FlyingChaz.com

Iemand stuurde me net een link naar een interview dat ik 5 jaren geleden gaf. Hieronder een extract, dat blijkbaar nog online staat. Reden dat men mij dit doorstuurde, is de bewering dat kranten stilaan magazines zullen worden. Vandaag zijn we daar dichterbij dan ooit in Vlaanderen, met DeStandaard & DeMorgen met hun nieuwe magazines?

‘Moeten Magazines dan kranten worden?‘, was de nieuwe vraag van haar. Not sure. Online berichtgeving gecombineerd met sociale media als twitter en facebook zijn de nieuwe kranten.

Waarom niet een andere richting opgaan. Magazines kunnen perfect de ‘nieuwe TV zenders’ aanvullen. Waarom zou HUMO bijvoorbeeld niet een ‘Humo Cultuurnieuws’ toevoegen aan het VT4 journaal ? Of Focus Knack bij het VTM nieuws ? Nu dat HUMO op zoek moet naar een nieuwe Chief, zou ik hem eerder uit de TV dan de Krantenwereld halen. Een strateeg, met sterke voeling voor digitale media en veranderde doelgroepen.

Anyway. In de komende maanden zal de mediawereld vrij veel verandering ondergaan. Eindelijk. Zal iedereen ten goede komen.

bart

Deze passage komt uit ‘Getuigenissen omtrent 20 jaar Leiderschap‘, het boek van Dominique Dewitte (Express.be) & Alain Renier (Top Management), gepubliceerd in 2006. Bart Becks is CEO van Belgacom Skynet, CEO van Extenseo en lid van het IAB (Vice President) en IAB Europe (Member of the Strategic Counsel)

De ganse mediawereld is ondertussen totaal op zijn kop gezet. Kranten worden magazines omdat internet de rol van de instant media heeft overgenomen. Mensen willen instant information. Online nieuws is nú actueel, niet morgen als de krant gedrukt is. Dus brengen kranten achtergrondinformatie en concurreren ze met hun eigen magazines. De hoofdredacteur van The New York Times stapte onlangs over naar Yahoo! omdat de audience voor nieuws verschoven is naar de online mediaportalen. De manier waarop de media de afgelopen decennia heeft gewerkt wordt totaal overhoop gehaald.

Als ik een hotel wil boeken ga ik naar een website waar duizenden mensen hun mening geven over verschillende hotels. Test-Aankoop is dus niet meer de meest betrouwbare bron, omdat het een bedrijf is dat zijn mening geeft. Het heeft natuurlijk wel wat waarde, maar natuurlijk veel minder dan het forum of duizenden personen die hun persoonlijke ervaring meegeven via het internet. Als ik in Londen ben geweest en de aanbevelingen die ik via het web kreeg over mijn hotel ginds correct waren, ga ik datzelfde forum consulteren wanneer ik straks naar Munchen moet. Tripadvisor.com is op korte termijn een bron voor hotelcontrole geworden. Het volstaat om in te geven welk hotel je wil en met welke kwalificaties. En je ziet wat duizenden anderen ervan vinden en op welke criteria ze sterk scoren. Fantastisch toch.

Everything bad is good for you is een boek dat handelt over het impact van onder meer de gaming-industrie op jongeren. De heersende gedachte is dat populaire cultuur ons afstompt en dom maakt. Tot nu toe werd vooral gewezen op de oog-hand-coordinatie die door het spelen van games wordt bevorderd, maar de schrijver Steven Johnson betoogt dat ook andere hersenactiviteiten worden gestimuleerd door het spelen van computerspellen. Hij vindt het bewijs voor zijn stelling bij de stijging van de IQ-scores in de Verenigde Staten. In de laatste vijftig jaar zijn die alleen maar gestegen. Je merkt dat ook bij Skynet, onze gaming-mensen zijn zeer sterk in scenario-ontwikkeling, een steeds belangrijkere skill voor managers.

