Following his #MicroBizMattersDay Hangout for us @ Google on 9th Jan, my buddy Sway gave this brilliant interview with Real Business about entrepreneurship, his own label and why it’s not about indie vs. major.
(Skip to 18mins 48secs in the video below to see Sway’s awesome #MicroBizMattersDay interview too).
Funny how things happen. After sharing music with each other via Twitter and Soundcloud, Sway and production partner DJ Turkish used the beats and bassline from my old track ‘Warriors‘ as the base for their awesome new track ‘Right Direction‘. Love this!
In my exclusive Google+ Hangout with leading UK rapper Sway, we chat about his forthcoming ’Wake Up EP’, how he’s using his success as a platform for other emerging artists and his use of social media tools like Twitter and Soundcloud to collaborate and share his music.
Listen again to the world’s first radio broadcast of ‘Wake Up’ by Sway on Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra by clicking on the Soundcloud player below.
To find out more about Sway, check out his website http://sway.uk.com, his Soundcloud page https://soundcloud.com/swaywithme and Follow him on Twitter @SwayUK
‘Riverside: Newcastle’s Legendary Alternative Music Venue‘ is a must-read for anyone who has ever been to a gig, been in a band (or dreamt of being in one) or has any interest, love or passion for the music industry.
Lovingly compiled by former employee Hazel Plater and fanzine writer/avid gig-goer Carl Taylor, the book takes you through the entire history of the club from inception to closure and is filled with first hand accounts and anecdotes from the people who worked there, the punters and the fantastic bands and DJs who played there too.
Until the Riverside opened its doors in 1985, Newcastle was usually overlooked by touring bands, but it soon established itself as one of Britain’s best live music venues with practically every great band and DJ from the 80’s through to the late 90’s playing there, including Nirvana in their first ever European gig!
Not only was the Riverside a great live music venue, but it was also the home of the legendary house night ‘Shindig’ which attracted global fame to the club. For 20yrs, the Riverside WAS the epicentre of the music industry in the region and locals (including myself) owe a great debt to those who came together and made it all happen.
Apart from being a fantastic slice of nostalgia for anyone that walked through the doors, this book provides wonderful inspiration for anyone, of any walk of life, demonstrating what incredible things can happen when you dare to think big.
Buy this book now! You need it on your shelf!
Most businesses are obsessed with being the first to do something or release a product. However, it’s been proven time and again throughout history that coming second or even later in the list can be an advantage as you improve on what came before you.
As Anil K. Gupta and Haiyan Wang remind us in Wired magazine (Feb 2012), it was ‘Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who first brought computing to the masses in 1977’ but it was IBM that did it bigger, better and cheaper so they could dominate the market for many years. Since then, Apple has obviously reinvented itself with a range of stunningly designed devices and their iPhone has been the dominant one on the market (at least in the Western world) since it’s launch in 2007. More recently though, Android has been widely tipped to overtake total sales due to the cheaper price and wider range of devices running on this system.
However, thanks to a highly successful Christmas 2011 and huge marketing budget in 2011/2012, people are finally starting to take notice of Windows Phone as a real and worthy competitor due to the beautiful design, functionality, fun and user experience which is making even the mighty iPhone start to look a little bit dated.
Nokia and Microsoft have had the time (and resources) to take what Apple have done, and improve on it to create something really special and unique – Windows Phone’s are not copies of iPhones, they’re a complete reimagining of what it means to have (your) world in your pocket)! As I’ve said many times before, I absolutely LOVE my Windows Phone (Samsung Omnia 7 by the way) and predict a hugely successful year for Nokia and Microsoft in 2012.
Back to the topic of why coming first isn’t everything. Who invented the ‘Moonwalk’? Michael Jackson I hear you say? Nope, it was Jeffrey Daniel of Shalamar who can be seen doing it first on the BBC’s Top of the Pops in 1982 (see below), almost a year before Jackson did the move on the Motown: 25th Anniversary which grabbed a global audience and propelled him to international stardom. (He was a big fan of Daniels and hired him to teach him the move). ;o)
Something I’ve been meaning to do for ages is to upload some of my old music productions and remixes from my former life as a DJ/producer (2003-2006) to SoundCloud and here they are!
Paul Lancaster – ‘Don’t Stop Burning’ (Sabotage Systems 2003)
Thrill Kill Kult – ‘Leathersex’ (Paul Lancaster’s Wipeclean Mix) (Red Ant 2004)
Paul Lancaster – ‘Deepdown’ (Fragile Recordings 2005)
Paul Lancaster – ‘Night Vision’ (CP Recordings 2003)
For more of my music take a look at my SoundCloud profile at http://soundcloud.com/lordlancaster/
Some tech / digital predictions for 2012 from me: