Article and photos by Lisa Occhino

[click here to view all of our Zafris Lecture photos]

One month ago, Berklee’s Music Business/Management Department brought Chris Kaskie, President of Pitchfork, to speak at the 20^th Annual Zafris Lecture. Following an introduction by Don Gorder, Panos Panay ’94 (founder/CEO of Sonicbids) hit Chris with round after round of thought-provoking questions about Pitchfork’s journey through the years, music discovery, the current state of the industry, and his advice to aspiring musicians.

Berklee.edu has published a wonderful recap of the event, but for all you busy Groovers looking for just the highlights, here’s what we considered to be the top five takeaways from the lecture (in the form of direct quotes from Chris Kaskie):

THE EARLY DAYS: “We said, ‘We’re gonna be music fans, and let’s express that to the world.’ And that was the thesis of our business plan.”

GETTING HIRED AT PITCHFORK: “Don’t be cool, be good.”

BUYING MUSIC: “I buy vinyl because when I die, I want more than just my passwords to give to my kids.”

TODAY’S FAN/ARTIST RELATIONSHIP: “Bands, at their core, want to provide value to their fans…. Artists [and bands] are learning how to be more honest and forthright with what they’re doing.”

ADVICE TO YOUNG ARTISTS: “Start thinking about your band or art as a business, and learning about that…. It’s a less glamorous answer, but it’s an important foundation.”

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Did any of this resonate with you in some way? Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments below.

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Written by Kayleigh Mill

As more and more musicians choose DIY and pick up where the failing record labels left off, the music industry is slowly trying to find its way out of chaos. This bootstrap method has spread across the spectrum of the music business, due to the need for better, more focused ways to share and access music. Small startups are gaining traction and finding homes on mobile devices and platforms such as Spotify. The startup seems to be the way to go, and anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and a good idea is jumping on board.

Digitalmusic.org was part of this trend and watched it grow, so they decided to help. Along with Mailchimp and Application Developers Alliance, they put together the Music Startup Academy, which strives to educate hopeful startup developers, specifically those who are developing apps.

The five hour course consisted of three different presentations as well as lunch sponsored by Mailchimp. The presentations were given by Chris Bavitz, the Assistant Director of Harvard University Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic; Rachel Scarpati, Business Development Account Executive for HFA; Yi Ping Ho, Senior Director of Digital Strategy & Business Development for Warner Music Group; Cindy Charles of Cindy Charles Consulting; Dennis Rivera, Co-founder and COO of DisruptiveApps; and Anna Siegel, Marketing Manager for 7digital.

The overall atmosphere of the academy was of disorganization. It was held in a small, sterile room with the feel of a small college lecture. Halfway through the first presentation the PowerPoint went haywire and was slow to be recovered. The presenters, although they appeared knowledgeable in their respective fields, spoke quickly and failed to enunciate. Most were, however, very friendly and open to questions if there was any confusion.

As for the presentations themselves, the subject matter was very basic, geared toward those entrepreneurs who have little to no background in the music business. Topics discussed included how to acquire licenses to use music in the app, the different ways in which music can be used and the different licenses and fees that go along with them, 360 deals, direct to fan marketing, copyright and royalty fees. For the students in their second or third year and above at Berklee, these are all relatively basic and well-known concepts. However, for the entrepreneur who wishes to break into the business, or even a non-business major at Berklee, the information is vital to the success or failure of their endeavor.

Overall, Digitalmusic.org is doing a great service to enterprising business people trying to keep up with the changing landscape of the music industry. In their words, “As the hub where content and commerce meet, our charter is to advocate, educate and organize on behalf of the entire digital music ecosystem – digital music services, digital retailers, mobile operators, app/game developers, technology providers and rightsholders from the label and artist community.”

For more information, check out Digitalmusic.org.

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The Hip-Hop Symposium expert panelists. Photo credit: Phil Farnsworth.

By William Kiendl

Berklee College of Music’s Business/Management Department hosted its Sixth Annual Business of Hip-Hop/Urban Music Symposium last month celebrating its 20^th anniversary of the major.  The event featured the best music execs in the business, including a live interview with guest speaker Kevin Liles, profound entertainment executive and entrepreneur (Trey Songz, Young Jeezy, Big Sean, D’Angelo). Following the Q&A segment, the event transitioned into a “Show Me What You Got” talent showcase, where Berklee students and members of the Boston community were picked at random to perform and receive feedback from the expert panel. The panelist members included:

Noah “40” Shebib: Canadian hip-hop producer of Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx and JoJo as well as ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Songwriter of the Year.

