Billboard Hollywood Film and TV Conference

Well I just returned from the Billboard Hollywood Film and TV conference in LA.  Boy let me tell you... this was a conference room full of naysayers.  At a time when there are more opportunities for music... how is it that we can't seem to correctly monetize it?  This article I found on twitter points to many of the concerns happening at present in the industry.  Shrinking budgets and growing costs are making breaking into the film world even more difficult than it has been in the past.  It seems that when we as property owners give one concession price-wise... the studios begin to think this is going to be the modus operandi for remainder of their deals... As an interesting contrast to this, we at Naxos are actually doing quite well in the licensing game.  I attribute most of this to the fact that we are incredibly diversified in the licensing business.  I feel we are lucky to have intellectual property that bodes well in so many different areas.  Perhaps this is the silver lining to having such a niche product... after all Classical Music is not for everyone... But there IS a market for it.  and I am thankful for that.

LA Times Article  here

While there were many panels and events surrounding the conference.. several stick out to me as being the most valuable for my conference experience.  Notably,  the Music Supervisor Roundtable- the "State of the Union" , the Thursday keynote featuring Sasha Baron Cohen and his brother/composer Erran Baron Cohen,  the behind the scenes look at "Glee" and last but not least, the "Music for Commercials and Beyond" panel featuring the creatives behind such popular commercials as the United Airlines, talking babies, and milk rock opera. <vids below>

Suprisingly the Baron Cohen's were quite interesting.  Erran actually is a classically trained trumpet player and composer and composes all of the music for his esteemed brother's films.  I never began to think that they actually gave a damn about the music in their productions- but it actually has quite a bit of bearing on their productions.  This to me is a great thing!

[caption id="attachment_300" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sasha Baron Cohen and Brother"][/caption]

The" Glee" panel was equally interesting as it addressed the marketing challenges of creating the series.  Imagine taking the greatest rock songs ever written and then trying to convince the publisher that it is a good idea that you arrange it for show choir and put it on Fox.  This is the challenge they faced at the inception of the series...  Once they got the series running- the apparent crossover appeal of this music was realized when they began seeing massive single sales after each night's episode.  The theme song this week was RIAA gold certified and this is without any "real" record promotion.  Their complete album drops in three weeks and they expect it to be a top 10 seller quickly!  This is a great example of cross promotion between TV and the record industry.  This to me is a huge success story.

[caption id="attachment_299" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Glee Panel- Lea Michelle"][/caption]

Of course one cannot go to the Billboard Conference without matriculating to the Hunnypot party.  This year's party was no disappointment.  Once again at the "Heights" club on Hollywood Boulevard, PJ Bloom and his band of wild misfits brought tons of great bands, djs and networking with the creme de la creme of the film music industry. Great times were had by all and the party was rocking properly when "The Crystal Method" took the state at 11:00.  From then on- they rocked my face off with some of the rawest beats I have heard in years.  They made me miss and appreciate my old friend, Electronic Music... once again.

[caption id="attachment_298" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Crystal Method"][/caption]

All in All, this was a great experience once again.  Every year, I find that I meet more creatives and find more connections in the vast film industry.  This is definately a conference to visit if you are interested at breaking into this industry.  Contacts abound.

Making your way as the "conductor" of your success

Today as I read my daily liturgy of various blogs and blog posts I stumbled upon a short statement brought forth on Hypebot.

"Raise Your Baton" was the title of this post.  This struck me on a number of levels as both a musician, lover of classical music, business person, and last but not least... the son of a conductor (not train, but music).

In this short post he spoke of the vast amount of resources available and the ease at which one can enter the business community these days whether it be as a record label, publisher, artist, or tech startup.  He goes on to surmise that trying to do it all yourself will drive you nuts and the smartest of entrepreneurs should surround themselves with capable people who can help achieve and accomplish the task at hand.  The smartest entrepreneur will raise their baton and become the conductor of the project.

This analogy is really great.  Some of the people I respect most in this world were the ones willing to admit they didn't know how to do everything.  One such person always used to say- "I don't know how to do everything... that's why I surround myself with experts like youself (moi?)... who do."  Until now I always took this sentiment to be nothing more than a nice statement.. but in fact he is right.  He IS the conductor.  You see, as Bruce Houghton points out- the conductor doesn't know how to play every instrument in the orchestra... but he(she) does know how to  read music and he knows what the symphony should sound like.  The source of my admiration IS the conductor of his business and it's success.

