blending the mix

The BBC reports on how an ENTIRELY unheard of group, Koopa have managed to get a Top 40 hit, with no recording contract!

Recent changes to the way the UK Top 40 Music chart is compiled (now taking into account ANY music downloads) have meant that on download sales alone, Koopa have managed to enter the charts at Number 31.

All around the world, there are A&R men and women crying into their champagne. The people have spoke. They don’t need a record company telling them what band they should be listening to next.

myspace, flickr tour tags, WOM, forums have replaced conventional music marketing and put it in the hands of the people.

I find it fascinating to see how the music industry has been able to demonstrate such a responsiveness to these new techniques and wonder what other industries can/could so publicly demonstrate such. success

Vive La Revolution!

Tags: koopa, bbc, itunes, music, myspace, flickr

p.s. don’t think I’m mocking redundancy…been there, done that…on the cusp of it again!

16th January update: Music Zone the once popular music retailer is now in liquidation.

Tags: secondlife, web 2.0, internet, micropersuasion, myspace, community, integration

I have been tinkering around with a template for ages and wanted to find something visually impressive but which I could do something with. I think I have found it.

Ironically now that I am Mac-powered, a Vista-themed theme comes along and grabs my attention enough to change my blog for!

What’s really cool (and a bit geeky!) is that each day YOU can change the look of MY blog by simply clicking on any one of the 11 images at the top…how Web 2.0 is THAT!

I would love to hear what you think - if you even care!

My Sony laptop is on the verge of packing in, after years and years of (ab)use it is at death’s door.

The CD drive does not allow me to burn back-up discs anymore and it is pot luck as to whether or not it will work from one day to the next.

So, I am offering a unique opportunity to sponsor ME.

Apple, Microsoft, Dell, or indeed any company willing to provide me with a half-decent laptop will have their name mentioned as part of my email signature.

In ALL communications in which I participate and which requires me to use the laptop (pretty much all the time!), I will apply the following signature text for a full 12 months (and I WILL provide weekly evidence of this):

Paul Fabretti

Director

Written on an Apple Macbook Pro by Company X.

Or

"Written using the latest Dell Precision M90"

or whatever suits the company providing it! You get the picture!

I may even think about something that sounds good too!

I am a minimum 3-times a day, 3-blog blogger with a (growing) average 800 unique visitors per month (ok, not a lot but growing all the time!). I am an active member of linked-in, openbc, ecademy as well as the pinkomarketing wiki and google group.

I am also an eBay (UK) Gold Power seller. A link to the company providing my laptop will also be included in ALL my eBay auctions.

Some will no doubt snigger at the visitor numbers (and advertisers may balk at the numbers!) but I am an extremely active member of the communities in which I mix, and present you with an opportunity to touch business professionals deeper than any banner ad would.

If this is of interest to you and you would be able to provide me with a laptop, I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Tags: ebay, Dell, Apple, Macbook Pro, laptop, pinko marketing

Citycita is a great tool previewed on TechCrunch a couple of days back. It allows people to create specific interest groups and map them to allow those groups to meet.

It got a fairly glowing review suggesting it may have a decent future but if you look at the screenshots, there is Google Adsense running down the left hand side.

What is your opinion on this? As a start-up is any revenue good revenue or is there more at stake tha a few dollars per month?

Is the brand they are creating more important than the marginal revenue they will create by placing these type of ads on the homepage?

My argument is YES. It is tacky and should be BANNED for start-ups!

If you have enough VC money coming in, and looking at the type of people that are likely to read TechCrunch, are the y likely going to click on Adsense ads? No.

However, are they going to see Google Adsense ads and wonder if you are such a small operation (and therefore a risky one to sign-up with) that you need to generate cash from Ad Sense?

I’m not knocking Citycita because I think it is a great idea and wish I could use it in the UK. If I could create bathroom user groups who could discuss home improvements with each other and even visit our previous customers’ houses to see our handy work, I would be a VERY happy man.

I just think that Ad Sesne has been hijacked by too many scammers for it to be used on a credible business venture’s homepage.

Technorati Tags: Google, Google Adsense

I have frequently blogged about the need for companies who want to behave ethically to use some sort of feedback system. If you are doing a good job tell others about it, if you are doing a GREAT job, let your customers tell other people about it.

I get just under a third of my business from people who have checked out my eBay feedback and have then gone on to buy from me over the phone - bathroom suites at £950 a time with no hesitation in handing out credit card details to a total stranger.

Equally, because I know bad service or problem resolution may result in negative feedback, I go FLAT OUT to try and ensure total and utter staisfaction with my customers.

Negative feedback has far more bad consequences than positive feedback has good ones, so I strive to make sure that everyone in the business has the customer as king.

Too many companies hide behind the excuse of a lack of measurement tools to provide customer feedback - but now there are no excuses and only those companies who have something to hide will not adopt this type of scheme soon.

thanks to techcrunch for the images.

Stephan Spencer is offering a FREE eBook by one of his clients on how to become a Google Power-User and it is great!

Many people blog about Web 2.0, where it is going, how it is going to change our habits, when and where we will be using it etc., but how many people actually experience the products themselves? How can you recommend something you haven’t tried yourself?
Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Search, Froogle, Adwords, Adsense…(there are many many more!!) are all tools that if you learn to use yourself, ONLY THEN can we understand how they can benefit your business.

Soemone told me I was a salesman’s dream - because I am a salesman. Likewise, you can only expect to sell to people over the internet and via Google if you use it yourself and understand it.

Stephen Spencer is one of the most knowledgable and readable SEO and Internet guru’s around and if his clients are making mega-bucks from his advice, it might be prudent to read the book!

Technorati Tags: FREE eBook, Web 2.0, Google Calendar, Gmail, Froogle, Adwords, Adsense, Google, Stephen Spencer

After noticing that Yahoo! Audio is up and running I now see that they have put MyWeb2.0 into beta too.

Tapping into the del.icio.us online bookmarking as well as tagging it also allows the full importing of existing bookmarks.

is there ANYTHING Yahoo! aren’t into at the moment? They are really leading the pack in CGC and social tools at the moment.

I’ve never been a big fan of online diaries etc. I have a great big leather-bound diary with me everyday and I never use it. Equally, online diaries like Hipcal need logging into all the time to keep track of things, which is a pain, but Backpack is something much better than just a diary making me WANT to use it.

It is the closest thing I have seen to diary wiki really, allowing me to keep track of things I would normally include in a diary, but also being able to create content that ensures my business is run efficiently.

My company, (not online yet, hence the dead link!) has just bought a showroom and warehouse which needs an AWFUL lot of worl doing to it (phones, decoration, IT etc.) and as we are currently all over the North of England (Leeds, Harrogate and Bradford), keeping track of what needs doing and when is a causing all sorts of problems.

I saw the link to backback through Steve Rubel’s blog post about How I work which took its lead from an article I also blogged about earlier this week on how Bill Gates works.

Backpack is a great online area where members of teams can add (in a very attractive UI) all the essential items that ensure work is done in a timely and (hopefully!) organised fashion!

Technorati Tags: How I work