Last Wednesday evening we held our first (of hopefully many to come) Speed Networking event.  It was a blast and a great success.

What is Speed Networking you ask? Well, it’s a bit like Speed Dating (without the eternal match making).  We had 15 tables set up for two people at each table – one person was the stationary person, and the other moved with each session in a clockwise motion.  So 15 tables, with 3 minutes for each session.

The entire Speed Networking portion took about an hour and each person met 15 new people, exchanged business cards and information, and made a future connection that just might come in handy down the line.  We also had a half hour mingle before and afterwards so you could meet anyone you didn’t get to, or follow-up/continue with any conversation you had started but not finished.

While it was just members, not necessarily employers, who came to the event – there are so many people who know people, or are freelance and switch between being an employee and an employer, that it’s still quite a beneficial networking event.  You never know where your next recommendation might come from…

We also provided each attendee with their very own Music Jobs shot glass and shot to match - to loosen everyone up a bit and get them ready to network!

Promoting yourself with your peers is a great way to make connections and begin, or continue, to build future industry relationships that you might not have had access to otherwise.  Plus our team always loves being able to meet our members, provide you with additional resources, and be there for any questions you may have for us.

We hope you had a blast if you were able to join us next time we look forward to seeing you!

The Music Jobs Team

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Interested in finding more music jobs in Chicago?

Join Music Jobs at Bangers & Lace in Chicago! Alongside our sister TV and film production jobs website, Media Match, we will be meeting and mingling at an informal (free) gathering in Chicago’s West Town/Wicker Park neighborhood.

Who is invited? Everyone!

Our wonderful members (that’s you), who include musicians, producers, record label workers, recording engineers, marketing specialists, journalists, teachers, conductors, DJs, soundtrack composers, radio presenters, music supervisors and more. Also attending will be some of the team behind Music Jobs, and you can ask us questions, share your feedback, get to know our musical tastes and initiate new rivalries just in time for the football season. We want to meet new faces, see old friends and spend some time getting to know our local members. If you can stop by at any point, it’d be great to hang out with you.

INFO

Where? Bangers and Lace, 1670 W.Division, Chicago, IL (view map)
When? Thursday, October 6th
Time? Starts at 5:30 pm – 9:30pm
Price? FREE
Cool? Then RSVP here if you’re coming

Hope to see you there!

The Music Jobs Team

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American music magazine Billboard is presenting a new event aimed at “celebrating the passion that is changing the music landscape.” By bringing together artists, music business entrepreneurs, investors and other key parts of the industry, FutureSound hopes to instigate some meaningful conversations about the next evolution of the music biz.

One of the oldest trade magazines around, Billboard has long been the source of information and its charts have become a measuring stick when it comes to commercial success. In recent years, the very meaning of success has changed, as well as the work done and paths followed to achieve that success, and it is the new challenges that face a modern musician that need to be addressed. Seeking to align its huge user base with some of the key players, Billboard has created the FutureSound conference, a combination of keynote discussions, solution sessions, workshop roundtables & networking. Given the turbulent music industry in California, San Fransisco seems a fitting location for such an event.

FutureSound sees something of a divide still between the creative artists who want to achieve their goals, and the creative developers and entrepreneurs who invent applications and offer services for those artists. Throw in the dilemma of rights-holders and the issue of receiving payments in a digital world and you have a complex situation. Bringing all sides together and presenting different sides of the situation will hopefully find solutions and middle ground on key issues, those being: The Challenges of Entrepreneurship, Music Licensing, and Leveraging the Social Web.

Billboard FutureSound 2011

November 17-18, 2011
Terra, San Fransisco
Use promo code FBK11 and get 15% off the FutureSound registration rate
Register here.
Facebook event page.


by Lee Jarvis.

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Last week a couple of our crew here at Music Jobs (myself and Laura) attended the Industry Fair at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA.  This was our third appearance, with many more to come hopefully.  We joined other music industry companies to hang out in the MI Passageway, meet their students, and eat snow cones.  It’s a unique experience that allows us to connect with students face-to-face, which we don’t always get to do.

