The Music Business can learn a lot from sports. How many artists would kill to have the loyal following that sports clubs do? The longevity of the fan base? The ancillary revenue streams? I will continue exploring parallels between the two in this blog.

Football (i.e. soccer) is my passion after music. It keeps me sane when Sonicbids is nuts (highly recommend it). Had you asked me when I was 11 if I would grow up to be a footballer or an Internet entrepreneur I would have asked if you were joking (granted, the Internet did not exist in ’83).

I’m just back from the Arsenal vs. Spurs match in London. If you’re new to football this is, like, the match to see. A local North London derby. Real intense atmosphere, rivalry, passion.  I was lucky to catch two local derbies while in London, along with all the meetings and showcases (I also saw West Ham vs. Arsenal on Sunday).

Anyway, the match ended up a real downer. Arsenal were up 4-2 until the 88th minute and then blew it in the last two minutes to draw 4-4. What can I say? That’s like having a great three-hour show and then blowing the encore. Or leading in the polls all year long and then losing in the homestretch on Election Day (OK, let’s hope that does not happen).

Off to Seville in the AM. More on Womex in subsequent post. For those of you who are footie fans, see photos below.

Panos

First, let me say that it snowed. Yes, it snowed in London in October (got the photos to prove it; see above). I guess I brought the Boston weather with me.

We hosted the Member Dinner at Halepi, which is by far one of the best Greek Restaurants I’ve been to outside of Greece and Cyprus. Excellent food, authentic, great people (from Cyprus of course) and apparently the usual hang of locals like Richard Branson. Highly recommend it if you’re around town.

This is the first member event we hosted in London and it was a good eye-opener for me when it comes to the local indie scene. It seems that just like New York, London is so vast that it’s easy to get lost as an artist (unlike, say, Manchester where there is much more of a true integrated independent scene). And, unlike CMJ in New York, London lacks one big, seminal showcase event that can act as a true anchor for the local bands.

I’m continuously amazed how similar artists’ lives and issues are around the world. I got some great input about Sonicbids from the six members that came, with, I think the most insightful one (shared by all in attendance) that Sonicbids needs to do a better job educating you as a member, where you are relative to the others in the community. Sort of a success map for how to best use the service. This is spot on as I realize that you can be doing really well but not really knowing what the next step ought to be.

Our member get-togethers have been great so far as they not only yielded good insights about the local scenes and Sonicbids but have also produced tangible results: The new Submission Tracker and the new Gig Listings that we are launching in the next few weeks are direct byproducts of input we got from these dinners.

As far as the rest of the conference, not sure to be honest. I like coming to these events as they give me the chance to get together with people that I know in a more casual setting, see some good music, have a new insight or two about the business, and of course get to know some new folks (I find that contrary to popular perception, people in the music business are generally nice people who share a positive passion).

I would rate Musexpo Europe’s ability to help you meet and hang out with folks top shelf; Sat does a great job with organization (only conference in the world where all your meals are covered); and the intimacy of the event is refereshing. But man, the panels are boring. There’s a lot of opportunity in our business but people (especially those who’ve been around for ever) like to talk about the problems. There’s a lot of excitement in what’s going on today in our business, but the old boy and girl network likes cynicism. I also find that too many panelsists just spoil the chance to have a meaningful dialogue.

Off to Seville next, but not before I catch the Arsenal vs. Spurs match later tonight and then some showcases. We beat West Ham 2-0 by the way on Sunday. (And can you believe that someone that I know randomly in the US, who had no idea I’m in London, saw me on TV at the game?)

Panos

October is a busy month. Just back from CMJ in NYC (had a fun panel about Web 2.0 and its impact on the music business) and I am leaving today for London to attend Musexpo and then Seville, Spain (Thursday) for WOMEX. If you’re in either of the cities, come by and say hi (I’ll need the human contact).

In London I am speaking on a Digital Summit panel (Tuesday, 28th) moderated by Ted Cohen (Tag Strategic), with Dave Ulmer (Motorola), Ian Rogers (Top Spin), John Grinham (Nokia), Dave Goldberg (Benchmark Capital), Rob Wells (Universal) and Rob Lewis (Omniphone). Good crowd, should be fun.

In Seville for Womex, I am presenting a workshop on the Empowered Artist Tool Kit. I never attended Womex before and hanging out with the world music crowd will be an experience. Excited also to attend all the showcases, there are 17 Sonicbids bands playing in London and 33 in Seville.

We are also hosting two Sonicbids Member dinners, one in each city. I’m eager to get feedback on the new Gig Listing pages we are working on and which we should be releasing in beta in the next few weeks.

