It’s Indie Music Week!
Although I enjoy working on a regular basis with major labels, the indie music scene is and always will be the lifeblood of the music business. It’s where transformation happens and high growth opportunities arise.
It’s hard to replicate this inside a major. The cultural shifts that happen outside “the machine” are the result of nimble, crafty players with equal parts taste and survival instinct. But what does being indie mean today? Everyone is signed to someone in some capacity. It takes a village to break a band (or brand, for that matter). At this point, the way I define independence in music is simple: you’re not signed to the Big 3.
The pressing question of the moment, of course, is how do indies fit into the NFT world? Is there a place? That’s the topic we’ll tackle today at A2IM’s Indie Music Week conference. My panel is at 4:10PM ET. I’m interviewing some very bright artists, managers, and label execs.
I know first hand that there are opportunities for indies in NFT world. They may not have the resources of the majors, but they have the creativity and it only takes a few buyers to make an impact. 85% of NFT transactions are coming from 10% of the consumers. The goal is to get the attention of that 10%.
There are many ways to do this. I recommend Gary Vee’s rant about his NFT project. Gary runs one of the most successful indie advertising agencies in New York and this clip is mind blowing. Congrats to him and the team (Andy, Phil, D-Rock, Boyd) for once again crushing it!
There’s more great advice on this week’s NFT Now podcast featuring Dillon Francis. He does a good job of summing up the limitlessness of the current culture.
Another good example is Nue Agency’s work orchestrating indie artist Pia Mia’s first NFT release this week on One Of. The collection got so much attention prior to the drop that the pre-sale sold out in a matter of minutes.
As for today’s panel, I’ll speak with creatives like Aluna from Aluna George, Chloe Jenicki who’s behind Deamau5’s massive NFT innovations, and Claude VonStroke. Although it was pre-taped, I’m really looking forward to re-listening to these artists’ fresh perspectives today in this ideas jam session.
Due to Covid, the event is virtual. Tickets are still up for grabs here. Come get all the game!
Also published on Medium.