I’m trying to expand the content of this blog a bit and talk about different topics. You’ll see this in the upcoming weeks, but I wanted to get the ball rolling now by talking about an awesome conference coming up in NYC called BlogWorldExpo.

Now, normally this awesome conference takes place in Vegas. As I’ve never been to Vegas, this obviously means that I’ve had to lustfully watch the Twitter and blog chatter about all the awesome panels (and yes, the awesome “networking events”) too from the sidelines.

This year, however, they announced that the conference was coming to New York City. Three cheers for local conferences!

Unfortunately, due to work obligations, I’ll still be lustfully watching from the sidelines (though undoubtedly going to the events at night to catch up with people/do the networking thing).

Lucky for you, on top of some awesome panels planned around social media, content creation, legal issues surrounding all of this stuff, analytics, and other industry-type panels, there are a few music marketing panels planned!

If you’re around, I’d suggest checking any/all of them out. Even if they’re not directly related to what you’re doing right now, they’ll likely provide some good food-for-thought. If I’ve learned anything from attending conferences throughout the years it’s that you’ll never know when you need to use what you’ve learned, and you’ll also never stop being surprised by who you meet.

Without further ado, here are the music-related panels:

SXSW4Japan: A Case Study in Real Time, Iterative Development, Crisis Response, Crowd Sourcing and Social Good.

Why should you care? Because if you ever have wanted to support a charity, figure out how to motivate a group of people, understand how to organize people over long distances, or gather ideas from an audience, this case study is for you. I can think of a million ways a growing band could use these techniques to gain popularity and sell their music, but why don’t you attend and tell me what you think instead?

What Goes Into Growing a Music Blog

One would probably argue that I should attend this panel, but this blog is more of a marketing blog as opposed to a music review blog (OK, so it IS a marketing blog and ISN’T a music review blog – let’s make that clear). Nevertheless, I’ve learned that chatting with other bloggers is a great way to learn how to be a better blogger myself, so I’d suggest this panel for anyone that wants to learn about blogging.

College Music BlogWorld

Show of hands for who wants people to listen to their music? Oh, every one of you dear readers? That’s what I thought! This panel is all about how numerous acts have made it big by attracting attention from the college markets before the indies or the majors, and it’s a good lesson in how to start spreading your music far and wide. Go forth and… learn?

What if I can’t go?

Even if you can’t attend, the great people at Social Fresh (as well as numerous other blogs and Twitter folk) will be covering the content, so I suggest following along by using the Twitter hashtag #bweny (click on the link to see a Twitter search I set up for the hashtag) and paying attention to your favorite marketing and social media blogs for their takes on their talks or the sessions they attended.

Photo credit: Ritesh Patel

Coachella was high-tech this year. The wristbands had RFID chips in them to record attendees comings and goings, the iPhone app had the lineup and a GPS-based friend-finder (that if you were on Verizon, worked… AT&T… not so much). You could pick your bands on Coachooser and shoot them out to your social networks, and keep everything handy on your phone while you were there.

BUT – one big thing that Coachella was missing was mobile payments for food + merch. They had numerous ATM’s on-site, and I saw lines at them all day every day. Why couldn’t they set up a wireless network (NOT using AT&T’s service) and hook their vendors and merch people up with Squareor something similar? Not having to take cash out would have been awesome, and I know that I was much more hesitant to spend money on food & drinks knowing that I didn’t want to have to take a trip to the ATM at the end of the night.

Aside from DJ Shadow, has anyone else moved to using mobile payment platforms like Square for merch? Is it still “too high-tech”, or do people just assume that cash is the way to go?

We’ve all seen this happen before. You buy tickets to an event, and the artist gets sick (or the venue loses it’s license, or the tour manager quits, or the date is re-scheduled because Venus is in Saturn’s path and their stars aren’t aligned).

If this was 1990, you would call the ticketing company or stop by the venue and get a re-issued ticket.

If this was 1999, you’d likely get an email about the change with notes on how to claim your ticket for the rescheduled event.

In 2011, you might find out about the show from a Facebook status update from your friend who is going with you, an email, or a Tweet from the artist or venue.

Either way, you’re likely going to re-post to share with other people that are also going to the show, and the communication chain unfolds online.

The Point?

People have the expectation of to-the-minute communication in today’s world. If I’m going to a concert (in this case, a festival), it’s all well and good that I can choose which artists I want to keep an eye on months ahead of time…. but if I’m still wondering about set times 3 days before the event starts, I’m going to wonder why and want someone, somewhere, to say something!

Coachella is all over the social web – kudos to them! But, if you’re not actively participating and monitoring the conversations and key questions from people reaching out to you, you’re only halfway there.

