What we're listening to this week. The Eagles, Hotel California.

From 1976, Hotel California is considered the Album that really got The Eagles critical attention winning them a Grammy and remains their best seller in studio terms. Their 'Greatest Hits' Album will probably become the biggest selling Album of all time.

It was their 5th and their first with legendarily strange guitarist, Joe Walsh.

The title track was released as a single and it refers to "warm smell of colitas" which in fact, is Mexican slang for cannabis. Betcha didn't know that...

The cover is a shot of the Beverly Hills Hotel and sometimes an Album can be justified by two or three standout tracks. This is one of those - 'Hotel California', 'New kid in town' and 'Life in the fast lane' are worth it alone and after that, it gets a bit lost. Although 'Last Resort' is there too. 

Hardly the masterpiece that everyone touts.....but undoubtedly three great songs anyway that make it really worthwhile. And that's not to be unfair to them because they were solidly, consistently good. One of us here, has seen them live and they are a great live band.

It's country rock really, albeit with a big studio sound. Here's a live version YouTube link below, from the year after release and it'll give you an idea. It certainly went down well at Streamabout this week!

But every good collection should have this in it. It's evocative of a time and a band that developed that country rock niche all on their own. 

Tinder add video.

Tinder is adding video.

The idea being that brands (such as a test with Bud Light) can get involved through video, in the dating app. Ideal too for brands trying to reach that young, engaged audience but should take cognisance of the 'editorial environment' too.

With 8 billion connections in 196 countries and 97,000 swipes a minute, the average user spends 11 minutes a day on Tinder. Pretty staggering.

However, of course, do the users want to be interrupted by Ads? and then, these users will be very switched on to Ad blocking anyway.

But it again points to online video being important as an engaging ad platform (Video Ads) and the need for "publishers" to have it as an offering. And if you need Video Ads, go to Streamabot.com. 

But hey, let's be careful out there.

Drinkable Ads.....

There's something very cool about this from Ogilvy. 

Using technology, traditional advertising, digital downloads to create samples and particularly Shazam, it's fairly cutting edge....

First mover advantage too.

What we're listening to. Jungle.

And now a brand new Album that sounds like the 70's!

If you had told us that it was produced by Sly & Robbie we'd have believed you or that it was the follow-up from Daft Punk's 'Discovery'. We keep hearing Otis Redding singing too (bizarrely). So you get the picture - retro uptempo funk. Albeit with plenty of hip hop scratching.

You expect Nile Rodgers to show too. So it has all of that Chic bass lines and harmonies.

Have a listen here and you'll know.

A London band's debut and shortlisted for a Mercury Prize but it's pretty hot. It's very Summer and feels classic already. Here they are on Jools....

We recommend it. 
Loved it really. 
If you're looking for something new, try Jungle.

"Leaked" Emails for Jeb Bush Presidential Campaign. (We'll say nothing but can relate to it!)

The death of the global traditional brand is nigh. (We think).

The death of brands as we know them, is nigh.
We think.

A product brand is something which consumers are prepared to pay a higher price (a premium) for, largely, because they know what to expect in terms of taste, packaging, quality, cleanliness and so on. Brands come with a global standard.

You trust it.

So when you buy Persil, you know what you're getting, or Guinness. Anytime, everytime, anywhere in the world. You pay more for that standard (and so you should because it costs more to achieve). So brands demand a premium price.

A 'personal' brand is similar, but one endorsed by a person (obviously) but more of a celeb - like a perfume from Kim Kardashian - so you're buying into her recommendation, her lifestyle.

But of course, all brands reflect your lifestyle.

And because you're different to me, with different outlooks on life, we buy different brands. If you're an Outdoor type, you smoked Marlboro. If you were a creative type, you smoked Camel.

And brands were built on Advertising. 

You saw them on TV, heard their story, you recognised them in-store and you felt happy about buying them. You kept buying them too, because they worked, you felt comfortable with them and therefore, you had loyalty to them. 

That brand loyalty at least, has definitely changed and that's the key to this.

Consumers are now far more promiscuous and will try new brands, new products for new reasons and be more prepared to switch easier.

Prepared to switch for Functionality/Purpose and value reasons and hence for example, the rise of discount grocery retailers who sell products, brands you don't really know, you've never heard of - but you buy them largely because they're cheaper and they 'do the job'.

Or at least, you try them. You switch without really thinking. Whereas in the past, you'd have stuck by your loyal favourite brand.

Craft beers another example. In fact, you'll move away from the traditional brewery brands and try a craft beer because it's different, it's cheaper. It serves its purpose and probably, costs you less.

Because of digital too you switch.

You've tried new services that have been able to be created over the last 10 years - Iphone, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix - which will become brands in their own right..... if they're not already....but they're more services than products. However, they've accelerated your promiscuity.

So the consumer (you) is more prepared to switch away from traditional, global brands than ever before.

Digital too, has also opened up a revolution in advertising which is outside of the manner in which we've promoted brands for the last 70 years anyway. That's also having an impact.

Because.... the most effective Ad is recommendation (always has been) and digital allows you to get personal, instant recommendation. Word of mouth.

For example, a Facebook friend tells you about a new beer and how great it is, so you try it. On Twitter, a pal has told you about a new healthy Soya milk or warned you about the dangers of sugar. So you switch on their say-so.

And therefore, traditional brands lose loyalty on which the brand was based because of another recommendation.

Advertising only really works once - it's an attempt to get you to try a product once because if you like it, you'll stick with it and they'll get repeat purchases. That's the essence of brand loyalty. The essence of brand revenues. Repeat business.

But if you keep switching.....brands cannot depend on those repeat purchases.

We've got used to farmers markets and artisan suppliers. We use sites that we didn't know before. We download new Apps. We've got happy with a new beer or a new washing powder and we'd rather support those smaller businesses, than the global, big brand giants.

We'd even rather get our news from outside the norm media players despite the 'trust' issues.

Because that's what digital does. It encourages you to try new things.

It's the great 'brand-leveller'.

Hence we've opted to buy from sites that are cooler, better, more like us and not the global sellers. Boo Hoo, Asos, Misguided, Ebay.....(If you look at the top 50 Fashion brands in the UK, not one is a traditional high street name). To try new things, to try new brands.

So there's more of a generational shift happening away from the traditional big global household brand name. Or, should we say, brands don't work they way they used to.

They no longer can depend on the repeat purchase of brand loyalty.

And that impacts on Advertising and notably, Ad Agencies who used to manage these brands. 

Like for example, the way AOL have set up their own in-house Ad Agency just to deal with their AOL digital clients (called 'Partner Studios'). Because no one understands how to produce creative work for AOL, than, AOL.

More of that will happen as Ad Agencies have been slow, defensive, about digital over a long time and because, the old brand rules have changed. So their old skills are becoming redundant unless they're prepared to tool up.

Traditional Advertising is even possibly becoming wallpaper as viewers leave to other media and have a new Ad cynicism.

Media too has changed. Despite huge audience shifts to all things digital, most of the Ad dollars remain with traditional media. Programmatic buying will disrupt that.

As for brands? Well, it's a long road to reposition a global brand into something new even if it could be done. Diageo's move into craft beers under totally new branding, is one way, but it might be seen for what it is.

The only real way is to go back to purpose. Go back to trust and go back to the reason the brand originated from. Give the consumer knowledge to make the choice rather than song-and-dance glamour. The days of 'aspirational' advertising to create desire, create demand are over. Advertising needs to be stripped back.

Tell the story that relates to consumers and don't cynically exploit things like sports sponsorship, csr or charity - it's seen through. So too, copy platforms built around fickle, unbelievable concepts like "we believe in friendship".

And therefore, don't behave like a global brand player of old. 

Go back to the reason you exist. If it get clothes whiter, say it. If it tastes good, tell it. If it's quick to make, show it. And use online to tell that story.

And if your brand doesn't have that defining USP (unique proposition), drop it. Move on.

The global brand aspirational days are over.
And the heavy impact of TV Advertising is dwindling.

We think.

Smell like a Man at the top of the page. There's honesty for you. Trust, like these at the bottom of the page.

The world just changed.

                             

What we're listening to. Aretha. 'Soul Queen'.

"Queen of soul, queen of soul" as Van sings about her and she is. In fact "you send me" is here which Van often covers and then, he doesn't really ever do covers as such - so much he's a fan of Aretha.

All the tracks are here - "Do right woman", "Save me", "Respect", "Chain of fools", "Say a little prayer", "The weight" (made famous by The Band and written by Robbie Robertson), "Call me", "Spanish Harlem" and 60 tracks which makes it a well-worthwhile compilation. Magic in fact.

