Month: April 2013

Twitter Music

Twitter MusicAs all of us know, there are countless online music apps and platforms circulating the web, from Spotify, to Pandora, to Soundcloud, to Last.fm – all offering “unique” variations on the music listening experience. Let’s have a quick overview and then I’ll make a few valuable points.

  1. Spotify works with Facebook to allow friends to share music in real time, as they listen.
  2. Pandora lets users pick a genre, or artist, or song and create a playlist accordingly.
  3. Soundcloud targets the artists themselves, allowing recording and sharing, which in turn, appeals to listeners looking for the next great musician or fans seeking sneak peeks of new songs.
  4. Last.fm basically provides an encyclopedia-like amount of information about artists with biographies to similar musicians and popular tracks.

So it comes as no surprise, and it was only a matter of time before Twitter released its own online music player, cleverly named, “Twitter #Music.”

So what does #Music have to offer, and is it even worth using when compared to all the other listener options?

Lets check out the app.

Twitter organizes its music selection into four categories: Popular, which they describe as “new music trending on Twitter;” Emerging, “hidden talent found in the Tweets;” Suggested, “artists you might like;” and #NowPlaying, “tweeted by people you follow.” 

The Popular music section is basically Twitter’s version of the iTunes top 100, or the Billboard top 100, except it illustrates the top 40 songs played on Twitter.  Is less actually more? The ‘Emerging’ category promises to expose new, up and coming, talented musical groups –probably Indie-Rock bands; ‘Suggested’ is exactly what it sounds like –Twitter analyzes your tweets and follows and provides you with music accordingly (not bad for music discovery purposes); and ‘#Nowplaying’ is pretty self-explanatory.

While the idea of Twitter joining the music sharing industry is a pretty obvious decision, and the categories they break the music down into seems legitimate, and are integrated into Twitter pretty logically, it still is difficult to imagine #music making any real impact in the music sharing space, despite its already massive audience.  The sad news is that Twitter has failed to offer any “new” advantages to using its application.

Popular music can be found anywhere. There are far more credible sources for “emerging” talent on sites like Pitchfork.com, or even through Spotify – and “Suggested” tracks has already been mastered by Pandora. However, possibly the biggest flaw in #music is the fact that I could really care less about what people I’m following are listening to. Facebook and Spotify work so well together because they only share information among friends, or at least acquaintances. Twitter is different in that it is a totally different type of social networking. Yes I follow my friends, but I also follow people for news, for sports analysis, for tech advances, or because they may just tweet hilarious, absurd and interesting thoughts.

But that does not mean that I am interested in what Anderson Cooper, Snookie, LeBron James, or what @crapmydadsays is listening to?  Not really.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

 

1-day Mastermind & Branding Event w/Lunch w/Kelli Richards, Mike Koenigs and MaryAgnes Antonopoulos

“An Introduction to All Access Inner Circle Mentorship”

Friday, April 19, 9:00am-2:00pm

Capital Club, San Jose, CA


Featuring: Mike Koenigs, Kelli Richards and Mary Agnes Antonopoulos on Branding, Social Media & Connections

Your Investment: $147.00

sign-up


In this 1-day Mastermind & Branding Event with Internet GIANT Mike Koenigs, and Social Strategist Mary Agnes Antonopoulos, Kelli Richards will focus on supporting attendees to leverage and create a powerful online presence and brand, build valuable connections, AND set achievable goals, blow past roadblocks and support other attendees. This exclusive group will work with Kelli Richards and her two valuable guest speakers – serious and respected mentors in their field – to accomplish powerful results. This event is perfect for Entrepreneurs, Creative Thinkers, Professionals, CEO’s, and Small Business Owners.

Kelli Richards will help you:

  • Create powerful alliances and strategic partnerships that will:
  • Gain empowering insights and feedback from kindred, like-minded peers that will propel you forward and help you overcome obstacles in your way;
  • Develop powerful connections in networking to create dynamic collaborations and accelerate success.
  • Identify the road blocks preventing you from achieving your goals and vision.

