Catbird CMJ 2007 Totals:
Number of Panels Attended: 8
Number of Bands Seen: 2
Number of Drive Like Jehu "Yank Crime" Sweatshirts Seen: 1
Number of Double-Takes Done After Walking Past A Guy Wearing A Drive Like Jehu "Yank Crime" Sweatshirt: 1

Panel 1 - Friday, October 19. 10:30am
Music Business Primer: Digital Distribution
A session focusing on the online music market, digital music outlets, blogs and other digital distribution options.

Panel 2 - Friday, October 19, 11:45am
DIY or DIE
This panel will discuss independent record label management with artists who have made it on their own, with special focus on whether or not the traditional record label model is still relevant in today's changing music industry.

Panel 3 - Friday, October 19, 1:15pm
Major Label Dilemma
Representatives from major and indie labels confront the inevitable ultimatum facing industry constituents. Should I deal with a major label, an indie or just go for it on my own? This panel explores the major label response to changing technology, pros and cons of working with an independent label and the impact of digital technology on the major vs. indie debate. The discussion will include analysis from varying points of view including that of the artist, the manager, the radio promoter, the label manager, the marketing director and more.

These three panels may have had three discrete topics according to the descriptions, but I tellya—there ended up being a hell of a lot of overlap, to the degree where my morning felt more like one long, contiguous session. And here's the main point that came out:

"PEOPLE, YOU GOTTA TALK TO THE KIDS ON THE MYSPACE."

Music Business Primer: Digital Distribution
In the morning's Digital Distro session (moderated by Tunecore's Jeff Price), the focus of the discussion actually centered on "online marketing" more than "digital distro" per se (which is totally fine, and which had the added bonus of making me feel okay about blowing off the 2:30 "Marketing" panel). The panelists briefly explained their individual services, and though there were two digital distro guys on the panel (in addition to Price, there was Tim Mitchell of IODA), one hardware guy (Keith Washo of SanDisk), and two service/marketing guys (Mike Eldredge of Fuzz, Paul Wright of MediaGuide), the most interesting input came from musician Xander Smith (of the band Run Run Run), as he was able to talk about some of this stuff from a "band's-eye view." I think he actually even said, "Online marketing is everything to my band." What struck me was how, in a time when most people are preaching "sneaky" marketing, forced grass-roots "viral" campaigns, and/or otherwise gaming the system, here was a guy proving that, in the end, the best way to succeed is just to be genuine, be sincere, and put in the work (and yes, it is work) necessary to engage the fans. In other words, "YOU GOTTA TALK TO THE KIDS ON THE MYSPACE."

DIY or DIE
The DIY panel, moderated by IndieHQ.Com/Suburban Home's Virgil Dickerson, featured Tom Gates of Nettwerk, Cortney Harding of Billboard, and Nick Young of the band A.i. (not to be confused with Sasha Frere-Jones' all-black R&B/funk-soul band, Ui). Gates and Harding both had some interesting input (including Harding's assertion—which I totally agree with—that a huge portion of the whole "success equation" is dependent simply on chance and luck), but again, in this panel, it was the musician who offered up the most interesting point of view. In this case, the (pun intended) Young musician was able to detail a long and convoluted story about what his band experienced while being aggressively courted, schmoozed, and signed by a major, only to have their record lost, shuffled, botched and buried once they were "in." Yes, I realize that's not a new or unique story—but that's not my point. My point is that holy cow all this crazy major-label shit is still happening! Insane, I tellya. Utterly insane. Anyway, the kid's band is now going it alone, releasing their new album via Tunecore, and, I would assume, TALKING TO THE KIDS ON THE MYSPACE.

Major Label Dilemma
Moderator David Purcell, ESQ, of NYU announced right off the bat that this wouldn't be a panel doing an "indies vs. majors" debate, because that was a debate that had been "done to death." Instead, the focus of this panel was to be "the business of being an artist in today's marketplace." On the panel were Stu Bergen of the Independent Label Group, Jason Fiber of Superfecta, Steve Savoca of Domino, Anders Johansson of Universal Sweden, and "Shane" from imeem. There was a lot of discussion of how label/artist relationships have been structured historically, how they're changing/being done now, and how they'll need to change moving forward. Ultimately, this lead to a question I've been pondering lately: "What exactly is the role of a label anymore?" Time was, a label would scout talent (no longer needed; Internet), advance money/studio time (no longer needed; ProTools), manufacture and distribute physical product (no longer needed; iTunes), and then market and promote (still needed). So my thinking was leading me to conclude that the labels of the future are, for lack of a better term, simply marketing companies. But after this session, I had to reconsider; it's all quite a bit deeper than that. Although an artist can now easily self-record, self-release, and self-promote/manage/book etc. (via contracted services), the labels (well, the good ones, at least) will always be able to offer an artist the benefits of their industry knowledge, experience, and relationships, and for that reason, the concept of "the label" will remain relevant. At the same time, we're losing the concept of the label as a "mark of quality;" we're on the way to a future in which an album's label will matter to the consumer about as much as a movie's production studio does ("Dude. I totally only see movies that are distributed by Lion's Gate. Lion's Gate-distributed movies totally rule."). Oh yeah, and I almost forgot: someone in the audience asked the panel about their thoughts regarding the social networking services, and whether or not artists and labels should focus any efforts there. Know what the response was? Here's a hint: it rhymes with this: "SHMEOPLE, YOU GOTTA SHMALK TO THE SHMIDS ON THE SHMYSPACE."

And so, as my weeklong sojourn in CMJ panel-land began to draw to a close, a gentle rain began to fall, and I settled in for the capstone panel:

Panel 3 - Friday, October 19, 3:45pm
The Almighty Blog
This panel explores the power to make or break artists that increasingly lies in the hands of influential bloggers. This discussion will feature some of the world's most respected bloggers as well as representatives of traditional media outlets hashing it out over the legitimacy of blog-power.

Let me preface by saying that for someone like me, who has been observing this stuff with a nitpicking, micro-level view (yes, sad/pathetic, I know) for quite a long time, this panel didn't get to touch on much more than a fairly general look at the music blogosphere. In the end, that was probably a good thing, because that precludes me from writing some 90-paragraph/Marathonpacks-length rambling dissertation. The panel was moderated by Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk, had blogger representation from FreeIndie/Limewire blogger Mike Frankel, Music For Robots' Mark Willett and "honorary blogger" Anthony Volodkin of Hype Machine, plus Karen Lieberman of Sony BMG, and Jaan Uhelszki of Rhapsody. They discussed music blogs in the following contexts: value(?), integrity(?), social/community aspect, professionalism(?), and monetization. It was interesting. Someone should have live-blogged it.

And then, toward the end, Eliot opened it up for questions, at which point an eloquent young man stood up and graced us with the following:

"Yeah, so, uh, like... um.... I have, like, um, two questions, or, uh, like a two-part question? And you can, ahem, you can, like, just answer, like, one part, or, um, like, both? Or, um... like, I guess, or, um, not answer either part or, um.... whatever. So, like, uh... blogs. Um, like, you know, like, Pitchfork? Like, um, how do blogs, er, I mean, like, um... how does Pitchfork fit into, like, everything? Do you guys, like, um....hate them? Or like, um... do you like them or, uh, hate them, or what? Or, like, whatever? And, um, my, uh.... my second part? So, like, uh, the future? Like is that gonna be, like, uh... podcasts, or video, or whatever? Because my friend like, he has a video, and uh... like, is the future in blogs gonna be like, uh, like podcasts, or like, uh, whatever? Or, um, whatever."

I believe the children are our future, folks. Let us heed this young man's powerful message. Let us look to the future with an eye on tomorrow, but with one foot planted firmly in today. Let us be respectful of those that have come before us, while blazing a new path forward with our music blogs, and our "like, um, podcasts," and our "uhh... videos or whatever." Let us never forget our roots, and let us never forget the value of honest, hard work. Let us build a new nation of music lovers, with a focus on community, and respect, and a drive for greatness. Let us reclaim music as something valuable and meaningful, and worthy of deep-listening, and let us nurture the artists, and cultivate an environment of openness, and innovation, and an eternal reverence for the Art. And people, let us talk to the kids on the MySpace.

Panel 1 - Oct. 18, 11:45 a.m.
Disposable Content
Has the availability of affordable recording equipment and the permeation of the Internet devalued music? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? This panel is an exploration of how technology has changed the core value of musical content.

Well, this came out as the most enjoyable panel I've been in so far, but that should be expected from any panel in which Pere Ubu's David Thomas serves as moderator. On the panel were Anthony Batt of Buzznet, Bob George from the Archive of Contemporary Music, Marcy Wagman of MAD Dragon, and "Steve," the GM of Domino US, in a last-minute, pulled-from-the-audience substitution for slated panelist Adam Farrell of Matador/Beggars.

Bob George opened up the panel with a 10-minute historical timeline of recorded music since its birth (back in '77 (that's 1877)), cued by David Thomas' lead-in statement, "Music is a Masonic craft...[and]...Edison is the father of Rock & Roll."

After the history lesson, Thomas took immediate control of the proceedings, and emphatically tore loose with some of the brilliant pre-written mini-dissertations he had prepared (there were some real gems there— and dammit, I wish I could've typed fast enough to get some of 'em down for you). A rhythm eventually settled over the panel: Panelist says something, Thomas vehemently disagrees with said statement, then moves onto his next (exceedingly entertaining) prepared response.

At the heart of the whole "disposable" debate here was the question of whether or not new technologies, coupled with music's new ubiquity (and also the new contexts in which it's used) have devalued music, and sort of "brought it down" culturally. In the end, there was no clear, simple consensus amongst the panel ("things aren't necessarily 'bad' now; they're just 'different'"/"the ubiquity of the music is acutally a good thing"/"I've always said the solution to this whole problem is to forbid teenage girls from buying music"), but I can say that some healthy debate ensued here, and I'd certainly like to see this topic taken further in places like, oh, yer blogs, and yer ILMs, and yer Idolator comment sections, for example.

Oh, and aside from that "teenage girls" comment above, I did manage to get just one other Thomas quote down... it's a prescription for how to combat this slide toward the disposable, I believe:

"Fuck the audience. Fuck the artist. Preserve the art."

Panel 2 - Thursday, October 18, 2:30 p.m.
The New A&R
Music supervisors, bloggers and international music fans are beginning to replace the traditional label-based A&R system. This panel explores the new ways in which artists are being discovered and includes discussions about advertising agency A&R, commercial placement of music and the nuances of Internet buzz.

You know those situations where you get lured in by a promise of something really desirable, but when you actually get there, it turns out to be some sort of pitch for, like, a time-share or a pyramid scheme? That's what this panel felt like. It didn't "explore the new ways" so much as it provided 15 minutes for each of the panelists to pitch the business or service they represented.

Panel 2: Oct. 17, 3:30 p.m.
Biting the Dust: The Decline of the Album Format
Is the album is a dead format? This panel discussion explores what artists can do to continue to profit from their passion in the face of extreme change and the importance of the digital single. Topics discussed include the shifting landscape of single sales and the new angles of approach for artists emerging in the world of the digital single.

The panel was moderated by none other than Suhrid Manchanda, Online Marketing Director for World's Fair, and star of yesterday's CMJ attendee video ("Manhattan Meats"), and the panelists were David Pak (sales/marketing Manager, Caroline), Jim Welte (music news editor, MP3.com—yeah, I know! I guess it still exists!), Jordy Tractenberg (VP licensing/A & R, The Orchard), and Molly Neuman (director, label relations, eMusic).

