Rawking
Monday, August 16, 2010
NPMT 2010: Day 2: Technology for the Greater Good
Disclaimer: I’m going to do a few summaries of the panels I attended. I did tape these sessions so when I am quoting, I am doing so from my recordings. Otherwise, these summaries are my opinions on how these sessions shook out. Take that however you want.
Session description:
For decades artists have utilized the power of music to effect social change and transform thought into action. With the myriad of online tools and social networks available today, musicians are able to spread their influence and awareness through the Web in real time. This panel will look at the best new media tools and approaches to take in introducing an artist’s cause or message.
Moderator: Chris Cantore - Sounddiego/KPRI
Panelists:
Scott Riggs - Slacker
Nic Adler - The Roxy
Ben Patterson - Dashgo.com
While this panel was a bit thin as far as who was on it, the information from this panel was great. For most of the session, it was just Cantore, Riggs and Adler - Patterson joined late as he got stuck in the infamous L.A. to S.D. traffic. Having Cantore as the moderator was great since I think he’s really someone in S.D. that has embraced new media. Because even with his knowledge of new media, he still had questions of the panel that really facillated information to the attendees. Cantore first asked Riggs about hellomusic - which is a service that artists submit their music to so that is can be licensed properly for play over the internet. Artists should also register for Soundexchange - this is who collects the funds that internet broadcasters send for playing an artist’s music.
Adler’s perspective really gave a good overview on how social media really created a community on the Sunset Strip by allowing “conversations to happen”. So you have a community comprised of bands, fans, venues who all feel like they are part of this thing that is happening which gets everyone really engaged. They have a crazy amount of fan interaction on FB - like 89% comment on their posts at one point or another!
Cantore brought up how new media like blogs really can break a band these days. We all know P-fork and Stereogum and the like can really bring an awareness to bands that they didn’t have before with traditional media. So between blogs and social media, there is a whole new way of discovery and interaction.
Patterson joined us and gave an overview on what dashgo is - an artist management platform to manage all aspects of the business of your music. What Patterson emphasized from the get go was that bands can give info via twitter/facebook but they also have to get a little personal and show some personality.
Cantore then brought the conversation to the mobile platform. Riggs talked about how smartphones are the avenue for bringing music to the masses. And that includes your car. I have my own experience with that in the rare cases that I don’t get satellite radio in my rental car - some cars will let you sync up via bluetooth and then you can play whatever music is on your phone via the car speakers. Fancy, right?
And then in direct contrast to the previous session (the radio one), Riggs talked about how getting your song on terrestrial radio isn’t necessarily a gimme for success. “These days it’s all about distribution - it’s about figuring out how you can get your music heard, whether it’s internet radio, myspace, or any type of platform.” As far as the live venue perspective, Adler said that they understand the way social media is used so they can really use that to their advantage when booking bands and promoting their venue. He brought up how mobile phones tell their story - they even have wi-fi in their venue so you can take video and upload while you’re there. That is fantastic - it’s so immediate and really brings people into the conversation when they are getting a visual.
In the closing round of comments before Cantore let the audience loose at the panel, Patterson made the point that as an artist you have to have a plan - it’s not a good idea to release a song on i-tunes 24 hrs after it’s recorded because you don’t have the support in place for that song. (Makes sense...) He said “people aren’t looking for music, they are waiting for it to find them”. (Again, true for those people who haven’t already been described previously as “the freaks”.)
We got some great questions from the audience - the first one was a zinger - is myspace dead? Adler says it’s not as far as listening to a band’s music, but that shouldn’t be your only web presence. Riggs agreed - “it’s still relevant though it doesn’t have the sexiness of twitter or facebook and maybe the activity but it’s still a great place to post your music.”
Next good one - what’s the best strategy for emerging bands? Riggs started by saying that a band should get out and play as much as you can. Then have a good recording - it can just be a couple of songs. Have a web presence and build social media. Adler said to gather content - building content resonates in their offices. Patterson said to get a domain name, register your band’s twitter name and facebook. And connect to other bands - you need that support structure.
