OK HERE WE GO

Francis Coppola on Movie Making

2009-05-08T11:27:00.002-04:00

I recently watched 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse about the making of Francis Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now'.

In the movie he says the following (in 1991). I thought it was a interesting viewpoint on the effects of easy access to high quality cameras, sound recording equipment, and distribution channels for the creations. The only thing that is scarce, is talent.

"To me the great hope is that now these little 8mm video records and stuff that are coming out, just some, people that normally wouldn't make movies are going to be making them and, you know, suddenly one day some fat girl in Ohio is going to be the next Mozart and make a beautiful film with her father's camera and for once the so called professionalism about movies will be destroyed forever, and it will really become an art form - that's my opinion."

Francis Coppola - Quote from 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalype', 1991

The Forgotten Man...and some notes

2009-04-29T11:48:00.002-04:00

Just finished reading the Forgotten Man. Lots of good stuff in this very detailed book, but one thing that stood out was the actions on Andrew Mellon.

In the mid 30s he created a the idea incubator, the Mellon Institute. Which made me think about today's idea incubators like Techstars and Start at Spark.

The effectiveness of the Mellon Institute at the time is what I'm most interested in. In 1936 companies gave $816,000 to create 69 fellowships. The Institute created a place for so much research to be done. This, in turn, resulted in hundreds of patents and increased innovation and productivity for the contributing companies.

The fellowships worked in a fashion where a company would come to the Institute with a problem, pay a fee for engineers and scientists to work on the problem, and then receive a solution.

This was revolutionary at the time because Mellon created a destination for companies with problems. No longer were companies working in a bubble - the problems were brought to the forefront.

At the time, this was powerful stuff. His philosophy on investing in new companies was simple and effective.

Are things the same today in these similar economic times? Are the aforementioned incubators providing a similar service? One thing is the same - efficiently placing capital with people who can solve problems and build businesses usually works out well for the founders and investors.

Some more info:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie50076a033

http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Man-History-Great-Depression/dp/0060936428/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240891733&sr=8-1

Relationships with Fans = ...

2009-03-30T00:01:00.002-04:00

I read this and had to post it up here because it's something I've been thinking a lot about lately. I've noticed it happening in other industries; not just in music. In this case we're talking about the lengthening of the connection between artist and fan and how this corresponds to A LOT of music being played.

From a Bob Lefsetz post talking about how things were and how they are today:

After a label sold a CD, it didn't care if the buyer played it. The label didn't care if the buyer threw the damn thing away. But in the future, it's going to matter exactly how many times someone plays your tracks. THAT'S how you're going to get paid! It's not about a good come-on, it's about ultimate delivery!

This is so true. As we move into a world where the connection between a listener and the band or artist becomes closer and more influential on the purchaser's part, it opens up opportunities to get creative with that relationship.

...looking forward to all of this.

Tell Me What I Need To Know

2008-10-19T11:52:00.004-04:00

I receive news letters from two bands. NIN and Metallica. Both are using the tools available to connect with fans on a bit more of a personal level....or as personal as email can get. :) I got newsletters from both bands this AM and I realized why I don't always read the Metallica ones and *always* read the NIN emails. Reason: the NIN letters are short and to-the-point.

NIN gives me, the fan, the important stuff and leaves out the details that I'll find on my own if I need to. Metallica takes the opposite approach - many details that I just don't need in my inbox.

Screenshots of both:

NINMetallica

Music Making Teams

2008-10-17T01:55:00.003-04:00

Good teams are part of any successful band or artist's career. The Beatles teamed up with George Martin, The Beastie Boys teamed up with Rick Rubin, Radiohead works closely with Nigel Godrich. The list goes on. Artists and bands who have close relationships with the engineers and producers of their work have an edge against those who don't.

One part of the team can't do it alone. The artist can't do what they do best without the producer and the producer can't do what he or she does best without the engineer. This is important stuff to keep in mind today when people tend have the music chairs approach to working relationships.

