Some Sick Jams
Follow this link to a mixtape of some tracks I’ve been gettin down to, post SXSW!
Grooveshark Widgets – Music Playlists for Your MySpace & Blog.
Some jams I’ve been into since Austin
Perceptions of SXSW
In retrospect, I have gotten so much out of my trip to South By Southwest back in March. It created a spark of energy within my mind to pursue the crazy music business into the foreseeable future. Just seeing the environment of Austin during that week–music lovers galore, industry moguls knit together with fans in a packed venue for a few drinks at a late night show. Everything about it was magical. There is something for everyone to see, enjoy, and experience.
It’s Your SXSW.
It seemed like a great opportunity from the beginning. Tons of bands I’d never heard of before, cutting edge panels concerning, artists/labels/technology, and an amazing group of people going. How could it be bad? And it turned out exactly like that, only more crazy, sleep deprived, and unreal.
Obviously, I learned a colossal amount of valuable information, from people in the business that I admire and wanted to meet even before the trip. Networking was an amazing opportunity, as was finding out about new music, and yourself.
The rest of my time at IPR (just graduated two days ago woohoo!) was spent getting my hands dirty in as many activities, social events, and projects as possible, trying to really get a feel for what was out there and what my skills were. I’ve realized through all of these exploits that I fit into a wide spectrum of areas and have a ton of diverse interests–this I’ve discovered is why the music business is the one for me. SXSW helped me realize this. Now is my time to hit the streets and live my idea of the music business–may it carry me to whatever mysterious ends it might have in store.
Since, the trip I have planned on returning the beautiful city of Austin next March to do all over again, only better. The first journey to SXSW is a wild experience, but after demystifying the inter workings of such an intense situation changes and “I’m going to do this [differently] next year” ideas come to mind. Organization, research, and networking targets are some of the more global updates that I (and many others) have communicated. Getting a hotel in down town Austin in another change that I want to attempt to make. While it’s more expensive, you don’t have to contend with the transport services, can have a place to chill out, and even catch a few more zzz’s in the A.M. Regardless, there are always changes in what you would like to see/do and how to go about doing that, but there is only a set amount of time and practically unlimited things to do. I think being organized and digging around online before jumping in is essential for a productive time at SXSW.
I loved it. I’m going back. Thanks to all who made my time there unforgettable.
Businesses I’m Diggin
I found out about this at SXSW back in March. Nimbit is a direct to fan marketing platform similar to Topspin Media, that artists can use to more or less manage their business, connect with fans through email and social media, and even set up their own online store to cut out the middle man (even though I suppose Nimbit is a middle-man).
The pricing breakdown is one of the coolest parts about the system because it gives artists a wide range of services to choose from and allows them to try the software before deciding to jump into a monthly commitment. It’s also an open service, in that anyone can use it. Topspin differs in this regard, requiring artists to meet some general criteria before they can dive into the system (see questions below).
1. Do you make more than $5,000 annually selling music?
2. Do you have at least 2,500 emails in your email database?
3. Does your web site get at least 10,000 unique visitors per month?
4. Do you have at least 15,000 fans on Facebook?
See Nimbit’s plans and pricing here.
Direct to fan marketing tools are very powerful and beneficial to artists if used and managed correctly. Artists like Trent Reznor, Band of Horses, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are all textbook examples of how these systems can be used even for large successful musicians. Being able to control information flow, study analytics, and sell directly to fans keeps the business of “you” in house and allows for creative strategies and flexibility. I’m planning on trying it out soon myself, so when I do, I’ll let ya know more details and my perception of the software from the other side of the coin.
RootMusic is another service I discovered in the land of Austin. This is a really simple to use band page generator for Facebook. It uses a ton of drag and drop features giving the user total control over the layout, look, and feel of their personal artist page. In the tour video, the presenter brings up a pretty bare bones page and spices it up with custom uploaded graphics, creative font editing, and a mix of colors to really make it stand out. After 3 and a half minutes, boom, he has a really cool looking page that took a very minimal amount of effort to construct. I’m definitely going to use this for managing artists presence on the ever expanding Facebook music space. OH WAIT! I didn’t mention that the audio tracks on the page are powered by Sound Cloud (which is freakin bad ass) technology, so it’s easy to stream, and even download music straight from the FB page. Check it! (Links to Oona’s page so you can dig in).
One other service that I found out about during my SXSW excursion, was HootSuite. This is a social media content manager similar to Tweet Deck, but involves more sites (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, WordPress, Linked In, Ping.fm, and Foursquare). It’s sick because you can link everything together and easilty manage all of your online communications without having to navigate a myriad of windows.
