The Digital Street Paper - A Crowd Funding Project

Street papers have been around for years, helping homeless and vulnerable people all over the world to earn a dignified and sustainable income. Since it's beginnings, this form of printed paper has developed to represent a global movement against social injustice and inequalities.

Street papers are now being published in around 40 countries, with this vast global family of producers and vendors joined together by an organisation called the International Network of Street Papers. Combined with offering a worldwide connection for those involved in street papers, the INSP also help to share knowledge, technology and skills within the community.

Inner Ear also helped to produce this 3 minute video for the International Network of Street Papers, further detailing the issues surrounding the newly born Digital Street Paper.

As with all print media however, the consumption and readership are now altering at a dramatic rate. A significant shift from print to digital has taken place in recent years and street papers have unfortunately not been exempt from this huge change either. In order to adhere to these changes and developments, the INSP have been working on new, innovative ideas to bring the street paper industry right up to date. The main challenge here is to bring the street paper into the digital world without losing the essence of vendor-to-customer interaction, often the reason for many of the sales.

This has led to the inception of a brand new concept, The Digital Street Paper.

This digital publication will be accessed using a unique code, purchased as a printed coupon and sold directly from the street vendors in much the same way as a physical copy would be. The code will allow the customer to access a little more information on the vendor they interacted with as well as the full content from the magazine, available using any smartphone, tablet or desktop. The lesser costs involved in this form of publication will also reduce environmental impact and at the same time allow for a higher profit margin for all those involved in street paper distribution.

INSP are asking the public to help fund two pilot schemes starting this summer, with The Big Issue in the UK and the Streetwise publication in Chicago. Any contributions received will be used to build the technology platform for this new digital paper and if funds are raised beyond the organisation's current goal, they will be used to promote the pilot projects and ensure they reach the maximum amount of trial users. This is a great opportunity to be involved in a potentially worldwide project, changing the lives of homeless and vulnerable people on a global basis. There are a range of exclusive rewards available for contributors to help celebrate and encourage support of this crowd funding project.

Posted by Benny Robb 

The Scottish Album of the Year Award - Public Vote

The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award is a brand new national prize designed to celebrate the creativity and diversity of music and art in Scotland.

Developed by the Scottish Music Industry Association in partnership with Creative Scotland, the award has been established to commend the very best in Scottish Music releases from the last year. With some great albums making the long list, the public has had the chance over the last few weeks to listen to all of these 20 releases and make a choice on which album deserves the grand prize of £20,000 (with the 9 runners-up all receiving £1000 each also).

Finally, the day has come to place your votes!

You can jump on over to the Say Award website and register your vote today, and today only. This is your chance to have a say in the best of current Scottish Music and help promote the artists you feel deserve this respectable new accolade. In the running today are arts collective and band - Found, the amazing young Glasgow producer - Rustie, the long-serving giants of sound - Mogwai, and many many more.

Hesitate no further and have your say in the SAY Award 2012, all of the artists voted on to the shortlist will be announced by the end of this week.

Posted by Benny Robb 

Where Does The Smart Money Go? Musings on Paper Electronics Futurology

If we had money to invest in technology right now, my friends and I pondered in the pub the other night, where would we put it? It's all a bit academic because most of the money we make gets reinvested in growing our businesses (although we do seem to buy a lot of gadgets between us), but an interesting train of thought was inspired by my brother's investigations into printed electronics.

Tommy Perman (my brother, one of the highly innovative FOUND music and art collective) spoke on a panel at the recent Wide Days music business conference in Edinburgh alongside pHD student Mike Shorter and web developer Rob Howell from Bluemungus, chaired by insightful journalist and editor Chris Cooke from Unlimited Media. A major topic of conversation was Mike's field of study: paper electronics.

Mike, Tommy, Dr. Jon Rogers from University of Dundee and King Creosote went to SxSW Interactive to discuss whether or not printed paper electronics could save the music industry. FOUND have been working with Mike to create products inspired by #UNRAVEL (which comes to the Glasgow International Art Festival this week). Forget the paperless office (old news). They've made a studio full of kit out of paper. Pieces of paper tech include a cardboard mixer, paper headphones and a postcard synth.

