Blog - If Society

Spotify deal killer (Tommi)

- 25.06.2009

I noticed a really weird pattern of consumer behaviour in myself yesterday. I was on the very verge of subscribing to Spotify premium, but cut the process once I was presented with these two options:

1 month = 9,99 euros
1 year = 99 euros

Instead of getting the feeling of cheap vs.... 3 comments click to read more

Hipster consumerism online (Tommi)

- 23.04.2009

Finding music is too easy these days. With services like Spotify, We Are Hunted, Sixty One popping up around every corner, being a hipster is easier than ever. Just let the music rain down on ya, with the sweet sense of being the first to find this and that band.

But what's the fucking... 4 comments click to read more

Record Store Day (Tommi)

- 18.04.2009

Whaddya know, Americans finally came up with a useless day of celebration actually worth celebrating!

Today is... Record Store Day!!!

But don't forget to make every day your personal record store day. click to read more

The power of "no" (Tommi)

- 12.04.2009

I've come to love the creative force of inhibiting myself.

A while ago I wasn't happy with the way I was playing drums. Then I stripped my drum kit to a kick, a snare a hi-hat and one cymbal. After that I became the best drummer since Animal from the Muppet Show. No joke, I rule.

Viola... click to read more

Less is more... and it's damn difficult (Tommi)

- 05.04.2009

If I had to recruit a copywriter, the ultimate test I'd put him into is coming up with a few variations for our Google AdWords -ad. I know I'm not a professional at this stuff, but Jesus Christ how difficult this thing can be! I can come up with an endless supply of great taglines, but once the... 3 comments click to read more

Agile music (Tommi)

- 01.04.2009

Now that the first monthly free new Viola-track is online, I'd like to take a step back to observe one really personally interesting reason for our choice to start making music in this manner.

Scrum

Scrum is an agile project methodology popular in software engineering. The name comes from 3 comments click to read more

The search for the "Music Business v2.0" business model (Tommi)

- 25.03.2009

Let me spoil this for you: You're on a quest for the holy grail, dudes. There is no new business model.

The time when music was a simple business is over. As long as recorded music has existed, the industry around it has been based on an ancient paradigm of creating a product, pressing it... 1 comment click to read more

Touch & Go rip, kind of... (Tommi)

- 18.02.2009

It was announced today, that Touch & Go distribution is closing shop.

Basically, if I've understood correctly, what they'll do is going into "catalogue mode", meaning that the once mighty indie trendsetter is basically going to focus on selling their existing back-catalogue (we'll be happy to... 2 comments click to read more

FREEWARS (Tommi)

- 17.02.2009

I've updated my "enemies of the music biz" -list. The former top contender - music piracy - has been replaced by something very similar and of close kin to it: Freewars.

One of the first business areas to enter Freewars is music business. Every new band has to give all their music away for...

2 comments click to read more

The joys of customer service (Tommi)

- 16.01.2009

We just got an email from an angry customers across the Atlantic. I won't go into further detail here, but there were two points of frustration on this person's mind: