IMT Hurricane Studios - Contributing partner
Report on project development 2009-10
CONTENTS
4) Launch event - Music Industry Live show
5) IMT workshop
6) Summary
Initial Contact
IMT were contacted primarily by Lindsey Pugh and Matt Ball of the Creative Way. The proposition was put that a cohesive link between the Music and Sound Technology industries and Education might be developed. This would provide progression routes for students studying and training in this field, whether through a College / University or the non-formal learning sector. Industry would be encouraged to engage with the educators and their students with the long term objective of feeding back contributions towards a revised and improved structure to the teaching and learning processes. This would benefit students by better addressing the real world requirements of employers, and in turn the businesses themselves by providing more appropriately prepared candidates.
Subsequently, Phil McDonnell, Matt Ottewill and Carl Marsh met with Dave Woods from Havering College, via Lindsay and Matt. Numerous meeting ensued - resulting in the formation of a core partnership under the banner of Music Industry Live. Havering College would take the lead and IMT Hurricane would play a supporting role, with some specific areas of responsibility, detailed below.
Havering College - key responsibilities
* Development of links between formal amd non-formal learning organisations and industry employers
* Provision of a high profile Music Industry Live launch base at the Havering College campus
* Co-ordination of reporting strands
IMT Hurricane Studios - key responsibilities
* The design, set-up, hosting and maintenance of a Music Industry Live website to act as a hub for images and promotion.
* provision of a South East London based workshop event
* Contribution of report strands relating to IMT Hurricane's activities
All parties to be responsible for -
Contributing to the long term objective of M.I. Live - establishing mechanism for continuing collaboration between education and industry.
Partner Forum
Reported by Carl Marsh
List of attendees:-
Lindsey Pugh - The Creative Way
Matt Ball - The Creative Way
Dave Woods - Havering College
Phil McDonnell - IMT Hurricane
Matt Ottewill - IMT Hurricane
Carl Marsh - IMT Hurricane
Steve Betts - Lewisham College
North Kent College
Gabriel Armstrong - New Vic
Mid Kent College
The first major MIL project meeting was held at the Stephen Lawrence Centre on 30/6/09. This brought together partners with established relations with the Creative Way and newer partners.
Even at this early stage it was clear that there was a good consensus of what we hoped the project would achieve and how it would work in practice, with a very positive level of enthusiasm and co-operation from all the partners present. Alongside the discussions on practical issues (such as registration of domain names for the website which would form the hub of the project, the status of exhibitors as ‘partners’ or otherwise, initial estimates of numbers for catering and other considerations etc.) there was some consideration as to the tone and content of the event, particularly the elements that were not purely technical in nature. For instance, Gabriel Armstrong of the New Vic was keen that students would gain an insight into the realities of the music industry through personal stories of how people had entered the industry and made sustainable progress within it.
This helped give some shape to the plans for workshop and seminar events, both those at the Music Industry Live Launch itself and others planned during the period between the launch and the end of the 09/10 academic year .
Tasks were agreed for many of the attendees, with appropriate deadlines and feedback mechanisms. The plan is moving ahead and we expect to have a successful launch on schedule.
Website Development
At a strategy meeting in Spring 2009 it was decided that a new website would be central. The following points were agreed ...
1 IMT Hurricane would finance and build the site (Matt and Toby)
2 URLs for both musicindustrylive.com and .org would be registered
3 Hosting would be in the IMT domain
4 All partners would have the opportunity to comment on the design and function
5 The site would include a means whereby exhibitors could join/register
6 The site would include a means whereby new partners could join/register
7 Email domains and forwarders would be setup
8 There would be a forum to facilitate communication and exchange of information between partners
9 A secure partner log-in area would allow partners to see who was chasing which exhibitor, and view registration progress
10 Reports of project activities, any advice guidelines and information that could benefit students would be posted
11 The site would be constructed and uploaded asap
Dave had already supplied some rough ideas for the Oct event flyer, and this was used to develop a logo which was used as the masthead for the site and made available as a small gif for project members to download and use in their project activities.
The site was developed using web standard technologies (xhtml, CSS, php etc) to ensure maximum compatibility with computers both old and new. We didn't want to exclude any students or project members from viewing it.
