If you’ve never been in an anechoic chamber, it’s literally an unreal experience. Things are quiet; too quiet. So quiet that it’s disconcerting, since even in the quietest place you can think of, you can still at least hear reflections from your own movement.
I’ve always assumed that the quietest anechoic room belonged to either JBL (I was told that they have 3 of them) or the Institute for Research and Coordination In Audio and Music (IRCAM) in France, but according to the Guinness World Records, it’s actually at Orfield Laboratories in South Minneapolis. Supposedly the Orfield chamber absorbes 99.9% of all sound generated within, which results in a measurement of -9dB SPL. As a comparison, a typical quiet room at night where most people sleep is at 30dB SPL, while a typical conversation is at about 60dB SPL.
The Orfield chamber is so quiet that no one has been able to stay inside for more than 45 minutes due to the fact that you begin to hear your heart beating, you lungs working, and even the blood coursing through your veins. Some people even begin to hallucinate during the experience. In fact, you can’t even stand after a half-hour since you no longer hear the audio cues that you’re used to when you stand as the reflections bounce off the floor, ceiling and walls of the environment.
While it’s easy to figure out what JBL does with their anechoic chamber, what goes on in an independent one like at Orfield? It seems that the chamber is used by companies like Harley Davidson and Maytagto test how loud their products are. NASA also uses it for astronaut training.
Here’s a short video that describes the Orfield anechoic chamber.
(UPDATED) Guest post by Michael Fiebach (@mfiebach), founder of Fame House, who coordinated a unique partnership between indie artist Pretty Lightsand BitTorrent to release a customized media bundle.
When Pretty Lights reached out to me to work with him, I got so excited because I knew I would have the ability to be creative from a marketing and business perspective. PL gives ALL of his music away for free, and answers to exactly 0 people (no label) about how / when / or why to release his music. What was the first thought that popped into my head for potential collaborations for spreading his music beyond his already massive & die-hard fan base? Bit Torrent.
The CampaignHere’s a question: What digital media download service has access to hundreds of millions of people, who are extremely engaged in the content available through that network? That would be Bit Torrent (and U Torrent, which is essentially the same thing, just a separate approach from a branding perspective). If PL is giving away music for free already; and essentially ONLY utilizes his site to do so, why not break down the barriers of access?
Put every track he has available on SoundCloud as a free stream – want the download? OK, to go to the website.
Put every track available on a Mobile Roadie application (iPhone versionavailable now, Android coming soon) for free streaming anywhere and everywhere – want the download? OK, go to his website.
Make a download bundle of his 3 popular EPs (“Glowing in The Darkest Night,” “Making Up A Changing Mind,” and “Spilling Over Every Side”) + his newest single “I Know The Truth,” and a video from his Bonnaroo Show, then distribute those assets to 4 million people in 2 months, increase email sign ups by 60,000+ people, increase web traffic by 700%, and Facebook Likes by 30,000+?
BitTorrent… check.
And now the power of PL’s music-for-free model has just increased by A LOT.
The PL Bit Torrent Bundle was, and still is (as of this writing), featured on the Bit Torrent website:
The bundle was additionally an opt-in inclusion for anyone who downloaded the Bit Torrent software:
The Results
Millions of downloads in a short time period = top of Pirate Bay’s overall downloads section, and Audio section for over a month (as of this writing, it’s actually still up there):
I picked up the phone and called Red Light Management (manager for PL) as soon as I saw that the BitTorrent bundle had hit #1 on Pirate Bay. Think of Pirate Bay as the underground / music pirate’s version of the Billboard Top 100. In fact, I would say the Pirate Bay’s Top 100 might be the BEST indication of what digital content is reaching the masses on the Internet, because it includes the metrics for the millions of people “illegally” downloading content; and those top downloaded items are fairly similar to the top audio, TV, and movie downloads on iTunes and other “legal” paid services.
UPDATE: As of 1/22/12, The Pretty Lights / BitTorrent media bundle has surpassed 6 million downloads worldwide.
Randy Reed, PL’s manager, put it perfectly:
“Here we are celebrating hitting #1 on Pirate Bay, while major labels would be kicking, cursing, and sending take-down notices.”
The Reaction
Hitting #1 on Pirate Bay lead to reactions such as:
…and then ushered in more downloads.
And:
The Metrics
Effect of BitTorrent Promotion on PL web traffic:
Then the promotion went down for a bit…
Then BitTorrent loved PL so much, they re-ignited it:
PL is HUGE in the US, but we are definitely working on spreading his name to other countries, and this promotion certainly helped.
Traffic from sources overseas also saw massive spikes, as BitTorrent has a large user-base in Europe.
Soundcloud plays (each spike represents when the promotion went live, twice):
…and YouTube:
NextBigSound Big Picture Data:
Some Press:
Monetization
My co-worker, and frequent Hypebot contributor Hisham Dahud, put it well when he said Pretty Lights’ business model is “embracing the chaos” of the current state of the music industry. And the ever-apparent, and frequently asked question is “well, how does he make money if he gives all of his music away for free?”
Take a look at this video and see if you can answer for yourself how Pretty Lights is one of the biggest and fastest growing acts in the electronic dance music scene, and how he monetizes his business while giving all of his music away for free:
And then check out this video and see if you can guess how he creates multiple revenue streams:
If you haven’t answered the question yet, you’re stupid… just kidding.
Big buzz in a specific geographic region (Denver) among college kids, pursuant to great live shows and free music… leads to free great music to larger and larger audiences as time goes on… leads to more shows in more places =massive distribution of a FREE valuable product = increasing interest = $ for shows = $ for merch, then at a certain level = $ from brands.
“Just because you give away your main product for free does not mean you can’t make money. We live in an attention economy, your biggest chore is getting people to listen, not to pay for your music.”
If you used Ticketmaster‘s website to buy tickets between October 21, 1999 and October 19, 2011, you’re likely to be eligible for a refund. If the court approves the proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit charging deceptive and excessive processing fees, fans will be getting back$1.50 for every ticket order bought on the site in the last 12 years. The details:
There is a proposed limit of 17 ticket orders. But that still means that the fan who goes to even one Ticketmaster show a year over the last dozen years will see more than $25. Some fans who had tickets shipped cia UPS may be entitled to up to $5 per ticket refunds.
According to court documents, Ticketmaster should be forced to pay out as much as $50 million. But the lawsuit won’t stop Ticketmaster from charging high fees in the future. It just means that they have to be clearer about doing so on their web site.How To Get Your Refund
It won’t come quickly. Credits won’t be issued prior to April 15, 2012 and should come within 30 days after Final Approval of the settlement which is currently scheduled for May 29, 2012. Saty tuned, and we’ll keep you posted on more details.
