New Music Seminar 2010 Review

"NMS NYC 10 was a sold-out success!"

It was history in the making and making history all at the same time! Artists, bands, producers, singer/songwriters and students from all over the world filled Webster Hall at the Big Apple on July 19th, 20th & 21st for the New Music Seminar, directed by Tom Silverman and Dave Lory. Hours of insightful panel discussions filled with information contributed by the top movers and shakers in the music industry, made this event undoubtedly one of the best experiences one could ever have.

The Music Industry is constantly changing and is becoming more easily accessible to the individual artist(s) and singer/songwriters in that new artists no longer have to be under the umbrella of record companies and big-name labels to become successful in the music industry. Artists are now able to use the worldwide-web to create, collaborate, manage, advertise, sell merchandise and record their own creative ideas for true fans to hear.

With the day-to-day additions of new online web tools, blogs, businesses and social networking sites, any band, artist or composer could easily feel overwhelmed and smothered with all of the endless possibilities for promoting and distributing their music. The information available to us at the New Music Seminar fully explained the key steps and possibilities for gaining strong fan to artist relationships, keeping track of statistical information with regards to selling product on iTunes, CDBaby and Amazon, and finding new ways to be heard and breakout into the mainstream. 

One tip to maintaining a healthy and strong fan base, meaning fans who are engaging in your music, concerts, events and merchandise, is to give something in return for listening to your music. We have to remember that we need the fans just as much as the fans need us, but we, the artists, need the fans more because without them, we'll be broke! 

One way to do this is to ask some of your fans to help out with setting up a ticket booth or a merch table at an event you are performing at. Perhaps you as an artist are struggling with making a logo for something. Create a contest for your fans to see who can come up with an amazing band/artist logo, and the fan who has the best logo, will win a free CD or a day with the band/artist. There has to be something to engage your fans. The important thing is to not look at your fans as a number, but as a consumer of your product. Like it or not, running a band is a business venture. Yes it is about the music and the passion for creating something enjoyable to listen to, but if the you don't have anyone who is willing to give your music a listen or attend your concerts, then you might as well play to a wall. 

To make your music interesting to listen to, try keeping it short and sweet. For example, as a new artist, a prospective fan will most likely give your song about a 5 or 10 second listen to sample it and see if they enjoy what they hear. As an artist, you have 5 to 10 seconds at the beginning of a song to draw in your listeners. Make sure to have a short intro, if any, for your song because a long drawn out intro, which lasts more than 10 seconds, will undoubtedly not be fully played. Perhaps you have a really cool melody line or an awesome chorus, if your intro is mundane and/or too long, your listener, or prospective fan, will never hear the brilliance of your work.

In closing, all the information in which I mentioned was all from the New Music Seminar. These tidbits of information are just crumbs from a really big cake in which everyone at the Seminar had a slice of. People who attended the New Music Seminar all received a Survival Guide Manual, which is filled with tons of resources, tips, tricks and articles from some of the biggest names in the industry. 

Don't worry if you missed out this time around, the New Music Seminar is coming to Los Angeles on February 14, 2011, so mark those calendars and register because you do not want to miss out on such an inspirational experience! A side note, William Paterson's MEO (Music Entertainment Organization, formerly MEISA) attends these seminars, so join the club and attend the meetings to take part in this "shmorgishborg" of knowledge. 

I would like to thank Tom Silverman and Dave Lory for directing and creating such an intense seminar with an insight for new artists and musicians to be able to create something great and share it with the world. Another thanks to the Music Management Program at William Paterson University, Dr. E Michael Harrington & Dr. Steven Marcone for helping and supporting us WPU students at the Seminar.

WPU Music Department