Internet Giant Mike Koenigs will share:

Guest Speaker #1: Mike Koenigs, The World’s Highest Paid Online Video Marketing Expert “How to be a Highly Paid Success Story with Cutting-Edge Mobile, Video and Social Media Tools”

  • Common threads and lessons learned working for over 20 years with clients such as Sony Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Paula Abdul, Tony Robbins, General Mills, BMW and tens of thousands of customers in over 60 countries
  • How to become a highly-paid online marketing consultant with today’s cutting edge mobile, video, and social media tools (#1 Bestselling author of “Author Expert Marketing Machines” and #1 Bestselling co-author of “Make, Market, Launch IT!”).
  • Develop a vibrant video and mobile marketing presence with his software tools, Traffic Geyser and Instant Customer.

Guest Speaker #2: Mary Agnes Antonopoulos, Social Media & Branding Expert, “How to Run Your Entire Social Marketing Campaign in Four Hours a Week”

Mary Agnes will share:

  • 45-minutes: from confusion to an easy, how-to toolkit to create an effective social media campaign in only 4 hours a week:
  • Easily populate your blog; turn it into a sought-after podcast and YouTube series;
  • Realistically reach over 80,000 people through Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes and BlogTalkRadio;
  • Build a brand that WORKS and attracts people to your website and your social presence;
  • Do’s and don’ts for newsletters and all things online. Learn how from Social Media Rock Star and Strategist, Mary Agnes Antonopoulos.

Your Investment: $147.00

sign-up


About Kelli Richards

Matt Swafford www.swaffordimaging.com San Mateo California 2010Kelli Richards is a recognized thought-leader in digital music and entertainment with deep expertise in digital distribution and branded content, as well as working with a plethora of luminaries and innovators. She drove music and entertainment initiatives at Apple for 10 years, and helped to birth a whole new consumer movement around disruptive technologies & emerging business models. As President of The All Access Group, she has worked closely with a the author of “Instant Customer Revolution,” which explains wide range of start-ups, Fortune 100 companies, and established artists and industry leaders alike as a sought-after strategic consultant for the past 15 years. www.allaccessgroup.com.

About Mike Koenigs

Mike KoenigsMike Koenigs is the “2009 Marketer of the Year” winner, entrepreneur, filmmaker, speaker, author and holds a patent in “Cross-Channel” Marketing Technology. He is the CEO, “Chief Disruptasaurus” and Founder of Traffic Geyser and Instant Customer. His products simplify marketing for tens of thousands of small businesses, authors, experts, speakers, coaches and consultants worldwide. His celebrity and bestselling author clients and friends include Paula Abdul, Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Debbie Ford, John Assaraf from “The Secret”, Brian Tracy, Jorge Cruise, Dan Kennedy and Harvey MacKay.

About Mary Agnes Antonopoulos

Mary Agnes AntonopoulosMary Agnes Antonopoulos is a respected social media strategist with over 100 successful social branding and marketing campaigns for a variety of clients, including NY Times bestselling authors: Jack Canfield, JJ Virgin, Christine Comaford; plus a long list of entrepreneurs and corporations (including AT&T, Midas and Panera Bread). She has graduated hundreds of entrepreneurs from her 6-week course on social marketing. Mary Agnes speaks all over the country, teaching winning social media tactics and audience building techniques.

Leap Motion, Welcome to the Future

Developers at Leap Motion may be in the process of creating the most revolutionary tool to hit computers in decades: the ability to control your computer using just your hands and simple finger movements. The Leap Motion device is a flash drive size gadget that connects to either your Mac or PC and instantly allows you to manipulate the three-dimensional model on your screen.

