Darren H. (@motiveunknown) โข Hey
MD of Motive Unknown, working with the world's best labels and artists across campaign strategy and marketing. Recent campaigns include the UK #1 albums fo
Publications
- Amen ๐ค๐ป
- LOL after the highs of my first exclusive track on here close to selling out all 100 editions, but my second exclusive track (posted same time, same day of the week) barely getting any regretted much less any collects, I'm feeling a bit puzzled. Was it the track? Was it lack of reach? Baffling. Just somehow feels a bit.... odd. ๐คท๐ป Feels like an inconsistent experience for artists sharing music on Lens somehow.
- Go go!
- Another EXCLUSIVE track for the Lens fam. This one is a different alias of mine, focusing mainly on pretty deep, bass-heavy beats designed to be real headphone listens. Great music to work to. So, get the 'phones on, get comfy, and sink yourself into it... Also gonna offer this one up to the @lens/bonsai fam to grab if anyone wishes to. There's also a 50% referral reward, so good reason to mirror this to your friends. Enjoy!!
- Another EXCLUSIVE track for the Lens fam. This one is a different alias of mine, focusing mainly on pretty deep, bass-heavy beats designed to be real headphone listens. Great music to work to. So, get the 'phones on, get comfy, and sink yourself into it... Also gonna offer this one up to the @lens/bonsai fam to grab if anyone wishes to. There's also a 50% referral reward, so good reason to mirror this to your friends. Enjoy!!
- Prepping another track for your @lens/bonsai loving ears - upload coming shortly!
- Very excited to have my man @lens/mylesg joining Lens! Music people, FOLLOW MYLES, HE IS ONE OF THE SMARTEST PEOPLE ON THE BLOCK.
- Just 12 left. DAMN!! Stunned - thanks so much everyone. New music coming up soon!
- Question: is there a way in which I could offer an exclusive track to the people who minted my song (below)? Just thinking that would be a great way to reward fandom... Conscious I might be missing something though as I won't claim to be an expert! CC @lens/carlosbeltran @lens/christina
- Just 15 left to collect, @lens/bonsai heads! Go go go! AND - thank you to everyone who has grabbed this; really appreciate the support!
- 59/100 gone and I notice both @lens/stani and @lens/carlosbeltran have been good enough to buy in! Thanks to everyone who has grabbed the track; appreciate all the love! ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป
- OK @lens/carlosbeltran - let's give this @lens/bonsai a try shall we? As an experiment I'm offering up this track EXCLUSIVELY to the lovely Lens fam, and I'm making it a limited collectible. This track isn't up on SoundCloud, ain't up on Spotify, ain't on any other Web3 music sites: only on here for you lovely people! Furthermore I'm only asking for 10 #bonsai to own it which, last time I checked anyway, isn't a huge amount. I've also set it to be a limited edition of 100. I'm keen to see how this all shakes out, so hey - spread word if you can, and I hope you like the track. Muchos gracias and have a wonderful day! ๐
- Sounds like I have some things to learn - @lens/bonsai being one of them! Come on @lens/carlosbeltran what you saying?!
- FINALLY!!! After what feels like about a year in the wilderness thanks to various wallet issues (too boring to explain), I am BACK!!! Right - what did I miss? Nothing much, right ๐
Here - have a work-in-progress bit of dub. You can even collect it if you like. ๐
- Happy "Threads Release Day" everyone. Yes, arguably the most notable social media platform launch of the last few years finally happened today, hoovering up some 10M users (though plausibly 15-20M by the time you're reading this) on day one.
Meta's strategy here has been shrewd, using Instagram to allow users to sign up with their Insta handle, and replicate all their Insta follows at the same time, thereby handing most of us a fairly decent audience right off the bat.
This will all be yet another nail in the coffin for Twitter, which at this point is just an embarrassing husk of its former self. As Musk's ownership becomes a comedy of errors, I suspect no one would raise an eyebrow if we learned that he'd just thrown the ultimate shit fit and turned the whole platform off.
