A Sound business

Wanna go to Miami?" Boy, how can you ever say no to a question like that?

When I hear the word "Miami," these mental images immediately come to mind – laidback lifestyle, white-sand beaches, Caribbean-like ambience, Latin music and cool drinks with little umbrella stirrers. I think of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine; Birdcage; NBA coach Pat Riley; and Sonny Crocket (in case you’re too young to remember, this was the character of Don Johnson, the trend-setting hunk in the ‘80s series Miami Vice). In other words, I think of paradise. 

So, you can just imagine how I reacted when Motorola’s always-on-the-go and ever-charming marketing manager Ellen Suarez asked me if I wanted to fly there for the M3 Music Summit where Motorola was going to launch their new MTV-powered mobile phones. My eyes literally popped out of their sockets. I mean, sure, I’ve been to the US before, but only in the usual cities– LA, New York, Washington and Vegas. So I wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip by. When I got home that day, I immediately packed my mothballed swim shorts and my five-year-old, slightly consumed bottle of Coppertone. That was all I needed. I was all set to go!

My partner-in-crime in this trip was Tim Yap. I couldn’t ask for a better partner in an expedition like this. Tim is a livewire and has the knack for being in the thick of things. So I figured, "Good, I’ll just tag along with Tim." At the airport, we quickly shared notes as to who our contacts were in Miami. I realized that just like me, Tim really didn’t have that much links there. Miami isn’t exactly "Filipino Central" in the States. At any rate, we were undeterred. We were going to invade Miami – and conquer it!

After a 22-hour, three-stop flight, and after being arrested momentarily at the Detroit airport (according to the redneck immigration officer who detained me for 20 minutes, I should have gotten an I-Visa since I was going as a journalist and not a tourist), Tim and I arrived in Miami in one piece. We reached our hotel at around 6 p.m. "Perfect," I thought to myself, "just in time to get a feel of the nightlife."

Miami is everything I pictured it to be – and much, much more. The moment we got to Collins Avenue, the road where our hotel was located in Miami Beach, I could sense the pulse of the city – and I could swear that the whole town was dancing to the silent tune of the conga. It had a very festive atmosphere – a Boracay on steroids. I felt my adrenaline rushing. Valiantly battling fatigue and jet lag by way of a quick face wash and a seven-second toothpaste-gargle, Tim and I went out right away and met up with my Miami-based friends, Leo and Au Bermejo, who eagerly showed us around. 

After a sumptuous Miami-style dinner of chicken strips and onion rings from Burger King, we went to the world-famous Ocean Drive which is lined with cool clubs and bars, all packed and crowded.  We also passed by Gianni Versace’s ridiculously humongous mansion, the place where he was shot dead a few years ago. Incidentally, it is the only home along Ocean Drive. Everything else on Ocean Drive is either a hotel or a bar or a club. 

Ocean Drive is where the Robin Williams and Nathan Lane movie Birdcage was filmed. It is also here where the famous Tides Hotel is located. In case you’re not a movie freak, a scene from Harrison Ford’s Random Hearts was filmed in Tides Hotel. The nightlife of Miami Beach is pretty much centered in these areas – Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue, Lincoln Avenue and Washington Ave. And for the four nights we were there, Tim and I just went insane trying to figure out where to go. At one point, Tim called me up and said, "Rod, I am going crazy, there’s simply too many places to go! Too many parties going on! Aaargh!" Tim went through what you can call, "Party Information Overload." We’re used to having two to three events per night in Manila, but a hundred in one night? It was ridiculous! They had a whole newspaper filled with listings of parties during that weekend.  

So, we decided to just pass by the famous clubs – Crobar, Nikki Beach, Jade, Privilege and some others. That weekend, the whole Miami Beach was bustling with scantily clad people – mainly due to the Winter Music Festival and the M3 Summit. The Winter Music Festival is an annual conference that tackles music trends. But the conference is really just an excuse to go to Miami and party. The real reason why people go to the conference is because there are a hundred dance parties going on at the same time in different clubs all over town – all of which are part of the festival. 

