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Interview: Scott Kirsner of Fans, Friends & Followers

From Kyle Bylin: Today, I spoke with Scott Kirsner, author of Fans, Friends and Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age.  Scott shares his perspective on active consumers, why some fans still want to be passive, and the greatest lesson he learned in writing the book.

Right off the bat, you present the great paradox of our times, “Breaking out, somehow, is both more of a possibility than it has ever been – and harder than it has ever been.”

What degree of disparity, and, yet, in the same breath, newfound hope and empo-werment do you believe up-and-coming musicians, artists, writers, and the latter can find within that great paradox of our times?  

Scott Kirsner: I tend to be optimistic, so I think there’s a lot of hope for up-and-coming artists to find a way to build their own fan base and earn a living. There are incredible shifts happening in the worlds of music, film, and publishing – and individual creators can be much more nimble when it comes to understanding them and taking advantage of them than big mega-media corporations.

Video: Six Female Rock Journalists Share Stories

Women Who Rock from Caitlin Wittlif on Vimeo.

What is it like being a female in the music journalism industry? 6 women in the field share their experiences in this documentary. Women featured include: Maura Johnston (Idolator), Paige Maguire (WOXY), Ellen Carpenter, Callie Enlow, Rachael Maddux, and Margaret Moser.

Interview: Greg Kot of Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music (Part 2)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor - Read Part 1

(Part 2 of 2) Your recent article Blockbuster era made Michael Jackson and consumed him reads almost like an epilogue to your already in-depth analysis in Ripped. 

Would you consider the mass-marketing successes that occurred during the CD-Boom a relatively short-lived phenomenon and, if so, why and what’s some of your reasoning behind that belief?

Greg Kot: Yes, I think the era of the mass-marketed mega artist is coming to an end. The multimedia companies that once dominated the star-maker discourse no longer monopolize how music is accessed. The culture for entertainment, as well as everything else for that matter, is fragmenting into niches facilitated by tools that enable us to find and communicate with people who have similar interests more efficiently and quickly than ever.

Interview: Greg Kot of Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music (Part 1)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor - Read Part 2

(Part 1 of 2) Today, I spoke with Greg Kot, who is the author of Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music, a rock critic at The Chicago Tribune, and co-host of the popular radio show Sound Opinions.  In this interview, Greg talks about the media landscape, the end of the mass-marketed mega artist, and adds his thoughts to ‘the file-sharing debate.’

Do you think we largely and often times do forget that for every action the Record Industry made in the media landscape there was an equal and opposite reaction from the general public, which only contributed to further evolving the complex system of relationships that had been created in the twentieth-century?

Greg Kot:  I think there is a central motif here: The 20th Century record industry has never been particularly eager to embrace new technology, basically anything that threatened the status quo. It wasn’t so much greed and arrogance that destroyed it as fear of change. They lost touch with consumers, and got comfortable riding a pricey cash cow – the compact disc.

Interview: Amanda 'Fucking' Palmer Answers the Critics of Her Success (Part 3)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor -- Read Part 1 -- Read Part 2

(Part 3 of 3) Last, but not least, coming straight from the Hypebot comments section, “No major label, no commercial radio play. No commercial radio play, no major tour. No major tour, no wide fan base. No wide fan base, no online yard sales. Without the major label deal, she'd be playing to 100 scenesters at the Middle East Cafe.”

How do you respond to the critics who say you have only been able to build an audience because of the money that your label—the one that you have publically stated you want to be dropped from—has spent on promoting you?

Amanda Palmer:  The label absolutely enabled us to grow, until they stopped helping. I need to be very clear about this: Roadrunner Records were incredibly helpful - in 2004. It's 2009. I have not been sitting on my ass in the 5 years in between, picking my ass and waiting for the label to come around...I'm not an idiot. I've been touring non-stop and on the internet for hours and hours every single day. Would I be nowhere without them? Hell no.

Interview: Amanda 'Fucking' Palmer (Part 2)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor -- Read Part 1 -- Read Part 3

(Part 2 of 3) With the advent of the Internet fan mail has continued to shift from a passive to active medium, in that they are no longer reaching out to ‘the artist in the clouds,’ but to the real person behind the music.  As well as, replying and acknowledging the magnitude of responses is somewhat more manageable feat.

