By Stefny! At the Disco
I love South By Southwest for the amazing music that it brings to town every year and the absolute chaos of every venue (and sometimes even places that aren’t normally venues) having live music all day every day for a week straight.
But another thing I love is the panels. SXSW is one of the only conferences of this kind that I’ve been to, and I absolutely cannot get enough of the knowledge imparted from every music business professional to other aspiring industry folks.
I unfortunately wasn’t able to make it to as many panels as I would like this year, but here are some takeaways from some that I found particularly informative.
5 Things They Don’t Teach You In (Music Business) School
I actually did a preview of this panel with Atlanta Cobb before the festival, and as someone with a certificate in music business was especially looking forward to this one.
Atlanta is the mind behind Music Industry Mentor, an identity she actually created from an SEO standpoint. The panel also featured Nick Maiale from jump.global, Erinn Knight from Where Y’all At Though?!, and Damien Ritter from Too Lost. Erinn and Damien are also cohosts of the podcast Music Entrepreneur Club.
“I really like to talk about executive and even artist development from the perspective of just how to be a better person and how to be a better human.” – Nick
The first topic was coaching vs mentoring. Some people may use them interchangeably or someone who’s not been involved might think they’re the same thing, but they’re actually not!
Coaching is more of a paid service akin to a personal trainer or a therapist, utilizing accountability and structure, while mentorship is a much more relaxed experience.
What is shocking to me is the budget Erinn devotes to coaching – 30% of her personal budget and 20-25% of her professional budget.
There was also a conversation about networking vs community building.
So right now, let’s just pretend the word networking is dead. It it died. We had a funeral for it. No more networking. We’re talking about community building, because that is the future, and I think that’s how real relationships are made. – Erinn
Words of wisdom: Connect with people who share the same values as you, be genuine, pour into other people, be excited about what you’re doing! Ask people their names before you ask what they do. Do your homework when connecting with someone. Ask for 5 minutes, not a lunch. Be persistent. Master a skill and then optimize. Consume long-form content.
Toolbox:
Digilogue – a music and tech community of creators and industry professionals
24/7 Artists – a comprehensive ecosystem for creatives
ASCAP Daily Brief – a newsletter containing a curated selection of articles exploring the latest trends in music and technology every weekday
Beats & Bytes – a curated collection of the best news and trends in music, brands and technology, delivered straight to your dome
Snov.io Email Finder – Google Chrome extension that lets you find email addresses on any website
Mailsuite – Google Chrome extension that lets you know when your emails were opened
ManyChat – automated conversations on Instagram/WhatsApp/Messenger
Chartmetric – a fully integrated suite of music analytics and intelligence tools
DISCO – the music platform that makes workflows easier, and business speedier
BandLab – the next-generation music creation platform
SymphonyOS – a one-stop shop for all your marketing needs
Authenticity in Action: Unique Ways Artists Can Market Music
This panel featured Joe About from 444 Sounds, Melanie McClain from Blurred Lines, Monica Seetharam from RCA Records, and Sydney Wiklund from Genies.
“For me, I think [authenticity is] having integrity in the way that you’re moving in the world, being transparent in in how you’re creating and connecting with other people and, having sort of that consistent storytelling that’s a through line for everything you do.” – Melanie
Melanie posed the question to the panelists of what authentic moments from artists resonated with them. Lady Gaga’s Born This Way album cycle, Doja Cat rapping about Taco Bell, Santigold like in general, and seeing various performers at live shows were all mentioned.
Just as a sidenote, I loved how the panelists repeatedly brought up Myspace vs TikTok vs Instagram. It really made me feel seen, having done a project in grad school about music promotion on Myspace vs Facebook!
Words of wisdom: Co-create, don’t just passively consume. Collaborate with people across the globe. We have more tools at our disposal than we think. Learn to connect in different ways. Find the line between being relatable vs aspirational. Use your community to build a local story. DIY everything. Make sure artists feel empowered on how they show up on social media but also have the tools to up their engagement. Have a great work ethic and be willing to collaborate. Be willing to take guidance and improve. Get attainable goals. Spend 10 minutes a day building your community. Build the right team of people around you. Prioritize mental health.
Billboard charts are views, streams, plays, purchases, streams, downloads. Very important. And our our team works very hard for that number one, and so does [Tate McRae]. But the things that don’t show up on the Billboard chart… is, all the girls and their boyfriends, poor boyfriends, who show up to the show in a certain outfit, who are talking about online what are they gonna wear, talking about have you collected all of the autographed CDs, what tickets do you have, should we trade friendship bracelets at the show? It just doesn’t show up on the Billboard chart. – Monica
Toolbox:
Social Pinpoint – a comprehensive online platform that facilitates meaningful and accessible engagement opportunities that bring your community together
Mailchimp – email marketing and automation platform
Laylo – the Drop CRM powering iconic artists, live events and sports teams
Community – SMS-based, two-way conversations
Subtext – the text platform that allows you to text directly with your audience at scale
SuperPhone – powerful mobile messaging platform built for text and voice at scale
Discord – group chat that’s all fun and games
Instagram Broadcast Channels – a quick, casual way to connect directly with your followers