SXSW Wrap: The Music, Part 1

Cover of Tripper

SXSW music is the best music festival out there, but it’s especially great if you want to catch new bands – either ones who’ve been on your radar or completely new sweetness. Sure, the big names play there too (Metallica & PJ Harvey to name a couple who reared their heads this last week in Austin, TX) but to us, it’s about finding new music, the next White Denim for you to completely flip your lid over.

That’s what drags me into the hot-boxes and sweaty corners of Austin in mid-March every year – that thirst for the true live music experience.

Two Sheds:

OK, I had to start with this one because it hurts the most. I’ve been rocking their debut EP since the kind folks at the Bay Bridged spun their feature podcast last year. Caitlin Gutenberger is simply an amazing songwriter and the songs are exquistely executed – a less pretentious Feist with subtle arrangements would sum them up.

But of course I had to go and miss BOTH of their SXSW performances – d’oh! – but my compadres who were there were suitably blown away. It still stings as I’ll likely never see them perform given I’m rarely in San Francisco. But still – Two Sheds. Ace.

Efterklang

I’d be turned on by SF’s own Gabe Leis about 18 months ago – Efterklang’s “Tripper” is both operatic, experimental and will soothe you like Calpol at the same time. The live show was unexpectedly upbeat but so, so spiky. Not to mention their super-Danish accents and accompanying mustaches. Good show!

Slareffenland

As I’d tweeted at the time, Copenhagen must be the new Belfast. A community centre about 10 blocks north of 6 street was the scene for HomeTapes’ “Friend Island” event – a truly intimate affair and was my first taste of Efterklang tour-mates Slareffenland.

Sweeping songs, brass, an amazing drummer and yes, more moustaches, were Slareffenland. Highlight of the festival by a mile – although what was with that gigantic beer keg/truck with no beer? Clearly, the Danish are big teases too…

More to come tomorrow!

Talent is a constant.

One of the comments I hear the most from musicians and music industry folk alike regarding music today is “it’s great that there’s so much music around today, but most of it is absolutely crap.” People cite the (completely false and misleading assertion) that because most folks can use ProTools in their bedrooms etc. that there is a saturation of amateurish and horrible music in circulation.

I couldn’t disagree more.

In fact, I’m of the belief that talent is a constant. That genius occurs every single day in music, that songwriters lie in wait to be discovered if you know where to look. Quite contrary to the above assertion, music that will change your life goes unnoticed every single day and songwriters of exceptional talent languish in absolute obscurity for their entire lives.

That said, in today’s world, all of the tools are available for every fan to become a tastemaker and highlight these amazing artists.

My question is this: if you really care about music, about artists and musicians, what are you doing to shed some light on these unsung songsmiths?

“It’s about me providing value to you, and if I can’t, then I should get the hell out of the way.”

I hate re-posting stuff that’s already on the web – there’s enough noise out there.

But some notes on Ian Roger’s recent talk at MusicTech Seattle say everything I want to say about Penny Distribution and our goals – and indeed, the goals of any music company in the 21st Century:

“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.”

Amen.

If you don’t already, I’d recommend keeping up with Ian at his blog Fistfulayen.com and one of the most exciting new media companies of late, TopSpin Media

Read more at TechFlash, Thanks to Bruce @ Hypebot for the original post…

Update: Dave Allen, over at the awesome Pamplemoose, has some great insight into Ian’s keynote too…

Update II: Looks like the big boys are taking notice of the switch too…EMI are focusing on Fan/Artist relationships now as well.

Reward the brave, the new, the interesting…

Image by Pablo Moran Jr. via FlickrThe last few months have seen some really inspired ideas from bands – bands recognizing that the best way to engage with audiences is to do what you do best as an artist i.e. be creative. And we’re not just talking about NIN and Radiohead here –

How about Escape Act‘s incremental release of their new album via various prominent Irish music blogs? Or Deerhoof releasing their first song ON SHEET MUSIC and asking their fans to perform it. Hell, check out the entire roster of CashMusic.org for some amazing new ways of making music mean more to fans.

