Denuo - denuology.com

Music and social media were surely destined to be together. Music is just way more fun when it’s shared. The perfect summary of this is the . We love digging the same stuff, arguing over tastes, showing off just how musically savvy we are. Turntable is the first music site that gets this right and does High Fidelity one better: it kicks out that smug asshole behind the counter and puts the record decks in the hands of everyone. Play with Turntable a bit and you’ll soon realize this is a quantum leap forward in the quest to capture the real essence of being a music fan online.

It’s a quest that has been afoot since the web got 2.0’d and, in my opinion, can be split into 3 waves. Fan sites and MySpace helped change the game of music online in the first wave of social music sites. Suddenly there was a chance to comment on your favorite music with fellow fans, reach artists more directly and possibly even help shape who makes it big. Internet radio was just coming on the scene and you could easily hear programmers with much broader tastes than the evil overlords at Clear Channel Corp Inc. Radio looked like it was in trouble.

Is it possible that crowdsourcing has become even trendier since we last spoke?  In just the past six weeks, we’ve seen everyone from , non-profit organizations, , and auto manufacturers turn to the crowds for assistance.  I’m scared to blink, for fear of missing the newest collaboration between a brand and their consumers.  But for all of the hype, there is a level of redundancy to nearly every project announced.  Despite the subtle twists, there is a common thread: a distinct focus on advertising.

In our industry, collaboration is put into practice every day. Whether it’s a group of employees working towards a common objective, agencies swapping secrets to execute a campaign, or a community of fans working together to get their favorite actor cast as the next Peter Parker, the idea of coming together to achieve a shared goal is a beautiful thing. But what really gets us at Denuo excited is a new kind of collaboration in which brands directly engage with consumers to create something neither group could do on their own. You may think you’ve heard this pitch before, just with a different label: crowdsourcing. But true collaboration is something different.

We’re very excited about this April Fool’s day, and not just because the long-awaited Meeting Roulette debuted. April 1st, 2010 marks the next stage of the betacup challenge – the betacup contest is officially live.

Everyone and anyone can now submit ideas that rethink the way we consume coffee and help reduce paper cup waste through jovoto.com.

The contest starts today and will be accepting submissions through June 1st, 2010. Ratings will be accepted through June 8th. Experts in design, coffee, and innovation (including some from threadless, Starbucks, and yes even Denuo) will offer professional advice and guidance throughout the contest. There’s also $20,000 up for grabs for the best ideas as determined by the expert jury and the larger community.

We’re excited to partner with such a fantastic cause and pumped to see what the power of mass collaboration and creativity can do. We’ve got even more brewing in the betacup pot (see what I did there?!), so keep an eye out and get cracking on submitting your breakthrough, world-saving ideas.