New Music Seminar Chicago - "Everything You Know Is Wrong"

New Music Seminar Chicago – “Everything You Know Is Wrong”

Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by refe in MUSIC INDUSTRY, NEWS

Chi-town, host of the New Music Seminar Oct. 09

The music industry has gone through significant changes in the past decade, and many of the major players have been slow to understand or embrace the changes. Fortunately there have been many encouraging signs recently suggesting that’s slowly beginning to change.

I attended the New Music Seminar in Chicago yesterday and had the opportunity to hear some good discussions about the past, present and possible future of the industry. The seminar, which was put on by Tom Silverman of Tommy Boy Records, seeks to be an incubator for new ideas and strategies to help artists and music professionals navigate the changing business. Panel members included Lou Plaia of ReverbNation, Ariel Hyatt of CyberPR, Bryan Calhoun of SoundExchange, Amy Phillips of Pitchfork and Martin Atkins, author of Tour:Smart.

I have tried to distill the main messages of the seminar into four bite-sized chunks. Much of this won’t be new to you if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, but these concepts are worth repeating. I’ve also put together a collection of the most interesting and entertaining quotes of the day.

Continual streams of creative output

Just about all the panelists seemed to agree that artists need to shift their focus from the traditional one-album-every-two-years mentality and embrace a more consistent schedule of individual track releases. I’ve written about this a few times, most recently here. It was good to see a few industry leaders recognizing the role that an artist’s music can play in fan engagement.

One analogy that was made compared the traditional album model to hardcover book releases, and new release strategies to subscriptions and periodicals. One you read once (though you may enjoy it immensely) and the other you develop a long-term relationship with.

The seminar’s co-founder Tom Silverman also had some good data which projects that single track downloads will be 5x higher than full album sales by 2012.

1,000 True Fans

One buzz phrase that popped up in just about every panel was the ’1,000 True Fans’ concept popularized by Kevin Kelly. For those who are unfamiliar, the idea is that a True Fan – the kind of fan who buys everything the artist puts out – will spend about $100/year on their favorite artist. Once an artist amasses a base of about 1,000 of these they’ve built a sustainable career.

Silverman countered objections that $100,000 isn’t enough to support a four or five piece band by pointing out that the total should be closer to $255,000 once the ‘non-true’ fans spending is counted. This makes a lot of sense, because the True Fan category is likely just a small percentage of an artists overall fan base. So even though less committed fans spend less, it adds up due to their higher numbers.

Fan Relationship Management

This was arguably the most important theme of the seminar. As social media continues to dissolve the middlemen artist have the opportunity to cultivate authentic, long-lasting and ultimately profitable relationships with their fans. Ariel Hyatt of CyberPR was a fierce proponent of social media throughout the panel she participated in. She pointed to several artists who have built profitable careers as musicians through online networking alone – without going on the road at all.

Several panelists also repeatedly admonished bands to take advantage of their merch tables as an opportunity to connect with fans. This kind of face to face engagement goes far beyond selling more merch (though I’m sure you’d be ok with that, too.) Meeting fans and having real conversations can significantly deepen the fans’ buy-in and increases the chances that they will come back to see you next time you’re in town. Maybe they’ll even bring a friend or two. Basic stuff, but so often missed by touring bands.

By the numbers

During his opening remarks CEO of Tommy Boy Records and New Music Seminar founder Tom Silverman went through some eye-opening statistics. He laid out how drastically the music marketplace has changed over the past several decades through a series of graphs, and used the data to project where the current trends might take us in the next four years. There was quite a bit there, but I’ve included what I thought was the most interesting. The statistics below help to explain why album sales can no longer be the primary means - nor the primary measurement – of an artist’s success:

There are 5,000,000artists with active MySpace pages.
105,575 albums released annually.
1,515 artists selling more than 10,000 per year.
Just 200 of those artists are new artists.
Only 110 artists sell more than 250,000 albums per year.