FOUND have just installed #UNRAVEL at SWG3. I helped gaffer tape some of the cables down. Check it out. I'm good with gaffer (many years of experience crawling around clubs, theatres and conference centres on my hands and knees rigging kit... good times). After setup over a well earned pint, Tommy told our collaborators, Anny Deery of Deery Deery Me (and Inner Ear) and David Craik of the Bight Signals communications consultancy, all about paper electronics.

Paper electronics is basically about using conductive ink (silver works well) to print circuit boards. You can already find open source schematics for printing electronics on to normal paper. This makes homebrew electronics very readily accessible. You can even make the conductive ink required yourself. Combine paper electronics with 3D printing and the possibilities of what people can produce themselves at home seems endless.

Commoditised mass market products loose their value if you can print and build better, cheaper versions at home by yourself. Ideas and data become the currency then. Economies built on manufacturing, like China, give way to ideas and service-driven economies, like India. Surely the smart money should be invested in printers, I suggested (during our paper technology futurology summit in the Big Slope in Glasgow last Friday evening).

Take your money out of Apple, Google and Microsoft and put it into people who make printers. EPSON, HP, Canon, they're the people to invest in.

But no, perhaps not because you'll soon be able to print your own 3D printer, and you can already make your own conductive ink.

So perhaps the smart money goes into paper stock instead, advised David. But there's no reason why you couldn't print your own paper recycling machine or paper mill.

How about devices? Maybe the smart money goes into tablets and mobiles (because, really, how long do laptops and desktops have?) But then, paper displays are already here. In the near future, there's no reason why you couldn't buy, or download an open source, schematics for mobile phones or tablets and create your own devices.

Telecoms, Tommy said, are the future. They're big now, but they provide the glue that holds everything together. Whether wired or wireless, our always on connected world needs people to send data packages around the globe. And it's probably not the western telcos, I suggested, I think the smart money will go into the eastern telecommunications companies, perhaps ones we don't even know about yet.

So, if you've got money to invest perhaps moving it first into printer manufacturers then paper producers then mobile device makers then telecoms is a smart strategy. Or you could skip the steps and go straight for the telcos. (Although we're not stock advisors, obviously, so you'd do this at your own risk!)

If I was going to invest, that's what I think I'd do. Even if (and when) we can print and build everything ourselves, we'll need, more than ever before, to be connected.

Unless we can print our own high speed peer-to-peer telecommunications systems...

Dougal Perman (@dougalperman) is Inner Ear's managing director.

Posted by Inner Ear 

Social Media How To: Import Contacts Into Twitter

A consistent approach to your online presence has become the norm. If you’ve started to build up a mailing list or even contacts in a mail client like Thunderbird, Mac Mail or Outlook then it’s not always easy to export to services like Twitter. There doesn’t appear to be a way of automating these kinds of tasks, otherwise selecting individual email addresses can be extremely tedious and there isn’t often enough up-to-date or relevant information available on how to do this as online services are constantly being updated and improved.

I encountered a classic example recently when trying to import my contacts into a newly created Twitter account. I’d collated my contacts in email newsletter MailChimp service, only Twitter doesn’t have an automated service for linking MailChimp contacts. Faced with the problem of connecting the two services myself, devoid of any helpful instructions, I tried to think laterally.

1. Download Contacts

The first step in doing this was to download my contacts as a file which other services such as Twitter would recognise and therefore convert. The appropriate way of doing this was converting my MailChimp contacts into a ‘CSV file’. By doing this I then had all contacts in one place, enabling me to import them into sites which allowed this action. (CSV = Comma Seperated Value, basically a stripped back spreadsheet in very loose terms.)

2. Import Contacts to Gmail

Unfortunately Twitter doesn’t offer an option to import CSV files straight into your account. As I have a Gmail account, I decided to import the CSV file into my Google contacts. Within Gmail you can select the drop down menu from the ‘Gmail’ tab called ‘Contacts’, then import contacts from computer to accept your contacts in a CSV format. Once Gmail has recognised and imported all your contacts, it’s now time to transfer them over to Twitter.

3. Import Contacts to Twitter

Here on in becomes a very straight forward task. From the Twitter home page, hit on the #Discover tab at the top of the screen and, once opened, click on ‘Find Friends’. You will now be offered the option to ‘Search Contacts’ from a number of different email service providers, click on the Gmail tab, grant access when prompted and you will then be presented with all of your contact’s Twitter profiles with the option to follow.

