English · This & That

Costa Rican Composer Signs Up Indian Artist

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Kuhoo Gupta

Earlier this month, Costa Rican composer Franklin Ortiz, who has been a Music2Deal member since long has signed up one of India’s emerging artist’s, Kuhoo Gupta. Kuhoo also happens to be a Music2Deal member.

The project will see, Kuhoo record 6 songs for the Costa Rican producer, a move which is largely seen as giving both of the parties access to each other’s markets.

Mr. Sudhir Shreedharan, Managing Director – Asia Pacific of Music2Deal who was largely responsible for the deal says “I think a population of over half a million English speaking people must not be ignored by international businesses. India has the potential to becomes the world’s most lucrative music market. Again South America is an interesting proposition since its vastly unexplored by Indian artists. As for the deal itself, all I did was listen to both their music and brought them together.

Sudhir further adds “ It took sometime for me to build a good working relationship with both the parties and communicate effectively the needs and expectations across to each other. But after that, it was just music taking precedence before anything else. They will be recording the first song in early January 2014 and we are looking at releasing in the first quarter with a good video that can be used as a promotion vehicle in both the countries.”

Sudhir is now helping Franklin and Kuhoo put together the basics such as the agreement and he is also acting as the artist’s manager since India does not have a very developed music ecosystem as far as artist management is concerned. The project being close to his heart Sudhir says “ I am keen to see this project do well so that, it can serve as a template for other Music2Deal global members to explore the Indian market. I believe in Kuhoo’s talent. She is a thorough professional ”

Franklin Ortiz of Music2Think, who is the producer of the project is very excited and speaks very highly of his new discovery in India “ Sudhir’s proposal was very interesting especially since we were considering options to enter emerging markets such as India. I think Kuhoo is an excellent singer and the project will help our company, Music2Think make a positive impact on the market. I joined Music2Deal a few months ago as a member without any expectations. However, today I am fortunate to have found a great working team at Music2Deal who always value our efforts”.

Kuhoo herself has a few hits to her credit in India and has been an emerging Indian artist. Formally trained in Hindustani classical music & self trained in light music, she is gifted with a natural talent. She has long been wanting to explore international opportunities. When asked about her expectations from the project she said “This venture is going to be exciting for the global appeal it carries with it. It would be interesting to work with a composer who has his own conditioning & taste of music based on the cultural influences of his country. And to blend my vocals adapting to that taste, yet keeping the Indian flavor alive would be a challenging task for me. I am very much looking forward to this collaboration & hope the end result would be savored by music enthusiasts.”

On the occasion Mario Christiani, founder and Worldwide MD of Music2Deal was himself elated. Speaking from Germany he said “ When Sudhir decided to embark on such a project, I thought it was a great idea but how do we make it happen? But today I am very excited to see the project near its fruition. I can’t wait to hear the music that two worlds apart will create, bringing together distinctive elements of their cultures. There have been many success stories on Music2Deal.com but this is a one of its kind. We intend to help more of such active members on Music2Deal. We’ll help Franklin and Kuhoo promote the music and their project using our platforms tools. I would also like to extend my best wishes to Sudhir and his team who have played a key role in this project.”

At Music2Deal we are encouraging more of such projects between our members. In some cases, we are willing to go out of the way to help such projects get off the ground. In case any of the Music2Deal members want to adapt or work on a similar project or just understand more about the viability of such projects, feel free to contact us on Sudhir.Shreedharan@music2deal.com

English · Tips

Conference Do’s & Don’ts

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Allen_20Johnston

Allen Johnston – The Music Specialist
www.asha.com

Music Conferences today have become big business for the individuals and companies that put them on.  Almost every conference created has an educational component, a seminar, panel discussion or technical workshop. Here lays the problem, why pay good money to come to a conference with positive seminars and not attend?  Every conference I have attended in the United States this year has had more night time attendees for parties and performances than daytime seminar attendees.

In Europe it is the complete opposite.  Conference attendees come for business during the day in droves.  Panels are packed and private meetings are scheduled.   Let me give you a few ideas on how to become more productive at your next conference.

Rules To Work Conferences

  1. Research Your Conference – Know who is going to be at the event you will be attending.  Read the Schedule in advance and determine who you want to meet and WHY you want to meet them.
  1. Schedule Meetings – Try and reach companies, executives, publicists and other artists prior to the event and schedule private meeting times to discuss your MUTUAL interests.  Email works when used properly for communication, so Please spell correctly.
  1. Speak Correctly – Leave the urban street based conversations at home.  This is a business and professionals will be attending and speaking on the seminars.  Lose the phrase “You know what I mean?” and the phrase “You feel me?”  Say what you mean upfront and be prepared to explain yourself.  The way you speak in the “trap” is not going to get you anywhere in the entertainment BUSINESS environment.
  1. Take a Shower – Partying the night before is NOT an excuse to have bad breath or body odor.  Make the effort to bathe BEFORE you come to the seminar.  You never know who you will be standing next to.  By the way dousing yourself in perfume or cologne is NOT bathing.
  1. Be on Time, awake, attentive and prepared – Walking into seminar fashionably late shows disrespect for the other attendees and to the seminar speakers.  It also says that maybe a professional does not want to work with you because you didn’t think enough of their time to hear them from the very beginning.
  1. Take notes – Just like you were back in school.  This is how you remember some of the information that will be disseminated.  Plus this is how you can keep names and numbers straight, while you write down any questions you may have.
  1. Have Business Cards Available – name, email, website, phone number, mailing address and a representation of what you do. (logo, business name, etc)
  1. Receive Business Cards – When you give a card, receive a card.  Take the card in both of your hands if possible; read it before you put it away.  This business card is the beginning of your entertainment industry database, treat it with esteem.
  1. Carry a Camera – Take photos of the panelists to help you remember who was who.  And take as many photos with other people as you can.  Email them back to the person and use this as a starting point for a great business relationship.
  1. Be Polite and Courteous – You want and need to advance your career, the worst thing you can do is to disrespect and upset a professional.  This means NOT telling a DJ off for not playing your music.  DJ’s TALK TO EACH OTHER and so do distributors, store buyers, publicists, record exec’s, club owners and almost everyone else that is a professional.
  1. Follow Up – email, telephone, regular mail and do ALL of these things consistently.  It is true that the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
  1. Have An Online Presentation – FaceBook is good for starters however you do need your own website that allows viewers to find out more about you and your talent.  You should also create MP3’s of your material for sending and for downloading.  If you have a visual talent, create video for web usage.