Kevin Liles. Photo credit: Phil Farnsworth.

Rob Lewis ’94: American music director for Diddy’s VH1 show, “Making the Band.” Lewis’s studio experience also credits artists such as Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre, Christina Aguilera, Diddy and Kelly Rowland.

Miss Courtney Harrell ’01: Berklee Alumni and GRAMMY® Award-winning songwriter and vocalist whose credits include Chris Brown, John Legend, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Claude Kelly ’02, KeKe Palmer and JoJo.

Darcie Nicole  ’01: Vocalist/songwriter, founder of “…Ask Darcie” and The Boston Hip-Hop Alliance. Credits include: Jojo Brim, Master P, Medusa, GrandMixer DXT, Dre Robinson, Jesse Jaeo Tolbert ’90 (Ms. Lauryn Hill, Ying Yang Twins), Cheo Coker (Vibe), DMX, Chip Fu, Tony Crush, Digable Planets, David Balfour ’00 (Anthony Hamilton).

The conversation between John Kellogg and Kevin Liles offered students a keen look into the drastically changing music industry. Various topics were discussed including executive development, best management practices, and the challenges artists face in the music business today. Kevin emulated professionalism and wisdom beyond his years while speaking eye-to-eye effectively with young and aspiring musicians. The highlights of the discussion can be broken down into four essential talking points:

• Build a Team. Not everyone in this industry can be a superstar. You need to find the right people to work with and do it together. Every major artist has a number of supporting figures at their back; be good at what you do and search for compatible partners to fill the areas you can’t cover.
• Individuality. In today’s music industry, maintaining individuality has proven to be one of the biggest challenges artists face. With mainstream music today promoting electronic-heavy tracks, the human element is almost taken out of modern mainstream music. Be confident in who you are and what music you are creating.
• Quality. “The business is blurry right now, and as it continues to blur you need to get close to the real talent.” With the creation of the Internet, endless material is at our fingertips. With so much content readily available, true talent is hard to come by. Artists today need to be distinct. When you’re different in the industry, you gain respect and loyalty. Different is hard, but different sells shows.
• Longevity. “Find your passion; find the thing you want to do for free and be the best at it.” If you want to pursue longevity in the music business today, musicians need to believe in and stand behind their music stronger than ever. Don’t take yourself so seriously – have love for what you do and stay humble.

The Hip-Hop Symposium fills a need for urban music education at Berklee, engaging the entire department campus wide. It also opens open a window of professional opportunities for students to engage with guests, leading to potential internships or jobs.

If you’d like to learn more about the Hip-Hop/Urban Music Symposium or give your feedback on the event, please email Darcie Nicole at dnicole@berklee.edu.

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By: Kayleigh Mill and Lisa Occhino

The New Music Seminar is a gathering of all of the most innovative people in the music industry. From new media makers to streaming services to established management companies, the seminar went all out to gather the most informed minds, put them in a room together, and have them hash out the best strategies for the future.

We were lucky enough to witness all of this, and we’ve gathered the best information we took away just for you.

Music Blogs: Discovering The Best New Music

This panel was conducted by Bill Werde, the editorial director of Billboard, and consisted of Christopher J. Kaskie (President, Pitchfork), Matthew Perpetua (Founder, Fluxblog), Daniel Petruzzi (President, Okayplayer) and Anthony Volodkin (CEO, Hypemachine).

The group of new media makers discussed opportunities and challenges in the changing blogging and music discovery world, how best to utilize those opportunities and overcome those challenges, and the best way for aspiring bands to get their music on their respective sites.