Get in touch with Inner Ear to discuss how we can help you develop your audience by communicating content through social media channels.

Benny Robb (@iamdepths) is Inner Ear’s community manager.

Posted by Benny Robb 

Building and Analysing Your Audience

I've been along to a few Wide Days social events in Edinburgh for the music industry although I've never attended the Wide Days seminars so didn't quite know what to expect when I turned up to the looming Edinburgh University building, Teviot House.

I was on a panel with Ben Sunderland of Edinburgh band, Chasing Owls, Scott Cohen, co-founder of independent, global music distribution company, The Orchard and Jim Mawdsley promoter and Director of Evolution Festival. My music business experience began at leading digital music instrument pioneers Line 6 and has continued through marketing and social media roles with the RSNO and, working closely with Inner Ear, Radio Magnetic and Youth Music Forum Scotland. I based my preparation for the seminar on training and workshops we've delivered as part of the Inner Ear team on digital audience development and sessions specifically designed for musicians.

Taking to the raised stage in a dimly lit room, I certainly became nervous, not having expected to see quite so many folk in attendance. I'm also not overly familiar with stage lighting, usually on the other side of the camera, a few of which were roaming about plus an onstage Edirol audio recorder and a handheld mic.

What I'd planned to talk about were some of the most effective online services for promoting artists and venues. My approach, once the overall aims or objectives are in place is to get stuck into the nuts and bolts, the nitty gritty types of actions that come as second nature to me. As the nature of the conversation was different to what I'd anticipated, here are some of my tips that you may find useful for developing your online audience.

Consistent Brand Presence

Using a consistent brand name and logo image across social media profiles makes it easy for people to locate you on a variety of platforms. If you're starting out and want something highly original use a service like NameChk.com that'll tell you if the name you're thinking of is already taken. Use of a consistent band logo can help although you may need a few different sizes.

It's good practice to adopt a consistent tone of voice to reflect your band although it's always good to let your personality and individual characteristics be represented online. Some basic "digital hygiene" includes cross promoting your online presence, making it easy for your audience to find you wherever you are online, including links in your Facebook about section, and personally I like to be able to see social media profiles in your contact or about section of your own site, blog, Tumblr feed or whatever.

Finding Your Audience

There are lots of ways you can locate your audience. If you're a folk-rock band then you can follow other related acts throughout the UK and further afield. I like to think of social media and social networking in particular as a way of visibly demonstrating to others the kind of people you're connected with and the shared interests you may have.

Other basic tools can be to import your address book or better still your mailing list (MailChimp is an excellent tool with a feature-packed free service) whenever you set up a new social profile so that you're letting your existing contacts know you've got a new online presence.

Search is your ally, whether that's on Twitter, Facebook or more widely, using tools like SocialMention.com for references of your band or those you emulate. Free tools like Google Alerts linked to a Google Reader account are also a really handy way of keeping an eye on what's happening with other blogs where you can subscribe to their RSS feeds.

Content

Whether it's the text you have on your website or flyer or event listings, you've probably already got good content. You can also repurpose and create new content, whether it's asking a friend to help produce a video or using still images along with a soundtrack for YouTube. Sharing images on Flickr and in turn through to Facebook can be another way of demonstrating what you're doing. Sharing music mixes through platforms like MixCloud and then selling music tracks and albums through Bandcamp and/or SoundCloud. Whatever works best for you, with a little bit of planning and learning along the way, you can build up experience as you go.

Comment

There are plenty of opportunites for you to get your band out there online that many other acts are missing out on. Once you've found the blogs and sites you want to subscribe to and connect with, perhaps an act with a similar audience or a print publication based in your local area, begin engaging with them across their blog. Leave a comment, and where relevant sign post your blog. Sign up to specialist forums, join groups, like pages, follow other related profiles.

Crowdsourcing

One area that's got proven financial reward is crowdsourcing. Platforms like PledgeMusic.com, WeFund.com, Indiegogo and Kickstarter (US only) can be a great way of providing your established fan base an opportunity to engage with you further in a way that benefits you both. Platforms like Ustream and LiveStream are also making it significantly easier to reach a wider audience for little extra cost. Stage.it is a great way of monetising your online audience too.