Part of being present on the social web in this case is using it as Q&A tool (as one example). What are people talking about? What are they asking questions about? How can I help get them answered? It’s online customer service… nothing too fancy or groundbreaking!

Right now, I don’t so much care about H&M’s thing at Coachella… what I want to know is who I’m going to see play and when!

I also don’t care about (what’s likely a virus), clicking on some girl’s photo to help her win a trip or something or other. Coachella – use the moderation tools available to you and pay attention!

So perhaps this is a bit of a selfish plea for Coachella to either release the set times, or tell people why they’re taking so long.

But perhaps it’s also a lesson about making sure you have the resources and time to dedicate to both the posting and the responding to content online, especially if social media is a part of your marketing mix.

I’ve recently started to get more involved with a few music networking/tech groups around the NYC area – namely, NY Music Tech and Noteworking meetups.  This past Monday saw a NY Music Tech event take place at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, and I helped work the door for the event.

The duties were basic.  Look at the online RSVP list and cross people off, collecting their money as they entered.  The venue is large and held the group comfortably, but as the only bar that was open was in another room, a lot of people wanted to “leave” (to go to the bar) and come back in.

Enter, the stamp.

Now, I’m personally not a big fan of stamps.  I understand their value, but I don’t like them.  For some reason they still remind me of the large X’s I used to have to get on my hands when going to see bands before I was 21, and they’re darn hard to wash off (the stamps and the X’s).

It does seem that I’m in the minority on that front, though.  The group was manageable in size (about 40-50 people this month) and I’m darn good at remembering faces.  So, when people stepped to the front room to grab a drink before the presentations began, I said “no problem, see you soon!” and let them go.  What started as one or two people asking to be stamped on their way “out” quickly turned into almost every person that left to grab a drink checking that they could come back in and double-checking that no, I really didn’t have a stamp.

I was puzzled, but The Knitting Factory graciously provided a stamp for me to use (mainly to stop the questions from being asked about said stamp) and I started sarcastically stamping away, asking every person that asked for a stamp if they wanted one or just thought they needed one before they went to grab a drink.

The overwhelming majority insisted that they wanted to be stamped, and I quickly found a lot of enjoyment out of making large, dark “100″ marks on the top of everyone’s hands, whether they were planning on grabbing a drink from the bar or not.

It appears that people just really like to collect stamps!

On top of me still trying to wrap my mind around why (can anyone help enlighten me?) anyone would want a stamp, my mind quickly wandered to the marketing application of the stamps.  We know that people like them, and many people commented that they knew people who proudly wore theirs as badges of honor “I did this, I was there!” after a weekend at shows.

Why, if that is the case, do bands not make more customized stamps? Typically the venues provide the stamps and they’re usually pretty meaningless to the bands – they’re either a random shape or symbol, or the venue logo.

Why not instead provide your OWN stamp at the door, and allow people to show off YOUR logo after the show? Doesn’t that make more sense?

You could take it a step further and provide something that people could do after the event with their stamp (perhaps a photo submission contest of some sort, making sure that the stamp is visible in the photo) to keep the engagement going after the event.

The ideas are plentiful! The lesson? Don’t overlook a seemingly “normal” part of a concert-going experience. Instead, see if you can capitalize on that “normal” experience and turn “just something that happens” into working for you as something novel.

What say you on the stamp v. no stamp debate? Are you pro-stamp or anti-stamp? Why?

I’ve been following Hypebot’s 3-part series (so far) about DJ Shadow’s marketing plan for his current tour, Shadowsphere.  If you haven’t read it, it’s a great series.

Overall, the thing that sticks with me throughout the series is the attention to detail that Shadow’s Marketing Manager (Michael – and make that “Project, Marketing and Merchandise Manager“) has used to build out their strategy and tactics for managing the tour.  Instead of trying to find one solution for all aspects of the tour promotion, Michael’s using many different tools, each designed to do one thing very well.

For event-based marketing, Michael’s lined up the following arsenal:

• Facebook (yeah, more on this in a bit)
• iPhone app (with geo-targeted push notifications!)
• Square at merchandise tables
• Street team
• Buttons (yeah really, buttons!)
• Merchandise (with multiple price points)

Now, for the more long-term aspect of marketing DJ Shadow for this tour (and after), Michael and Shadow are all over the place – in a good way!

• djshadow.com
• DJ Shadow iPhone app (including a merchandise section within the app)
• SMS text campaign for a free download
• Email marketing (with signup at the merchandise table)
• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• iLike
• Reverbnation

Seriously, they’re everywhere! Wait, did you miss that? That’s the point!