De volgende clash wordt de marketingclash. Er is een shift bezig van de traditionele media zoals kranten, radio en tv, naar de nieuwe media zoals iPod, digitale tv en gsm. De jongeren begrijpen die nieuwe media. Jonge mensen die hier binnenkomen zijn vaak onwaarschijnlijke talenten met een kennis van de markt die totaal onwaarschijnlijk is voor 25, 26-jarigen. Ik vraag me dan af: ‘Waar zullen die staan binnen 10 jaar?’ Maar tegelijkertijd is het ook tijd voor de 40-plussers om zich bij te scholen, of ze worden zonder pardoes voorbijgestoken. Mensen veranderen niet graag. En marketingmensen nog veel minder, hoewel er gelukkig een nieuwe generatie is opgestaan die efficiëntie en creativiteit combineren.

De old fashion way waarin sommige bedrijven nog steeds opereren ontbeert ook een bepaalde zingeving. ‘Je mag hier werken van 9 tot 4 en dan geef ik je wat geld om daarna gelukkig te zijn’. Zo functioneert het niet meer. Mensen moeten op hun werk een bepaalde zingeving vinden, een deel van het geluk. Wie zijn talenten binnen wil houden zal een zinvolle bedrijfscultuur moeten ontwikkelen, zelfs als de zingeving voor elke persoon verschillend is. Dat is een deel van de sleutel tot de ontzuring. Mensen zich goed laten voelen op de werkplek door respect, erkenning en vriendschap…

We hebben dus ook nood aan een ander soort leiders. Om bedrijven te leiden zullen er altijd mensen zijn, maar om de basis te leggen voor de nodige ontwikkelingen naar de toekomst toe, of je nu over industrieën, landen of regio’s praat, daar zullen sterke mensen voor moeten opstaan. Leiders die een combinatie van ervaring, communicatiekracht en inventiviteit weten te ontplooien en die het klassieke bedrijfsdenken van vandaag overstijgen.

 

This night, the partyharders woke me up at least 5 times between 2 and 6 am. Even though we sleep in the center of Brussels, our bedrooms are in a small alley, and it’s always calm. Except this night, when some were so drunk and high from the brussels cityparade (I checked them out), that their only intention was to wake up the people in the neighbourhood. Anyway, there’s worst things in life. But I woke up hating Brussels. I’m already in this hate-love relation with our Belgian capital, and this didn’t make it better. Finally, was able to get some sleep from 7 am till noon.

Then my little boy wanted to go out and play. Every Saturday and Sunday, femke, Charlie and I try to eat together. During the week it’s quite tough, but in the week-end we keep it at least 1 our of 2, if not both. As we’re in between houses (we’re moving), femke wanted to keep on sorting. I took 4 suitcases and all the rest can be deleted. I have my photos online, all my music is digital, I already moved my vinyls, and all the rest is yours to have. But ofcourse it isn’t that simple…

So my little dude and I went for a viet lunch together. He loves wan tan soup and ‘riz sauté au poulet’, which we shared with a bottle of water.  Pretty good.

Then, I wanted to take him for the first time ever to the movies, and the Smurfs looked pretty ok. So I took him to UGC Brouckere. Unfortunately, there is only a French version. No Dutch verson. Not even an English subtitled version.  That is unfortunately also the reality of Brussels. So we decided to take the metro (dude loves metros and trains) and went to the Kinepolis. Movie was OK’ish, even if the acting was even too childish for a 3 year old. And Gargamel is a little to scary, so each time he appeared, Charlie appeared on my lap. But he loved it. So daddy loved it too. In the metro back, he ofcourse fell asleep.