18 Grammys, makes her pretty unbeatable and at 73 is still releasing Albums. 

From Memphis she started as a Gospel singer (her Dad was a Pastor) and you hear those Gospel tones on all her music. Often referred to as Whitney Houston's "aunt" in fact she wasn't - just an "honorary aunt".

There's something beautiful about Aretha and a smooth mezzo-soprano honey voice that just gets into you. Into your soul.

So this is a great introduction to a moment in time and a whole world of soul. It's one to start with to explore that whole genre. The genre of magnificent. This will give you a sense of it below -  Enjoy.

Apple to encourage Ad Blocking. Publishers worry.

Ad Blocking, which really hurts online publishers who depend on Advertising, just got easier.

It looks like Apple have just made it easier to block Ads on Ipad and Iphones through their new 'safari' browser release by allowing ad blocking extensions as an option. 

Ad blocking is growing by over +70% a year with 144 million users in 2014. It's going to hurt Google and Facebook and will push publishers onto Apple's iad product in order to have Ads on Apple devices.

So basically, if Apple is bringing traffic to Ads via their Safari, they want a cut and encouraging general ad blocking is one way.

We'll see but, not a good day for publishers.

Video Ads becoming the top Ad Format says Business Insider! We agree!

Video is becoming the top Advertising formats on desktop and mobile but particularly growing on mobile (3 x faster). That's according to a new Business Insider Report.

Video revenues this year is about 5 Billion usd but it will grow +21% each year for the next 5. It is replacing static display because it performs better and is more watchable.

On Social Media too, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram all now (recently) have video ad platforms/opportunities.

Although we have no doubt at Streamabout. Even in a local market, our business producing online digital video and video ads, is growing +50% year-on-year. It is an exploding space. Great.

And if you need Video Ads.....streamabout.com

What we're listening to this week. Neil Young, 'After the Goldrush'.

Another September 1970 Album (was all good music in the 70's and 80's?), the Canadian's third Studio Album.

It featured an 18 year old genius, Nils Lofgren (now with Springsteen) and at one time, was voted Best Album Ever. Which it could well be.

Stephen Stills of Crosby Nash Stills, is also on here.

It's one great record with 'Only love can break your heart' as a stand out but having been recorded mainly at Young's home, it has a real authentic feel. The songs stand up rather than the production.  

Famously too, the track 'Southern Man' was a dig at the South USA "Southern change going to come at last, now your crosses are burning fast....Southern Man when will you pay them back...."

It was the reason for Lynyrd Skynrd 'Sweet Home Alabama' as a response - "Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her, well I heard old Neil put her down. Well I hope Neil Young will remember, Southern Man don't need him around anyhow!".

You'll hear Neil Young mentioned especially in the intro here.

The full Album is here too. Went down great in Streamabout as a real summer classic. It is, a masterpiece.

Apple's new Music Service. Coming, today.

Apple's new music streaming service is on the way and it's going to change ITunes.

Called 'Apple Music' it will compete with the likes of Spotify, Deezer and Pandora and will be all encompassing (radio and downloading including) probably costing about 10 USD a month and be pre-installed in the next generation of iphones (giving it instant market distribution).

Plus Apple's extraordinary cash reserves, will give it the marketing edge on competitors simply by outspending them (Spotify has 15 million subscribers - the market is circa 40 million subscribers currently).

Unlike Spotify, Apple Music will not have a free tier so either you're in or you're not but they're likely to bundle some free months are part of a signing up offer.

Streaming may of course, hamper the declining download market which in turn, will impact on the general music business. But Streaming has shown significant growth - it's what consumers want vis-a-vis downloading.

All coming in an announcement today.
But it's a big change for the way in which Apple are attacking music.
And a big change for artists too.

Twitter to buy Flipboard?

Twitter is in talks to acquire Flipboard valuing it at circa 1 Billion USD.

Mike McCue who started Flipboard was of course, a Twitter Board Member until he left to do Flipboard and generate about 50 million USD a year in Revenues. 

It's excellent too, Flipboard is one great brand but struggling to generate new users. Notably too, since it's no longer automatically pre-installed on Samsung phones.

What it does is a news reader, allowing the user to nominate news feeds they want and get them in a very stylish format which they "flip". Beautifully actually.

It also has video ads and it's hard to see how it fits into the vision of Twitter. Except this. Mike McCue will probably come with it.

What we're listening to this week. Frank Zappa's 'Over-nite sensation'.

'Over-nite Sensation' (1973) is probably the definitive Frank Zappa Album although 'Apostrophe' and indeed, 'Joe's Garage' worthy of same breath mention.

 

Now we hear you. Zappa was crazy. But actually that hides an extraordinary songwriter and guitarist. Really amazing stuff and very different from the mainstream - avant garde really.

His lyrics were fun and yep sometimes racy (like 'Dinah Moe Humm' here) but he was a genius and died at 53 in 1993 (prostate cancer).

He started by writing classical music (a fan of Stravinsky and Varese actually) and Jazz, which you get a sense of in his 60+ Albums. He wrote and recorded classical orchestral albums which few know about. He even worked in Advertising too and jingles were a part of his life but was really a self-trained musician. 

Very anti-drugs too (now bet that surprises you!) actually firing band members who used them. He was actually seen as being too 'autocratic' because the way he ran the band like an Orchestral leader.

Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the water' mentions Zappa playing at Montreaux when a flare from the audience started a fire of their equipment.

But Zappa does take listening and there's no doubt, a bit of time - but worth every minute (great albums should grow on you). Check this Album out too if you get into it.

Anyway, here you go...."she said she was a magic mama"........

It all went down a stormer in here given that he's been largely forgotten by a younger generation. Still, a genius though.

Next week Neil Young.

Pinterest tries to pin more Ads.

So Pinterest raises their heads (haven't heard from the 'darlings of the internet' for a while) through launching a flurry of media options.

They also named their first 'Head of monetisation' (yuk) to oversee Ad products. Animated pins are in there, Cinematic pins (video we'd guess), along with 'Promoted Pins'. A whole new "contextual targeting" is on offer too.

Now the problem here is going to be the integrity of the site and the general editorial environment. Everybody loves Pinterest although they've forgotten it a bit, but when you start bundling in advertising it, well, just might not fit in.

Valued at over 5 Billion usd, there's pressures to bring in the Ad dollars. The concept seemed to start with investors piling in without any plan to generate revenue. And now that's getting a focus.

We'll see.

But this is one site where Ads won't sit well.....

What we're listening to this week. Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours'

The 1977 release that brought Fleetwood Mac fame although it was actually their 11th Album.

One of the best selling Albums of all time (rumoured to be in 6th place all-time) and still sounds as fresh as ever although it was recorded in the middle of band domestic break-ups - leaving them recording only and not meeting up socially after the sessions. Superb production on this though winning a Grammy as a result.

John McVie thought 'rumours' was a good title given the band's rows and suggestions of who was with who. The tracks 'Dreams' and "Go your own way' sum up what was going down.

'Dreams', 'You Make loving fun' and notably 'The Chain' are the stand out tracks but overall, it's the harmonies that make it all happen. It's an Album that everyone should have really and although of a genre that turns some people off as being too smooth, sickly sweet, too "Phil Collins". 

It's not The Clash, but it has its place and a good place too. 
Next week, Frank Zappa so there's a contrast for ye.

But here's 'Dreams'....

Apple Cork to build the car?

Our post of Tuesday about Apple doing an electric car gets legs...Project Titan as it's called.

They're planing a major expansion of their faciity in Cork, Ireland. They invested 300 million over a year ago and now they're looking to build more - a giant factory.

But interestingly, an employment notice looking for a Procurement Manager, listed a requirement for experience in Robotics, Aeronautic and Automotive Industries. 

So that's not to build more watches then...

Verizon buys AOL.

Verizon have bought AOL for 4.4 Billion usd creating the biggest US Wireless carrier and Advertising platforms.

50 Dollars a share, +17% over AOL's stock and Verizon in the marriage, bring tons of data. It's cash and paper. And it's big.

Apple are doing a car.

Apple is looking at doing a car.

Okay, it's a rumour but it's too much of a rumour not to be true (!)

The Fiat CEO has said it, we know of the secretive 'Operation Titan' at Apple, we know of the Tesla ambitions, we know there's a 'garage facility' in Cupertino CA, we know Apple are hiring engineers for robotics and we know Apple have talked about it - going all the way back to Steve Jobs.

And the tech industry are talking about it.

Perhaps Self-driving and/or Electric but definitely makes sense in the "connected car" market which will be the future.

