August 24, 2006
Welcome to Idealog Weekly, the free email newsletter for New Zealand commercial creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone rich with ideas. In this week’s issue: scratchy business, the great unravelling, on air and online, digital summit and the quote of the week.  Scratchy business
Serato Audio Research doesn’t have a huge profile in New Zealand but it’s become a familiar name in the dance clubs of New York, LA and Las Vegas. Serato’s innovative Scratch LIVE product lets DJs ‘scratch’ electronic music files just like a vinyl record. The company has done what many a creative Kiwi aims for: it’s developed its own world-beating technology, grabbed the box seat in a rapidly-growing market and found a US partner to handle on-the-ground headaches like manufacturing and distribution. Scratch LIVE is actually changing the type of music DJs are playing in the hippest clubs. Read about the invention and how Serato has taken it to the world on our website. Don’t have time? Read this four-point summary: 1. Keep it simple (part I). Scratch LIVE isn’t the only product of its type, but general manager Sam Gribben reckons it dominates the market because it’s easy to use, works every time and isn’t burdened with extra bells and whistles. “Our competitors have fallen into the trap of [having] too many features.” 2. Keep it simple (part II). “We’re a software company,” says Gribben. Scratch LIVE is a software/hardware product but rather than try to become a hardware company, Serato partnered with the US-based Rane Corporation. Rane looks after manufacturing and distribution and Serato staff spend their time making sure the software sings. 3. Choose your friends carefully. Serato and Rane are perfect partners. Scratch LIVE is branded with both company logos. Rane already has an established brand, manufacturing capability, a distribution channel and, says Gribben, “a reputation for making the good stuff”. Serato brings the software know-how and keeps rolling out free updates for customers. Because both companies do well out of the deal they can concentrate on their own performance and trust their partner to do its part. 4. Distance relationships can work. Gribben says Scratch LIVE is now “omnipresent” in clubs in places like Las Vegas, but Serato has no plans to leave its North Shore base. Development staff hang out online on support forums so customers end up getting much better support than they would get from a company closer to home. “The isolation from the market is good in some ways because we can just sit back in New Zealand, do our job and get things done,” says Gribben. The great unravelling The Long Tail is an important book about the impact of digital technology written by Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson (read our review in the latest Idealog). A book about digital technology obviously needs its own viral YouTube movie, and here it is. On air and online We now have three podcast tracks online so some would say we’re old hands at the podcasting lark. For the uninitiated, podcasts are more than audio downloads—a podcast is a text list of audio files that is updated as new files are available. Podcast-savvy programs like iTunes and WinAmp periodically check the podcast and download any new files that are available. (We also make the audio files available on our blog.) There’s no need to get all technical to hear the Idealog podcast though—you can hear it before it’s even online by tuning into Kiwi FM on Mondays just after midday. Kiwi FM host Wammo asks the questions and we share a bit of Monday inspiration. Kiwi FM, 102.2 FM in Auckland, 102.1 in Wellington and 102.5 in Christchurch. (Next week we’ll be talking about The Long Tail—tune in to find out how to win your own copy.) At Microsoft’s amazing Tech Ed conference in Auckland this week—where over 2,000 software developers gathered to learn about topics ranging from Trade Me’s network setup to the finer points of hacker attacks—the podcast veterans of Christchurch company The Voice Booth were recording the presentations and getting them online in double-quick time. We wrote about The Voice Booth in a podcasting story in Idealog #3 and it’s great to see their chosen technology moving into the mainstream so quickly. Digital summit The Digital Earth Summit on Sustainability kicks off in Auckland next week. Summit organisers say it represents the most significant scientific gathering ever held in this part of the world. It will focus on how technology and the data it provides can best be applied to achieve sustainability in all sectors of society and the environment. We first wrote about this in Idealog #1. Organiser Richard Simpson is expecting 400-500 scientists from across the planet to attend. It could have a big upside, he says. “If we successfully pull off this conference—which we intend to do—we’re going to lobby to keep this the home base of the Digital Earth project.” Quote of the week “We go to trade shows [in the US] and have enough time to meet people. Then we can retreat here to the ‘bat cave’ and get on with things.”
—Sam Gribben of Serato More at Idealog online Read more on our website: Web exclusives, opinion, Idealog IP and the Idealog blogs. See you at idealog.co.nz. Matt Cooney
Editor
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