This is a topic that's been bubbling around in the industry for years now, but there was some decent discussion coming out of this panel, I think because they were mainly focusing on the business side of things. In the end, there seemed to be a general consensus that the album format, while still in relatively good health, is in (at least a bit of) a decline, and a lot of the focus here was on how to add value to the album format, in the face of a consumer base that was rapidly coming to be more singles-oriented. I was especially enjoying Tractenberg's input, for some of the off-the-wall sorts of things he was offering up, for example (and I'm paraphrasing here):

"What about artists making constantly-changing, evolving albums? Like, here's the album, then next week, he adds two songs, then next week, he takes away a song, and re-records another..."

That sounds completely, well, crazy to me, but props to the man for thinking "outside the box."

I love the album format, but even I am becoming more singles-oriented. And all I mean by that is that whereas once, if I downloaded a lone MP3 from somewhere and really dug it, I would go and seek out the band's full-length. But nowadays, I find that I'm often content with just enjoying that lone MP3. Because, jeez, who has the time to seek out and listen to every single song on every single full-length of every single band that ever put out an MP3 that they liked?

Besides mp3 bloggers, I mean.

(Note: As interesting as this panel was, I confess I'm kinda bummed that I forgot there was another panel starting at 4:00 called "MUSIC WEBSITE GURUS." I console myself with the knowledge that I still have Friday's panel, "THE ALMIGHTY BLOG," to look forward to.)

Panel 1 - Wednesday 10/17, 10:30am
Indie Rock Taste Test (featuring Dan Deacon!)
Does all "indie rock" sound the same? Is "indie" an aesthetic, a business model or something else? The experts hammer it out once and for all in this no-holds-barred look at the changing face of what it means to be "indie." Includes a special focus on the effects of the definition debate and international differences of opinion.

I knew this panel was gonna get crazy, but I honestly didn't anticipate the mad audience rush up to the dais, to crowd around Dan Deacon the instant he took the mic. Dan began to pontificate about his stance on "indie," and then proceeded to lay down some incredible electro beats as the crowd swirled in a vortex around him, fists pumping, asses shaking, bathed in a sweaty, exuberant glow.

Just kidding. Deacon didn't show up.

Luckily, the rest of the panelists did. The moderator, Anthropologist Wendy Fonarow, explained that the panel was going to address the questions of (1.) "What does 'Indie' mean to you?", (2.) "Why do we care?," and (3.) "What's at stake?" Panelists included Guy Lowman, A & R man for Fierce Panda; Sue Busch, radio promo head at Sub Pop; Elise Nordling, music director/DJ for Indie Pop Rocks, and Mike Wolf, music editor for Time Out New York, with whom I felt immediate kinship, as he explained that he was "old school," and that "indie rock," to him, always meant bands like Superchunk and Thinking Fellers (TFUL)." Of course, that's most certainly not what it means today, though, does it? And that's what the panel was here to talk about.

The panelists' initial responses to the question ("What Is Indie?") were as follows: Wolf said that 'Indie' was something that was concerned with defining itself in the context of being something that's "other." Lowman's definition of indie was simply "Against the mainstream." Sue Busch agreed, elaborating that 'Indie' was about producing music, shows, and etc., without ties to any major label (offering a sincere chuckle at her own statement, considering the relationship between Sub Pop and Warner). Elise Nordling agreed in turn, and went just a bit more specific, offering that she thought of 'Indie' more specifically indicated the condition of "being on an independent label."

At this point, the panelists continued to expand upon their initial statements, but I think everyone in the room realized that it was asking a lot to come to a "once and for all" consensus on the meaning of "indie" in a single one-hour session, so Fonarow opened it up for audience questions after just 30 minutes. We got the obligatory "What do you think about blogs?" ("they're good"), and "What do you think about Pitchfork?" ("The ultimate indie snobbery... great in some ways."), but there were also some good questions, such as "how are labels addressing all of the new DIY methods, and adapting for the future?" ("Essentially becoming more like marketing companies" was the response). Another good question raised was about the issue of "selling out," and more specifically, how does one determine the moment at which something ceases to be "Indie?" Lowman said, "It's like Wayne's World..." He then began to elaborate, but frankly, I got totally lost, so let's just leave it at that: Question: "What Is Indie?" Answer: "It's like Wayne's World."