Another great feature is that multiple users can be added as admins to an account so that everyone can pitch in on the social effort. This is very useful for businesses who want to communicate news updates or content that is created or distributed from different parties in the business. Instead of having to mess around with email, texting someone, or yelling across the room, anyone can simply just post links to whatever they want in two seconds. Real useful stuff!
Panel Review #5: Future of Music PR
The world of music public relations has gone through a huge change in the recent past, progressing quickly from popular Zines to websites, and now blogs. As expressed by the panel members, the role of PR is still the same: to bring attention to where artist are and what they are doing, but the tools to communicate this information are in constant flux.
The panel comprised of:
Andy Adelewitz – Publicist for Paradigm (Ithaca, NY) Moderator
Wendy Brynford-Jones – Owner of Hello Wendy (North Hollywood CA)
Sarah Mary Cunningham – Publicist for The Chamber Group (New York, NY)
Keith Hagan Co Owner of SKH Music (New York, NY)
Ken Weinstein – President of Big Hassle Media (New York, NY)
A great deal of the discussion revolved around how a lot of changes in the industry are subjective and situational. To put this in perspective, some PR people have assumed more of an A&R role, and others more of a management position with the artists that they represent. The process and roles of publicists vary by agency and situation.
They all seemed to agree that “content is king”–as we’ve all heard a million times, but this is an important concept. With high quality content, publicists can distribute it through their channels and make a much bigger impact than if an artist just pumps out a bunch of mediocre media. A well developed story is essential to this success. This story can be refined and explored between the artist, publicist, and management. “Management is an extension of the band. The key, expressed by Cunningham, is a well thought out strategy–”Know your outlets and have control over your property.”
While the main panel was interesting, the questions that followed gave a lot of insight into the role of publicists and advice surrounding them.
Ken Weinstein smartly pointed out that “a lot of bands think they need a publicist when they really do not.” I thought that this was a really great comment coming from a PR veteran. This affirms that the DIY culture swarming the music industry today includes a wide range of responsibilities. At an early stage in an artists career, they might need to send out press releases to radio stations and bloggers in their market to get their content out there. This is very important for many artists to see. Traditional roles of musicians are changing as much as they are for the people who support them. Everyone has to work harder to be noticed.
As a final note, the panel experts gave a few thoughts on: what to look for when shopping for a publicist?
- Do they post updates regularly?
- Look at their artist roster, is there anyone of note, or a lot of unknowns?
- Ask to talk to the other bands under the publicist and see what they think
It’s the wild wild west out there. There are no rules.
SXSW Topspin Media Demo @ The Belmont
I was extremely excited for Topspin Media’s demo ever since the invite popped up in Google Reader the first week in March. RSVP’ing for the 5pm time slot, I arrived at The Belmont, a stylish American restaurant/bar on west 6th street in Austin. As expected the gathering had very laid-back, friendly atmosphere, featuring food, drinks and a diverse group of interesting people all wanting to find out more about the Topspin direct-to-fan marketing system.
Settling down to start the demo, Topspin CEO Ian Rogers (Link to Twitter) casually introduced himself and dove right into the software. I have seen the front end of the marketing system from exploring the Topspin site, but the back end technology and user control of the program blew me away. The system parlays nicely with its user base (generally creative individuals) allowing them to customize their marketing and online presence to align with their wants and needs.
The system is totally customizable, but not to the point of excessive complexity. This allows the user to become creative with their marketing efforts without having to wade through mountains of coding. Topspin and their affiliates take care of this end of things. The huge amount of data Topspin generates from gathering email addresses, social network, and IP related data allow the display of fan’s geographical information, purchasing behavior, social network popularity, among many other important metrics. It’s great because this information is not only useful for online monetization, but for long-term strategies concerning touring, product development, and whatever other creative way an artist wants to use the data about their fans.
The best part is that it is so easy to use. In around an hour and change we built:
- A simple site based on a WordPress theme
- Set up a Facebook store
- Created some creative product offers, including a couple different product bundles
- Online tickets for a show (which can also be bundled with other items)
- Generated some widgets (email for media, tweet for track) for use anywhere in an artist’s digital landscape
A new development in the Topspin system was discussed at the end of panel which allows the store to bridge multiple sites online without affecting the shopping cart. This basically means that if a fan is on Facebook and adds a item to their shopping cart, then moves to the artist’s website, they can alter or add to their shopping cart without interruption between sites. Myspace can also be thrown into the mix, which makes the store even more flexible and easy to use. Another useful Topspin tool allowing artists to cater to their fans.