So how do you become the conductor?  Bruce accurately puts it as this... " Start by learning your business.  Assemble the players.  Then raise your baton."  How simple... and perfect!  Music to my ears.

Digital Music News' Paul Resnikoff on new advances in music composition and the challanges they pose to traditional copyright interpretation

As I was reading my daily dose of Digital Music News I stumbled upon this provocative adage to copyright and one challenge that we face moving ahead thanks to the advances of a California professor's new composition software.  This is but one point of the idiosyncrasy of composing a law in real time to keep up with our technological advances AND protect intellectual property owners...  This is an uphill climb and is all but impossible to keep up with despite the CRB and copyright office's best attempts.  Now without further ado ... Paul Resnikoff... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What 'Sounds Like' Even More Disruption Ahead...

Despite the complicated debates, copyright infringement is essentially simple concept. A piece of intellectual property is owned by one party, and its unauthorized use by a third party is subject to penalty. That is, in theory - 'casual' piracy happens billions of times monthly, and plenty of debates arise over ownership (orphan works, splits, other disputes), or intent (Satriani v. Coldplay, for example).

That just scratches the surface, and volumes of literature are dedicated to the subject. Moreover, the body of law is being interpreted and created in real time. But outside of those mainline discussions, plenty of smart workarounds exist for those unable or disinterested in direct, expensive licensing processes. And it's not infringement, as long as proper statutory publishing rates are paid.

Jump into a karaoke bar, and sing-a-longs frequently feature generic video scenes, lyrics and underlying (ie, publishing) tracks - not the recordings themselves. Or, hop onto the iTunes Store, and 'sounds like' versions of songs employ similar statutory workarounds. In fact, when Kid Rock withheld his content from iTunes, entrepreneurial studios quickly created sounds-like versions to capture sales from confused fans.

But what happens when a derivative work is created, one that resembles the original but is different? In pop music, copycat artists and songs happen all of the time, and they are perfectly legal. But as technology becomes more powerful, unique identifiers employed by successful composers can more easily be isolated and replicated.

Just recently, ArsTechnica author Jacqui Cheng profiled a computer-based composition technology called 'EMI,' or 'Emmy,' a software package created by University of California Santa Cruz professor David Cope. Emily essentially identifies and replicates a number of signatures unique to a particular composer, then creates a derivative work - sounds like Mozart, Beethoven, Cream, whatever. The package has since been succeeded by a more original computer composer called 'Emily Howell,' which attempts to move beyond derivative to truly self-generated works.

That seriously challenges the concept that 'real' music can only be created by real brains, not computers. But machine-based dissection and creation technology may also become part of the disruptive digital music fabric, and further upend traditional copyright concepts in the process.

American Idol + Ellen Degeneres = FAIL

Well everyone, It was announced this week that Ellen would be the new American Idol judge replacing Paula Abdul.  No matter how you feel about Paula, it is hard to even infer that Ellen has 1/10th the musical prowess of her predecessor.  This coupled with the news I just received of Ellen's utter disrespect for music and the makers of music through her show's refusal to pay royalties on the music "featured" on her show tells me that she no more belongs on AI than I do as the King of England.

According to Digital Music News, All four majors have now filed suit demanding that royalties be paid.  The show's producers have denied royalties to the copyright owners because they "did not roll that way."   This pathetic disregard for music, music makers, and copyright law proves to me that she has no place anywhere near this industry.

Her appointment as a judge on American Idol proves to me that the show's producers are catering to the lowest common denominator,  looking for the popular vote and continuing to dumb down this show until it falls into the oblivion.  Let's face it, it has been going down ever since season 1 and with this move it will continue to do so.  No offense is meant to Ellen, as I do find her funny enough however she would be better suited alongside "The Hoff" on America's got talent...  save the music judging for musicians.

Okay I'm Done.  Happy Weekend Everyone.

PS: Sorry about my laziness in posting lately... my cup overfloweth.