What made you choose to embrace fan-mail to the extent of publishing your home address on your website, how has it worked out, and has the nature of fan-mail has changed over the years?

Amanda Palmer: I'm so lucky in this regard as well because my band was built very slowly. Fan mail, in the old days of 2001, came almost exclusively via email, and I loved responding to every email personally for the first year or so of the band. But this was back when there were only 20-30 emails a week that came in through dresdendolls.com.  At a certain point I wasn't able to answer everything, so I gave the job of filtering it to my manager's assistant...

Interview: Amanda 'Fucking' Palmer (Part 1)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor -- Read Part 2 -- Read Part 3

Photo by Rosario Lopez @ Alterna2

(Part 1 of 3) Today I spoke with Amanda Palmer, who is not only renowned for her ability to connect with her fans and give them a reason to buy, as well as, publically stating that she’d like to be dropped from her label, but, also for her role in The Dresden Dolls.  In this interview, Amanda talks about fan-mail, online fandom, and promptly answers the critics of her success. 

How do you think the blurring between home and studio, the public artist and private individual, and the ability to work from ‘anywhere,’ at all times, correlates with the dynamics of what could be a ‘new middle class of musicians?’

Amanda Palmer: Well, for better or worse, the blur has both democratized and frustrated the music business and music-making. It used to be impossible to do any of these back-end production and promotion things (mass-mail fans, create videos, create recorded music) without huge resources from labels, agencies and otherwise profoundly business & profit-oriented organizations. Now that the musician herself can act as all these things, it's empowering. But also difficult - it begs the question of what artists should really be doing with their time.

Interview: Dalton Conley of Elsewhere, U.S.A.

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Today I spoke with Dalton Conley, who is University Professor of the Social Sciences and the Chair of the Department of Sociology at New York University and author of Elsewhere, U.S.A.: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms and Economic Anxiety.  In this interview, Dalton talks about the “elsewhere phenomenon,” his own industry’s “Napster moment,” and the role of megastars in today’s music industry.  

How have the changes in the economy, family, and technology combined to give birth to this new type of American professional? 

Dalton Conley:  Three forces have come together in a perfect storm of sorts.  The first is the most visible and most obvious, perhaps.  And that’s the internet / wireless revolution. This has not only allowed up to work all the time when we are not physically present at our employer’s location, it also allows us to stay connected to our non-work lives when we are ostensibly at work.  And, of course, this industry itself has accelerated the growth in knowledge sector jobs where we can work anywhere since there is no physical product with which we are dealing.

The New Rockstar Philosophy

The Interview:  Part One — Part Two

"Fans found real artists, fans found real music, and artists are finding ways to make money and talk to their fans directly. I can't imagine any of this slowing down.  In fact I can only see things getting more intense. Yes, the majors may get their shit together and figure this puppy out, but no one is going to stop great music." - Voyno

Hoover on the right and Voyno's on the left.

Get Your Free Copy Of The New Rockstar Philosophy

Interview: Voyno and Hoover of The New Rockstar Philosophy (Part 2)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor — Read Part 1 — Get The Free Book

Recently here on Hypebot, we spent a week discussing the future of the album and FREE!. David Allen and I came to agree that the album, as is stands, has no place in the digital future. Obviously, there will still be albums and music, we’re all just trying to think outside the jewel-case or file folder rather.

Could you highlight your thoughts on redefining the album and consistent new music?

Voyno: It was just a one two punch for the album. The advent of the iPod and file sharing on the internet knocked the it out. The album is dead. Of course your hardcore fans would dig an album, but they're your hard core fans, they'll dig any music you give to them. The 3P is the perfect way to build a base. 3 new songs every 3 months is so doable. Most musicans I know make a lot of music. An album will bung you up, the 3P will keep you regular.

Hoover: This is an important topic. It's so ingrained into our head's that the album is a sacred piece of work.  There's just so much music and it's way too easy to access. There's just too much vying for our attention. How many bands were you into a few years ago and have totally lost interest in today? They didn't put out an album for two years and you stopped caring. 