English · Interviews

Interview with Mario Christiani, CEO of Music2Deal

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Mario reeperbahn 2013

Mario talks with Peter Fosso about Music2Deal’s upcoming plans and ‘the big update’…

PF: So the big update of Music2Deal is coming soon. Looks like it’s time to tell the members all about it. Quite exciting really…

MC: Yes! 1st of all I am very pleased that we now have nearly 10,000 music industry professionals on Music2Deal. The concept to combine a community with a marketplace has come to fruition. We could see it from an average of 10,000 visits in a month and so many deals being made via Music2Deal. As an example, each member knows from their pinboard if a business friend has a new music offer or if they’re looking for music. This is interesting, as it helps to make deals more efficiently – saving lots of time – as opposed to using LinkedIn or Facebook. Although the design already suits the needs of professionals, we’ve had some new ideas to improve the system. The new update will include a special new matching system for deals and networking for business. The update should be launched in mid-January 2014.

Yes, the new matching system. Tell us more about that.

At the moment you have to invest time for searching the contacts or the music that are relevant for you. You are waiting for someone who explores your music or finds your music requests. There could be a great song which someone is looking for in the same network but both parties don’t know about it. With the new update, we will offer the world’s first matching system in the music industry. Music2Deal members will see which of our music professionals match their needs and who is offering exactly what they’re looking for – whether it be a type of song for a project or signing their next business deal.

To make the matching process happen we improved the system of posting music offers and music wants in each of our 5 sections. Our 5 sections include the community, as one section, which is called “Members” and the other four sections of the marketplace to deal with artists, songs, music for licensing and vocalists. Additionally, we’ve added a shortcut in each section to post requests as a ‘wanted’. The system detects which ‘wanted’ matches an offer in each section and then informs both parties about it.

So what are some examples for how this matching system can be used?

Let´s say I am a publisher in Germany and post in the member section a wanted that I’m looking for a publishing partner in Italy for a publishing deal. The system shows me all suitable publishers in Italy and, in turn, my profile will be shown to them as a match that I’m interested in their business. If I offer a song with certain criteria for example an up-tempo house song in English and someone already posted a wanted that they’re looking for a song with those criteria, both members will see a match. If I post a wanted that I’m looking for a female vocalist of a certain age from Sweden for a studio project, all vocalists who match those criteria will be displayed as a match and vice versa so they know what I am looking for. So the system will provide more opportunities for business.

Let’s talk about other features of this update. What else can members expect to see?

Our Premium Members will benefit from several special services. This includes a higher ranking in the result listings, better statistics, additional search filters, and even videos in their music offers. We will give them many features that simplify the networking and “dealing” with music.

So that’s great for the Premium Members. What about the benefits for the Basic Members?

So far Basic members could use almost the complete system but it was not possible to offer music on Music2Deal, which is of course, what it’s all about – at least for many of the members. So the new update will give our Basic Members the ability to upload a music offer so they can find the right deal.

That’s great! What else is part of the new update?

Music2Deal members will be able to post and search for job opportunities in the member section. We’ve added the topics “live” and “recording” to the artists and vocalist sections so that our members will be able to post and search for live events and recording projects.

What do you expect from the update, Mario?

We hope that our users appreciate the new features very well and get the important contacts that they are searching for. If somebody signs a recording contract or has to announce another success story, please tell us!

Yes, exactly. What are your plans for Music2Deal in 2014?

With this update we’ll start many promotion campaigns to raise our popularity worldwide. So which, by the way, is a good time for current members to make sure their profiles are up-to-date, as we’ll be seeing even more traffic and many new members. And we’re really pleased to now be working together with such important partners like Berklee Online, SAE, NARIP, Billboard Events, and IMMF, just to name a few. As the music business is a personal business it is important for us to also act locally in order to make the international deals happen. You know, each registration is checked by a local person who knows the music people in their country. Therefore, we will extend our current network of international representatives. So far we are based in more than 30 countries and I’m sure we’ll be adding some interesting new countries to Music2Deal in 2014.

Peter Fosso is the Founder/President of the non-profit, Global Music Project (http://globalmusicproject.org) and is also the U.S. representative for Music2Deal.