• Sofia Hagberg (End of the Road Festival) and Dominique Czopor (The Boileroom / we:Live) Finalise Line-up for ‘Get Plugged In’

Sofia Hagberg, director of the hugely successful End of the Road Festival and Dominique Czopor, Owner of Guildford venue The Boileroom complete the lineup for MusicTank’s music promotion course Get Plugged In: Live Music, Promotion and Venue Management. Following the success of its oversubscribed debut in 2011, MusicTank is again partnering with Andy Inglis, the hugely respected co-creator and manager of north London venue The Luminaire.

Inglis will be joined by a raft of leading industry figures such as Jonas Vebner (head of Music Export Norway’s UK office), Steve Tilley (National Promoter, Kilimanjaro), Dave Newton (founder, WeGotTickets) and now Sofia Hagberg (Director, End of the Road Festival) and Dominique Czopor (Owner, The Boileroom).

Designed as a much needed best-practice roadmap of the processes involved in live music promoting and venue management, the five part course draws on Inglis’ two decades of experience, sharing lessons learned and highlighting the pitfalls plaguing promoters and venue operators UK-wide.

The course will cover an extensive range of topics concerning venue owners, promoters and programmers such as promotion, ticketing and licensing legislation as well as the future issues facing Britain’s venues.

Despite the 100 Club’s rescue from the brink there have been some much publicised London closures of late, The Luminaire itself not escaping the recession’s icy clutches. Part of the course will investigate the events that led to its closure, as well as what this award winning venue did to gain such an avid following and a special place in the hearts of Londoners.

Appealing to venue promoters and owners as well as tour managers, booking agents and artists, this extensive course promises to guide and encourage those learning their trade as well as identify the risks felling even the industry titans in one of the last sectors of the business still able to generate income for new bands.

Jonathan Robinson,  Programme Director MusicTank said “Despite the economic challenges that lie ahead, 2012 could be a breakthrough year for small venues across the UK.  With reforms to the Licensing Act set to ease the sector and the appetite for big ticket arena concerts on the wane, there’s no better time for small venue operators and promoters to update their knowledge, refresh their skills and drive new business.”

Said Andy Inglis; “The Luminaire was a six year long education for me in customer service, what’s right and wrong with the live industry in London, and what’s so important about socks and 9v batteries that they appeared on almost ever backstage rider I ever saw. I’ll lay bare my experiences without concern for my own embarrassment, celebrate those who helped both artist and audience in their search of a fulfilling gigging experience, and castigate those who seek to put obstacles in their way. And I’ll swear reasonably frequently.”

Course: Get Plugged In: Live Music, Promotion and Venue Management

Date & Time:

18.00 – 21.00 Feb 27 2012, Mar 05, 12, 19 & 26

Venue:

The Boardroom, University of Westminster, Regent Street, London, W1B 2UW

Prices:

MusicTank Members: MT student members £150 | MT Individual members £170 | Full price £229

Speakers:

• Course tutor: Andy Inglis, co-creator and manager, The Luminaire

• Jonas Vebner (head of Music Export Norway’s UK office)
• Steve Tilley (National Promoter at Kilimanjaro)
• Dave Newton (founder of WeGotTickets)
• Sofia Hagberg (End of the Road Festival)
• Dominique Czopor (Owner, The Boileroom / we:Live)

Book here: http://www.musictank.co.uk/events/courses/get-plugged-in-live-music-promotion-and-venue-management-2012

2012 COURSE

Course Tutor: Andy Inglis, co-founder The Luminaire

Targeting tour managers, promoters, booking agents, marketers, DIY artists and small-to-medium sized venue owners and operators, this innovative 5-part course will provide all with a thorough grounding in the business of live music. Current practice will also be analyzed in an open forum, to distill ways of improving revenue and maximizing opportunity.

Drawing from an extensive pool of experience, Luminiare co-founder Andy Inglis, with industry guests, will be looking at the live music industry’s continually evolving ecosystem providing pointers for best practice and comparing UK and European markets and help inform and inspire a new wave of live industry entrepreneur.

COURSE OUTLINE

1. The Lie Of The Land: Sector Overview – 27^th February 2012
From 150 capacity rooms like The Windmill in Brixton, to 20,000 all-seated arenas, we’ll examine both the common issues (marketing and promotion, how to turn a profit, customer service) and the unique issues they face (how to keep the regular bar punters happy while there’s a Japanese noise core band playing in the corner, in the case of The Windmill). This introductory session will also consider the changing nature of the audience in a world where attention spans are shortening, where technology and an explosion in media makes never leaving the house an attractive proposition, and how venues can adapt to cope and survive in the teeth of arguably the worst economic crisis in history.

2. Selling The Gig: Marketing & Promotion – 5^th March 2012
From promoting the barely-breaking-even backroom gig, right up to sold out arena shows, we’ll consider the full gamut of marketing methods available. From traditional press ads, flyers, posters and street teams to the constantly evolving digital methods and platforms: e-lists, Facebook, Twitter and whatever else has appeared in the past five minutes, we’ll establish what works, what doesn’t and what’s best value for money. What tricks can be learned from the likes of Live Nation and Kilimanjaro and what do the cream of indie gig promoters keep up their sleeve?

3. Selling The Gig: Ticketing – 12^th March 2012 
From Ticketmaster and WeGotTickets to the new direct-to-fan companies snapping at their heels, we’ll look at booking and administration fees, kickbacks, paperless tickets, entry systems, fraud and what new technology has in store for the future of ticketing. For those with sell out gigs on their hands we’ll also consider the new front opened by a contentious secondary ticketing market jostling for a slice of a particular huge and tasty pie.

4. Compliance – 19^th March 2012 
Venue owners and promoters face a slew of legislation top-down; from the proposed changes to the Licensing Act (seldom out of the news) to a burgeoning raft of health and safety legislation, noise abatement issues, security and temporary event notices. How does this affect the day-to-day of the live sector, who exactly is responsible for what and how is this legislation best managed?

