The best artists in the world start from the ground up. You see a tiny review, you hear about them from your friends, then you see something in the street. A flyer, sticker, poster, something; connections are made.
That was fine when there was a record store on every High Street. When an artist connected, picking up their record was as simple as buying a loaf of bread. The internet has completely changed all that. It might be far easier to get hold of your new favourite single but some of the connections have been lost. Who even knows what most single covers look like? Who remembers the flyer when they’re browsing the blogs?
Grum, the UK’s most important new dance producer is the first artist to change all that, revolutionising the way the public interact with music.
The artwork is a pioneering design, developed by David Ross, the artistic and creative brains behind Mylo’s ‘Destroy Rock N Roll’ poster and artwork campaigns. For Grum he has incorporated a unique 2-D Barcode into the artwork, which when photographed by your mobile phone (using the appropriate application) takes you directly to the music where you can hear great quality streamed versions of the track, with an option to buy there and then. A fully interactive experience for fans to get the music they want, when they want it. See the poster on the street or an advert in a mag, snap the logo, and get direct to the music. There’s already massive interest with mobile phone providers and software programmers to develop this idea, but Grum got there first. The revolution starts here!
So far the barcodes work best with the iPhone. There are a number of free applications you can use that will photograph the codes and then take you to the page on Grum’s site where you can stream the song and then click on the iTunes link to buy it. Here are the links to our favourite ones (link opens up iTunes and takes you to the App Store)…
If you don’t have an iPhone, fear not! BeeTagg make Barcode readers for the following phones (click on the links to take you to the relevant page on the BeeTagg site); Blackberry, HTC, LG, Mio, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Samsung, Siemens, SonyEricsson, SPV. If you’re phone is supported, you can download the App here http://www.beetagg.com/downloadreader/. The App will then take you to a page on Grum’s site where – as long as your phone allows it – you can download a radio-quality version of his song.
If your phone is not listed there, try http://reader.kaywa.com/phones. Kaywa make good barcode readers too.
