By Kareem Clarke
The Digital Media Wire (DMW) Music Conference was held over 2 days (February 20 & 21) at The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. The conference featured speakers from all different parts of music industry including record labels, talent agencies, marketing firms, music-tech leaders, music app companies and digital music companies including YouTube, Pandora and iHeartRadio. Jesse Kirshbaum, co-founder of SoundCtrl, had the chance to moderate a panel to speak about the ins and outs of social media with these four industry individuals:
Eric Davich- Co-Founder & Chief Content Officer of Songza Media, Inc.
‘Ant’ Demby- Music Curator, Consultant, & Manager at Dembycratic & HumbleRiot
Jamie Sampson- Marketing & P’ships Manager at Schematic Labs
Kate Dohaney- Director of Marketing at Elias Arts
To kick off the discussion, Jesse addressed the panelists with a question about music discovery, and how the discovery process works for consumers looking to find new bands or artists as well as companies or brands searching for new talent or the next best thing. Ant Demby of HumbleRiot spoke about the change from record stores being the hub for new music at one point to now having so many online sources that people have access to. Since everyone has the method they prefer, finding new music has become socialized and social networks, music blogs, and even live concerts are the dispersers of that. Kate Dohaney of Elias Arts also noted that with the prevalence of visualization of artists through social media, people are really looking for a face or a sound as opposed to originality.
As for consumers discovering new artist through music apps, Eric Davich of Songza says that giving people what they are looking for is the most essential part of that process and also the purpose of Songza. Based off your mood, you select a playlist made by music experts and naturally you will hear new music. Jamie Sampson takes this a step further and explained sound tracking as a way for people to do things that they already do but simply providing the platform for them to do so.
When asked where they personally find their music, the responses ranged from Spotify to HypeTrak and The Hype Machine. However, the most common response was from peers whether they be colleagues, family, or friends.
In the end, Jesse Kirshbaum of SoundCtrl asked the panel to close off with 140 characters or less of advice for being successful in the music industry:
Ant Demby- “Music will always be the soundtrack to life- Stay a fan”
Jamie Sampson- “Stay true to your audience”
Kate Dohaney- “Don’t be afraid to push something you believe in- You will get a lot of no’s before a yes”
Eric Davich- “Always consider your audience- Music first always”
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