The notes below are from the meeting held on November 16th and was attended by approximately 40 individuals from all aspects of NI’s music industry. Please note that these are points made by attendees only and were discussed on the night. As soon as I have a copy of the audio from the night, I’ll post that too.

Ongoing discussions on NIMIC, what happened and what’s next are at Fastfude, as well as on this blog. If there’re any other news items/input/reports on NIMIC, ideas for next steps etc are welcome in the comments.

Thanks go to Jen at Bruised Fruit for compiling these:

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Minutes from “NIMIC – What’s Next” Meeting

Monday 16th November 2009

Prepared by Jennie McCullough, Bruised Fruit

What follows are some of the main points that were made by participants at the meeting held in The Limelight, Belfast to discuss how the music industry in NI can best move forward.

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It was generally accepted that NIMIC as we know it is closed. So the questions were asked: What happens next? What should happen? Is there a need for a similar body to take it’s place?

75% of people there thought that something like NIMIC is needed.

It was suggested that any future body should have sub-strands to represent different sectors.

The industry can be broken down into those that export outside NI and those that provide an indigenous service within NI.

The needs of different sectors were explored. It became clear that there are different needs for each sector, and suggested that maybe there is scope to set up two different bodies to serve each sector.

The need for a central focal point was raised, a first point of contact where information and contacts can be shared.

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It was suggested that a lobbying body could be set up to look at issues such as the levels of local music being played on radio.

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A membership led organisation representing all sectors across all of NI could be very powerful. It was suggested that certain criteria could be put in place in order to gain membership.

Examples of MMF and AIM were given, and suggested that NI branches of these types of organisations could be useful.

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It was noted that in terms of the wider music industry in the rest of the UK and the world, NI is still very under-developed and artists can have unrealistic expectations about the levels of support they need.

It was suggested that as well as supporting each other with internal growth we should be looking outside NI to other countries for advice and expertise so that the industry here can advance.

It was agreed that the NI industry will benefit from talking and working together and supporting each other at things like networking events.

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It was mentioned that there is currently a lot of support for the grass roots industry through organisations like Oh Yeah, The Nerve Centre, schools and colleges. But the problem arises once people get past that level.

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It was suggested that if a body was to be set up in the future, it would be very beneficial if they could take advice from the QUB report commissioned so that time and money haven’t been wasted. The report could be a useful starting point for a new body.

Furthermore it was stated that the NIMIC website which was funded through the Arts Council could also be a useful resource for any future body.

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The idea of a Performing Rights Society specifically for NI was suggested which could provide an income stream for artists.

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The question was asked: Should all sectors be represented under one body?

It was suggested that yes they should, as one larger body will then have more power and will be a lot easier to apply for funding as an industry if we have a collective voice.

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It was suggested that there is a need for a strong leader or figurehead for the industry.

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As a final note the sharing of ideas was encouraged, and people were keen to talk more and continue discussing how to move things forward.

I’ve been thinking about the negative effects of the long tail -a recent statistic showed that 4 of the top singles and 3 of the top albums in the UK are associated with X-Factor – a new bench mark of mediocrity.

I wonder what would music look like if “barely mainstream” acts such as Otis Redding or Jimi Hendrix hadn’t had the chance to have a “hit” – hadn’t had the chance to be exposed to a large,mainstream audience who could then adopt the music and advance it? Never mind the other acts of the same ilk who benefitted from a pioneer of the genre (e.g. Pearl Jam’s success after Nirvana’s mainstream acceptance)

It would seem that X-Factor gives us a partial answer – the mainstream would’ve embraced older (read safer) music and embraced the performers of same as role models.

I’m not saying that there isn’t incredible, ground breaking music happening today – there most certainly is. What I’m asking is: does the current climate allow a fringe band to ignite an entire movement of original music to the scale where it has as significant societal impact? Or is the tail now simply too long and too fragmented?

Update Keith Jopling over at Juggernaut Brew has some interesting thoughts that relate to this issue – most appropriately, where and how can bands within a niche connect with those looking for “something different”.

The only thing that’s seems certain after Monday’s open meeting to discuss the demise of NIMIC, the Northern Ireland Music Industry sector lead body, is that such a body no longer exists.