5. Learning By Example – UK & Overseas Case Studies – 26^th March 2012
The Luminaire…from award-winning venue to shut-down in under six years. A thorough examination of why it was opened, how it tried to be different, how it was received by the audience, artists and industry, what went right, what went wrong and what its legacy was – if indeed it left one – from one of the people who built and managed it. For an international perspective, we’ll look at other markets covering mainland Europe, how things differ to the UK, particularly where state funding is concerned. We’ll also take a look at that super-rich anomaly of Norway – the world’s third largest oil exporter, pumping tens of millions of pounds into culture a year.

-ends-

NOTES FOR EDITORS

ABOUT MUSICTANK

Unique among the music business’ many and various interest bodies, MusicTank is the country’s leading, independent, sector-specific business development network for the UK music industry.

Established in 2003 to inform and guide the future shape of the music business through engagement with industry, change and innovation, MusicTank has built an enviable reputation for its ongoing and unique programme of think tank debates, events, occasional courses and conferences, a natural progression from which has been the delivery of incisive reports commissioned from key industry figureheads.

Its content-rich website – www.musictank.co.uk – contains a wealth of industry information and resources, together with event transcripts and podcasts, news and research papers. Visitors to the site can sign up to a free monthly e-mail newsletter, and for a small annual subscription become members, giving access to premium content.

MusicTank is owned and operated by University of Westminster.

PRESS CONTACT

Hugo Mintz, Name PR

hugo@namepr.co.uk / 020 8357 7305

• MusicTank Add Steve Savoca, Spotify; Mark Mulligan; Mark Kelly, FAC; Paul Loasby, One Fifteen Management and Cosmo Lush, EMI to Panel

26 January, London:- As the streaming debate reaches fever pitch MusicTank will hold their first think tank of 2012, ‘The Big Question: Can Streaming Go Mainstream?’ now augmented with panellists from EMI Music, The FAC and Spotify.

Once heralded as the an industry saviour, a stigma is beginning to form around streaming services, spurred on by the abstention of high profile acts like Coldplay and Bob Dylan as well as the radio silence from labels on the detail of licensing deals.

MusicTank will place this misunderstood issue under the spotlight, with a panel made up of industry luminaries including Steve Savoca, Head of Content, Spotify; Paul Loasby, Owner, One Fifteen Management; Mark Mulligan, Digital Media Strategist;  Mark Kelly, CEO, The FAC; and Cosmo Lush, Senior VP Digital Business Development, EMI Music.

The issue could not be more important – some argue that unless streaming is both understood and embraced, the recordings business will be thrashing around a fifth percentile of licensed consumption for many years to come.   This think tank will drill to the heart of the issue, answering the two central questions – ‘how does the model work?’ And ‘how do the artists get paid?’

Keith Harris, MusicTank Chairman said “We’re still desperately searching for the silver bullet that will fix our business model on recorded music, we hope that this Musictank session will act as a torch helping to illuminate that search.”

Event Details

Title:                           The Big Question: Can Streaming Go Mainstream?

Date:                           23^rd February 2012

Time:                          18:30 to 21:00

Venue:                       Fyvie Hall, 115 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6UW

Cost:                           Standard – £35 / MT members – £25

Final Panellists

Steve Savoca             Head of Content, Spotify

Cosmo Lush              Senior VP Digital Business Development, EMI Music

Simon Wheeler          Director Of Strategy, Beggars Group

Mark Kelly                  CEO, The FAC

Mark Mulligan           Digital Media Strategist

Paul Loasby               Owner, One Fifteen Management

Danny Ryan               Managing Director, Kudos Records

Chairman:

Keith Harris               Keith Harris Music Ltd / MusicTank Chairman / Director of Performer Affairs, PPL

Tickets must be purchased in advance from www.musictank.co.uk/events/streaming

——————

Full Event Copy

The Big Question: Can Streaming Go Mainstream?

The recordings business begins 2012 at a make-or-break crossroads.

Digital is growing, and in under a decade, the download business has emerged to constitute approximately a quarter of all UK music consumption – a considerable slice of the pie.

Streaming is still a niche activity, but with Spotify already regularly used by about 10% of households, it is showing potential. The model is very much at a delicate point in its infancy however, which makes the growing disquiet that ‘streaming isn’t paying’ - fuelled by artists from Jon Hopkins to the Black Keys -  all the more problematic.

These artists are not on their own.  Many across the business, from labels through to lawyers, question the industry’s approach to this new model.  And the questions aren’t just about pennies per stream – some wonder whether streaming is cannibalising downloads.  Several draw parallels with the business’ response to the original Napster, the implication being that ‘get this wrong and the recordings business is going to be thrashing around a fifth percentile of licensed consumption for years to come’.

Many also feel that the services themselves could be more open. The streaming model alters our relationship with music from standard ownership to a pay-for-access model – realistically the biggest change in consumption of recorded music since its invention, yet, just when an extra effort to encourage understanding is needed, silence is fueling fear.

In some ways it’s a testament to the success of the model that industry stakeholders care to voice their concerns, though in the end, if people in the value chain don’t see value then there is a problem.

Ultimately there are two questions at the heart of the issue that this session aims to address:

1.    How does the model work?

2.    How do the artists get paid?

The discussion is sure to raise many issues – from artist contracts, the potential erosion of performers’ equitable right of remuneration for radio play, also the question of chart eligibility – however this session will avoid getting immersed in the finer ramifications for the rest of the business at this stage.

The immediate need is to understand what impact the biggest change in music consumption since the wax cylinder might have on the future of all in the recordings business – especially artists.

About MusicTank

Unique among the music business’ many and various interest bodies, MusicTank is the country’s leading, independent, sector-specific business development network for the UK music industry.

Established in 2003 to inform and guide the future shape of the music business through engagement with industry, change and innovation, MusicTank has built an enviable reputation for its ongoing and unique programme of think tank debates, events, occasional courses and conferences, a natural progression from which has been the delivery of incisive reports commissioned from key industry figureheads.

Its content-rich website – www.musictank.co.uk – contains a wealth of industry information and resources, together with event transcripts and podcasts, news and research papers. Visitors to the site can sign up to a free monthly e-mail newsletter, and for a small annual subscription become members, giving access to premium content.