And the age old question - how do you make money off your music? Riggs summed it up nicely - “I would say that the voice of reality if you are an up and coming musician is don’t plan on making a lot of money.”
That seems like a good way to end this post....I may get inspired to write a more general summary of all sessions later. Or not.....
Sunday, August 15, 2010
NPMT 2010: Day 2: Creating a Music Town
Disclaimer: I’m going to do a few summaries of the panels I attended. I did tape these sessions so when I am quoting, I am doing so from my recordings. Otherwise, these summaries are my opinions on how these sessions shook out. Take that however you want.
Session description:
We’d all like to see our respective music communities grow and thrive, and this panel will feature discussions on just that. From increasing audience size and working with other artists to grassroots efforts and corporate tie-ins, discover methods that have worked to strengthen music scenes in the past as well as new techniques for the future.
Panelists:
Mitchell Frank - Spaceland
Tim Mays - Casbah
Josh Feingold - SESAC
Vicki Hamilton - Band Manager/Talent Booking
Scott Pactor - Mr. Cat Dirt himself
This session was moderated well by Josh Feingold who was able to really channel the conversation to how “music towns” are built. (Staying on topic is not as easy as you think.) One of the main themes that will occur at these types of sessions is the SD vs. LA thing. Mitchell Frank was really interesting to me as he was one of the people that really built up the Silverlake scene, where so many good indie bands are coming from. He said that “good bands migrate to the top”. So true. But it seems like in SD, good bands migrate to L.A. and then to the top. One of my favorite questions was that someone asked if the panel thought if SD created something like 6th Street in Austin in the Gaslamp, would SD become a good music town? The answer all around was a vehement “No”, I mean, really, in the Douchelamp? Not gonna happen. I actually posed a question to Scott Pactor because I wanted the room to hear him talk about his experience trying to create this elusive “music town”. I’m sure his way of answering my question was lost on some people, but the best snippet of his answer was that “it” is happening but in a different form. Using screamo band Pierce the Veil as an example, he said that there are bands that understand the present conditions they have been able create their own music town and succeed where others fail. Ultimately, the point seemed to be that if your town isn’t a music town, then you have to create your own. Whether that is a physical scene like the one in Silverlake/Echo Park or even the Sunset Strip in the 80’s or if it is a great online community with a gazillion followers on twitter and fans on Facebook, it doesn’t matter. Scott pointed out that all the bands who recently have had some success all knew each other in SD, played with each other and what not. Despite the lack of support of their town, these bands built a music town based on each other. And that worked for them.
The takeaway from this? You’re pretty much living in a super apathetic and fickle town when it comes to people coming out to see live music. So figure out how you can connect to your audience and create the scene for yourself.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
NPMT 2010: Day 1: Keynote Session
So Day One of the Nprth Park Music Thing. I had planned on going to earlier sessions, but I only made it for a bit of the Social Media session (a big yawn) and the keynote speaker, Mr. Kim Fowley. A little surprised how that session went - after he introduced himself and his entourage, he basically had people come up to the mic, sing their best song and then critiqued them. Now that could have been a train wreck, but we are lucky that we do have some talented people in this town. What really struck me is that no one seemed to know each other even though it seemed like there were a few people doing the same type of thing. I guess I’ll get into that more when I do the rundown of today’s sessions, but it speaks about the SD scene as a whole. When Mr. Fowley wasn’t holding auditions, he did come up with some zingers. One of the things he said that I whole heartedly disagreed with was that he said you don’t have to move to L.A. or N.Y. to make money on your music? Hmmm. The last few bands who have had any degree of success that started in SD (Crocoldiles, Wavves, Soft Pack, Dum Dum Girls) never drew a big crowd here - it was only after they left for L.A. that they achieved the amount of success they now have. Anyway, regardless of some of the things he said that I disagreed with, he’s obviously a successful person in the business, so what do I know? In any case, it made for an informative and entertaining keynote session.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
NPMT 2010 Session Guide
NPMT is upon us and I’m sure some of you are trying to wade through the session schedule as well as the showcase schedule. Not sure if I’ll post anything about the showcase schedule, but you know that I am on it for the conference schedule. So here’s the schedule by date - the bolded sessions are the ones I will attend - I’ve also included the session description and the panel from the NPMT site.
