Mobile World Conference in Barcelona

On February 16, Duran Duran performed at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. The following day, Nick delivered a fascinating keynote outlining the band's views on mobile technology and beyond.

Set List:
A View to a Kill, Hungry Like the Wold, Notorious, Come Undone, Reflex, Ordinary World, Sunrise, Wild Boys and Rio.



Click here to watch Nick's chat with Ericsson about about being on the cutting edge of mobile technology


Nick's comments from the afterparty and keynote session:

Click here for video of the keynote

"I think there are many great applications for market research from both mobile and online, even down to such simple concepts as finding out which songs the audience would like to hear in a live show. We do look at data, but we combine that with our instinct to find the right combination."

"We are currently in discussions with several phone companies about what type of experience we can provide for our audience when we release the new album later this year. We are always looking for interesting and innovative opportunities and there's undoubtedly some exciting technology out there to both deliver music and engage our fans."

"We actually have a massive war-chest of unused content available that we are re-purposing for the mobile arena. We see this as a great opportunity for all artists as it develops month by month."

"On the next album we will be using mobile to an even greater extent, both for delivery and as a way to connect with our fans and further build community."

“We’ve always looked at technology from the beginning [of our career], whether it was TV, radio or the internet more recently,” he said. “Mobile phones, artists haven’t engaged that much yet. We’ve all had a flirtation with ring tones. We’ve done downloading of tracks and video clips. Possibly, some surveys and polling. But we’ve not got into the integrated 3G system and using the technology to its best yet. For the first time artists are now saying the mobile audience is so much bigger than the online audience. More people have phones than computers in the world.”

“I think the opportunities now are pretty extraordinary with mobile phones,” said Rhodes. “We have the content, but we’re also very interested to see how we can use things in ways that they haven’t been used yet. Sometimes people will look at a technology and ask what use it is. As an artist, we can see, perhaps, how it might be used at a live show where people could tag something and appear on another screen…”

“It’s a brave new world out there. You try things. It’s trial and error. You see what works. Everyone always wants to put something out, say it’s perfect and have it work. As with every new product, sometimes it hits the spot and sometimes, not always for the right reasons, it doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to try something new, get out there and see what people think. They let you know soon enough.”

“A lot of people have seen the opportunity and think you have to churn things around more. For people on a creative roll who want to put stuff out and if the audience wants that, it’s giving you a myriad of different options. What I like is the idea that everything is instant. We used to have to put a record out, stick posters up and hope someone walked past them at a certain time. Now you can push a button and it’s all over the phone networks. People can have it and decide very quickly. It works well for artists because we are communicators.”

“On tour it takes 18 months to get around the world. It’s a lot of fun, but exhausting too. It’s hugely appealing that we can proliferate our music out there quickly [using digital media], including to places like India and China where we’ve never played.”