Our table at the MI Industry Fair

We not only got to share the story of our site and tell them about the resources we have to offer, but we also got to tell our stories of how we got to where we are in our personal careers. We were thrilled to be included as a resource to students as they begin looking for their internships, as they graduate and take their first step in their careers, and to alumni who are a bit further along in their careers but are honing in on their dream jobs.

What were some of the best tips you received/discovered as you entered the job market right out of school?

We look forward to the next Fair, and hope to see you there!

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Tunecore is an online distributor for independent musicians. In short, they can get your records up on iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and more, without the need for a record deal or a major label. Since launching in 2005, they have helped thousands of musicians achieve their goals, and have become one of the good guys in the new music industry: their motto being, ‘Sell your music, not your soul’.

I regularly read their blog (and you should too), which contains all sorts of useful information and guidelines for indie artists. As part of their onward march to education and empowering the indie world, they are now hosting a seminar titled “How To Get Your Money”, and if you are involved in the music biz or looking for a music job in New York, I recommend you check it out, see what you can learn, and mingle with some bright creative and business minds.

The event takes place on Tuesday, August 16th at 7pm, and is completely free. Although it is only open to Tunecore artists, you should really look to join Tunecore anyway, hence the advance notice I’m giving you

Here’s the details…

When: August 16th, 7:00 PM EST
Where: New York City

Presented By:
Jeff Price – CEO/Founder TuneCore
Jamie Purpora – President of TuneCore Publishing Administration

What will the seminar cover?
– Discover if you have money sitting for you right now, waiting to be collected;
- Where your money is;
- How you can get it;
- What your copyrights are and how can you enforce them.

Attendees Receive:
- Free pizza
- Free TuneCore t-shirts
- Free copyright booklets

If you would like to attend:

- RSVP to: getmymoney@tunecore.com
- Please put “Attend Seminar” in the email subject.
- Please provide your full name, artist name (if different), TuneCore email address, and phone contact in the body of the email so we can make sure you’re on the guest list.
- TuneCore Artists only, please!

For those of you who are not in NYC, fear not! They will be recording the seminar and posting on their blog soon after the event. Again, that alone will be worth signing up a free account for.

by Lee Jarvis.

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As an independent songwriter and recording artist, I am always seeking out new opportunities, and innovative ways to procure my career in the music industry. On April 10th, 2011 I attended the Hollywood in Music and Media Awards conference called “The Real Deal” at The Highlands in Hollywood, CA. The purpose of this event was to connect songwriters and recording artists directly with people who could potentially get them licensing and sync opportunities in Film and TV. There were a total of 5 panels giving advice about the music-licensing world and how to break into it, each lasting 45 minutes to an hour. I was one of 50-60 people in attendance, along with a few remote viewers who were watching the panels via a live webcast.

Speakers at the event included:
• Director Steven Goldman of ‘Trailer Park Of Terror’, and a new Cinemax TV show titled ‘Chemistry’ coming out later this year
• Amy Houck of 440 Artist Alignment
• Cryo Snowboards
• Jay Warsinske CEO of Indie Power,
• Composers Steffan Fantini of ‘Criminal Minds,’ Dan Licht of ‘Dexter’
• Richard Glasser the Head of Music at Weinstein Company
• Julia Michels music supervisor for ‘Sex In the City’ 1 and 2, ‘The Blind Side’, etc.
• Music supervisors Jay Warsinke, Art Ford, and many more.

The greatest part of this event was that the panel members were 100% accessible to the artists, and willing to take the time to speak with each person individually about their projects. Personally, I was able to hand my card out and have discussions with at least ten of the panel members, and at the end of the day I was handed two offers from companies interested in licensing my music.

My advice to any of you musicians out there is to seek out these kinds of opportunities. It is the difference between making $0.99 for the sale of one song vs. $2,500 to license it to a TV show or movie. The event did come at a ticket price of $198.00, but in the end I made connections that might help me make that back 20 times over.


by Drew The Intern.

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SXSW is a whirlwind ten days of music, film, and interactive buzz, with conferences, live events, street parties, guerrilla marketing campaigns and networking events. We headed down for the music portion of the 2011 festival, and managed to see and support some great artists and businesses, new and old. From the Red Bull DJ App launch party with Felix Da Housecat, to the Topspin and Berklee events, to Martin Atkins’ party:smart and more, Austin created a lasting impression, and ignited a desire to delve deeper into the ever-changing music business at a grass roots level, as well as a spark to already start planning for SXSW 2012.