BBC Radio had a few interviews with folks from the meeting, which you can hear over on the 17/11/09 edition of BBC’s Evening Extra (interviews start at 1hr 12mins in). The interviewer summed it up nicely: “People seemed to be struggling to come up with ideas.”

Should a similar body be formed? For what purpose? Is it even necessary? Or are the various strands of any music industry simply better served by their own representative bodies (MMF, NIRSA etc.)?

My personal disappointment with the passing of NIMIC mainly stems from the (perhaps naïve) view that the presence of a unified voice for musicians & industry service providers was better than a fragmented group of various interests – and not only for the benefits of lobbying local government, but as a representative of co-operation and willingness to collaborate to the wider world.

Work with Un-Convention, the NI Music Meetup (now Open Music Media) and other collaborative, prospective ventures only further deepened that belief.

I’d have to say that recent experience (not just the collapse of NIMIC) has changed that view to a large degree – indeed, the overall consensus is that a one-size-fits-all organization is doomed to fail, as NIMIC did. Indeed, according to what I can see as the currently prevalent idea, even the naming of a music industry body is premature. A music industry, in and of itself; either doesn’t, or to some people’s minds, shouldn’t exist at all here. I’m prepared to reluctantly accept those concepts.

So what’s next? Probably what faces most music industries in most cities – a wide range of organizations with various goals and an arrested knowledge of each others existence; advice giving and network sharing on a smaller scale between members of those organizations and occasional inter-organizational co-operation – lacking in a central point of contact for representation outside of that particular market or support for ideas and endeavor from within. What benefits or negative effects arise from this approach I’ll leave for others, and time itself, to extrapolate upon.

What do you think of the need, or lack thereof, for a central representative body for a music industry? What happens in your city by way of collaboration at an industry wide level and do you think you’d benefit from a single voice such as the one NIMIC has attempted to represent? An outside perspective is most appreciated here!

I was listening to a radio show recently that covered Evangelical Christianity’s attempts to convert “sinners” into believers – and the long standing tradition of using the bait-and-switch to bring non-believers into the fold. (I’m in no way religious, so bear with me on this…)

As an example, some churches would invite students to what looks like a regular Spring Break party “with free food and drinks!” without telling them that the party was organized by a local church, then they would not-so-subtly drop in messages about Jesus and the church throughout the event.

But one pastor, Jim Henderson, has eschewed these practices completely in favor of encouraging evangelicals to connect with people. He’s realized that people don’t want to be tricked, sold to or deceived – but that they want to be connected with, listened to and understood.

He broke down his method into 3 steps –

1: Don’t concern yourself with converts or sales.
2: Notice people. Sit and watch how people are interacting.
3: When you do engage with people, actually listen to them and respond AFTER you’ve listened.

These are some of the most basic tenents of social media (hell, ANY social interaction) – this is how social media thrives and how relationships develop in the online AND offline space. When you like someone – i.e. when you connect with them and their message INDEPENDENTLY of outside forces or trickery, the relationship changes.

Essentially, as a label or artist, you’re evangelising too. Jesus is your music . You can take the ever-less-effective route of the bait-and-switch – lure people in with the single, switch it up with the filler, focus on the numbers (how many people can I PUSH my CD on tonight?) and get concurrently pushy so you can meet your short-term sales goals.

Or you can realize that it’s not just about getting the CD or the t-shirt sold – that the smart move is developing long term relationships. That it’s about connecting with people, recognizing what they love and value and providing that in some way.

And yes, you need to have FAITH that people will connect with you and your music enough to convert.

NI Music Meetup = Open Music Media Belfast – Friday, November 4th 2009 – The Limelight, 6-9pm.

You may have seen a few posts during the year about NIMIM – the Northern Ireland Music Industry Meetup. What started as a casual meetup for musicians, labels, promoters eventually evolved into UnConvention Belfast and a bunch of other get-togethers in 2009 covering a variety of subjects.

As Rich Dale explains:

“Open Music Media Belfast is the new name for the NI Music Industry Meetups. Why? A couple of reasons. Firstly we’re keen to give our participants access a wider network – Open Music Media was founded in London and there will be ‘OMM’ events happening worldwide. Secondly we like the focus, ambition and intent of Open Music Media.