Inspired by the idea that it takes 10 seconds to mold clay in real life but 30 minutes using a computer, Leap Motion wanted a way to make “molding virtual clay as easy as molding clay in the real world.” And it seems that with the use of infrared LED’s and several cameras’ the Leap Motion controller has succeeded in revolutionizing the way people will interact with their computers; creating a virtual space above the cigarette sized device, tracking your movements in real time, accurate to 1/100th of a millimeter. What makes this invention so impressive is that the use of this virtual 3D space, allows the user to physically manipulate content rather than simply communicate with it in the form of gestures. (Swiping your hand to the left to change pages, or pinch your fingers to zoom in.)

Wired has declared that Leap Motion is, “the best gesture-control system we’ve ever tested;” and The Verge called the device, “the next big thing in computing.” But how will Leap Motion change the way you use your computer? Imagine surfing the Internet without the use of a mouse- clicking, scrolling, zooming in and out, and rotating images using only your hands. Editing excel sheets could be done with out tediously selecting and dragging data with a mouse and keyboard shortcuts, but instead by simply grabbing and dragging items with yours hands. Envision artists creating, drawing, molding, onscreen images in the most natural way possible- again, with their hands. Imagine doctors manipulating 3-Dimensional images of the human body to help patients pinpoint ailments; or surgeons practicing procedures in controlled environments.

Leap Motion’s cofounder David Holz believes that touch screen tablets are so incredibly popular because of their intuitive nature (in comparison to mice and keyboards), but such technology is limited. Holz has stated, “the fact is that you can’t really do anything with a tablet, with tap and swipe, but it feels natural… We have that same natural experience but we have more power.” And at a price of $69.99, the Leap Motion controller is reasonably priced, setting the stage for it to enter the homes of masses, revolutionizing our entire computing experience soon rather than later.

While currently the Leap Motion controller may be a computer gamer’s dream toy, allowing users to fire guns in a similar motion used by Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, Leap Motion has declared, “The possibilities are endless, really. Art. Healthcare. Engineering. Gaming. If you can imagine it, we’re pretty confident there’s a remarkable member of our developer community who’s already making it a reality… We know, it sounds too good to be true. But that’s what we specialize in around here.”

You can watch the Leap Motion device in action here: Introducing the Leap Motion

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

Celebrating 50 Years of Being Julian. A Lennon Legacy and a White Feather of Hope

Today is my wonderful friend Julian Lennon’s 50th birthday. Happy Birthday Jules!

Julian Blog Photography Today is a great day to talk about legacy and connection. I first spotted Julian Lennon when I was a young girl. The Beatles were on TV – they were everywhere by then – this time, however, way on the left, on the side of the stage, sat a young boy, obviously just about my age.  To me, he looked lost, almost forlorn.  I didn’t know he was John’s son, but my connection to him was immediate and strong. While other friends would go crazy watching for Paul or John, I would closely scan all Beatles concerts and appearances, looking for that young man – who of course, turned out to be Julian.

While John Lennon made a huge effort to be there for his second son, Sean, it was a lesson learned by painfully not being present for Julian’s life after John’s divorce from Cynthia, Julian’s mother. Julian Blog with John Young

Several years after John’s passing, Julian’s debut album came out – and like many people did at the time, I actually thought it WAS John. The resemblance between the two was astounding.  Of course, it was not a lost John Lennon track – it was Julian singing Valotte – a massively talented artist in his own right. (Like so many children of rock stars, separating his own art from the shadow of his dad’s legacy would not be easy.)

Many years later again, I was lucky enough to meet Julian – to share some strategic ideas and talk about possibly collaborating down the road, should the opportunity arise.  We shared a deeply moving conversation that day about his life and his work – and we discussed the amazing (and diverse) body of work that Julian had created to that point – as a musician and as a photographer.  (You can see Julian talk about his photography in an interview with CBS Morning Show.)

At our meeting, after a warm greeting and a hug that spoke more of old friendship than new colleagues, I shared with Jules a two-page document filled with ideas and possible points of collaboration down the road, and I suggested that he start a foundation.  Not long after, Julian launched his charity, The White Feather Foundation.