Wondering what it would be like to cram all of the above into a one and a half minute audio-visual overload? Something like this…

by Lee Jarvis.

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I’ve often had my gripes with the Grammys. 2010 was an interesting year for music, and threw some interesting selections into the mix. We thought we’d select some of the key nominees and make a poll for our Music Jobs members and blog readers to participate in. Let’s hear your opinions in the poll and also the comments below.

1. Record of the Year
Award to the Artist(s) and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s), if other than the artist.

2. Album Of The Year
Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s)/Mixer(s) & Mastering Engineer(s), if other than the artist.

3. Song Of The Year
A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

4. Best New Artist
For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.

5. Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
For a solo vocal performance. Singles or Tracks only.

6. Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
For a solo vocal performance. Singles or Tracks only.

11. Best Pop Vocal Album
For albums containing 51% or more playing time of VOCAL tracks.

12. Best Dance Recording
For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances. Vocal or Instrumental. Singles or tracks only.

20. Best Rock Song
A Songwriter(s) Award. Includes Rock, Hard Rock & Metal songs. For Song Eligibility Guidelines see Category #3. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

28. Best R&B Song
A Songwriter(s) Award. For Song Eligibility Guidelines see Category #3. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

82. Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media
Award to Composer(s) for an original score created specifically for, or as a companion to, a current legitimate motion picture, television show or series or other visual media.

92. Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical
A Producer’s Award. (Artists names appear in parentheses.)

Who deserves to win? Who was missed? Share your thoughts below…

by Lee Jarvis.

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Legendary music event Sónar is about to venture to the US and hold their first event in Chicago on September 9th, 10th and 11th.

The Barcelona festival has been established for 26 years, and continues to grow, throwing events of “advanced music and multimedia art” at various venues across the European city, every year, during the third week of June. In 2009, they held an event in New York, and having created a positive experience, they are set to launch their first multi-day event in Chicago next month. The objective is “to take the philosophy of the Barcelona festival to the North American city, with all the features that have made Sónar an international touchstone: with an ambitious and high quality line-up featuring plenty of electronic experimentation and its derivations and unusual venues of the highest calibre.” For Chicago, this means that the Jay Pritzker Pavilion (designed by Frank Ghery) and the famous Chicago Cultural Center will host some of that experimental electronic music.

Some of the artists already confirmed are, The Slew (the scratch-rock project led by the wizard on the decks Kid Koala), Oval (a key project in 1990s electronica, featuring Germany’s Markus Popp, back with a new album), the Australian – resident in Iceland – Ben Frost (one of the most acclaimed sonic experimentalists working today), Nosaj Thing (the Los Angeles beatmaker featuring a show with serious visual impact), the Dutchman Martyn (a key name at the techno-dubstep crossroads), Nicolas Bernier + Martin Messier: La Chambre des Machines (a Canadian duo that base their show on rudimentary noise machines from the early twentieth century) and Lesley Flanigan (a New York artist who constructs her music with hand-made instruments and the sounds created by her own voice). The full program is being announced here.

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Last year I attended the University of Chicago MET Summit, and enjoyed not only the music panels, but all the technology discussions. Learning about other industries fuels your ideas for the music business, and crossover opportunities are everywhere in modern media. Technology has ignited, developed, bombarded and slaughtered the music industry several times over, and the current state is an exciting time to be involved in. You only have to look at the discussions happening at MIDEM to know that mobile device apps and video games are as much a part of the business as record sales and drainpipe jeans.

And so, this year I’m heading to Techvision 2010 at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business in Hyde Park, Chicago. Friday 26th February seeks to “drive home the game changing impact of technology to business minds across the industry and functional focus areas”. With panels such as Cloud Computing and Mobile Technology, not to mention a keynote from Senior VP at Warner Bros. Janet Pucino, appealing most to a music tech / music industry bod, I expect to hear and share ideas expecting to impact our work and passions over the next year. I know that UofC will provide a great forward-thinking entrepreneur aspect on top of the usual techy geekdom, and networking with some bright minds is always appealing.

If you are interested in attending also, registration details can be found here.

Lee Jarvis.

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