Tom
Silverman is the founder and president of the record label Tommy Boy
Records, and co-founder of the independent film and television company
Tommy Boy Films. Silverman co-founded Dance Music Report magazine,
which ran from 1978 to 1992, and he co-founded the Dance Music Hall of
Fame, which existed from 2003 to 2005. He is runs the New
Music Seminar in New York City which you can learn more about here.
Note: This article is an opinion piece that does not necessarily
reflect the views of TuneCore. Let your voice be heard in this
discussion by visiting the TuneCore blog.
Twelve years ago the advent of the internet gave great promise to artists that music would finally be democratized and artists would have equal access to distribution and great worldwide exposure on the web. We believed that finally the cream would rise to the top and great artists would no longer be limited by record labels or the lack of them or the lack of radio play or video exposure. Now every artist can get their video on YouTube, their music on MySpace, their blog on FaceBook and get their Tweet on too. Now every artist can join TuneCore and get their music distributed to the most important download sites around the world.
Why has that promise been such a miserable failure? Why are less American artists breaking through than ever before? With 5 million artist MySpace pages, why are almost all of the new artists that are breaking still on established labels?
Back in the 80’s I ran a music conference that became the biggest and most influential in the world. It was called the New Music Seminar. It was the ultimate networking experience where most of the people running the music business today got their start. It was so successful that it spawned SXSW, Winter Music Conference, Canadian Music Week, In the City, and CMJ to mention the most famous. 15 years later I was approached by one of the New Music Seminar associates to reincarnate the event. I had been asked to bring back NMS at least 10 times over the last seven years but I didn’t feel like the right time.
But this time was different. I had spoken on four panels this year in Toronto, Kingston, Jamaica, New York, and San Diego and each time, the audience was filled with artists looking for someone to give them real advice and information that would make a difference in their careers. But each time the panel was charged with debating some music industry issue like digital rights management or synch placements or the future of music on mobile phones…hardly the stuff the audience wanted or needed to hear about.
Meanwhile, I had been reading blogs by Kevin Kelly and Seth Godin while attending all the traditional record industry events like the Grammy’s and NARM and attending RIAA board meetings. I recognized a dichotomy forming between what the record industry leaders were saying and doing and what was actually happening in the market place. Finally the light bulb went on. In an instant, I saw the future of the music business and it was nothing like what the record company leaders were predicting. It was even different that the technological soothsayers were predicting.
Infused with enthusiasm like never before, I plunged into preparation for the first New Music Seminar in 15 years. A New Music Seminar sole focused on the real needs of the artists and their representatives as we leave the old model and enter the new music business.
This year’s NMS will focus on four critical concepts.
- The advent of a new paradigm that includes a new definition of success. Forget sending CDs to labels or making music that can get played on radio. It’s a whole new day.
- Introduction to the new science of Fan Relationship Management and the Fan Relationship Pyramid. Knowing your fans and managing the flow of your creative to them based on their levels of fanaticism.
- The Creative Quartet and Radical Differentiation; differentiating yourself in both skills and uniqueness in the four important areas:
- The Songs
- The Recordings
- The Statement and the Look
- The Show
- The show and the tour. How to break through the elusive 300 ticket mark and move on to lasting success.
Extrapolating the latest data and incorporating the newest (and most ancient) philosophies, we will explore not only what to do but how to think differently in ways that will change your life as an artist and help turn your avocation into a vocation. The people you meet and network at the New Music Seminar will help you create opportunities for new businesses and creative collaborations.
TuneCore broke records last week with sales of Drake and he should be an inspiration to the rest of the TuneCore artists that success is possible. The New Music Seminar is dedicated to helping the cream rise to the top. We will challenge the technologists to improve the tools that will help artists achieve critical mass and the reach and frequency of exposure they need to become successful. We will find the artists that are becoming successful doing it themselves and help promote them to greater exposure and success so they may become an example for those still struggling to make it. We will give artists and their team tools and a new perspective to rise above the noise floor of obscurity and make it in the new music business.
Questions or comments? Share your thoughts here!