Quotables

“These days there might be 5 people in your band and only 2 at your record label.” Martin Atkins on why artists need to learn the skills necessary to run their own affairs.

“There’s a place for fantasy, there’s a place for playing dress-up.” Amy Phillips of Pitchfork on authenticity.

“Rock bands want to keep a little mystique, often a disdain for the merch table. I don’t recommend that for anyone.” Steve Gerstman, head of Cut Merch.

“If somebody on the street says, ‘Buy my CD for $5 – it’s dope’ I don’t want to buy that! What if it’s blank?” Emerging hip hop artist Hollywood Holt.

“Make an event of every performance – do something weird.” Joe Carsello, talent buyer at the Metro.

“Pour gasoline on the sparks that exist. What if your fans are in Tacoma? Go there.” Martin Atkins.

“If I was a big fat ugly dude I would rap like a big fat ugly dude.” Hollywood Holt on authenticity.

“Touring is warfare – never take your country to war unless you are sure of the outcome.” Martin Atkins.

“Those Forrester Reports are bullshit.” Tom Silverman.

Questions? Comments?

Let me know if you found this summary helpful. I’ll be expanding a bit on more of the concepts presented at the seminar in later posts, so if you have any questions or comments please speak up so that I can make sure to address them. And by the way, if you attended the seminar and we didn’t get a chance to meet up make sure you send me a message so that we can do something about that.

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Tags: chicago, MUSIC INDUSTRY, new music seminar

14 Responses to “New Music Seminar Chicago – “Everything You Know Is Wrong””

Twitted by ZimbalamFr

08. Oct, 2009

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Suzanne Lainson

08. Oct, 2009

The latest focus coming out of music conferences seems to be fan management. I think it’s a few years too late, but I guess better-late-than-never.

But now I think the focus needs to shift to the future where the walls between artist and fans may disappear. Everyone will be a music producer, a music creator, a music participant. It will be a matter of degrees.

I don’t think most musicians are yet prepared for that. Fan management implies that there is still an artist with fans. But if all the fans want to become artists themselves, the dynamics will change (I think they already are) and it’s going to be just as much of a shock to the DIY artists as the Internet was to the major labels.

Here’s my first blog post on the subject.

http://brandsplusmusic.blogspot.com/2009/09/people-formerly-known-as-fans.html
- refe
  
  08. Oct, 2009
  
  I’ll have to do more thinking on the idea, because at first glance it seems that the reality you describe still feels a long way off if it will happen at all.
  
  With that said – remixes, mash ups and fan videos/youtube covers have become very popular ways to engage in music. I think the key is that these activities still revolve around the original artist’s creation.
  
  Some of the people doing the mashing up have significant creative talent – enough to produce original material at the same level of today’s original artists – and some of them don’t.
  
  There is still a threshold of entry to the music business. The other post that you commented on today describes a music career that takes an enourmous amount of hard work and dedication. Sure, it’s getting easier thanks to technology. But will it ever become so easy that anybody would be willing to do it? I’m not sure.
  - Suzanne Lainson
    
    08. Oct, 2009
    
    Yes, remixes and the like appeal to a few, but most fans won’t take the time to do it.
    
    So I’m not necessarily thinking of that. I’m thinking more along the lines of creating ways for fans to participate that make them feel like they are being creative, even if it involves very little time or talent.
    
    The music video games are one example. Participatory shows (even something as simple as sing-alongs) are another.
    
    These reinforce your idea that it still requires a creator and then the fans latch on to the creation.
    
    But I think there will be other techniques, yet to be invented. Amanda Palmer, in her way, is demonstrating the first step. While she does music, I think her strength are the online and offline events she creates for the fans. She’s the party director and she gives them a sense that they are part of the event, not just watchers.
    
    So someone will likely invent music tools that allow people to feel creative, even if what they actually do is fairly marginal.
    