Friday, August 13th:
1:15pm-2:30pm Music Industry 101: The Basics 2010 (Lafayette Room)
1:30pm-2:45pm Music From the Clouds: Is the Download Dead? (Mississippi Room)
1:45pm-3pm Lawyers, Guns & Money: Legal Issues For Musicians (New Orleans Room)
1:45pm-3pm Demo Review Session 1 (LaSalle Room)
2:45pm-4pm The Future of Music PR (Lafayette Room)
With the music business in a constant state of flux, this panel looks to address the future of PR (public relations/publicity) within that world. Much of the biz is now online, so panelists will discuss changes in distribution of information to the media as well as more basic issues such as working with a publicist vs. DIY. Whether you are looking to promote an artist or an album release, this panel will help you understand the mechanics of modern day music PR and offer useful tips and guidance.
Panelists include: Wendy Brynford-Jones (Hello Wendy PR), Lilledeshan Bose (OC Weekly), Jo-Ann Geffen (JAG PR), Josh Mills (It’s Alive Media), Steve Baltin (AOL’s spinner), Stefan Goldby (buzzine.com)
3pm-4:15pm Social Media and Music: Building Your Network (Mississippi Room)
So you have a MySpace site, Facebook page and Twitter account – now what? It can be overwhelming and confusing deciding how to reach out to fans and build audiences without flooding the world with irrelevant information. Join social media experts to learn how to use these online platforms strategically and to your advantage.
Panelists include: Jeff Kreinik (Front Gate Tickets), Tom Gimbel (Clatterhead), Jason Fisher (Epitaph Records), Larry Weintraub (Fanscape), Sara Berkowitz (Viper Room), Jeff Becker (J2X Media)
3:15pm-4:30pm Demo Review Session 2 (LaSalle Room)
3:15pm-4:20pm Performance Video & VJ’ing (New Orleans Room)
4:30pm-5:30pm Keynote Speaker: KIM FOWLEY (Mississippi Room)
6pm-8pm Happy Hour · Sound Diego presents
8pm-2am Music Festival
My commentary:
At the time of this posting, there wasn’t an update on the Music from the Clouds session - if there is an update on panelists, I will post. The “Lawyers, Guns and Money” session sounds lively! I’ve got a scheduling conflict between the “Future of Music PR” and the “Social Media” session but since the Social Media session has totally different panelists this year and not much has changed in Music PR in the last year, “Social Media” it is. I plan to live blog this one, so should be fun. And last, but not least, the Keynote. Wonder if Mr. Fowley will be commenting on Dakota Fanning and Kristin Stewart as Cherie Currie and Joan Jett in the movie....guess you’ll have to attend like the rest of us.
Saturday, August 14
11am-12:15pm Creating a Music Town (Lafayette Room)
We’d all like to see our respective music communities grow and thrive, and this panel will feature discussions on just that. From increasing audience size and working with other artists to grassroots efforts and corporate tie-ins, discover methods that have worked to strengthen music scenes in the past as well as new techniques for the future.
Panelists include: 1 - Josh Feingold (SESAC), Scott Pactor (Law Office Of Scott Pactor), Scott Sheldon (RM64.com), Mitchell Frank (Spaceland), Tim Mays (The Casbah)
11:15am-12:30pm Management 101: Guiding Your Career (Mississippi Room)
11:30am-1pm Demo Review Session 3 (LaSalle Room)
12:00pm-1:30pm Lawyers, Guns & Money: Legal Issues For Musicians (New Orleans Room)
1pm-2:15pm All Things Radio: Terrestrial, Satellite, Internet and College (Mississippi Room)
As radio continues to twist, turn and change before our ears, it’s becoming difficult to make sense of the numerous formats and technologies delivering music. This panel of radio professionals from a diversity of backgrounds will help clear up the confusion and provide useful insight into each radio platform and how they can best serve local musicians.
