Whodeani’s Official Blog

Whodeani, aka yours truly, has caught a case of the ‘muso’ bug.

Those close to me would know that I have long harboured a desire to be more involved in the music business, less so from a performance perspective and more to with the whole creative process bringing musical ideas from just that, ‘ideas’, through to being released commercially.

Back in the mid 90’s I was heavily involved in the nightclub industry moving from being a DJ to then designing and managing a very popular nightclub in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne known as Jooce.

As outlined in an earlier post (Anatomy of a Hit), I got together with a couple of friends of mine and created a jingle for this nightclub that was then turned into a full length club track that was quite popular in its day (climbing to the top of the club charts and breaking the regular top 50 here in Australia.)

Since then my musical aspirations have taken a back seat to more ‘regular’ pursuits. That was until mid last year when I was ‘inspired’ to bring to market a track called ‘Tweet Me’, a track originally called ‘Release Me’ and created with some friends back in the mid 90’s.

The release of Tweet Me was a lot of fun, enough so that I have decided to significantly expand my musical aspirations ‘and’ output with a project called ’50 songs in 50 weeks’ (or as a good friend of mine refers to it… ‘The Final 5’.)

As the project name ’50 tracks in 50 weeks’ suggests, my aim here is to produce 50 ‘release ready’ tracks in 50 weeks… ie 1 track per week for the next 50 weeks.

The inspiration behind this concept of ’50 Songs in 50 Weeks’ comes from Stock Aitken Waterman, the UK song writing and record producing trio made up of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman.

With great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s the three are considered to be one of the most successful song writing and producing partnerships of all time, scoring more than 100 UK top 40 hits, selling 40 million records and earning an estimated $103.78 million (source: Wikipedia).

Their standard method for creating the music was to first write the songs, next they would record the music with extensive use of synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers and then finally bring in a singer solely to record the vocal track.

Their remarkable ‘production line-like’ output and similar song structures had the trio being referred to as the "hit factory".

My thinking is to ‘2.0’ their model using todays relatively inexpensive music recording and production technologies ‘and’ potential global exposure via Social Media.

I’ve teamed up with Paul Brandoli (from Psyked) who I met through his work as producer/arranger on the Tweet Me project. Since Tweet Me, Paul and I have worked on 2 more tracks and are about to start a 3rd.

Am extremely happy with his work and more importantly how we are working together on these new tracks. Enough so that I have committed to have Paul work as producer/arranger and sometimes ‘writer’ on all tracks in the project.

We’ll notify you as the magical tracks come to life week by week and from time to time release snippets of the tracks we are working on. Exciting times.

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An artist takes a song… re-develops it… and you have a remix.

Whodeani takes a standard drink… re-invents it… and ends up with something pretty cool.
In 2002, Dean thought, “surely its time for another cool gimmicky alcoholic beverage to hit the market…” Remix was his gem of an idea.

“Shake it and break it”, no he was not writing a one hit wonder hip-hop song, this is the gimmick behind Remix.

Remix is an idea that brings some pizzazz to your standard pre-mixed cocktails. The base of the drink is vodka & soda and the smaller top portion of the bottle is flavoured with fresh juice i.e. Cranberry. Simply shake the bottle causing the membrane holding the flavour to break and distribute through the alcohol mix.

Enthused by his idea, Dean had the concept (see below) drawn up by a designer friend of mine, Brent Nolan (from Blunt Agency).

If you know Dean Jones like I know ‘Dean Jones’, you’ll know that unless he’s detoxing… he consumes a lot of soda. But it’s Coke Zero or Sprite Zero, so it’s healthy right? Yeah right!

Anyway my point here is he loves his soda beverages hence all the ideas that revolve around them ;-)

In 2003 DJ dreamt up ‘8 Ball’. The idea being to take a base flavor alcoholic/non-alcoholic drink (such as lemonade) in a standard 375ml bottle, but with a twist. Each bottle ‘lid’ has a flavour ball hidden inside it. The reason it is called ‘8 Ball’ (aside from being a reference to pub pool) is that there are 8 flavors: Strawberry, Lemon/Lime, Orange, Blueberry, Etc, & Cola (the black ball).

The game element comes from the server of the drink - if the black ball drops into the drink, the drink is free or a prize is awarded (a 1 in 8 chance).

Fast forward to the year 2009… and Berocca has introduced their new on the go version ‘Twist N Go’. A very similar concept to DJ’s ‘Remix’ and ‘8 ball’ ideas.

The moral of the story folks… is simply that Dean is a visionary. He envisioned it before its physical conception.

In this case though, one mans idea is another mans money maker when not acted upon.

So in my Bossman’s famous words I’ll end this post by quoting him “well you snooze… You lose”.

Post by Lindy Waldeck.

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Bonjour mon nom est Dean Jones… Vous pouvoir me dirige à la barre la plus proche s'il vous plait?

Well I haven’t quite managed to fit learning French into my hectic schedule (www.freetranslation.com) so my polished English will have to do at the Midem conference 2010 in Cannes.