Awareness → Connnections → Monetization
Panel Review #3: Merge Makes Noise!
After being braised with global music marketing culture and trends I decided to see what Chapel Hill, NC based indie label Merge Records had to say. Purveyors of Spoon, Arcade Fire, and the buzzworthy She and Him, Merge rose up as the in classic DIY fashion to become the amazing business that it is today. The panel was more or less a pitch for their new book, Our Noise, but contained a bunch of great tidbits concerning their creation and development throughout the years. Founders Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan are amazing and gave a real down to earth introspective view on their lives and values. The panel was moderated by New York based writer Michael Azerrad.
Azerrad: “Why did you decide to start a label?’
McCaughan: “Well–we were in bands and we always wanted to put out a record, but nobody would do it for us. So we would do it ourselves. It started out as a kind of art project–nothing long-term.”
Ballance: “We had put out 7″ singles by local bands before, and that was pretty easy. So we just did that.”
Azerrad: “What were the mechanics of the business at the beginning?”
Ballance: “We just made it up as we went along. We knew some distributors, so we said ‘lets just call them’.”
Azerrad: “Did you get any help from other labels?”
Ballance: “When we had questions we’d call up people at K, TeenBeat, Homestead, Amphibian. ‘Where do you buy plastic sleeves? Where do you get your records pressed?’ The labels were sort of our peers, just on a bigger scale.”
They went on to talk about some of the values that they were build on–music they liked and operating without expectations.
Ballance: “If 500 people like it, it’s a success as a record.”
This really showed just how much they loved the music. While this may seem like a typical ‘indie’ statement, they sincerity with which she stated this was very authentic. They had always done things the way they wanted to do them and success was measured in a different way for Merge. The way many labels are starting to measure success today (except for the big four or three or whatever they will be soon, that view of success is a little too blasé for them to digest). To achieve this sort of sustainability, Merge entered a distribution agreement with Touch and Go, so that they didn’t overextend themselves. This led to slow, reasonable growth for the label–growth that they could (and still do) maintain. 2009 was their best year yet.
They then moved into Merge’s relationship with it’s artists.
Azerrad: “What are the evolving tastes of indie music?”
Ballance: “The evolving tastes of Mac and Laura. Merge is invaluable to our artists because the artists and Merge pick each other.”
Merge by design is in tune with many artists. The founders played in bands, so they are on the same wavelength as their clients. They are small in size, making them flexible, but garner relationships that allow them to handle interests of larger artists. When questioned whether supporting an artist who they like, but who would only sell a few hundred copies, was a practical way of doing business, Ballance answered. “If you really like something you want to believe it will sell more than 500 copies.”
Up until this point I was really interested in the panel, when it took an unexpected turn. When asked about how they would start a label today, a sour mood came over the panel. They formed a strong position against the digital realm of music, where the mp3 dominates the world of physical product. Mac insisted that physical formats still hold a great deal of value and that a physical product forms a connection between artist and fan as some sort of talisman.
McCaughan: “Physical things help create music fans. There’s just something about listening to music with that record in your hand.”
As a student of the new music business and web 2.0, I couldn’t help but see the flaw in this sort of thinking. I agree that there are definitely items that aid in creating a bond between band and fan, a limited edition tour T-shirt or a cool record with full size photo inserts and extensive liner notes, but to imply that there is something crucial missing in a world bereft of physical objects–I’m not sure that this new generation feels that way. To figure out whether I was inadvertently being some sort of know-it-all early twenties cynic, I consulted some of my peers and individuals of Mac and Laura’s generation. An interesting discussion popped up when I proposed whether or not the MP3 (any digital file) allowed fans to connect even better with the artist today, because it creates a clean slate to paint ones emotions and own creative view of the artist and their music. If there is nothing but the music, fans are free to explore how that makes them feel without the guidelines of album artwork and song descriptions. While these are still important, many of us download an iTunes file and that’s all we have of some artists. It may even be our favorite song. It seemed very plausible to many of us and we will see how this idea plays out as the years roll on. But as with everything, with time comes change and each generation will not understand many aspects of the one following. We should praise this paradigm, for it makes us different–and valuable.
Find Merge on the web!
http://www.mergerecords.com
http://twitter.com/mergerecords
http://vimeo.com/mergerecords
And their new book: Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records
Recently completing an intensive course at IPR on music/media marketing, I was very interested to see what angle the panelists had on the subject and how it applied to other markets around the world.
