An Interview With Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers’s life has certainly been interesting so far, from working as a musician/ringleader of a circus to a stint at the publishing giant Warner/Chappell to being on the road as a touring musician to creating and running CD Baby, one of the most widely used music-distribution services today. After selling CD Baby in 2008, Sivers now spends his time thinking of new ways to help musicians. In this excerpt from my Music 3.0 book, you’ll see his insights are as thoughtful as they are cutting edge.

"What trends do you see today that you think will influence the distribution and consumption of music as we go forward?

Now that there’s absolutely no barrier to entry for every person on earth to release every noise they make, there is a huge flattening of selection. Instead of 100 people making $1 million each, the future music biz may be 1 million people making $100 each.

How do you think the audience has changed?

They’ve changed because they can’t be spoon-fed anymore, and they can’t really be sold or persuaded as much as before. Because they have endless selection, they only receive and act on recommendations from trusted sources, usually friends.

Radio used to be one of the things they trusted. But now it’s transformed into something that music lovers can’t even tolerate, so real music fans don’t expect FM radio to turn them on to new music like it once did. Therefore, for new artists, radio is moot.

What’s the best way to break an act today?

First of all, an artist has to have the right attitude, which maybe is no different than it ever was. What’s new is that the artist now must also have the ability to learn, adapt, and communicate.

You’ve got to touch lots of people. You’ve got to resonate emotionally with them, then communicate sincerely. A lot. Fans really do like using their favorite artist as a bonding, cementing group maker. It’s part of your job as an artist to encourage your fans to talk to each other and make a “tribe” (to use Seth Godin’s word) around you. And after breaking, you have to solve problems and improve your skills weekly to keep your career developing.

That being said, to be a great musician you have to learn how to focus. You have to look at yourself yourself objectively to notice what needs improvement, and have the dedication to improve that even when you think you can’t.

But to be a successful professional musician, you have to learn how to look at yourself through others’ eyes. You have to understand why the venue owner is really booking artists, why this person really signed your mailing list, and why people really go out to a bar at midnight on a Thursday night. It’s an amazing learning experience, and as you’ve noticed, I’m endlessly fascinated by these things.

Do you have any promotion tips?

Hundreds. Please see http://sivers.org/pdf, where I took a few months to write them all down and share them all for free.

As for tools, I’d try to find ones that aren’t already saturated with music: maybe an artistic use of Twitter or Improv Everywhere. But whatever I used, I’d really make sure that I was always in a real three-way conversation with my fans. It’s three-way in that I’d encourage them to talk with me and with each other and make my success their success, just like Obama did in his election campaign.

What are your feelings toward the major record labels today? 

It’s easy to look at them as buffoons (like we do politicians), but most of them are surprisingly smart. This last ten years has been humbling for them. It’s shaken out the people that were only in it for the money, so most of the people at labels today are in it for the right reasons and are more entrepreneurial.

If you look at the current biggest sellers, they’re almost all on major labels, so it’s just bad logic to say that the labels are doing everything wrong. They still may do many things wrong, but not everything. Their different expectations change their costs, so they have to get incredibly lean and efficient so they can actually profit off something that sells only 10,000 copies. Most indies can profit off of 10,000 sales, but majors simply can’t right now.

Do you think an independent artist needs an agent or a manager today?

Most musicians feel if they just had a good manager, agent, or promoter they’d be all set, but most managers, agents, and promoters will tell you that most artists aren’t ready yet.

I think it’s the artists’ responsibility to develop themselves to the point where they’ve proved their persistence and ability to make music and to put on a show that people love. Once they’ve got more bookings than they can handle, it’s a good time to hand that job to an agent.

As for a manager, I think that should be like a business-minded band member whose sole job is to handle the business and marketing. It doesn’t have to be a professional manager. But yes, someone of that mind-set should definitely be included always. Don’t go too long without one!"

 Visit Derek Sivers' website at sivers.org for lots of ideas and inspiration.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Interested in the Music 3.0 archives? Buy The Music 3.0 Guide To Social Media. The best of over 800 posts.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

A Big Promotional Mistake That Artists Make

It's important to be serious about your music career if you expect to get ahead, but sometimes it's possible to actually be too serious about things. Music should be fun both in the creation and listening, and if it becomes too much of a job for an artist it translates to the audience, who can immediately pick up the vibe. Here's a video by CD Baby founder and former CEO Derek Sivers about what he's found to be a big mistake that many artists make.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

7 Marketing Basics Every Musician Should Know

Industry pundit Derek Sivers (who's also featured in my Music 3.0 book) had his "7 Critical Marketing Basics Every Musician Should Know" reposted by CyberPRurban.com. If you don't already know, Derek founded CD Baby, but also spent time at publishing giant Warner Chappel so he definitely knows the biz (he was a touring musician as well). But maybe the most interesting thing about Derek is he's a great student of marketing and how traditional marketing applies to musicians.

