Interview with Mario Christiani, CEO of Music2Deal

December 31, 2013June 13, 2014 Music2DealLeave a comment

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! 1^st 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.

Music2deal Showcase 27th October 2013

November 30, 2013June 13, 2014 Music2Deal1 Comment

On 27^th October Music2Deal UK and Malta held a music showcase at the Captain’s Table restaurant on the tiny island of Gozo in the Mediterranean.

The venue was packed out to an extremely appreciative audience and we were incredibly pleased that Mario Christiani – Managing Director of Music2Deal came over specifically to attend the event and co-host with UK Music2Deal Managing Representative Richard Rogers.

The acts that played were particularly diverse and included artists from Malta, Scotland, Gozo and England.

The evening started off with a cracking set from Chris who sent the audience off with his exceptional falsetto delivery of various songs over the last 4 decades. This was followed by Gozitan band The Run who released a tight set of new numbers from their forthcoming rock album and proving that there is a lot of untapped talent on this small yet beautiful island.

Following this an excellent performance by the superbly under-rated Scottish pop act Kevin McGowan, mixing a heady mixture of self penned material and styles based on his love of artists such as The Beatles, The Kinks and Gerry Rafferty but still containing an excellent individual sound that the audience adored. Standout tracks were the forthcoming single ‘Hibernation’ and the recent hit ‘Stockholm’ with his band Racecar.

Filling in following a last minute dropout were Stevie D. and Les performing 8 tracks from their extensive repertoire that had parts of the audience lapping it up at the front of the stage. Next up was Maltese artist Indigo Darkpsych playing a goth metal rock mix of material from her first three albums including material from her recently released All That Remains album. Some decent songs, good mixing and a strong vocal ensured an excellent end to a wonderful evening of talented artists.

Mario Christiani spoke of the excellent blend of styles of the artists and recounted his thoughts of an wonderful evening of entertainment. In fact so good were all the artists that Mario and Richard have decided to give them all a free professional account on the Music2Deal site.

The Music2Deal Showcase in Gozo is just one of a series of showcases that have been put together over the years particularly in the UK and shows the commitment towards its members by Music2Deal.

Thank you to everyone for all their help and support and to the artists themselves for what was an amazing show.

English · This & That

Mario Christiani (CEO Music2Deal) at the European Forum in Athens

June 30, 2013June 13, 2014 Music2DealLeave a comment

“I was pleased to be at the European Forum in Athen, as Music2Deal was the international supporter and moreover I also presented Music2Deal on a panel.

The European Forum was held with the European Music Day Association (http://www.europeanmusicday.gr) during the Music Day events of Athens (19,20 & 21st of June 2013). Moreover it was also a great opportunity to meet the representatives of Music2Deal Greece and Music2Deal Hungary/Czech Republic.

The Greek network of the European Music Day is (though the crisis) one of the most active of Europe. Some facts will probably convince you!

This year’s edition hosted an European Cultural Forum, 3 open discussions, 50 lifelong learning workshops and music events in 28 cities, in 210 locations with more than 400 events, presenting 495 bands, DJs, choirs or orchestras… all in all more than 2.500 musicians.

To be honest: for someone from Hamburg it was also nice to stay in Athens as it was warm and sunny. The 1^st meeting with the other participants was at the roof of the hotel at the bar and the swimming pool. A really great view on Athens and a wonderful relaxed situation to get in contact to the other participants. There were a lot of very high recommended and nice people from other European countries and it was interesting and fun to talk with them.

The next day we went to the European Cultural Forum with the topic: The role of Clusters for the development of the Music Sector. The forum was held at the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports. There were more than 80 representatives of various European organizations, institutions and enterprises of the music sector. The aim was to point out the important contributions that the state, social actors, universities, NGOs and the private sector can make in relation to cluster creation.

One great solution was presented at the end of the forum with the EURICCA Initiative. The European Music Cluster is a Project of the EUROPEAN RESEARCH & INNOVATION AGENCY FOR CULTURAL CLUSTERS (EURICCA) aiming to create a Contact Point for all professions of the European Music Sector (in the wider sense).

– EURICCA Initiative http://www.euricca.eu/

Of course Music2Deal is a part of this great initiative!

After a long day in the ministry we were invited for a visit and a party at the roof of the town hall.

It was a nice party (with a lot of good talks!) which I left later for going out for dinner with some very nice participants. And it was not just a dinner … it was amazing as we had dinner at the roof of the restaurant with a view to the Acropolis.

On Thursday I was on the panel of the open discussion of “Internet and New Media for the support of Vocational and Educational Training of Musicians”. This was a discussion on how internet, new technologies, digital opportunities, social media and blogs can help music and vocational education. The open discussion showed how the common needs of export and promotion of musicians are associated with a lifelong learning process and self-management.

After many nice talks with my current representative, new partners and a new representative, I left Athens on Friday for a nice weekend on a Greek Island. Here are some impressions :-)”