And another SF Musictech Summit torched the Kabuki! The Kabuki Hotel in Japantown, that is, where the likes of Stephen Phillips (We Are Hunted/Twitter), Larry Marcus (Walden), Phillip Kaplan (Fandalism), Jack Conte (Pomplamoose/Patreon), Ted Cohen (TAG), Tony Riggins (Ustream), Zoe Keating (avant-garding cellist/provocateur), and J Sider (BandPage) were dancing around. Plenty of meetings to be had, and one incredible pair of Parrot Ziks to talk about later.
So there's now immense buzz on the business side for Daft Punk, whose early numbers are looking pretty damn decent. Billboard is pegging first-week sales at 339,000 for Random Access Memories, which means a number one release in the US. That follows a very, very important streaming exclusive for iTunes, but let's see how many of those album sales came from iTunes. Much crunching ahead.
Back at Musictech, some attendees at the conference were complaining about 'Getting Resnikoff'd,' a phrase that entered the industry lexicon a few years back. But 'Getting Resnikoff'd' now seems to have multiple definitions, including blindsiding, unquestionably non-cheerleading coverage on Digital Music News that sparks gigantic debate, or exposes stuff no one likes to say out loud. Others would have less cordial descriptions of the phrase...
Maybe this will solve that teenage attrition problem. Over to Facebook, which unveiled this pretty-looking '3D Map' to track artist activity at SF Musictech Summit during the opening keynote. No but really, Facebook is actually useful to artists and labels in some ways...
And, the lineup for Treasure Island 2013 has just been announced.
Which brings us to a very interesting, and extremely disruptive, live space ahead. At a top level, mega-concert magnates like Live Nation may be grappling with softer entry fees and moves towards EDM'ing festivals, but deeper shifts are also happening in the way fans consume and engage live music (before, during, and after the actual gig). Enter a number of incredibly interesting companies solving complex issues around this, including StageIt, iRocke, Lively, and Bulldog Media, not to mention the freshly-formed Live Digital Music Association (LiveDMA)...
Others were bandying about SF Musictech, including Ustream's Tony Riggins and one Google Glass-wearing David Carrico of EvntLive. Other names in the space getting kicked around included Venice Beach-based Vyclone and Dublin-based 45 Sound... anyway, this is a crowded space!
Because it's not illegal now: So, remember Hanson? They're still alive. Not only that, they just came out with a new beer, call Mmmhops.
More ahead!