Here's his 7 marketing basics.

Lesson #1 - A Marketing Golden Rule: It’s about THEM Not YOU
When he was a student at Berklee College of Music, Derek was attending a music business lecture. Before the lecture started, he overheard his professor whispering to guest speaker Mark Fried from Warner Chappell Music that there would be no time to eat before the lecture and it was a 3-hour talk. Mark was looking hungry and there had clearly been a miscommunication about eating before the class started. So, Derek slipped out of the room to a pay phone and ordered pizza for Mark and for the entire class. Forty-five minutes into his lecture, Mark was eating pizza with the class and was extremely grateful to Derek (who was one of many students in the room) who went out of his way to help him.

After the lecture, Mark gave Derek his card and told him to keep in touch, which Derek did for the remaining 2 years he was at Berklee. When he came to New York he would meet Mark for coffee and their friendship grew. A week before his graduation, Derek called Mark to ask if there were any jobs at Warner Chappell opening up. Seven days later Derek had a job working at Warner Chappell in the tape room.

The pizza took Derek one phone call and $25 and it secured him a job in the music industry. There were probably 45 students sitting in that lecture hall that day and he was the one who ended up with a relationship with Mark and in the end…a job.

Lesson #2: Unsolicited Actions Will Get You Nowhere
While working in the tape room at Warner Chappell, Derek got to see first hand what it looks like from the inside when indie musicians send unsolicited music to a publishing company. Warner Chappell is a large publishing company that was not looking to sign new artists and Derek saw the packages arrive by the dozen on a daily basis. From this he learned exactly what never to do.

Lesson #3 - No One Is Coming To Save You In The Music Industry
If you hire anyone to be on your team, no matter what they are doing for you, you must understand that that person is your hired partner. You will both have to work to achieve your desired result. This is especially true in the realm of social media and online marketing.

Lesson #4 - Marketing = Consideration
Reach People the Way You Want to Be Reached. Stop thinking of it as Marketing and start thinking of it as creative ways to be considerate. Begin to pay attention to other artist’s messages and notice what works on you. The considerate thing is to be so novel and creative and innovative so that people say, "You have GOT to see / hear this musician play!"

Lesson #5 - Sharply Define What You Do
You cannot slice through the world’s attention if you are using a blunt knife and you will most definitely be blunt if you are trying to be all things to all people. Your message must be sharp and pointed. It’s OK to exclude 99% and have 1% worship you! Be unapologetic in your bluntness.

Lesson #6 - DIY Does Not Mean Do It All Yourself - Decide It Yourself
DIY does not have to mean do it all yourself. Doing it all yourself will surely set you up for exhaustion and will leave you no time to be creative. Decide It Yourself - you call the shots but you MUST learn how to delegate, put your fans to work and get things off of your plate.


Lesson #7 - It’s Who You Know Mixed With How You Persevere
Everything major that happens in your career starts with someone you know. Get used to staying in touch with hundreds of people with blogs and with your newsletter. It’s a psychological shift in your head but once you can make it you can be very very effective staying in touch with many people. This is the miracle of technology.

Make yourself meet 3 new people every single week: Do this by picking up the phone - people get hundreds of emails and dozens of phone calls.

TIP: AVOID saying the words “pick your brain” to anyone. That says, "I want something from you"

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for daily discussion of music, recording, and production tips and tricks.

10 Creative Rules Of Thumb

Here are some great tips on how to stay creative from the Marketing Essentials International blog, but I seem to remember seeing them on Seth Godin's or Derek Sivers' blog as well. Regardless of who created the list, it's still pretty good advice.

Top 10 Creative Rules of Thumb:

1. The best way to get great ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.

2. Create ideas that are 15 minutes ahead of their time…not light years ahead.

3. Always look for a second right answer.

4. If at first you don’t succeed, take a break.

5. Write down your ideas before you forget them.

6. If everyone says you are wrong, you’re one step ahead. If everyone laughs at you, you’re two steps ahead.

7. The answer to your problem “pre-exists.” You need to ask the right question to reveal the answer.

8. When you ask a dumb question, you get a smart answer.

9. Never solve a problem from its original perspective.

10. Visualize your problem as solved before solving it.

I especially like #10. Sometimes "making your own reality" is the best tip of all. Try it sometime. It works.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.
You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for daily discussion of music, recording, and production tips and tricks.

