The paper presents findings of an empirical qualitative investigation into the role of machinima (machine‐cinema) in extending the brand reach of game developers' market propositions, drawing on participation, co‐creation and immaterial labour literature. Machinima is a contemporary Internet cultural phenomenon, whereby firms' ‘super’ customers create original works from game assets beyond that of merely gameplay. Interestingly, firms' marketing strategies are evidently focussed on traditional channels with apparently little emphasis given to Internet born cultures such as machinima, which now has massive global following. Thus, the resultant user‐generated content, which may be subsequently adapted and further distributed by other customers, is harnessed by firms, effectively exploiting the prowess of the community of games players to market their endeavours as advertising and product development. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This articles sketches the history, vision and implementation of the ElectroAcoustic Resource Site 2 (www.ears2.dmu.ac.uk), also known as the EARS pedagogical site. EARS 2 was originally intended to act as a miniature version of the original EARS site (www.ears.dmu.ac.uk), created specifically for young people, thus a site introducing vocabulary and relevant publications. However, after careful consideration, it proved much more valuable to create an entire pedagogical environment introducing primarily, although not exclusively, children aged 11 to 14 to electroacoustic music in terms of its concepts, repertoire and creative practice. The Compose with Sounds software (www.cws.dmu.ac.uk) package has been specifically developed for this initiative and is introduced in this article along with the EARS 2 project. The contextual discussion focuses on the issue of making innovative music accessible to inexperienced audiences, and includes a discussion of the project goal of enhancing learning through technology behind this new initiative.