Apple’s iPhone: The modern musician’s all-in-one tool.
Well, this just about completes the circle. This post really will seem like an advertisement for the iPhone, but the product really is blowing my mind and what people the world over are able to do with them. Although iPhones have been around for quite a while now and apps for the iPhone as well, I have come to the conclusion that Apple really has created something that Musicians can use to promote themselves and now also to actually play their gigs as well.
I found this video from a link on Hypebot - an indie band called The Mentalists - 4 girls, play a cover of MGMT’s Kids using four apps purchased from the iPhone app store.
It seems as though it really will not be long before we see complete original “iPhone bands” using iPhones as synths, drum loop machines and wind instruments as seen in the clip.
So now, we see a tool that is able to be a part of the on and off stage world of a musician/artist. A mobile device that can play and record music, as well as be a promotion tool.
In terms of promotion for a band, the iPhone is a one-stop shop too. Apart from being able to text your friends to let them know about your gigs, you can access all of your social networks - including twitter, facebook, myspace and more or you can also film your practices or gigs and upload them to youtube on the spot.
On the other end of the spectrum, bands such as The Presidents of the USA and Death Cab for Cutie have embraced the iPhone app and developed applications for fans to hear their entire catalogue, or find out gig info or to discover new music/watch video.
Obviously, it’s not within every band’s reach to develop iPhone apps for their band, but this interesting article on MediaFuturist about software being the next music medium seems to think that bands offering their entire catalogue as an application or as software for mobile devices is the way of the future.
From the MediaFuturist blog:
This is clearly a very cool idea, and something I have been looking at for quite some time: in the dawning age of rapidly exploding mobile app stores, on 5+ platforms, and with something like 2 Billion always-on smart phone users, we can now start selling music as software packages, i.e. in any UI/UX, multimedia, online/offline format that fits the artists’ specific users and locations. Bands and artists, their managers, agents or labels and even publishers can select any combination of audio, video, pictures, texts, news feeds, games, twitter updates and social media ‘rivers’ to update the bands fans at any time, anywhere in the world.
Is the iPhone the ultimate in artist tools, can it help your band on and off stage? Comment here with your thoughts. Where to from here? Do you REALLY want to see iPhone only bands - cool or corny?
March 9th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Interesting commentary on the same video here:
http://newrockstarphilosophy.com/2009/03/07/viral-hits-pros-cons-for-artists/
March 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Hi Dave!
I read the article. I see what he is trying to say, though I did the opposite to what he was saying - he was saying that it was simply flash-in-the-pan fame, but I went straight out and found out everything I could about the band, who I hadn’t heard of, so in my case, their marketing worked. I wanted to know more. I listened to their original tunes and thought that they were reasonably good. They are the first to do what I figured out you could do with iPhones a little while ago - they were simply the first to do a full-band song with it. Probably the only thing they could be criticised for is their choice of song for being a little on the trendy side. However, it would be a really easy song to do using the apps that the iPhone offers.
Very interesting topic - Do you think that there could be original bands paying iPhones? Or is that just ridiculous?
March 10th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Hey Tim,
The idea of original music on phones isn’t new (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/22/1984767.htm?section=australia) but I guess the technology has evolved to the point that what you’re holding in your hand is infinitely more powerful than the first computers used in music creation fourty-ish years ago.
re the iPhone-as-instrument my thoughts are that yes people will be making music (recording, remixing, DJing – this is the one to watch IMHO –, even ‘performing’) on iPhone’s or similar devices into the future however at this stage it’s a gimmick.
My reasoning here is that the apps are not doing anything that can’t be done with existing technology some of which went the way of the gimmick in the 80s – remember the midi saxaphone?
Also the iPhone music app interfaces are still a bit clunky and they don’t have much expressive control making them clunky to play as instruments – notice no-one’s keeping good time in the YouTube clip?
That said the technology behind the touch pad and gesture control will, I’m sure, be incorporated into some really interesting virtual instruments in the future, especially if Apple ever release the notebook touch-pad device that’s been rumored for some time.
More likely in the immediate future is bands incorporating the iPhone or similar into their set as a cool feature instrument - Dan Kelly did a phone feedback solo when I saw him last and it was kinda cool.
I’m sure there’ll be a rash of imitators / successors - I guess singer songwriter playing iPhone guitar - a real iPhone band that performs and gathers a real following is probably unlikely at this stage, never know though.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Hahaha, all good points mate! Thanks for the great feedback on this article.
March 12th, 2009 at 10:28 am
This is much more interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFG7-Q0WI7Q
April 20th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Wow what u wrote about realli got me excited! (ok i know you’ll think im a retard haha!) good flash