The past few weeks have been absolutely insane for me (so I apologize for the dearth of posts).

Amidst all this insanity, we found time to host a “tweetup” with Scott and Brent (the creative head in charge of all music programming) from South By Southwest this past Wednesday. I am sure many of you wonder what on earth is a tweetup and I will admit I had no idea myself until this week. You can read more here. (Basically, a party where folks are encouraged to tweet – go figure).

Seven tips that I picked up by talking with Brent about what they look for when booking artists:

1. Have Live Video. Yup, pretty obvious. Brent says that even a rough live video, shot with an iPhone tells him more about a band’s energy and audience rapport than say a sleek video. And it makes all the difference in the world.
2. Be creative with your EPK. Don’t use your Sonicbids EPK bio page to give folks a lengthy dissertation on you life’s story (“I was born in so-so in 1984 and always loved music”). Be witty, be creative, have fun with it. It tells a lot to the perspective booker.
3. Show you care. Don’t treat building your EPK and your submission as drudgery. Take time to pick cool photos (ideally live shots), put together the best songs you have, fill out your calendar shows, and in general, show you care.
4. Build your online presence. Now at Sonicbids, we offer promoters like the folks from SXSW access to things like number of MySpace friends, latest blog posts about a band, Last.fm listens, etc. Folks like SXSW don’t just want to know what you say about yourself – they want to know what others say about you too.
5. Get some bloggers to review you. Yes, reviews matter. And nowadays, getting some cool bloggers to talk about your music maybe even more important than a review in your local paper.
6. Show you can draw a crowd. Ultimately, the club that’s showcasing you at SXSW needs to sell beer to pay the bills. Make sure you communicate in your EPK (photos, video, calendar dates with capacities, reviews) that you know how to pull them in.
7. Build up your relationships. Old-school, right? Perhaps, but relationships matter. I can’t tell you how many times I meet bands that never bother following up, staying in touch etc. If you want to make a living playing your music, you will need to hone this skill. Yes, having your hometown alt-weekly writer, or some indie music blogger put in a word for you can make a difference. Business is, after all, all about relationships.

Panos

Had a quick pop into CMJ this morning to moderate a panel titled “Specific Business Concepts Applied For The Modern Day Music Artist”. Had great participation from the audience and you can see some of the tweets here. My  fellow panelists, which included Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby, Rick Goetz, from MusicianCoaching.com, Jonathan Lutzky from Masur Law and PT Walkley, Artist/Musician, did a great job. One of the most lively panels I’ve been on.

Off to Italy for business, will pick up when I return.

Panos

One of the cool listings we had on Sonicbids the past few weeks resulted in  Family of the Year opening for Ben Folds and the Boston Pops last night.

I did not have the chance to attend the concert but I saw this awesome clip of the band on the local news channel NECN. We are committed to keep bringing more open slot listings on Sonicbids.

Panos

P.S. Update:  Just got this awesome photo from Tess who went to the show.

Over the past year we’ve experimented with a number of free listings on Sonicbids, sponsored by consumer brands (Gap, Converse, etc.) They’ve been very successful in terms of attracting thousands of submissions (their objective) but not always in getting only the highest caliber of bands.

There are a number of reasons why we don’t have all submissions be free (I’ve covered the topic on a number of occasions), and Seth Godin articulates its very well in a blog post called “If Craigslist cost $1”.

I’d love your thoughts.

Panos

• You Are In Control, Closure. Great conclusion to the conference, with a number of fascinating speeches and roundtable discussions (another fresh concept, with good open debate among participants). I particularly enjoyed the speech from Gudjon Mar Gudjonsson from the Ministry of Ideas (how many times do you see an Einstein quote flashed on the screen at a music conference?), whose speech felt less about practical applications and more like a piece of music: meant to provoke, inspire, dream. I also gave a presentation about the emerging Artistic Middle Class with some examples of how this class of artists is rapidly reshaping the music industry landscape and forever changing way that music is discovered, consumed, and promoted.

• Reykjavik Member Dinner. Finished the the day with our now customary member dinner, hosted at a restaurant called Boston of all names, in downtown Reykjavik. We had a great group of 10 artists and managers from Iceland and Faeroe Islands and as usual, these dinners are great at helping me understand how we can improve Sonicbids – but also what we do well. Yes, each music scene is different, but the thing that always strikes me after meeting indie artists around the world is this: no matter the language, the country, the style of music, the government or politics, all artists share the same passion and the same need to find and connect with an audience – and technology is the great leveler.

• Reykjavik Music Scene. By the way, the music scene at Reykjavik is out of this world. To put it in perspective, the whole country of Island is less than half the size of Boston – but the quality of music, the venues, the sound of the capital city rivals or bests anything I’ve experienced in the States.

It’s a flat world indeed.

Panos

I love this event (even though I am not quite ready for the cold weather). Check out their daily blog for updates, but here’s my take:

• It’s not the same old, same old. We’ve had great, thought provoking speakers from all kinds of industries. I particularly enjoyed Paul Bennett’s speech (from IDEO) at the beginning of the day about creativity, change, collaboration. We need fresh thinking in our business, not cynicism.

• It’s international and intimate. I’ve bumped into all kinds of people from UK, Nordic countries, China, US. That’s right, our business is not about “domestic” and “international” markets; it’s about the global market.

• You feel welcome and surrounded by art. Coffee breaks, lunches, etc. organized by the event bring people together and break the ice. And cocktails take place at art galleries, not stodgy hotels. I love it.

• It fuses creative industries. There are people here from all over: film, music, fashion, art, design, advertising. We all need inspiration and we can inspire each other. Our worlds are coming together.

Plus, I got the greatest compliment this morning when someone called my outfit very “Kanye”. Who knew? I look forward to the member dinner tonight.

Panos

First, something I learned today: the word “saga” is Icelandic and it literally means a novel or story. Go figure.

This place (Iceland) is pretty spectacular. And from a business standpoint, I am already fascinated by the concept of You Are In Control, which is organized by the Iceland Music Export office and meant to bring the worlds of independent music, film and design together in a conference. Makes sense, right? So, why aren’t more of these events out there talking about the convergence of all these industries? And of course the message of empowerment couldn’t be any more spot on.

And I will say that Icelanders know how to do business. First thing they do when we arrive? Organize a trip for us to the Blue Lagoon (alas not the one with Brooke Shields circa 1980) —  this geothermal natural spring that’s part of a lava formation (check out the photos). No bathing suit? No problem. You can “borrow” a Speedo. (Yes, I did.)

More tomorrow when the conference kicks off. Who says work can’t be fun?

Panos