MusicTank is owned and operated by University of Westminster.

18:30, 23^rd February 2012, Central London

 Speakers Include Beggars’ Simon Wheeler and Kudos’ Danny Ryan

5^th January, London:- MusicTank’s first think tank of 2012 will shed light on the streaming model of music consumption, the royalties it produces and its future in the wake of significant disquiet among parts of the recordings business.

Streaming, which arguably represents the biggest shift in music consumption habits since the invention of wax cylinder, changes the ingrained music ownership model to a pay-for-access one that is little understood, and which many, especially artists, find unrewarding.

The issue could not be more important – some argue that unless streaming is both understood and embraced, the recordings business will be thrashing around a fifth percentile of licensed consumption for many years to come.   This think tank will drill to the heart of the issue, answering the two central questions – ‘how does the model work?’ And ‘how do the artists get paid?’

Speakers include Beggars Group Director of Strategy Simon Wheeler and Kudos Records MD Danny Ryan.

Ryan, who has been outspoken on the subject, founded Kudos Records in 1992 to provide distribution services to the emerging producer run electronica and house labels of the time, and the company now distributes for over 200 labels.

Wheeler, who has worked with almost every significant entity in digital media, has been keeping the record breaking independent record company Beggars Group at the forefront of new technologies since 1990. Simon is chairman of AIM’s New Media Committee, while Danny sits on the new media committees of both AIM and The BPI.

Said Keith Harris, MusicTank Chairman “The whole industry is trying to make up its mind about streaming, with artists like Coldplay withholding their albums from initial streaming, to labels asking what it does to the download market, and of course artists wondering whether they will ever get anything approaching a reasonable royalty.

 “We hope that we can get to the heart of some of these questions, and help to move the debate on further.”

Event Details

Date:                    23^rd February 2012

Time:                    18:30 to 21:00

Venue:                TBC – Central London

Cost:                    Standard – £35 / MT members – £25

Tickets must be purchased in advance from here

——————

Full Event Copy

The Big Question: Can Streaming Go Mainstream?

The recordings business begins 2012 at a make-or-break crossroads.

Digital is growing, and in under a decade, the download business has emerged to constitute approximately a quarter of all UK music consumption – a considerable slice of the pie.

Streaming is still a niche activity, but with Spotify already regularly used by about 10% of households, it is showing potential. The model is very much at a delicate point in its infancy however, which makes the growing disquiet that ‘streaming isn’t paying’ - fuelled by artists from Jon Hopkins to the Black Keys -  all the more problematic.

These artists are not on their own.  Many across the business, from labels through to lawyers, question the industry’s approach to this new model.  And the questions aren’t just about pennies per stream – some wonder whether streaming is cannibalising downloads.  Several draw parallels with the business’ response to the original Napster, the implication being that ‘get this wrong and the recordings business is going to be thrashing around a fifth percentile of licensed consumption for years to come’.

Many also feel that the services themselves could be more open. The streaming model alters our relationship with music from standard ownership to a pay-for-access model – realistically the biggest change in consumption of recorded music since its invention, yet, just when an extra effort to encourage understanding is needed, silence is fueling fear.

In some ways it’s a testament to the success of the model that industry stakeholders care to voice their concerns, though in the end, if people in the value chain don’t see value then there is a problem.

Ultimately there are two questions at the heart of the issue that this session aims to address:

1.    How does the model work?

2.    How do the artists get paid?

The discussion is sure to raise many issues – from artist contracts, the potential erosion of performers’ equitable right of remuneration for radio play, also the question of chart eligibility – however this session will avoid getting immersed in the finer ramifications for the rest of the business at this stage.

The immediate need is to understand what impact the biggest change in music consumption since the wax cylinder might have on the future of all in the recordings business – especially artists.

About MusicTank

Unique among the music business’ many and various interest bodies, MusicTank is the country’s leading, independent, sector-specific business development network for the UK music industry.

Established in 2003 to inform and guide the future shape of the music business through engagement with industry, change and innovation, MusicTank has built an enviable reputation for its ongoing and unique programme of think tank debates, events, occasional courses and conferences, a natural progression from which has been the delivery of incisive reports commissioned from key industry figureheads.

Its content-rich website – www.musictank.co.uk – contains a wealth of industry information and resources, together with event transcripts and podcasts, news and research papers. Visitors to the site can sign up to a free monthly e-mail newsletter, and for a small annual subscription become members, giving access to premium content.

MusicTank is owned and operated by University of Westminster.

Course tutor: Andy Inglis, co-creator and manager, The Luminaire

Speakers:

-       Jonas Vebner (head of Music Export Norway’s UK office)

-       Steve Tilley (National Promoter at Kilimanjaro)

-       Dave Newton (founder of WeGotTickets)

Building on the success of its oversubscribed debut in 2011, MusicTank is again partnering with Andy Inglis, the hugely respected co-creator and manager of north London venue The Luminaire, to re-run the Get Plugged In: Live Music, Promotion and Venue Management course in 2012.

Designed as a much needed best-practice roadmap of the processes involved in live music promoting and venue management, the five part course draws on Inglis’ two decades of experience, sharing lessons learned and highlighting the pitfalls plaguing promoters and venue operators UK-wide.

The course will cover an extensive range of topics concerning venue owners, promoters and programmers such as promotion, ticketing and licensing legislation as well as the future issues facing Britain’s venues.

Inglis will be joined by a raft of leading industry figures such as Jonas Vebner (head of Music Export Norway’s UK office), Steve Tilley (National Promoter at Kilimanjaro) and Dave Newton (founder of WeGotTickets)

Despite the 100 Club’s recent rescue from the brink there have been some much publicised London closures of late, The Luminaire itself not escaping the recession’s icy clutches. Part of the course will investigate the events that led to its closure, as well as what this award winning venue did to gain such an avid following and a special place in the hearts of Londoners.

Appealing to venue promoters and owners as well as tour managers, booking agents and artists, this extensive course promises to guide and encourage those learning their trade as well as identify the risks felling even the industry titans in one of the last sectors of the business still able to generate income for new bands.