When a label is looking at up and coming artists and bands I think it is important for them to look at the team. We need to be thinking long term today. We need to be thinking about building artists' careers. The only way we're going to make that happen is if we invest in not only the artist's skills but also the team the artist has around them. That team is what is going to ultimately build an artist's career. These relationships aren't built overnight but when it comes together the results are careers I mentioned at the beginning of this.

History tells us that solid music making teams enjoy longevity and success.

Seven Weeks

2008-10-14T18:42:00.002-04:00

If you don't already know I embarked on a new direction and chapter in my life seven weeks ago. I started in the MBA program at Pepperdine University in California. I just finished my last final for the first session a couple hours ago and now I'm thinking about all that has happened, people I've met, conversations I've had and or course all that I've learned.

Looking back on it, the amount of content that we in the program have learned in these seven weeks is hard to believe. The greatest thing about it is the application. Thinking about all the topics covered within the context of music and the music industry is enlightening and inspiring. Coming from a creative background in the music business to an MBA program is like worlds colliding. But by mashing those two worlds up, a lot of new ideas, realizations, discoveries and thinking about my business occurs.

With what is happening in the world, it is indeed an interesting time to be in business school.

Here are some recent posts I thought were good. Fabrice Grinda on what to do now. Mark Cuban on investing in companies and creating vs. financial engineering. Lucas Gonze on audio formats and his comments / discussion on netlabels. And, Brad Feld's advice.

What *else* have I been up to?

ArtistDish is going to do a new podcast this week. I'll post here when it is available.
Spent a few days with my classmates in Calamigos
Went to see Beck and MGMT
Went to Digital Music Forum West

HDTV and Music

2008-08-18T23:22:00.003-04:00

It seems that the preferred quality of video content goes up while preferred audio quality stays the same or goes down.

HD video has a portal to distribute high quality, high bandwidth, content. Music content is at the mercy of internet bandwidth.

A fundamental difference is the context. Video has many different levels of experience. HDTV, standard TV, web based HD and standard TV served by the networks, YouTube, and mobile video (iTunes).

Music has one level. iTunes and Amazon are about as premium an experience as you can get when it comes to making a purchase. iTunes is as good as it gets when listening to a library of music. Music social networks like hypem and last.fm are good but the quality isn't better (audio or experience quality).

Can we create different tiers and formats to experience music beyond what we have now? Can we create a 'high definition' experience?

Compilation Records

2008-08-16T23:30:00.002-04:00

A few days ago I got a compilation record by Ed Banger Records. It struck me how cool compilation records were and how long its been since I've listened to one.

Compilations give fans an overall perspective of what a label is all about. They give insight into a label's culture. They provide a spring board for more specific purchases. They allow a fan to sample a label's wares. And most importantly, they are a great representation of what a label believes in.

Our industry needs stuff that can help fans make a connection between the artist and the supporting label.

Musicians and Their Friends

2008-08-12T23:57:00.004-04:00

The traditional way of marketing music or any product for that matter is to use the communication technology available to tell as many people as possible about the product. Turn on the TV or listen to the radio. Advertisers are randomly trying to tell everyone about their product.

What is the whole point of trying to contact as many possible customers? ....to reach the taste makers - the real fans. Marketers use radio and TV is to tell everyone in hopes that the taste makers are listening.

In many ways we've been treating the internet in the same way. This new communication tool is being used to try and tell everyone about a band. How many friends can we get on a MySpace page? How many people can we follow on Twitter? How can we get our music listed on every mp3 blog? If we do all that, someone who cares will listen right? Ummmmm.

The web isn't like TV and radio. Today an artist or band can find their real fans, the influencers, easily. How? The real fans will use the web to search out their favorite artists and bands. Those are your peeps. Get to know them. Treat them well because they are going to talk about you.

If you can amaze an audience with a performance and a song, then the puzzle of how you need to use the web to connect with your fans will all fall into place. It'll be obvious what needs to be done. The fans will tell you.

