What I enjoyed & what was missing

Posted by Zechmann in Music Talk

Mar 19th, 2013

SF MusicTech’s SoundCloud has been an obsession of mine over the last few months. I loved listening in on all the conversations these music-tech aficionados were having and knew I had to take the train up to San Fran for this year’s conference.

My experience at SF MusicTech 2013 was, however, more of a learning experience in how conferences function rather than the music-tech topics being covered. And as much as I’d love to go into my many blunders at the event, I’ll keep those goodies to myself. Instead, here’s a few of the panels I enjoyed while attending the conference. I’d also like to get into what I thought the conference was missing, other than a babysitter to tell my dumbass what to do.

How Musicians Are Making Money

This panel had to be one of the hottest of this year. Not only for the very controversial topic about “how musicians are making money,” but how heated the conversation amounted to. It almost became a childish battle over piracy and who could get the last word in about it. Still, the panel brought up some very good reasons on why piracy is negatively effecting the industry and how the industry is combating it, for better or worse.

BitTorrent’s New Product Launches

I’ve been a big fan of BitTorrent ever since my freshman roommate in college introduced it to me back in 2004. However, up until quite recently and solidified by this panel, I never knew of Bram & BitTorrent’s push to legitimize the protocol and steer it away from what it’s most known for right now, piracy.

Check out their new products in the Bittorrent Labs and let them sell you on their cool, new toys in the panel talk below.

The Missing Ingredient

As mentioned in the Lawyer as Rainmaker panel and on a few others, curators are key . As a (damn fine) curator myself, I’ve learned the basic practices of filtering music and other content, as well as the time, effort & resources it takes to truly stand out. But there is so much more for me to learn, as well as everyone else, and it would make for one lively topic at the next Summit.

SF MusicTech

Location: San Francisco, California

Creators: Brian Zisk & Shoshana Zisk

SF MusicTech on: SoundCloud | Facebook | SFMusicTech.com | Twitter