Beta soon

So, after a hectic week in Cannes it was inevitable that I fell prey to the Midem bug that seemed to knock most people down for a few days. Unfortuantely for me this happened over the weekend, but I soldiered on and even managed to build an Ikea wardrobe on Sunday.

YourSpins.com is getting a lot of requests for beta-invites. We are hoping to open this up later in the week, so if you have applied, standby for your username and password.

We will be doing the beta-testing in the old-fashioned way. It seems to be the rage these days to have things in an almost complete state for years and call it beta testing. We will have around 4-6 weeks of beta testing, then it will be opened up to everyone. In that time we hpe our beta testers will give us feedback, comments and suggestions on how we can improve YourSpins.com.

So, we have a busy week ahead of us to make sure we can launch to a select few. Early adopters will also get preferential treatment for future events and will also get get free stuff. You can't beat that! So if you haven't already, sign up at YourSpins today. You won't regret it!

Not just dance music

Although we have quite a few pop and dance tracks in the .di format, there is no restriction on the kind of music that can be presented in this interactive format. To illustrate the point we have forthcoming releases in heavy metal and indie rock genres, but also an world-first development in classical music publishing.



Michael Dierks (left) and Sandor Mester (founder of Digimpro) recently recorded a .di track with many variations on the same JS Bach choral. The recording, in a 500-year old church in Stockholm, allows users to manipulate the music as it is being played - offering a unique insight into the mind of the ancient composer and modern organist. Check the Digimpro homepage for news of when this track will be available.

Midem - all over!

Midem is all over and I am back in chilly old London reflecting on what was a very successful week for Digimpro. We really raised our profile with some of the major players in the industry and they liked what they saw. We will see in the next few weeks what concrete developments take place, but we are optimistic that something major will happen soon. You'll be able to read all about it on here, whenever it happens.

Some highlights and memories of Midem for us:


UK politician Huw Irranca-Davis visits the Digimpro stand and meets Andreas Kemi, Tom Gilchrist and Thomas Hedstrom.


The beach outside the Palais de Congres, which looks much warmer than it actually was!

Midem Day 5

Last night, after dinner in the Carlton Hotel, we were entertained by an impromptu jazz performance by a very talented pianist, harmonica player and singer. They commandeered the hotel piano and performed a fantastic version of 'Route 66' for a very select audience of a handful of people who wandered past and were so transfixed they had to stay and listen.

People who walk past the Digimpro stand are similarly transfixed and have to stay and listen to us and the tracks that we show them!

I went to a session yesterday called 'Get A Buzz Started - Reach Your Community!'. It was scheduled to last for 45 minutes, but really could have been summarised in 2 sentences. Embrace the web and strive to build up an email list of fans, remembering to email them with valuable (free) content regularly. Oh, and put a forum on your website so fans can interact with each other.

I don't know what I was expecting exactly, but it was a little more than this. What about weblogs, rss feeds, bluetooth/rfid enabled ads, guerilla marketing, media2.0 and new ways to interact with fans?

Tonight is the closing party for this 40th Midem conference. I am really looking forward to rounding off a good week by hearing Satoshi Tomii (sp?) and David Morales play at the closing party. Can't wait!

Midem Day 4

Much excitement at the Digimpro stand yesterday, as superstar producer 'Jellybean' Benitez and UK politician Huw Irranca-Davis were on the stand at the same time.

Huw is the personal private secretary to UK Culture Minister Tessa Jowell and his visit conincided with a demo of DI's eCard to Mr Benitez - causing some crowding around the stand, not for the first time on the day.

Many people have been very complimentary about our technology and there are many promising, high-profile leads to follow-up when we come back to the office. I have a feeling that we are in the right place - physically and metaphorically - at the right time.

In other news, *many* people are going down with food poisioning which puts them out of action for a day or two. I don't know what's causing it, but if I was to place a paranoid guess, I'd say the champagne had been poisoned!

Midem Day 3

Our stand early in the morning. The calm before the storm.

Midem Day 2

No post yesterday - we were very busy preparing for the press conference today. It all went well as we demonstrated RemixRingTones and YourSpins.com - to an enthusiastic audience. Full details on both of these products will be available in our press releases on digimpro.com tomorrow, but we are - to borrow an Americanism - 'really psyched' about this.