We, as the music industry, need to use the web to communicate with fans, not talk at them.

Artists Need a Home Base

2008-08-10T16:58:00.005-04:00

As entertainment producers we have all this freedom to create what we want and distribute those creations how we see fit.

There aren't any limits on what we can produce and distribute. Filters? They don't exist.

I will argue that there needs to be filters. Regardless if you enjoy what a filter like a record label or movie studio puts out, there is a level of quality that is evident in what they produce. That's the whole point of a label or studio! To serve up the best stuff!

These filters have been hit in the wallet by the change in digital distribution but it doesn't mean they aren't important anymore. We still need people who care about music to pick the best of the best, nurture it, help push it along and then show it to the world.

In the future are all bands going to connect with fans direcly on their own, without support? That sounds like a great idea but I'm not sure that it is possible. What I do think is that record labels can connect with fans directly. The filters can make these connections. So much of the work that a band takes on with the DIY style of connecting with fans could be transfered to a label or filter if the right relationship was established. That is what artists need; support! Once an artist or band reaches a certain level, they as individuals can't take on all the communication work that is needed. That's where great managers, and great labels come into the picture. A great manager can change an artist's life. A great label can do the same!

A label is a home. A place where an artist feels comraderie. A place where they feel they belong. A place they can run to.

Connecting with a fan directly is the future. The artist connecting one on one with a fan is part of it. The label needs to stand behind that communication and help that happen. Labels need to be behind the 'one on one' connection propping it up, supporting it, and pulling it all together.

Use Care in Connecting With an Audience

2008-08-08T18:31:00.005-04:00

There are many channels that an artist can use to broadcast themselves today. We all know this. And, we all know that it has become incredibly popular in recent years.

Personal branding, and DIY production/broadcasting methods seem to be mentioned everywhere today.

Ok, cool, but we all know the what. Lets look at the why. Why are audiences attracted to this?

I've decided that its all a matter of authenticity. When an artist broadcasts directly to an audience, he or she is making a gesture that they themselves are real and authentic. I think that is what audiences are increasingly becoming attracted to. Its what they've been missing.

You may think that this is obvious but I don't think it is to a lot of people and groups using social media tools. These tools must be used for the purpose of making an authentic connection. Not every recording artist should Twitter, or blog, or have a YouTube channel.

As an artist, take care in using this stuff. The 'use it all' approach won't resonate with your fans. Take the time to find out what is going to work for you and what you can be creative with.

What is the Point of Touring?

2008-08-05T19:18:00.002-04:00

Is it to increase your friend count, entertain, simply play music in front of people, connect with people, feel like a rock star? To you, the musician, what is the point of touring?

What *really* is the point of touring? Answer: To personally knock the audience out of their seats with your performance so they leave wanting more.

Here are a few things that will be helpful.

Surround yourself with a handful of people who believe in you who aren't parents and aren't in the band. Put yourself in a location that feels comfortable. Be surrounded by artists with similar goals and similar paths. (Great stuff comes from bands feeding of of each other. Movements start when bands feed off of each other.) And, make sure someone responsible is running your 'show'.

Play enough that you are making money doing it. There is one really good way of measuring how well you are doing as a band. If people are paying to come see you then you are connecting with an audience.

Make sure your manager or someone who cares is keeping track of some numbers for you. If you've been gigging for eight months and you are starting to see a rise in your monthly take at shows then good for you. If you see a spike at month two when you opened for Death Cab, but then the line dropped way back down, then you might think twice about putting so much time and energy into landing that opening spot when all it did was gave u a spike and bragging rights.

If you can get yourself on the road and build up to the break-even point and then on to putting money in your pocket, you are on your way. Today's world is different with people broadcasting themselves in every direction, but as a band or musician who wants to be a real pro it really isn't that different. Just play. Having a pro knock my head off with a performance never gets old or cheap.