It’s where music is going. The time for lamenting the death of the old regime is over, and OMM is forum for ideas and a meeting of minds that will help shape the future of the industry. Whilst it’ll ask the big questions that affect us all, it’ll also focus in on the new strategies that will help our music thrive and our music businesses prosper.

Yes, we’re all in business, and OMM Belfast will be the friendly, focused and inspiring place where we’re all pulling in the same direction.

The next OMM Belfast takes place at the Limelight on Friday December 4th, from 6-9pm.

We’ll be looking at the mix of music, media and social networks, with perspectives from BalconyTV.com founder Stephen O’Regan and Gawain Morrison, founder of Filmtrip, musician, promoter and pioneer of alternate uses of music in media.”

For those of you on Facebook, the event is here

For more on Open Music Media check out www.openmusicmedia.wordpress.com or follow www.twitter.com/openmusicmedia

There’s quite an interesting discussion started over on MusicThinkTank regarding MySpace. Specifically, Andrew Dubber’s suggesting a mass exodus from the service. It’s a great read, as are the comments.

Here’re my thoughts on that idea. First off, MySpace is a bit like Celine Dion. It’s really cool to hate her, and definitely NOT cool to like her – Tim Westergren (honcho of online music service Pandora) tells a great story about Pandora & Celine Dion in a recent article for the NYT. The bottom line of which is maybe it’s NOT cool to like Celine but that shouldn’t make you hate or ignore her, if it’s possible that her music will serve it’s purpose.

It might also be a mistake to abandon MySpace if you’ve NO IDEA who or how many people actually ONLY KNOW YOUR MUSIC THROUGH MYSPACE. You could be cutting off hundreds of paying customers because you hate Celine Dion, so to speak. Not good and certainly worth considering before you pull the plug.

Much of the MTT post rings true, that MySpace is completely unfit for purpose, that it’s drastically underutilizing the resources it has.

But at the same time, and a similar point is made by Rich Dale in the comments, “to myspace” someone is an understandable action, just as understandable as “to google” something.

And it’s that simplicity that makes me think abandoning MySpace would be a terrible idea. In fact, it’d contrivene one of Andrew’s “20 Things You Must Know About Music Online” – Rule 9 “Don’t make me search for something, show me”. The lack of a barrier to entry that MySpace has created is it’s primary asset. And quite frankly, I’m happy if that’s all it’s used for.

If you’ve “quit myspace” recently, why? What combination of tools work best for you to build your fanbase and is MySpace part of that?

Update: A fantastic middle ground has also been presented in the comments! Replace your MySpace player with any widget from another music service (including Bandcamp). Hurrah for compromise! – http://su.pr/6jc2y6

So I just got my second email in less than a year from Music Licensing service Pump Audio, explaining that the fees (or in this case, percentage of master recording licensing) is increasing. Hilariously, one of the reasons they give for the increase is “the need to support 400+ Getty Images Sales & Support Staff”.

Let’s take a jump back in time -In 2006, Pump Audio were an innovative service who worked with artists of all stripes, taking your music and finding placements for the music in film, tv, advertising and digital media. They’d take 50% of any deal done (of the master side) and 50% of the publishers share of publishing royalties. Not a great deal, but not terrible, either. And as other players began to emerge in the space (Rumblefish, MuSync), this was pretty much the standard.

But in 2008, Getty Images bought Pump Audio. And that’s when the emails started coming in.

The “percentage of sales” model was, and still is, a popular model for these kinds of services. Indeed, distribution (both physical and digital), rely on it. But the real question is not “what percentage are you taking” but “what are you providing for that percentage?”

Where is the value-add that the company gives you and is it WORTH that percentage? When they tell you about their value add (e.g. marketing services, pitching to music supes or in Pump’s case “improvements in marketing technology” (huh?)), where is their track record for music like yours? And more importantly, for all the hoops you’ll be jumping through to sign up, will you simply get lost in the massive soup of music that exists on the services servers?

Reminds me of a quote by Ian Rogers:

“Any of us, myself included, that are not either the artist or the fan, are just potentially in the way. So it’s on us to provide value. To provide real value. And that’s fine with me. I’m very happy to say, OK, my company has to provide real value. My company is not about lock-in. It’s not about me owning your masters. It’s about me providing value to you, and if I can’t, well, then I should get the hell out of the way. So I really encourage you, when thinking about the music business, to think about marginal profitability for artists first and foremost, and to think about the companies that enable that, and to forget about the ones that don’t.”

