First of all, I love FACT magazine. Definitely one of the most interesting magazines in the U.K.

The latest issue is not impressed with the UK clothes retail chain TopShop and NME the (once iconic) music magazine.

Louise Brailey spotted a recent TopMan Window display with three mannequins in the window, each representing a different ‘indie’ style. To help the indie fans chose the right ‘look’, TopShop have also provided three photos of an indie ‘hero’. The three are Pete Doherty, The Kooks and Noel Fielding (a UK comedian it seems). Lots possibly wrong with this (can’t they do better than Pete Doherty or Noel Fielding).

And she is right to draw attention to how brands can get it wrong when they appropriate music for commercial purposes.

However, not everyone has the confidence to chose their own look. Many of us have always wanted help. Once upon a time album covers, Music shows on TV and spectacular imagery in magazines such as NME and Sounds would help give pointers to people in terms of how to create their own look. The fact that some people turn to shop windows for inspiration is not in itself such a bad thing.

Louise is most put out that the NME has put it’s name to this, selling it’s soul in the process. Fair point, if NME is still the great voice of counter-culture music. Yet it is not and hasn’t been for years. Anything more than one paragraph on any chosen topic seems a bit much for the NME these days. Great music journalists of today (and there are some fantastic ones out there) would be unlikely to find comfort in writing for NME. Photos of a night out or pretty people at a festival seems to take priority over decent music journalism.

One note of caution though for FACT.  FACT:25 carries two  Advertisement Features, one on Shoreditch getting free Wi-Fi thanks to BT and FON and the other for the excellent Red Bull Academy. At first, both features come across as a piece of editorial, yet in the top corner of each piece, a very small header ‘advertisement feature’ is written. A little confusing. Let’s hope that things are made a little more clearer to their readers in the future!

Came across this recently. Anyone who has an interest in the UK reggae scene from the 1970s, must watch this programme. Interviews with people such as Lloyd Coxson, Roy Shirley and Joe Mansano, along with clips of Matumbi amongst others. I have found two clips, and am hunting down the rest.

The Delroy Washington performance at Notting Hill in part 1 (above) is special…

My local underground (metro) stations in London are Clapham Common and Brixton. In the ticket areas people are treated to the sounds of Mozart and Mahler as they head to and from work. It immediately helps to create an atmosphere that would not otherwise exist in such a space.

Brilliantly thought through. As you pass through the music, a little bit of the stress of your day seeps away. Masterful.

Saw Jose James at the Jazz Cafe recently.

So many reasons to thank Gilles Peterson for introducing me to so much great music over the years, and Jose James is one of them.

Already raved about him in the past, but his gig at Jazz Cafe earlier this week was truly phenomenal. The incredible jazz voice fused with hip hop phrasings. Vintage and very fresh at the same time.

Make sure you catch him the next time he plays in London at the Brainfeeder festival on the 14th June. The festival will be headlined by new Warp signing Flying Lotus, check out his myspace page for some fantastic instrumental hip-hop, including a backing track he’s produced for Jose. You can find out more about the Brainfeeder event on the Warp records site, who are co-promoting the event.

So have Starbucks given up on music or are they just refocusing their attention?

When it was announced this week that they were to pull out of their record label Hear Music and hand over this business to their partners the Concord Music Group, an obvious reaction was ‘So what went wrong?’

This news was further compounded when it was announced that the entertainment division was to be put under control of the Chief Technology Officer Chris Bruzzo…geeks in charge of creative development? Surely this means that the whole Hear Music exercise has been a failure?

Well, it hasn’t been a failure in my view. For many of the classic artists, it has worked. First Ray Charles sells over 5million units. Paul McCartney sold more than he could have imagined. Meanwhile, Hear Music tempted Joni Mitchell to record again - which in my book is worth the whole exercise in itself. It also started to offer an alternative distribution and marketing solution for many other artists like the immensely talented and underrated Sia.

Has it been a success for Starbucks customers? Well, from a sonic retail perspective, Starbucks can teach many other retailers how to think about the effect of sound on a consumer’s experience in-store (See posts passim).

Starbucks have a head start on other brands in terms of understanding the power of music in the consumer’s connection with their business. Yet, the news clearly suggests that all is not well at Starbucks. So what can we make of the changes?

Shifting away from CD to digital is good business sense, though making the assumption that the CD is completely dead for the Starbucks consumer is a huge one. There are over 6000 options of coffee in Starbucks, so having a choice of formats for the music - “CD or download madam?” - is not a bad idea.

