TechCrunch Disrupt – Day 3

Posted on | May 27, 2010 | No Comments

Day 3 was what me and Jesse came for…fireside chat with Troy Carter aka Lady Gaga’s manager. Very smart guy. However, the special guest of the chat was Scooter Braun aka Justin Bieber’s manager, who has propelled Justin from YouTube phenom to worldwide pop star. It seems like those are two of the only musicians selling albums these days (with the addition of Jonas Brothers of course and a few select others).

The two collectively were spot on breaking down the glorious past, scary present, and even scarier (but equally exciting) future. ”[The] Internet is the new self-discovery,” said Scooter. No longer do we need radio (in the terrestrial sense of the word), even though Scooter believes he has make Justin bow down to them (paraphrased). However, he was willing to admit that, “music has to become a multimedia business.” The product is no longer the music in and of itself. The product is the musician’s story and the experience of being a part of it.

When the horrible moderator from TechCrunch who knew nothing about music opened the room to questions, some woman asked Troy to quantify the power of social media. She was talking more on the analytical side of things (ie our buddies at RockDex or Next Big Sound), but his anecdote was pretty damn impressive. He essential said, if they’re at a tipping point on sales, tickets, awards, etc, they have a track record od reaching whatever they want using a simple tweet, MySpace message, or newsletter blast.

One thing is for certain. Scooter and Troy have more to learn from the people at the conference than the crowd could probably learn from them and even Scooter admitted that.

Well–so much for the Disrupt. Next up, Internet Week…details to come in a few days hopefully.