Images were added as video footage was gathered from project events and over a period of time the site became more attractive and interesting to students. Within 6 months IMT Hurricane teaching staff were directing students to it for information on industry issues.
For the Oct live event, the site became the focus for informing students about exhibitors, opening times and transport arrangements. All IMT Hurricane students were emailed and this proved to be a simple and effective method.
The secure log-in area of the site was invaluable in allowing project managers to track exhibitor recruitment progress at anytime and from anywhere. Staff even used the system when abroad on holiday to check progress in their absence!
The site continues to be used as the primary means of publishing information about project activities including the Oct 2009 Live event, June 2010 forum in Deptford and of course this report.
The Launch Event
Reported by Carl Marsh
The full report will be produced by Havering College, but it is worthwhile IMT Hurricane contributing some input based on our observations of the day which may be from a slightly different perspective to that of the hosts.
The event itself was undoubtedly a success, with very good feedback from students and other attendees and from the exhibitors. There was a good balance between the technological, educational, professional/career and performance elements, with good exchanges of ideas between all of these. There were some areas of concern, such as:
- Publicity and promotional material (both physical – flyers, posters and other ads – and online) was created to a high standard, but in some cases was not distributed promptly or efficiently enough to have maximum impact.
- At least one workshop leader and one band arrived to find they had been timetabled to fill two slots, not the single one provisionally agreed, and were unable to make the later appearances due to previous commitments, leaving some holes in the timetable
- Partly because of this, the event was perhaps too long (timetabled from 11am to 7pm) to sustain interest fully throughout.
- Some advertised seminar/panel speakers – e.g. those from PRS and the MU – did not appear; I am not sure why this was but I have heard indications that it was because timetabling confirmation was not received with sufficient notice of the event. This meant that industry bodies were somewhat under-represented.
I must stress that these were minor quibbles, intended as notes for improvement for future events rather than criticism of this one, which as already mentioned was overwhelmingly successful and a positive experience for all those involved.
The event was well documented by Havering College, with pictures and video clips later posted on the MIL website alongside other specially created items (e.g. band interviews) and extensive related IAG materials. Again, response to the website, post-event, has been very positive from all concerned.
A further meeting was held at IMT on 23/11/09 to evaluate the event and discuss follow-up. This covered industry feedback, the ‘process of engagement’, development of IAG and other materials for the website and the workshops to be staged before the end of the academic year.
IMT Hurricane are currently engaged in organising IMT’s workshop, to be staged at The Albany in Deptford in mid-May. Content is yet to be finalised, but will include:
Performance and Q&A from at least one successful/up and coming independent musician/producer;
Music industry workshop by Dan Maitland, (based on his successful ‘Performance careers in the music industry’ workshop at the MIL event, but with an expanded focus);
A tech demo/troubleshooting area (although technology will not be the main focus of this event);
Panel discussion and Q&A; guests may include working musicians, educators, PRS and/or other music industry bodies, representative of iTunes/CD Baby, a music manager;
Display screens (possibly interactive to some degree) featuring music industry IAG as well as performance clips and other videos.
These objectives are designed to compliment and enhance the work begun at the Havering College Music Industry Live launch, and to focus on specific elements that appear to be demanded by students and attendees at that event.
IMT Hurricane Workshop "How the **** do we make a living from music?"
This workshop, along with others that were planned to be staged by our Creative Way partners, was part of the Music Industry Live project which began with a major launch event at Havering College in October 2009 and was due to conclude with a final workshop event at Havering College at the end of the academic year in May 2010.
Initial ideas
Initial ideas on the form and content of the workshops were first discussed at a meeting between IMT, Creative Way and Havering College held at IMT on 23/11/09. We discussed the various areas covered at the launch event – equipment/software, performance, music business and education/progression – and how these themes should be either developed or augmented in the subsequent workshops.