Panelists include: Mike Halloran (radio professional), Garrett Capone (91X), Lisa Worden (KROQ), Gary Gorman (Atlantic Records), Christine Chiappetta (Island Def Jam Records), Kevin Stapleford (X1FM.com), Tazy Phillips (KROG The Rogue / skaparade.com)
1:15pm-2:30pm Demo Review Session 4 (LaSalle Room)
2pm-3:15pm Performance Video & VJ’ing (New Orleans Room)
2:30pm-3:45pm Using Music and Technology for the Greater Good (Lafayette Room)
For decades artists have utilized the power of music to effect social change and transform thought into action. With the myriad of online tools and social networks available today, musicians are able to spread their influence and awareness through the Web in real time. This panel will look at the best new media tools and approaches to take in introducing an artist’s cause or message.
Panelists include: Tim Sweeney (Tim Sweeney & Associates), Nic Adler (The Roxy), Kristin Rolla (Myspace Music), Abe Burns (Variety), Matthew Bates (Slacker.com), ben Patterson (DashGo.com)
2:45pm-4pm Getting Your Music Licensed (Mississippi Room)
3pm-4pm Demo Review Session 5 (LaSalle Room)
3:15pm-4:30pm Indie Labels: The Resurgence (New Orleans Room)
Indie labels have weathered the storm and are now setting the trend for sustainability in the music industry. This collection of artists, managers and indie label experts will address artist and label concerns, and take an up-close look at the current label landscape.
Panelists include: Brian Sharp (Century Media), Chris Trovero (Epitaph Records), Matt Halverson (Lefse Records / Waaga Records), Adrienne Lake (Bloat Records), Richard Laing (Sub Pop Records), Pete Klockau (Bloodshot Records)
4:15pm-5:45pm Songwriters Circle: Discussion & Performance (Mississippi Room)
6pm-8pm Happy Hour · INDIGENOUS presents
8pm-2am Music Festival
My commentary:
Nice surprise to see Mr. Cat Dirt himself on the “Creating a Music Town” panel. I have my own ideas about this and especially with regards to SD, so definitely not one to miss if you can drag yourself there by 11am. Featured session for me today is the “All Things Radio”. You have to go just for Halloran, right? But seriously, with three panelists with current or former ties to XTRA and the PD of the undisputed king of terrestrial alt rock radio KROQ, there are bound to be some interesting discussions. Of course, all of you techies will be in the “Using Music and Technology” session - glad to see Mat Diablo from Slacker representing there. I’ll also pop into the “Indie Labels” session after “Using Music and Technology” - another great panel.
Intrigued? You know it. Buy tix here. I’ll see you there!
Sunday, August 09, 2009
NPMT: Day Two: Notes From The Trenches
I totally flaked out on seeing bands last night. But I did get here early and was glad to be able to check out Avi Buffalo (representing LBC!) who was pretty awesome. Also happy to speak to Pyles about yesterday’s music review session and Tony from SubPop for a bit. I’ve decided I am going to live blog the Social Networking Panel, so these updates will be frequent throughout their panel. I’ll also pull in tweets as needed so you can get some reactions as they are happening.
So the formalities:
Panel: Social Media & Music Online: Making the Internet Work for You
Panelists:Mat Diablo (91X/Slacker.com), Rob Marlbrough (webwized.com/robdowntown.com), Dave Brown (Holiday Matinee PR), Jordan Glazier (eventful.com) and Jason Fisher (Epitaph Records), Chris Cantore (Online Media Director, Street Scene)
Quoteable:
“There is no excuse for you to suck on twitter” - Dave Brown
What You Missed:
1.46 pm: Diablo and Marlbrough are already here - Mat has his laptop up and is drinking a beer. Cantore came by to chat with me which was nice.