Valuable Knowledge

For blogs:

• Create a community – network and take the time to build trust within that community
• Be able to scale and constantly look for ways to maintain relevancy – the music landscape is changing at a rapid pace, what works today might not work tomorrow
• Have an opinion and make sure you have a unique voice – personality goes a long way in setting yourself apart from other bloggers, some readers may click with your blog better than other blogs
• Create a constant stream – utilize social media and MAKE SURE your site is adapted to mobile users

For bands:

• Have an interesting subject line – something that describes your band (doesn’t have to be your music) in a creative way
• Know the blog – if you pitch yourself to a blog that’s way outside of your genre, they won’t just be uninterested, they’ll be annoyed
• Link to your music – MP3s are cumbersome and take up space, put your songs on Soundcloud to make it easier for the bloggers to listen to your music (unless they specifically request otherwise)

Website Demolition Derby

Presented by Bandzoogle and Folk Alliance International at Googie’s Lounge in The Living Room, this panel consisted of representatives from Bandzoogle, Ariel Hyatt (Cyber PR), Benji Rogers (Pledge Music), and Emily White (Whitesmith Entertainment/Readymade Records.)

The Website Demolition Derby consisted of perusing websites that members of the audience volunteered and breaking them down based on what worked and what didn’t. The cozy space made for a lot of good discussion and made it easier to voice an opinion along with the panel.

Valuable Knowledge

• The design should consistent and easy to understand and navigate
• The purpose of the website should be apparent – Preferably through a tagline or short mission statement on the front page, or an easily accessible “about” page
• Remember the rule of threes – Human nature is partial to options that come in threes, so, for example, have three tabs that have three options each
• Leave the autoplay off – no one wants to be assaulted by music unexpectedly, especially while in the office or listening to music of their own
• Have a mailing list sign up on the “home” or “about” page – bands would ideally have an offer (such as a free song download) in exchange for an email

9 Strategies to Maximize Artist Revenues in the Age of Facebook and Spotify

This NMS intensive was presented by Tony van Veen, CEO of Discmakers & CD Baby. He shared the nine top lessons he has learned running CD Baby and Disc Makers that every artist can easily implement to maximize gig sales, drive download purchases, optimize streaming music strategies, and increase music sales revenues overnight.

Valuable Knowledge

• Be where the fans are (hint: they’re on Facebook)
• Build your list by giving an incentive or exchange, i.e. a free MP3 download for an email
• Retain mindshare – don’t let people forget about you
• Sell it yourself
• Focus on iTunes
• Build a deep product catalog – more products = more money
• Embrace “free” – your enemy is not piracy, your enemy is anonymity
• Tell customers what to do (in emails, on your website, on stage, etc.)
• Offer specials/incentives, i.e. album and t-shirt bundles

Click here to read our interview with Tom Silverman, Founder of the New Music Seminar.

Click here to check out more of our New Music Seminar photos of speakers including Sean Parker, Wyclef Jean, Martin Atkins, and Andrew W.K.

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Article by: Julian Weisser

A packed David Friend recital hall at 921 Boylston street on a Thursday night and there was no music being played. This was Envisioning 21st Century Music Business Models: Startup Ventures and the Music Rights Frontier presented by the music business department. A cynic could say that half of the crowd was attending after they found out on Monday that Instagram, the app they upload photos to for free, had been purchased for one billion dollars. That cynic would be partially correct. For a panel that was supposed to discuss music rights, the focus was more about the next big thing and funding. That should not be looked at negatively.

An enthusiastic crowd welcomed professor Peter Alhadeff to the stage alongside Berklee alum Chris Woods, co-founder of TuneSat, and successful entrepreneur and investor Mark Montgomery. Alhadeff mediated a discussion between Woods and Montgomery about being a startup and seeking venture capital funding. One idea that the two parties agreed on wholeheartedly was the view that dumb money is worse than no money at all. Montgomery, who started his own company that he later sold to Live Nation for eight figures, equated it to, “an investor trying to write a song lyric.” That certainly connected with many in attendance.

Chris Woods explained to the uninformed that there is a large lack of transparency in music royalty distributions and how companies such as TuneCore and TuneSat will be vital for bringing transparency to the forefront of these dealings. Mark Montgomery agreed, saying, “Tech is eradicating irrelevant middlemen. I like the idea that the incumbents are in trouble.” Mark went on to say that even if an idea is fantastic nothing good will come of a startup if the right team is not working on it. “I make an investment in people,” he stated. Later in the evening when speaking to a man in the audience Mark said he would rather invest in a A-grade team with a B-grade idea than the other way around.

