panel discussion

August 18th, 2007

Admittedly it does feel a little odd to be sober after waking up on a Saturday. Though it ain’t morning. its 13:30. Afternoon. I didn’t have one drop of alcohol yesterday and when I got home I watched 5 episodes of the amazing and truely addictive Heros.

Last night I was at the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn for a panel discussion entitled ‘What It Takes‘. The panel, fronted by Ross Graham, head honcho of NIMIC (Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission), included a few of the regulars on the music scene, who dished out their opinions of what it takes to make it in the industry. This is the third event I have been to where I have been informed about how the music industry works, and each time I learn so much more than the last.

The first was the screening of the film ‘What is Indie‘ on 2nd Aug, unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to the panel discussion beforehand, though I feel that anyone who wants to make it in any aspect of the music industry should see this film, not just bands/artists. For me as a photographer, I came out feeling very positive and motivated. It is also for promoters, managers, labels big and small, retailers and most other areas of the music business, with business being a big part of it. Not enough bands see their music as a business, like it is. Of course this is meant in the positive sense, whereby, money is hoped to be made through the music; music being the product. Its about “selling yourself”, very different from ‘selling out’.

This is simply about presenting your ‘product’ well; generally being able to write the music, having good photographs, a good press release etc, and of course, using every medium in this technology-revolved world available to get the music out there. A great quote from the movie, which I feel applied to everything is, “the internet is not a fad, it isn’t going to go away”. People have to use it. Those that are afraid of the internet music learn to harness its potential. I know a few people who don’t like the internet though it is essential. Nothing can be done without it today. Pretty music no one will want to know you unless you have access, and a certain amount of knowledge, on the internet. Not only in the music industry, though many other areas too. Maybe slightly harsh, but unless your dream is to strap yourself to trees in the Amazon, volunteer in the third world or manage a pig farm you will need the internet.

I know plenty of bands who are great at this, their names are everywhere – stickers on traffic lights and lamp posts, all over Myspace and Fastfude – generally lots of promotion. I have the perfect example, though, of the other end of the scale through my own friends. The band which will remain unnamed, do not like the internet, do not like to ‘sell themselves’, do not like the idea of posing for photographs and do the bare minimum in the way of promotion. They need to see this film – when I have a spare $19.99 I will buy it.

The second event I went to recently was the “Give It Away” panel discussion.

Viacom are taking youtube to court for a billion dollars, but the BBC are giving the content away for free. In May Irish Band The Crimea became the first band to give away an entire album for free digitally, has it worked? The issue of intellectual property over routes to market will dominate the creative industries over the next decade, we talk to some of the main players

On the panel was Davey McMannus of the band The Crimea and Davy Sims, Editor in New Media (BBC). The Crimea unfortunately don’t seem to have a bio section on their myspace or website for me to quote from, though what I gathered is that they hailed from Northern Ireland and were one of the first bands to give away their album for free, Tragedy Rocks, and continuing to do so with their recently released second album Secrets of the Witching Hour, which can be downloaded here. In saying that, the albums are also in shops (and on iTunes) where they are not free. Although they have got into one or two legal battles along the way with publishers Davey seems to be quite pleased with how things have worked out for them. Maybe I should have heard of them before the event, though I hadn’t. From this though, I think it is a good idea for indie bands starting out to give away as much music as possible, or very cheap.

Last night’s had a far smaller audience than the others though it was very informative. Main points being about presenting yourself and your material well, getting to know the people who influence the local scene (magazines, promoters, other bands, radio folk). On the panel was James Rollins a media promoter, Paul McClean, producer of BBC Radio Ulster’s Across the Line show, Andrew Ferris, singer and guitarist in Jetplane Landing as well as running an independent label Smalltown America Records, Jennie McCullough of Bruisedfruit Promotions and Johnny Tiernan, editor and publisher of AU Magazine.

The discussion which went on for an hour and a half was more of a back to basics on, as the name suggests, how to make it in the industry, about getting a product ready before dishing it out to everyone (keeping your powder dry), knowing how to present yourself to people, being persistent, and not annoying, how to approach people, importance of image, creativity and standing out, importance of decent photographs, and many other points which I forget.

There was a slight difference at this event in that James Rollins gave a commercial perspective on the music industry. He is the man who gets paid lots of money to approach radio, TV and other media to promote bands. He works with more commercial music than that of the Indie variety. Knowing how to approach certain people is something he has learnt, through his 20 or so years in the industry, 15 of which were spent in sales, distribution, marketing in EMI. Now, running his own independent promotions company, he is pretty much the middle man to getting music to the media.

I recommend to anyone who has any interest in the music industry (maybe besides just listening to music) to get to something like this next time.

Of course I also didn’t take any photographs at this, or the other panel discussions like I know I should have. Next time I will.

After the panel last night, there was a gig featuring Colenso Parade, Speakmango, Kowalski and Clone Quartet. I managed to get my first ever official Press Pass :)

Due to the panel running a little over, I missed Colenso Parade, due to minor networking I missed Speakmango. I did get to see Kowalski, who were excellent: