Crains New York - May 13, 2013 - (Page 22)

SOURCE LUNCH: Best face forward Continued from Page 21 level are enlisting professional photographers to snap and retouch profile pictures submitted to such sites as LinkedIn,Twitter and Facebook. Even photos snapped on the fly are getting makeovers via such apps as Visage Lab Pro and Perfect365. Doctoring it up “The first thing someone does who’s considering hiring you is to Google you, then look at your Facebook and LinkedIn page,” said Drew Lipsher, a digital-media corporate-development strategist and senior client partner at Korn/Ferry International. “A first impression is no longer in person,” he said. “I think that’s where the trend to fix your photos is coming from. Doctoring up your photos so you look younger or more attractive is no different from getting plastic surgery, except that getting professional photos airbrushed to remove your flaws is cheaper and can always be undone.” For some, a nip-and-tuck is a reasonable prelude to any photo session. After all, many want their virtual and physical realities to mesh. According to a survey by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, there was a 31% increase in requests for plastic surgery in 2012 as a result of consumers seeking to improve their social-media photos, compared with the same period in 2011. Indeed, plastic surgeons are seeing an uptick in business prompted by social media.“Over the past year or so, 30% to 50% of my patients who want work done, specifically the eyes and nose, want it because of social media and the way they feel they look in their photos,” said Dr. Sam Rizk, director of Manhattan Facial Plastic Surgery.“The 30- Social-media images ‘have become the new first impression’ to 50-year-old age group wants to keep up with the competition physically. People want to hire those who look younger but have high qualifications. If you look tired or have bags under your eyes, it can be perceived as a lack of motivation or sleep, neither of which is good.” MAINTAINING PRIVACY ONLINE TO AVOID PRYING EYES, manage who can view your Facebook page. Click on the snowflakelike icon found at the top right and go to privacy settings. Under “Who can look me up,” make sure it says “friends.” Then go to timeline and tagging, found to the left. The eight questions there provide even greater control. For example, make sure the setting is on “Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline.” This way, you’ll be notified, and a post will not appear on your page until you give your permission. There’s also a “From their eyes” setting, which lets you see your page as others looking you up would. MAKING IT PICTURE-PERFECT TO GET THE BEST LOOK ONLINE, follow these photo tips. “Women should look up slightly toward the camera and raise their eyebrows to create an attractive look of large eyes,” said Dr. Jeffrey Spiegel, a plastic surgeon and a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine. “Men should slightly protrude their chin, as it creates a strong face and eliminates a double chin. Everyone should lean their neck toward the camera and stand at an angle. This creates a slimmer body profile and adds some interest to the photograph.” And blink just before the camera goes off. “Blinking will help guarantee that your eyes are not closed during the picture and will produce the most open and bright eyes,” Dr. Spiegel added. —ALIX STRAUSS 22 | Crain’s New York Business | May 13, 2013 SCOTT AMBROSE REILLY Melani Lust, an award-winning photographer, created a socialmedia package because the demand for professional photos was so great. “I started getting 10 to 12 calls a week from people asking if I take photos for the Web and if I do touch-ups,” said Ms. Lust, who has an apartment on the Upper East Side that she also uses as a studio. “Most people are in their 40s and are real estate agents, mortgage brokers, doctors and lawyers,” she said. “I use a lot of reflectors to get rid of wrinkles and shadows, as that’s one of the first things people want. Then we have a big discussion on how much retouching and slimming we should do. I keep telling people you can’t remove every line and every wrinkle; people won’t recognize you.” A half-hour session costs $295 and includes two studio shots. The client brings two outfits: casual for Facebook, more professional for LinkedIn. Usually, Ms. Lust said, once photos are Web-ready and sent to clients, they’re uploaded within minutes. “Then they friend me, which is funny because when I see my friends, I see all my pictures,” Ms. Lust added. Blurring the lines For Christina Winholt Raccuia, a psychotherapist in the West Village who opted for Ms. Lust’s social-media service, creating a neutral but inviting photo was important. “I’m new to Facebook. I [use privacy controls], but patients who do a search can still see me,” she said. “I have to be very careful of the kinds of pictures I post. We live in a visually oriented society, and people like to know who they are dealing with and what they look like.” Those who want to enhance their photos without shelling out a small fortune can download a host of apps. With the programs, users can brighten their teeth, clean up complexions, remove wrinkles or make their eyes sparkle.Visage Lab Pro, dubbed “a professional beauty laboratory,” costs $1.99. Beauty Booth Pro, also $1.99, claims its filter effect automatically “analyzes and optimizes the tone of your skin according to your surrounding environment, while acne, scars and freckles can be erased.” Perfect365, which is free, does the above and offers the tools for a makeup makeover. For a head start, cosmetic companies are introducing powders and foundations for the digital era. For example, Cargo says its blu_ray pressed powder is the first designed for high-definition filming, giving wearers an airbrushed appearance. L’Oreal RevitaLift Miracle Blur foundation offers a similar effect. “We’d like to all think we’re better than just reacting to someone’s photo,” said Mr. Lipsher, “but it’s become the new first impression. Never underestimate the power of vanity.” Ⅲ by Matthew Flamm His experts pick the tunes for any mood M usic lovers can be overwhelmed with choices as they browse iTunes and Amazon. That’s where X5 Music Group comes in: Founded in Stockholm in 2003, the company has built a $14 million business creating digital compilation albums mostly from the classical catalogs of smaller labels.Two years ago, the digital-only company brought on former Amazon music executive Scott Ambrose Reilly as CEO, North America, and set up an outpost in the Empire State Building. Last month, the firm launched a joint venture with Universal Music Group called U5, which will release more than 50 albums a month compiled from the music giant’s classical, blues and jazz catalogs. It has the music for every mood. With all the different ways to buy or stream music, why does anyone need X5 to put together The 50 Darkest Pieces of Classical Music or Blues ’N Booze? In the digital world,there’s unlimited shelf space—20 million tracks in all the stores. That’s utopia for music geeks, but it becomes noise to people who aren’t exactly sure what they want to listen to. So if you’re in the mood for some blues or some classical music to listen to over dinner, we try to create products that help you find exactly what you might need. quickly create something similar that will work better.And we try to get our product in front of customers in whatever way we can,whether that be through placement in the stores or charting. And you have to pay attention to the [outlets]. iTunes wants things to be designed well and look good. Amazon [likes] value and convenience. Spotify is search-based, so we created an app to browse classical music, and other apps are on the way. Who picks the tracks? We have some of the world’s best classical-music experts in Stockholm,but it would be foolish to think we could do the same with blues. So we use experts around [the U.S.], most of whom have been in the music business a long time, who have deep knowledge of these genres. The music industry has been struggling through the transition to digital from CDs. Does that create any problems for X5? WHERE THEY DINED 2ND AVE DELI 162 E. 33rd St. (212) 689-9000 www.2ndave deli.com AMBIENCE: Who knows from ambience? Eat! WHAT THEY ATE: Ⅲ Matzo ball soup and half a corned beef sandwich Ⅲ Matzo ball soup and half a pastrami sandwich Ⅲ Dr. Brown’s black cherry soda Obviously the economics of the music business are changing dramatically, and it’s going to be a fair number of years before they settle down. The great thing about our model is that because we’ve built a system that’s so flexible, and because we have developers on staff, we can adapt to whatever’s successful. X5 started out working with smaller labels. Why would Universal do a major partnership with you? We solve a problem that anybody with a large catalog You say that X5 has a big has identified.They need to TAB: $37.94, advantage being a digital-only differentiate [themselves] plus tip label. How so? in the stores; they need peoWhen you’re digital-only, ple to find [their music];and you can take a lot more risks. We put they only have the resources and the out several thousand albums a year. If business practices to work on a small you created an album like Blues ’N percentage of [their catalog]. For Booze physically, you would have to them, this is all incremental revenue. sell at least X number of units to make it even worth manufacturing. If we You started with classical, and then come up with this idea—blues songs moved into blues. Now you’re getting into about booze—it only has to sell a small jazz. What about pop, rock and hip-hop? number. Because we don’t have to lay In pop,rock and hip-hop,there’s a lot out $5,000. We can lay out hundreds. more competition from new releases, and the charts contain rock, pop You spend a lot of time making your and hip-hop: If you search for them, album art noticeable online. How else do they’ll show up. Blues, world music, you stand out? jazz—the charts are horrible and the It’s science and art. We can learn search is horrible.That’s an opportuwhether something is working—and nity for us. Ⅲ INSIDE TIP: Try the matzo ball soup and half sandwich—and it doesn’t matter which half sandwich. http://www.2ndavedeli.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - May 13, 2013

Crains New York - May 13, 2013
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
SMALL BUSINESS
REPORT: TECHNOLOGY
THE LIST
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - May 13, 2013