Luckily for the point of this post that’s just what turned up in our inbox and even better it turns out that CO’s remix of TPHB’s Baby is indeed a good thing, 5 minutes of incredibly languid dreamy disco pop that would make the perfect musical accompaniament to any opium fuelled jacuzzi session.
Have you scheduled a date to launch a beta version of MusicDNA?
Rollout will be staggered over 2010, with the first beta versions available around Easter and the full commercial rollout expected over summer.
With all the data that come with the MusicDNA, do you think that the cost of a digital album will be the same as a CD – considering an updated base?
The price will be up to the discretion individual labels and retailers, though we expect MusicDNA files will be in a similar ballpark to existing MP3s.
How do the metadata in the file work for search, playlists and music recommendation?
In much the same way as existing applications, but in a much more sophisticated manner, Because MusicDNA can contain much more metadata than current MP3s, MusicDNA powered search and recommendation tolls or playlist generators are able to deliver much better results.
As our music libraries expand and we go from a shelf of CDs to thousands and thousands of individual tracks, it becomes harder and harder to find the track you want, or when faced with so much choice it becomes impossible to decide what to play next.
MusicDNA not only has more descriptive tags but they take into account factors that just aren’t considered by existing applications, the music’s mood, instrumentation and tempo for instance, this means that you will get much better results and it will dig deep into your library to find the right music rather than just throwing up similar playlists all the time.
With this new format, do you believe in a faster music industry transition to digital as the labels (and BACH) see the possible new revenue opportunities?
There will always be some market there for physical releases, but I think it’s clear that digital is the way forward, there have just been a few miss-steps along the way whilst we all adapt to what that means in terms of monetizing digital media.
I think MusicDNA is a clear way for labels to boost existing revenue streams and open up new ones. Once people see that there is money to be made from giving music fans a better experience then yes I believe this will speed up the transition.
Do you see MusicDNA having a greater impact in the industry than the alternative formats that are already there, like iTunes LP?
In the long run yes, iTunes LP is an important recognition that the way forward is giving music fans a product that has value beyond simply the music, but whilst LP goes some way to adding value to digital music, it is still essentially a static file with some extra content bolted on.
MusicDNA not only gives back all the things we lost when we switched to digital formats, lyrics, liner notes, artwork, but crucially it goes beyond that allowing fans to access everything from Twitter feeds and videos through to concert tickets, this will all dynamically update whenever you’re online, so music fans always have the latest information to hand.
Importantly with MusicDNA you can customise single tracks, you’re not restricted to purchasing complete albums as you are with LP.
And because all the additional rich media is integrated into the file (unlike iTunes LP), that content can be easily transferred from one device to another.
Mark Mulligan, vice president and research director of industry analysts Forrester Research recently put it well to the UK’s telegraph newspaper “innovations like the iTunes LP need to go further. People should pay just once to get everything that artist does over the next year in one file that is regularly updated”
Do you think that MusicDNA can be a real alternative to free music available online? How attractive do you believe the metadata will be, once the users will have to pay for it?
We think that when the public gets to have a go with MusicDNA, they’ll soon see the benefits. The thing is we’re not trying to tell them how to behave, rather we’ve watched and studied how people listen to music and interact with their favourite musicians and made it so they can do all of this as conveniently as possible.
MusicDNA allows people to get the most from their music libraries, there’s no point having ten thousand tracks if you only listen to the same 20 or 30, with MusicDNA you’ll get the most from your music, and that is something that people have been shown to be willing to pay for.
This is an open technology. What’s the goal of SDK? Do you plan to open some kind of app Store?
We want to make it as easy as possible for 3rd party developers to take advantage of MusicDNA. We can’t wait to see what the world wide development community can do with MusicDNA, we’ve already had a lot of interest from developers, I’m sure there will be some amazing Apps developed by other people, ideas that we hadn’t even begun to think about.
It’s too early to say exactly how and from whom people will be able to download these new apps, but the phenomenal success of the the iPhone App store is certainly encouraging.
Will the users be able to share the files and the information with others? Can they add data?
Users will be able to customize their MusicDNA files, it’s very important that we allow people to interact with music on their own terms.
A personal question: as a ‘vinyl 2.0′, do you imagine MusicDNA ‘killing’ online piracy?
As only paid for files will dynamically update MusicDNA should be an incentive for people to purchase legitimate files rather than downloading them from p2p networks.
Over the last decade a lot of effort has gone into trying to stop piracy through sanctions and enforcement, and well the results speak for themselves. We believe in a carrot approach, giving the public what they actually want and a great incentive to go the legit route.
No one thing will ‘kill’ online piracy, but the more compelling alternatives to piracy that we provide, the more people will embrace them.
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