Response to Michael Masnick’s 2009 State of the Industry address (MB200)

First and foremost I have to say that the presentation was really distracting and annoying.  They either needed to show the speaker, or Masnick should do something more than just put words on powerpoint slides.

Now, a response to the actual presentation topics:

I agreed with everything that Masnick said.  It is no secret that the old forms of marketing for the music business needs, or more accurately, needed to change.  Masnick says that the idea of just “selling music” needs to change.  With p2p networks, its more convenient for people to download songs if it is music and music alone that they are looking for.   Masnick, in essence, is telling the fine people of the NARM confrence to connect with fans and create and sell content, rather than selling just music.  Giving your customer’s a better reason to come back besides just music is the new way to market.

It was a good presentation–definitely well put.  However, this is not a new idea.  Music and extra content packages are becoming more and more popular.  We all know about Trent Reznor’s success with tiered priced packages with Ghost I-IV.  We’ve seen this concept work again and again (Amanda Palmer’s Radiohead cover album jumps to mind).   He did use some examples that I didn’t know about, and the best thing about his examples were that he purposely used artists that didn’t have a big following, unlike Reznor and Palmer.  While it was a good presentation that I could appreciate, he really wasn’t saying anything groundbreaking.

Hello World: Social concerns for an over connected population (MB-200)

Like many people my age, I am guilty of over sharing on social networks.  I’m not a wild child, but I do enjoy taking silly pictures of myself and my friends at parties, shows, etc.  I don’t really ever stop and think twice about putting most of these pictures on things like Facebook.com, so that my friends can also see what a great time I had.  Then a realization hit me.

I see this becoming more and more of a problem for social network over sharers.  It’s no secret that employers are now looking at potential employees social networks to see what kind of person this applicant is.  I know lots of people who would not appear to be a good future employee to companies stopping by their social networking pages.

And what about children who have now just started using the internet, where social networks, as far as they know, have always been around.  I’m concerned that if these young people are careless about what they put up on the internet, then eventually, it will be impossible for them to escape their childhood personas; as we all know, once you put something out on the internet, its there forever.

What does that mean for over connected children?  Will social networking be something that holds them back in life?  Google CEO suggests that children change their names later in life to escape their online persona.  We don’t yet know if this drastic of a measure will be necessary in the future, however, this maybe the future for over connected children.

SxSW summary

Like everyone who goes to IPR, it goes without saying that I have been a life long music fan.  Through a combination of following different bands, and reading different music magazines, I had heard of South by Southwest.  All I really knew was that a ton of my favorite indie bands went to Austin every spring for a music festival.  I didn’t really know any more than that and it was never a life goal to go…Texas isn’t exactly my favorite state in the country.  Sometimes very impulsive decisions work out to be some of the best.  When I heard that IPR was starting a South by Southwest class, I figured it sounded like a better use of my spring break than going home to Nebraska for two weeks, so as soon as I heard about it, I went and signed up.  Words can’t express how happy I am that I did.

After learning more about South by Southwest I got even more excited to go.  Of course, I was most excited to see the shows…2,000 bands in five days sounds awfully appealing to me.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the panels.  I thought they would either be really boring, or that maybe they would be super sweet and mind blowing and I would end up learning lots of great techniques to help my future career.  Before we left, it was suggested that we plan the panels and shows that we were going to go to.  Because I want to be a tour manager, I picked all of the touring panels and anything that was “direct to fan” related.  I purposely didn’t plan what shows I wanted to see.  I was really excited to discover new music just by walking around Austin.

When we arrived my previous expectations changed.  The first night in Austin was a long one.  After traveling all day, I was super tired but stoked to hear some awesome music.  I started out going to shows with friends, but after a few songs into Motorhead’s set, I wanted to leave.  I started down 6th Street and tried to go into a bunch of venues.  Unfortunately, I seemed to find all of the few 21 and over venues in Austin.  I just kept going to buildings until they let me in, and then I got to see my first night of great shows.  From then on, I realized having some sort of game plan when it came to the shows still allowed me to discover new music and it helped me have the peace of mind to know I could get in and see some of my favorite bands.

My expectation about the panels completely changed.  I honestly think the panels was my favorite thing about South by Southwest.  I learned so much and loved almost every panel I went to.  I got some great tips that I will use when working in the industry.  I got to meet and hear from some of the people I look up to who already work in the industry.  The panels really made me realize just how valuable my education at IPR is.  I learned a lot of things from panels, but there was nothing that went over my head.  Some of the things that were discussed at a few panels, were already obsolete compared to what I had learned from IPR.  As a college student, I could have a confident, well informed conversation with industry professionals, and that was an amazing feeling that was well worth the trip.

Probably the greatest thing about South by Southwest was the actual networking that takes place.  From just an IPR standpoint, you can see how important networking is.  Before we left I didn’t anyone else going.  It was a little nerve wracking to go on such a big trip with strangers, but after we came back, I can say that I know and am friends with sixteen new people.  Networking is the fuel of the entertainment industry, and South by Southwest is a great place to network.  I met so many great industry professionals who were willing to talk to me.  I was being taken seriously and listened to by people working in the industry that I want to work in and I came back with some great contacts.

