Friday, October 9, 2009
Next Big Nashville Next Big Nashville Creative Conference: Kinda Like College, Really
Posted by Sean Maloney on Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 9:45 AM
Actually, it's a lot like college, even down to the seating arrangement. In a bizarre repeat of Paul Allen's Spring '06 Artist Management class I ended up with Mikky Ekko and Jordan Maddison of Teleprompt Management trying desperately to stay awake. Weird. The panels have been a steady reminder that I owe tens of thousands of dollars to MTSU, and have a snowball's chance in hell of paying it back--this was driven home when a fellow conference-goer got a call from the Student Assistance Corporation, our mutual loan shark. Let's hope they wait until after the festival to break our knees.
As for the panels themselves, they can all be boiled down to one phrase: "Well, that depends on the band." It seems that despite all of the experience and knowledge compiled onstage, everybody is still just throwing shit at a wall to see what sticks. Whether it's tour routing or the importance of tweeting, the general consensus is that, well, there really is no consensus. Audience members are looking for hard, fast rules that they can follow on the road to success, but the experts seem to agree that in this economy and environment the only thing you can really depend on are writing great songs and touring your ass off. I could've told you that.
The thing that's been bugging me about the panels is that the people these are designed for aren't here--the music writer to musician ratio is skewed heavily towards the former. Does Glenn "Coolfer" Peoples need to hear about how to optimize his band's Facebook page? No, he doesn't, but your band could probably use some advice. So where in the hell are you? There are a lot of folks missing out, and that's a shame.
Next Big Nashville's Creative Conference continues today at 11 a.m. at The Country Music Hall of Fame, and will include a talk with Guy Clark.
Comments (4)
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Well put, Maloney. I wish I could take off work to see all the panels, if for no other reason, just to support the dialogue NBN is trying to foster. That said, the two panels I did attend didn't have one complete thought between them.
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I was thinking the same thing yesterday. I wonder - could I have saved a lot of money if, instead of going to college, I shelled out the money for all the music conferences? The panels are so informative and the events are incredible networking opportunities. Just something to think about for those who can't afford college or can't get in :)
Sure, you can save yourself about $90K and skip the Belmont Music Business degree...but when you are 35 and the only education you have is a mix of conference panels and some time at the School of Hard Knocks, you might regret that decision.
Having said that, why are the front 4 rows in that photo vacant? We were these blocked off or something?
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