Alive Inside

The Appreciation Engine Blog

Posted on April 19, 2012 by kingakevin

Tagged: Alive Inside, fans, Music&Memory, musichype, spotify, True Fans

Posted in: Technology

I’ve been rather fortunate to be raised by a caring mother who was a social worker for 37 years. My mom always saw the good in everyone, no matter who they were, and instilled that in me via her actions. She was, and still is, very observant and considerate towards older people and that is what drew me to this amazing video:

After watching it, I did a little research on who was behind this. It is a company called Music & Memory. The company is focused on enabling the elderly to live a better, enhanced life courtesy of technology and music. The companies mission statement is quite awesome:

Our Mission is to improve the quality of life for the elderly and infirm through the use of personalized music and digital technology.

Our strategy is simple:

Support the initiation of iPod-based personalized music programs regardless of one’s location (e.g., at home, in a nursing home, assisted living facility, hospital, or hospice).
Raise public awareness about the benefits of keeping engaged with a rich, personalized music environment regardless of physical, cognitive, or social condition.

This company’s mission is quite worthy and turning a lot of heads. The video above is a trailer for a documentary coming out later this month called Alive Inside that shows the power of their mission through real-life examples.

Learning about Music&Memory really got me thinking about how we interact with music throughout our lives and especially today.

Before the advent of iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, Shazam, and Facebook, our music journey was tied to traditional radio which informed our new album purchases, then you’d listen to that new LP/CD multiple times. That cycle was all you/we knew at the time, not like today! Like no other time in history, we can pull any song out of thin air and be entertained by it, share it, take a journey with it, be absorbed by it, much like a drug…if you will.

So often I am asked by artists how will they ever “cut through the clutter” of the millions of artists and songs out there. My answer is always care.

Care that your music can and should be timeless, even if only for a few people.
Care that making someone else happy with your art is awesome.
Care about and get smart around every way possible to share your music.

That same mother now owns a laptop, smart phone, texts regularly, and has an iPod Nano that she listens to a great deal of classical music while taking walks. She is the Steve Jobs of her neighborhood and “cares” about staying connected with society. It makes her feel Alive Inside.