Since then, I felt like working a little. Spent quite a while with a dear friend in San Francisco talking about shared leadership. Figured out how to cross-employ some tools (Zendesk, Mailchimp and SurveyGizmo). Finished the strategic planning for SonicAngel. Read through some crowdfunding studies. Checked out resumés of people that applied. Finished the financial projections for one of our new projects (we’re launching a graphics, artwork, social and video media company this week – combined in 1), and some other. I love to work in calm cafés, while drinking something. I’m now on my 4th Fresh Mint Tea. Am somewhat trying to live healthy, and just lost my fifth kilo since begin July. At least 5 more to go if I want to reach a special goal I’m training for …

While checking out something on IMDB (I’m working also on an amazing movie project),  I accidently arrived at the Soloist. I’m a big fan of Jamie Foxx and of Robert Downey Jr, and this movie I missed for some reason, even if I noticed the billboard all across Los Angeles some time ago. I found a (legal!) way to stream it this evening, and sooo looking forward to end the day with this. Streaming movies is just amazing.  See here the imdb profile: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/ My midnight movie of the day.

I’m going to start writing again. Helps me to sort my mind. And by sharing, I’ve received so much back!

To my friends in the US: I hope Irene keeps away now. Enough tragedies already …
G’night,
bart

Creative way to get hired via twitter. (via tnw)

Twitter Job Hustle from Wonder Years on Vimeo.

A year ago, we started with the SonicAngel platform. Our launchparty was on May11 at Depot in Leuven. Happy days, thanks for all the support to all artists, fans, funders, partners and everyone who participated in one way or another.
bart

- – - – -

SonicAngel, which combines crowdfunding with label activities, celebrates first year of operations with strong results and international expansion.
One year ago SonicAngel launched their curated crowdfunding activities for emerging music artists combined with label activities. The first results are strong: 94% success rate in funding, a golden album and platinum single, 9 strategic A-brand partnerships and over 1000 gigs booked via the SonicAngel booking agency.

SonicAngel was founded by Bart Becks and Maurice Engelen. Bart Becks is the former CEO of Belgacom Skynet (Belgium’s leading ISP) and was previously Chief Innovation & New media for European media giant SBS Europe/ProSiebenSat1 media group. Maurice Engelen is the man behind electronic music bands Praga Khan and Lords of Acid, and previously founded the legendary Antler Subway Records (later sold to EMI). The background of the founders indicate the philosophy SonicAngel: combine technology and best music practices to build a crowdfunding platform combined with innovative label activities.

SonicAngel uses a selection method to present emerging artists up for fanfunding. The selection is based on traditional A&R, but also the social media score of the bands is of high importance. The social media score is calculated based on the SonicAngel FanRank, which measures popularity on social media such as twitter, Facebook, YouTube, last.fm and others, plus measures the data intelligence from the NextBigSound tools. The funding amounts vary between 10.000 and 40.000 EUR, and are decided jointly by SonicAngel and the artist. Over the last year, 94% or 15 out of 16 bands, have achieved full funding, and are now in the recording studio or have already released an album. 12 of the finalized crowdfundings happened in the first trimester of 2011, indicating a strong uptake and fan satisfaction with the approach.

In order to manage success, SonicAngel also build out a sublabel, which has various genres. The pop/rock/alternative music label is managed by Nathalie Geradin (formerly at Universal), the electronic music side is managed by Bart Mandonx, who did groundbreaking work with Implant, Neon Judgement & the Bollock Brothers.

SonicAngel also hosts an intern division named F-A-B, which stands for Fans-Artists-Brands. The goal is to seek partnerships with brands, while respecting all parties in the equation. Market feedback is excellent, proven by the agreements with Hewlett Packard, Sony Ericsson, Beck’s (ABInbev), Randstad, Deloitte, ING and KPN which all concluded long term agreements.

After an initial launch in Belgium, SonicAngel is now rapidly expanding. A newly launched audition platform already saw inscriptions from 33 countries (http://www.sonicangel.com/auditions). SonicAngel also selected 8 international bands up for funding, with bands originating from the US, France, Switzerland and Germany. On top of that, SonicAngel Lektroland (http://lektroland.sonicangel.com) is the company’s latest initiative, and includes a platform and label specifically dedicated to electronic music.

Last Sunday I arrived in San Francisco. I was attending the SF Music Tech on Monday (which was quite amazing), and had a couple of meet-ups with SF partners plus visited a company named ‘Klout‘. This visit was related to the Belgian Webmission, a grassroots organised trips to SF and the valley.

