact them via Myspace (Yeah I know, that was so cliche’ and pathetic…) and we remained in contact.

Lo and Behold! God works in very very mysterious ways. Juno, the main man behind the band and the Managing Director of Gowamusic, was somehow stranded in KL while he was on his way to Melbourne, so he called me and we hooked up. I was kinda nervous at first, knowing that we have never met before, but hey, it’s natural selection, we became buds in no time at all. He was in tears when I told him that I was going to bring him for a ‘Teh Tarik’ and ‘Nasi lemak’ session, ( Note for the clueless: Teh Tarik is frothy milk tea and Nasi lemak is rice cooked with coconut milk served with very hot anchovy chilli paste. Mindblowing!)

So we chat and he came to my office the next day before flying to Melbourne.

I was in Jakarta sooner that I knew it, I called him at the airport and we met up later that night at his office. He returned the local delicacy favour thing by bringing me to a ‘Nasi Padang’ restaurant ( Nasi padang is a local Indonesian delicacy. You cannot miss it if you are in Indonesia, it is rice served with various accompaniments, the thing that amuses me that you may have like 20 accompaniments on the table but you only pay for which dish you eat, cool stuff!)

Indulgence….

I hung out at his studio the next day and he was very passionate about his music and equipment. Something which I long for in musicians, no disrespect! so here you go, some snippets I took from our session:

And here is part 2:

Notice that he uses a software called ‘Ableton Live!’ religiously, I strongly think that Live! have changed the way musicians from around the world play, compose and perform, its stable as hell and very easy to use, I got some tips from him on how to play Live!, tweaking your kick drum and a whole lot of good advice.

So here are some of ‘Parkdrive’s’ video clips, just in case you want some action hah!: