http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFG7-Q0WI7Q

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.

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?

http://newrockstarphilosophy.com/2009/03/07/viral-hits-pros-cons-for-artists/