I gave a seminar for the Musicians Union in Bath today. Wave to the nice NMS readers, South West musicians…
I’d never been to Bath before, though I’d visited Bristol, just 20 minutes up the road. Nice town. Great houses. I was there for a seminar that the Musicians Union had organised, called Strategies for Success. It was organised by former Eddie & The Hot Rods / The Damned bass player and all-round nice guy Paul Gray.
We stayed at Dorian House, which turned out to be owned by LSO cellist Tim Hugh. My room was the Grieg suite.
Not sure how much actual help I was in terms of securing success for the people pictured above, but I hope I was at least entertaining enough to keep them on their seats and facing forward for two hours.
Feedback was polite and warmly encouraging.
I was joined later by representatives of We7, 7Digital Indiestore and Last.fm. I’m sure the attendees left with their heads swimming and plenty to think about.
Clive from We7 was aware of my work. I told him I was cautiously enthusiastic about his. Christian from Last.fm has been featured here before — and I’m a fan of what they do. The Indiestore thing, as great as it sounded, left me a bit cold. It seems to use new technologies to understand music business in old ways.
Best of all, it was good to connect and re-connect with some great musicians and music business types. I was given a bunch of CDs to listen to and promote (I’ll give them a listen soon – honest) and I had a good chat with Rhiannon from Ridinghood, who I’d met in Cardiff. Their album is nearly done, and if you like straight ahead Roxette-ish pop music, you’re not going to go too far wrong here.
[audio:SMS.mp3]
In fact, the first cellphone company or mobile service to snap up their SMS song will have gold on their hands. It’s made for commercial success in every sense of the word.
With any luck, a few of them will read the 20 Things book they were handed as part of their delegates pack, and will find it a good enough reason to keep coming back and spread the word.
1 Trackbacks
You can leave a trackback using this URL: http://newmusicstrategies.com/2007/10/11/not-a-rubber-ducky-in-sight/trackback/
[...] my favourite things to do) and met some great people around the country from Swindon to Newcastle, Bath to Edinburgh, Manchester to Belfast, Cardiff to Glasgow and a dozen other cities [...]
4 Comments
Hi Andrew
I got my pack in the mail today from Tim Wall – a flash wee copy of “20 Things” and Tim’s book “Making Money Out of Music”…..and the cute nonsensical triangular whoseewhatsit that could act as a 20 Things flash card in an exam. Very cool, thank you guys.
I am teaching the Music Industry paper at Auckland Uni at the moment. We have been reading your blogs and keeping somewhat up to date with your ideas – thanks for your inspiration! Spectacular!
Are you coming to Aux again in the next 12 months? It would be great to have you as a guest speaker for one of my classes.
I also let my students know about your intern-ship – they are pretty busy at the moment but after exams maybe one of them will come through…..how’s that going anyway? any luck?
Thanks for sharing your ideas/brain/learnings – I am loving it.
Karen Hunter – Auckland
Iv met clive from we7 before, he’s a great guy.
I love the service too, its totally revolutionary and much better than any free music competitors.
Bath sure is a beautiful town..we visited there in June, after the Pezband dates in Liverpool and London. but..I digress..I see the event was sponsored by the Musicians Union, I assume they paid your way. Tell me Andy, how IS the Union these days? Does it protect musicians from unscrupulous promoters/club owners who “forget” to pay? Is there a pension? health benefits? (maybe not needed anywhere in the world except for here in the Land of Bush)Is there a hiring hall, a central place to hang out and look for gigs? Do they establish and enforce a wage schedule, so that a musician can earn a living wage?
Why do I ask? Because that’s what the Union used to do ..but hasn’t for a long time. We have thought (for a long time) that a Musicians Union that did all that (as they used to) would be a pretty good idea..so..how is the Union in the UK?
Hi Andrew
It was great pleasure to meet you after reading you for months. Your blogs are a tremendous service to those of us wanting to keep up with the ever-changing digital landscape…..and the value and the clarity you deliver was clear from the audience feedback yesterday.
Thanks for your “cautious enthusiasm” about we7. I look forward to hearing and discussing your views as we continue to evolve to build a compelling sustainable business model which adds value to artists at all levels.
Cheers
Clive