How To Know When You Need A Label

It's time for another excerpt from Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age. Although DIY (do it yourself) is very in vogue these days, there comes a time when the only way you can jump to the next level is to partner with a record label. This excerpt details when to know that time has come.

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This entire book so far has been about getting along in the new music world without a record label, but there does come a time when having a label is worth considering if you want to jump to the next level as an artist. Record labels are not intrinsically bad, it’s just that you have to weigh the advantages versus the disadvantages to determine whether the time is right for you to be associated with one or not. 

It’s easy to look at them as buffoons (like we do politicians), but most of them are surprisingly smart. This last 10 years has been humbling for them. It’s shaken out the people that were only in it for the money, so most of the people at labels today are in it for the right reasons and are more entrepreneurial.

Derek Sivers

You might want to consider a label if:

They’re offering you a staggering amount of money. If this happens, you either must be hot enough for a bidding war to have broken out or they really, really believe in your future. Just remember that this might be the last money you’ll ever see and it may have a significant negative impact on any credibility that you have with your fan base. Best to test the notion of signing with a label with your tribe just to see the reaction first since they won’t buy anything from you if they feel you sold them out.

You need money for recording, touring, or any other needs. One of the things that labels do really well is act like a bank using your music as collateral. Major labels still do this as well as ever before, but is it worth the price you’re going to pay in terms of the freedom that M30 offers?

You’re spending too much time on certain aspects of a career. A label can take some of the burden of marketing and distribution off your shoulders. You still have to be involved on some level though, or you run the risk of things getting way off course before it’s brought to your attention. If you don’t have a manager already, this might be a better association than a label when you reach this point.

You need expanded distribution. If you need distribution into brick and mortar stores beyond what a small indie label can provide, a major label can be your friend. They have the relationships, the sales force and the means to collect the money. If you’re distributing by yourself, you’ll get paid if and when the stores feel like it since you have no clout. In some cases, you can’t even get into the remaining chains and retail stores because you don’t sell enough to get on their radar. A major label or large indie sells the stores a lot of product and they’re trusted, so it’s a lot easier for them to get the retailer to take a chance. Plus, the label has some leverage in that they can always threaten to withhold in-demand product if they don’t get paid.

You want to expand into foreign territories. Let’s say that you have a huge following in Germany via your online efforts, but you can’t service them properly because you live in Kansas City. A major label can use their overseas resources to promote you and get product in the stores there. It saves you the hassle of reinventing the distribution and marketing wheels.

You need economies of scale. Sometimes the power of a big label can be used to your advantage as they can cut a better deal with a service (YouTube and MTV come to mind) than you ever could as an indie.

In the video business there was a conscious decision made that video was no longer going to be free anymore. How can it be promotional if MTV doesn’t play it? It has become a product, so we’re going to make money out of it. It turns out there’s a tremendous demand for music videos and they can be monetized. Now we’re the biggest channel on YouTube. But it’s better for us to deal with YouTube on a centralized basis, than as individual labels.
Howard Soroka - Vice-President of Media Technologies - Universal Music Group

You need major marketing. The one thing a major label does well is to market you traditionally. If you want airplay on radio and appearances on television, a label may be your only hope. If you want reviews and articles in mainstream media, they still have the clout to get it done. 

If you feel that you’ve gone as far as you can go as an indie artist. If you need help to push your career over the edge to stardom, then a major label or major label imprint may be the way to go. This is what they do, sometimes well, sometimes not. 

Unless you have a specific need for any of the above that you’re sure you can’t fill any other way, it’s best to stay independent for as long as you can as long as M30 is around. Who knows how long it will last? Maybe a year or two if we’re lucky, but maybe a lot less than that, which might be lucky too since it will spell the latest music business evolution.

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Follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

10 Creative Rules Of Thumb

Here's another blast from the past. Sorry if you've seen this before (you probably haven't if you're a recent reader), but I thought it was a good time for a repeat.
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Here are some great tips on how to stay creative from the Marketing Essentials International blog. It's a good positive way to start the new year, although it seems that everyone is already pretty positive (maybe hopeful is a better word). Even though I found this on the MEI blog, I seem to remember seeing them on Seth Godin's or Derek Sivers' as well. Regardless of who created the list, it's still pretty good advice.