Interview: Voyno and Hoover of The New Rockstar Philosophy (Part 1)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor — Read Part 2

Today, I spoke with Voyno and Hoover, authors of the recently released book and highly popular blog The New Rockstar Philosophy.  In this interview, we talk about the stigma that comes with writing advice for independent artists, their theory on consistent new music, and how musicians will continue to ‘take control of their music’ in the next decade. 

Leading up to committing to writing the book and starting the blog…

What initially inspired the idea for New Rockstar Philosophy and made you take the task on?

Hoover: Voyno was in a new band and looking to take a serious go of things. I had been wanting back into the music loop.  I played in bands, promoted shows,  managed bands, and tried to start a record label a few years back.  We realized the whole music business was in transition and we wanted some new strategies to promote artists. It evolved from there.

Ever wanted to put a face to a name and get a look at these two helpful guys?  (The unvealing after the jump.)

Interview: Steve Knopper of Rolling Stone and Appetite for Self-Destruction (Part 2)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor — (Read Part 1)    

In Chapter Two:  How Big Spenders Got Rich in the Post-CD Boom, you commented, “The business was evolving from small-time guys who packed their products into crates themselves to an international network of distribution executives with MBAs.”

Followed later by, “Pressured by debt, he and other corporate types started to demand that the music unit function like every other unit.”

What’s the danger in trying to treat music like other products, where if “advertised” enough via MTV and Radio, sales can be hammered out in an attempt to exceed quarterly projections?

Steve Knopper: Well, selling music isn't the same as selling soap. You can't just roll out a product when the timing suits you and you need a hit. We've seen that over the last couple years, as labels have waited desperately for hit artists like Eminem, Guns N' Roses, Green Day and Dr. Dre to finish their albums during the past few crucial fourth-quarter holiday shopping seasons. As I report in the book, it was in the '90s that labels realized they couldn't just sign talent and wait for years and years for it to develop the way they could in the early days of Springsteen and U2, for example. By the '90s they were owned by massive public companies like Sony and Vivendi, and those corporate overseers demanded quarterly results. I believe there is a direct cause-and-effect between that mentality and the one-hit wonders that popped up around that time, from Third Eye Blind to Chumbawamba to the Spice Girls to Hanson to the entirety of teen pop.

Interview: Steve Knopper of Rolling Stone and Appetite for Self-Destruction (Part 1)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor — (Read Part 2)    

Today I spoke with Steve Knopper, who is a contributing editor to Rolling Stone and author of Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age.  In this interview Steve shares his insight into the similarities between the Newspaper and Recording industry, the danger of treating music like a product, and the rise of file-sharing.

The subhead of your book Appetite for Self-Destruction reads, “The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age.”

Why is making the distinction between the record and music industry so important and what’s at risk when the two are jumbled together?

Steve Knopper: I'd say the distinction is fairly straightforward. The record industry refers to the recording industry, i.e., the four major labels, most of the big indies and the Recording Industry Association of America. The music industry is the broader business, including concert promoters, artist managers and agents, radio stations and even perhaps magazines like Rolling Stone.

Interview: Ali Partovi of iLike (Part Two)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

In part two of my interview with Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike, we talk about today's music, filtering, and dependence on delivery mechanisms. (Read Part One)

Q:  Do you think that today’s new music has less “staying power” than the hits of the “golden era?”

Ali Partovi:  I think the problem with the new generation of up-and-coming music is that the labels are becoming short-sighted and gravitating towards one-hit-wonders with formulaic appeal rather than trying to develop a new artist over a period of years. This is understandable if you’re hoping to recoup your investment on record sales alone. 

But it leaves an opportunity for somebody who is willing to invest in talent with a longer-term view to fill the traditional role of record labels in nurturing, investing, and developing artists – presumably to recoup that investment not just on record sales but also touring, merch, publishing, etc. I think we’re going to see new entities emerge – whether you call them labels, promoters, managers, or something new – who see this opportunity and invest in it. Until then, today’s new hits will have trouble rivaling the longevity of the U2s and Rolling Stones of the world.