Let me explain.  A lot of people (businesses included, not just musicians!) take the approach of only marketing themselves where they feel comfortable doing so.  This means that if they’ve not used Reverbnation or iLike before, they’re not going to look at it in terms of what marketing potential it holds.  Starting from where you feel comfortable is the opposite approach that you should be taking, as it’s really not about you. It’s about your customers/fans and where they are and where they want to connect with you.

Now, getting back to Facebook! I’d like to highlight this gem:

Bottom line: Facebook works because they figured out the ultimate formula for data portability.  The fact that I can post a geo-targeted update on Facebook, and that update will post to users within a specific geographic location, who can then share it with their entire network, is marketing gold.  When I update Shadow fans about a show, I only want to update the fans in the region of where that show is.  The beauty is, those people can then go and share it with ALL of their friends, wherever they may be, who in turn may click the link, and be redirected to the Shadow Facebook, or better yet, DJShadow.com.  This takes away the problem of mass-marketing a show for a specific region, but gives it the ability to go viral on a wider level than just the region targeted.  This also creates the ability for 1 show to begin an online buzz for the entire tour.

I’ve posted about my annoyance with people that do what Michael is referring to above – the lack of geo-targeting with event invites. I LOVE the fact that they’re taking this into account and putting the power in their fans hands to promote the event for them, without over-saturating them to the point of annoyance with invitations to events they can’t attend.

For the email marketing, the merch table with multiple price points and the street team – my lesson is this.  Don’t abandon the basics.

If you have a well-kept email list, use it! People are going to want to by souvenirs from the concert, so give them options! If you have people who want to marketing for you on the streets, use them to get the word out the “old fashioned” way. Don’t throw away everything you’ve done in the past for something that seems the shiny new object – you’ll just end up seeing scattered and cause your fans to be in a perpetual state of confusion over where they can find you.

Kudos to DJ Shadow and Michael for putting together a solid marketing plan for the tour!

Man, I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.  I think most people love and hate equal parts – the privacy concerns, the ever-changing user options, the user interface changes, the list goes on and on.

I wrote this just about a year ago and sadly, the problem has only gotten worse since then.

I’ll admit this upfront – this post is selfish.  I cannot count the number of times I’ve logged into Facebook and had an event invitation in my inbox for an event I couldn’t possibly attend.

You know what I mean. You log into Facebook and WHAMMO!, you have an invitation to an event that you’ll never attend because it’s 15 states away and a 2,000 mile drive. Or, even more outrageous, it’s across an ocean and a 5+ hour plane ride away.

It happens all the time, and unlike a year ago, there’s now a way to solve it without unfriending the offenders.

It’s a ridiculously simple process – hat tip to @mantywebdesigns for giving me the info.

Here’s how you do it:

First, go to your Account tab.  You’re looking for “privacy settings”, which is the 4th down in the list.

From there, go to the bottom of the screen and click where it says “block lists”.  I missed it the first few times around as I otherwise don’t have a reason to block people on Facebook, but bear with me!

It’s really easy from there on out – all you have to do is scroll down to “block event invites”, then add the worse offenders. They’ll still be your friends, but you won’t have to see their event invitations in your inbox anymore.

Problem? Solved!

In case you want to know more about Facebook, I encourage you to go and check out some other stellar posts I’ve found:

• 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
• How to change your Facebook Places privacy settings in 6 steps
• HOW TO: Set Up a Winning Facebook Fan Page

After living in NYC for well over a year, I finally ventured out to Governors Island to catch an outdoor concert.  In my usual “my weekend plans are to have no set plans” style, this was totally last minute and I found myself hopping on the quickest subway train from Herald Square to South Street Seaport I could find (it was the 2,3 – in case you were wondering).

The concert was a 2-stage multi-act shindig, and my group had high hopes for not only the opening acts, but the headliner, M.I.A. – one of my favorite acts.

Karri totally blogged about the concert and her post is worth a read, especially if you’re into Ali G turned South African hip hop (for the record, I totally am – and they’re called Die Antwoord). Aside from personal favorites Skream and Benga, these guys totally stole the show.

Really, who doesn’t love songs about ninjas?

Then comes M.I.A. – aka: the lady I’ve been waiting in the sticky “holy cow it’s still 85 degrees and it’s almost midnight!” heat to see. Since way before “almost midnight”.

To put it plainly? She blew.

Blew out my ears.

Sounded like she was going to blow out the speakers.

Blew me from my spot sort of close to the stage to back by the food vendors.

Blew me all the way out to the ferry, with hundreds of other fans.

Two. Songs. In.

