Okay so I'm very late on this, but I am okay with that. March 27th to 28th was the dates on the annual MEIEA International Conference which was held at Berklee College of Music this year. First off, I am pissed because I am from California and did not know that Berklee existed. If I did, I would have went there- there's an entire semester long class on TOURING! But I digress, the first days highlights:
- Keynote Address on the "new entertainment industry" by Harold Vogel, Top Analyst of the Entertainment Business, Distinguished Author and Media Investor at Vogel Capital Management
Uses the term "the long tail model multiple times- I have no idea what this means while he's speaking, but by the end of the conference it was something that was definitely beat into me. He's too business like for a guy who's addressing hundreds of students, but I guess that's what you look for in a keynote speaker.
- "The new entertainment Economy" Monetizing music in entertainment, including sports, film and video games with Peter Gotcher, Cofounder and Chairman of Topspin, Keyvan Peymani, COO of Network Music Group, Barry Sosnick, President of Earful.info and Asst. Professor and Harold Vogel, President of Vogel Capital Management
The first of many times that Trent Reznor is referenced for his genius business models that have been used as of late. First with Year Zero and with Ghost. Giving away music to make money is the new model. Touring and merch are the new ways to bring in revenue. Artists must establish a meaninful relationship with their fans in order to sell. Must stop producing crappy music.
"Touring: The Holy Grail of the Music Business" The future of the touring industry and its income potential with Marcie Allen Cardwell, President of MAC Presents, Jeff Dorenfeld, Associate Professor at Berklee, Wayne Sharp, Artist Buyer for Wilkins Management and Ryan Vangel, Talent Buyer for Live Nation New England
Marcie is a genious. She works a lot with sponsorships and gave great advice: when trying to get money for a small college festival you have to go local/ regional. National companies don't give a fuck. Secondly, remember that they don't really need anything from you but you gotta make it seem like it's worth their while. How to do that? Study their company and consumer base. Go after companies that want to market to the same demographic that you want at your show. Come up with great ideas for them about how they could use your show to their advantage and how they will profit from it. Genious. Simple, but genious!
Wayne seemed very knowledgable, he's definitely been in the industry long enough to be so. But seriously, I know you're a big shot but you don't have to be so mean. I went up to him after to try and talk to him, network a bit, schmooze and get his card, hopefully send him a resume later. Didn't happen, I asked him one qustion about the industry before he brushed me off and walked away.
Ryan was awesome, or I'm biased because he was cute. Given, he works for the devil that is reincarnated as Live Nation but I have a feeling I may end up begging them for a job in my future so I better not bad mouth too much. Ryan was young but very experienced none-the-less. He works buying acts for all 300+ live nation venues in the greater boston area. maybe new england area, I don't remember. I wish he could have talked more even if he did keep sidestepping all the ticketmaster/ livenation merger questions.
- "Marketing and Distribution in a Digital World" A discussion of the use of technology in guerilla marketing and distribution with Storm Gloor, Asst. Professor at U Colorado Denver, Jim Griffin, Warner Music Advisor and President of Choruss, Walter McDonough, General Counsel of the Future of Music Coalition and Ian Rogers, CEO of Topspin
Due to the ease of becoming a music pirate music must be given away for free as it has no real monetary value anymore, however if you give you music away you are letting more people hear it and are creating more fans who buy stuff and go to shows. Jim Griffin thinks we should put an extra mandatory fee that comes with internet charges so that labels can get paid even if music is being pirated. Will talk more about this later as I heard him speak again at my internship with Atlantic Records. The speech was pretty much the same both times but the second time I got to ask questions about Choruss.
"The Touring Industry" Student Panel
I am always hesitant about anything that involves a student panel because students are students and not teachers. If they had anything to teach me, we wouldn't call them students. So here in front of me were about 8 or 9 college students telling me things about the touring industry side of music that I had previously learned from reading books like Tour Smart : and Break the Band and Everything You Need to Know About the Music Business, oh and Billboard's new book on Touring and Promotion. These students got the chance to spend the night before networking, learning from, talking to and asking questions to some of the biggest names in the touring industry and learned .... nothing new? Oh, and one of the girls said "libary" while speaking. I almost walked up there and smacked her.
-Keynote Address: "After the Deluge: Music Biz 2009 and Beyond" with Danny Goldman, Manager of Nirvana, Founder of Artemis Records and President of Gold Village Entertainment
By this time I had heard the same artists named over and over who all had business models that fit the new environment and were doing well: Trent Reznor, Dispatch and some random ones like Arcade Fire. I get it, to be great you have to make good music, work hard, market yourself well and be creative, oh, and work hard. No disrespect here though, Danny was an amazing speaker to listen to, would love to hear more candid Nirvana/ Kurt Cobain stories.