White Denim’s offer of a $29.99 subscription where you’re peppered with content all year? Check.

Now comes another corker from San Francisco’s Plot Against Rachel. They’re asking their fans and friends, wherever they are in the world, to record a vocal track on their bedroom software to be appended to the final song of their forthcoming full-length. Just go to the site below, download the guide and rough mix, and go wild. Send them the MP3 and you’re in.

Help Plot Against Rachel

Sure, you might say that the last thing you want to do is break out the kazoo and give a song with a 5/4 middle eight a go, and then publish your squeaks for the world to see.

But what do all of these ideas have in common?

If you’re the band, you’re creating a story. If you’re already a fan, if you’re already convinced that this band is someone to keep an eye on, it deepens commitment, band-to-fan interaction and most importantly, draws and keeps attention.

And even if you’re not a fan of the music, you can’t fault acts like these for using the one thing any fan of music wants out of their bands – creativity.

In The City/Unconvention Day 1

Image via Wikipedia

I eventually made it to Manchester @ 6pm, just in time for the NIMIC showcase.

Ross & the Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission are, I believe, a model industry body – publicly funded, NIMIC support NI’s music industry and scene with business showcases and live events aiming to educated dullards like myself in the workings of the industry. As well as that, they put on showcase events like last night to introduce the wider world to the awesomeness of Northern Ireland music. Never a bad thing.

Most importantly, they’re very approachable and great sources of info for the enterprising music biz.

Anywho, Panama Kings truly brought the rock and proved beyond doubt how vital Belfast is these days. But it was Cashier #9 who truly shone on this night – their footstomping bluesy grunt, tastefully embellished with beats and loops, really brought the house down.

We headed up to the site of Unconvention, the beautiful Sacred Trinity Church in Salford. It was truly a pleasure to walk into the main area of the church, replete with altar and baptismal font, and see Cynic Guru rocking out for the crowd. This place, and event, promises to be unique in every way. Artwork from Fat Northerner & Humble Soul records adorned the walls – check out some photos of the bands via Penny’s flickr (on the right of this post)

We hit up the legendary Night&Day club next for The Spinto Band’s brand of on-stage lunacy, replete with Kazoos. I loved the area and the venue, and it’s right next door to Manchester’s premier indie record store, Piccadilly. It was at this point that someone suggested Goldschlager. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Out the door we bumped into Manchester native and fellow tub-thumper Graham (he of Groovy Revolution) who took us to Mojo, which was serving up amazing Vodka mixers and great tunes. In fact, they’ll play anything that you ask them, as long as it’s not shit. A bar owned by music-snobs = result. 4am and much dancing later, it was time for a well earned sleep.

More of today’s fun and games (and some post about the Music panels from Today’s convention) later…

Blogging from In The City & Unconvention

Image via Wikipedia

I’m on my way to In The City, one of the UK’s largest music conferences today. I’ll be blogging all of the panels I attend and give some thoughts on the live music that’s happening in Manchester over the next 3 nights – the format will be much the same as my South By Southwest Recaps.

I’ll also be attending Unconvention – Here’s what their website says about the event, which is running concurrently with ITC:

“Un-convention has been inspired by the current underground music scene in the United Kingdom. Be it
Manchester, Grimbsy, Fife, or Newcastle, there is an unsung, industrious group of promoters, musicians
and record labels all beavering away to bring new and exciting music to an open-minded listening public
desperate for more than the mainstream has to offer.

The people involved in this grassroots level of the industry are hard-working and passionate, invariably
working with limited resources and having to supplement any income they manage to generate with
other jobs. There are so many people in the UK operating at this level that it would be unfair to name
some and not others. You know who they are. If you don’t, you can find out. Just look out for local
events taking place in your town, often in unusual places, and curated in a more imaginative way than
the usual run-of-the-mill gigs and tours. Go and see for yourself. Support people who are putting the
effort in to do something different, something new.

There is a very healthy community aspect to the whole DIY and underground music scene, and
a noticeable tendency for people to help each other out rather than see each other as competition.
In response to this, we feel that this community needs a voice and a platform to share skills, be inspired
by and learn from others’ successes, and get to know people working in the same field for the same
reasons. It truly is all about the music.”