Now, I’m going to go on record here and say that I don’t actually think that she was the problem. I think that it was the lack of a soundcheck that was the problem here.  Die Antwoord stopped mid-song to ask the sound guys to turn their monitors up, and they sounded crisp and clean. Even Skeam and Benga sounded clear, and their music is full of bass and sub bass. The bass is what makes dubstep, dubstep!

M.I.A. on the other hand… wow. She sounded like she was close to a half a beat behind, she had a wicked reverb on her mic, she kept getting feedback from the speakers, and the bass was so muddy that it all sounded like one big “boom” instead of music.

What in the heck happened to the soundcheck?!

Really, that’s all I want to know.  I know that I wasn’t the only disappointed fan judging by the hundreds that left with me on the ferry back to Manhattan less than 2 songs in. That’s for sure.  But I am inquisitive, and I really want to know how the sound can go from crisp and clean in one set, to so awful I pick up and leave while barely into the set in the next moment. Especially because she was the headliner!

Us fans, we may act impatient, but we’re really, honestly and truly, willing to wait for the crew to perform a soundcheck if it’s going to mean that we get to enjoy the music we paid (in this case $50 and up) to see.

Performance quality still matters people – and it often starts with the basics – like the soundcheck.

I was invited by Mack Collier to co-host #blogchat (on Twitter) last Monday night (the 8th) and was blown away by the quality of participants and discussions taking place during the chat.

Before I get into my thoughts, let’s take a step back. For those that don’t know what #blogchat is, it’s a weekly chat happening on Twitter (check out tweetchat.com for more information on how).  Essentially, you pull up a Twitter search for #blogchat at the appropriate time, and start Tweeting with the people already participating. The key is to use the hashtag (#blogchat) in every tweet so that the conversations can be seen by all. If you’re wondering how to find the “appropriate time” a simple Twitter search will tell you if you search for the hashtag.

The topic of the week was how musicians could use blogging and social media to help them achieve their goals – whether they be ticket sales, music sales, or just connecting with their fans.

The full chat transcript can be found here, and Mack’s review post can be found here. Happy clicking!

About an hour and a half into the chat, Curt Smith (co-founder of Tears for Fears) jumped into the fray and spent the next 30ish minutes answering questions.  Part of the value (as a fan) of following artists on Twitter is the perception of personal connection you feel with the artist, their work, and their lives. Take the following exchange as an example:

Some of the other valuable music-related nuggets Tweeted during the chat:

• Blogging and using other SM tools is a great way to build a passionate community
• Communications should be authentic – no PR/marketing people tweeting “as” the artist
• Don’t be afraid to have a personality
• Many artists don’t see themselves as brands – that mind shift is necessary
• Twitter can be a great “first step” tool to drive fans to other places (like a Facebook Fan Page or a website)
• Offering up special incentives/announcements via SM is a great way to make your community in SM feel special (Ed note: as well as start to get an idea of the effectiveness of these tools!)
• Artists and companies need to start viewing fans as long-term assets, not just short-term pockets stuffed with cash. The key? Building a relationship with them.
• If you’re going to use SM, always consider what the fans want to read/might find interesting. The focus isn’t you as a person, per se – it’s about your brand and your work. Don’t be afraid to let personality shine through, but avoid excessive inane chatter.
• Location-based software could be a no-no if you get big enough to worry about “crazy people”. Safety first!
• Most agree a blog should be the “home base” in your digital efforts
• Don’t forget the fan to fan connections – they’re key!
• Before you can ever start to think about selling anything – you need to build a community who wants to buy.

What advice would you add? Leave it in the comments!

This post was pushed to the back burner this month in the midst of the craziness that is my life.  Over the course of the month it became “that thing” that all writers (or bloggers, in this case) think about. That Post That Must Be Written, to be specific.

First off, I do want to send a huge public thanks to a friend and a very talented web developer, Caroline Keim.  I wouldn’t have been able to go to this event had she not invited me, as I’m really just not cool enough to be invited on my own (really, I’m not).

On to the main event…. the event!

This event was put on by Billboard Live, and the concert (Alicia Keys & Friends) was livestreamed on their site and later archived.  The event was mainly “& Friends”, as I believe that Miss Keys played three songs (at most) the entire night.

Alicia opened up the evening with a moving performance of Empire State of Mind – Part II. In a venue as rich in history as The Apollo and in her very own neighborhood, this song really took on extra meaning. Plus, I have a big sentimental side, so there’s that.

Thanks to NYPOST.COM, I figured out who the other artists (“and friends”) were. Billboard – in the future a list of the “& friends” would be handy!