Said Andy Inglis; “The Luminaire was a six year long education for me in customer service, what’s right and wrong with the live industry in London, and what’s so important about socks and 9v batteries that they appeared on almost ever backstage rider I ever saw. I’ll lay bare my experiences without concern for my own embarrassment, celebrate those who helped both artist and audience in their search of a fulfilling gigging experience, and castigate those who seek to put obstacles in their way. And I’ll swear reasonably frequently.”

Andy Knight, RGS Entertainment said of 2011’s course “A very enjoyable course. A great mix of information, frank discussion, humour and profanity. A pint down the pub afterwards was also a great way to network and have a general chat about the course. Monday nights will never be the same again!”

Course: Get Plugged In: Live Music, Promotion and Venue Management

Date & Time:

18.00 – 21.00 Feb 27 2012, Mar 05, 12, 19 & 26

Venue:

The Boardroom, University of Westminster, Regent Street, London, W1B 2UW

Prices:

MusicTank Members: MT student members £150 | MT Individual members £170 | Full price £229

Book here: http://www.musictank.co.uk/events/courses/get-plugged-in-live-music-promotion-and-venue-management-2012

2012 COURSE

Course Tutor: Andy Inglis, co-founder The Luminaire

Targeting tour managers, promoters, booking agents, marketers, DIY artists and small-to-medium sized venue owners and operators, this innovative 5-part course will provide all with a thorough grounding in the business of live music. Current practice will also be analyzed in an open forum, to distill ways of improving revenue and maximizing opportunity.

Drawing from an extensive pool of experience, Luminiare co-founder Andy Inglis, with industry guests, will be looking at the live music industry’s continually evolving ecosystem providing pointers for best practice and comparing UK and European markets and help inform and inspire a new wave of live industry entrepreneur.

COURSE OUTLINE

1. The Lie Of The Land: Sector Overview – 27^th February 2012
From 150 capacity rooms like The Windmill in Brixton, to 20,000 all-seated arenas, we’ll examine both the common issues (marketing and promotion, how to turn a profit, customer service) and the unique issues they face (how to keep the regular bar punters happy while there’s a Japanese noise core band playing in the corner, in the case of The Windmill). This introductory session will also consider the changing nature of the audience in a world where attention spans are shortening, where technology and an explosion in media makes never leaving the house an attractive proposition, and how venues can adapt to cope and survive in the teeth of arguably the worst economic crisis in history.

2. Selling The Gig: Marketing & Promotion – 5^th March 2012
From promoting the barely-breaking-even backroom gig, right up to sold out arena shows, we’ll consider the full gamut of marketing methods available. From traditional press ads, flyers, posters and street teams to the constantly evolving digital methods and platforms: e-lists, Facebook, Twitter and whatever else has appeared in the past five minutes, we’ll establish what works, what doesn’t and what’s best value for money. What tricks can be learned from the likes of Live Nation and Kilimanjaro and what do the cream of indie gig promoters keep up their sleeve?

3. Selling The Gig: Ticketing – 12^th March 2012 
From Ticketmaster and WeGotTickets to the new direct-to-fan companies snapping at their heels, we’ll look at booking and administration fees, kickbacks, paperless tickets, entry systems, fraud and what new technology has in store for the future of ticketing. For those with sell out gigs on their hands we’ll also consider the new front opened by a contentious secondary ticketing market jostling for a slice of a particular huge and tasty pie.

4. Compliance – 19^th March 2012 
Venue owners and promoters face a slew of legislation top-down; from the proposed changes to the Licensing Act (seldom out of the news) to a burgeoning raft of health and safety legislation, noise abatement issues, security and temporary event notices. How does this affect the day-to-day of the live sector, who exactly is responsible for what and how is this legislation best managed?

5. Learning By Example – UK & Overseas Case Studies – 26^th March 2012
The Luminaire…from award-winning venue to shut-down in under six years. A thorough examination of why it was opened, how it tried to be different, how it was received by the audience, artists and industry, what went right, what went wrong and what its legacy was – if indeed it left one – from one of the people who built and managed it. For an international perspective, we’ll look at other markets covering mainland Europe, how things differ to the UK, particularly where state funding is concerned. We’ll also take a look at that super-rich anomaly of Norway – the world’s third largest oil exporter, pumping tens of millions of pounds into culture a year.

Remake, Remodel: Challenging The ‘Dinosaur’ Myth

2.30pm to 7pm July 14th 2011

PRS for Music

29/33 Berners Street, London W1T 3AB

-        R1’s George Ergatoudis, Alice Enders and WhizzKidd’s Malcolm Gerrie join speakers at MusicTank’s label futures conference

Radio1 / 1Xtra Head of Music George Ergatoudis is the latest big gun to join the burgeoning list of speakers at MusicTank’s fourth industry conference, Remake, Remodel: Challenging the ‘Dinosaur’ Myth.

MusicTank is also pleased to announce Alice Enders from Enders Analysis and music TV veteran Malcolm Gerrie will join the likes of Muff Winwood and Universal’s Paul Smernicki in the event, which builds upon Wadsworth’s recently published report into the future of the record label.

The report raised questions about the recordings business that will be considered in five key conversations, with a view to exploring its new dynamic.

Ergatoudis will bring R1’s vital take on how the ongoing fragmentation of swathes of the media might effect the growth and lifespan of artist’s careers.  Gerrie, whose TV credentials spans from The Tube in the ’80s to the 2011 British Academy Film Awards, will draw on his distinguished career to consider whether there may be parallels to draw with a TV industry that has evolved from a handful of large production house to several independent producers.

Alice Enders, meanwhile, will assist in forecasting when, if ever, the tipping point might come for labels to ditch the physical format in its entirety.

These speakers join Muff Winwood, Former President Sony Music UK and Member, Spencer Davis Group, Paul Smernicki (Director Of Digital, Universal Music UK), Peter Thompson (MD [PIAS] UK), Martin Goldschmidt, (Founder, Cooking Vinyl), Robert Horsfall, Founder Partner, Sound Advice and of course Tony Wadsworth, BPI Chairman and former Chairman & CEO, EMI Music UK & Ireland, for the half-day conference.