Interview: Ali Partovi of iLike (Part One)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ali Partovi, who is the CEO of iLike.  In this interview, Ali talks about the future he imagines for his company, pay-for-play business models, social discovery, and what’s working for artists on the site. 

(Read Part Two)

In a perfect world, where innovation isn’t stifled and prolonged by a room full of lawyers…

Q:  What does the future you’re trying to build for fans and artists look like?
 
Ali Partovi:  In an ideal world, talented new artists should get discovered based on merit. And not just the mass-appeal stars: a talented artist with narrow appeal should be able to reach fans within a niche genre.  Fans want more diversity; they want the mass-appeal stuff, but they also want more variety that fits their tastes.

Growing up, the first medium that I developed a relationship with was radio, because it was free and it was the first personal electronic device that owned...

Interview: Nancy Baym of Online Fandom (Part 1)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Today, I spoke with Nancy Baym, who is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at The University of Kansas and author of the Online Fandom blog.  After reading Bruce’s write-up about her MidemNet presentation back in January, I became instantly curious and familiarized myself with the rest of her work.

Leading up to me asking if she would share her thoughts on Online Fandom, Mobilized Communities, and The Future of the Networked Audience with the Hypebot community.

Q:  What is “Online Fandom?” 

Nancy Baym:  Online fandom is what happens when people who are passionate about a band (or TV show or whatever) use the internet to discuss, interpret, critique, create new materials around, and otherwise share their experience of whatever it is they are fans of together. It’s actually one of the earliest phenomena to emerge online – the internet’s inventors set up a mailing list called SF-Lovers for science fiction fans to talk about sci-fi over the net in the early 1970s, long before it was even called “the internet.”

Interview: Barry Schwartz On The Paradox of Chioce

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Today, I spoke with Barry Schwartz, who is the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College and author of  the book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.  After having read his further research, Can There Ever Be Too Many Flowers Blooming?, I became curious about his thoughts on The Paradoxes of Choice Overload in Culture in relation to the music industry.

Bylin:  In The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, you reasoned that the culture of abundance can rob us of satisfaction in relation to goods and services.  Continuing onward to the decisions people face about careers, romantic relationships, religious commitments, and even personal identity.

But, when it comes to the paradoxes of choice overload in culture, you thought there were reasons to treat it as its own special domain.

Q:  When exploring the paradoxes of choice overload in culture, what appears to happen when people are overloaded?

Schwartz:  Here’s what we know happens when people are overloaded with choice.  First, they get paralyzed into indecision, and choose nothing.  Second, if they do choose, they simplify the decision, either falling back on habit or choosing on the basis of what is easiest to evaluate. 

Interview: Jed Carlson of ReverbNation (Part Three)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Continuation of interview with Jed Carlson, COO of ReverbNation. 

Q:  Why is it important for artists to have a strategy that is unique to them, but still open to interpretation?

Jed Carlson:  The pace of change continues to accelerate.  As a result, Artists need to have a strategy based on a solid foundation, but open to tactical changes and opportunities that appear.  Who knew, for example, that Twitter would become such an important tool for them?  Yet it’s really just a new tactical piece of the ‘fan communication’ puzzle. 

The formula for success hasn’t changed all that much for Artists over time:

1. Become really important or engaging to a small group of people.  A beachhead.  A niche.  This could be a core group of fans in a geographic area (this used to be the norm for Artists), or it could be... 

Interview: Jed Carlson of ReverbNation (Part Two)

Kyle Bylin, Assoicate Editor

Continuation of interview with Jed Carlson, COO of ReverbNation.

Bylin:  ReverbNation is known for its wide array of features and widgets that help artists navigate and organize their online presence.

Q:  Are there any new tools or features in development that you cannot wait to try out?

Jed Carlson:  We have a lot of really interesting features coming. You will have to stay tuned, but I think you will really like what you see.

Q:  Which of the numerous tools in your arsenal have artists been most successful with in developing and managing their fan relationships?

Jed Carlson:  The ReverbNation application supports Fan Relationship Management, and other aspects of managing their small or large businesses.  Artists that get the most value from...