Raheem DeVaughn, Hope, Elle Varner, Marsha Ambrosious, Jermaine Paul and Melanie Fiona all performed a few songs each, with Alicia popping on and off the stage throughout the performances to either perform duets with the acts, or perform her own songs as transitions between the guests.

Two acts really stood out – Melanie Fiona and Elle Varner.

Elle Varner was up first, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when she stepped on stage.  It took about 30 seconds for me to figure out that while Elle may be young, and perhaps new to performing on a stage like The Apollo’s, she is mega-talented.  She’s on Twitter and was tweeting about the event before and after, and I went to her YouTube page to see what she had up there when I read through her stream.  Take a look at what I found below:

I wish she used YouTube more, but she does use MySpace, and keeps a bit info there.

Melody Fiona, the other standout of the night, on top of having a KILLER dress (seriously, I want to own that dress), also brought plenty of sass with a healthy serving of “Holy cow, that girl has PIPES” to the stage.

She was just nominated for a Grammy, and also performed on Jimmy Kimmel live shortly after her show at The Apollo.

At the risk of overwhelming this post with videos, I’ll leave my favorite song off of the video list – Ay Yo.  Click the link to go listen to her performance on Carson Daly’s Last Call.

In true Alicia fashion, she closed out the night with All Right – still one of my favorite songs so no complaints from me!

Now for the social marketing comments…

From a social media perspective, I think this event could have been better executed. There was a MySpace contest for fans to win tickets, but I didn’t see a lot across other social media sites (including Facebook, where she debuted her new album a short month before the event).  Also, Billboard’s site doesn’t provide a lot of interaction, and it’s hard to find the event, let alone watch the recording. I’ve done the digging for you here, but even knowing where to go it took me a few minutes to find it.

I also wish it was easier to find out about the “& friends” part of the show, if you couldn’t tell by my comments above.  I was sitting next to Xilla from Global Grind and between him, myself and Caroline, we were hard pressed to find the correct names of the performers using our ears (and our iPhones).  I spent a chunk of the next day double-checking my work, and figured out that we still had some of the names wrong!

Photos and video weren’t allowed at the event. Since Billboard was live-streaming the event I can see the logic in this, but at the same time, I’d rather show you all the video I shot and photos I took rather than have to point you to YouTube and Billboard’s websites as the sole source of information.  I can play devil’s advocate both ways on this, but with things like events – I’m a firm believer in the fact that fans should be able to record the experiences for themselves through photo and video, as long as they appropriately credit the source.

Overall, I’m happy to see Billboard do something like this, but think that little thought was put into the entire picture by all of the involved groups. The event was great, and fulfilled a long-standing want of mine to see Alicia Keys perform, but I still believe that it fell flat in terms of overall impact.  If companies in the music business are suffering so much, why don’t they put their full efforts into making events like this a true success? How can they appropriately gauge the effects of social media marketing if they’re only doing part of the work?

So. Go check out Alicia Keys’ new album, go check out the guest performers, and go check out the Billboard Live recording of the night.  It was a fun night full of great acts, and I really hope to see more events happening like this in the future. A great start, but there is more to do!

I’ve been a fan of Alicia Keys since “Songs in A Minor” was released in 2001, and have continued to follow her career as my life, and the world, has evolved.

9 years later a hit new song with Jay-Z playing on radio stations and iPod’s everywhere, I’m now even more in love with her music.

Personal tastes aside, I have a lot of respect for the marketing going on around Alicia Key’s new album – “The Element of Freedom”.

She first debuted the album on Facebook, that’s right – Facebook.  To my knowledge – she’s the first major artist to do so (smart move!).

To do so, her marketing team got a company called Involver on board, which I admit is new to me (hey Involver, if you’re listening I’d love to pick your brain for a future post!).

You can check out her fan page here.

In addition to the Facebook album debut, Alicia and her team have also put together a “I think it’s going to be slightly insane in a great way” event happening tonight at the legendary Apollo Theatre. Actually, it’s happening now, and I’m there, and you can watch here. Full review coming tomorrow, of course!

Back on track…

That’s right – the entire concert is being livestreamed (thanks Billboard!), and straight from their article on the event, here are some juicy details:

The chart-topping singer/songwriter’s new album, “The Element of Freedom,” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in December, but Keys has enjoyed a pair of long-running No. 1′s on the singles charts. Her New York centric duet with Jay-Z, “Empire State of Mind,” — which the duo performed to much acclaim at Yankee Stadium during the World Series in October — rode the top of the Hot 100 for five weeks in November and December. Meanwhile over on the Latin Pop Songs chart, Alejandro Sanz’s track featuring Keys, “Looking For Paradise,” has been No. 1 for the last nine consecutive weeks.

