★ Peter's Marketing Blog ★

This past Friday, through the band Louder Than Love, I was given the opportunity to attend an incredible mentor session panel discussion. The panel featured several music legends discussing the evolving states of the music industry and was sponsored by 99.3 the Fox and the Nimbus School of Recording Arts. The panel was moderated by Danger from 99.3 the fox.

The panel members were…

Bob Ezrin: producer, engineer, arranger and songwriter. Bob is best known for his work with Pink Floyd, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Taylor Swift and many more chart topping artists.

Alice Cooper: shock rock pioneer

Chad Smith: drummer for Chickenfoot and a relatively obscure band called the Red Hot Chili Peppers

GGGarth Richardson: engineer for bands including Nickelback, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Motley Crue and more…

If you are interested in checking out the full discussion, you can watch it below!

Below is my summary of a few key take aways

• When Chad Smith stole music in his youth, he had to hide LP records under his jacket. Now, people just click a few buttons on a computer.
• Someone needs to be held accountable for this “theft” of musical art. Bob Ezrin suggested taxing high speed internet services (utilized to more quickly download media files) to help adequately compensate artists.
•  Alice Cooper doesn’t own a cell phone or do anything on social media. He didn’t see the value on focusing on non-artistic musical objectives. However, Bob Ezrin pointed out that Cooper has a team that manages his social media accounts and maintains an online presence.
• Alice Cooper hired management that looked out for his long-term interests declining a substantial upfront payment in order to keep musical publishing rights.
•  Taylor Swift is successful today as people desire her physically branded products. Everyone wants a piece of Taylor Swift. Her physical album sales and branded merchandise sales are through the roof. Artists desire this type of connection with fans.
• There was a general consensus that artists like One Direction and Justin Bieber have a short shelf life. It was mentioned that they are handsome, but don’t have the talent or songs to back up their image.
• In today’s music industry record labels are trying to re-create other recent hits, they should be aspiring to find the next NEW sound.
• Artists such as U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers would not have been signed by record labels today.
• Labels have a “P&G” mentality wanting to sell a well-packaged product as soon as possible.
• This mentality leads to a lack of development in potentially successful future talent. It took both U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers several albums before they became commercially successful.
• Record labels are no longer in the business of developing talent. This is due to a separation of ownership and management.
• In the past, owners used to operate record labels. Currently, the operators are not owners and are evaluated based on short term sales statistics.
• No matter what field or profession you chose, follow your passion. No matter how simple your job is, be the best at whatever you do!
• The role of producer in music is like getting someone to proofread a university paper. Artists often fear losing artistic integrity, however if one can effectively collaborate with a producer, a higher quality product will result. Chad Smith mentioned how some of their most successful songs were created through trusting the vision of producer Rick Ruban.
• Quality songs are the core of a musical product. Having a shtick like putting socks on your dicks can only last so long…
• Current Rock music doesn’t have enough aggression. Could this be due to the improved socioeconomic backgrounds of today’s musicians?
• Hip-Hop and Rap have lost their authenticity. Hip Hop is no longer from the streets and the heart. It has become commercialized.

Chad Smith Showing his skills to a few musicians before the Red Hot Chili Peppers Show

The Red Hot Chili Peppers Show at Rogers Arena

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