On wednesday I left for LA. There I had a kindof meeting craze. Closed 2 huge deals which are going to take us to the next level. Met a ton of people, met 4 lawfirms, 2 financials partners, had dinner with a good friend of mine, and bought a cool present for my little dude

There’s a clear difference between SF and LA. One of the few is the respective love for tech and media/music. SF is all about tech. If you’re in the content side of the industry, you have nothing to win there. LA is business driven with always a focus on media, music or gaming. I read somewhere that in SF, everyone has a business idea for his own tech startup in the backpocket, while in LA most have a movie script with them. Both have in common that their’s an enormous entrepreneurial drive. Everyone is going after their wildest dreams: create a startup, make a movie, jam in your rockband, rething the gaming biz, … It’s such a difference with the belgian perspective. The best example is when I explan SonicAngel in the US, the answer is usually ‘ Wow, what an amazing idea and achievements already. This can be huge’. In Belgium, people usually ask if besides this music startup, I also have another job …

For some reason, I feel at home in LA. It’s really weird, but I blend into the city. The digital media startup scene in santa monica, the crazy vibe of hollywood, the amazing waves of malibu, the bursts of downtown, … If you can see through the fake cult of celebrity hunt, the city of Angels gets to you … Yep, like the eagles of death metal cynically sang: ‘I wanna be in LA’.

bart

http://www.flyingchaz.com

Eagles of death metal: I wanna be in LA.

It’s been a hell night. All night long, I have been sick. After going out to see a movie ‘Limitless’ with my Femke (pretty cool – about some kind of corporate doping with a flavour of ‘Inception’ filming – even if I think the movie had more potential), I was so hungry I took some fried chicken nuggets on the way home around midnight. It’s now noon the next day, and I’m finally getting better …

As we’re in the moment of implementing some changes inside our organization to prepare for the next wave of scaling and growing international (we have grown now to about 30 artists from 5 countries, 8 corporate partners, 1000′s of members and investors, and 100s of live gigs…), being sick doesn’t come at a good moment. But does it ever ??

While getting better, and trying to prepare to speak with the team and this evening’s SonicAngel advisory board, I came across this post from mike arrington (chief Techcrunch) and chris dixon (founder hunch, siteadvisor, …) about entrepreneurship.

His words are:

You’ve either started a company or you haven’t. ”Started” doesn’t mean joining as an early employee, or investing or advising or helping out. It means starting with no money, no help, no one who believes in you (except perhaps your closest friends and family), and building an organization from a borrowed cubicle with credit card debt and nowhere to sleep except the office. It almost invariably means being dismissed by arrogant investors who show up a half hour late, totally unprepared and then instead of saying “no” give you non-committal rejections like “we invest at later stage companies.” It means looking prospective employees in the eyes and convincing them to leave safe jobs, quit everything and throw their lot in with you. It means having pundits in the press and blogs who’ve never built anything criticize you and armchair quarterback your every mistake. It means lying awake at night worrying about running out of cash and having a constant knot in your stomach during the day fearing you’ll disappoint the few people who believed in you and validate your smug doubters.

I don’t care if you succeed or fail, if you are Bill Gates or an unknown entrepreneur who gave everything to make it work but didn’t manage to pull through. The important distinction is whether you risked everything, put your life on the line, made commitments to investors, employees, customers and friends, and tried – against all the forces in the world that try to keep new ideas down – to make something new.

Starting a company is risking everything. Everything. You start from zero (or near), there’s a huge amount of non-believers, and especially the music biz is full of people (sometimes understandably) holding on to an old model to get through the day, with strategically trying to poor a daily dose of scepticism of ‘any’ new initiative. But hell, what we are doing at SonicAngel started as an idealistic adventure and that principle of bringing a new model to support emerging artists is and will always be core to our company. But you can bet on it that we’re ambitious. Truth is, I do believe we can become a global gamechanger and bring a new model to find, finance and break a new generation of outstanding artists across the planet by combining the power of fans, technology and industry innovation. And there’s a team fighting to make it happen. There peaks of huge highness of happiness, there’s moments of desperate cursing, but looking back on our first year of operations I’m extremely proud of what we are doing and where we currently are.