Plus of course, using Facebook and Twitter to crowdsource your new album title, or suggestions on where next to visit on tour can be executed with simple online polls that can be easily embedded across your online presence. Give valued members something for their support and in turn make them feel privilged so they in turn can become advocates.

If you'd like to find out more about how you can take advantage of these and other social media services to develop your audience, please contact me through the Inner Ear website or post a comment below.

Posted by Anny Deery 

Destination Music: Digital Marketing Tips for Music Businesses and Tourism Operators

Both tourism operators (including travel companies, hotels, visitor attractions, bars and restaurants) and music bussineses (like bands, venues and promoters) can take advantage of readily available online services to promote what they do with music. I'm speaking today on a panel called "Destination Music" at the Wide Days conference in Edinburgh. This blog post contains some of the ideas I'd like to talk about.

Travelling music fans want to find out about what's happening in a city so they can make the most of their trip. Learning about a city's music scene may influence a traveller's choice of destination.

Tell Travellers About the City's Music Scene

We collaboarted on the creation and launch of the Walking Heads Glasgow Music Tour. This interactive audio walking tour (available for iPhone, Android and MP3 players) is an in-depth exploration of the city's rich musical history.

Create a Reason for People To Visit

Fence Records brought thousands of people to the beautifully serene East Neuk of Fife for years with their Home Game Festival. This highly imaginative boutique festival was such a hit it inspired the organisers to explore other parts of Scotland with events like Away Game on the Isle of Eigg in the Hebrides and Eye O' The Dug in St. Andrews. Hundreds of people that may never have visited these places have fallen in love with them after boutique music festivals gave them a reason to go.

Feed The Blogs

You don't need to create something as rich and deep as our walking tour to tell people about a city's scene, or promote a music festival to encourage people to visit though. Music blogs do a great job of this already by talking about what happens in the scene all year round. Scotland has many vibrant music blogs including (to name just a few) The Pop Cop, Song By Toad, Glasgow PodcART and Jock Rock. Student, community and internet radio and web TV are also vital bastions of taste and signposters of information. In Scotland indepdenent digital media outfits include our own Radio Magnetic, SubCity Radio, Fresh Air FM, Sunny Govan Radio, Leith FM and Detour. Promoters, venues and bands should feed new and old media with up to date information as well as operating their own blogs and be active on social networks.

No amount of insightful music blogs or effective social media engagement matters, however, if travellers can't find what they're looking for. We're working with the venues we feature on the tour and tourism promoters, like Glasgow UNESCO City of Music, Visit Scotland and the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau to market the tour to tourists. But if you can't get the tourism marketers on side, get your audience to do it for you.

Encourage Your Audience To Post On Yelp! and TripAdvisor

Before people visit somewhere, they look it up on TripAdvisor. When they're there, they consult geolocation services like Yelp! and Foursquare to find out where to go and what to do.

You can't – and shouldn't try to – influence or game these services, but you can – and should – encourage your audience or fanbase to post reviews on these services that mention your business in connection with music. As with any kind of marketing, if you have something or of value and interest to people, then make sure they can find out about it.

Tier Your Strategy

I won't go into detail on social media campaign planning strategy here (but by all means get in touch to find out how Inner Ear can help with that) but in terms of your destination marketing strategy these are the elements I recommend, in this order:

1. Create a valuable product (be it a music festival, walking tour or visitor attraction)
2. Communicate the concept by publish relevant content on social media platforms
3. Feed stories to blogs, internet radio, web TV and traditional media
4. Establish a meaningful dialogue with your audience on social networks
5. Encourage your audience to talk about you on location-based review services

Be strategic about how you deploy these elements, do it in this order, employ engagement tactics and you will see results.

Posted by Inner Ear 

Building an Audience for Badmouth Battles through 3 Social Media Services

Badmouth Battles Glasgow originated as an idea between two friends over a pint and was turned into a highly successful event producing sought after online content, solely through the use of widely-available social media platforms.

Promotion

Starting out we had the advantage of having already built up an enthusiastic online fan base through performing at filmed gigs all over the UK, with the majority of that footage being distributed on YouTube. This helped us initially as we knew that putting on an event in Glasgow allowed our local fans the opportunity to experience first hand the content they had already been watching online. This demand for the event meant that through a consistent effort of engaging with these people on various social media platforms (mainly Facebook and some Twitter), we could promote our event directly to the fans we knew would be interested in attending it.