The Motorola-sponsored M3 Summit (which was what Tim and I attended), on the other hand, is a music conference, focusing primarily on the merging of music and technology and the direction of emerging platforms like the Internet and the mobile phones and how these new "mediums" are shaping and changing the way we enjoy music.  

The M3 Summit Powered By Motorola

M3 stands for Miami Music Multimedia. It was a five-day session, which included two days of keynote talks and panel discussions, seminars, screenings and networking events for electronic music, plus four events of DJ showcases called "M3 Summit Sessions" which, fortunately, were held at the back of our hotel, the Surfcomber. Since I work for MTV, I found the talks very useful and informative. We had guest speakers like Pete Tong, a legend in the music business, known for his cutting-edge and very influential radio program "Essential Selection" show on BBC’s Radio 1, a show that attracts two million listeners worldwide. Imagine that? Two million listeners! His vast influence and relationship with his audience allow him to constantly build visionary new music program. His latest endeavor, "Fast Trax," a new TV-styled music show available on 3G phones, is the first show of its kind to bring up-to-the minute music news to mobile handsets. Remember the time when a phone was just for calling and texting? Not anymore. 

There were also talks on how digital music is now changing the landscape of the recording industry and among the sensitive topics tackled were: How to address the $700 million decline in global music sales; the issue on licensing rights and fees on downloaded music; and how the legal download sites may help stem the tide on piracy. But the thrust of the talks is really this – that digital music is here to stay and it is something that the recording and music industry should embrace and not run away from. 

Studies show that in five years’ time, 33 percent of music sales are likely to come from digital downloads. Wow! Research also shows the global mobile music market has been growing a phenomenal rate and is estimated currently at $3.5 billion worldwide. That’s over 10 percent of the entire global music industry! The future of mobile music is certainly upon us. 

According to Geoffrey Frost, the chief brand officer of Motorola, the cell phone is no longer just the communication device we used to know. It has become an all-around wireless entertainment portal. And why not?  Considering we have so much idle time here in Manila (e.g. waiting for a cab, waiting at the airport, falling in line at the LTO for your driver’s license, waiting in line to get into a restroom in Megamall) a cell phone with numerous entertaining features will certainly come in handy. 

During the Motorola press launch which was held aboard a nice yacht (yes, I was really getting into the Miami lifestyle, and loving it!), the participants were shown the features of the new Motorola phones – the E398, the E680, and the C650. I was totally blown away by these amazing gadgets! There’s absolutely no way to get bored with these babies. There are so many features in these pocket-sized gizmos that you never really know where to begin. They have MP3 players; a camera (with flash); video players; MTV-designed games such as Hairstyler, Exquisite Corpse and Plastik lture; animated wallpapers (also designed by MTV); and all kinds of music integrated in the memory.  

I spent the whole afternoon tinkering with the new E398s, in particular, with the Motomixer feature that allows the user to remix and create ring tones from music of popular DJs like Paul Van Dyk and other artists. This year, Motorola is also going to launch the Motomasher whereby music aficionados can mix not one but two different songs together to make an entirely unique MP3 ring tone. How about that? I went nuts fiddling around this feature. I felt like a cool and hip DJ, mixing and matching ring tones under the Miami sun! Yeah, baby!

After the conference, Motorola gave us some free time to roam around Miami. I went to the Everglades with Leo (who took care of me while I was there – thanks, Leo and Au!). We went on an airboat tour and went to check out the alligators and crocodiles in the Everglades swamps. All of a sudden, I felt homesick – I began to miss all the politicians back home. 

All in all, I would say that the Miami experience would rank as one of the most memorable trips in my life. Motorola did a fine job entertaining their guests – around 90 press people from all around the world – and they made it all worthwhile. 

And that’s the reason why Motorola’s business is sound. They know how to take care of people, and they know how to take care of their market. They really go out of their way to make sure that they give what their market demands – music and sound. And how! With their innovations and cutting-edge technology, the company’s future sounds good, too.