Five years ago, any music industry conference would feature hours of discussion about how to get your compact disc into the hands of DJs on FM radio, or tips on how to press and package a CD that wouldn’t get buried on the desk of an A&R executive at some major label. A lot has happened in five years. On Saturday, June 13 and 14, Hillsborough Community College and The Artist and Writers Group hosted the Second Annual Homemade Music Symposium in Ybor City, and in the combined 18-plus hours of discussion, commercial FM radio was not mentioned one time.

Instead, Saturday’s daytime programming included panels and workshops like “Alternative Media Promotion,” “Marketing, Touring and Band Management” and “How to Get the Most Out of a Studio Session.” Panelists included bloggers (Bryan Childs, Ninebullets.net), social networking specialists (Julia Gorzka, Brand Tampa) and local media (Lee Courtney, WMNF; Curtis Ross, Tampa Tribune; Julie Garisto, St. Pete Times as well as Creative Loafing’s Leilani Polk). Mr. Courtney was the only radio personality in attendance. (Tampa’s 88.5 FM is a community station that still allows their DJs to play CDs – they even sometimes play records.).

The Homemade Music Symposium’s goal is to educate nascent and struggling musicians in the ways and means of the music business and industry trends. It also included out-of-town industry folk and special keynote speakers – this year, it was Tunecore’s Peter Wells and Tony Michaelides, a local author from Manchester, UK, who’s colleagues and contemporaries include Factory Records’ Tony Wilson, David Bowie, U2 and The Stone Roses.

Conference attendees were mostly solo singer-songwriter types, with a sprinkling of MCs, publishers and managers as well as other local bloggers and marketers looking to get involved in the music scene or learn about new media. There was a lot of talk (maybe too much) about Twitter and Facebook, and of course the familiar geographical gripe of how Florida is difficult to tour/break out of, because there are no surrounding states (The closest top 10 market is Atlanta). A good portion of the crowd was visibly older, some dressed in flowery shirts and flip flops, and plenty of eyes glazed over when the topics inevitably circled back to “Tweeting” and social networks.

Sorely missing from the panel of experts, especially on the panel labeled “Area Record Labels and Artist Managers,” were representatives from the handful of local Tampa imprints, namely ADD, New Granada and 24 Hour Service Station (Geri X, Win Win Winter and The Beauvilles). 24 Hour owner Marshall Dickson stated that he would definitely be involved next year, but that this time around he just had “too much on his plate.” The only current label owner in attendance was Ivan Pena, who runs Mohawk Bomb Records (Soulfound, Ascending to Avalon and Rise of Saturn). Pena seemed optimistic about the Tampa Bay music scene, and about the fast-changing online industry, but insisted that artists need to tour incessantly and start treating their band like a business or risk failure.

The “Music Critics” panel, unfortunately the last session of the day, seemed to be the most pessimistic. One girl in the crowd asked for suggestions on how to become a music writer. The entire panel discouraged her. It may be in fashion for music writers to be moody and begrudging, but one would think their passion for music could somehow keep their chins up, not to mention grateful that they still have jobs in the age of Rotten Tomatoes and aggregated, user-generated reviews at Amazon.com.

As with any conference, the nighttime showcases are the payoff – a chance for attendees to party and an opportunity for the out of town industry folks to see what musical talent the surrounding area has to offer.

On Saturday night, Tampa’s New World Brewery featured performances from Rebekah Pulley, Lorna Bracewell, The Skull and Bone Band and 10th Concession. Crowbar hosted a Mohawk Bomb showcase and The Roosevelt had planned a “green” concert featuring some area hip-hop favorites like Dynasty and powered by a generator that ran on vegetable oil. Early Saturday, word had gotten out that the generator had broken during a run-through and that the Roosevelt showcase was cancelled.

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Sunday’s activities were mainly centered around The Bunker in Ybor City, which is home to the Tre Amici coffeeshop, REAX Space, a few art galleries and the neighboring Ybor City Museum.

Some of Sunday’s workshops included “DIY Sound Recording Techniques” at REAX Space as well as “Tips on Promotional Photography” (hint: no brick walls or train tracks) and “The State of The Scene” discussion at Tre Amici.

This talk was moderated by event organizer T. Hampton Dohrman and featured Courtney, Joel Cook (REAX) and yours truly. It began as a polite enough re-cap of the weekend and what could be done differently in years to come and escalated into a microphone free-for-all on how Tampa needs to publicize itself to become the next Austin or Seattle.

Singer-songwriter Emily Roff planted herself in front of the microphone and made a case for a large music festival that would draw thousands of people from all over the world. When some crowd members yelled, “What about [Tropical] Heatwave?” (referencing the annual music fest hosted by WMNF that typically features performers from the blues, folk, Americana and world beat genres), Roff shrugged. She’d never heard of it.

