Movements surge like tides. / Failure is to force or fake. / Surf the social waves! #CulturalMovements #Uprisinggiveaway #haiku @ScottFrog

— leesean hepnova (@leesean) March 19, 2012

The challenge was to define and comment on cultural movements in a tweet. Given the brevity of the medium, I opted for the haiku form to help give me some constraints, and for the LOLZ. Also, traditional Japanese haiku is more than just the 5-7-5 syllable structure, as the poetic form often references nature. I decided to play with the metaphor of waves to describe the nature of cultural movements.

The idea of “surfing” upon the power of an ocean/cultural wave, rather than trying to control or force it parallels Goodson’s advice to marketers in BusinessWorld:

• Instead of controlling the message, marketers must learn to relinquish control and let the movement do what it will with that message.
• Companies must learn to stop talking about themselves and join in a conversation that is about anything but their products.

13.4 million Americans watch some form of mobile video each month, and of those 13.4 million people, each watched an average of 3.5 hours of mobile video per month.  By comparison, the average American watches 153 hours of TV per month.  (Nielsen via Mashable, May 2009)

Also from Nielsen:

Except for the teenage years, viewing of traditional television increases with age; the use of video on the Internet peaks among young adults while viewing mobile video is highest in the teen years.

Men continue to watch video on mobile phones more than women, and women continue to watch video on the Internet and TV more than men.

In a 2007 international survey, a majority of all respondents agreed that “recommendations from friends had the most impact on the type of content they viewed over celebrity, amateur and professional endorsements.” (IBM via REELSEO)

According to a 2008 comScore study: on-demand video was the most popular mobile video format (compared to mobile broadcast), with 3.6 million viewers in the US. The report also gave a breakdown of the kinds of content mobile video users consumed:

See also:
Eyes Wide Open: Video Usage Up, More Watch Cross-Platform
Nielsen: Mobile Video Use Lags Behind

The ad was made by Americans Against Food Taxes, an interest group that includes some big agro-businesses and industrial fast food producers who are opposed to a proposed tax on soft drinks and juice drinks, in other words, beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Pardon the pun, but this ad, like HFCS found in soft drinks and juice drinks, is pretty corny stuff.  Let’s cut through the saccharine images of an All-American family and the folksy populist spin.  First, “juice drinks,” as defined by the USDA is different from “100% juice.”  Juice drinks only constitute a small percentage of actual fruit juice, and can contain added water, sugar/HFCS, coloring, and vitamins.  In these USDA health guidelines (PDF), the example juice drink only contains 5% juice.  The proposed tax is on soda and juice drinks, NOT on 100% juice or fresh fruit.  Last time I checked, soda and juice drinks were not essential foundations in the food pyramid.

I’m no fan of big agro-business lobbies or a Federal nanny state, but guaranteeing all Americans basic access to health care is an important issue that needs funding.  So where do we go from here? Well, if we follow the money (and the trail of corn kernels), we find that soft drinks and juice drinks are able to be sold relatively cheaply because of existing government intervention in the form of subsidies.  These government subsides—our taxpayer money— artificially lower the price of corn and corn derivatives like high fructose corn syrup.  When we buy a soda, we aren’t paying the REAL market price because the cost of producing corn syrup, a major ingredient, is subsidized by our tax dollars.  Hey, isn’t that soda socialism or something?

Now here’s the part where I might even get mistaken for a conservative:  Instead of levying taxes on soda and juice drinks to fund health care, why not just cut costs by reducing or even eliminating the corn subsidies, and use the savings to fund health care reform?  These subsidies are taxes that we have already paid that are a standing government bailout that props up an essentially non-market-based business model.

Insert folksy Fox News-worthy soundbite:  “Calm down about socialized medicine ’cause corn subsidies ain’t so capitalist either!”