After a series of emails between Badmouth Battles and a venue promoter we found through searching on Twitter, we had ourselves a place and time for the event to take place. The next task was acquiring a camera man, this was easy enough as Facebook had already provided the opportunity for us to connect with working videographers in our area. With a small team of 4 people established we were then able to begin promoting our event, entirely digitally.

The main way (and key to the event's success) of doing this was to create an 'Events Page' on Facebook around a month ahead of the confirmed date. Through this, we had the option to invite individual friends to join or 'attend' on the page and therefore specifically target the demographic of people who we were sure would be interested in parting with money to attend our event. Another benefit of creating this page was that anyone now attending the event could then share it with their friends, bringing an even larger potential for new fans and people who could be interested in getting involved. We found that once a few people had joined our page, very little work had to then be done for the word to spread other than some basic upkeep and engaging with people’s questions or comments as regularly as possible. This was ideal as Badmouth Battles at the time had no money and limited time to promote the event and in this manner, the event almost promoted itself through the volition of those interested in it.

Production

From our very first thoughts on what Badmouth would become, we knew that producing content from the night to share online would be a strong key to our success. Having acquired an accomplished videographer to film and edit footage from the first event, this allowed us to draw in better performers for the night. This is because online (particularly video) content is now an undeniably great tool for performers to promote themselves and in this case, their music. With all these things on our side we felt the night was set-up for great success and, with a few more tweets and status updates in between, we were ready for the event.

As hoped, the first event was a sell-out success with a great number of people attending and singing Badmouth’s praises thereafter. We filmed each of the performances (or ‘rap battles’) individually, introducing them to the camera in a live boxing-esque manner for the benefit of the YouTube viewers who would be watching after the event had taken place. Very little effort or difference was made to the logistics of the evening through this, with an experienced cameraman and a backup device for all the footage, everything ran extremely smoothly. This also helped getting the crown engaged immediately on the night as many people were enthusiastic to appear on camera or even just make that bit more noise for acts as a result of everything being recorded and later distributed.

Distribution

After the event was all said and done we were left with a small profit, a lot of really great content and some slightly fuzzy heads. The next task was to follow up on our original proposal and work out a way of distributing this rich content we had acquired in a way which was not only accessible and entertaining but would also encourage the growth of the next event.

The first step of this distribution of content was to create a Facebook Page for Badmouth Battles to allow those at the event (and any other people interested) to join in and engage with us. Once we obtained a number of ‘Likes’ on our Badmouth profile page, we decided the next step was to piece together a trailer of the upcoming footage to upload and share as the first piece of content from the night. In order to do this we started a YouTube account, named it Badmouth Battles, and uploaded our first video to the account, making it public and tagging it with relevant words (such as ‘rap’, ‘battle’ etc.) to allow people searching to find the content easily.

Once our trailer was uploaded, we again used social media profiles (Facebook and Twitter) to promote the video footage to those who we had already established would be interested in seeing it. This, again, allowed for people to share and connect with the videos, leaving comments, starting their own discussions and informing other people (potential fans) that didn’t already know about it.

After building this strong base of support we then proceeded to upload the remaining content on a once-weekly basis, encouraging people to subscribe to and visit our YouTube channel for more content and information. The success of this footage online subsequently led to more interest from both artists and fans and events that have followed since have brought in people from other countries, all encouraged to attend by online content and social media popularity of what is now essentially our ‘brand’, Badmouth Battles Glasgow.

From the promotion of the event to the distribution of the eventual content produced on the night, all of our success was achieved through use of these online services. Get in touch with Inner Ear to discuss how we can help you develop your audience by communicating content through social media channels.

Benny Robb (@iamdepths) is Inner Ear’s community manager.

Posted by Benny Robb 

3 Technologies That Made The Web Social

There are three core elements to social media that I think are fundamentally important. It's probably more true to say that they are actually aspects of web 2.0 (a term not often used anymore). Web 1.0 was all about publishing. Web 2.0 is all about sharing. These three elements made that possible:

1. RSS

Really Simple Syndication makes blogs, podcasts and other information and content feeds possible. In actual fact it's not really RSS (a script written in XML) that's the most interesting thing, but rather the concept of feeds. Twitter and Facebook wouldn't be what they are if it wasn't for their use of feeds. Providing users with the ability to subscribe to sources of information (news, chat, links, etc.) or content (podcasts, videos, photos, etc.) meant that people didn't have to remember to go back to a particular (destination) website anymore. Once subscribed, they would just get the content.