Midem (short for Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale) is the world’s largest trade show for the independent music sector.

Since 1967 Midem has been held annually at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. To give you an idea of it’s scale Midem 2008 was attended by 9,093 delegates from 4,545 companies (of these 2,233 had stands or pavilions of their own) and 482 journalists, from a total of 88 countries.

With my return to music production and also my recently appointed position of Managing Director for Swish Group Ltd, Midem will be an invaluable networking opportunity.

For Swish I hope to meet digital music businesses that are looking to have their products/services represented in the Australian and South East Asian regions.

An extensive conference schedule providing 5 days of back-to-back keynotes, seminars and tradeshow, it’s set to be a very busy trip.

If you’re reading this and have plans to attend Midem 2010, drop me a line and let me know. Lindy is in the process of scheduling meetings on my behalf in between the many keynotes and networking op’s I plan to attend.

Avoir un grand jour!

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Is it really that time of year again…?

With projects as varied as the contents of Santa’s sack, 2009 has been a very productive year.

This year Whodeani has managed to somewhat live out his dream of becoming a rock star with his first commercial musical release in around 15 years titled ‘Tweet Me’.

Dean has re-discovered his passion for music so in 2010 expect to see some more Whodeani tunes come to life including a 2nd single due for release February/March 2010 and 'hopefully' an album which he has half written and expects to complete over the Festive Break.

On the movie front, the film Dean is producing and co-writing has made some steady progress this year. With completion of the story due early 2010, fingers crossed the movie will shoot mid next year for a late 2010 release.

In other Whodeani news the printed version of the Better Sports Pocket Golf Guides was released to retail late in the year so you may notice them popping up on the counter tops of Golf Clubs and various stockist around Australia. The iTunes version of the guide is also quite popular and if you haven't downloaded it as yet, head over to iTunes now, it's available for free (http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/golf-guide/id305594968).

The Marketing e-Book, written by Dean along with co-writers Richard Mataska and Tim Giles, is nearing completion and will be available 2010.

On the corporate front, yesterday it was announced on the Australian Stock Exchange that agreement had been reached to recapatilise The Swish Group (ASX:SWG) and that Dean is as of now the companies new Managing Director. Damian London, a long standing partner in many of Dean's ventures, also joined the board of the company.

Lastly, Dean has recently invested in a stealth start-up company by the name of HotShot Media based out of the US. We could tell you what it's about... but it wouldn't be stealth then would it. Watch this space in the New Year.

For Whodeani in 2010 there will never be a dull moment. The New Year is shaping up to be a biggie creatively, personally and corporately.

Merry Christmas and we say cheers to much success, good times and great health for you all in 2010.

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Whodeani has an idea…

Actually Whodeani has hundreds, maybe thousands of ideas and I’m the lucky one who gets bombarded with them daily.

Some ideas are genius. Some are hilarious.  And some are well… Some are just a reflection of the weird and wonderful world of Whodeani… I often need to get inside his head to understand him, so I can say this and not be fearful of losing my job ;-)

If you’ve stopped by the Whodeani site you’ve had a taste of the often hard to ‘put into words’ world of Dean Jones.

If you haven’t checked out the site, hurry up, it’s almost Christmas so you should head there right now.

The idea behind the Idea’s Book was to showcase and put some of Dean’s idea’s out there.  A point of difference, a point of controversy, it adds some spice to the common Entrepreneurs websites you may come across.

As I am the filter of these ideas, there are some strict guidelines around what I will and won’t publish.  The so called ‘genius’ ideas (and he has an absolute doozy ‘beer’ idea) I keep closely guarded, to some day run away with, make millions and purchase my custom white on white Maserati (a girl can dream). Whereas the amusing and weird I’ll happily share with you all.  Scrutiny and criticism is welcomed as long as you can make us laugh out loud or maybe provide an alternative point of view.

And because I love to stroke my Bossman’s ego, I’ll sometimes publish ideas that ‘he’ came up with before ‘someone’ took it to the market and made it what it is today. (Check the date markings for each idea to see when they were originally created.) So I open the vault and bring to you the latest round of Whodeani ideas…

At the top of the list I introduce the concept of ‘Onedoms’ (yes, that’s a one handed condom to avoid timely interruptions).  An ingenious idea that both men and women could be thankful for…

The ‘Next Generation Medical Bracelet/Jewellery’ is a new school take on the traditional medical bracelet.  It transforms into a world of knowledge of the wearer in an easy to access and read format by designing a USB device into the bracelet or necklace.

I often think pampered pooches are treated better then human beings.  I know of pug dog that only eats Osso Buco (any other meat is frowned upon) and Magnum ice cream for special treats.  I once tried to feed him a McDonalds chicken nugget only to receive his snout in the air of disapproval.  So this idea of Dean’s would be ideal for the pooch elitist of this world… Recyclable, disposable ‘Dog Water Bowls’ conveniently packed in a batch of 7.  A pooch on parade cannot just drink from any old water outlet.

