Well into day two and right into the thick of it.
First session up I attended was focused on Digital Marketing in the Tik Tok Era. The panel included the following panellists: Ash Stahl CEO of Flight House, Andrew Stone, Chugg Music / City Pop Records CEO and Founder and artist Mazbou Q and finally Ash McGregor Triple J radio presenter.
There were some great tips from Andrew Stone, who also stated they will not sign artists that are not prepared to use or engage in these platforms in a meaningful way to market themselves. Going further, when it comes down to Tik Tok specifically it was reinforced countless times it was a bout regularity of content posting, knowing your audience and what they like and most importantly content quality with am emphasis on good quality vs average quality if as an artist you want to cut through.
Next session I managed to attend was Hazal Savage in conversation. Initially it focused on Hazal’s career to date and then drilled down into her Data/AI music business Musio and Soundcloud’s acquisition of it and her role within Soundcloud now. An Interesting tangent included the embarrassingly low percentage of female founders who get funded globally which currently sits around the 3.85% of total capital invested global goes to female founders. In anyone’s book that is quite frankly not good enough!
A key insight from Hazal was that do not fear the unknown and learn as you go is not a problem, but quite often a necessity.
I then headed off to the session on getting a bigger slice of the pie in respect of artists setting up their taxes as whether we like it or not music is a business and its important to set your band up as business. The speakers gave. A good overview of the different stages of a sample and lifecycle and the structure and elements to get done. Great to see a conference offering great educational content to aspiring artists, record labels and artists managers etc.
Next Session up was in conversation with Scott Cohen global digital music distribution pioneer/ founder of The Orchard, compliments of Stephen Green MD at SGC media asking the questions. And wow what a rollercoaster it was in the early days of The Orchard with Scott losing his house being over $3 million USD in debt and having to explain the concept when most people in 1997 did not even have an internet connection.
Scott’s insights and authenticity really shone through, and several people mentioned that in the lift once leaving the session that it was the best no bullshit session they had attended so far. It was also mentioned that when he sold The Orchard to Sony Music it made up around $1 Billion USD of their annual revenue which is 20% of Sony Music’s total global annual revenue.
The conversation then moved onto Scott’s current venture focused on allowing jo citizen to invest in the rights associated with some of the largest artists in the world. He stated they had over $10 Billion USD worth of large artists content alright signed up – which is absolutely f$#king massive! It’s gotta be said very few people have achieved such a feat and can say they build a music business that delivers that much revenue.
Now the showcases were a whirlwind thanks to some hanging out with my mate Steve Zapp from ITB. Every 10 minutes were moving from one venue to the next to see artists and catching 2 to 3 of there songs. It did teach me about how brutal agents need to be in terms of making quick decisions on what is sellable for tours etc.
So, some standout shows included: Trophie at the Blutes venue. She has definitely got the confidence and moves but needed a bigger stage. Reb Fountain at Wonderland were up next were interesting and I started to get into their groove, but we were off to see the next artist Arches at the Brightside venue. I got to say it was an interesting use of autotune, but I still hate autotune folks – it is overused to f$%king often. We then venture over to the Zoo to see Coldwave – and they had energy, and I liked the dissonance with the trumpet.
I then ventured of to catch Southeast Desert Metal at Wonderland – they did not disappoint. If good old school in ya face metal is your thing these guys are a must see! Then I headed to The Prince Consort Venue to hear Emma Vollard – now she has a serious pair of lungs. Would definitely like to see again!
I just could not resist seeing Nat Vazar for a second time at BigSound and she did not disappoint! Steve dropped by as well and then we head off to see Gut Heath play. The room was packed to the rafters. And the sounds were in ya face and rockin! I then went and saw Komang at the Outpost which was quite a different but very soulful vibe and she has a great voice – it did hep relax me.
Porpoise Split at Black Bear Lounge were phenomenal – No seriously the lead singer can belt out a song with such depth and tone to her voice – definitely one I want to see again so I can see a full set.
Then it was over to the Zoo to catchup with Steve again for Johnny Hunter and f%$K me they did not disappoint! That led singer is a star on the rise and has such presence and the band very incredibly tight. I turned around and realised it was one of Michael Parisi’s bands – I should have figured because the performance was the best of the night and Parisi has a bloody good rep when it comes to managing bands!
Then I went with some of The Orchard crew to see Lola Scott who was also incredible. Yet we also managed to get the last minute of this incredible artist with such an angelic voice called Beckah Amani I definitely want to see and hear her voice again.
That is the rap for the 2nd Day of BigSound 2023.