Even when I’m still feeling pretty bad and sick at this moment, all I want to do now it to get to our office/studios, work with the team, grow our hybrid ‘music-technology’ company, and make a difference!

So, to end this post, we’re proud of being “pirates” risking all we did before to execute and operate on our ideas. And I’m incredibly grateful to all artists, fans, partners, supporters and certainly our entire team for working to achieve our goals and dreams, for remaining positive during difficulties, for celebrating during successes, but certainly for being honest, open and giving all you have.
Thank you.

bart
http://www.sonicangel.com * http://www.flyingchaz.com

Over the past weeks, we released quite some work of our artists. Here’s a small overview, click on the links to listen or download:

1. Bab – Wounds
2. Barefoot & the shoes – The Ballad of Lady If
3. Axeela – Hump Hump

4. Vienna – Eenie Meenie
5. We also gave our support to release Miss Jagger’s Tribute to the Stones, all proceeds will go the Rode Kruis werking Japan.

Enjoy.

bart

There are 2 professors in Stanford and Berkeley are incredibly interesting and appealing to me.

One is Jerry Engel, who teaches entrepreneurship but also has an incredible venture capital program. I doubted about entering the VC industry full time at a certain moment, so I decided to take a course at Berkeley when I was on a ‘career-break’. The program was just amazing (you can find details here) ! I can truly recommend it to everyone, if you’re entering VC world or not. I became pretty good friends with since then, and each encounter is just amazing.
A week after attending his venture capital course, I also knew I wanted to start something from zero again. Not because I don’t love VC. On the contrary. One of the reasons I accepted to become IBBT chairman is because I think we can support building and growing amazing companies, project, products or services from that organisation. That’s also what I find great about VC’s: you can fund, support and build amazing companies. Actually, SonicAngel is build on a new generation of venture capital for emerging artists. At a conference in San Francisco, someone from the audience asked me: ‘So, SonicAngel is like the Y-Combinator for rock bands ?‘ And yes, that’s exactly what it is!

The 2nd Silicon Valley professor I admire is Steve Blank, who also wrote the excellent book ‘4 steps to epiphany‘. At his Stanford course, Steve teaches a lot about customer creation, product engineering, lean startup principles. Steve (and also Jerry for that matter) both started some companies, made a lot of money while selling them, and now are teaching entrepreneurship driven (or driving!) programs. Can you really teach entrepreneurship? Well, he addresses the question too – and compares it to teaching music. ‘Entrepreneurs are like artists‘.

Below the complete video. Steve talks about the bubble, about silicon valley, about the link between real world needs and digital ventures, about raising capital, but I’ll give you my 3 favourite moments:

1. the best entrepreneurs are passionate about solving a problem they truly care about. Entrepreneurs in their heart are like artists. Being an entrepreneur is not like having a job, it’s like having a calling. A true entrepreneur believe that he will create something that truly measures.
2. Silicon Valley is something different. You know how we call a failed entrepreneur? We call it experience! Anywhere else in the world, it’s called failure,you’re embarassed yourself, your family, your community, even your state.
3. if you raise capital under de current bubble, use it fully to scale your business and capture value. Don’t spend it on building or other, but spend it to capture attention and aggresively scale it.

Full video below, my favourite part as of minute 18.
Enjoy,
bart

(Source: GigaOm)

(c) http://www.flyingchaz.com

Bab is such an amazing talent. An amazing artist, an incredible personality and fantastic people around her. We’re now launching her first single, and you can find it here on iTunes.

We also just developed a widget (an kindof webapplication) that you can share virally, and you can connect to her on twitter, facebook, read her blog and buy the song if you like. Most of all, there is ofcourse an Easter egg . Watch the birds!

continue reading…