Entertainment Editor Gordon Barr chats to Boyce Avenue ahead of their gig at the O2 Academy in Newcastle tomorrow night.
THEY get more than 100 million hits for each of their YouTube videos and now hot American trio Boyce Avenue are bringing their live show to Newcastle.
Having become one of the biggest music internet sensations in the world, tomorrow’s show at the O2 Academy Newcastle is a chance for their legions of online followers to see them in the flesh.
A few years ago Daniel Manzano was studying law at Harvard – now with his two brothers, the Florida-based bassist is enjoying global popularity with Boyce Avenue.
The brothers first came together as a band in 2004 when Alejandro (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Fabian (guitar, vocals), and their older brother Daniel (bass, percussion, vocals) reconnected after Daniel graduated from Harvard Law School and moved back to Florida where Fabian and Alejandro were both attending classes at the University of Florida.
It was there that the brothers continued to write music and to perform local shows, taking their most formative steps toward becoming a band.
In 2007, in an effort to share their music and ideas with the world, the band decided to start filming and posting videos on YouTube of them performing their own songs as well as some of their favourite songs by other popular artists.
The band’s debut album All We Have Left, is out now on their own label, 3 Peace Records.
Earlier this year the lads supported One Direction on their debut UK tour – despite the trio already notching up five headline tours themselves over here.
Their current outing is their biggest to date.
“What we do is predominantly online. We are an independent band, we’ve done a lot on YouTube, we make a lot of videos and we’ve got a following because of that,” Daniel tells me.
“So when we started touring it was actually just to play for our fans. Then it just grew from there.
“At the end of the day we have just been playing for our fans who found us all the way across The Pond on their computer screens at home and just loved the music, videos and what we were doing.
“It’s only been about two and a half years but we’ve been touring roughly every six months in the UK.
“We did the One Direction tour as those guys are friends and fans of ours. It was mental. That was our first time ever doing an opening slot, it’s not something we usually do.
“We realised immediately how massive and crazy the 1D mania really is.”
Getting 100 million-plus hits for videos puts Boyce Avenue amongst the most popular bands on the web.
“Sometimes I see what’s happening and I am just blown away. We posted a video recently and in just three days it hit a million views,” says Daniel. “It blows our minds every day and we are always appreciative.
“I just think the things we do, the amount of passion we put in to every video, the amount of care, really shows and people appreciate that.
“We’re not just about putting out one video and having it be a gimmick and hoping it gets 100 million views. We’re about making sure every video is as good or better than the last one.
“There’s a passion and pride in everything we do.”
Chip firm Ceva sees doubling 3G market share - Reuters UK
(Reuters) - Israeli mobile chip designer Ceva Inc (CEVA.O) expects to double its share of the market for third generation (3G) mobile phones to 50 percent in three years, its chief executive said.
Ceva has a 46 percent worldwide handset market share, but in 3G, where it competes mainly against Qualcomm (QCOM.O), its share is only 25 percent.
"In 3G we are a market share gainer," Gideon Wertheizer told the Reuters Global Media and Technology Summit in Paris on Wednesday.
"In 2011 there were more than 1 billion units shipped with Ceva," he said via telephone. " Going forward, in 2015, there will be more than 1.7 billion units shipped with our technology out of 5 billion devices, which is our addressable market."
Companies such as Intel (INTC.O), Broadcom (BRCM.O), Spreadtrum (SPRD.O) and ST Ericsson (STM.PA) (ERICb.ST) license Ceva's technology to build chips known as digital signal processors (DSP).
Emerging economies transitioning from 2G to 3G phones and from feature phones to smartphones will be the key growth driver for Ceva. In China alone, 3G is expected to grow to 773 million by 2016 from 128 million today.
Wertheizer sees strong demand in emerging economies for smartphones that cost less than $150.
"Going forward I would not rule out a $50 smartphone," he said.
Ceva is also offering products for voice and audio clarity, improved quality photos and video, and "vision" applications such as gesture and face recognition, which he believes will be available in smartphones 2015 or 2016.
Another growth engine for Ceva will be the faster fourth-generation LTE (Long-Term Evolution) mobile technology.
"We are licensing technology and early next year lead customers will start going into production and when this market will become mainstream we will see more and more customers taking share," Wertheizer said.
He downplayed Ceva's absence from the latest 4S version of Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone, saying the models are now less than 10 percent of the market.
In May Ceva cut its earnings and revenue estimates due to weaker-than-expected sales at Nokia (NOK1V.HE). Though Ceva had originally included in its forecast a ramp-up of chips in 3G at Nokia, Wertheizer said he understood from Ceva's customers that this has been pushed out to next year.
"There is different speculation as to what this means. If you ask me, Nokia is still a key player and they can drive volume," he said. But he added that if Nokia keeps losing momentum, a competitor such as Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) would pick up the market share.
Ceva now expects earnings per share excluding one-off items of 87 to 99 cents in 2012, below a prior estimate of $1.02 to $1.06. Ceva shares had tumbled on the news, hitting a year low of $15.12 on May 21. They closed at $17.92 on Nasdaq on Tuesday.
Wertheizer said it was too early for Ceva to revise its outlook again, even though there have since been some positive indications, such as customer Samsung releasing its high-end Galaxy S3 smartphone earlier than expected.
"We have to get our report by the end of the quarter. We will be the first one to revise our guidance if we think this is sustainable," Wertheizer said.
Over time, Ceva's customers will take market share from 3G pioneer Qualcomm, especially at Samsung, he said, explaining that the rationale for using Ceva chips was when a mass market is reached and costs start to play a major role.
"When the market becomes mainstream, this is the strength of our customers. They can drive prices down, they can create more derivatives at a faster pace than Qualcomm," he said.
Wertheizer also said its key customer Intel, which recently launched handsets in China, India and Europe, was a serious contender in the market.
"They are doing the right things in terms of customizing their technologies to mobile," he said.
(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Steven Scheer and Hans-Juergen Peters)
(For other news from Reuters Media and Technology Summit, click here)
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