Around the beginning of December I started getting an eyeful of Tweets and Facebook shout-outs about Rock Paper Scissors' series of pre-APAP conferences. (APAP is the acronym for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and thousands of members converge on the Hilton in midtown Manhattan in the first week of January to commune with their colleagues, participate in a huge trade fair, and catch performances all over town. It's a heady albeit exhausting week for all concerned.)
Although Rock Paper Scissors, helmed by founder Dmitri Vietze started out as a world music PR firm, it now bills itself as "deeply eclectic music PR" (the usefulness of the marketing term "world music" is increasingly questioned these days for reasons discussed in some of the other panels.) RPS has grown steadily, due in great part to Vietze's consistent quest for cutting edge ideas and tools that will keep RPS in front of the pack. I had videotaped one of Vietze's panel discussions years before, and found it to be informative and useful. This time there would be six panels at an hour and a half each; a challenging task for yours truly, but I'm glad I documented these panels, because in the main they were fascinating, and approached marketing, presentation and touring from both the artist's and the business person's angles. I'm posting the one on Technology Tools because I think it was extremely useful and surprising.
The full name of the discussion was "Technology Tools for Artists, Labels and Concert Presenters" and Vietze definitely put together a powerhouse panel: Tony Van Veen (CD Baby, Discmakers), Jaclyn Ranere (The Orchard), Kendel Ratley (Kickstarter), Liv Buli (Next Big Sound), John Hammond (MIssing Piece Group), and Kristin Thompson (Future of Music Coalition).
At 1.5 hours, I don't expect all of you to watch the whole thing, so here's where each speaker does his or her presentation. But I recommend watching the whole thing because the interactions between the panelists were often funny as well as helpful.
Tony Van Veen: 2:35
Jaclyn Renere: 9:04
Kristin Thompson: 17:39
John Hammond: 26:50
Kendel Ratley: 41:16
Liv Buli: 59:10
Personally I found this panel to be so information rich that I am glad folks will have a chance to see it over and over again, if they need to. I sure did, and still do.
for more information about APAP visit:www.apapnyc.org
For more information about RPS, visit: rockpaperscissors.biz