The Environmental Working Group’s Farm Subsidy Database shows that there were $21.6 billion in corn subsidies in the four-year period from 2003-2006 (inclusive).  The Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University found that HFCS producers received an implicit $234 million dollar a year subsidy derived from overall corn subsidies.  Meanwhile, the WSJ reports that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that “adding a tax of three cents per 12-ounce serving to these types of sweetened drinks would generate $24 billion over the next four years.”  If the amount of money spent on four years of corn subsidies were redirected towards health care, we would already be 90% of the way to the potential $24 billion that could be raised by new taxes on soda and juice drinks.

Why bother with new taxes on struggling American families when the government can just stop using our taxpayer money to subsidize artificially-cheap corn, the staple of the industrial agro-businesses, and use it as a down payment on health care reform?

Nicholas DiBiase (@Hepnova) from Hepnova and Noah Dyer (@WealthNetTeam) from WealthNet Partners give a brisk talk about the basics of branding and how it can affect relationships with potential investors. Geared toward the entrepreneur, this video introduces the essential concepts of branding and why they matter to the startup seeking funding.

Stories, examples, and counterexamples along with an amusing skit keep this first salvo in the struggle against bad marketing fresh and entertaining.

This piece was produced for the online educational resource/expertise marketplace Advisor Garage.

This is the fifth in a series of “This is real DIY” experimental documentary videos. Music by Hepnova.

Masnick talks about how “free music” business models can allow musicians to connect with fans and give them reasons to pay the band in other ways. Using NIN as a case study, Masnick also gives examples of how “free” models have worked for less-established artists. Note the mention of Creative Commons around 6:45.

Also be sure to check out Trent Reznor’s thoughts on what to do as a new/unknown artist on the NIN forums. (Thanks to Parker for the link.)

Also, stay tuned for a FIERCE remix of “Can’t Stop.”

My friend Kia has just opened up a bakery business based in Jersey City, NJ, which also serves the NYC area. The baked goods look delicious!  Definitely check them out for the holiday season!

Kia’s Homemade Bake Sale

Show and prove your pride as an international citizen of Cake City. Thousands of people worldwide are casting off the chains of slackness and earning currency every day. Cake City isn’t just the new name for a certain metro area — it’s a state of mind, global village of the highly motivated.

Order your very own Cake City t-shirt, designed by Hepnova, today!

HEPNOVA now has a profile on Fuzz.com. Check it out, see band pics, listen to tracks, spread the word to your friends.

David Miliband/Avaaz.org Chatham House Speech (Highlights) from lee-sean on Vimeo.

The image is a scan of the framed Progressive Source Communications Award certificate that we received at the Avaaz New York office today. Avaaz’s Stop the Clash of Civilizations won the people’s choice for Best Awareness-Raising Video.

Thanks to Progressive Source Communications and for internet voters around the world for the recognition. Props also to Agit-Pop Communications, who co-produced the video, and special thanks to DJ Spooky for providing the music.

Thanks to everyone for voting for us!

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Music by/Música por/Musique par: HEPNOVA

NEW YORK–Climate activists affiliated with Avaaz.org, a new million-member global online advocacy group, and AlGore.com, former Vice President Al Gore’s personal email list, have organized 5000 parties in 119 countries centered on the July 7 Live Earth concerts, Avaaz announced today.
In addition to watching the concerts, partygoers will take the Live Earth Pledge, committing to personal and political action to combat the climate crisis.

“Live Earth is the best possible moment to start an unstoppable movement to end the climate crisis,” said Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz.org. “Global public opinion is the new superpower, and Live Earth is giving it a historic jolt of renewable energy.”

Avaaz members have registered to host 2500 parties, including 312 in Australia, 100 in Mexico, 121 in Great Britain, 70 in South Africa, 17 in India, and 58 in Slovenia. While all the parties will involve the concerts and the Live Earth Pledge, each is unique–including:
• a dance party at a club in Bosnia
• children’s plays about global warming organized in Cotonu, Benin
• a climate change festival at the International Peace Museum in Ohio
• a Bahai prayer service in Mozambique

Event details can be accessed through an interactive map at www.liveearth.org. The parties will be “co-hosted” by Al Gore, who will appear via an exclusive online video (subtitled into several world languages by Avaaz).