After the short discussion between Montgomery and Woods the rest of the panelists were invited to join the conversation onstage. Jim Griffin, managing director of OneHouse LLC, was one of the most outspoken panelists and peppered each topic of conversation with witty insight and historical anecdotes. “The real value is starting relations that never end,” said Griffin. Facebook is the most obvious but compelling example of a company that starts a relationship with one user and works hard to keep bringing them back. In the long-term this causes more users to join because their friend is already on it. Retention is almost more important than new customer acquisition because it serves as a catalyst that hooks more in. The same is true for Instagram, a company that asks nothing of its users other than for them to share their photos in as many places as possible thus drawing more users into the fold.

A look at everything that is wrong with the way the industry views innovation and new business models was presented (accidentally?) with the inclusion of Kerri Cockrill of Blackberry/RIM on the panel. Research in Motion (RIM) co-chief Jim Balsillie had just resigned from the company at the end of March. Balsillie had been working on a radical shift for RIM, opening the network and services to carriers and other platforms. Other high-level executives quickly stifled that attempt at intrapreneurial innovation. Cockrill did little to restore faith in the already flailing company saying, “We have Blackberry music preloaded to show off the phone. It’s actually pretty good. One artist per device. I’ve actually seen it first hand. The bands have sent us YouTube comments from users thanking Blackberry for introducing them to those artists.” Hardly innovative when you consider that earlier Windows operating systems from the early 2000s featured David Byrne’s “Like Human’s Do.” It came off as more of a marketing pitch than a discussion. Cockrill described the preload content as “part of the unboxing sense of discovery.” It is rather idealistic to assume that even 1/3 of the people opening a new Blackberry could possibly become a fan of the one artist being presented unless that artist is Adele. It isn’t Adele.

This kind of backwards thinking is not surprising coming from a company that audaciously believed BlackBerry users would pay RIM $5 a month, select 50 songs from their cloud-based music catalogue, and then stream and share those tunes with others on the Blackberry Messaging network. Opening up the service to many platforms is exactly what Instagram does well. Successful businesses are built around Instagram and that is part of what drove the value. Postagram and insta.dm (direct messaging) are only two excellent examples of what can be built off of a more open platform. RIM still has devoted users but they are having their best interests blackballed by a company that seemingly lacks the ability to analyze, retool and pivot.

One of the more interesting bits of data presented during the panel had nothing to do with startups but should be looked at and analyzed more in depth. Kristin Thomson, an Artist Revenue Expert at the national nonprofit Future of Music Coalition, presented those in attendance with a new study that showed most artists earning over 100k a year counted their accountant, lawyer and webmaster as their three most important team members. This needs to be looked into further because as Thomson pointed out, there is no way of currently knowing if these artists have that level of success because of the accountant, or if they have an accountant because they have reached that level of success.

What the audience left with was a sense that the music industry is ripe for change and there is some money out there for good ideas, more money for good people, and an Instagram’s worth of money for both.

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Pang explaining a personal photo of her and Lennon. Photo Credit: Lisa Occhino.

This past Wednesday afternoon May Pang stopped by Berklee to give a seminar and promote her book, Loving John: The Untold Story, detailing her time together with John Lennon. Her story is quite interesting; she worked for Lennon and Yoko Ono for a few years before dating Lennon. Although it may seem as if there were tension between Pang and Ono, the relationship was actually suggested by Ono in private, until Lennon made his own pursuit. Over the course of their 18-month relationship, Lennon was on hyper-speed in terms of creating and recording. Mind Games, Walls and Bridges, “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup,” and a rock ‘n’ roll project with Phil Spector were just a few things Pang and Lennon accomplished together. Although Pang is proud of her musical accomplishments with Lennon, she is most content with the work put into John’s relationship with his fellow Beatles, and most importantly, with his son Julian.

Photo Credit: Lisa Occhino.

John hadn’t seen Julian for three years before Pang suggested they should see one another. The disconnect occurred after Lennon’s relationship with Ono took off. The two moved to the U.S. leaving behind many loved ones who they’d later have to rebuild relationships with. Pang shared stories of spending time with “the boys,” as she called them. One story was about the first day the agreement was supposed to be signed to officially end the writing partnership of the Beatles. Every member except for John was present, along with a room full of lawyers as well. John didn’t want to go and left everyone at that meeting hanging, but it mostly offended George Harrison.