The bigger challenge for the new head of the entertainment division is how to ensure that the experience in-store is not undermined by this move. The danger is that a shift to digital entertainment will leave the coffee-house experience somewhat muted.

One hopes that Starbucks does not retreat, turn it’s music commitment into yet another music download site and forget that sonic branding is felt most of all by their customers in-store. They may be right to consider promoting books in-store (in fact this makes immense sense), yet the power of music could be better harnessed by brands, Starbucks included.

A thought for Starbucks:
Ever thought about getting local artists to play in-store, so supporting local art, giving something fresh to the customers and positioning yourself as the ‘local coffee house’ at the same time? It means acting small, not acting big.

Just came across an interesting article in Business Week It reiterates that, in the face of the online shopping onslaught, bricks and mortar music retailers are suffering. However, it also highlights the green shoots of online success that some smaller independent music retailers are experiencing.  I’m with them on this.

Sites such as Piccadilly Records, Boomkat (both Manchester UK) and Dusty Groove (U.S.) are fantastic. These are quality retailers of music…small is really beautiful

After the fascinating Sex Pistols documentary, I also watched a brilliant documentary on Joy Division and their music, called simply Joy Division. It is shot with such love and beauty, right down to the closing credits.

I spent a lot of my youth listening to Closer, Atmosphere, She’s Lost Control and Unknown Pleasures, Transmission and more so I should be pretty familiar with the songs. Yet this documentary really made me think again about the lyrics.

Don’t make the mistake that this is some cheap effort to cash in on the recent Control film by Anton Corbijn. This documentary, written by Jon Savage and directed by Grant Gee, stands up by itself and for me gave more of an insight into Ian Curtis than Control did. Truly beautiful and very moving. This is documentary-making at it’s best.

Well, you just cannot get away from the letter P right now. Every music mag in the UK is carrying that letter. The marketing budget behind the new Portishead album Third must be pretty significant.

Tonight, Channel 4 in the UK is showing Portishead playing tracks from their new album whilst in a studio in Portishead. Even the break bumpers show that P!

Joy Division yesterday, Portishead today…breathtaking stuff for my soul.

Might not be the most cheerful music for April, but there is always another day for happy clappy stuff…

Saw a pre-screening of the new documentary on the story of the Sex Pistols. Directed by Phil Strongman, it was enlightening in two specific ways.

First, I came away better appreciating the role of Dave Goodman (sound engineer/producer) in the sound of the Sex Pistols. A phenomenal contribution that even Malcolm McClaren acknowledged his immense contribution to the success of the Pistols.

Second, it provided a window on a time where DIY culture was at it’s most raw. Whilst the film focused on the Sex Pistols and the Punk DIY ethic of London, the same ethic was found at Herc’s block parties in New York as Hip Hop was born, or with the sound systems and studios of Kingston, Jamaica.

Very enjoyable night. Thanks to John Ingham for getting me along and Phil for the chat afterwards.

During our DIY panel at the Venice Festival of Media, the panellists were inevitably asked about what we thought about the recent deal between Proctor & Gamble TAG deodorant spray and Def Jam records.

In case you haven’t heard, TAG records has been set up by both parties to find new hip hop talent and promote them through integrated marketing approaches that P&G have immense experience in.

The rumours state-side is that the marketing budget will be a ‘multi-million dollar’ effort

Given that exposure is what so many artists require, connecting with a brand to secure increased exposure seems good business sense. For the brand, they have a chance to appeal to the urban demographic in the U.S. and are seen to be giving something back to the community. This fits with the P&G ethos shared by Bernhard Glock, their head of global media and communications, at Venice, which separates this deal with the rather ridiculous offer by McDonald’s to pay Hip Hop artists to mention their brand name in lyrics!

So on the face of it, it seems like a great move.

However, our panel at Venice were not 100% convinced. And I also have a couple of reservations.

First, the marketing budget will promote the artist first or the brand first? If it is the brand first, that is still a good opportunity, much like a sync deal can help get an artist exposure. However, I would encourage the artists to manage their expectations of what the marketing budget will achieve for them.

Second, my concern rests with Def Jam. This name is more than a label. This is one of the few labels that stood for something more than just music. My concern is whether the legitimacy of the Def Jam name might get eroded due to this deal, no matter how well intentioned all parties are.

This is the difficult path that all artists, managers and labels face as they look for alternative revenue streams.

citizensound says:

Deals with brands will become less of an issue though as more artists and fans find brands that get involved with the right spirit. It feels that the spirit is there in the P&G/Def Jam deal. However, the proof in the pudding will come on three fronts:

First, the brand shifts more units

Second, the artists are credible and get the break they deserve

Third, the music fan loves the music