I am so happy that I randomly decided to go to South by Southwest.  There is no doubt in my mind that South by Southwest has changed me.  I was feeling burnt out after my second quarter of IPR, and SxSW was a fresh breath of air that gave me even more drive to work in the music industry.  I feel like this is such a worthwhile conference, that I am going to do my best to come back every year.  Whenever someone asks me about SxSW i always suggest that they go…its the best impulse decision I’ve ever made.

SxSW Company Profiles

The first performer I saw at South by Southwest.  Kat Edmonson opened Jackie Robbinson’s key note address singing a mixture of jazz standards and originals.  I was lucky enough to meet Ms. Edmonson and ask here what it was like being a new artist in the current industry climate.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that she is one smart cookie.  Edmonson said pretty much everything we learn in copyright class; how the only substantial revenue streams that she has is publishing and touring.  How downloading isn’t killing the music industry, and how new artists are coming up in an industry that is moving faster than it ever has.

Ian Rogers was a big hit for everyone that went to SxSW it seems.  Rogers (middle) is the creator of Topspin Media.  Topspin is a great company, and Rogers proved to be a great person, running great panels and kindly meeting people after they ended.  Topspin creates and distributes marketing software for artist that easily links them to fans.  Its is a revolutionary company for where both fans and artists can find what they need.  Topspin diagnostic tools and their site in general is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in the industry so far.

Sometimes it takes going to a music festival to learn about other music festivals.  I went to Austin, TX and learned about Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI.  When I went to the panel about booking festivals, they had a representative from Summerfest.  It sounds like a great festival much closer than Texas.  It was interesting to hear how they balance up incomers and established bands when booking, and how the decide who headlines and how they deal with sponsers.

Friday Panel

The panel that I went to today was by far the best panel I’ve seen.  I walked out of this panel super excited for a future in management.  On the panel was Noah Dinkin from FanBridge, Geraldine Chung from Atlantic Record, Jonathan Daniel from Crush Music Media Management (which happens to be my dream company to work for) and Emily White from Whitesmith Entertainment.  They really focused on how important an email list is to have for a band.  They also talked about different ways to take that list and generate revenue.  I think one of the coolest ideas I heard came from Geraldine Chung.  She said that on big events like Warped Tour, they don’t bring the usual piece of paper on a clip board for fans to write down their email lists.  Instead they get a cheap, durable computer and have kids type in their information.  I thought that this was a really great idea; it keeps paper usage down and eliminates loosing email addresses due to illegible writing.  Obviously, for some people getting emails that aren’t of the utmost importance can be annoying, but when a potential fan list email contains a widget to some premium offer, like an exclusive song, or discount to the merch store fans are more likely to spend money, and continue to check their fanlist email.  Bundle packaging is also a great way to get people to sign up for email lists and, in turn, up sell those bundles once they are released to the public.  For management companies, its also a good idea to share email lists between other artists you represent.  I had written off email lists, because I thought people never pay attention to them, but Geraldine Chung said that in one case, with the email list, in which they offered a free a download, over 80% of the people on their list went and bought the album when it was released.  With numbers like that there is no reason not to get a fan list together.  Another thing that I never thought about was that artists may not have own the rights to their mailing lists.  It is essential that artists do own the rights to their fan lists.  This was the BEST panel I went to.  If you want more information I have pages and pages of notes.

Thursday Panels

The one panel that I really enjoyed on Thursday was Meet Bookers for Top Festivals Worldwide.  On the panel was Panos Panay from Sonic Bids, a company that helps link artists to bookers and venues.  They also had Ashley Cappos, who books Banaroo, Chris Porter, the head of booking for Bumbershoot in Seattle, Washington.  Alex Schulz in charge of booking a festival called Reeperbahn in Hamburg Germany.  Last, but definitely  not least was David Silbaugh, one of the talent buyers for Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I was surprised to hear that Reeperbahn decidedly didn’t have a headliner because they want the festival to showcase developing artists, which is cool.  Chris Porter said that when he tries looking for bands to play Bumbershoot, he thinks about what the Seattle crowd would want to hear, not necessarily the larger festival crowd.  I can’t remember who said it, but someone on the panel said “emerging artists are the life blood of the industry.”  Each member of the panel expressly said that they liked booking lots of emerging artists, especially if that band has a lot of internet buzz.  Buzz, of any kind, brings people to the festivals.  A good way to create buzz, according to the panel is to come to the city the festival is going to be in and play it a few times before the festival itself, so that you are ensured to have a little bit of  fan base.  The last little nugget they left us with came from Ashley Cappos.  Someone asked how big a role social networks played in promoting and booking.  He said that over 80% of advertising for festivals are done through social networks and media.  That more than anything, proves how big social networks are becoming more and more important.