For those of you who have never had a beer with Dean, you won’t know that he is a serial label un-dresser.  Read into that what you please.
So it was only natural that he came up with the ‘Removable Beer Labels’ idea using the back as a space for special promotions and competitions, cross advertising, marketing messages - what ever you like. The possibilities are endless.

Last… Well that’s not entirely true as there will never be an end to his ideas… Is the ‘Pen Shaped Perfume for Men’.  Not everyman can confidently carry the ‘man bag’ and more and more men are taking on womanly practices.  Running from meeting to meeting a man needs to spritz and refresh just as much a woman right?  Slide one of these babies into the inside of your suit jacket and you’re sorted.  Just remember its contents before you pull it out to sign that all-important contract and seal the deal.

Sharing is caring and I hope you’ve enjoyed the latest offerings of Whodeani’s ideas.  Always a delight to hear your thoughts so drop us a comment.

But wait there’s more… Well next month that is.

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'Tweet Me With Your Love'... and I will follow you.

Once this tune enters your head you'll be singing it in your sleep.

Whodeani is at it again and this time he's returned to his favored roots of music production.

Many moons ago Mr. Dean Jones, the brains behind the Whodeani brand, was a popular Melbourne DJ who dabbled in writing and producing music. He even had a hit song on the Australian Dance Music charts titled Deuce by Cleva Cleva (http://blog.whodeani.com/anatomy-of-a-hit).

Fast track to 2009 when Dean gets an itch he just can't ignore, not the type he needed a doctor for (or exotic creams), but the type he scratched and in return creatively came alive again.

It is fair to say Dean is Twitter obsessed, true story. But so much so that he wrote a Twitter Song (or at least one loosely about the hugely popular social media platform)? Well the story goes a little something like this.

Back in time around 1995, Dean and a couple of friends wrote a song called ‘Release Me’. On a recent reason trip to Bali this song popped into his head and instead of hearing ‘Release Me’ he heard ‘Tweet Me’ (It helped that one of the lines from the original song was ‘I will follow you…’.) Mmmm… Simply the effects of too much Twitter time or could it be a hit in the making?

The ‘Tweet Me’ Song is an up-tempo dance number that combines current progressive trance sounds with radio friendly pop sensibilities and catchy lyrics that will have you singing along in no time.

The track will officially launch and be available on iTunes October 17. However you must check out the official music video in the meantime as below...

‘Tweet Me’ was always set to be more than just a basic song release. It has been created as an interactive piece that we invite you the viewer to become a part of and give your music producing skills a workout.

Stop by http://www.tweetmesong.com, we've provided all of the elements for you to work with to create your very own version of the Tweet Me song, whether it be a basic edit, mash up or remix.

Keen also to make contact with budding music video directors to provide short video bites that we can potentially construct future video clips from.

Know someone? You are that someone? We’d love to hear from you.

In the meantime if you like what you see and hear become a fan of ours on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whodeani/134984842652

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Some of the mystery that surrounds the Whodeani brand will be uncovered today with the launch of the official Whodeani website. It’s live and it’s exciting.

You may have asked yourself at one time or another “what is it that Whodeani actually does?” Or simply “what is it that Dean actually does?” (I find myself asking this very question on occasion.)

We could answer and say that there isn’t much Whodeani or Dean hasn’t done or won’t do.

The Whodeani brand as you may know is the essence both personally and professionally of it’s creator Dean Jones, a ‘Genuine Entrepreneur’.

Whodeani as you’ll come to learn has no limitations.  It is as broad as Dean’s imagination… and that’s limitless.

The Whodeani site invites you to enter a world out of the ordinary. 

Dean Jones is not your common entrepreneur.

Inspired by the ‘old world’ aesthetic of steam punk and the likes, the site takes you on a journey through Whodeani’s world.

You’ll learn how Whodeani acts as an outlet and umbrella to house his many and varied projects.  Keep up to date with what’s happening within Whodeani through the Take A Chance section of the site.

Enjoy interactive areas such as the Ideas section, within which Dean invites you to view, discuss and potentially work with him on some of his personal ideas.  Here you’ll sense Dean’s entrepreneurial tendencies from an early age with some of these ideas dating back many years.

Find inspiration through Whodeani via varied sources Dean has personally chosen to share and if you haven’t already subscribe to his popular Blog. 

Could it be you need some guidance to take your start up business or idea to the next level? You may find it here at Start Me Up.

Dean is often viewed with an air of mystique. Many have wondered where and how he started out. Get to know him and learn about his exciting, proven track record of business success through the detailed Who Is Dean section. 

Maybe there is an opportunity you see being a great fit for Whodeani. Connect Up will give you an overview of how Dean can potentially work with you.

Visit Whodeani to make Contact with Dean, be it to introduce yourself, seek advice on a project or even ask for a date (true)… discreetly added by yours truly, Entrepreneurs Assistant Extraordinaire.

The Whodeani site was built to showcase a far from average gentleman and his brand. I trust you’ll enjoy the journey, a journey that is constantly paving new paths.

Be sure to make yourself familiar with this ever evolving destination.

Guest post by Lindy Waldeck.

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