BE LIKE MIC

Get the insider dope on the music industry all weekend at the OnCenter

By Jessica Novak

The music business isn’t easy. Just ask any musician trying to make it—or even the ones that have. But luckily for those active in the industry here in Syracuse, whether an artist, booker, venue owner, soundman, manager, journalist or simply a music nerd, there’s a resource available that imparts a taste of the industry and a chance to meet the people that make it move.

On Friday, Nov. 11, and Saturday, Nov. 12, the second annual Music Industry Conference (MIC) will bookend the Syracuse Area Music Awards; both events take place at the OnCenter, 800 S. State St. Operating in a similar style, but smaller scale, to conferences like South by Southwest or the CMJ Music Marathon, MIC mixes a trade show, panels and speakers featuring industry professionals both local and national, and showcases where bands can potentially impress whichever professional might be in the audience.

Showcases, which feature two to five bands, each with 45 minute sets, will take place throughout the city at venues including Al’s Wine and Whiskey Lounge, 321 S. Clinton St.; Benjamin’s on Franklin, 314 S. Franklin St.; Bull and Bear Pub, 125 E. Water St.; Crowne Plaza Syracuse, 701 E. Genesee St.; Upstairs at the Dino, 246 W. Willow St.; and Empire Brewing Company, 120 Walton St., among others.

Attendance works on a badge and wristband system. Those who wish to attend showcases can buy a wristband for $25, which is good for all MIC shows during the two-day event. A $50 badge allows holders entrance to all panels, speakers and trade show as well as drink specials and first seating at participating venues. Badges are available online, as well as a full schedule and further details on when and where more than 50 bands are playing, by visiting www.micnys.com.

This year’s speakers include author, blogger and industry expert Moses Avalon; author Martin Atkins; Peter Spellman, author, musician and direc tor of career development at Berklee College of Music; Matt Ramone, head of Phil Ramone Music Management; and label veteran Harvey Leeds.

Speakers and panels will cover a variety of subject areas, from the views of a music lawyer and demo listening sessions to the “Ultimate Music Business Q&A,” and copyright and trademarks. But the highlights of MIC are the guests who bring their seasoned views to the conference, opening themselves up willingly to curious attendees.

Avalon, who has participated in more than 20 conferences similar to MIC, often leaves his sessions primarily open to questions on the floor.

“I’ll take any question anybody has,” he said in a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. “My keynotes tend to be more like town forums, town meetings, because I speak for maybe 15 minutes and then I open the floor up to questions. I always think that’s a much better way to do any kind of address because you never know what’s on the mind of the people in the audience.”

Avalon will deliver his keynote on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in Meeting Room A of the OnCenter, just outside the ballroom. As the author of 100 Answers to 50 Questions on the Music Business (Hal Leonard Books, 2010), Avalon is the man to ask. With more than 30 years steeped in the industry, Avalon made his way from amateur musician to full-time producer and engineer, and had the opportunity to see the industry from the inside out. He didn’t like a good deal of what he saw.

“Every studio I worked at, every producer I knew, had ‘connections’ on speed dial somewhere,” he said. “It’s not something that I ever wanted to be involved in. I didn’t want to have to feel like I was supplying illegal elements, but unfortunately, my competitors were, so I was competing with that.”

He also started studying his clients’ contracts in an effort to understand why they weren’t making the money they expected. “I started reading their contracts just for my own education at first and thought, ‘My God. I can’t believe no one’s writing a book about this.’” Although there were books available, none took the producer or artist’s point of view, so Avalon provided his own. The result was Confessions of a Record Producer (Backbeat Books, 1999), which, along with several other books including Million Dollar Mistakes (Backbeat Books, 2005) and Secrets of Negotiating a Record Contract (Backbeat Books, 2005), have gone on to become required reading in music business programs at colleges and universities including UCLA, Loyola and New York University.

Beyond that, his blog, www.mosesavalon.com/mosesblog, reaches more than 13,000 direct subscribers and 100,000 through syndication. He has also become the voice of the industry on cable television networks including Court TV, MSNBC and CNN. Given Avalon’s straightforward, no-bullshit, unafraid-to-fight personality, it’s easy to see why he’s a perfect choice for MIC. It also comes through during his participation in panels.

“You come away learning more when you see knowledgeable people disagree rather than just people patting each other on the back, selling what they’ve got to sell,” he explained. “Unfortunately, that’s the problem with a lot of conferences. They’re very pitchy and they’re heavily sponsored, which censors what can get said. A conference like yours {MIC} doesn’t really have to contend like that. I get to say things I wouldn’t get to say in other places and I get to interact with people on a more personal level.”

Avalon sometimes finds himself at odds with others in the industry. He calls industry pot-stirrer blogger Bob Lefsetz, last year’s MIC keynote speaker, “good fluff, good entertainment,” and has been known to embarrass representatives from corporations like BMI and ASCAP on past conference panels when “they were making a bunch of false statements I called them to the mat on,” Avalon says.

But others in the industry admire his dare to be honest. Fellow MIC speaker Spellman is among them. “He’s a wonderful guy, one of the brightest luminaries in the music industry,” Spellman said in a phone interview from his office in Boston. “I really respect him and his insights on things. He always keeps me honest on things.”

Spellman, who began his musical career as a guitarist, but switched to drums at age 32 after a life-altering Police show (who knew Stewart Copeland was so influential?), worked his way through the industry. He dabbled in booking, management and music journalism before landing at Berklee. Along the way he also published several books including The Self-Promoting Musician: Strategies for Independent Music Success (Berklee Press, 2000) and The Musician’s Internet: Online Strategies for Success in the Music Industry (Berklee Press, 2002) among others. When he speaks at MIC on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., he will talk about the notion of the musician as an entrepreneur.

“We’re seeing a shift in the whole industry from the domination of the music business to the musician business,” he said. “That is a very significant one. It affects everything in the industry and I’m going to be focusing on the musician business and really just how to stay creative in the business in the way the industry’s going. My intent is to inspire, illuminate and to coach people toward greater creativity and participation in their communities and to really push the envelope to really create new things because windows are open for creation now. The handcuffs are coming off and there’s great power in people’s corners.”

Both Avalon and Spellman are looking forward to meeting and connecting with MIC attendees and a networking event is planned for Friday, Nov. 11 following the Sammy Awards. Networkers will meet at the MIC Showcase slotted for Upstairs at the Dino, 246 W. Willow St. Those interested are welcome to attend with networking beginning around 10 p.m. Be sure to bring MIC wristband or badge.

“I’m hoping to hear more stories of success that are under the radar,” Spellman noted. “I’m seeing more and more artists that are making some really interesting waves, but aren’t household names at all and they never make the news. They’re flying under the radar, doing some really interesting stuff that we should know about and share with the channels we have to inspire others to push that same envelope and explore new terrain.”