-"Music in Gaming" Production, financial and promotional considerations for musicians interested in the video game business with Jeanine Cowen, Asst. VP for Curriculum at Berklee and Mallory Dodds- Zumbach, Strategic Marketing Manager of Warner- Chappell
What I learned is that label are using licensing for video games to make money, Paramore had a song in Madden and that there's an awesome new Guitar Hero in the works that can't be talked about
-"The Touring Industry" with Jeff Dorenfeld, Associate Professor at Berklee and Matt Walt, Author and Pretty Polly Productions
I walk into the room and we're a little late and all I hear is "Hofstra!" I had worked with Matt in the fall on the Verizon Wireless Tour featuring Raheem DeVaughn and was glad to see he remembered me. Learned a lot here, these men are geniouses and it sucks that this session was only an hour and there were only 25 people in the audience. Talked to Matt afterward and gave him my resume cause I'm looking for work. He wasn't on the program but it was nice to see him there. Buy this man's book-
Reality Check: A Common Sense Guide To Breaking Into The Music Industry
sorry had to do some sort of plug for him.
-"Getting a Job in the Music Industry" with Gene Perla, Professor
What I learned here: I am way more prepared for the music industry thanks to Hofstra Concerts than anyone is because of MEISA. They had not worked shows before, put on shows, done contracts, networked, one- offs, anything! At the end of the session I had three students come up to me and give me their business cards so that we could work together in the future sometime. I'm holding onto the cards cause you never know but I think it's funny that they don't have jobs and yet have business cards. To each his own I guess.
-Songwriter/ Composer, Publisher, Artist, Arranger, Producer, Musician, Sales Rep, Producer's Asst., Studio Manager, Sound Engineer, Truck Driver, Graphic Designer, Studio Receptionist, Record Store Clerk, Audio Technician and Audio Technician's 1 year old.
So if you're any of these people, don't download music illegally
Thanks ASCAP
Music Fest is going to be awesome, but not because of the music. After much arguing and heartbreak the line up is as follows- Wild Deer, The One L Difference, Lions of Ido, Big D and the Kids Table, As Tall and Lions and (most likely, but not confirmed) The Cool Kids. BUT we will have a ferris wheel, laser tag, airbrush tattoos, food, beer, a side stage with student performers, a Holi Celebration (like a color war kinds), an inflatable rock wall, a movie on a giant inflatable screen, an antique car show, free giveaways and other great stuff. As long as I can get some press for it and leave a list of do's and don'ts for the kids in charge next year I'll be okay. And my friend from high school, up and comming comedian Kyle Smith (http://moderatelyamusing.com/) will be EMCing so that will at least be good. Hope he stays away from the Jewish jokes... well, not really.
Job search is positive. Working on a summer internship at Pretty Polly Productions in Waltham since they're not hiring until late August. Looks good but we'll see.
Choruss is something I just found out about. It's a company that would reach out to internet providers and get them to add a fee to everyones internet service a month ($8), would then collect this money and divide it up among labels and music publishers and stuff as compensation because they don't get paid when people pirate music on the internet. I have yet to hear of a good way to divide up the pool of money btw. Secondly, not everyone illegally downloads music, somepeople refuse to buy only digital mp3s because of the horrible sound quality and these people would be unfairly charged. The argument that was there have always been solutions like this that collect money for people in the music business that are getting screwed, but that just prompts the creation of even newer, more advanced ways to screw the industry. Is the music industry hurting so bad that it has come to this or are they really just that greedy. This program is the brain child of Jim Griffin who, as I mentioned above, was a speaker at the conference and also spoke to the interns at WMG (warner music group.) No lie, this man is an amazing and passionant speaker. But everytime he'd say something I didn't agree with, he'd go on tangents and off onto telling us really interesting or funny stories so I would get distracted and loose at the arguing points I had in my head somewhere. I'm convinced he did this on purpose. Talked at length about the "feminization" of the industry and how we need to become service based and not product based. We must care and remember things about our customers, share with them and let them know when they can get new music and get it to them fast and cheap. Choruss would make downloading singles easier, so why even bother to make albums? Why not just release a new single every couple of months instead of an album with 8 songs of crappy filler? And cover art? forget about it. I don't know too much about Choruss because they've done a good job keeping the facts away from the media, but from what I've heard I'm pretty sure I don't like it.
All for now, will try write more often. PS Will be moving up to Boston by June or so. Anyone know of cheap housing in the Brighton/ Allston area?
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