There's a lot of work in that and a lot of cash. But as a car brand, Apple will be cool and immediately have a positive younger market.

So all of it makes sense.
You heard it here.

What we're listening to this week? Keith Jarrett - Koln Concert.

Everybody, but everybody talks about Keith Jarrett 'Koln Concert' (1975) and everybody would be right. It's extraordinarily wonderful and all you need do is to put on the first 4 minutes and you'll get it. And you can do that at the end of this blog.

It is after all, the best selling piano recording in history.

He started with Art Blakey, which started him on a solo career as well as a stint with Miles Davis. Although known to be a bit grumpy on stage, it's worth it to get his live recordings. 

(And he did sue Steely Dan for copyright on 'Gaucho'.....)

Put it this way, when we started listening to The Koln Concert, we've ended up with 9 Keith Jarrett albums in a week. Few can stir you like that.

It's jazz (but not in a four blokes all playing a different tune way), because Jarrett was also very classical as a player, but it's much more than that. Perhaps it will open up a new world to you. It did us.

Have a bath, put on the Headphones and listen to Koln Concert and you'll be transported to another place. Like Van would. Absorbing.

And in case you haven't seen it....Old Men Grooving (OMG).

Nearly 9 million views online in a week.
This will be more than the TV show it appeared on (Britain's Got Talent).
Now what's that telling you about the future of TV....

The Google/Facebook Advertising gap, is widening......

On the Advertising Revenue side, it looks like Facebook and Google are hoovering it up leaving 'second tier' companies such as LinkedIn, Yelp, Twitter (who's shares fell -26% last Tuesday) and even those less established like Snapchat/Vine, finding it hard to make Ad progress.

Those second tiers are showing time and again, that their Ad revenue is growing, but slowly and too slowly for investors.

The dominance of Facebook and Google is more than likely, to continue and so that 'gap' will widen. 

In 2014, both Google/Facebook had more that 30 Billion US Dollars (60%) of the 49 Advertising Billion spent - that's dominance. Which is why those other businesses need to move into niches - as LinkedIn has done for recruitment - for as long as Facebook/Google have the largest audiences (over a billion users a month) they'll always get the Ads.

Video too is where the Ad growth is and Google's YouTube is well positioned whereas for others, their video offerings are unclear and poor.

Of course too, these shares of tech companies are particular high, so one bump in the road causes real pain. Investors won't wait.

But even so, that Ad revenue gap will widen in display advertising between Facebook/Google and the others. Now, that's a problem.

What we're listening to this week. Doobies 'Southbound'.

Now we know, like you, we said we'd never buy another Doobie Brothers Album again....and then this comes along. 

Everything recently seemed like a new compilation of a previous compilation.

'Southbound' was only released last November and we've been playing it....stunning. 

It's more of a country version duet of all the Doobie classics supported by country music greats like Sara Evans, Vince Gill (on guitar only for some reason), Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley...in a new country way. 

Donna Summer's daughter, Amanda Sudano is here too on 'You belong to me' and pretty effectively at that.

Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald (who still sings like an angel by the way) together for the first time since 1976's 'Taking it to the Streets'. Yep, that's 40 years.

'Long train running', 'South City midnight Lady', 'What a fool believes', 'Takin it to the streets' and them all, are here.

Sara Evans does a great job on 'What a fool believes' which is really tricky to sing anyway.

But Michael McDonald.....ah, tremendous.
(By the way, he originally sung on Steely Dan's 'Peg' in case you didn't know!).

But it's all in a really fresh, new, beautiful way. 

Production values? Superb.
Cool listening? Perfect.

Get it.

And the original...

Bad Day for Tweeting.

Twitter shares closed yesterday down -18% and they're down today.
Getting a hammering. Their previous worst day trading was a drop of 24%.

It comes on foot of leaked disappointing Quarterly results. 

The leak was a series of tweets by another company clarifying numbers by mistake from the investor relations website. It has rocked the market.

Revenue of 470-485 million is well below the expected 538 million and possibly some margins are down. Average monthly users are 302 million and advertising revenue has jumped +72% year-on-year.

But this isn't a good day for the company or for Dick Costolo. You can get him on Twitter....

What we're listening to this week? Kendrick Lamar, 'To pimp a Butterfly'

Well we had to because it seems the whole world is listening too. 
So we were starting to feel left out.....

This will take a bit of getting used to but it IS worth it. 

