LAUNCH: Panel - Booking and Touring 201 (5 of 6)

So I've written all of these way ahead of time, but just haven't released them. Getting blasted with 6 posts in a single day is just kinda crazy, though. If you've missed the first few posts - check it out:
(LAUNCH: Intro)
(LAUNCH: Panel - Licensing Your Music)
(LAUNCH: Panel - Getting Sponsorships For Your Band)
(LAUNCH: Panel - Marketing Your Band)


Also, note that this is "201". 101 was around 11am and I was coming from Philly in the rain and fog, so I missed the first half.

Panel:
Billy O'Brien (Anchor & Hope Music)
Todd Erickson (MasterKey Management/More Music Group)
Nick Storch (International Creative Management)
Mike Mowery (Outerloop Management)
David Silbaugh (Grammy Chapter Board Advisor/Summerfest)
Jason Malhoyt (Outerloop Presents)

Discussion: Booking and Touring 201

• How would you appeal to larger opportunities (colleges, festivals, etc.)
• BO: An agent
• Develop live shows
• you shouldn't pay to play anything
• BO: Have an online presence
• NS: Depends on the vision of the band
• be great
• JM: Be extremely aggressive, but be polite
• look up emails and phone numbers and use them to make contacts
• BO: Take any and every opportunity as a young band
• MM: Being on a festival lineup validates you as a band
• BO: Promote your set creatively
• DS: Love what you do
• play that way no matter who/how many are there
• remember that people are spending time to see you

Yeah, this is a shorter one. However, it'll be followed up by some of my own insight in a day or so. It's always nice to have a backlog of blogposts to keep a steady stream with.

LAUNCH: Panel - Marketing Your Band (4 of 6)

This continues the series on LAUNCH music conference with another panel.

Panel:
Sol Amstutz - Freelance Artist
Jeff Royer - Black Lodge Publicity / Xfinity Music
Josh Maloney - Dean Guitars
Mike Eaton - The Artery Foundation
Portland - Sons of Nero / Good Fight Entertainment
Daniel Wagner

Discussion: Marketing Your Band

• How does someone stick out?
• SA: running your band is a business
• consistent imagery - branding your band
• JR: give yourself a backstory
• a compelling reason for people to check you out
• JM: "Fundamentally, just don't suck"
• JM: branding - be clear and concise
• P: put out consistent, good music
• P: show an overall look of being a solid artist
• How important is a standard website?
• P: with the rise and fall of myspace, guesswork was taken out of the equation
• however, this is too easy and has made way for too much sucky music
• P: it's more important to be creative in promotion
• JM: use your website creatively
• Everyone: Myspace is DEAD
• DW: fan interaction is a big part of a successful website
• P: the idea of having a website:
• to keep web presence
• to keep people coming back
• a place to put all social media outlets in one spot
• SA: fans want to connect with bands
• through tweets, facebook, etc.
• tour like mad
• don't rely solely on social media for fans
• Is there any way to overkill connectedness?
• SA: try to keep up some sort of mystery
• keep a barrier between fan/band and real life
• failing to do so can result in fans feeling entitled (wanting to get into shows for free because you talked to them once on facebook)
• JM: word of mouth is still a huge thing
• P: very dependent on target audience
• "look at that girl with that Friday video - she's massive and she's HORRIBLE"
• JM: keep your content in check
• keep content interesting
• set short term goals
• be realistic about what you want to do

LAUNCH: Panel - Getting Sponsorships For Your Band (3 of 6)

This continues the LAUNCH coverage. I have yet to decide whether I'll just release all of these posts at once or if I'll do them a day at a time... By the time this is actually released, I'm sure this will be obvious. Anyway, same format as the last one.

Panel:
Leah Urbano - Crimson Management
Yogi Allgood - Outerloop Management
Josh Maloney - Dean Guitars
Mike Eaton - The Artery Foundation (moderator)
David Silbaugh - Grammy Chapter Board Advisor/Summerfest
Rick Gadd - LAUNCH Music Conference co-director

Discussion: Getting Sponsorships For Your Band

• RG: you need to be popular / bring a crowd
• ME: ask yourself if you really want to play this brand
• DS: don't just play something because it's free
• be invested in your instruments
• ME: make everything personal
• ME: make sure you're in it for the long haul
• JM: don't be a dick
• don't sell gear you get from a sponsorship
• JM: sponsorships are a whole support system, not just the physical instruments
• RG: have a lot of dates on your tour calendar before sending any propositions
• ME: have a word document for all of your tour dates EVER
• ME: condense your career to your biggest accomplishments to present as a more palatable form
• JM: take your work seriously - be prepared
• JM: nothing is worse than wasting someone's time
• LU: go to companies outside the box
• not just companies that deal with music gear
• think of products that you would want to be associated with
• ex. candles, clothing, etc.
• JM: be realistic about what you want

LAUNCH: Panel - Licensing Your Music (2 of 6)

I sat in on 5 panels at LAUNCH music conference. Not everything in here is going to help everyone, but these are at least some of the points that I felt were important enough to write down. Schooling has done a good job of teaching me to take notes. However, keep in mind that these are only the notes that I've taken - not my own thoughts on them or anything. So pretty much you can pretend you were there (without the live music).

The Panel:

Todd Shill - Entertainment Lawyer - Rhoads & Sinon

Chad Taylor - Live/The Gracious Few

Miguel Molinari - Rock Gamer Studios

Mike Eaton - The Artery Foundation (moderator)

David Silbaugh - Grammy Chapter Board Advisor/Summerfest

Matt Friction - The Pink Spiders

Discussion: Licensing Your Music

• How can you break through in regards to licensing deals?
• CT: find new revenue streams - gaming, film, tv, etc.
• CT: non-traditional sources - actors, directors
• CT: have songs recorded with and w/out vocals
• TS: make sure you know whether deals are exclusive or non-exclusive
• What kind of money is out there
• CT: example - $500k for a GMC licensing
• CT: example - $1 million for Batman movies
• CT: shot it down because it didn't seem like a good place to showcase Live
• DS: it's cool now to be associated with product
• How can artists prevent being taken advantage of?
• CT: weigh each and every opportunity
• CT: big massive army (industry giants) vs. guerrilla warfare (indie artists)
• independent artists can adapt faster and more efficiently than the major labels
• CT: find people who love music
• MF: get set up w/a Performance Rights Organization (PRO) such as BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC
• CT: w/an established revenue stream from royalties, a PRO can become an interest free lending source
• TS: copyright music before it is released
• Additional stuff
• IMBD pro package gives you access directly to movie directors/producers and their respective movies a year in advance - possible to make connections this way
• To start a publishing company, go through a PRO

LAUNCH: Intro (1 of 6)

The past few days I've been at LAUNCH music conference in Lancaster, PA. It's been a great few days of showcases and panels. I've learned a lot and have gotten some great contacts from it. Over the next few days I'll be posting notes from the panels that I was at.

As far as my part in the showcasing, I played at Annie Bailey's Irish Pub on Thursday. The food was good, but it had, arguably, the worst acoustics possible for my setup. Between the background noise of a pub and the brick walls/stone building, I was set up for instant feedback from the start. Thankfully Greg from An Early Ending was running sound and we figured it out between the two of us. Maybe it wasn't the best sound, but it was the best that could be done in that environment.

Afterwards I got a card from Lu at iRiseMusic. I talked to him today and he's interested in having me perform on some R&B tracks. It'd definitely be something completely different. It could be fun, but I've got a ton of other stuff going on in life, so we'll see how that ends up working out.

-Alex