So the next time you feel like you need to be on tour opening for some amazing, act ask yourself why. Do you need to be on this tour because you mesh with the band and you bring something to the table, or do you just want their fans that they worked hard to get to see you?

Omon Ra in Montreal

2008-08-04T00:32:00.002-04:00

This is for all the Montreal peeps and people who are going to be in Montreal on Thursday:)

Tessa of Fixture Records is a friend that Dan and I made through working on AjiSignal.

If you are in Montreal on Thursday go check out the Fixture Records release party for Omon Ra's The Halls of Medicine.

Details
Thursday, August 7th 9PM at Divian Orange (4234 Saint-Laurent)
Cover: $7 includes an advance copy of the record

More details are on Omon Ra's MySpace page.

ArtistDish Numero Two

2008-08-01T12:43:00.003-04:00

The ArtistDish podcast episode two is available.

If you are into digital music, technology and the like then you'll probably be entertained with what Bruce Houghton of Hypebot, Duncan Freeman of IndieMusicTech, and myself talk about. :)

In this episode we talk about price points for digital singles, and digital audio quality on the web.

The ArtistDish podcast is about digital music trends and tools.

The discussion topics in this podcast were suggested by Greg Piper, Adam Wexler and Kate Lawson. Special thanks to Amy Devon of Burning Couch for providing their song “Pulse ”. You can have your music featured on the ArtistDish; just send us an email for consideration. Stay tuned for the next show in about 3 weeks. You can also follow ArtistDish on Twitter. If you have any questions, show suggestions or comments, post them here.

Music from the ISP is Convenient Pt2

2008-07-28T12:15:00.003-04:00

Now, price comes into the convenience picture.

But why would a service like this hook up with the ISPs you ask? Well, the service will need to bill for their offering somehow and getting together with the people that provide the access in the first place seems like a good place to start At least no one else is servicing that area yet so it is an open opportunity to check out. Everyone who pays for access to the internet will have the option to have access to a music store and that is simply convenient. More people will be willing to give money to a central company than multiple companies.

I think that a big challege will be organizing the major record labels to cooperate with each other to create a store at the ISP. Hulu was created by the TV industry to service the TV industry and in a best case scenario the music industry would do the same. If the industry doesn't build it for themselves then someone else will.

After all, piracy is dead so why wouldn't the music industry themselves build a better, more convenient place to download music?

Update: A key is to do what the other stores are not. And, it is best if this comes from the industry itself.

Music from the ISP is Convenient Pt1

2008-07-27T14:10:00.007-04:00

The idea of a music service being bundled with a cable bill is something that I haven't been fond of in the past. I have always felt that a music service could be built on the web that would be pleasing to most. I've been looking around at the state of music services and it is apparent that there are a couple services that work and a ton of services who are experimenting with pricing models and delivery, trying to get it right.

I'm going lay out some observations and leave pricing out of the discussion for now.

iTunes and Amazon rule with convenience. If you want to get music, it will be hard to find a more convenient place to *find* and get music beyond these two stores. There are fringe stores like Bleep that have great stuff but not everything, and thus aren't convenient for everyone. Most people want to go to one place to find what they need.

Another very convenient way to get music is through p2p. Through p2p I can get any music I want quickly and easily. It is possibly the most convenient way of acquiring music digitally. But, there are some drawbacks. One is that quality fluctuates too much. It is hard to know what you are downloading. Inconsistent quality is a big blow to p2p's convenience rating. Another drawback is that p2p portals aren't stores. Typically, p2p portals aren't used for browsing. It isn't fun to browse around on a p2p service. It *is* fun to browse iTunes and Amazon.

So, we have two big convenient stores and we have the seemingly less convenient p2p portals. Now, one thing that the p2p portals have that the other big stores don't have is an instant representation of what is available digitally on the web.

For instance, there may be a mix tape or a bootleg or a leaked track that I can't find on any store but I can find on a p2p portal. This is big score for p2p's convenience factor.