The Digimpro booth didn't really have a quiet moment all day, and we were especially busy in the afternoon. Tomorrow and Tuesday are supposed to be the busiest days, so we'll see how they go. More details tomorrow! Exciting huh?

As we left the Palais this evening, there was a massive and impressive fireworks display. The rockets lit up in Cannes in a magical way. It is a real privilege to be here at times like this.

Ah well - time for bed. Another full day ahead of us in the morning...

Ministry of Sound profile Sasha/Spooky

Clubbing giant Ministry of Sound has profiled the Digimpro/Sasha/Spooky remix competition in a recent article on their website. Great to hear some positive feedback already.

No posts from us tomorrow - we're flying to Midem. See you there!

YourSpins.com - download/remix/share

It's all over the wires, so it's about time we spoke about it! In a few weeks time, we will be launching the beta version of YourSpins.com - something which has been us keeping us busy for some time now.

YourSpins will be a new kind of music community. Using Digimpro's technology, members will be able to go beyond the download and remix songs in the .di format, share them online with the commuity, export the mixes to other devices, such as ringtones on mobile phones - and also meet and chat to other music fans.

We will be sticking to the old-fashioned beta-release ethos, by inviting a few hundred people to test the community thoroughly before we open it up to everyone and take it out of beta. However, visitors to Midem will get a sneak peak at how the site will look and operate on Sunday 22nd January at 15:00 on the Digimpro stand.

We are looking forward to this immensely!

UK Minister to visit Digimpro

If you still haven't made your mind up to come and visit us at Midem - take a lead from the UK government's Minister for Creative Industries, James Purnell. The minister will be coming to the Digimpro stand on Monday to discuss how the music industry, government and technology companies can work better together.

The Young Knives

Great news from our friends at Transgressive Records. The next release from up-and-coming stars of 2006, The Young Knives , will be available in .di format.

The track, 'Here Comes The Rumour Mill', is set to storm the indie scene when it is released in February. Fans will be invited to sharpen their remix skills in a special tie-in with the band's official site. Keep checking this blog and the band's website for news on how to get hold of this very hot track.
In the meantime, you can sign up for the raffle on their site to win some meat and a set of steak knives.

Midem Press Conference

We have just been playing with something very cool in the office which we would like to share with everyone at the forthcoming Midem conference in Cannes. Please come along to our stand (R34.08) on Sunday at 15:00 for a world first demonstration of this technology. We'll even have champagne too - so come along for that if nothing else!

This is something which we believe will be fascinating for music fans of all ages. Come at get a sneak preview on Sunday. We will be demo-ing the technology throughout the rest of the week as well. Don't forget to bring your phone.

Remix the remix

So, if you have visited the main Digimpro website recently you will see that we have officially launched the DJ Sasha/Spooky remix competition!

This is exciting for us as it gives the world a first look at our di Online Player - but also becasue we are working with 2 of the biggest names in dance music.

The idea is for the listener to become involved in the music and remix the track to their own specific taste. Once they have done this, they can mail their mix into us and we will put the latest mixes up on the page for everyone to hear. At the end of the competition, Sasha and Spooky will select the best mix themselves and the winner will receive and iPod loaded with a massive back catlogue of work from both artists.

Can't be bad for free eh?

So, get remixing Sasha's remix and immerse yourself in a new world of music. We will be releasing more tracks in this way very soon. Stay tuned for more developments.

Exciting news!

We here at Digimpro are all big Baywatch fans, so the latest piece of news to reach our office was greeted particularly warmly. Again, we can't say too much yet - but watch this space for news next week.

Everything seems to be shaping up to be a greet Midem meeting. We will be launching many new products and collaborations - the only way to keep up with them all is to come along to stand R34.08 and have a chat with us. "I'll be there....".

Sasha & Spooky

We've been busy in the last few days putting the finishing touches to something exciting which we will tell the world about at the end of the week. Needless to say, we are looking forward to it as much as the fans of Sasha and Spooky should be! Can't say anymore now, but come back and check the blog on Friday - or see the news section on www.digimpro.com

Spooky have already worked with Digimpro on their 'No Return' track, which was enthusiastically welcomed by fans when it was made available via the DI site.

Hello World!

Hi. This is the first posting on the official Digimpro blog to keep everyone up-to-date on what's happening behind the scenes, when new releases are coming out and what we will be up to at Midem. There's a lot to talk about and we really appreciate any feedback on all the topics we blog about, so don't be shy on using the comment button on any of the postings.