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Tunecore's New Rules For The Music Industry

Techvibes reported that Tunecore, which allows artists to sell their music in three steps, officially launched in Canada back in January. They have since come out with a handbook called the "Music Industry Survival Manual: New Rules For The Music Industry."

While you can view seven volumes here and order them for free, I'm going to outline in brief Tunecore's nine new rules for the music industry as it continues to shift from traditional to one with digital downloads, on-demand streams, and unlimited digital shelf space. Artists that use Tunecore have made over a quarter of a billion dollars from 500 million units of music. 

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Canadian Entrepreneur Launches Pair, an App That Brings Long-Distance Couples Closer Together

Pair is a new iPhone app designed to harden the fragility of long-distance relationships. Co-launched by Oleg Kostour, a Canadian entrepreneur who moved to Silicon Valley to participate in Y-Combinator, Pair offers a slew of couple-oriented features such as "thumbkissing."

Described as "the easiest way to stay in touch with the person you love," Pair combines texting with what is essentially a two-person-only social network. You can both sketch and draw on one canvas, share to-do lists, and see your partner's thumbprint in real-time as they touch the screen. It's also a way to send photos, videos, and texts, share your location, and keep track of all the important dates (never forget their anniversary again!). 

The app is off to a promising start. It has a five-star rating in Apple's App Store and received rave reviews in Mashable and TechCrunch. I tested it out, and it's a lot of fun—even between friends, not just partners. The live sketch makes for guaranteed laughs with anyone, and the location pin sends your pal a zoomed-in map of precisely where you are, which could prove tremendously practical. And it's all wrapped up in a sleek, simple interface.

Pair is free to download but is iOS-only for now.

How to Measure Your Social Media ROI According to Access 360

Speaking at the Merging Media Access 360 event was Scott Dodson, one of the top three “Gamification Gurus” in Seattle, and Rochelle Grayson, CEO of Vancouver based BookRiff, who focused on measuring social media’s real dollar value. Splitting the day into two sections, there was a practical focus to the event—which is quite different then most events that are in Vancouver.

After listening to the morning topics of measuring one’s social media efforts and a discussion on gamification in the afternoon, the workshop shifted to case studies. The audience was engaged throughout the event,  and once the case studies came along, the environment was filled with great ideas and problem solving. If you weren’t able to make it, here is a brief recap of what you missed.

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Facebook to Employers: Don't Ask for the Passwords of Job Seekers

Last week, there was an uproar when the topic of employers asking job seekers for Facebook login information during interviews was brought to public attention. Now, Facebook itself has stepped in with a firm stance.

The social network is warning employers not to demand the passwords of interviewees, noting that it is an invasion of privacy - and that legal consequences are plausible. Facebook cautions companies to steer clear of requesting personal social media information.

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Google Joins HootSuite and Adobe in Attempting to Quantify Social Media ROI

Google has launched new social reports that aim to quantify the return of investment of social media. Phil Mui, Google Analytics group product manager, says that Google wants to "tie social activities and referrals to measurable, meaningful economic value so businesses can more effectively evaluate which social channels are impacting their bottom line, and which tactics will lead to measurable economic value."

But Google isn't the only one attempting this. Vancouver startup HootSuite partnered with Adobe recently in an effort to accomplish the same goal.

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Scene Adds Social and Gamification Features to Movie Experience

Scene is bring a gamification dynamic to its online social efforts. The Canadian movie rewards program, which has 3.5 million members, has launched the Trivia Stars Facebook game.

The game has users—including non-members—put their movie knowledge to the test with 10 questions across multiple genres. The game offers the chance to earn Scene points, which can be cashed in for free movie tickets, popcorn, DVDs, and even gift cards to Milestones.

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Will Adobe Social Blow Hootsuite Out of the Water? Yes… and No

Most social media management platforms like Pinerly or CoTweet focus on the management of a single social media platform. But Adobe Social, part of the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite, will allow you to manage multiple social media platforms and do so much more.

Vancouver-based HootSuite, a social media dashboard, hasn't been shy to include Adobe in their efforts. They've entered in a partnership to help quantify social media ROI.

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The Coworking Space Ship Tour Lands in Toronto and Vancouver as Coworking Phenomenon Spreads

A space ship is landing in Canada.

The Coworking Space Ship Tour, organized by Deskwanted, Deskmag, and Coworking Toronto, is a one-evening event happening next Tuesday, March 27, from 7pm to 10pm. The Space Ship will feature talks from experts on the global collaborative work scene, as well as a focused discussion on developments within Toronto. A Vancouver edition happens the following day.

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Adobe: A Big Data Bandwagoner Jumping into Predictive Analytics Modelling

The big data bandwagon is a popular one to jump on these days. Recently, big data's lure swallowed former editors Marshall Kirkpatrick at Read Write Web and Ben Parr of Mashable, who are attempting to visualize big data in various formats.

A Canadian company called Recoset creates sophisticated, predictive, and machine-learning applications. Techvibes editor Knowlton Thomas even proclaimed that Twitter has changed Canadian politics forever due to its real-time nature in predicting elections.

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