The secret of the songbook

Welcome to Idealog Weekly, the free email newsletter for New Zealand commercial creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone rich with ideas.

The secret of the songbook

Murray Thom seems to have a Midas touch. In a music industry reeling from the arrival of the digital age, Thom’s box set releases (that’s right kids, songs actually sold in boxes) of Kiwi music are flying off the shelves. His most recent release, Songbook, went triple platinum in July. He’s also the man who brought Piano by Candlelight and Espresso Guitar to an eager nation (well, some of us). What’s his secret?

In the latest Idealog, Mark Roach talks to Thom and discovers an industry veteran who remains, at heart, a huge fan of the music. Thom’s projects succeed because he creates something people want to hold and to keep. He collaborates with the likes of Dick Frizzell, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the artists themselves to bring the songs and the packaging to life.

Thom is no throwback though: digital music is the future, but he says the industry need to remember a few first principles.

Thom’s experience is instructive for anyone dealing with the impact of the Internet: check it out in the latest Idealog or on our website.

TEDx on our telly

We had a blast at New Zealand’s first TEDx event held in Auckland last week. As promised, we were there with our humble videocam, and we talked to many of the speakers and those in attendance. Here’s Dr Robin Kelly on untouched genius.

Who else did we speak to? Well, how about comedian Philip Patston, TEDx Auckland organiser Richard Hollingum, Good magazine editor Annabel McAleer, Kath Dewar of KD Consulting, Justine Munro from the NZ Centre for Social Innovation, headliners Ray Avery and Andy Blood, Nigel Parker of Microsoft, developer Tony Walsh on holographic buildings, and MC and radio host Andrew Patterson. Whew. The interviews are all on our website.

So long, sustainability

It’s not gone without notice that the word ‘sustainability’ has become much less popular in parts of Wellington lately—in particular, the parts of Wellington that do the governing. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing, reckons Celsias.com editor Chris Tobias. The word ‘sustainability’ has negative overtones for many people: it means frugality, fanaticism, inflexibility, and even poverty and misery. Fear is not an effective motivator, so Chris has some suggestions for moving the sustainability conversation beyond argument and emotion, and onto the wonderful potential of a less wasteful existence. Check it out on our website.

Don’t cry for Argentina—shed a tear for New Zealand

This week the New York Times ran an item on its a Economix blog tracking the shocking decline of Argentina among the planet’s wealthy nations. “A century ago, there were only seven countries in the world that were more prosperous than Argentina,” notes Edward L Glaeser, and since then it’s been overtaken by brash upstarts like Italy and Japan.

Well excuse me Mr Glaeser, but one of those seven countries that Argentina trailed in 1909 was New Zealand—and we haven’t exactly threatened the prosperity of Japan or Italy ourselves. Look at this Times graph; everyone to the left of New Zealand was poorer than us in 1909. Everyone above New Zealand is wealthier than us today.

This is why we’re so disappointed that the previous government failed to see through its stated aim to return New Zealand to the top half of the OECD, and why we’d like to see John Key’s government commit itself to achieving the task. This isn’t about wanting more toys, overseas holidays or dining out more often; it’s about being able to afford the education, health care, infrastructure and quality of life that we want for ourselves and our loved ones. We must reverse this slide.

We’ve written on this topic on several occasions, and have some ideas for an forthcoming issue. But we’d like to achieve greater awareness than we have so far. Most Idealog readers are well aware of the issue, but we’d like to get more New Zealanders motivated and thinking about how to lift our place on that chart. I’d welcome your ideas; drop me an email or leave a comment.

Get affected

Get ready to welcome the return of two great conferences to the capital, starting with AnimfxNZ, the conference for the animation, visual effects, games & digital film industries at Te Papa on November 5, 6 and 7. AnimfxNZ attracts some of the greatest names in movie and gaming effects to New Zealand and this year is no exception: speakers include Joseph Olin, the president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Sander Schwartz, a former president of Warner Bros. Animation, and John Stevenson, co-director of Kung Fu Panda. Book your place at the Animfxnz website.

Locked ’stock

Webstock will be unveiling their 2010 speaker lineup on Monday. The Webstock team is in lock-down mode and operating under a cone of silence. However, dedicated Twitter research by the Idealog team can confirm that among the speakers will be Adam Greenfield—Nokia’s head of design direction for user interface and services and UbiComp visionary—and John Resig, the creator of the mighty fine jQuery javascript library.

How to market sustainability

Hmmm. Did we just suggest sustainability has had its day? Well, let’s not get hung up on the terminology: a one-day How to Market Sustainability course at the University of Auckland next Friday looks like a winner. It looks at how to sell, promote and market products and services to businesses and consumers who have ethical and environmental concerns and how to avoid greenwash.

It’s tutored by Kath Dewar—the same Kath we interviewed at TEDx last week. She promises “heaps” of useful material and case studies to share says “I’m looking forward to a fabulous discussion of the issues among the people who attend.” Make sure you’re one of them by calling 0800 864-266 or emailing pdcourses@auckland.ac.nz. You can also learn more at the course website and listen to Kath’s interview on the subject with bFM.

Quote of the week

“Sustainability was once a word to rally around … tails wagging, fawns frolicking, rainbows everywhere. That was until everyone from bleach companies to arms manufacturers started touting their sustainability claims”

– Chris Tobias resists the pitch