But what about artists; how does Threads shape up for them? Ironically, it might just prove to be a boon. Instagram has become the dominant music social media channel for artists in the last few years. Yes, TikTok may nudge past it in the "potential to break new music" stakes, but as a place for artists to post their own thoughts and expressions, Insta remains king.
What that now means is that most artists may well have a lot more followers on Instagram than they did on Twitter - all of whom are now being primed to move across to this new platform.
Looking at one of our long-standing clients, Killer Mike, I can see that he has over 1.7M followers on Instagram. Twitter? 531k. Whilst it's a stretch to just assume all those Insta followers will cross over to Threads, if more than half do, he's already reaching more people than he ever did on Twitter, and with posts that can actually link out to the rest of the web too.
Ergo, Threads might actually have real benefits to artists in the social space.
Of course, it is early days. This might all tread the path of Clubhouse and other fleeting zeitgeist apps, tailing off to a quiet death in months to come. Right now though, it feels like Meta have been pretty damn clever here. Twitter was never a complex beast: you post your succinct thoughts and people read them. There's arguably not much to clone there. Ergo, with that Insta momentum behind it, Meta might just pull the rug on Musk - and it would be karmic if so.
In the meantime, let's keep an eye on this and see where it leads. For now I'd suggest installing it, claiming your artists' handles and generally getting familiar. The egregious data collection is certainly a sticking point, but just as with Facebook, don't rule out restrictions ultimately being enforced upon the platform. Let's not forget that just about every western government is moving to clip the wings of Big Tech, after all.
Meta have confirmed that you will not be able to advertise on Threads for "this year at least" according to The Guardian. When it does open up though, the awkward truth is that it might also be a far more effective place to run paid marketing than Twitter ever was.
If it lasts then, Threads may just prove to be a genuinely positive development for artists, both organically and as a paid ad platform.
- A fine view from a fine place.
- #BeyondTheStreets
- I know I've said it before but this AI summariser tool in @orbapp.lens is fantastic.
- #BeyondTheStreets
- CANNOT WAIT for Domino/Smugglers Way to drop this reissue of Alan Braxe's Upper Cuts! If you didn't know, Alan Braxe was part of Stardust, who made the legendary "Music Sounds Better With You". The other half of that duo? Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk. In short, if you ever loved Daft Punk, Alan Braxe is like the extension to that sound and family. Every song is a gem - peerless French house. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oGGcvoTAqA
- Thought I'd share more music EXCLUSIVELY on Lens for you all to enjoy. This one's a 4/4 collab with a friend of mine, under the name Project Fallen. If that bassline doesn't get you, nothing will. Lazy house beats for sunny days by the beach... Enjoy! Offering this one up for 1 WMATIC, with a 25% referral fee. Let's goooo!! #music #beats @sameold.lens @christina.lens @mixtape.lens
- Loving how Sidekick has positioned itself as the browser "built by ADHDers for ADHDers". Still the best browser by a MILE for me. https://join.meetsidekick.com/wtdkb
- Woahhhh! POWER move here from Believe!! Fantastic result for Sentric. And, ironically, for Utopia too I'd imagine, given the precarious financial state they're in. https://www.believe.com/newsroom/believe-acquires-music-publishing-platform-sentric
- Metallica just posted the title track from their new album 72 Seasons on YouTube, and it's another gem of a visual feast courtesy of @timsaccenti.lens ! Go on sir!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OeC9CGtWcM #music #art #metal
- Let's change up the tone shall we? After seeing @rac.lens smoke this place with this track post, I figured I'd share something too. Here's a very downbeat, DJ Shadow-esque track I made a while back. Put it on, light one up and reeeeelaxxxxx.... Collectable for 24hrs only, 25% referral share too. Enjoy!
- Another case in point. What has everyone collected my post about bots for?! At a point where this gets loads of collects and an otherwise-unreleased Calibre song that @sameold.lens offers us only gets a few, something's gone a bit wrong.