Julian Blog White FeatherWhite Feather refers to Julian’s experience and belief that his dad reached out to him after he was killed – that if Julian ever saw a white feather, he should know John was present for him.  Time passes so quickly.  White Feather was started several years ago now.  Its work is huge.  It embraces environmental and humanitarian issues in conjunction with partners from all around the world, raising funds for a more sustainable world for every living being. White Feather has done everything from supporting artists to marching to end bullying to building an orphanage in Sri Lanka.  One project at a time, White Feather builds better lives and stronger communities.  In 2008, Julian was honored by the Better World Environmental Award by Prince Albert of Monaco.Julian Blog Single-1

And his legacy work doesn’t stop with White Feather – or his music – or his breathtaking photography. Julian has also invested his time, over the last several years, buying and gathering memorabilia of his father’s life and the Beatles’ long journey.  In 2011 he published a beautiful coffee table book entitled “Beatles Memorabilia: The Julian Lennon Collection” featuring many of these valuable artifacts.

Julian Blog AlbumToday Jules releases the single “Someday” from his newest CD “Everything Changes”; the CD is a breathtaking collection of some of the most beautiful tunes he has ever written – and he took his time with it.  It took several years before Jules was ready to release this latest compilation & it was well worth the wait.

Looking at his 50th year, you cannot miss that Julian has carved “legacy” everywhere in his life.  He has built careers as both a musician and a photographer – and now as a curator of his father’s memory.  One memory and memento at a time, Julian gathers the pieces, near and far, and builds on the memory and the journey, one feather – and one step at a time.  I can’t wait to see what Jules does next, but whatever it is it will have meaning and impact, and I’ll be there to support his efforts.

To Support the White Feather Foundation, please visit:  https://WhiteFeatherFoundation.com

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

“Indoor” Google Maps

As revolutionary as Google Maps was, bringing instant, step by step directions straight to peoples smart phones; Google is in the process of once again releasing possibly the most game-changing technology to the maps industry since the invent of the sextant: indoor maps.

But before we explore the technology, its uses, and how it will change your day-to-day life, lets discuss the changes of the map-making industry, and how it grew with the development of new technology. The cartography industry grew in large part due to the intellectual expansion in Ancient Greece, and philosopher’s creation of basic mathematics, as well as geometry and calculus.

Surveyors used these new techniques to physically measure, plot, and illustrate landscapes by hand, without the use of some of today’s most fundamental tools. Map making became exponentially more accurate following the invention of the devices like the compass, sextant, and theodolite. The compass, of course providing the map maker with the essential cardinal directions; the sextant is a navigational instrument used to determine elevation above the horizon, in other words a sextant allows you to calculate a “line of position,” a path, along the surface of the earth. When used with other triangulation devices, individuals are able to determine latitude and longitude; and a theodolite is used to measure horizontal and vertical angles in relation to specific sites, allowing for greater measurements in surveying.

These devices, as well as countless others, allowed for greater world exploration and more accurate cartography of both “new” and inhabited lands. And while map making is dramatically different today in relation to ancient cartography in that the technology used is far more developed, the basic concepts remain. But in a time period in which rain forests are being destroyed, giving way for more urban living, where buildings scrape the sky, and people drive everywhere in their various automobiles- the need to efficiently maneuver around is incredibly vital.

Yes, we have had accurate maps for centuries now, but we still lack written, easily accessible indoor maps. And the “You are here” displays in malls don’t count, as they draw more of a parallel with mouse mazes than real usable maps. Rather, imagine being able to look up directions to a doctor’s office, classroom, or meeting location days before your actual appointment. Or running late to a job interview and being able to find the fastest step-by-step directions to places within a building. Google is currently making maneuvering around buildings far easier with their creation of indoor Google maps software.

This software, which is available on both iPhones and Android devices provides the user with a floor plan of the building they are in, allowing the users to figure out where they are, and orient themselves with their environment- even showing you what floor your on. Indoor Google maps will appear right through the Google maps app, allowing you to plan your entire trip from the comfort of your home to the room of your final destination. Talk about better than door-to-door service.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

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