Thinking about what to say to what I hope is a room full of people

This Saturday October 7th in New York I am the keynote speak at the DIY Convention - located at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue at Second Street.   I have been on many panels, seminars and taught a few classes but this is my first time being a "keynote" speaker.

The opportunity came out of the blue - a man names Bruce Haring called me up about two months ago.  Last time I spoke with Bruce was around 1996 when he interviewed me for his book Off The Charts .

Bruce simply asked if I would consider being the keynote speak at the DIY Convention.  I said yes - I was very flattered by the offer.

So I have been thinking about what I am going to talk about - and I have drilled it down to a few things; the distruptive nature of technology and the removal of the gatekeeper.  In effect, via technology, all media ( print, film, music, pics and more) can gain mass distribution without needing to go via a middleman.  Technology provides virtual unlimited inventory (usually a huge obstacle for people as they need to make the inventory up front) and a way to get it out to the world.

...and I am still tossing over in my head if there is a parallel between what is happening today based on this new technology and what happened in the 15th century when Johannes Gutenberg came up with another new technology -  the first mass producing printing press (of course everyone could not really read back then, but let's just ignore that :)  )

Comments

[Michael]

Removing the middleman is a myth. As proof, I have been telling labels to get online for 6 years. They are now asking me to do it for them, as some just don't have the time and headspace to deal with it.

What is more interesting is that Tunecore systemises the access. Access is now a service, rather than a privilege of attending Midem or whatever. The same happened to the recording side when computers brought the access price right down. Anybody could record. Now anyone can release.

But let's not get carried away. A wise man told me once that the issue is not getting music into stores, it's getting it out of the stores (ie, selling the stuff)!

You still need to be extraordinarily well organised and committed.

[Jeff Price]

Ariel,

Good points... resources to gain the knowledge are out there (books, classes, seminars, blogs, websites etc). The problem from what I can tell is you have the knowledge but still no access; people still need to go to the "gatekeepers" . I think this is where the big shift is....

[Ariel Kalma]

Hi Jeff,

Good opportunity for you and DIY

Before Gutenberg, written knowledge was held by monks who wrote the books. They were the key to 'distribution' of printed media.

Before the digital Internet, music industry 'knowledge' was held by record companies who published CD's. They were the key to distributing music media.

Now, who holds the key? Is it finally the artist/creator? We certainly hope so!

But know-how is still needed. Who has it? not necessarily artists. Is it the Agregators? The many in-between companies who want a part of the creators' cake...?

I think this is an interesting point to develop as it is not so obvious for creators to gain know-how.

Thanks for your effort with TuneCore, great to have you and your creative process! (and your team)

Ariel

[DAD]

My son, you make me proud!
dad