Said Wadsworth “The role of the record label, whatever part of the business you come from, is a key question. Whether you believe it’s had its day, or that its role in the digital world is as pivotal as ever, or indeed you are somewhere in between, the debate is timely and promises to be anything but boring.”

Speakers

Tony Wadsworth BPI Chairman, Report Author

Malcolm Gerrie – Chief Executive, WhizzKid Entertainment

George Ergatoudis – Head of Music, BBC Radio 1

Alice Enders – Enders Analysis

Muff Winwood, Former President Sony Music UK

Paul Smernicki Director Of Digital, Universal Music UK

Peter Thompson, MD [PIAS] UK

Martin Goldschmidt, Founder, Cooking Vinyl

Robert Horsfall, Founder Partner, Sound Advice

Chairman: Keith Harris, MusicTank Chairman, Director of Performer Affairs, PPL

Moderator Dr. Eamonn Forde, Report Collaborator, Journalist

Link to event - http://www.musictank.co.uk/events/remake-remodel-event

—

Event Details

Date: 14th July 2011

Time: 14:30 to 19:00

Venue: The Boardroom

PRS for Music, 29/33 Berners Street, London W1T 3AB

Cost: Standard – £65 / members – £45

Tickets must be purchased in advance from www.musictank.co.uk

ABOUT MUSICTANK

MusicTank is the UK’s music business network, an initiative of the University of Westminster, set up with the support of 14 UK music industry organisations.

MusicTank aims to foster new collaborations and circulate innovative ideas, best practice and cutting-edge strategies to increase innovation and productivity across the business.  Regular think tanks bring hot topics into sharp focus and help pinpoint the opportunities created by disruptive technologies.

MusicTank conferences deal with everything from record production to copyright review while occasional social evenings blend the entertaining recollections of music business virtuosos with the opportunity to develop valuable industry contacts.

MusicTank aims to override traditional partitions by providing improved access to expert knowledge via musictank.co.uk, the leading music business web-site, offering free industry discussion on new business techniques alongside useful reports and comments from leading lights. MusicTank also produces a free monthly newsletter to keep subscribers up to date with all the latest music developments.

www.musictank.co.uk

-      Paul Smernicki, Universal; Peter Thompson, [PIAS] UK; Martin Goldschmidt, Cooking Vinyl; Robert Horsfall, Sound Advice

Remake, Remodel: Challenging The ‘Dinosaur’ Myth

2.30pm to 7pm July 14th 2011

PRS for Music

29/33 Berners Street, London W1T 3AB

MusicTank have announced the first raft of speakers for their fourth industry conference, Remake, Remodel: Challenging the ‘Dinosaur’ Myth.

Muff Winwood, who began his career in the Sixties as the bass player of the Spencer Davis Group before rising through the ranks to become President of Sony Music UK, joins Paul Smernicki (Director Of Digital, Universal Music UK), Peter Thompson (MD [PIAS] UK), Martin Goldschmidt, (Founder, Cooking Vinyl), Robert Horsfall, Founder Partner, Sound Advice and of course Tony Wadsworth, BPI Chairman and former Chairman & CEO, EMI Music UK & Ireland, for the half-day conference.

The event builds upon Wadsworth’s recently published report into the future of the record label, which raised questions about the recordings business that can no longer be ignored.  Five key questions about the business will be explored in an attempt to map out its new dynamic.

Said Wadsworth “I’m thrilled that my report has got people talking! We put the report together with the input and opinions of many people in the industry. Several key themes came through from these conversations that we began to explore and try to make sense of over the course of the report.

“This conference is an opportunity to explore these themes further across a wider group of music people. I certainly don’t feel we arrived at all the answers, but perhaps during the conference we may get a lot closer to some of them.

“The role of the record label, whatever part of the business you come from, is a key question. Whether you believe it’s had its day, or that its role in the digital world is as pivotal as ever, or indeed you are somewhere in between, the debate is timely and promises to be anything but boring.”

Commented Keith Harris “Having allowed time for people to digest Tony’s report, we are now looking to widen the debate with this conference, and hopefully reach some hard and fast conclusions about the way the Recorded Music Industry is developing.”

Speakers

Tony Wadsworth BPI Chairman, Report Author

Muff Winwood, Former President Sony Music UK

Paul Smernicki Director Of Digital, Universal Music UK

Peter Thompson, MD [PIAS] UK

Martin Goldschmidt, Founder, Cooking Vinyl

Robert Horsfall, Founder Partner, Sound Advice

Chairman: Keith Harris, MusicTank Chairman, Director of Performer Affairs, PPL

Moderator Dr. Eamonn Forde, Report Collaborator, Journalist

Content Partner Music Week

Link to event - http://www.musictank.co.uk/events/remake-remodel-event

—

Event Details

Date: 14th July 2011

Time: 14:30 to 19:00

Venue: The Boardroom

PRS for Music, 29/33 Berners Street, London W1T 3AB

Cost: Standard – £65 / members – £45

Tickets must be purchased in advance from www.musictank.co.uk

ABOUT MUSICTANK

MusicTank is the UK’s music business network, an initiative of the University of Westminster, set up with the support of 14 UK music industry organisations.

MusicTank aims to foster new collaborations and circulate innovative ideas, best practice and cutting-edge strategies to increase innovation and productivity across the business.  Regular think tanks bring hot topics into sharp focus and help pinpoint the opportunities created by disruptive technologies.

MusicTank conferences deal with everything from record production to copyright review while occasional social evenings blend the entertaining recollections of music business virtuosos with the opportunity to develop valuable industry contacts.