Click to watch the concert here.

If you’re more of the “I like to watch the interviews” type, I included Billboard’s interview below. It’s a good watch!

I’m looking forward to seeing more major labels jump on the “let’s innovate!” train.  If you’ve seen any examples then by all means, please share them in the comments!

That’s right, someone (Jason Keath, to be exact) has invited me to participate in a panel on Social Media in the Music Industry as part of the Social Fresh Nashville conference.

I’m really excited to be participating, and even more excited to see what my fellow panelists have to say about their perspectives of how social media has impacted the music industry.

Panelists

Tessa Horehled, Senior Strategist – Social Media at THINK Interactive

Ben Bennett, Online Promotions and Mobile Marketing Manager at the Country Music Association (CMA)

Justin McIntosh, Manager of Web Services and Marketing at Big Machine Records
In advance of flying to Nashville for the conference, I’ve been connecting with people on the Social Fresh Community and reviewing some of my favorite blogs and videos.

In case you’re curious, I’m a particular fan of (in no particular order):

• Hypebot – Ridiculously quality articles about anything and everything related to music. Sometimes it’s practical, sometimes it’s more theoretical. All of it is good.
• Bass Music – I like my beats extra crispy, and this blog has a great selection of new tracks and music on a regular (more than daily) basis.
• The Future Buzz – I’m a recent fan of Adam Singer and keep wondering why I didn’t find out about him earlier. He’s a smart cookie and his blog shows that.
• Bit Rebels – I like these guys for all the nerdy techy stuff they write about, and the fact that their blog is a great source of music-related information makes it even better.
• Artists House Music – These guys help teach me about the pure music business side of things, which I find refreshing since I (by situation) tend to be more tech-oriented.
• Buzzsonic – A great resource for music trend roundups, tech information and other such quality articles.

I’d love to hear what you want us to answer during the panel. Leave your questions in the comments, or join the Social Fresh Community and leave them for us directly there.

I attended the Boxee Beta launch party at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Monday, and I was blown away by their product. Wired’s Epicenter blog reviewed the launch here.

For those that don’t know what Boxee is, watch their video talking about their Alpha product below:

Boxee Beta

A lot of thought was put into the new Boxee Beta menu, and to many users, the updated menu style respresented almost a complete overhaul from the Alpha version.  That’s all well and good, but what really got me excited was the way Beta removes barriers.

What if I want to watch TV in bed? Great. I can do that.

Movies? Them too.

Hook it up to a TV and control via a remote? I only need my phone (really, they have an app for that).

Look at photos on Flickr while listening to music on Pandora? You betcha.

Why You Should Care

Boxee has an interesting “App” section.

Photo credit: Boxee.tv Blog

If you take a look, you can see major social platforms, websites and media companies all coming out with their own applications.

That’s great! But wait… can’t you do the same?

You’re on MySpace, you’re on YouTube, you’re on Twitter and you’re on Facebook. Why not create an application that aggregates that content in your own Boxee app? Your fans can download your app and have even more access to you though Boxee, which is mobile (seeing as it’s a piece of software that sits on their computer) and allows people to consume the content they want – when they want.

Or, what about going a step further and making sure that your upcoming events are there, the app points to your website, and why not even set up an email address for fans to submit their own content and allow your app to aggregate it? I’m no programmer, but those ideas sound appealing to me as a music fan, and I’m willing to bet there are quite a few people who have already started developing things like this from the tech side.

Mary McKnight posted this tweet (regarding labels) in response to Jeremy Meyers earlier this week, which resonates with me for a number of different reasons:

That’s the subject of another post (or five), but as it relates to Boxee, the point is this: Boxee provides an easy, “what I want, when I want, where I want” way to connect you and your lives/music/brand/story to fans.

If you haven’t checked out Boxee I highly suggest you do, and keep a close eye on them over the next 4-6 months. The potential here for musicians is huge and I’m looking forward to see who jumps on the bandwagon, and how they pimp it out to fit their brand.

Do you use Boxee? Love it? Hate it? Have another idea to share? The comments are yours!

I recently had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Social Fresh Cruise, an invite-only social media 4-day floating conference/cruise from Miami to Cozumel.

The cruise was part conference, part pure fun. I was one of eight speakers for the conference portion of the cruise, and spoke about “The Recording Industry is Screwed… Now What Do We Do?”

Why yes, I do like to stir the pot. Thanks for asking.

The 45-minute “speech” was more of an open discussion, prefaced by a bit of background about the industry.

The background centered around the alternatives that exist, allowing musician to carve their own paths and often times, decide IF they even want a record deal with a major label.