Avaaz members recently delivered a 375,000 petition to the chair of the G8 negotiations, calling for world leaders to begin global negotiations on climate change before the end of the year.
“Avaaz’s work to give ordinary people around the world a powerful voice in global decision-making is inspiring, and their climate crisis organizing around the G8 Summit made a significant difference,” said Gore. “Through these parties, we can reach more people than ever before and build a truly global movement to solve the climate crisis.”

“On July 7th, thanks to Live Earth, 2 billion people will be thinking about climate change. It is a rare and priceless opportunity to build political will, and Avaaz members are making the most of it,” said Ricken Patel of Avaaz.org.

Avaaz.org is a new multi-issue online network that provides opportunities for citizens of every country to take concerted action on urgent global problems – climate change, poverty, the crisis in the Middle East. Avaaz.org’s mission is to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decisions. It operates in 12 languages. Recently launched in January 2007, it now has over a million members from every nation of the world. ‘Avaaz’ means ‘voice’ in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages.

“I Love Taiwan” T-shirt. Order from Zazzle.com

Greenland Polar Bear Coat of Arms T-shirt. Order from Zazzle.com

Avaaz’s ‘Stop the Clash of Civilizations’ video has been nominated for the Best Awareness Raising Video category of the Progressive Source Awards. Anybody with an email address can vote for us online, so check out the other entries and vote for us here.

Co-host a Live Earth party with Avaaz and Al Gore! Hosting is very easy: all you need is a computer, a television, and a place where friends can join you, such as your home or a bar. We’ll send you easy, step-by-step instructions for how to have a great event. If you choose to make your event public, other people in your community will be able to find it and register to attend when they search for events in your area. Together, we’ll make 7/7/07 a turning point in solving the climate crisis!

Click here to learn more and to create your own house party

You can also order a Björn the Bear T-shirt, designed by Hepnova. All t-shirt royalties will go towards supporting Avaaz’s campaigns.

From Tekserve’s email invite:

Special Event: The Future of Music, A Panel Discussion on Where the Music Industry is Headed

The panel will explore a host of music topics: What have we gained, what have we lost? What are we going to hear in the next ten years? What are we going to feel? How will music be sold? How will it be produced? How will it be performed? Prior to the panel discussion, you will hear from Steve Gordon, author of THE FUTURE OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS: How to Succeed with the New Technologies, A Guide for Artists and Entrepreneurs. In addition, you’ll have the chance to pose your own question to the panelists at the end of the discussion.

Moderator of the Discussion: Harry Allen is a famed hip-hop activist and journalist for Vibe, The Source, The Village Voice, and others. As an expert covering hip-hop culture, Harry has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, on National Public Radio, MTV, VH-1, CNN, the BBC, and other information channels.

Here is a list of our panelists:

Bob Power, Award-winning, multi-platinum record producer, mixer, engineer, musician. Credits Include: A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, Erykah Badu.

Hank Shocklee, Long Island based hip-hop producer. Credits include: Public Enemy, EPMD, Ice Cube.

Nick Sansano, New York-based engineer/producer. Credits include: Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Galactic, Sonic Youth.

Steve Gordon, New York based entertainment attorney, author and lecturer

Below: Mixer Cake

My Notes:

Steve Gordon’s Presentation on the Future of the Music Business

• The traditional music biz is in crisis due to digital downloads, Napster and Kazaa, but there are many new opportunities
• Gross music recording sales are in decline – peaked at $15 billion in 1999, now down to $10 billion in 2006
• With modern technology, it is now possible to produce a commercial quality album for less than $10,000 and set up a promotional website for only a few hundred dollars.
• Case study : Assuming that an artist records an album for $15,000. If she sells only 3000 units online through self-distribution, she can start to turn a profit. At a major label, she would have to sell over $15,000 units just to recoup costs, before starting to receive a paltry %3 on each unit sold.
• iTunes was a step in the right direction. Great deal for Apple – over 90 million iPods sold, but for record labels, digital sales have not compensated for losses in CD sales.
• Why DRM? Labels for Apple to use it, but Apple uses DRM too. iTunes purchases only play on your computer or on an iPod.
• New AAC Format (Apple and EMI partnership). Offers higher quality sound at a greater cost. But once again, it only plays on an iPod.