MusicTank aims to override traditional partitions by providing improved access to expert knowledge via musictank.co.uk, the leading music business web-site, offering free industry discussion on new business techniques alongside useful reports and comments from leading lights. MusicTank also produces a free monthly newsletter to keep subscribers up to date with all the latest music developments.

www.musictank.co.uk

Challenging the ‘Dinosaur Myth’

2pm to 6pm July 14th 2011

PRS for Music,

29/33 Berners Street, London W1T 3AB

“No-one buys records anymore”

“Record companies need scale to exist”

“You don’t need a record company, you can Do It Yourself”

Challenging the ‘Dinosaur Myth’, a half-day conference inspired by Tony Wadsworth’s recent authoritative label report, will bring together a mixture of opinion leaders, fact-based analysis and case studies to explore the future of the recordings business.

Building upon the themes and assumptions laid bare in Remake, Remodel: The Evolution of the Record Label, the conference will analyse many of the claims and dogmas overshadowing the record business as a means of understanding its new dynamic and heading off future issues at the pass.

The panel will include a representative from pan-european indie label and distributor [PIAS] with more speakers to be announced shortly.

Broken down into two sections: the macro will consider the future operations of the business, while the micro will focus on the options for individual artists in a fast evolving sector.

The macro discussion will consider whether labels are still playing the long game or indeed even have deep enough pockets to develop tomorrow’s big name artists.  What of the continuing spend on legacy artists by labels and consumers alike, displacing investment in new talent and raising questions as to the existence of a legacy business in 20 years time? And at what point, if ever, might labels be able to lay the physical business to rest?

The micro discussion will take the perspective of talent and management to explore the best vehicle for releasing new music. A far cry from the days when ascending artists might make the comparatively simple choice of major royalty deal vs indie profit share, there are now a plethora of alternative arrangements to choose from, including 360s, service deals and financed options. Is there an ultimate contractual and resource combination to best to maximise an artist’s potential and return?

Chairman: Keith Harris Keith Harris Music Ltd / MusicTank Chairman / Director of Performer Affairs, PPL

Moderators: Tony Wadsworth BPI Chairman, Report Author

Eamonn Forde Report Collaborator, Journalist

Speakers: TBC [PIAS]

Other Speakers TBC

Link to event - www.musictank.co.uk/events/remake-remodel-event

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Event Details

Date: 14th July 2011

Time: 14:00 to 18:00

Venue: The Boardroom

PRS for Music, 29/33 Berners Street, London W1T 3AB

Cost: Standard – £65 / members – £45

Tickets must be purchased in advance from www.musictank.co.uk

About MusicTank

MusicTank is the UK’s music business network, an initiative of the University of Westminster, set up with the support of 14 UK music industry organisations.

MusicTank aims to foster new collaborations and circulate innovative ideas, best practice and cutting-edge strategies to increase innovation and productivity across the business.  Regular think tanks bring hot topics into sharp focus and help pinpoint the opportunities created by disruptive technologies.

MusicTank conferences deal with everything from record production to copyright review while occasional social evenings blend the entertaining recollections of music business virtuosos with the opportunity to develop valuable industry contacts.

MusicTank aims to override traditional partitions by providing improved access to expert knowledge via musictank.co.uk, the leading music business web-site, offering free industry discussion on new business techniques alongside useful reports and comments from leading lights. MusicTank also produces a free monthly newsletter to keep subscribers up to date with all the latest music developments.

www.musictank.co.uk

• MusicTank 4^th Industry Report, Written by BPI Chairman and former Chairman & CEO, EMI Music UK & Ireland Tony Wadsworth
• To be launched at Friday Keynote, The Great Escape Festival

Tony Wadsworth, BPI Chairman and former Chairman & CEO, EMI Music UK & Ireland, has written MusicTank’s fourth industry report.

The report draws from the quarter century Tony has spent on the frontline of the record business – including the most tumultuous decade in its history.  It defies much of the accepted wisdom and reveals the latest thinking on the evolution and future of the record company through conversations with some of the sector’s top executives.

Wadsworth will unveil the report on Friday 13 May at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton, during an afternoon keynote hosted by MusicTank, ahead of its publication on Monday 16th May.

Said John Reid, CEO, Warner Music Europe & International Marketing “The music industry continues to evolve and record companies are at the heart of that change – nurturing the latest talent, forging new ways to reach fans and creating exciting music experiences. Tony’s knowledge and insight means he is well-placed to explore these themes and articulate emerging trends too.”

Commented Keith Harris, Chairman MusicTank “I am delighted that Tony agreed to write this report for MusicTank and it will provide some food for thought about the way forward for recorded music.”

Launch: 3.45pm 13^th May 2011, Pavillion Theatre, Brighton

Pricing: £45 including a year’s membership to MusicTank

Published: Monday 16th May

OFFER – Become a MusicTank member by 5pm Thu 12th May to receive both the report and a year’s subscription to MusicTank for only £30. See www.musictank.co.uk for more information.

6.30pm March 3rd 2011

Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster,Regent Street

W1B 2UW London

•       Matt Smith From The Viral Factory To Keynote With Presentation On ‘How To Make A Viral’

•      Beggars Group Head Of Digital Marketing, David Emery And Rob Gotlieb, Head Of Marketing, Europe, MUZU Join Panel

•      Panel Finalised

Matt Smith, Director of Strategy for viral marketing stalwarts, The Viral Factory, will be keynoting the forthcoming MusicTank think tank on the viral marketing boom hitting the music industry and how to harness the movement.

Smith will kick off the think tank with a presentation posing questions and debunking stigmas on the controversial topic of ‘How to Make a Viral’.

Joining Smith to complete the highly powered think tank panel will be Rob Gotlieb, Head of Marketing, Europe for MUZU as well as David Emery, Head of Digital Marketing, Beggars Group. With Darren Hemmings of [PIAS] sitting alongside Emery on the panel, the two of the largest independent label groups in Europe will be represented.

This Thursday’s think tank is set to expound upon the contentious movement taking the industry by storm. With more and more songs reaching fans through social channels, the recordings business en masse is slowly wising up to the growing impact of group recommendations and its phenomenal affect on music marketing.