Lastly, (one should always mix business with football), I am excited to attend not one, but two London derbies. Tomorrow I’m off to Upton Park for West Ham vs. Arsenal; Wednesday at Emirates Stadium for Arsenal vs. Spurs.

Come on you Gunners.

Panos

Just back from Popkomm, and carrying a major let lag. I love the event and Berlin is perhaps my favorite city on the planet. Great art scene, friendly people, awesome music.

This year there were over 70 bands booked at the festival using Sonicbids. I found the overall music portion of Popkomm very well organized and (at least the showcases that I went to) very well attended. That’s half the battle when you do these showcases, making sure that people actually show up. The venues and sound were also top notch.

We also hosted our usual member dinner in Berlin and we had, I think, eight members including Astrid Swan and NazB who were showcasing at Popkomm later that week. I found the dinner fascinating because this was the first truly international member get-together we hosted: we had members from Israel, Ireland, Nigeria, Switzerland, Finland and of course Germany. Tess and Aliki from our team did a great job setting the dinner up.

What amazes me the most about these dinners is how similar the issues that musicians face are, regardless of the passport they carry. I think the main thing that stuck with me after the dinner is that a) we need to invest even more to get local gig listings for bands in Europe; and b) governments tend to be a lot more helpful in Europe in terms of funding bands to tour overseas, which presents all kinds of opportunities.

Other than that, I participated on a great panel about Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”. It was the first year anniversary of the release of the record, a major milestone for the music business. (“In Rainbows “ of course was the first album released by a major band to be offered for a pay-what-you-want fee).

Some cool stuff we talked about:

•    Even though fans could get the record free through the band’s website, illegal activity was just as intense. Why? Because consumers like to get music through their preferred channels.

•    Build a brand. Radiohead was able to leverage all the publicity they got from the (free) album release to sell out their tour, sell merchandise and of course up-sell fanatics their limited edition boxed set.

•    On the same brand theme, amazingly, because Radiohead is known as an “album” band, very few people downloaded individual tracks even though the option was there. Consumers went for the full album because the brand Radiohead calls for it to get the full experience.

I’ll talk more about the need to build your brand in a subsequent post.

Panos

Hello from Berlin. I am here attending Popkomm and have a small break in my schedule before I go to see some band showcases later tonight (more about Popkomm in subsequent post).

You’ve hopefully heard by now that yesterday we launched a new feature/service called the Submission Tracker – an updated version of the (unfortunately, and thankfully formerly titled) Status Manager. Basically, the feature does what is says: it enables artists to keep track of what’s happening to their submission after they chose to connect with a promoter; and just as importantly, it gives promoters a much easier way to review and notify bands.

I feel particularly proud of this launch because it’s a direct by-product of our interactions with our members, including the various member dinners that I’ve been hosting the past few months. (If you want to read more about the way the Tracker works, head over to the Builder’s Blog).

The Submission Tracker completely shifts the basic promise that we make to our members. This is that now, unless an artist knows that they’ve been reviewed (hence, “Tracker”) by the date a Promoter indicated, they have the ability to withdraw their submission and get their money back as site credit. Why is this important? Because I know that until now, one the biggest complaints we had at Sonicbids was the fact that artists paid money and promoters never got back to them. I know, not cool.

What’s interesting is that even here at Popkomm, I met at least two promoters who said, “this is the best thing you’ve done all year”. I guess it reaffirmed my belief that people want to feel good about what they do and no one wants to take money they haven’t earned. I love it.

Nothing is created perfect so we will continue to refine the way the Tracker works over the next few months and as we get feedback from you. Just as importantly, we are working a great number of updates on the site that I just know you’ll love (hint: they are all your suggestions).

Panos

I have a busy October coming up. Lots of travel and catching up with a lot of Sonicbids bands. If you are in any of these cities, come on up and say hi.

• October 6-11: Berlin, Germany. Attending Popkomm with Tess and Aliki from our team. Over 70 Sonicbids-booked bands performing. I am also speaking at a panel about the impact of Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”; and hosting a member event.

• October 21: New York City. Attending CMJ. 461 Sonicbids-booked bands to perform. Also moderating a panel about the new music business.

• October 26-29: London, UK. Attending Musexpo Europe. 17 Sonicbids-booked bands performing at the showcase event in clubs around the city. Also speaking on a panel about new music industry models.

• October 29-31: Seville, Spain. Attending WOMEX, the largest music industry show for World Music. 33 Sonicbids-booked artists showcasing. Aliki and Emily from our team are also attending the show. I will present a workshop about the Empowered Artist Tookit which I also talk about on this blog.

Panos