Further to this meeting, IMT’s ideas were developed further by Dan Maitland, Phil McDonnell and Carl Marsh. We decided to move away from the focus on music technology (although we considered having a music tech ‘help point’ manned by IMT staff) and to concentrate more on supporting sustainable careers in the music business; this was based initially on the highly positive response to Dan’s ‘Performance Careers in the Music Business’ workshop held at the launch event. Our first draft format included an updated version of this workshop, along with short presentations from a cross-section of industry representatives such as Promotions and P.R. companies, producers, performing musical professionals, recording studio owners, managers, etc. There would also be video displays of music business information and ‘inspiring performances’, and live performances. It was also decided to make the event shorter and more focussed than the all-day Havering event.
In subsequent discussions with colleagues and students it emerged that the overriding concern of those entering the music business (and/or seeking to remain in it and make progress) was simply how they could earn a living from music in the current climate of failing record labels, the collapse of CD sales, free downloads (legal or otherwise) and of course the overall recession. Taking this on board, we decided to make the theme of the event “How Can I Make A Living From Music?”; furthermore, we decided to format the event around a central panel discussion, with questions from the audience driving the debate.
Development and planning
The process of selecting and confirming guests for the event proved to be an education in itself. IMT had confirmed a number of industry representatives for the Havering College Music Industry Live launch event, and were looking to invite some targeted organisations to serve the theme of our workshop event.
PRS (performing rights society), for example, were first approached by email (as requested on their website) on 18/3/10, but despite initial interest and then regular follow-up and discussion by phone and email right up to a few days prior to the event, failed to confirm their attendance. This replicates their actions prior to the launch event.
CD Baby, based in Oregon, were also unable to provide a representative. However,IMT did make very positive contacts with Derek Sivers (CD Baby’s founder) and Andrew Dubber of New Music Strategies, which we are sure will prove fruitful in the future.
Eventually, we finalised a panel as follows:
- Dan Gray from Get Involved PR (who promote Bestival, amongst other things); he is also involved in distribution and is a performing and recording musician himself;
- Carla Campbell, an entrepreneur musician/sound engineer who has founded the award-winning Instant Melodies (essentially workstation recording facilities available on an internet café basis) and is now developing music business education and progression programmes;
- Matt Ottewill, web designer and founder of music resource website Planet Of Tunes, musician/producer and former Island Music songwriter;
- Carl Marsh, as leader of IMT’s Music Industry Provision, songwriter, media music producer and partner in library music company Big & Clever;
- Dan Maitland, former music industry adviser under the government's New Deal, singer/songwriter, session musician and function band leader, would act as chairman.
Julian Burdock was also confirmed as a live act, along with rap duo H&H and dance artist L'il London.
Phil McDonnell confirmed that the event would be held at the Albany centre in Deptford, in a c75 person capacity room with suitable facilities for both live performance and the panel discussion as well as a café. The event was timetabled to run from 2pm-6pm.
Promotion
The event was promoted on the MIL website. E-flyers and other promotional materials were distributed via our Creative Way partners to a variety of students, musicians and other interested parties. Dan Maitland also used IMT’s online social networks to promote the event to our own students (and ex-students) and others.
We were cautious about over-publicising the event, given the limited capacity of the venue. As Havering and Lewisham Colleges had informed us they would be attending with about 40 students between them – leaving us with only about 30 other available places – we decided not to distribute additional flyers to local venues etc.
On the day…
The event started well, with guests mingling informally to network, collect information on various events and courses and watch big-screen videos and music/information streams. Julian Burdock played a rousing and interesting set , using loops and effects to augment his blues guitar and vocals, taking time to explain and demonstrate the processes as he went along. There was also an impromptu blues/rap collaboration between Julian and H&H.
Unfortunately, the parties from Lewisham and Havering failed to attend. Despite repeated attempts, we were unable to contact them and eventually decided to commence the panel discussion some 40 minutes late, with attendance respectable but below capacity.
The panel discussion was definitely a success. Topics ranged from online promotion and distribution – including discussion on the pros and cons of free downloads and new definitions of ‘the album’ – through ways of synergising and maximising the benefits of live gigs, CDs and mp3s, websites and social networks, on to other outlets for music (libraries and other media), using existing skills to generate income (teaching and covers bands) and non-musical means of generating income to support a musical career. The whole event was filmed; highlights will be available on the MIL and IMT websites in due course.
Enthusiastic, constructive and interactive discussion led to the panel event overrunning its timeslot; coupled with the late start, this meant that the closing live performances were curtailed. However, feedback at the time and afterwards was (and continues to be) very positive, with attendees continuing to follow up on leads and ideas floated during the debate.
Conclusion
We were disappointed that Havering and Lewisham Colleges did not attend, despite confirmations the day before. Havering told us subsequently that there was ‘a mix up with the minibus’, but at the time of writing I am still unsure why Lewisham – very local to us after all – did not attend. As we were not able to contact either on the day this affected the running of the event; this is of course an eventuality we would want to avoid in future.
However, despite some setbacks during the development stages and a smaller than planned audience on the day, the event was generally very successful; the panel discussion format is definitely something that we will use again for future events. It has also given us information, feedback and other material (e.g., the film of the event) that will feed into the development of our websites and other resources.
Summary
Summarised by Phil McDonnell
From IMT Hurricane's perspective the Music Industry Live programme has achieved the majority of the targets that the core partners identified.
Due to the M.I. Live activity over the past year, many more students in Colleges across London and beyond are now aware of other progression routes into industry.
This is partly through direct contact with partner colleges and training organisations. Information has also been disseminated electronically, via flyers and through access to the MI Live website. Contributing partner colleges such as North Kent College ? have also run workshops.
The importance of the contacts made with industry partners should not be underestimated. Businesses such as Studio Spares, Steinberg, Instant Melodies, Primal Spark, Focusrite and Roland (UK), have attended our events and sessions, and are open to the ideas promulgated by M.I.Live.
IMT Hurricane have witnessed another component to the spread of the M.I. Live philosophy: this has appeared in the form of social networking. Via contemporary communication media such as Twitter, Facebook and text messaging, word has spread among students and non-formal learners since the opening event at Havering, and has continued thereafter. A Lewisham College student (Rudi Schultz-Wiremu) who attended the launch event subsequently used social networking sites to inform his friends locally of the advice he had received on the day. These young people also passed on details, and almost a month after the event, IMT Hurricane were contacted by three people enquiring about vocational training options. I am certain that this is not an isolated incident, and that other partner organisations and colleges will have attracted interest through this method.
These are all positive outcomes from this innovative programme, and there remains a certain momentum from the past year's activities which should be maintained if we wish to benefit from our efforts. IMT Hurricane will certainly be continuing links with both industry organisations and MI Live partners beyond the lifetime of this project.
To be balanced in our appraisal of the MI Live programme, we must also consider the deficits we have encountered.
* Some industry bodies have been less than reliable than we would have expected in their dealings with us.
* Some partner colleges have shown limited commitment to the project. (and some have shown none at all).
* Due to the punishing schedule for many lecturers, communication has not always been sufficient to fully service the programme's needs.
* Timeframes have occasionally been allowed to slide.
However, we believe that these few negatives should be seen in context, and should come as no great surprise. The foundation has been laid for a successful and continuing structure.
Comments
By Phil McDonnell (Director IMT Hurricane)
A good start has been made in the establishment of a sustainable strategic approach to education / industry links.
Industry partners have proven their open-mindedness and willingness to engage with the principles of Music Industry Live. I believe that some work must now be done by education partners to prove their commitment to this strategy. If sufficient numbers of key colleges and non-formal learning organisations step up, with the interest in making the strategy concrete, and with the authority to set up continuing structures, then we may re-assure employers that their views and input to training philosophies will be respected and integrated in the longer term.
It is unrealistic to expect employers to entirely drive this process, without time and care being devoted to development by education partners. This has, in my opinion, been the weak link so far in the furtherment of our mutual objectives. Three or forur key players may drive the cause of MI Live - as has been proven this year; However, we need to show a co-ordinated approach, with real muscle from education, to keep things moving forward.
My suggestion would be that representations are made to partners who have already agreed in principle to our objectives, but have been slow to follow through with their commitment.
We will need a broad cross section of colleges, showing an organized and uniform front, if we wish to represent this strategy as an attractive, continuing path of endeavour for industry.
Much of the hard work has been undertaken. Do we wish to see it through?
Phil McDonnell
Director
The Institute of Music and Technology
Hurricane Studios
June 2010