This year I’m doing the rounds at SXSW with Little Radio. It has been two years since I was here with LR, and I’m looking forward to a week of new music and killer parties.

DAY 1:
Jimmy and I arrived mid-afternoon, in the pouring rain. Met up with Dave and the guys from Restaurant and went to the 4 Walls Art Gallery in downtown Austin where we stayed the night. After dinner at Starlight, we made our way to the frrvrr.com launch party at Mohawk. Tokyo Police Club was headlining the party! They have been a favorite of mine for years now, but their stage shows always disappoint. I was optimistic this show would be different, since it is their only SXSW show, but they let me down again.

The party was sponsored by The Onion. That alone should have made people suspicious of frrvrr’s validity. Full page ads and exclusive VIP wristbands in the SXSW bags flamed the fever for frrvrr. Many of my tech pals from LA were pretty stoked to score some special passes and eagerly signed up for the new social network. I had a hard time keeping it to myself that the site, which openly states it will gather all your “webtory” including your medical records and legal filings, and send those to people in the network you have things in common with, was a total hoax!

I did have an opportunity to chat with the charming CEO of The Onion, Sean Mills. Hoping to get an interview with him for Little Radio this week.

Sadly, my pics from the day are too blurry or boring to post. But I will gather more as the week goes on and post lots of pics from the Little Radio parties at the Red Eyed Fly. The line-up is amazing, Autolux, The Ravonettes, The Little Ones, The Black Angels…and so many more.

I’ve never been a fan of Nine Inch Nails, or of Trent Reznor, but I am in complete awe of his business acumen. He recently made $750,000 in less than one day selling 2,500 limited editions of his archives for $300 a piece. He is also selling his new album on i-tunes for $5.00. Those numbers have not yet come in, but I bet it will be impressive.

So, what can a struggling musician learn from Mr. Rezonr? Having an arsenal of true fans is more important than a contract with a major label. There is the argument that he had the advantage of being on a major label for almost 20 years (has it really been THAT long since NIN first hit the airwaves?) and that is true. It is also true that he makes, according to popular consensus, unique and meaningful music. But it takes a pioneer with a big wagon to blaze a trail. So, what can a musician just starting out learn from this? Blogger Kevin Kelly came up with a great idea that is spreading like wildfire in the blogosphere - gather 1,000 true fans and you’ve got yourself a career.

Mike Masnick from Techdirt did a great job of summarizing the value, perks and obstacles of such a strategy. What do you think?

My first article for Tunecore was published yesterday! I’m very excited to be working with this amazing group. For those of you unfamiliar with Tunecore, I suggest a quick perusal of their site asap. Tunecore is a digital distributor that allows you to keep 100% of your royalties and earnings. You pay a one-time fee for album placement and a yearly storage fee and nothing more!

The article, Why Every Band Needs a Blog, is the first in a series I’ll be writing for the Tunecore blog. Thank you to Ewald, COO of Tunecore, for a great opportunity.

Way back in 2001 I produced a documentary about the drug Ecstasy. “e: How Much do You Really Know?” was intended to be an exploration of the many facets of the drug, from the political, scientific, spiritual and recreational points of view.

At the time, Ecstasy was a controversial and heated subject. Kids were dying from bad Ecstasy while scientist were trying to preserve it for therapeutic use, claiming it could relieve people of life long battles with PTSD and other traumas. Oprah featured a guest that said it put holes in her brain and groups like dance safe were promoting safe drug use. The government(NIDA) was trying to scare us away from it by giving bad information while Disney made a Mickey Mouse DJ doll that played house music. It was a hot topic and nothing had really scratched the surface yet, what was really going on with this drug and why did it have such devotees that spanned the world? Then came George W. and 9/11. We turned our attention elsewhere, away from home, and the topic was no longer relevant. It all just seemed to fade away, go back underground.

We made this teaser as a last ditch effort to raise some cash.

Ecstasy

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Three years later, Peter Jennings released “Ecstasy Rising” - look familiar?

Scott Perry of New Music Tip Sheet sent out an email this morning about the future of music. Not how it will be produced or sold, but how we gain access to the music we choose to listen to. Verizon, Time Warner and AT&T control the pipelines that deliver our musical choices, but with their already slow as molasses Internet and crappy customer service, will that limit our incentive to buy and share in the future? Scott makes some great points, it’s a long read, but worth it. Thanks Scott!

“So, this morning’s email was going to be about pipelines. How we need a steady flow of product to keep our industry blossoming. How it’s really nice that we have weeks where Vampire Weekend and Cat Power reign supreme on the charts, but how it’s also important that we not cluster three superstar artists on the same release date in a time where hit releases are few and far between. But I don’t need to harp; no releases in the pipeline = no trip to St. Barths (or St. Quiznos for most folks), we all know that.

Instead, I want to talk about different pipelines. My concern today is not about today, nor tomorrow – I’m worried about what’s gonna happen ten years from now. Because I’m looking in the tea leaves, and I do not like what I see. At all. I don’t care where people find out about music or how they pay for it in the year 2018 – my main concern is that ultimately, access to such music will be controlled by a handful of crappy service providers.

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Known to many in the technology and marketing industries, Seth Godin has become a voice for marketing innovation in a digital world. Author of such seminal books as “Purple Cow:Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable” and his newest, “Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?” Mr. Godin now feels confident giving the record business advice on how to manage their digital assets.

From Digital Music News:

“Music Industry Lessons From a Marketing Guru
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call me crazy…but what if a band sold pixels to their friends, family and local businesses as sponsors for their tour? the pixel ads go on your site and they can either be a company logo or a photo of the person. like a wall of love. pixels of love tour. ahhh.

Check out the Pixel Ads at Geek Culture

Many of you may have heard of OurStage by now. They have teamed up with CMJ, Bonaroo, Paste Magazine and a multitude of music related companies to promote artists that fans have voted worthy of recognition and a $5,000 cash prize.

Yes, that’s right…$5,000 is given away, once a month, to the artist that gets the most votes. The clever folks at OurStage have installed a few obstacles to prevent it becoming a popularity contest, including a .50 cent charge per vote, billed to your cell phone. A bit of a bummer, but you can expect that the talent that rises to the top is the cream. My good friends, Saturna, were close runners up in month and became featured artists at the Ourstage Bumbershoot stage.

Through The Roxy I have had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with their delightful and enthusiastic staff. EJ (Entertainment Jockey) Alyssa Jane is an engaging host and one sharp tool in their marketing shed. If she and the other staff I have encountered are anything like the rest of the team at OurStage, artists can rest assured they are in good hands.

Someone has finally figured out how to manage all your profiles from one location - and the basic service is FREE. Artist Data Systems will synchronize your profiles on most music related social networks, from one location with one entry. They also offer tour management tools and a content management system to use in place of a traditional website.

Media Futurist and author Gerd Leonhard, along with fellow futurist Glen Heimstra, is featured in a series of interviews discussing the future of online media. Their insights are valuable information for anyone with an interest in doing business online. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to watch and learn. I will be posting several of the videos here over the next few weeks.

In the following interview Gerd and Glen discuss the future of user generated content. Artists, in particular musicians, are natural content creators. Music videos, digital music files, tour updates, etc. For more information about the future of online media check out Gerd’s book “The Future of Music: Manifest for the Digital Music Revolution.”