OK, granted you can collect that post of mine for free, but it speaks to how Lens needs to get past people hoarding NFTs via collect for no apparent reason. I assume the reason may be people/bots trying to inflate engagement thinking an airdrop is imminent. If that is the case though that's a real shame, because this platform could be an incredible space for conversation and culture. The potential here is astronomical, but I can't go to our label or artist clients and show them this as a place to invest time and money right now. They won't look and see all the possibilities; they'll just see weak, low quality engagement, and move on. That's a massive shame, as in our view Lens could play a HUGE part in the future of music.
- I think that's probably the final straw for artists using Twitter: https://musically.com/2023/03/28/twitters-for-you-feed-will-soon-only-include-paying-users/?s=31 Lens needs to clear out the bots and double down on showing why it can be a valuable social (and economic) tool for musicians.
- This is my issue with engagement on here. The quality is just low, sorry. Pretty sure these are bots, which is a shame. Lens deserves better quality traffic and engagement than this.
- Can't seem to collect @sameold.lens 's post using @orbapp.lens ?
- @calibresignature - Hostage - 0.5 x WMATIC / 50% Mirror / 50 x Edition
Watch Calibre's Boiler Room https://blrrm.tv/3JwwVJT
@creators.lens @mixtape.lens #music
- The highly anticipated brand new single, โBoyhoodโ from The Japanese House landed earlier this week and we canโt get enough ๐ย We have been working with Dirty Hit for a couple of years now, including UK #1 albums for Wolf Alice and The 1975. Great team, great artists - dream gig! โจ
- #BeyondTheStreets
- #BeyondTheStreets
- The third full-length album from alt-rock sensation Yves Tumor has just landed, and it's blowing minds at MU HQ. 'Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume' is out now and is a stunning blend of rock, psychedelia, electronic beats, and pop sensibilities We've loved being a part of this incredible project, helping Warp Records with the digital spend and strategy for this album campaign. Get stuck in!
- Moon Boots is back with a bang! His latest album 'Ride Away' is a dazzling blend of infectious disco and soulful house, guaranteed to get you moving and grooving. We're thrilled to have partnered with AnjunaDeep to help build awareness around this album's release ๐๐ข๐บ
- Famed for being a part of Pro Era with Joey Bada$$, Chuck Strangers is back with a brand new EP on LexRecords ๐ฅ
We're loving working with Lex on a wave of new hip-hop releases. Stay tuned!
- Blondshell's self-titled debut album will be out on 7th April on Partisan Records โจ
With Partisan we've been working on the digital strategy and spend for this amazing debut. Go check it out!
- Art-pop sensations Christine And The Queens are back with the stunning new single โTo Be Honestโ, taken from the forthcoming album PARANOรA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE.
A fine continuation of form and a synth laden power ballad. Weโve loved working with Because Music on this project! ๐ง๐โฅ๏ธ
- Built an AI music recommendations bot with just one sentence and.... it's scarily good. You can try it for yourself here: https://ora.sh/bot/73b0ae1e-eb81-40fa-91de-e54e8452d891
- Is it just me or do links to @orbapp.lens posts not work in Android? If a colleague shares a post in Slack, you cannot open it.
- Chewing over an idea to clone my voice into AI and use that to read the Motive Unknown Digest intro editorial as an audio news update. It could be shared here as native audio for everyone to listen to; something like a 2min listen every Mon, Weds & Fri. Thoughts?
- Yes yes! The ever-intangible Yves Tumor reinvents themselves again in a psychedelic visual offering for the new single "Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood" from upcoming album โPraise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consumeโ. We love working with Warp Records on such exciting projects; always incredible music and never a dull moment ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป
- Mission to log into Orb using Ledger continues! Latest Ledger update now let's me connect to Orb, but attempting to log in using Lens causes this error. Getting there though!
- A very grim read which only lends weight to any argument that people should be quitting Twitter https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64804007
- Cat hunting duck. Duck got away. Cat annoyed. ๐
- Truth:
- Any Fantom Fans on Lens ? #L1
- Hmm looks like you can finally use Ledger on mobile to connect directly and authenticate.... but it doesn't seem to actually work. Not sure if it's an Orb issue or a Ledger one. Might try it on something else and see what happens.