Panelists’ General Observations

• There has a transfer of power from labels to independent musicians and producers, but not a transfer of money.
• The business is in crisis, but MUSIC is still good
• Consumers have a choice now. Need for new curators, gatekeepers and aggregators of content to help music listeners make more informed choices.
• Just because we have new digital tools doesn’t mean we should use all of them at once. Talent and acquired skills are still needed. One needs to have a firm grasp of musical history and how to arrange. Good, cheap technology does not necessarily translate directly into a great record. But Rock and Roll was born out of doing things wrong.
• In the new digital age we are still children. We are now free, but how do we take advantage of our new found freedom? Most people don’t know what is means to be free – so most people go back to the plantation.
• PROMOTION IS KEY! People need to not only promote their own stuff, but cross promote with other artists and producers as well.
• Currency is viewership and visibility, NOT SALES! Audio and visual elements are even more interconnected than ever.
• Big expensive studios may still sound a bit better than a home-studio recording, but it doesn’t sound 1 million dollars better.
• Labels will stay around in one form or another – just as radio did not replace television. Labels still have means to promote and place an artist. Labels still command trust with distributors and media networks. The oldest form of trust is $. Labels are like banks.
• There is now a lower ramp of entry into the biz. But artists have an even greater responsibility to create their own buzz now.
• There will be no more superstar artists – only celebrities and good artists.
• Profits will be more evenly distributed. More variety in the ecosystem, with everyone getting a fairer piece of the pie.
• Keys to success – REFINEMENT, SKILLS, and LEARNING.
• MySpace is great, but don’t forget that face-to-face meetings and networking is still important.

Watch the The Future of Music videos on YouTube.

From ProgressiveSourceAwards.com:

The Progressive Source Awards recognize innovation and compelling messages in online advocacy. Our objective is to provide progressive advocacy groups and non-profits with an easily-accessed repository of Web marketing “best practices.”

The Awards are the first to recognize effective Web advocacy campaigns. Anybody can recommend a nominee for a Progressive Source Award at the Awards Web site. There are two prizes for each of seven categories. The general public can vote for the “Most Popular” Award, while a diverse panel of more than a dozen distinguished judges will also select a Judges’ Award for each category.

Learn more, nominate and vote at ProgressiveSourceAwards.com! Oh yeah, I’ll be one of the judges.

I was part of the creative team of the Clash video, and worked on the localization/subtitling of the non-English versions. After our video was featured on YouTube earlier this week, the number of view counts has shot up dramatically. The video is stirring up quite a buzz online!

RICKEN PATEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF AVAAZ.ORG’s YOUTUBE DEBUT

This was shot using my MacBook’s built-in webcam at Avaaz.org’s New York office.

A Sunni, Shia and Kurd Parliamentarian are planning to stand together and present this petition to the Iraqi Parliament. They want us to help them show that the world supports Iraq’s right to its own oil and its own future.
Make your voice heard. Take action now

Learn more:
Copy of Oil Law in English

Full Letter from President of Hassan Jum’a Awwad, Head of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions

Christian Science Monitor Article

Price of Oil resource page

Article and Audio/Video from Democracy Now!

Short animation summarizing what is wrong with the Iraqi Oil Law

make custom gifts at Zazzle

I took this photo last night, by the ACE Canal Street station in Soho. Great campaign. Makes me want to go back to Montreal.

Watch video of the rally on YouTube.

And see photo’s on Avaaz.org’s Flickr page.

My Reaction to the protest on YouTube
Version 1:

Version 2: