Pushing the boundaries of the music experience

"Embracing the concept of hybrid, our mission is to bring new experiences that can only be created in Tokyo Through a unique global mix of music, visuals, and other forms of creative expression through a DVD and CD. W+K Tokyo Lab is all about being in Tokyo now, using the power of the city to attract the most innovative creative collaborators from around the world. We are passionate about the development of new ideas with our creators and connecting them to a new audience. Simply put, it is about good music, fresh visuals, and new concepts of creative expression." - W+K Tokyo Lab




I've been keeping an eye on the guys at the above company company for quite some time now, ever since they were featured in an Apple Pro profile piece. Based in Tokyo, W+K Tokyo Lab are a digital hybrid music label that combine not only technology with music but also the geographical space, lifestyle culture and exclusivity of Tokyo to develop simply stunning examples of digital music expression.

I was looking back through the November issue of Monocle magazine and they had a feature titled "How to be a band in 2010." I would link to the article but it's subscription only. In the article musicologist Simon Frith states that:

"More than ever, music is now an experience not a product and there are imaginative ways you can sell things around this experience."

Music is not the only "product" that has now been converted to an experience. Television and all other visual products have become experiences, even communication has evolved from the telephone and the fax to become an experience with social media, Twitter and online media. W+K Tokyo lab take physical medium (CD+DVD) which is still very dominant in the Japanese music scene, to dispel the myths that the humble CD is simply an outdated format for only storing music. Couple this with digital signage, mobile and other forms of digital street art and this artistic hybrid music label is setting a great example as to what business models could be easily transfered to other music and culture centric metropolis' such as London, Paris, New York.

I wrote this summer while attending the Montreal Jazz festival about listeners of music wanting a complete experience not just a collection of sounds to listen to. In a time when every label, artist, critic, strategist, visionary and futurist is trying to figure out the magic formula to build a sustainable and profitable business model around digital music it's no wonder that the industry landscape (where even the term "music industry" is becoming outdated) creates pockets for new digital companies with no legacy knowledge of the industry, to find new channels of marketing, promotion, distribution and economic reward. Experimental artists, labels and collaborators of music will come out above the rest, willing to try it and see, while remaining passionately true to their core beliefs of music as form of artistic expression and not just some money making machine where success is sadly becoming gauged on the number of followers.