The discussion portion of the talk was the most valuable, and many people contributed their thoughts, opinions and experiences about the music and recording industires.

The discussion ranged from how research completed in the 80′s about how people would contribute and use the Internet is still relevant, from how one of the attendees favorite bands used Kickstarter to finance their projects.  Many of the attendees had their own experiences to share about connecting with artists on Twitter, and as we were on the cruise with Rick Springfield’s fan club, we ALL could see a real-life example about how connecting directly with an audience really works.

To talk a bit more about one of the best comments of the discussion, I’m going to jump back and discuss a bit about my personal tastes:

I REALLY like a great debate, and really enjoy people intelligently disagreeing with my opinions. As mentioned, the highlight of the talk came from one such comment by Lucretia Pruitt, who made the excellent point that the recording industry is experiencing what a lot of other industries go through when a seismic shift in their business model occurs. Hint: This shift for the recording industry begins with an “I” and rhymes with schminternet.

In general, innovation comes from the bottom up. The start-up, the smaller companies and the ones that have “less to lose” take the “risk” and innovate. They try out new things, see what works and adopt that into their strategy. The bigger more entrenched companies usually wait to see if what the smaller guys do works. If so, they copy it and make it part of their business. Less risk with potentially the same rewards.

Now, I’m not saying that this is an absolute, but it’s certainly a trend.

The difference with the music industry, is that the “big guys” have fought against this change for the better part of a decade, instead of embracing it and trying to innovate from the beginning.  From a PR perspective, that decision has caused a huge problem for the public image of the music industry.  In many people’s minds, it is now “us vs. the music industry”, especially “us vs. the RIAA”.

I’m thrilled to see some of the “big guys” waking up and beginning to realize that the “stick my head in the sand” approach is NOT a smart move, but they must do this while remembering that consumer perception is still a huge concern.

I have much more to say on this topic, and am starting with a conversation today at 3:30PM EST/ 12:30PM PST where I’ll be participating in an un-panel on SnazL with Mary McKnight (EMI, Sacrilicious Marketing) and Mike Fabio (Warner Bros. records).

Join the un-panel and upload a video, share photos or chat to participate.

I had the immense pleasure of attending another great @SoundCTRL event, starring none other than the music business legend Clive Davis.

Like the nerdy blogger I am, I sat in the front row (after standing in the massive line – I almost didn’t get in!), took notes on my iPhone and managed to snap a few photos on my digital camera. The format was simple. Clive and Bill Werde (Editorial Director at Billboard) sat in the front of the room on a small stage and talked for close to an hour about all things Clive.

Before getting into the meat of the evening, I’ll summarize and say that a few themes stuck out throughout the night:

Talent

Passion

Openmindedness

Ironically enough, I think that far too many “big business” entertainment and media companies forget to remember those things, and it’s the public that ultimately suffers.  Keep this in mind as you read through my notes on the evening, and I welcome your discussion in the comments.

On With The Night…

Clive was introduced by Bill, and a short video played which highlighted his truly illustrious career.  As a lifelong musician it was truly eye-opening to realize the huge impact that this man has had on pop culture and my life, even before my life began.

I’ll give credit where credit is absolutely due.  Bill asked the questions that the audience really wanted to hear, and dug deeper on quite a few that piqued my marketer interests as well. Kudos to Bill!

Some of the questions that stuck out are included below.

Bill: How do you pull out a hit? What do you listen for?

Clive: So much is how in you begin. Learn and try and let it permeate. Plus, I didn’t know I had an ear for music at all. You learn not to specialize.

Bill: Clive, what do you say when people see you with early Janis Joplin and you don’t look like her?

Clive: “It’s always best to be yourself” and once you lose your integrity, you lose the respect of the very people you’re trying to impress.

Bill: There’s talk about how artist development is dead. What is it and where do you think it is?

Clive: The business is changing, and changing with concern. Top 40 is concentrated with tempo and hip hop, and it’s breaking records. That’s why you see digital sales so high but no album sales. It looks as if it’s track oriented. Artists should still be developed. There’s certainly a role for artist development now.

Bill: Clive, where do you think your talents lie? What is your “sweet spot”?

Clive: Finding headliners and hit songs.

Clive is a great “soundbite” guy, as one would expect.  Some of the quotes that stuck in my mind are also below.

“There can never be too many singles on an album.”

“A lot of this (my success) was purely fate.”

“There was no grand vision for Arista -  you have to trust your instincts.”

“Where you don’t have your own ear or expertise, learn where to go and who to trust that does. Be aware.”