Interview: Jed Carlson of ReverbNation (Part One)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Jed Carlson is the COO of ReverbNation.  We had a conversation awhile back that left me fueled with questions about his thoughts on the music industry.  Although it would be  impossible (and quite possibly not as interesting) to share our whole conversation, I put together the key questions that came to mind, and Jed followed up with insightful and in-depth answers. 

Q: 2009 begins ReverbNation's third full year serving musicians.  On that note, Music Industry, ReverbNation, or otherwise, What excites you the most going into the new year?

Jed Carlson:  As a technology company, we are measured by how well we anticipate where the market is going, not just where it has been.   Sometimes that means...

Interview with Tony Fagenson of Eve 6 (Part Two)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Read Part One (Here)

Q: The song 'Here's To The Night' has found its place in graduations and proms alike, what's it like seeing a song of yours take on a different meaning?

Fagenson: We certainly didn't have any clue that it would become what it has, and that it would have such staying power. It's been terrific! It's probably the main reason why so many young people are still interested in this band. If people want to attach a certain feeling to a song of ours, no matter how differently we intended the tune's original meaning, they rightly should!

Q: What about are you most excited coming into the new year, of course the possibility releasing an album, anything else?

Fagenson: New Eve 6 music, yeah, that's the main thing. It's been a royal blast playing all the shows last year, some of the best of my career. But we're indeed ready to have new songs in the set, and get some new material out there that we're proud of...

Interview with Tony Fagenson of Eve 6 (Part One)

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Read Part Two (Here)

Eve 6 shaped my early years as a music fan.  To this day, they are still one of my favorite bands.  Just shy of eleven years later, their debut album still warrants being played all the way through. In saying that, I had the pleasure of connecting with the group's drummer, Tony Fagenson, whose career started to take off in 1998, just before file-sharing, technology, and social media went onto transform the music industry. Sharing his thoughts on these various forces and providing further insights into how they shaped his career, Tony takes a look back on the radical changes that have occurred during his career as a musician.

Q:  Looking back on it now, what was your experience like being signed to a Major Label?

Fagenson: I'd be lying if I said the experience was anything but great overall.  Like anything it has it's ups and downs, strikes and gutters. Sure they f$&ked a few things up, and communicating ideas could be a very laborious process with a large company...

Vinyl Collective Cooperative Label: Fun New Model

An interview with indie label entrepreneur Virgil Dickerson.

Virgil Dickerson runs thriving (yes, you read it correctly... thriving) indie label Suburban Home Records. One of his most interesting side-projects is a music tribe called the Vinyl Collective Cooperative. This all vinyl reissue label is financed and run by it's 210 members and a 10 member board of directors. Slots to join sold out in 8 minutes. 

Q: What is the Vinyl Collective Cooperative?

Dickerson: The Vinyl Collective Cooperative is a collective of 220 folks around the globe who nominate and vote on releases that they want to see pressed on vinyl. Only releases that have never been put out on vinyl can be nominated. The 220 unit holders of the cooperative receive a free copy of the most limited variant of the pressing, copies are given to the band and to the label that licensed us the album, and the remaining copies are sold. That revenue goes back into the Cooperative for future releases. The hope is that there will continue to be funds to manufacture future releases and if that happens, the unit holders will continue to get a free copy of the most limited version of those records.

Q: How has is it working?

Dickerson: So far, only 2 releases have been manufactured and both are amazing. The Falcon's "God Don't Make No Trash" 10" was the Coop's first release. The Coop's second release is the Jealous Sound's Kill Them with Kindness double LP.

Q: Would you run a "normal" label this way?

Interview: 4QFor Nick Fitzsimmons Of Penny Distribution

We continue our ongoing 4QFor (Four Questions For) series with Nick Fitzsimons of Penny Distribution a music distribution, marketing and promotion service based in San Francisco. Nick also blogs about the industry here. (Read more 4QFor interviews with the heads of RouteNote, OurStage, Sonicbids, imeem, We7, ReverbNation, New Music Strategies and Nimbit here.)

Q1. What major changes to you foresee in the music industry in the next year?
I think the major revenue streams that used to make up the majority of an artists earnings (CD sales mostly) have been shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.  There's been a shift in focus to other revenue streams (publishing, subscription based models, ad-supported models, online marketing, cross promotion) and I think this trend will only speed up with upcoming legislative changes to, for example, internet royalty rates as well as changes in the publishing industry.  Recorded music has become increasingly less valuable to an artist and will continue to become less so – but opportunities to make a viable career in music are more numerous than ever before.