All of this leads up to the point of music being served by an ISP service. If an incredible music store were bundled with monthly cable bills, that could be turned off and on like Netflix, it might be enough for all the frustrated people searching for music to use it. This store would have to reflect what is available digitally in real time like p2p networks do, and also provide the fun browsing environment like the big digital stores.

Convenience needs to be in the foreground, not price.

This is not a solution that will fix *everything*. There will never be 'one' music service that people use. I think this is all the more reason to make available a music service that is bundled with a cable bill.

More on the ArtistDish

2008-07-21T22:34:00.002-04:00

Would you like to be highlighted on ArtistDish in the intro and outro of the podcast (about 40 seconds total)?

Just email us a link to the song clip you would like us to use, and we'll give it a listen. If we decide to include it, we'll contact you.

patrickcwoodward at gmail

Freedom / Radiohead / Managers

2008-07-20T14:10:00.004-04:00

Radiohead's House of Cards project is the result of freedom. When a creative group like a band is out from under an entity that isn't fully focused on them, they are able to explore stuff that interests them and their fans.

Freedom to explore creative ideas that will mean something to a core audience is what its all about.

Because of the remix project of the song 'Nude' and now this video remix project of House of Cards, Radiohead apparently knows what the audience wants. That being interactive projects that require a little technical know how.

Radiohead is delivering on what the audience thinks is cool.

Are most labels focused enough to know what a particular artist fan group desires? I do know that a smart artist manager knows what is best.

What we should take away from these two song projects is that Radiohead has a pinpoint idea of what their audience likes and appreciates.

The ArtistDish

2008-07-16T10:48:00.009-04:00

If you are at all interested in digital music, I'm sure you've had many conversations about what is happening today.

Those conversations sometimes bring up interesting points and observations about the current state and future possibilities for digital music. But, the conversation doesn't really exist afterwards.

ArtistDish is podcast by a few guys that want to open the conversation up a little bit.

Take a listen and feel free to comment!

The ArtistDish is:

Bruce Houghton
Bruce heads booking agency Skyline Music and blogs daily about the music industry and tech @ Hypebot.com

Duncan Freeman
Duncan is an entrepreneur developing applications for the indie music industry.

and me.

More on that ad-sup discussion

2008-07-12T01:20:00.002-04:00

This bit of Lucas' response to Michael's comment over at SAI stuck out to me.

Michael said:
"If an ad supported music business wants to experiment they should pay for that, otherwise plenty of time for labels to wait until a viable business emerges. So really no pressure there to make a deal."

Lucas said:
"It means that the labels are just waiting for some internet music business to survive the gauntlet. They cash in here and there, losing value in tandem, and patiently working through round after round of dead internet music startups until one is hardy enough to last."

I'm trying to think of other industries that are this passive in their thinking. No seriously...

Some Good Discussion Going On

2008-07-12T01:01:00.002-04:00

Lucas Gonze sparked some good discussion about ad-supported music last month.

SAI reblogged it and got some more discussion going.

Its going on here, here, and here.

Lucas makes some very refreshing and matter-of-fact observations. If this developing part of the music business interests you, you should probably read this.

Long Tail Debate

2008-07-04T12:23:00.003-04:00

Anita Elberse did some research on the Long Tail theory and found some interesting trends. You can read her paper here.

She compared the Long Tail theory to some real world data she collected from some digital retailers. What she found makes a lot of sense.

Basically, most people have a very limited amount of time to search for products they aren't familiar with. In her research music and movie retailers were used as data sources. When it comes down to it there is a small amount of people that are going to dive into the Long Tail of any product type.

At the end of the paper Anita gives advice to producers and retailers.

This was my favorite piece of advice, to retailers.

1. If the goal is to cater to your heavy customers, broaden your assortment with more niche products.

My research shows that even when online assortments of videos and music are enormous, and thus even the most frequent customers could easily satisfy their appetites with products in the top decile, those customers are disproportionately active in the tail. They want a wide assortment, so offering one helps attract and retain them, whether they pay by the product or for a subscription (frequent customers typically opt for more-expensive subscription plans).