    YouTube has been built upon the idea that everyone can upload something. And even if you don’t create the video, if you forward it to someone else, that is a form of participation. I know bands are hoping people do the same with music links, but I don’t think fans get the same psychological benefit in forwarding a song as they do in forwarding a video.
    
    At any rate, I think the nature of audiences continues to evolve. Now people go to shows as much or more to photograph themselves at the event to send to friends as they do to listen. So they want the event to be about themselves. Take that a step further and give them the sense that they are the creative force.
- Jeff Deibel
  
  08. Oct, 2009
  
  While I can appreciate the angle you present, I have to disagree with you Suzanne. The consumption of music and the production/creation of music are not inversely related. You can do one without negatively impacting the other. I’d argue that producing music positively effects ones consumption of music. Writing music further strengthens ones connection to music and as a result will benefit the industry as a whole.
  
  Artist-to-Artist relationships are the same as Fan-to-Artist relationships. Sometimes an artist can also be a fan. Even though Ben Folds is an established artist, he is still a fan of a relatively new, unheard of band called Family of the Year.
  
  Ultimately, I believe the more artist that are out there, the better it is for the industry as a whole and will drive innovation.
  - Suzanne Lainson
    
    08. Oct, 2009
    
    Audiences have changed over the years. At many concerts they don’t seem to be as engaged in listening to the music. They are texting, sending photos, etc. They are multi-tasking rather than paying attention to what is on stage.
    
    So I don’t think the concept of fandom is nearly as strong as it used to be. And the attention span for a band seems to be lessening, too. People seem to get bored with a band fairly quickly these days.
    
    And I’ve found more people saying that they’d rather hear four bands playing 45-minute sets than one band playing for several hours.
    
    So I don’t think bands and artists are going to hang on to fans as much as they hope.
    
    I have musician friends and I hope they can make a living at this, but having observed and participated in music for a long time, I think things are changing and will continue to change.
Ellen Schauer

08. Oct, 2009

Great summary!
Engaging fans, even casual fans, changes the dynamics. You don’t have to be Amanda Palmer to make an impact. I remember seeing Mike Ness working the merch table at a Social D/Suicidal Tendencies show in the mid-eighties, whereas for some shows from that era, I need the ticket stub just to remember I went.
I’d expand on that and the other concepts you presented, but I need to go home and pack to go to England and see three Hope and Social shows.
Thanks again for your clear and concise posts.
- refe
  
  08. Oct, 2009
  
  Apparently Hope and Social have done something to engage you – England is a bit of a trek for you isn’t it? Funny you should mention that particular band. Mr. Huxley should be sending me a guest post any day now…
Justin Boland

08. Oct, 2009

Bam! That was excellent. Thank you very much for the report, this was a good read and I appreciate all the details.

Being at hella conferences in 2010 is definitely part of my life plan, these sound like a lot of fun.
- refe
  
  08. Oct, 2009
  
  Thanks Justin – I appreciate that.
  
  By the way, if anyone here hasn’t checked out Justin’s site for DIY hip hop artists http://www.AudibleHype.com you should do so now.
Bart Day

11. Oct, 2009

I appreciated this report about the conference. And Tom Silverman always has interesting things to say.
Mid Career Artists

29. Oct, 2009

I really enjoy reading New Music Seminar Chicago – “Everything You Know Is Wrong” | creative deconstruction . It’s very interesting. Hope you will post something like this again.
1,000 True Fans and the Importance of Milestones in Your Music Career – Guest Blog « The Hit Music Academy

25. Feb, 2010

[...] because I don’t like it. Instead, I’d rather use the terminology that Tom Silverman used at the New Music Seminar here in Chicago on October 6. Silverman split fans into four categories: super fans, active fans, [...]
New Music Seminar Chicago – “Everything You Know Is Wrong” | New Music Seminar

31. Mar, 2010

[...] Creative Deconstruction’s coverage of NMS Chicago 2009. [...]