So: would you, or have you, signed up and worked with companies like Pump Audio? What’s your experience? What could make them better for you, as an artist or label?

So, I’ve had one month with Spotify’s iPhone app, and I’m cancelling my Premium subscription today. Below are some of the reasons why.

- Doesn’t run in background. When streaming music or playing the songs which you’ve previously cached (which is admittedly a cool feature), Spotify effectively disables your phone. You can’t do anything else while the music is playing and this is HUGE, given the myriad of tasks you can accomplish on an iPhone. You CAN, however, listen to your music on your iPhone from your iPod. Hmm, anything to do with WHY Apple approved the app in the first place?

– the caching is a very slow, even over wifi – this maybe more to do with how I interact with music (see below) but it’s just not going to be worth it for me to either a) remember to cache that Kanye West remix playlist the night before or b) wait 10 minutes while the playlist caches over my wifi network. Sue me for being demanding, but it’s just not good enough for how I work and consume music.

And that’s the major killer point here – the appeal of Spotify FREE is the instantaneousness of it. Think of a record, and it’s right there. But I don’t need to pay £9.99/month for that.

– Music recommendations are not intergrated or in any way useful. Partner with LastFM already, coz I’ve had it darting between the two to sample my new recommendations. This is a minor quibble, but could be a deal breaker in getting me back into the Premium fold.

All of the above, I’ve discovered, is related individually to how I prefer to consume and discover music, which is inherently different for each person (cool, huh?). Me? I want access to the music I love on a whim, and without having to pre-plan what music I’ll take with me on a trip. If I want to hear Phoenix all of a sudden on a run, I want it to be there on my iPod ready to go. And I damn sure want to check my emails while I’m on the bus listening to Common.

I just re-upped with eMusic today. It’s the best solution for me.

The pre-planning necessary with the Spotify app at the moment is too reminiscent of having a 12-disc CD holder to take with you on a plane, and invariably you’d be flying without a record that you REALLY want to listen to. Ah, the bad old days.

Are you using Spotify on iPhone? How’s it working for you?

If there’s one thing anyone tackling any project in the music industry knows, it’s vital to experiment. But let’s be clear here: an experiment is testing causal relationships among variables or testing a hypothesis. How can you test a hypothesis if you don’t have accurate instruments with which to test it?

The advertising industry has already recognized “how poor metrics are undermining digital marketing“, and the same is absolutely true for music marketing.

I mentioned BandMetrics in my last post, and I’m also a fan of Trendrr. Google Alerts is a clumsy but useful tool – and there are many off-shoots or versions of Google Alerts (such as Addictomatic) that can be used to track buzz, but they all feel like blunt instruments.

Here’s my question: WHERE are the great innovators in music metrics? What metrics or services are YOU using to find out where, when and how often fans are listening to your music?

Update: Just heard about a very interesting metrics tracking site called www.trendly.com – it more usefully interprets your Google Analytics data, presenting trends etc. Just dipping into it now, but looks very promising!

The launch of BandMetrics had me all excited – I really thought it was a game changer in the music industry and said as much.

So I suppose an explanation is in order. Basically, it’s about Clout. In essence, the web knows something, something deeply intricate about how people listen to our music, how people talk about it and as Seth Godin puts it, it’s not telling. At least, not yet.

Amazon’s “people who bought x also bought y” was the Penny Farthing bicycle of this stone age process of understanding how your fans interact with you. LastFM’s Music Manager or YouTube’s Insight is the pneumatic tire, just one part of an important whole. Google Analytics is great but is too technical for a quick read.

What we need is the automobile version of this process – a process simple enough and precise enough to quickly and easily interpret data and get where we need to go .

I’m not going to categorize BandMetrics in this light as it’s still in beta, but I feel it’s the first attempt to really tackle what is, to me, an essential problem with marketing music online.

Essentially, right now we’re using an ax when what we need is a scalpel.

And if you develop the scalpel, you’ll do one of two things:

1) You’ll create an incredibly valuable piece of software that could be potentially very lucrative.
2) You’ll increase exponentially the chances of artists becoming marginally profitable.