NXNW - North by Now What?
JPFolks Mentor Karen Angela Moore shares her thoughts on this year's North By
Northwest Music Conference. She writes:
Going through my swag bag from NXNW (September 21 - 23, Portland, Oregon) just
reminded me how tough this business we love really is. It also reminds me of
how musical dreamers get brainwashed and bum steered at every turn in their
journey, and just how much we should educate and mentor if we can.
I attended the conference with three of my professional musical buddies…I
traveled from Nashville, and the others traveled from California and Oregon.
We've all been at this biz along time. Between the four of us - a total of over
85 years experience and we're not that old! We all wear a lot of hats including
performer, writer, producer, web designer, music reporter, artist security,
booking, radio promotion and more. We're all independents and we love it! Our
group was looking forward to some industry buzz and BS - and some brainstorming
and some effervescent conversations with Indies and majors. Had it not been for
our group and just a few others we recruited - we would have had none of the
above.
In a brief overview:
The Trade Show: 28 total exhibitors - yeah that's it. 10 from the great
state of Oregon and 4 from the state of Washington (not huge industry towns
either of them). NO ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN, NARAS, or AFTRA. No Equipment
manufacturers, and no instrument dealers. Four Indie record label booths - two
of them owned by the only artist on the roster! There was a booth of "Sex
Workers" who publish a monthly sex choice magazine. And Djangos.com was
there - the largest used CD entity on the Internet. The Trade Show was just
really weird and ultimately not very useful.
The Seminars: Where to start? 18 chats in all and 13 of them about the
Internet. Now don't get me wrong - the net is fabulous! But frankly - that's
one of the easier things for an artist to do right now - get a web presence.
What about Guerilla Marketing? House Concerts? Small to Mid-Market Radio?
Gavin's Americana chart? Physical versus Virtual distribution? A lot of new
names and no names presenting on the panels. It's all-important - but there's
more to music than learning all of the hardware and software requirements for
streaming video.
Demo Pitch Sessions: Now wait a minute! If these are artist pitches then
these are not demos right? They're masters. If they are song pitches - then
they are demos - but why weren't there publishers on the panels? And why wasn't
this distinguished? And who were these folks on the panels? Seriously - I DO
NOT put down anyone doing anything the Indie way…however, if someone who's
already accessible or at my same level is judging my art or my artist what good
is that to me? We all want a leg up - or to hear from those who are a step
ahead of us. I didn't see any of the major Indies present…No Rounder, Arhoolie,
Red House, Blind Pig, Arcadia, Palmetto, Black Top, Oh Boy, Kinkajou, etc. One
panel actually judged and commented on a recording, and then when they were
questioned they agreed that they didn't understand the genre. It was
Alt-Country - one of the biggest things happening in Indy/Americana today!
It was a disappointing show. It was disappointing to see so much time spent on
what is only one small facet of our biz…the Internet explosion. And for the
most part - the conference was geared to Oregon and Washington State. Now if
you go to SXSW, or NAMM, or AFIM, you can see and speak with national companies
and organizations… not just local. Either the industry doesn't think that the
Northwest is worth a trip, or NXNW was not very well promoted. I spoke with
many of the local Oregon performers and they were not pleased or impressed.
They actually felt that they had been duped or treated as nubes who didn't know
what to expect from a conference they paid good money to attend. So maybe we're
just the silly ones for attending yet another one of these little gems thinking
there's going to be some sort of break through!
We all have so much to do - so much to learn - and so many obstacles. We all
need to work together and mentor and support each other. What I walked away
with is an even greater feeling about being involved with Just Plain Folks.
What we have - thanks to Brian's constant work ethic and love of music - is one
of the best musical groups in the country - or maybe the world! We're
accessible to each other and we cover all the genres and levels of business
expertise needed today.
What did Dorothy say in The Wizard of Oz? "There's no place like
home!"
We're all in this together! Karen Angela Moore Email: mooretunes@aol.com