But seriously, folks, I think that, in conclusion, it was actually Mike Wolf that answered the main question of this panel best. Asked to name a few examples of indie bands, he replied, without missing a beat (and with just a bit of a chuckle), "Fugazi is the only true indie band, ever."

OK, let's do this:

Panel 1 - Oct. 16, 2:30 p.m.
Ones And Zeroes: An in-depth discussion about the digital technology takeover with a focus on uses of the digital medium in music promotion, distribution, publicity, sales and more.

Is digital completely overtaking currently established models!?

Will the industry ever recover from the chaos wreaked by the advent of digital files!?

What does the future hold for music in a digital world!?

The verdict: I have no idea. I never made it to the panel. I was busy standing in line, waiting to get my badge, for 68 minutes, which is about 63 minutes longer than what I was expecting.

God willing, I was gonna make it to this next panel, though:

Panel 2 - Tuesday 10/16, 3:45pm
Radio Revolution: Professionals from all sides of the issue discuss radio, webcasting and the shifting legal landscape of streaming and broadcasting music. The Copyright Royalty Board's decision to raise royalty rates for webcasters will be cracked open for a thorough explanation of the nuances of the issues from various points of view from radio pros to label bosses.

The verdict? Hang on, I'll get to that in a minute— first I just want to boot up my laptop and shoot a message over to Maura, to let her know I'm here. OK, let's see here... perfect! I just picked up an "NYUguest" network, just as I expected. Now, just let me open my Gmail. OK.... Wait a second. What the fuck? "Please supply NYUguest login credentials?" Uh... hmmm. Right, let me just ask this guy if he's got Internet access. What's that? No? You don't know anything about it, huh? Hmmm. Well, I guess maybe I'll just pop back down to the lobby and ask the kids manning the CMJ table how to get Internet access. (Bear with me— just going back down 10 floors on the elevator (with people stopping on every other floor (fun!)) Alright, here's the CMJ table. Hi, I'm just trying to get Internet access? What's that? You don't know anything about getting Internet access for CMJ attendees? Hmm? I should go up to the first-floor computer lab and talk to the security guard up there? OK. (Up a flight of stairs...) There's the security guard. Hi, I was just... hmm? What? I should go back down to the lobby and talk to the security guard posted there? OK, thanks a lot. (Back down a flight of stairs...) Excuse me, sir? What? No, I'm not trying to use of those computers up there in the lab; I have my own laptop, I'm just trying to talk to someone who can tell me how to get guest access. Hm? You don't know anything about it? Well, is there another lab or something near here, where I could maybe talk to someone? No? Oh, I see. Mm-hmm.

What's that? What's that you say, random woman sitting next to the security desk? You think there's a free, open wireless network, provided by the city, in the park across the street? OK, I guess I'll just pop over there and check it out. (Sorry everyone, bear with me again... exiting building... crossing street... wandering through park looking for a bench...) OK, well, let me try this— yeah, yeah, there we go, "Free Public Wi-Fi," that sounds good! OK now.... Hmm. Wait. No signal. Let me try over here. No signal. Aw, fuck this. I'm just gonna go back, I've wasted enough time. (Back out of the park, across the street, into the building, into the elevator, back up to the 10th floor (people stopping on every floor (fun!) again...)). SIGH. OK. Alright. Here we go: RADIO REVOLUTION:

Dammit, it's over. I missed it.

Well, I guess this means I definitely won't be doing any "live" updates here this week. They seem to have not provided any Internet access for us during the panels.

I suppose I can see their point of view, though... I mean, this is a music conference, for God's sake! It's not like the Internet has anything to do with music, amirite?