Q2. How are you and your company prepared to benefit from these changes?. –  Right from the outset, we saw a need to re-establish the trust between artists and labels.  Providing flexibility and transparency for artists is the key – We wanted to empower artists to take a look...

Interview: 4QFOR Insomonia, RouteNote CEO Steven Finch

We continue our ongoing 4QFor (Four Questions For) series with Steven Finch, the CEO of Insomnia Ltd, which owns music 2.0 start-ups www.routenote.com, www.crenk.com, www.adphilia.com, and a record label and recording studio. You can learn more about Steve's companies here. (Read more 4QFor interviews with the heads of OurStage, Sonicbids, imeem, We7, ReverbNation, New Music Strategies and Nimbit here.)

Q1.  What major changes in the music industry do you foresee over the next year?
2008 will be a very interesting year for the music industry. We will continue to see the major labels complaining about the music industry declining, when in fact it is only CD sales that are heading downwards. The distance between the major labels and independent labels will continue to get closer, thus proving in this day and age that artists don’t need a major label to succeed!

Q2.  How are you and your company preparing to benefit from these changes?
We strongly believe in independent artists and labels being able to promote their music to the widest possible audience, without having to worry about barriers to market. RouteNote wants to eliminate these barriers for independent or unsigned artists, and allow good artists to stand out from the crowd.

Q3.  What excites you?
The music industry as a whole really excites me. It is changing and twisting all the time and with so many emerging business models in the marketplace at present, who knows which ones will actually succeed or fail. Lots of people are talking about music heading towards ‘free’, I think this might be the case...

Exclusive Interview: OurStage.com's Ben Campbell

We continue our ongoing 4QFor (Four Questions For) series with Ben Campbell, the CEO of indie music site OurStage.com which takes a "Let The Fans Decide" contest approach to music discovery. (Read more 4QFor interviews with the heads of Sonicbids, imeem, We7, ReverbNation, New Music Strategies and Nimbit here.)

Q1. What major changes in the music industry do you foresee over the next year?
This year, we will continue to see a drop in CD sales for major label artists and the subsequent demise of the labels as we know them. However, the labels will adapt and acquire in order to keep their brands in the marketplace. We’ll see more start-ups trying to be the answer and the industry will have a big wash-out in 2010. A very few new-world-order businesses will rise above the noise by delivering real value to artists and fans.

Q2. How are you and your company preparing to benefit from these changes?
OurStage is one of the new world order companies that is trying to lead the way to change.  Rather than having some guy in a suit in NYC or LA make the decisions, we let the fans decide who is great – via a fun, fair process that can’t be gamed.  OurStage then offers top ranked acts real world opportunities for exposure like performance spots at major music festivals, meetings with top industry players, opening slots with famous artists, major press coverage, and $5,000 cash. 

Q3. What excites you?

Exclusive Interview: Sonicbid's Panos Panay

Our 4QFor (Four Questions For) series continues with Panos Panay, the founder and CEO of Sonicbids.  Sonicbids' core product is is an electronic press kit, but is repositioning itself as a matchmaking website for bands and people who book or license music. Its membership includes 130,000 bands and 10,000 music promoters and licensors from 100 different countries. In the past year, Sonicbids helped facilitate over 60,000 deals among its members.

Q1: What major changes in the music industry do you foresee over the next year?
I foresee an even more rapid migration from the old music business ecosystem. There will be more Radiohead and Madonna-like breakaways from the old established guard; and the "niche" will play an even more prominent role in 2008.

Q2: How are you and your company preparing to benefit from these changes?
PANOS: I think that we are right smack in the middle of it with our business model, though we are evolving too. You will see Sonicbids go beyond just helping bands book gigs - you will see us helping them develop an audience.

Q3: What excites you?
Wow, everything. This is the best time to be in the music business. I am excited about what I call the rise of the "middle class" artists. For the first time since the beginning of the music business...