Feeds, including RSS, appear everywhere on the social web. Wherever you see the orange RSS symbol (used by all browsers except Safari) you can click on it and choose how to subscribe to the feed. iTunes enables you to subscribe to audio and video podcast feeds, for example. We use Google Reader to subscribe to, and manage, RSS feeds. Setup Google Reader for yourself and try subscribing to the Inner Ear blog RSS feed.

2. Embeddable Media

YouTube made this feature popular. Embeddable media describres content (usually audio, video, image or some kind of interactive widget) that is hosted on a social media platform website (such as YouTube, Flirck, Slideshare, Issuu, Mixcloud, Soundcloud, Audioboo, etc.) but placed on any website, blog or social network profile or group.

To embed media, you just copy its embed code (usually denoted by <> and a button called Share or Embed) and paste it into the HTML editor of your blog post or web page.

Embeddable media frees content and enables easy social sharing. People can find any piece of content, on a social media platform, social network, blog or website, and embed it on their own website. This changed the nature of website content. Creators stopped worrying about brining the audience to come to their websites and could instead concentrate on taking the content to the audience.

3. Tags

Delicious was one of the first services to popularise this social element which I describe like this:

Tags are a user-defined, non-hierarchical system of taxonomy.

That is: anyone can choose what tag to apply (to a piece of content such as a video, blog post or tweet), theirs no hierarchy (unlike categories, which follow a library-like tree structure) and they can be used to describe everything.

We recommend the use of three types of tags:

1. Branded tags are usually unique to your organisation or project (like "Inner Ear" or "innerear" for us).
2. Specific tags relate directly to the subject matter ("3 core elements", "RSS", "tags", "embeddable media").
3. Generic tags describe the wider field of interest ("social web", "social media", "web 2.0")

It's usually good practice to apply between 10 and 20 tags for each piece of content you post online. Have a look at how other people use tags on content platforms and websites. On our alternative music internet radio station Radio Magnetic, for example, we use tags to define musical genres. How you use them is up to you, but think about how you can utilise the simple power of tagging to help users find your content.

We've defined more of the terms we use on a glossary page of the Inner Ear website. Get in touch with Inner Ear to find out how we can help you make the most of your content in the social web.

Posted by Inner Ear 

Hiding art in plain sight: engaging museum visitors with QR Codes and Google Goggles

I think of QR codes as ugly barcodes. There are ways to make QR codes look more attractive, but I think they often look out of place and unattractive. However, the idea is simple and the technology works well (most of the time).

Using QR Codes To Tell Stories

National Museums of Scotland had an exhibition called Tales of a Changing Nation. QR (or quick response) codes were dispersed throughout the museum, placed next to individual pieces. Visitors scanned the code with their smartphone and were served up information, audio and video clips. They were also invited to leave comments about the pieces and share their stories.

I chatted to Hugh Wallace, head of digital media for National Museums of Scotland who was pleased with the way the project had gone, although admitted there was potential for taking the idea further. A non-linear narrative could be woven around the exhibition, with the audience navigating from one piece to the next via the QR Code triggers and resulting calls to action.

There could also be some kind of treasure hunt or adventure game element. Visitors could even contribute stories themselves, which could be curated and collated into the overall narrative. Some of these ideas remind me of some of the ideas I've suggested before about storytelling with playlists.

Looking At Art Through Google Goggles

The Ambi:IT:ion blog reported recently on an innovative initiative by the Metropolitan Museum of Art using Google Goggles. Visitors take a picture of an item in the museum and are then served information based on search results. This video explains more.

This practical use of Google Goggles is inspiring because it doesn't require anything eternal to the artefact itself, such as a QR code, just the Google Goggles app.

We're considering how these kind of ideas can be incorporated into the collaborative interactive audio walking tours project we're developing: Walking Heads. Check out our Edinburgh Comedy Tour and Glasgow Music Tour and let us know how you think QR codes and visual recognition could add to the experience.