His third album just released in March, with Dr. Dre and Pharrell Williams all playing a Production part. It's become/becoming a huge album (Billboard number one) with lavish, superb production values that need (like all good records) many listenings. Many are calling it 'a masterpiece'. We are, sorta, kinda.

It's a real mixture of jazz, hip hop, funk, pop....everything. 

The hip hop vinyl scratching on the track 'Wesley's Theory' is very 2 Pac (as is 'Momma'). 'For Free' is straight out of the Frank Zappa handbook (yes, Frank Zappa). 'King Kunta' is the single, pure rap, with the Michael Jackson 'Eddie are you okay?' reference. 'Hood Politics' starts as a Steely Dan tune. 

But go straight to the last few tracks and you'll know if it's for you. 'You Ain't Gotta Lie' which is very Erykah Badu and excellent as is 'i' (video below). 

But it's all a lot mixed up which makes it a lot...well, interesting. Beautiful even in parts and magnificently produced.

Nice for a change but you need to keep with it and it will reward you.

Facebook Q1 Revenues disappoint. Why?

You don't often see Facebook struggling at bit, but after their Q1 numbers, they are. A tiny bit.

3.54 Billion usd in revenue was slightly below expectations; mobile ad revenue represented a staggering 73% of ad revenue; 1.44 billion active monthly users with 1.25 billion on mobile, that's up +24% year on year; but margin dropping to 26% from 43% and that's a huge drop.

So the stock has slipped (-2%) largely because of a slow down in revenue coupled with a drop in margin.

Still, 3.54 Billion Dollars a quarter can hardly be called anything else other than a massive success.

Bobbi Brown Product Demonstration. This is how you do it.

One of the oldest (and most effective) tricks in the Advertising handbook, is product demonstration.

You might tell us how good your product is, but showing us has real proof.

So top marks to Bobbi Brown Cosmetics for its 'Long Wear' eye cosmetics in picking extreme sports serious renowned athletes and show them using it. But using go pro cameras, it works and what's more it's product demonstration in a real lifestyle way.

And it's fun.

The only way this story could be told? Online Digital Video. streamabout.com

What we're listening to this week. Stevie Earle 'I feel alright'

Summers here, put back the car roof, crank up the music and this is all you'll need - Stevie Earle 'I Feel Alright'. This will make you smile.

New 'country rock' from 1996 but now, hold on, you might not like 'country' so don't despair, it is and it isn't. 

It's country, it's blues, it's rock. Most of us for example, don't like his infamous 'Guitar Town' which was his breakthrough record because it's too country.

'I feel alright' refers to his recovery from drugs (heroin) and a stint in prison 2 years earlier. So the emotion is authentic.

His life was a bit upside down - married 7 times, divorced 6 - but was getting it all together. He's a brother-in-law of Shelby Lynne too. Pretty upsetting.

When you listen to 'You're still standing there' with Lucinda Williams, it's hard not to feel good - nevermind 'Hard Core Troubadour' or 'More than I can do'. Stevie is a big fan of Ireland too and we've seen him live here lots of times.

This is a feel good album - and here have a listen - but check out the last track 'You're still standing there' first!

Netflix does it again. 62 Million subscribers.

Netflix does it again.

It beats forecasts of subscriber numbers and shares climb +12%.

New subscribers rose +22% year on year, to 4.88 million (forecasted at 4.05 million). Good forecasting though but it's a staggering growth.

It now has a total of over 62 million subscribers. 

This is driven by original content such as 'House of Cards' which is better than excellent and the decline in traditional TV viewing as viewers switch online. The original shows are also giving Netflix the edge of competitors such as Hulu. Revenue is 1.57 Billion usd, which shows that their pricing is right.

It's a tremendous success and it's hard to see Netflix not continuing to power on as its penetration in international markets is still low. 

Headphones? Sennheiser Sounds right.

As you can imagine, audio is a huge thing for us at Streamabout.

And we use headphones all the time from Bose to Beats by Dre. Simply, you need clear sound so that you can hear everything on video as well as, using music tracks.

It's a constant feature and critical to the business.

So for what it's worth, we just got delivery of a new set of Sennheiser Urbanite XL. It's their new range and running from Iphone (although it's there for everything) comes with a remote control on the wire to allow volume control, track playback and so on. As well as allowing you take calls.

