Bandwidth Conference Day One Re-Cap

I spent a good chunk of this past weekend at San Francisco's Regency Center for the Bandwidth Music and Technology conference. I didn't get to fulfill my lifelong dream of sitting on a panel, but I did nonetheless walk away having learned something after two days of discussions. There were issues aplenty - everyone is rather concerned with the digital-ization of music and just how exactly anyone is supposed to make any money. Virtually everyone brought up 360 deals - with the label taking varying percentages of concert money, merch, and publishing. Streaming rates on internet radio were a big deal, while others foresaw the re-emergence of vinyl. Needless to say, who I met and what I heard over this past weekend has given me a new focus on just what I am trying to achieve, and how I plan to get there.

I arrived around 10:30 on Friday morning, fixed myself a cup of coffee and headed into the "lodge room" to hear the second half of a conversation with Jordan Kurland, founder/owner of Zeitgeist Artist Management, LTD. Zeitgeis's roster includes Death Cab for Cutie, Feist, Rogue Wave, Jimmy Tamborello and - according to the Bandwidth site - "a new yet-to-be-named project featuring M Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel." I love getting insight into the marketing process, but Kurland said one thing that really stuck with me. He asked if the "mystique of the artist" had been lost, with so much behind-the-scenes information available. Maybe learning that the artist is "not that much different from you" is a bad thing. This is a theme that would play out through much of the conference.

"E-Merging Labels: The Shape of Things to Come" was a panel I was seriously looking forward to. Speaking were Ted Kartzman from RealNetworks, Tim Mitchell from IODA, Lydia Popovich from Quannum Projects, and Jeff Yasuda from Fuzz. This panel was at the heart of what seemed to be the overriding theme of the weekend - music is changing almost solely in part to the internet; so how do labels plan to cope. Quannum Projects (home to Lyrics Born, DJ Shadow, Honeycut and others) is a label that existed long before this change. Popovich stressed one important point which was that there is a "quality control" - fans of the label's artists have a sense of what to look for when a new one drops. Essentially, putting out quality music has kept them afloat. When someone asked about the "death of the CD" in favor of cheaper MP3s, Popovich stated that they are printing less physical copies, yet putting a stronger emphasis on what goes inside. There are certainly fans out there who still want the physical copy and I think it's important to given them some incentive to do so. Fuzz - unlike Quannum - is a label/multimedia company born out of this new digital change in music. Their company consists of not just a record label, but a music-centric social networking site. I've been really interested in what Fuzz has been doing and their philosophy. They could be the new breed of record company - one which centers promotion, touring, etc all in one place. I got to meet Yasuda afterwards (I actually met and spoke with five different people from Fuzz over the course of the weekend) and he even gave me a hug when I told him I'd been devoting most of my time recently to updating our Fuzz site.

One thing I started to think about as the day went on ... was branding. When Fuzz or Quannum or many of these other sites were being discussed, the issue that seemed to emerge for me was not how to make money in this time of great change, but how to build a successful brand. Quannum is a brand that people know about and a clearly defined sound. Fuzz is quickly becoming well-known brand. My focus on New and Used Records has shifted to - how can we build this brand?

The day continued, and so did the issues. N&UR friend and Birdman Records president, David Katznelson lamented how we had let music fan's standards drop in terms of sound quality, while predicting a return to vinyl. He even stated that at least two Birdman releases next year will be vinyl only. Katznelson was stating that we need to bring fans back - forcing them to buy the vinyl if they want to hear it. He certainly made a believer out of me.

One thing that I learned was that this issue of making an artist stand out when there is just such a wealth of music out there is one being discussed at all levels. Peter Standish, Senior VP of Marketing, Warner Bros. Records, discussed working with Linkin Park, as well as historically established artists like Neil Young and Mark Knophler. The current climate is such that it is a challenge promoting those artists these days, which was a little bit shocking to me. Yet, when you think about it, it does make sense. Standish mentioned the same thing about "mystique," but acknowledged that you need to give the fans what they want.

After day one, my head was swirling with thoughts and ideas, and more than ever, I wanted to be a part of this business - and I haven't even re-capped day two.