If you'd like to talk about using interactive storytelling to enhance your visitor experience, get in touch with me or any of the Inner Ear team.

You can find out more about how the National Museums of Scotland used QR codes on their website and read more about the Metropolitan Museum of Art's use of Google Goggle's on the Amb:IT:ion blog.

Dougal Perman (@dougalperman) is the Director of Inner Ear Ltd.

Posted by Inner Ear 

If public arts subsidy stopped today, could the crowd fund you tomorrow?

Crowdfunding is an increasingly popular way of funding creative projects. The notion is nothing new, indeed the concept is very similar to the one that gave rise to stock trading. However, the term crowdfunding, and the platforms that exist to facilitate it, have risen in popularity in recent years.

Active Events asked me to deliver two talks on crowdfunding as part of the business side to Celtic Connections: Showcase Scotland and Scotland on Tour. I put together the presentation embedded below to refer to the key elements of running an effective crowdfunding campaign.

I was struck by the different reactions I received when presenting to two distinct audiences.

The Musicians Got It Straight Away

The first session was for Showcase Scotland on the artists's day, so the audience consisted mainly of musicians, and those working closely with them. The panel, chaired by Ian Smith from Creative Scotland, also featured Vanessa Reed, director of the PRS Foundation, and Helen McVey from Enterprise Music Scotland, who was there to talk about a fund EMS manage on behalf of Creative Scotland to support traditional music activities. The audience was receptive, asked lots of interesting questions and swapped stories of how crowdfunding has been used to raise money to make records and suggested ways it could be used to support all kinds of collaborative creative projects.

The Promoters Didn't Seem So Sure

The second session, at Scotland on Tour, was met with a significantly different reaction. Vanessa, Helen and I were joined by George Kyle, head of sponsorship and PR for Tennent's Lager with The Herald's Keith Bruce moderating. The audience consisted of small to medium-size gig promoters from all over Scotland. Once the four panelists had each presented (Vanessa on applying to PRSF, Helen on how their fund works, George giving advice on pitching to brand sponsors and my overview of crowdfunding for music), Keith opened the floor for questions.

I was amazed that George – a senior executive from what is arguably Scotland's biggest brand, well known for sponsoring music – only got one question, and I got none. All the questions were directed at the women who represented public funding. Whilst not entirely surprising, I was disappointed that promoters seemed to only be thinking about applying for public funding, rather applying their efforts to appealing to their crowds to fund them. George and I agreed that attracting brand sponsorship or crowdfunding provides an essential demonstration of commercial viability, which always makes a public funding application stronger.

I don't want to be overly critical of the promoters in the audience. I think the lack of questions was perhaps down to an initial misunderstanding. Whereas the musicians in the first session had grasped the concept of crowdfunding immediately, the promoters clearly didn't quite get it at first. 

It's Not About The Technology

Keith asked the audience if anyone had considered what I was suggesting: using social media to engage and audience before running a strategic crowdfunding campaign. Good question but not much response. We tried a different tack and asked them now many people had friends societies at their venues or promotion companies. Over half the audience raised their hands. "That's crowdfunding." I explained.

"Don't get hung up on the technology. It's not the interesting part. The concept of lots of people giving you small amounts of money is a practice that can readily be applied by arts organisations."

From then on the audience warmed to the idea and we got into some interesting conversations. I've since been invited to do two follow up talks about the use of social media, and crowdfunding in particular, in the arts.

What If There Was No Public Sector Arts Funding?

I do get uncomfortable with the reliance that some arts and creative sub sectors seem to have on public subsidy. Funding isn't a right. It's a privilege. No one is entitled to it. And, furthermore, it may not be around forever. While there are good arguments, many of which I support, for spending public money on arts, culture and entertainment because of the economic and social benefits they bring, if public subsidy dried up tomorrow, I wonder how many of these organisations would find another way to fund themselves.

Crowdfunding is fascinating, and can be very rewarding. If you want to find out more about crowdfdunding, please do get in touch with me and my colleagues at Inner Ear. We can help you run a strategic social media campaign. For expert advice on the economics of crowdfunding, speak to our friends at the social media consultancy twintangibles. And for essential advice on digital literacy for the arts, get involved with Ambi:IT:ion.

Dougal Perman (@dougalperman) is the Director of Inner Ear Ltd.

Posted by Inner Ear