Will.i.am, the brains behind Black-Eyed Peas and a switched-on digital media brand surfer with a couple of online music businesses under his auspices, shared his words of wisdom from an artist’s perspective with the Mobile World Congress, ridiculing corporate mobile folk who think it’s all about ringtones - what he called “blah, blah, blah”: “The new experience is not necessarily songs and ringtones - it’s videos, or a clip… because music is a personal thing. Once we define what that is for mobile and not borrow yesterday’s model, then you’ll see it.”

Will said he convinced Pepsi to use the Peas for more than just a straight endorsement commercial, instead setting the TV ad to a fresh, 30-second unfinished track that fans were encouraged to remix and release. The project led to a three-month worldwide tour and: “We made more money doing that 30-sec song that’s unfinished than we did selling 12 million albums.

—YouTube: Will.i.am - On the Obama video
—YouTube: Will.i.am - On doing more than just ringtones
—YouTube: Will.i.am - On the power of the connected fan
—YouTube: Will.i.am - On shooting a music video with a mobile