Beauvilles frontman Shawn Kyle made a spirited appearance at the discussion, only half-jokingly announcing his 2012 bid for city council and bemoaning the lack of attention the local media and concert promoters give to area college campuses (USF, UT, Eckerd, SPC, etc.).

What did come from the heated discussion was a summation of points that included the following:

1. The internet has replaced FM radio as a highly-coveted media outlet.

2. Musicians must treat their music as a business.

3. Musicians should treat Tampa and St. Petersburg as two separate markets to avoid saturation. (This point was argued)

4. Even though recording and distribution has become decentralized, quality recordings and the packaging and presentation of materials is still very important (maybe even more so).

5. Bands must tour out of market (once they have established themselves regionally).

6. With the decline in the sale of actual recorded music, musicians must learn to diversify their content/revenue streams to include audio, video, performances, merchandise, ringtones et. al. and utilize networks and messaging to stay in touch with fans and followers. (See the content model here).

7. Music criticism is dead. (This point was not argued).

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Here are some photos from the weekend:
Photos by Kelly Hickman | Photos by Denis Baldwin

The Bombardier Manifesto is a blog for bands, clubs and related industries about music, marketing and technology. Learn how to use these tools to develop a healthy and profitable music scene.

Hello World! Welcome to the first entry of the Bombardier Manifesto. Having spent the last 10 years trying to build my music cred and professional arsenal, I realized that my attempts have not failed, but have been victims of bad timing, lack of knowledge and downright stupidity. I had to figure things out the hard way and that takes a toll after a while. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes.

That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to be able to share with you some of the very useful tools available to bands and businesses everywhere who want to increase the visibility of and awareness for their wares… Also, to share some of the places that bands, venues and sponsors have misstepped or downright exploded. I will touch on new music outlets, digital distribution, social networking, tips for new bands, pitfalls to avoid, opportunities to take advantage of and more.

Enough foreplay. Here’s something you can use TODAY!

The first entry in this Manifesto series is geared towards letting you know about the top 10 sites you need to make sure your band or business has a presence on. These are all free to join and are among the most popular destinations on the Web. Ignore at your own peril. There is a great strategy at play here. These sites should all fall under the “Search Engine Marketing” umbrella. Over the next few posts I will go into more details on that. For now, here are some sites:

1. MySpace – although this dying monster is less and less relevant each day, it is still good to have your information on there. Make sure you link up your others sites from your page. www.myspace.com

2. Facebook – Facebook provides you with a very personal portal that you can then branch off and promote yourself from. Sign up for a personal account and then create a “Page” for your band or business. www.facebook.com

3. Imeem – Upload your music and start making imeem friends. As a listener, you can create playlists and share them. This is one of the most popular music streaming sites on the Web. www.imeem.com

4. Twitter – With Twitter, you can quickly keep up with your fans and customers from any computer or cell phone. www.twitter.com

5. ReverbNation – Popular independent music Website. Upload your music, meet some bands and spread the word. They have some cool widgets you can add to your other Websites. www.reverbnation.com

6. iLike – This site feeds into Facebook, so it is one of the most important ones. www.ilike.com

7. Tunecore – Through Tunecore, you can submit your music to iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody and more. This is a no brainer for independent musicians. Also, they build you a page with all the appropriate “Buy” links you can link up from all your other sites. www.tunecore.com

8. YouTube – YouTube is great for posting your live performances, behind the scenes footage, in the studio footage, interviews, etc. You should take the time to create these videos as they are as common and as needed as press kits. Make sure you link back to your MySpace and Facebook sites in the video descriptions. www.youtube.com

9. Last.fm – Thousands of people listen to Last.fm while they are at work or hanging out at home. They serve up music depending on the listener’s tastes. www.last.fm

10. Wordpress – This popular, extensible and FREE blogging platform is a very quick and easy way for your band to have their own Website/blog. You can easily create pages in which you can add your bio, discography, widgets, etc. with little HTML knowledge. If you don’t have your own blog or Website, you must do this. www.wordpress.com

The point here is to make sure that people can find you wherever they are. As you find new social networking sites, add your info, links and music (if you can) because it doesn’t hurt you to have a presence everywhere. If you really want to get the most out of these sites, split the updating duties between band members and focus on growing your communities online. If you don’t put in the time, no one else will for you.

Enjoy. Share.
Ivan
Mohawk Bomb Records

About Ivan

Ivan Pena has an Advertising degree from UF, 8+ years in corporate and consumer marketing, 10+ years in graphic design and promotions. Ivan is also the leader of the group Soulfound and runs his own independent record label, Mohawk Bomb. In 2008, Ivan was named one of the Top 30 Under 30 by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Check Ivan out on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ivanpena