The final speakers are:

Keynote: Matt Smith Director of Strategy, The Viral Factory

Panel:

David Emery Head of Digital Marketing, Beggars Group

Darren Hemmings Digital Marketing Manager, [PIAS]

Rob Gotlieb Head of Marketing, Europe, MUZU

Dan Nixon Film maker and Editor, 20jazzfunkgreats blog

Chairman: Keith Harris Keith Harris Music Ltd / MusicTank Chairman / Director of Performer Affairs, PPL

More info on speakers and companies:

Filmmaker Dan Nixon created the ghostly viral video for Echo Lake’s Young Silence single, released last week, which was shot on a hacked Microsoft Kinect Xbox accessory. He also writes for the Brighton based fanzine and blog 20jazzfunkgreats.co.uk.

Label and distribution giant [PIAS] is deep in the throes of plotting today’s release of the Diplo/Tiesto/Busta Rhymes track ‘C’mon’, currently sitting at 3.5m YouTube views, while Tyler The Creator’s (XL) new video has had 1.4m views in the space of a week and a half.

The Viral Factory are a digital marketing and media company working in all facets of viral video production from inception through to production, marketing and analytics. They have 10 years working in the field of viral marketing with the likes of Paramount, Google, Diesel, Skype and Samsung and have 10 years experience in viral marketing and over a billion views to their credit.

Link to event - http://www.musictank.co.uk/events/it-started-with-a-click-how-to-spawn-a-viral-hit

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Event Details

Date: 3^rd March 2011

Time: 18:30 to 21:00

Venue: Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster, Regent Street, W1B UW

London

Cost: Standard – £35 / trade body members – £30 / members – £25

Tickets must be purchased in advance from www.musictank.co.uk

Presented by leading-edge companies, breakout groups will follow the first half of speakers, each to be led by one of these experts.  The results of these brainstorm round tables will be fed back to the room.

It is hoped this may inspire fresh thinking and that those present may learn from other sectors that have successfully deployed the techniques to drive exposure and engage fans.  Q&A with the panel will follow a mid-evening break.

Full Event Copy

The third of MusicTank’s Year Zero events aims to demystify the little-understood area of the business that is the viral hit.

Midday on a Thursday late in January, the rumblings of an exciting new Hip Hop Rave track began to reverberate around cyber music halls.  A week later, the rumbling turned to a roar and by the 1st week in February, 2¼ million people had viewed ‘C’Mon’, the Busta Rhymes/Tiesto/Diplo collaboration on YouTube.

As DIY fever took hold in the early naughties, MySpace was heralded as the future of music online, being the first widely available, easy-to-use platform for artists to promote their music.  With its popularity and relevance now fast fading amidst a rapidly evolving social media landscape, where do artists now turn to get themselves heard?  YouTube is leading the fray, breaking a new breed of runaway hits and artists, from ‘F**ck You’ now sitting at 38 million views, to ‘The Vaccines’ billed as one of the hottest breaking acts of 2011.

Building on MySpace’s foundation, media hosting sites with social networking capabilities have become ubiquitous; from SoundCloud to Muzu there is no shortage of online space to upload or listen to the latest breaking song; even Spotify has entered the fray incorporating social elements to their interface. YouTube though, is becoming synonymous with viral smashes, putting it at the forefront of viral marketing – a discipline garnering a reputation for pulling results and eyeballs usually associated with marketing campaigns many times the budget.

Much of YouTube’s success to-date lies in its embeddability – on Facebook alone, 46.2 years of YouTube videos are watched every day and over 3 million people connect to the auto-sharing feature on YouTube’s site – allowing easy sharing of videos through the individual networks.  Despite a number of competitors nipping at its heels this site has enjoyed unprecedented loyalty and a surprisingly long lifespan in an industry of constant startups and failures.

It is convenience that makes videos such a strong viral tool. Free and seemingly uninhibited by the need to license, YouTube’s encyclopaedic catalogue helps make it the first stop for many when seeking to listen to a favourite or recently leaked song.

SoundCloud, a YouTube competitor, offers a music hosting site with social aspects and might lay claim to creating its own viral successes such as XXXY.  But a purely audio track can’t realistically offer the universal pull of a video, as was so eloquently demonstrated by MTV in the ‘80’s.

But despite Vevo’s planned launch in the UK in April, video won’t necessarily always be the ultimate viral medium. As mobile becomes a more common means for listening to music it is likely a more convenient medium will become available, video remains large and unwieldy for many on limited bandwidth.

Whatever the future holds, the fact is that today, now, viral multimedia can already help break an artist or track.   Yet how it’s done remains largely the stuff of mystery, with some very successful labels admitting to still feeling their way.

When it comes to breaking new artists, this relatively low cost and often very successful means of marketing also has the cachet of being below the radar and so cooler than splashing an artist all over the London Underground.  So it’s unsurprising that so many majors use the medium to covertly build an artist’s credibility in the months and occasionally years before record release – Little Boots being a prime example.

Social tastemakers and vloggers play an important role in the new landscape with a mere mention of a clip by a popular figure often leading to hundreds of thousands of views.  How have labels exploited this kind of word of mouth to maximum effect?  What tools have they used and how has social media led the rest of the marketing mix?

This think tank will inform and inspire those looking to understand how to make music go viral over social media.  Lifting the lid and debunking dogma about how to create a viral hit, this illustrated session will combine panel-led debate with open round table discussion providing all with pointers, next step suggestions and an eye on how music will broken in the future.

Allowing plenty of time for Q &A, we’ll be getting the lay of the land and asking what all this means for the future of music marketing.

Next MusicTank: It Started With A Click: How To Spawn A Viral Hit

•  Panel to include [PIAS]’s Darren Hemmings, The Viral Factory’s Matt Smith and filmmaker / 20jazzfunkgreats blogger Dan Nixon

In the third of their ’Year Zero’ event series, the University of Westminster’s music business network MusicTank investigates the viral marketing boom hitting the music industry and how to harness the movement.

With more and more songs reaching fans through social channels, the recordings business en masse is slowly wising up to the growing impact of group recommendations and its phenomenal affect on music marketing.

YouTube, Vevo, Muzu and Soundcloud are all major players in the making of a ‘Viral Hit’ but how it’s done and the impact it has on release process is still the stuff of myth.

