Scott Nicastro was kind enough to have a conversation with us about the instability of the music industry today as well as in the past. Music industry hacks, strategies, innovations, and standards are all changing along with the environment and technology.
This was not only our first podcast, this was the first time I’ve ever set up, shot, and hosted one! What a tremendous and bumpy ride it was! With both the lights dying at different times, along with one of the cameras, this was a trial by fire and we came out unscathed!
The main takeaways from this talk are:
WHAT SHOULD ARTISTS SPEND MONEY ON: TOURING v. PUBLICIST
UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE
A.I. & MUSIC
WHAT SHOULD ARTISTS SPEND MONEY ON: TOURING v. PUBLICIST
The question every artist & musician faces when they have a few thousand finally saved up. Now, what to spend it on? Scott has toured the nation and seen the changes in the industry. Social media has drastically affected the way music can be found. This also changes the answer to this question from once being a 50/50 split to a focus on publicists. Here’s why.
Streaming is about much more than just posting on every platform. Consider playlists, websites, magazines, and other media sources pushing music. How can you get on any of those?
Sure, every now and then there is that artist that gets picked up off of talent alone but that is rare with the millions of musicians out there. Hiring a publicist is what separates a successful musician from those struggling. The publicist knows what to do in terms of the business side giving you more room to create. We’ve said it before, music is a team sport!
“You won’t get featured on Pitchfork without a publicist.”
UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE
This is the job of everyone on your team – managers, engineers, publicists, etc. It’s about understanding where to place your focus.
Music and technology are changing rapidly and how to make money in the industry along with it. Since commercials and advertisements are multimillion-dollar businesses, song placements have become goals for some artists. These are artists that understand music is a business, it’s not all about gaining mainstream attention. Many artists with placements in commercials, advertisements, and other forms of media are doing much better than those chasing fame on stage.
A.I. & MUSIC
This can be a cheat code for many of you and may determine your success. How will you use A.I. to benefit you? There are many versions of A.I. music creation tools being made, most notably Google’s A.I. songwriting tool. It’s scary how it can generate a piece most beginner producers wouldn’t be able to but there will be so many different applications in the future that they are just scratching the surface.