Is there anything you’d like to hear about at this year’s ITC or Unconvention? Looking forward to your feedback!

Gin, Television & The Social Surplus

Image via Wikipedia

Last year’s SF Music Tech Summit raised an interesting concept for me – Blogs, Social Media, Wikipedia etc. are nothing more than “The Tyranny of the Bored”.  The premise being that the new gatekeepers of music and media are those who sit around all day and do nothing but post blogs, review records and generally interact with the web.

The concept never really sat well with me – sure, it seems like just a lot of people with too much time on their hands, but IS it?  Is that what things like Wikipedia are primarily made up of?  Losers without a life?  Somehow, it didn’t add up.

Then I read this article, and the penny dropped.  The basic thesis here is that thoughout any technological or industrial upheaveal, there’s a period of brain-freeze in society at large – the changes are too vast to contemplate, too new to fully grasp, so we mask it.  During the industrial revolution, we used gin.  During the latter half of the 20th Century, it was TV (namely, the sitcom).  “Desperate Housewives essentially functions as a kind of cognitive heat sink, dissipating thinking that might otherwise have built up and caused society to overheat.”  Wild, I know.

But once we emerge from this binge, enormous technological leaps are ready to be made.

What struck me most is about how this relates to the emerging music economy:  “The way you explore complex ecosystems is you just try lots and lots and lots of things, and you hope that everybody who fails fails informatively so that you can at least find a skull on a pikestaff near where you’re going. That’s the phase we’re in now.”

And this was exactly my approach to the presentation I gave at Barcamp, it was exactly the approach Andrew Dubber thought was the right one (he called it “Ready-Fire-Aim”) and it’s exactly what Penny Distribution is shooting for.  With the goal of carving out 1/100th of the cognitive surplus that’s suddenly waking up from it’s stupor.

To me, the best thing you can do (if you’ve any interest at all) is read a lot, think a lot and then try something in the music industry ESPECIALLY if it’s technology related.  Look at the ingredients that will make up the New Music Economy, then fire up the stove and start cooking – a sprinkle of licensing, a dash of subscription, maybe a slice of Co-Marketing.  Someone’s going to make one HELL of a stew.

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• Here Comes Everybody

Unclaimed Cash for Artists – Join “Project Unfound Artist”

Image via Wikipedia

In this new music world of shattered revenue streams, it’s become all the more important for artists to be aware of where their money can come from. Licensing revenue and merchandising are two of the oft-quoted income streams that are now central to any artist’s attempt to sustain themselves.

But another important source of revenue is every artist’s right to be paid when their recordings are streamed on internet radio, satellite radio or cable or satellite television music services. The collection of these monies on artist’s behalf falls to an organization called SoundExchange in the U.S. (or it’s sister organization PPL when the performance occurs in the UK).

It’s safe to say, however, that many more people have signed up for iTunes than are aware of or registered with SoundExchange. According to this Wired article there are 7,700 artists who are due royalties but, as they’re unregistered with SoundExchange, they can’t be paid. If the money remains unclaimed after 3 years it go back into SoundExchange’s coffers. This may be a large part of the reason why there isn’t much of a push to find them in the first place.

To tackle the problem, entertaimnet lawyer Fred Willhelms and P2Pnet are moving to allow crowdsourcing to attempt to find the artists on the Unregistered Artist List

“Start tracking them down and letting them know they have money coming to them…

The next time you end up on hold, call up the list, Google a name, or search Facebook and MySpace.

“Send a note, or if you don’t feel like getting personally involved in the process, send the contact information to JSimson@soundexchange.com,” says Wilhelms.

“Get an artist paid.”

Of course, I’d advise that if you’re an artist, you make sure you’re registered with SoundExchange yourself first and foremost. Even if you’re not a US resident, you never know how your music is being used. And as services like YouTube become legit and start paying royalties, it’ll be SoundExchange who’ll make sure you’re compensated when someone uses your work.

It may not be a lot of money to start, but it’s a trickle that contributes to the stream.