Think Again News

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign changed elections forever, in particular the way his young team used digital media and social networks to mobilise support, spread their key message and help voters feel they could make a difference.

We’ve been using his campaign as an example of good media practice with many of our clients; and it’s clear his success and tactics have not gone un-noticed; the Conservative party are using many of them in preparation for next year’s UK election and more examples will emerge as polling day approaches.

One of Obama’s campaign insiders Rahaf Harfoush has written an intriguing guide to how the tactics developed. Essential reading for anyone involved in getting a message across to a wide range of audiences.

Get it here on Amazon.

Bob Lefsetz is one of the most consistently entertaining commentators on music and culture.   For a quarter of a century, his “Lefsetz Letters”  have been a passionate but clear-eyed take on the music business; championing the fans and the artists but with little time for the shroud-waving and special pleading of record label dinosaurs.

His latest thoughts on music education are worth reading, prompted here by the efforts of the great Quincy Jones.

As we travel the country working with the UK’s music services, the value of teaching children a musical instrument, or singing, becomes clearer than ever – and the stories we’re collecting will provide valuable evidence in the campaign to preserve that  precious resource.

Lefsetz has stories to spare, and he tells them well. But the line that echoed most with me is buried in the middle of his letter  ”Screw kids taking lessons in order to raise their math and English scores, kids need to learn music for music itself.”