1.57 pm: Owen from FM 94/9 just came in.
1.59 pm: session is about to start and the crowd is still sparse.
2.00 pm: Bart introduces the panel.
2.03 pm; Mat takes over and lets us know that they are not going to talk about Social Media in the abstract.
2.09 pm: Cantore is talking about his new project - The Green Room.
2.10 pm: Intros are over. Diablo is steering the convo to twitter.
2.14 pm: Dave Brown with the first great quote of the panel. Cantore tells everyone that you will lose followers and piss people off.
2.20 pm: Cantore is emphasizing how to be interactive and how to build a presence and “your brand”.
2.22 pm: Fisher (from Epitaph) tells us social media has leveled the playing field. He talks about the evolution of twitter and how it has transformed into a way to broadcast information. Twitter has a 6x greater click through rate than a myspace bulletin.
2.26 pm: Brown gives a slew of options a band can use in lieu of myspace.
2.27 pm: Q & A starts. Blogs to look at for tech info. Mashable.com is mentioned.
2.28 pm: Rosey and I get a shoutout from Cantore.
2.30 pm: Fisher emphasizes that you have to keep your fans engaged. He also tells everyone that your photo is more important that your music. Controversial!
2.32 pm: Cantore emphasizes that you need to keep your content updated. (side note: this is true, as a person who reads blogs, there is no reason to go back to a site unless there is new content. the most successful blogs have timely updates.)
2.35 pm: Follow counts? Do they make a difference? Quality over quantity is the rule.
2.38 pm: Downtown Rob talks about being engaged with your followers.
2.39 pm: Some tweets during the panel:
@MyMelodie Love that theres a Social Media panel @ music fest! RT @DowntownRob I uploaded YouTube video Social Media Panel at #NPMT http://bit.ly/RsaUj
@auroraawakes @holidaymatinee just want to say I’m enjoying your advice and opinion on the social media panel.
2.41 pm: How to monetize? Some guys is giving a business plan...blah blah blah.
2.43 pm: This lady who has been asking wack questions in every panel I’ve attended is asking another wack question.
2.45 pm: Facebook does not have as much functionality for musicians but now is the time to get familiar with it.
2.47 pm: Next question - you tube. How do you get people to look at your you tube vids? Downtown Rob says to use it as a storage place - send your links via your social networks.
2.48 pm: Tumblr is mentioned - free resources for bands are good.
2.54 pm: Fisher says that email is dead, collect phone numbers instead.
2.57 pm: Panel is over. Woo hoo.
K, that’s it for me today. Gonna see some bands now!
Saturday, August 08, 2009
NPMT: Day 1: Session Notes: Part 2
I sat in three more sessions but only took notes at one.....
Panel: Indie Labels: The Last Great Hope?
Panelists: Tony Kiewel (Sub Pop Records), Marc Silverman (ADA Distribution), Eric Howarth (M-Theory Music/Hi Speed Soul), John Reis (The Night Marchers / Rocket from the Crypt / Swami Records), Pall Jenkins (Three Mile Pilot / Blackheart Procession) and Rafter Roberts (Singing Serpent Music)
Quoteable:
“People who are interested in this noise want the genuine article. If the package is worth owning, people will buy it.” - John Reis
“Doing something you like is not a good business plan.” - Pall Jenkins
“Chasing something instead of expressing themselves.” - Tony Kiewel when asked about people’s motivation for sending mass mailings to record labels.