Joining MusicTank Chairman Keith Harris on the panel to debunk and expound are [PIAS]’ Digital Marketing Manager, Darren Hemmings; The Viral Factory’s Director of Strategy, Matt Smith; and filmmaker and blog editor Dan Nixon.  Dan created the ghostly viral video for Echo Lake’s Young Silence single, released this week, which was shot on a hacked Microsoft Kinect Xbox accessory. He also writes for the Brighton based fanzine and blog 20jazzfunkgreats.co.uk.

Label and distribution giant [PIAS] is deep in the throes of plotting their next release, the Diplo/Tiesto/Busta Rhymes track ‘C’mon’, which is currently sitting at 2,770,000 YouTube views.

The Viral Factory  are a digital marketing and media company working in all facets of viral video production from inception through to production, marketing and analytics. With over a billion views to their credit, they have worked with the likes of Paramount, Diesel, Skype and Samsung.

More speakers to be announced shortly.

Link to event - http://www.musictank.co.uk/events/it-started-with-a-click-how-to-spawn-a-viral-hit

—

Event Details

Date: 3^rd March 2011

Time: 18:30 to 21:00

Venue: Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster, Regent Street, W1B UW

London

Cost: Standard – £35 / trade body members – £30 / members – £25

Tickets must be purchased in advance from www.musictank.co.uk

Presented by leading-edge companies, breakout groups will follow the first half of speakers, each to be led by one of these experts.  The results of these brainstorm round tables will be fed back to the room.

It is hoped this may inspire fresh thinking and that those present may learn from other sectors that have successfully deployed the techniques to drive exposure and engage fans.  Q&A with the panel will follow a mid-evening break.

Full Event Copy

The third of MusicTank’s Year Zero events aims to demystify the little-understood area of the business that is the viral hit.

Midday on a Thursday late in January, the rumblings of an exciting new Hip Hop Rave track began to reverberate around cyber music halls.  A week later, the rumbling turned to a roar and by the 1st week in February, 2¼ million people had viewed ‘C’Mon’, the Busta Rhymes/Tiesto/Diplo collaboration on YouTube.

As DIY fever took hold in the early naughties, MySpace was heralded as the future of music online, being the first widely available, easy-to-use platform for artists to promote their music.  With its popularity and relevance now fast fading amidst a rapidly evolving social media landscape, where do artists now turn to get themselves heard?  YouTube is leading the fray, breaking a new breed of runaway hits and artists, from ‘F**ck You’ now sitting at 38 million views, to ‘The Vaccines’ billed as one of the hottest breaking acts of 2011.

Building on MySpace’s foundation, media hosting sites with social networking capabilities have become ubiquitous; from SoundCloud to Muzu there is no shortage of online space to upload or listen to the latest breaking song; even Spotify has entered the fray incorporating social elements to their interface. YouTube though, is becoming synonymous with viral smashes, putting it at the forefront of viral marketing – a discipline garnering a reputation for pulling results and eyeballs usually associated with marketing campaigns many times the budget.

Much of YouTube’s success to-date lies in its embeddability – on Facebook alone, 46.2 years of YouTube videos are watched every day and over 3 million people connect to the auto-sharing feature on YouTube’s site – allowing easy sharing of videos through the individual networks.  Despite a number of competitors nipping at its heels this site has enjoyed unprecedented loyalty and a surprisingly long lifespan in an industry of constant startups and failures.

It is convenience that makes videos such a strong viral tool. Free and seemingly uninhibited by the need to license, YouTube’s encyclopaedic catalogue helps make it the first stop for many when seeking to listen to a favourite or recently leaked song.

SoundCloud, a YouTube competitor, offers a music hosting site with social aspects and might lay claim to creating its own viral successes such as XXXY.  But a purely audio track can’t realistically offer the universal pull of a video, as was so eloquently demonstrated by MTV in the ‘80’s.

But despite Vevo’s planned launch in the UK in April, video won’t necessarily always be the ultimate viral medium. As mobile becomes a more common means for listening to music it is likely a more convenient medium will become available, video remains large and unwieldy for many on limited bandwidth.

Whatever the future holds, the fact is that today, now, viral multimedia can already help break an artist or track.   Yet how it’s done remains largely the stuff of mystery, with some very successful labels admitting to still feeling their way.

When it comes to breaking new artists, this relatively low cost and often very successful means of marketing also has the cachet of being below the radar and so cooler than splashing an artist all over the London Underground.  So it’s unsurprising that so many majors use the medium to covertly build an artist’s credibility in the months and occasionally years before record release – Little Boots being a prime example.

Social tastemakers and vloggers play an important role in the new landscape with a mere mention of a clip by a popular figure often leading to hundreds of thousands of views.  How have labels exploited this kind of word of mouth to maximum effect?  What tools have they used and how has social media led the rest of the marketing mix?

This think tank will inform and inspire those looking to understand how to make music go viral over social media.  Lifting the lid and debunking dogma about how to create a viral hit, this illustrated session will combine panel-led debate with open round table discussion providing all with pointers, next step suggestions and an eye on how music will broken in the future.

Allowing plenty of time for Q &A, we’ll be getting the lay of the land and asking what all this means for the future of music marketing.

-ends-

ABOUT MUSICTANK

MusicTank is the UK’s music business network, an initiative of the University of Westminster, set up with the support of 14 UK music industry organisations.

MusicTank aims to foster new collaborations and circulate innovative ideas, best practice and cutting-edge strategies to increase innovation and productivity across the business.  Regular think tanks bring hot topics into sharp focus and help pinpoint the opportunities created by disruptive technologies.

MusicTank conferences deal with everything from record production to copyright review while occasional social evenings blend the entertaining recollections of music business virtuosos with the opportunity to develop valuable industry contacts.

MusicTank aims to override traditional partitions by providing improved access to expert knowledge via musictank.co.uk, the leading music business web-site, offering free industry discussion on new business techniques alongside useful reports and comments from leading lights. MusicTank also produces a free monthly newsletter to keep subscribers up to date with all the latest music developments.

www.musictank.co.uk