The Panelists included:
Adam Rabinovitz – VP of marketing for IODA (San Francisco, CA) Moderator
Kieran Roy – GM of Arts and Crafts Productions (Toronto, ON)
Jeff Marois – Business development mxp4 (Paris, France)
Keith Cahoon – CEO of Hotwire Japan (Tokyo, Japan)
Charles Saliba – Founding partner of Maybe Mars Records (Beijing Shi, China)
The overarching theme of this panel was that all geographical areas matter and can be beneficial to an artist, label, or other industry professional, but a well thought out strategy determines whether or not a foreign market is worth pursuing. The country represented outside of this is China, where the music industry problems are a function of long standing government, social, and cultural issues.
Three main topics were conversed during the panel: platforms artists are currently using, mobile, and effectiveness of new social media platforms.
Platforms artists are using
In this U.S., many of us know that artists can be found on Myspace and iTunes, but pointed out by Rabinovitz it is equally important to make sure artists have a Wikipedia page, and reviews of their material on blogs, iTunes, and any other sources that fans may potentially find them. Reviews give an artist more credibility and allow the fan to see what others are saying about them. From what I’ve seen it also serves as a way to spark conversation about an artist (positive, negative, or just users name-calling) which can boost their exposure. More and more a dedicated Facebook fan page is becoming the norm, due to the flexibility it allows with widget and application add-ons. Facebook is a simple tool to allow fans to connect on multiple levels, for instance, connecting with the band on their fan page, connecting with individual band members on their profile pages, and linking up with other like minded individuals over the social network.
Canada, represented by Kieran Roy, looks to build music communities around related artists and the brands that they create. This was a little biased in favor of Arts and Crafts approach of marketing artists, but the strategy is smart and fits into the new music business school of thought built around building relationships, nurturing fans, and most of all promoting authentic and compelling stories. ITunes is their largest online distribution location, which commands around 90% market share.
Traversing the Atlantic ocean to France, Jeff Marois, spoke about iTunes, FNAC, Spotify, and Deezer are the largest sources of distribution and music consumption. The last two are streaming services, Spotify which is very popular in Europe and recently announded the purchase of servers in the US to begin operations in 3 to 6 months, and Deezer, a France based service. Marois also put a large emphasis on the use of Frence music blog, Blogotheque, which has sufficient international exposure, helping French and other foreign artists alike gain exposure.
Moving into the Asian space, Japan, having the largest market for CD’s still distribute heavily through physical retailers. With a sticker price of $25-$30 USD, margins are very high. Many fans of music are described as collectors of music who purchase a lot of local based music. This makes up a lot of sales, but the RIAJ only takes into account maj0r labels sales. A lot of sales come from mobile technologies, which we’ll get into in a minute. Music is also discovered through print media, but is declining in popularity (as it is everywhere) because of the dullness of the presentation. One ad, one story, we’ve all seen it, and turned the page quickly or put the magazine back on the rack to collect dust another day. Quickly replacing this trend is the popularity of blogs and music blogs which people use to discover music (as they do in the U.S.). A final interesting point that Cahoon brought to light was that if artists decided to share songs for FREE, purchasers still have to pay for mechanical royalties — I knew there we’re strings attached!
The Chinese market was basically described as an anomaly.
- Sales aren’t sustainable, only a few major labels are making any kind of money
- Government restrictions on music still persist, especially critical music and social commentary
- Over 200 million engaged in piracy
- 99% of all music is downloaded for FREE
Investing for future business models and ad based revenue are the actions being used at this point. Its the “real” wild wild west in the global music industry space (out of the handful of countries discussed).
Mobile
U.S. – mobile exposure is dependent on the radio for any large scale operation. It is still a very hit driven medium, with ring-tone sales making up a large portion of the monetization. There is also Pandora radio and a few other laggards in that space, but no Spotify or broadbased streaming service that has reached wide-spread adoption.
Canada – There are three main mobile companies, who engage in a hit driven business pushing R&B, hip-hop and top-40 pop/rock. Mobile discovery of artists is limited because of device screen size and a lack of artist reviews on the mobile platforms. Roy pressed that his company is pushing their digital/mobile strategy with branded efforts to promote artists and encourage discovery of related acts.