The view by the way, is that wired headphones (as distinct to bluetooth) are better for quality just now - although wireless are of course, more convenient.

They're big cans too, that fit snugly over your ears. 

But to be honest, the sound quality is extraordinary. Extraordinary. As is the comfort.

If you want our advice, professionally, have a look at these.
We've tried everything else and well, haven't found better.
So much so, we had to blog about it.

New Nielsen data shows TV viewing continues to decline.

New Nielsen data as published by Ad Age shows Americans still watch 5 hours of traditional TV a day (149 hours a month in fact). However, that's a reduction of -6 hours a month over the last year....

So what are they doing instead?

Watching more online video.

In fact in the last quarter of 2014, online video was up +3 hours a month year-on-year. A +38% increase. And they're watching more time shifted TV (recorded) than before, possibly skipping those Ad breaks.

And the switch to online is more noticeable in those lucrative 18-24's and you'll see from the above chart.

TV is losing audience, losing market share and consequently, must lose Advertising dollars.

Story and charts here

http://adage.com/article/digital/video-revolution/297996/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1429493873

What we're listening to this week. Tom Waits Closing Time.

Sometimes an Album is worth it just for one tracks, this one is worth it for the them all - 'Ol 55', 'Hope that I don't fall in love with you', 'Rosie' and 'Martha' stand out.

Recorded in 1973, it's the debut Album that propelled Tom Waits having been playing Monday nights since 1970 at The Troubadour in LA whilst working as a club doorman (!) when he was spotted for Asylum Records. 

He'd be playing largely, Bob Dylan covers. He was 24.

It was recorded over 10 days and has since become legendary. Really beautiful record, it's reminiscent of whiskey and smoke filled rooms, piano led jazz like the cover art by Carl Shenkel.

And if you like this, you'll also like his 'Franks Wild Years' although everyone seems to have a copy of 'Swordfish Thrombones'. We did. Here you go - 

"Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you..."

Look what Facebook have done with What's App. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Facebook was very criticised for its acquisition of 'What's App' by many, us included, at such a high price. 22 billion usd for a start up that was generating 10 million in revenue in 2014!!

It didn't seem to make sense. But does it now? Does it ever.

With 700 million monthly users sending 10 billion messages a day, that's impressive enough. What'sApp should have a billion monthly users by year end.

But hey presto, they're now about to launch the idea that makes complete sense of it all - voice calling.

Over Windows Phone and IOS it's already in testing over mobile (unlike say Skype or Viber). Now that is going to disrupt telcos despite that carriers may benefit from the revenue to provide data to What's App - it'll never have the voice call margins.

So this is now becoming a new type of voice carrier and moving quickly. It means it should have a huge customer take up.

Brilliant, brilliant idea to sell voice into the What's App customer base. Brilliant acquisition therefore by Facebook.

We never doubted it.

Go Daddy goes up 31%.

GoDaddy, the do-it-all domain registration/web hosting/web authoring/web anything service shares surged +31% on their IPO this week.

Priced pre-IPO at 20 dollars (higher than the 17/18 Dollars expected in itself), the first day of trading saw the company value jump to a stunning circa 6 Billion usd.

22 million shares were offered.

It's 18 years old, unprofitable and with what has been described as a "mountain of debt" but famous for its racy Superbowl commercials. However, it did go through a management shake out a couple of years ago....

Still the market obviously likes it but you'll often find a first day trading boost which diminishes as traders take same day profits. 

Good for Go Daddy.
Good for Digital.

What we're listening to this week. Pink Floyd. Dark Side.

Why do we keep finding ourselves going back to 73? But this was a short, bank holiday week so a more chilled Album that Dark Side of the Moon, you couldn't get.

In fact, a better Album ever, will be hard to get.

Recorded at London's Abbey Road with Alan Parsons as the Engineer (very famous in his own right as The Alan Parson Project but also produced 'Abbey Road', 'Let it be' and others) with possibly, the greatest album artwork of all time by Hipgnosis.

The Studio's Irish doorman Gerry O'Driscoll, features along with other Abbey Road staffers and he says "there is no dark side of the moon. As a matter of fact, it's all dark". "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time" is Henry McCullough from Wings.

It's one of the best selling albums of all time no doubt - but possibly the best album of all time. Roger Waters did all the lyrics but Mason/Wright and especially Davy Gilmour pulled it all together.