If you read the Long Tail, you'll want to read Chris Anderson's response to Anita's research.

The Future of Sound Engineering

2008-07-01T22:17:00.004-04:00

In the years leading up to today it has been necessary for someone who is skilled in using and manipulating sound recording tools, to be involved in the recording process of an artist or band. Since starting work at the Hit Factory recording studio in NYC in 2000 I've seen the *need* for this technological expertise decrease.

Recording technology has become so transparent and simple to use that almost any artist with ambition can learn a piece of software or hardware, and record themselves. Many times in a band situation, the responsibility falls on the tech savy member of the group. This is a very good thing because it makes the creative process fluid.

So, where does that leave the person who is skilled in using technology to record music? This issue is something I've thought about ever since getting into the engineer business professionally years ago. Many a conversation has centered around this issue. Here is my view on where things are heading.

The recording engineer has two responsibilities. One is to make sure that the technology needed for the creation process works. Her responsibility is to make the technology transparent so that creativity can just flow. Making the instruments sound good by using quality equipment, using interesting techniques, and capturing the essence of what is being played all fall into this side of being an engineer. The second responsibility is a much more personal thing which is acting as a sounding board to the artist or band. Providing perspective, suggestions, guiding the artist through the process, and acting as a producer all fall into this side of being a recording engineer. The best engineers are not known for their technical prowess but the vibe and energy they bring to a recording session.

The first responsibility, the technical one, is moving towards being totally transparent on its own without the help of an engineer type of person. Recording hardware and software is only going to get better, cheaper, and simpler.

The second responsibility, the subjective one, is in some ways becoming more and more important because there are simply more artists who need the perspective that a good engineer can provide. The sheer amount of music that is being made due to the power of cheap recording systems made for home use is overwhelming and all of that music can benefit from another perspective.

Artists and bands can always benefit from a 'second set of ears', and that will never change. Injecting a trusted outside perspective on the creative process will always make a project better or different in a positive way. The sonic expertise that recording engineers have can add that last bit of special something that puts a song over the top.

Today, the stage of the creation process where artists and bands can benefit from an engineer is the 'mixing' stage. This final stage is where a trusted perspective can help take a piece of music to another level.

The recording industry needs engineers that can provide this expertise to more artists and bands that ever before. There will always be a need for both responsibilities of an engineer but there will increasingly be a greater need for that outside perspective. Wouldn't it be great if all the musicians making music on a budget (and who isn't today) had access to the expertise of a top notch engineer?

But it Wasn't Intentional

2008-06-30T00:45:00.005-04:00

I've been reading Lawrence Lessig's book, Free Culture. Great, great book about the argument for copyright reform.

This passage examines how current copyright law is inefficient in the context of how content acts on the web.

When at least forty-three million citizens download content from the Internet, and when they use tools to combine that content in ways unauthorized by copyright holders, the first question we should be asking is not how best to involved the FBI. The first question should be whether this particular prohibition is really necessary in order to achieve the proper ends that copyright law serves. Is there another way to assure that artists get paid without transforming forty-three million Americans into felons? Does it make sense if there are other ways to assure the artists get paid without transforming America into a nation of felons?

Bring on the Incentives

2008-06-29T14:39:00.002-04:00

I was reading this in the NY Times this morning and it struck me how powerful incentives have been historically. It supplants in my mind how important incentives can be to get the ball rolling. Check out this excerpt:

During a bubble, investment is spurred by technological progress and new economic assumptions — in this case about the price of oil, climate change and the desire to curb carbon emissions. Government does its part by using subsidies and the tax code to encourage the new industry. Just as in the 19th century the federal government offered land grants to inspire a railroad boom, Congress today is pushing an alternative energy boom by mandating ethanol use and giving generous tax credits for solar and wind-based energy. The investment has already led to more efficient solar panels, wind turbines and storage batteries.