May 11, 2012 |
I gave a keynote presentation at the Fremtidens musikalske entreprenører conference, which was held at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen yesterday.
My topic was ‘Musicians are Media Producers’ and I spoke for about half an hour with about 15 minutes of questions afterwards.
A couple of people asked if my slides would be available, so here they are.
It doesn’t help that they don’t make sense without the speaking that I did (or if you can’t read my handwriting) but the session was recorded, so once that’s available I’ll link to the talk that I did. Hopefully that will help unravel the point of the slides.
For iPad users – yes, I used the Paper app to draw the slides, exported each image to the Photo Library and then imported into the Keynote app. I did the presentation straight off the iPad, which works well for me. Not sure I’ll do the “handwritten” keynote presentation thing again – but I might. Makes a change…
Jun 27, 2011 |
I’m in Madrid today at a conference about the independent music industry in the digital age. I’m doing the keynote speech tomorrow, and I’m here with my colleague Jez Collins (left, above) who’s going to be talking about music, identity and cities.
The first thing we’ve noticed is the heat. It’s around 40 degrees here. Lots of people in Birmingham are complaining on Twitter about the ‘heatwave’. It’s 27 degrees there.
The conference has been organised, in large part, by Ignacio (“Nacho” – also above) who works here at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, but who came and spent a few months working with us in Birmingham last year.
We’ve met some really great and interesting people, eaten some amazing food, seen some incredible art in some of the world’s greatest museums and art galleries, and heard some excellent music.
My brain is slowly frying and I may not be able to make sentences tomorrow – but having a lovely time.
Aug 6, 2010 |
From Brass Bands to Colombian Hip Hop.
This year’s national Un-Convention event promises to be the biggest and best yet. Taking influence from Un-Convention events around the world and inviting some of the most inspirational and influential figures from the global grassroots music scene – this year will use Un-Conventional spaces – including a barge, Salford Lads Club, Sacred Trinity Church, Islington Mill, Central Salford Station; and explore new and cutting edge issues around music, technology and creativity.
We have so far confirmed that Bill Drummond, Roisin Murphy, Jarvis Cocker, Martin Atkins, Jon McClure, Brian Travers, Billy Bragg, Kevin Cummins and Don Letts will be doing unusual and interesting things in the most unexplored places in the City. We will also host a travelling circus; music photography on buildings; very special interactive performances in unusual spaces around Salford and a brass band opening the event.
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May 7, 2010 |
I’m in Macclesfield for the next couple of days attending Un-Convention Factory. It’s the 30th anniversary of (Joy Division lead singer) Ian Curtis’s death, and we’re marking that with a special event unlike any other we’ve ever done.
There’ll be 8 bands, 100 invited delegates from across the creative industries and 300 attendees who have applied online for the free tickets to this one-day event. And while the ‘Factory’ in the day’s title is a clear reference to the record label, the Hacienda nightclub and to Joy Division – it’s been used as a springboard into a really amazing idea.
Un-Convention Factory is an attempt to create, record and release a new record, while exploring the current challenges, ideas and debates within the music industry.
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Apr 17, 2010 |
Before we start, could you please clap, so I can take a photo for my blog?
A bit of a rushed presentation this morning at XMediaLab’s Sounds Digital – with almost no voice left at all – but I think I managed to make the main point I was trying to make: that music in the digital age is not about broadcasting or about selling copies of recordings, but about conversation.
I offered a conversation starter (would you choose the superpower of flight, or invisibility?*), and discussed the five ages of media – which I’ll explain in more detail in a separate blog post to come at a later time.
And I explained, in a nutshell, who I am – because the rest of the weekend is about one-hour mentoring sessions with the startups. Having heard everyone talk, they choose who they want to spend those sessions with.
Predictably, given that some of the mentors are super-connected or have large pots of cash, I’m not in the high demand category, but my dance card is reasonably full in places, which is nice. Now I just have to be as helpful as I can be.
*Flight vs Invisibility is a great conversation starter. John Hodgman did an excellent piece about it once on This American Life.