Top 10 Creative Rules of Thumb:

1. The best way to get great ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.

2. Create ideas that are 15 minutes ahead of their time…not light years ahead.

3. Always look for a second right answer.

4. If at first you don’t succeed, take a break.

5. Write down your ideas before you forget them.

6. If everyone says you are wrong, you’re one step ahead. If everyone laughs at you, you’re two steps ahead.

7. The answer to your problem “pre-exists.” You need to ask the right question to reveal the answer.

8. When you ask a dumb question, you get a smart answer.

9. Never solve a problem from its original perspective.

10. Visualize your problem as solved before solving it.

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Follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Hugh MacLeod's "Ignore Everybody"

A few weeks ago I received an email from industry provocateur Derek Sivers with an unusual offer. He would send me a book from either Seth Godin or Hugh MacLeod (Derek loves books on marketing), and if I received any benefit I would write something about it. I'm a big fan of Seth Godin and if you've read my Music 3.0 book, you know that Seth's ideas play a big part of it. But I've never read Hugh MacLeod, until the book from Derek arrived in the mail the other day.

Hugh's book "Ignore Everybody - And 39 Other Keys To Creativity" is a very quick and enjoyable read, and as Derek predicted, really spoke to me.

I think the over-riding theme of the book is, "If you have an idea that you really believe in, don't ask anyone for advice or their thoughts, just go for it." It's too easy to get discouraged by even your friends and family, because they have a vested interest in keeping their relationship with you just as it is. You've got to understand that if you put your time in, you have a chance at success, but those relationships inevitably will change.

I've seen it happen myself several times over the years. When I first got a gig with a successful touring band, I had a friend tell me how much I'd changed. I didn't think my attitude towards him or anyone else was any different, but it was true, my life had changed but not in the way he thought. I was really tired from all the traveling, and under a lot of pressure from recording and not feeling very good about my parts. How can anyone else who hadn't been through the same thing appreciate that? I was a bit aloof because I was feeling depressed about how things were going, but that was interpreted as something else completely.

Then when I started to get a little success working with major and minor music celebrities, I had friends that no longer called me because they thought I was too busy and they didn't want to disturb me. Busy yes, but disturb me - of course not! This still goes on to this day.

This is not an uncommon occurrence unfortunately, and people with far more success than I've had have been going through these things for ages. I think that what surprises you when it happens is the fact that you're not ready for it. Hugh's book points out that you should expect a relationship to change the moment you have an idea that you intend to act on, because your friends like the status quo better than what might happen if you succeed.

Hugh's next point that got to me was "Don't quit your day job" If you're a musician, or anyone in the arts for that matter, you've heard this one forever, but Hugh has slightly different take on it.

Yes, keeping a "day job" doing something other than the thing you love may not be what you want, but that happens even when you have some success and the thing you love to do really does become your day job. Every artist is forced to choose between what's in their heart, and what they have to do to earn a living. Actors take a Hollywood blockbuster with a feeble story so they can still act in independent art films. Painters take commissions from wealthy patrons so that they can spend time on that inspiration that will never go anywhere. Musician's take a high paying gig they hate so they can spend a few weeks working on their own music. This illustrates a point that I'm fond of saying, "Art is something you do for yourself. A craft is something you do for someone else." Hugh just said it another way.

There are at least 5 additional points made in "Ignore Everybody" that I really liked, but I'll leave them for another post. If you're a creative person in just about any artistic or technological discipline, Hugh MacLeod's "Ignore Everybody" is a book that you should check out.

10 Creative Rules Of Thumb

Here are some great tips on how to stay creative from the Marketing Essentials International blog. It's a good positive way to start the new year, although it seems that everyone is already pretty positive (maybe hopeful is a better word). Even though I found this on the MEI blog, I seem to remember seeing them on Seth Godin's or Derek Sivers' as well. Regardless of who created the list, it's still pretty good advice.

Top 10 Creative Rules of Thumb:

1. The best way to get great ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.

2. Create ideas that are 15 minutes ahead of their time…not light years ahead.

3. Always look for a second right answer.

4. If at first you don’t succeed, take a break.

5. Write down your ideas before you forget them.

6. If everyone says you are wrong, you’re one step ahead. If everyone laughs at you, you’re two steps ahead.

7. The answer to your problem “pre-exists.” You need to ask the right question to reveal the answer.

8. When you ask a dumb question, you get a smart answer.

9. Never solve a problem from its original perspective.

10. Visualize your problem as solved before solving it.

7 Critical Marketing Basics Every Musician Should Know

Industry pundit Derek Sivers (who's also featured in my Music 3.0 book) had his "7 Critical Marketing Basics Every Musician Should Know" reposted by CyberPRurban.com. If you don't already know, Derek founded CD Baby, but also spent time at publishing giant Warner Chappel so he definitely knows the biz (he was a touring musician as well). But maybe the most interesting thing about Derek is he's a great student of marketing and how traditional marketing applies to musicians.

