29 July 2009, Roundhouse, London
Really enjoyed this! Haven’t seen anything like it before, and it was great going with someone who was really excited about it. I love being around people who want to share things they are passionate about, as that’s often how I feel.
Simian Mobile Disco is made up of two guys who play what looks like the ‘back of a refrigerator’ (a modular simulator?). The music was really powerful and the light show and visuals were the best I have ever seen. I really liked the simplicity of the visuals – recurring cube designs, spirals, polka dots, bubbles…a feast for the eyes and the ears. Really really enjoyed it.
iTunes Festival is such a great marketing scheme and branding exercise for iTunes. 31 nights of free gigs, where you enter a lottery for tickets via signing up to be a fan on their Facebook page and handing over all your details. iTunes builds a database, opening up opportunities for marketing… they drive thousands of people to their website and store, reinforcing their brand… The gigs get recorded and again this encourages people to visit iTunes to download the gigs and to buy the music. They gave out ten free (set) tunes for people to download from iTunes (converting some non-iTune users on the way). The cost they sink into hiring the bands versus the ROI, the press coverage and the brand boosting they get… I would say that’s probably equivalent. And the plus for the bands is that they build new audiences. 
Because the gigs are free and are tickets are distributed by lottery, they bring in very different audiences and on the whole, people are more willing to try new things when it’s free.
Luckily, I know someone who works at the Roundhouse, woohoo! 😀 thanks TFT2T for opening my eyes.
Eat Your Art Out 