Interview: 4QFor KnowTheMusicBiz.com's David Rose

We continue our ongoing 4QFor (Four Questions For) series with David Rose, the founder and President of Kudzu Media Group and the Managing Editor of KnowTheMusicBiz.com, an online community and resource center for artists. (Read more 4QFor interviews with the heads of imeem, We7 ReverbNation, New Music Strategies and Nimbit here.)

Q1:  What major changes in the music industry do you foresee over the next year?
The music industry and related technology solutions are changing so rapidly it’s difficult to forecast which specific new trends will be emerging in the next year. I think it is clear two existing trends will continue to accelerate: 1. The continual emergence of new and innovative technologies to market and distribute music (and hopefully ways to monetize it) and 2. The already crowded field of artists vying for the attention of music fans, venues, booking agents, retailers, program directors and record labels is only going to become more crowded as the traditional barriers of entry to the industry (cost of recording, lack of distribution options, etc.) continue to erode.

Q2: How are you and your company preparing to benefit from these changes?
Everyone has heard the saying “Knowledge is Power” but you don’t really appreciate how true that is until you work in the music business. The music business is inherently complex and there are now so many technology related options available it can be overwhelming to simply try and keep up.

We founded KnowTheMusicBiz.com as an online community and resource center to help serious artists and others interested in the music business find the information they need to build a sustainable career. We believe artists who truly understand publishing, licensing,

Exclusive Interview: 4QFor New Music Strategies' Andrew Dubber

We continue our ongoing 4QFor (Four Questions For) series with UK music industry educator commentator and consultant Andrew Dubber. He is Senior Lecturer in the Music Industries at Birmingham City University, blogs at New Music Strategies and has some interesting projects planned for 2008. (Read more 4QFor interviews with the heads of imeem, We7 ReverbNation and Nimbit here.)

Q1: What major changes in the music industry do you foresee over the next year?
I don't foresee changes in the music industry. I leave fortune telling to the fortune tellers. What I do is describe those changes as they happen, evaluate and analyze what they mean for the independent music sector, and suggest strategies based on the new music environment.

It's far more mundane than jetpacks, silver jumpsuits and meals-in-a-pill, but I'm much more interested in how your music business can make money with new (and actually real) contemporary technologies.

Q2: How as you preparing to benefit from these changes?  Personally, my mission is to achieve my two main goals. The first is to be interesting, the second is to be helpful. If I can do that around describing those changes and new opportunities in new technology and music, I'm pretty much living the ideal life. A bit of public speaking here, a spot of consultancy there, a splash of travel, and the rest of the time keeping my Music Industries students in the know at Birmingham City University. And if someone along the way gives me a bit of money for being helpful, then there's a benefit too.

Q3: What excites you?  The new and the interesting, second hand jazz vinyl, train travel, good coffee, genuine talent intelligently applied - and getting feedback from people who... 

Exclusive Interview: 4Q4 With WE7's Steve Purdham

We continue our ongoing 4QFor (Four Questions For) series with ad supported download service We7's founder and CEO Steve Purdham. Steve has built several global technology companies including such SurfControl which was valued at its peak at £1bn.  (Read our 4QFor interviews with the heads of imeem, ReverbNation and Nimbit here.) 

Q1 What major changes in the music industry do you foresee over the next year?  There are so many emerging trends set to take off in the next 12 months - the final death of DRM, increased consumer pressure for new distribution models, more bands moving to control 360 degree strategies, more examples of the internet being used to deliver new creative ideas e.g.: Radiohead, We7, Pandora, Live Nation, Starbucks. Finally, one of the main changes will be realization across the industry that the mobile world and the internet is one and the same.

Q2 How are you and your company preparing to benefit from these changes?  At We7 it’s about standing behind the consumer and the bands, giving them functionality and facilities that reflect how they want to provide and consume music. The big fight is to get people to realise that free music does not mean ‘I don’t value music’, that free actually means ‘paid for  by someone else’.

Q3 What excites you?  Chaos, new ideas, emerging technology and fighting tradition – all these are the reason that I joined We7. The music industry is irrationally seductive and because of the fabulous creativity in the music world, it often forgets that it is still an