Here's his 7 marketing basics.

Lesson #1 - A Marketing Golden Rule: It’s about THEM Not YOU
When he was a student at Berklee College of Music, Derek was attending a music business lecture. Before the lecture started, he overheard his professor whispering to guest speaker Mark Fried from Warner Chappell Music that there would be no time to eat before the lecture and it was a 3-hour talk. Mark was looking hungry and there had clearly been a miscommunication about eating before the class started. So, Derek slipped out of the room to a pay phone and ordered pizza for Mark and for the entire class. Forty-five minutes into his lecture, Mark was eating pizza with the class and was extremely grateful to Derek (who was one of many students in the room) who went out of his way to help him.

After the lecture, Mark gave Derek his card and told him to keep in touch, which Derek did for the remaining 2 years he was at Berklee. When he came to New York he would meet Mark for coffee and their friendship grew. A week before his graduation, Derek called Mark to ask if there were any jobs at Warner Chappell opening up. Seven days later Derek had a job working at Warner Chappell in the tape room.

The pizza took Derek one phone call and $25 and it secured him a job in the music industry. There were probably 45 students sitting in that lecture hall that day and he was the one who ended up with a relationship with Mark and in the end…a job.

Lesson #2: Unsolicited Actions Will Get You Nowhere
While working in the tape room at Warner Chappell, Derek got to see first hand what it looks like from the inside when indie musicians send unsolicited music to a publishing company. Warner Chappell is a large publishing company that was not looking to sign new artists and Derek saw the packages arrive by the dozen on a daily basis. From this he learned exactly what never to do.

Lesson #3 - No One Is Coming To Save You In The Music Industry
If you hire anyone to be on your team, no matter what they are doing for you, you must understand that that person is your hired partner. You will both have to work to achieve your desired result. This is especially true in the realm of social media and online marketing.

Lesson #4 - Marketing = Consideration
Reach People the Way You Want to Be Reached. Stop thinking of it as Marketing and start thinking of it as creative ways to be considerate. Begin to pay attention to other artist’s messages and notice what works on you. The considerate thing is to be so novel and creative and innovative so that people say, "You have GOT to see / hear this musician play!"

Lesson #5 - Sharply Define What You Do
You cannot slice through the world’s attention if you are using a blunt knife and you will most definitely be blunt if you are trying to be all things to all people. Your message must be sharp and pointed. It’s OK to exclude 99% and have 1% worship you! Be unapologetic in your bluntness.

Lesson #6 - DIY Does Not Mean Do It All Yourself - Decide It Yourself
DIY does not have to mean do it all yourself. Doing it all yourself will surely set you up for exhaustion and will leave you no time to be creative. Decide It Yourself - you call the shots but you MUST learn how to delegate, put your fans to work and get things off of your plate.


Lesson #7 - It’s Who You Know Mixed With How You Persevere
Everything major that happens in your career starts with someone you know. Get used to staying in touch with hundreds of people with blogs and with your newsletter. It’s a psychological shift in your head but once you can make it you can be very very effective staying in touch with many people. This is the miracle of technology.

Make yourself meet 3 new people every single week: Do this by picking up the phone - people get hundreds of emails and dozens of phone calls.

TIP: AVOID saying the words “pick your brain” to anyone. That says, "I want something from you"

Meet The Contributors To Music 3.0

Like my other books, Music 3.0 would be nothing without the contributions of some of the most respected voices on the cutting edge of different aspects of the current music business.

Let me briefly introduce them to you:

Ted Cohen - Known throughout the technology and music industries as being "part ambassador and part evangelist," Ted Cohen has been on the cutting edge of digital music from its inception. Currently a managing partner of the industry consulting firm TAG Strategic, Ted is one of the most influential voices in digital music today and can be seen speaking on the subject worldwide.

Richard Feldman - A very successful songwriter, producer and Grammy winner with platinum and #1 records to his credit, Richard is the CEO of a music library publisher called ArtistFirst Music and the president of the Association of Independent Music Publishers. Richard comes to publishing from the point of view of a musician and songwriter, and he has a unique perspective on the changes that M30 brings.