“You have to be on top of your game”

Now, on to the themes…

Throughout the night last night, the themes mentioned above kept coming back to the surface. Whether it was questions from the audience in the end (Clive answered about 5 of them), or his answers to questions throughout the discussion, it’s clear that Clive Davis looks for true talent (“headline potential”), passion and perfection in every act he signs, and with every business move he makes.

I clearly respect the work Clive has done over the years, and the ability he’s had to propel the music industry forward across genres and throughout the decades.  However, from a marketing standpoint, I do wish that more was covered about technology and the impact of technologies on the music industry as a whole.

An audience member asked a question about how independent labels and the “DIY Culture” has affected the music industry, and Clive responded with a very firm belief that a strong label still holds the keys to success for an emerging artist.

I’ve included a direct copy of my notes below.

Q: With the movement towards independence and the fragmented music industry, how is the record industry reacting? DIY culture and the development of artists.

A: Few and far between, established artists who aren’t dependent on airplay going independent.

There’s a serious underestimation of the role of a good record company, 99% are new artists are dependnt on record labels and the minds that work there.

Clive Davis doesn’t think you can do it yourself. He does think that new labels can come into existence and grow though. Radio is still king, very few can make it without. That stigma comes from journalists who don’t appreciate what a good label can do.

My thoughts on his answer are the subject of another upcoming post, so stay tuned.

As a slight side note, I found it interesting that while Clive doesn’t pay much attention to technology, but he has always assumed that technology will pay a major role in the music industry. He’s been proven right over and over throughout the years.

Cool Things

We’ve all heard the Santana song The Game of Love, feat. Michelle Branch. What Clive did last night which made everyone sitting around me feel a bit more “in the know”, was play the original demo of the song, the unreleased version with the 1st vocalist, as well as another unreleased version with a different vocalist.  All told the clips from The Game of Love were played 4 different times.  Who were the other two vocalists? Macy Gray and Tina Turner.  Insanity…

One question everyone must want to ask any rightful legend… “What are you most proud of?” Clive’s answer? “The long lasting nature of his artists.”

I’ll leave you with one final quote, which sums up the night perfectly for me.

Music is as important, if not more important, than it has ever been today.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the CMJ @SoundCTRL and music:tech meetup, as well as the debut of Superglued (a cool new iPhone app… more on that later).

I went to the last SoundCTRL event and was impressed by the quality of attendees, as well as the panel members and content.  This mixer was slightly different as it was a joint event with music:tech, who was celebrating their 1-year anniversary, as well as a product launch.

As is usual with the music and technology events I go to in the city, the best part of the night (by far) is discovering how so many different people can have so much in common.  I always end up meeting people who inspire me to push the boundaries even more, and walk away feeling like the world has to be a slightly better place than it was before the event if so much positivity exists.

We all know that the music industry has changed.  That ship sailed years ago.  What’s great to hear is how people are responding to that change and developing their own framework and their own new path to walk.  There are so many companies coming up with new technologies to help artists spread their music, or help fans find the music they want to listen to – all in a way that removes barriers and works with the user, not against them.

Superglued is one such company, and a product that I see myself using quite often (starting… last night).

Straight from their website:

SuperGlued is where people go to share and discuss live music shows with the other people who were there. Live music is such a collective experience so shouldn’t it be celebrated together too? We think so! Whether you were in the crowd of 55,600 to see the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965 or among the 200 to experience Arcade Fire in a Montreal church basement in 2005, your stories belong here.

As a marketer who now works in social media, I demand a lot from applications. For an application like Superglued, a few key things must be present if they want to gain and keep a loyal user.

1. It has to be social. Connect me with people who like the same music I like, WITHOUT making me search
2. It has to be easy to use. This is more a UI thing than a social media thing, but have you ever noticed how darn easy most social applications are to use?
3. It has to keep me coming back. Why do I come back? To talk to other people like me, of course.

From the musician’s standpoint, they want a place to go and see what the crowd liked and didn’t like, a place to share their opinions and information about the show, and hopefully, a place to make more money.

Superglued is on the right track on both counts.

The app has proven useful already, showing me shows in Manhattan last night for CMJ. It uses the GPS function in the iPhone to find your current location, and shows you upcoming local shows based on that data.  It was really easy to sign up (from the event itself) without having to go to a computer, and I set up my profile within a few minutes, in addition to connecting it to Facebook and Twitter.

On a seperate topic, Sonorasaurus (the DJ iPhone app) seemed to get positive reviews from the people that saw it. More on that in a future blog post.

Summary?

SoundCTRL and music: tech put on a great event. I’m looking forward to the next one(s).

A  head nod also goes to to @nettap, @dubfiler, Dave Chaitt, @nmcgylnn, Seth and Justin for the wonderful conversations.