Author Profile

  • Megan Adams
  • Url: http://imonabike.wordpress.com
  • Posts: 11
  • About the user: I have traded my life of Tex-Mex and warm weather in Austin, Texas (yes I was raised on a ranch and no, George Bush is technically from Connecticut) for the gezelling city of Amsterdam to pursue my MA in New Media from UvA. Since graduating in 2006 with a Bachelor degree in Communication from St. Edward's University, I have thrown myself into the fast paced life of PR working at various levels across the technology and consumer sectors. Why new media? My professional interest in the program lies in understanding how new mediums and tools influence the communication landscape and why. In turn I hope to directly apply this "under the hood" insight to my PR approach. My personal interest is vested in exploring the latest and greatest that the internet gods have bestowed upon us. When I’m not accidentally mowing over pedestrians on my bike I enjoy all things music and travel related. My idea of the perfect blog would combine the finer things in life: sandwiches and Lil Wayne.

Author Archive

Legal vs. Illegal: Understanding Dutch Copyright

Megan Adams | 23 July 2011, 2:40 pm | 1 comment | tags: , , , , , , ,

If one were to compare the Netherlands to the United States on just a topical issues alone it would seem like oil and water.  The obvious differences, are well, just that – obvious (no need to discuss coffee shops, socialism and the red light district here).  As an expat and self proclaimed geek, the thing that I have found to…

Berghain: Adventures in Techno

Megan Adams | 29 June 2011, 11:26 am | tags: , , ,

Over the past few weeks I have situated myself in Berlin on a mandate to take in and absorb all that is the music culture here.  On a mission to discover the heartbeat of the European music industry, I haven’t had to look very far to gain my experiences.  The only other two cities in Europe that I have spent…

History of electro, metal and jazz through visualization

Megan Adams | 29 April 2011, 1:52 pm | tags: , , , , , ,

This idea of mapping music visualizations as a means of discovery is something that I have previously touched on.  In looking at examples of music visualizations that have bore applications, something that I find particularly interesting is that some of the least mainstream genres of music have quite extensive applications built around them.  As experimentation with music evolves so…

Music visualizations as a means for discovery

Megan Adams | 15 April 2011, 5:40 pm | 3 comments | tags: , ,

The basic idea behind information visualization (InfoVis) is that it takes an otherwise stagnant data set of facts and numbers and transforms into an imagery filled with visual patterns and elements.  While this idea is certainly not new it has been regenerated from the cartographer days to a more modern means to express and exchange information for a variety of…

Music and Bits and Marketing

Megan Adams | 31 October 2010, 9:28 pm | 5 comments | tags: , , , ,

As a follow up to my previous post about the Music and Bits conference, I wanted to cover off on the other topic of the day, marketing.  Out of the five companies who presented two of those, Top Notch records and TopSpin media, discussed the current landscape of music marketing for artists and bands.

Top Notch
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Music and Bits and Startups

Megan Adams | 31 October 2010, 2:10 pm | 1 comment | tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Last week I attended the Music and Bits conference, which is the pre-conference for Amsterdam Dance Event. The conference touts itself as “an exploration of music and technology” and by all accounts I would say that was accurate.  Of the five companies who presented throughout the day there emerged two themes:  App dev and marketing (for…

Digital Distribution + Music = Global Divide

Megan Adams | 28 October 2010, 1:57 pm | 2 comments | tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

A couple of months ago I was sitting at my desk with a friend, going through my iTunes collection and trying to put together a play list.  Casually I made the comment that I had paid for about 70% of the music in my iTunes.  To my surprise his reaction was “whoa, what??  you actually paid for all of this music??  why would you do that when you can download everything for free!?”  The reason his response caught me off guard is because this friend has built a successful career working in the music industry, making money in one way or another off of musicians.  Feeling a bit foolish I tried to justify my decision and told him that I simply felt obligated to pay for music if I could afford it.  Illegally downloading music felt a bit juvenile when I had the means to finance my music appetite.  He agreed but relented that the artists only make about a penny off of each song and that the real money was in touring and other areas.

An aerial view of Twitter addiction

Megan Adams | 15 October 2010, 7:06 pm | 3 comments | tags: , , , ,

You’ve heard all of the jargon  – “get connected,” “stay connected,” “connect with friends and family,” etc., etc.  Any one of these phrases could be applied to Twitter, Facebook, blogging or you local cell phone carriers marketing tactics.  Clearly this is a rhetorical question, but at what cost do we pay to sign up for said services?  What’s the benefit? …

Wikipedia: An exercise in patience

Megan Adams | 03 October 2010, 9:58 pm | 1 comment | tags: , , , ,

Before getting started with creating a Wikipedia entry I went through all of the tutorials, read the comments, watched the youtube videos, scratched my head and said “pff this can’t be that hard.” So I decided to dive in and immediately realized why said tutorials exist.

Book Review: “Trickster City” by Various Authors

Megan Adams | 21 September 2010, 12:50 am

India has long since been on my list of places I must visit before I die. I’m fascinated by the unknown and India is definitely a country that is completely unknown to me. Aside from cultural references in books, television, movies (Darjeeling Limited, I love you), etc., I can’t say that I have a real understanding of what life is like in a place that more than a billion people call “home.”