Larry Gerbrandt - An expert on entertainment analytics, Larry Gerbrandt’s Media Valuation Partners advises its clients on the economics of media and content on traditional and emerging technology platforms. Formerly a Senior Vice-President with research giant Nielsen Analytics, Larry provides a wealth of experience in entertainment market research that we’re pleased we could tap. Get ready for some interesting and insightful facts and figures regarding sponsorships, branding and advertising - all the things necessary to monetize M30.

Bruce Houghton - Bruce Houghton started his highly influential Hypebot blog because he wanted to better understand the changes in the music business in order to help educate the clients of his Skyline Music agency. Since then, it’s become a must-read for anyone at any level of the music industry. Bruce’s keen observations come not only from being a highly prominent blogger but as a booking agent working in the industry trenches every day.

Thom Kozik - A seasoned tech industry executive for over 20 years, Thom Kozik has spent considerable time on the gaming side of the tech industry, having served as president of gaming search engines Wazap!, and All-Seeing Eye, (which he sold to Yahoo in 2004), before he became Director of Business Development for Yahoo!’s Media Group. Thom now serves as Managing Director for Bigpoint, one of the largest gaming companies out of Europe.

Gregory Markel - One of the pioneers of search engine optimization and marketing, Gregory Markel’s Infuse Creative touts major entertainment clients such as Gibson Musical Instruments, New Line Cinema, The National Geographic Channel, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, the television show 24, and many more. As a recording artist formerly signed to Warner Brothers (and a great singer too), Gregory has a deep empathy for the plight of today’s artist and provides an abundance of social media advice in his interview.

Rupert Perry - One of the most respected and beloved executives in the music industry, Rupert Perry held a variety of executive positions with EMI for 32 years, from VP of A&R at Capitol, to president of EMI America, to managing director of EMI Australia and later, EMI Records UK, to president/CEO of EMI Europe, to the worldwide position of VP, EMI Recorded Music. During his time at EMI, Rupert worked with variety of superstar artists such as The Beatles, Blur, Duran Duran, Iron Maiden, Nigel Kennedy, Robert Palmer, Pink Floyd, Queen, Radiohead, and Cliff Richard. Rupert is well up on the latest technology and trends within the music business and shares some surprising contrasts between the old business and the one we’re in right now.

Ken Rutkowski - Ken Rutkowski is widely considered to be one of the most informed and connected people in the media, entertainment and technology markets today. His daily radio and Internet show, World Tech Round-Up at kenradio.com, is a source of inside information for listeners in more than 40 countries, often scooping the major media and giving perspective to emerging trends, developments and industry maneuvers. Ken is also the creator and guiding force behind the Media Entertainment Technology Alliance (METal), a members-only group of alpha influencers.

Derek Sivers - Derek Sivers' life has certainly been interesting so far, from working as a musician/ringleader of a circus to a stint at the publishing giant Warner/Chappell to being on the road as a touring musician to creating and running CD Baby, one of the most widely used music distribution services today. After selling CD Baby in 2008, Derek now spends his time thinking of new ways to help musicians. As you’ll see, his insights are as thoughtful as they are cutting edge.

Howard Soroka - I first met Howard Soroka when he was the primary programmer for the famed GML recording console automation system some 25 years ago. Since then, Howard’s gone on to being more executive than programmer, rising to vice-president of media technologies at Universal Music Group's eLabs. Always on the cutting edge of technology, Howard had some great insights on the digital workings of the world’s largest record label as well as a look into the future of the music business.

Jacob Tell - Jacob Tell’s Oniracom is a new breed of company that provides a full line of digital media services to artists, labels and management.  Helping artists in the digital space before there was a YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook, Jacob has watched the development of Web 2.0 and learned how an artist can best take advantage of it along the way.

Michael Terpin - Michael Terpin is the founder of SocialRadius, a marketing and public relations company focusing on social media outreach and strategy. Among the projects that the firm has worked on include the outreach for recording artist Will.i.am’s Yes We Can video for the Obama campaign (which won 2008 Emmy, Global Media and Webby awards), social media event marketing for Live8, LiveEarth, the Green Inaugural Ball and the David Lynch Foundation, and the social media launch of start-ups ranging from Software.com to Shapeways.

As with my other books, the full interviews are included because they're not only insightful, but a fun read as well. As an example, here's an excerpt featuring Infuse Creative's Gregory Markel.

Thanks once again to all contributors!