John was on good terms with everyone but George, which is sad because he always viewed him as a kid brother. “George was just George,” said Pang. Since he and John were equally stubborn, George was the Beatle that John really needed to come face to face with. After a while John apologized, and when asked why he wasn’t there for George, John replied with, “I’m here now.”

Pang spoke of a night when she was hanging out with John, Paul and Linda McCartney. Paul told them of a new project he would be going down to New Orleans to record, which later became Venus and Mars. That night, after the McCartneys left, John confessed to Pang that he wanted to go down to New Orleans with Paul to write. Pang looked at him and said, “Now that you are not bound by a piece of paper, I think it’s a great idea.” Sadly it never happened, but it makes you wonder, what if?

Pang worked for Apple Records for quite some time, but before that she never had an expansive knowledge of music. I had a moment with Pang and asked her: “How deeply were you involved in the music scene when you applied for the job at Apple Records?” Her answer was, “I wasn’t much of a performer, but I was always interested in who wrote the songs and created the harmonies, the behind the scenes aspects of the music.” Pang had a great ear for what sounded good, and in the music business, that is what really matters.

Along with Loving John: The Untold Story, she also released a book of photography called Instamatic Karma. They are both available in bookstores around the world as well as online.

The years Pang worked for Apple was definitely a highlight of her great career. She’s brought much knowledge and information to the surface, and what she’s accomplished in her life is very impressive and inspiring.

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Article By: Lisa Occhino

Despite the pouring rain, there wasn’t an empty seat in the David Friend Recital Hall on Friday, February 25 for the 18^th Annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture. Presented by the Music Business/Management Department, the event brings guest speakers who possess the qualities of “progressive thinking, passion, and vision for a better music industry,” according to founding chair Don Gorder. This year’s lecture definitely did not disappoint; it featured James Diener, Founder and CEO/President of A&M/Octone Records (home to Maroon 5, Flyleaf, K’Naan, and Hollywood Undead).

Before A&M/Octone, Diener served as both the head of A&R and Marketing at Columbia Records (it was virtually unheard of for one person to simultaneously be in charge of two different departments of a record label in the ‘90s).  His holistic approach to artist development is so effective that it was published in two case studies by Harvard Business School. Diener has a very unique perspective on the music industry because he has experienced the changes it’s gone through firsthand as an executive. He refers to the last 8-10 years of the music industry as “A.D.” and the 35 years before that as “B.C.” It’s too early to tell if this new era of music technology, the Internet, file sharing, and social networking will be good, bad, or both, but Diener insists that “we will never see anything like this again.”

Since the title of his lecture was “A&R and Artist Development Strategy for a Changing Music Industry,” Diener made certain to define each of those terms. He said that A&R is a very broad term because approaches to it can be totally different depending on the decade or the person. Artist Development is basically breaking an artist in the marketplace, which is not easy. Diener explained how in the “old days,” eight out of 10 artists on a label would fail, but the revenue pouring in from the two artists who succeeded would more than cover the losses for those who failed. However, the main issue nowadays is that the risk/reward ratio for artist development is no longer in balance. This is largely due to the fact that file sharing has killed music industry revenue.

Diener also pointed out that all of the new technology today is doing a great deal to help artists as well. For instance, there is now a greater connection between artists and fans than there ever was in the past because of social media. In addition, there’s a much lower barrier of entry for musicians in the marketplace now. Artists can essentially record an album in their bedrooms if they have a laptop and a mic, and they can digitally distribute it worldwide through services such as TuneCore and CD Baby. This has really leveled out the playing field, but Diener believes that a major label is still necessary in order to launch an artist into superstardom. (Historically, there hasn’t been a case yet where an artist has been able to reach such a massive level of fame without the marketing and monetary support of a label behind them.)

Diener predicts that music will soon be released for the purpose of promoting other sources of revenue. He also advises us to be a jack of all trades and a master of two or three in order to succeed in the music industry today.

What do you think of Diener’s opinion of the future of the music industry? Will it be able to stand on its own, or will it need to rely on some sort of combination with other revenue streams in order to survive? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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