Leaving in a few hours for Iceland to attend the You Are In Control Conference, which the Iceland Export Office is organizing. I have never been to Iceland before so I am looking forward to the trip. I heard the music scene is out of this world.

While there we are also hosting a Member Dinner for our Iceland and Nordic artist members, which we are holding at the peculiarly and appropriately named Boston Restaurant. (I swear, one of these days I’ll write a book about all the amazing indie musicians I’ve met around the globe during these dinners.)

If you’re attending the conference, come up and say hi. Updates from the road.

Panos

For those of you who did not have the chance to participate in the Billboard/BrandWeek Webinar that we sponsored, you can access the whole thing, on demand, from the Billboard site.

Some highlights:

• There is more demand than ever from brands for great music that resonates with consumers;

• There is a market shift, with independent music becoming highly desireable to marketers because of its authenticity, ease of procurement, and because it generally costs less than major label music (but not free);

• 78% of brands have visual guidelines but only about 24% have audio guidelines. Isn’t that amazing?

A couple of good questions that we did not have the chance to answer during the webinar:

Q: Are there any don’ts in conducting battle of the bands digitally?

A: Yes. Some of the ones that quickly come to mind are: 1) Make sure that you define your objectives upfront (if it’s meant to promote your brand, don’t send them to another site; if you want to capture consumer contact info, make sure that you have the right to contact them, etc.); 2) Do your best to prevent voting fraud (people find ways to circumvent the system); 3) make sure that what you offer the bands has real value to them, otherwise they won’t care (i.e. telling them that the grand prize is “worth $50,000” when it’s a bunch of junk is not acceptable) ; which leads me to 4) Treat bands with respect. You are trusting them, after all, to be viral carriers of your message.

Q: Is it wise to hold a contest for indie artists to be in a commercial or is it better to just hire someone?

A: I guess it depends on your objectives. Creative contests have the ability to raise viral awareness about a brand (through the bands to their fans) that can generate excitement and interest about a new product, well before a commercial is even aired. And you can usually accomplish that for a fraction of the cost of just what one major network-aired ad costs (and be more effective). On the other hand, if that’s not the objective and you are working on a coordinated marketing campaign that’s kicked off all at the same time, then perhaps hiring the artists without a whole lot of fan fair is best.

Happy to answer more questions. In the meantime, feel free to browse my personal power point below.

Panos

I am presenting a free webinar today, hosted by Billboard Magazine and BrandWeek, and sponsored by Sonicbids, titled “Matching Independent Musicians to Your Brand: How to Choose a Musical Act to Promote your Brand and Boost Sales”. Other speakers are Cortney Harding, who covers Independent Music for Billboard, and Steve Knill, president of Banshee Music.

I’ll be talking about how the Artistic Middle Class is changing the rules of branded marketing, and offering examples of major consumer brands that are using independent music successfully for their marketing campaigns.

You can read more about the webinar and register free here.

Panos

Yes, that’s me in the photo. In my apartment (which doubled as Sonicbids’ office for the first year), on my first official day as Sonicbids’ full time founder. The date on the photo (if you squint, you’ll see it on the left) is September 11, 2000 – exactly nine years ago. I am actually pretending to make a call because there wasn’t anyone to call just yet.

It’s funny thing, starting a business (or a band for that matter). You jump into the great unknown and all you have is faith. Faith in your vision, faith in your self, faith in your conviction that you can create something out of an idea. And I guess you pray for good luck.

Not sure if this is really an official birthday as the site was not launched until February 25, 2001; and there was nothing to do with Sonicbids.com, really, until June 2001 when you could first build at EPK. Gig Listings? We didn’t really have them until January 2002.

What do I think when I look back at the last nine years? Not much, other than gratitude — and urgency because time goes much faster than I’d like.  I prefer to look forward and to all the things that Sonicbids can be and do. The future’s a lot more fun than the past.

In the meantime, thank you for being a part (and a co-writer) of this amazing story.

Panos

Groucho Marx famously said that he would never be a member of a club that accepted him as a member. So I guess I’m conflicted about Berklee giving me a distinguished alumnus award at this Sunday’s entering student Convocation Ceremony (feels like mine was just yesterday).

OK, really, it’s an honor — and I am also excited to give the speech to the new kids entering the college. I love Berklee and going there changed my life.

I’m really looking forward to the event.

Panos

So on Tuesday we loaded a (party) bus full of Sonicbids folks and went to see the Rhode Island band Resin open for one of the 13 Creed shows that were posted on Sonicbids through our relationship with Live Nation. This one was at Comcast Center in Mansfield MA, about 20,000 seats and 40 miles from the office.

You know, I live for moments like this. Going and checking out a Sonicbids band playing somewhere in this world and realizing “yeah, this is why I do my job”.

Panos

P.S. Would 18 Sonicbids people go to a Creed show normally? Probably not. But that’s the power of putting indie music on these stages. They attract a wholly new audience – and visa versa.

About six months ago, I met someone who was good friends with Les Paul. He came to the office, we talked a bit about his business, and then he said: “Hey, next week I’m going down to New Jersey to visit Les and have him autograph some guitars, wanna come with me?”

I grew up playing guitar and listening to jazz, so of course I had a deep respect for who Les Paul was. I mean, no other guy (other than maybe Leo Fender) has had such an impact on modern music as Les, who died last week at age 94.

Would there be a Beatles, a Hendrix, a Led Zeppelin, a Guns & Roses, or even rock music without Les Paul? I doubt it. I am not just talking about the fact that he practically invented the electric guitar, but also about all his innovations in sound and recording.

Well, unfortunately I over-thought the whole thing about taking a day trip to go and visit Les at his home in Jersey and turned it down. Too busy, too long of a trip, too much time out of the office, I’ll get to it later, etc. Talk about logic getting in the way of doing what’s a no-brainer.

Les, I never met you, but you were the man.

Panos