We loved listening to it in here this week anyway and had to pinch ourselves to think....it's over 40 years old. And here it is -

The Jinx. One stunning documentary.

Rarely do you come across something as riveting a documentary as 'The Jinx'. Over 6 one hour parts, it's stunningly good and as you may have seen, the last episode brought a flurry of new legal activity.

It's available to download now, this side of the pond, on Sky Atlantic. Ideal Bank Holiday weekend viewing.

But no spoiler here.
You have to see it and we bow down to the Production values, the filming, the editing...everything. It's a story magically told.

It tells the true story of 'Bobby' Robert Durst, heir to a famous and extremely wealthy New York real estate family and murder just seems to follow him. 

Directed by Andrew Jarecki, who also produced a movie about the story called "All good things" which in turn, brought on the documentary (because Durst wanted to give an interview having seen the film).

Jarecki is famous too for the very excellent 'Capturing the Friedmans' and 'Catfish, the TV show' but The Jinx will be hard to equal.

Produced with HBO, there's no digital point to make except that these types of documentaries now get made because the outlets to show them have increased. But then, maybe great film work would've got made anyway. 

And great this is.

What we're listening to this week. Ivan Morrison, Moondance. It's a marvellous night.

We had heard that Van Morrison had a new duets album featuring Michael Buble doing 'Real real gone' and all that did, was to remind us to play something else by Van.

(Apart from anything else, he lives up the road from Streamabout's offices and some of us have met him in local schools and in the park. Honest.)

So we stuck on 'Moondance', the all-time classic that it is. Wonderful record. Just get it.

People talk about 'Astral Weeks' which although features the eternal magical line, "sitting in a corner playing dominoes in drag", it doesn't touch 'Moondance'.

In 1970 it was his 3rd album after Astral weeks (1968) and his ridiculous debut 'Blowin your mind' (which we all believe is almost a bootleg and released without Van's say-so). The Moondance cover is to show that the music comes out of his head - almost jazz improv and something else you didn't know....his real name is Ivan, hence Van for short.

The album featured stars of the time like Jef Labes, Jack Shroer on sax and notably, long standing band member John Platania. It followed too, a long stint with Van and The Band so you can hear those influences.

"Into the Mystic", "Caravan", "Cyprus Avenue" (where he lived) is here, "Moondance" itself but the winner is "Crazy Love". You can hear it below live from The Filmore 1970. It's the great Office Album and will start you on a road of Van worship.

(And if you like that, just get "It's too late to stop now". THE classic live album.)

The word for 2015 is "viewability". TV Stations be afraid.

There's a new word in TV Media buying land for 2015. It's "viewability".

And, it's being bandied about by TV Broadcasters to "compete" (destroy) with online digital in an attempt to re-enforce that digital ads may not be seen. Therefore, they've no "viewability" or so the story goes.

Irony or what?

In fact at a recent conference, by Ad Age, Media buyers called for '100% viewability'. A strange request after 50 years buying TV spots you'd have thought.

But traditional TV Viewability is the issue here, not digital and TV Broadcasters are building a case to beat themselves with. 

We need to start to use our commonsense.

Firstly, we've never measured the viewability of TV Ad Breaks. Never. And we all know that we make the coffee, go to the loo or whatever during them. Some of us do anyway and yet those viewers who aren't watching, are paid for in full.

Secondly, multi-viewing. We also all know that something like 16% of us, watch TV with our laptop/tablet open - second screen viewing during TV. So once the Ad break comes on, we look away and back to our devices.

Thirdly, we all know that the peak for Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) is during TV evening prime time so whilst the TV might be "on", how many are actually watching the breaks? Are we/they not doing Social Media?

Fourthly, how many of us watch programmes on record and flick through the ad breaks at speed?

So what we do know is the viewability of traditional TV Ad Breaks is the question, not digital.

Digital is one-to-one, up close and personal by seeing your video on your device. Not in a room full of people or at a distance from the TV.

And whereas the spurious arguments exist about bots (robots) delivering viewers on digital that are automated and not "real", that's a poor reflection on the skill of the media buyer themselves. You should buy inventory you trust.

So "viewability" is the buzz word for 2015.
But TV Broadcasters need to look at their Adbreaks first. 

Because the issue, is theirs. 

By the way, here's a test.

If you watched traditional TV last night you probably had about 30,000 dollars of Ads pushed at you. 

Now, Name one you remember......