What You Missed:
A great session. This panel had a lot to say about the indie label’s role in the new marketplace for music. It’s obvious that indie labels are doing something right. Tony Kiewel from SubPop moderated the session and he was particularly wordy (not in a bad way) when talking about the indie label’s role in the “system”. As we all know, the way people hear about music has changed - instead of hearing it on the radio or seeing it on tv, they are getting their exposure to music from myspace, you tube, torrents, or even their own network of friends. What I thought was interesting (and I felt that this resonated through every session I attended) - the panelists obviously love what they do, they aren’t in it to make a ton of money and the best advice they can give to anyone is to make music that people connect with. Seems easy enough, but we all know its not. The one last thing I want to note about the session is that Tony from SubPop did say a couple of things about the radio that I found particularly interesting. First he said that the bands and their label do not get played on the radio (except in rare occurrences and that our city is lucky that we do have good radio). He also mentioned that the “scene” in Seattle is supported by a great radio station, KEXP. I’m glad he mentioned this - as much as radio is put down by the indie rock world, I think recognizing that getting a tastemaker like KEXP to play your music is vital for taking a band to the next level. The radio world is changing too - so much so that an indie band like Silversun Pickups (on Dangerbird) can score a top 10 hit or two on the alt rock charts. That sort of indie success can happen (see Manchester Orchestra as your latest example), but they did all the things that this panel emphasized - get your music out there, play some shows, love what you’re doing. (oh yeah, and DON’T SUCK). One last general observation - the people asking questions about how to get your music to a label (or in other sessions on tv or in movie) - who the f*** were they? Not part of the “scene” here. That last quote up there by Tony from SubPop really summarized what I was feeling - anyone there that was trying to get info about “making it big” or making a ton of money from the music is in the wrong business.
All right, enough rambling from me. Go out and see some shows tonight!!!
NPMT: Day One: Session Notes: Part I
I did drag myself out of bed to get to the NPMT on time....I took notes from the first couple of sessions. If I don’t do a post now, it may never happen so I am spending my downtime drinking coffee at Eclipse and using their wi-fi.
Panel: Music Industry 101: The Basics 2009
Panelists: Michael Halloran (FM 94/9), John Ryan (Chicago Kid Productions), Paul Abbott (Zen Mastering), Mario Quintero (Black Box Recording Studio)
Quoteable:
“People forget we need really good songs.“
“If you don’t write good songs, I can’t help you.” - Halloran
What you missed:
Of course, Hal got some gems in even though I was only there for 15 minutes. Basically, he told people that to get your music on the radio, it has to not suck. Well, duh you say. But seriously, there is a lot of bad music out there and definitely tunes that are not radio worthy (or the flip side, tunes that should not be radio worthy, but that’s a whole other post). Bart Menodza (who was moderating) also reinforced Hal’s point by bringing up that a good song is a good song no matter what - and brought up covers (near and dear to my heart), citing the example of the covers of Britney Spear’s “Baby One More Time.” And remember when everyone did covers of Gnarls Barkely’s “Crazy”? Good songs last forever. Enough said.
Panel: Crafting “The Buzz”
Panelists include: Wendy Bryford-Jones (Hello Wendy PR), Judy Miller (Motormouth Media), Amanda Kagen (ABC Public Relations), Albert Ching (OC Weekly) and Seth Combs (San Diego CityBeat)
Quoteable:
“I want to hear something that resonates, that I can remember” - Wendy Bryford-Jones when talking about what she looks for when representing a new band
What you missed:
This panel came at you with both sides of getting information out about bands and their music. On the one side, you had three industry PR vets and then the other side were writers for local alt-weeklies. I recorded this session and I may have more to say about this later if my week doesn’t get crazy. But in a nutshell, I got a good sense of how the publicity world works - and as someone who does write about music and receives emails from these publicists, it was interesting to hear how and what they do for artists. On the writing side of the panel, both Albert and Seth had some zingers but mostly I got the sense that like most people who write about music, they want to hear new music, they want to go see bands, they want to write about you. With a huge caveat of course. You have to not suck. (A recurring theme already...) Near the end of the panel, there was a great discussion about new media - the debate over whether print is dead or not lives. But really I think we all came away knowing that new media is the best way to get information out - the instananeous nature of twitter and blogs is really a great way for people discover new music and create buzz.
More from the trenches as the day goes on....