France – The mobile space is become larger and larger in this country with Blogotheque being a center for promotion and discovery, as well as Spotify, which is a big success. Following along with Roy’s position on artist branding, Marois discussed that many artists are looking toward applications to push their brand. Premium apps such as David Guetta’s latest are creative approaches to building value with fans (even though the price tag for development is a bit out of reach for many…$30,000?!?)
Japan - The Japanese love mobile computing. Cahoon explained that the Japanese consumers are all about apps. They spend the most time on any particular app than people of any other country. Songs through mobile devices are priced higher, as their CD’s are, at a price of around $4.00 USD per track. Itunes tracks have also been artificially inflated in Japan to fit this trend, with songs rolled out with prices of around $1.50 – $2.00 USD each. Sales are currently flat year over year, due (surprise) to piracy in the country.
China - The rollout of China’s proprietary 3G network has been slow and filled with bumps and ruts, so the mobile space is very limited at this point. There is opportunity for tremendous growth as infrastructure in the country develops. But again, the purchasing behavior and social development of the country operates on a separate wavelength from that of the other four countries, meaning education and slow change are necessary to build a sustainable music economy.
Are new social media platforms effective? 
U.S. – Twitter and Facebook (FB) are growing rapidly in the music space, as Myspace remains a large player in the discovery and promotion of an artist.
Canada – Roy described basically the same situation as the U.S. only on a smaller scale.
France – Is loving Twitter and artists are using this micoblogging form of communication to promote and connect with fans. A lot of FB sharing is also a growing trend according to Marois.
Japan - There is currently no music streaming service in Japan, and their #1 social networking site, Mixi, does not currently support music as Myspace and FB do. People in Japan love Myspace even though adoption has been slow in the country. The language barrier is the cause of the divide between the country and the English speaking and western European world. Thanks to translation services, Twitter is now becoming more and more popular in Japan, but not in an artist sense due to its recent adoption.
China – The social media presence in China is generally through the site Douban, but Saliba talked very little about music in this space, as well as on Twitter and Facebook. His overall view on the music industry weighed on the side of gloom and confusion within a tough market to understand nonetheless crack.
In Review
There is a lot of opportunity for music business and artists around the world. A strategy, as with most endeavors, is essential to success or even penetration. Homogenization is another trend developing in the music industry as technology simplifies sharing, communication, and carves a rift for new business models to fill.
This is an exciting time for us, all of us.
Long Live the Party!!! Andrew W.K. invades SXSW
To start off, this was the best show I’ve ever been a part of.
We all know the craziness that is Andrew W.K. from his high energy debut single “Party Hard” back in 01′, the high-kicking insanity of “We Want Fun” from the Jackass: The Movie, and maybe his current stint as a self-help speaker. Andrew W.K. has always been an anomaly to me and many others, because the energy he creates is sustained by the music and not the other way around. Andrew has always encouraged the community aspect of music, which is what seems to drive fans to his shows. People know that if they go to an AWK show, they will be part of something fun, something important, and something they will remember forever. This is exactly what I experienced at Buffalo Billiards on the night of March 17th.
A friend and myself cut the line to B. Billiards with the help of our music badges (side note: don’t let anyone tell you that buying a SXSW badge is a waste of money) and cruised upstairs to grab a drink and make way up to the front of the venue to get down on the AWK experience…..
………check 2, check 2……..
………check 20, check 20…
The sound check took forever and a day, but spirits still ran high for AWK to start the party. After a 30-40 minute wait for sound-check and other technical confusion, a drone poured in from deep in the stage, enticing the crowd to hang on Andrew’s words, anticipating the insanity to start at any moment. Maybe the wait, sound-check and all was planned, because the energy that build up during the pep talk, thickened the air, and clouded the mind of the crowd. Everyone looked to back and forth to those on either side of them for some reassurance that everyone was still living, breathing, and ready for what was coming.
The band took the stage with grinding guitars, beckoning Andrew onto the stage. From that point, everyone in the immediate stage crowd, jumped up and down, yelling all of the band’s lyrics for close to 40 minutes straight, only taking pauses to find out which high energy track was coming up next. Fan’s crowd surfed their way onto the stage with Andrew where they showed off their dance moves or were asked their name and hometown by the front-man himself.
The show wrapped up with Buffalo Billiards‘s employees yelling on microphones for fans to get off the stage, I’m assuming because they thought it might break due to the 50+ people jumping up and down on it.
After the show I heard that fans/members of the band may or may not have been mildly electrocuted from trampling equipment on stage…this certainly wouldn’t surprise anyone who was at the show.
Check these Vids of the live performance below!
