Why You Should Go To Conferences
For years I neglected to go to music conferences, mostly because it just didn’t seem like it was feasibly in my budget. Spending a bunch of money to travel across the country seemed a bit frivolous when I was struggling to pay rent and keep my internet connected.
It wasn’t until I went to my first music conference that I truly saw the value in going somewhere and giving the business side of music your full attention for most of the week. So here are a few reasons why it’s worth the time and money to go to industry conferences.
Meet connections in the industry
As an independent musician, I spend a lot of time filling out applications for festivals, showcases, and grants. A lot of times these applications will ask you, What does your team look like? Who’s your manager, publicist, publisher, sync agent, tour booking agency, and so on. These days a lot of musicians have the mentality that they have to do all these things themselves, because in the early stages of your career you really do out of sheer necessity. But as your career and audience grow you’ll find yourself wanting to delegate some of these jobs to other people.
Conferences are the best place to start making these kinds of connections. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to chat with booking agents, managers, publicists, and sync agents. If you can pitch yourself well then you’ll at least have your foot in the door.
Find inspiration in showcases and in the people you meet
Every artist at some point feels like they’re working in a silo. It takes so much time and effort to write, record, release, perform, and market music that it’s easy to become hyper focused on your own release and what you’re working on. Conferences are a great way to take some time to see what everyone else is cooking.
In an ideal situation, you would be playing a showcase at a conference, but there’s a ton of competition to get those showcase spots. If you don’t get one there’s still a lot to gain from attending other people’s showcase performances.
Generally, the people showcasing are showing you the best of what they got. It’s great to see what other people in the industry are responding to, in order to inform your own writing and performing. Pay close attention to how people command the stage. You should be able to learn something from every performance you watch.
Go into the conference with a goal
Here are some examples of goals you might set yourself for the week: speak to one sync agent; chat with three festival organizers; exchange info with at least ten other artists (maybe someone you could share the stage with or even tour with in the future); give out 50 business cards; share your story with a label manager; learn more about artist management from someone who’s managed an artist. That list can go on and on. Taylor it to what you currently need in your career.
Plant the seeds of future collaborations.
Collaborations are such a big part of the industry, whether it’s co-writing a song or organizing a gig swap with an artist from another city. You might get a session gig playing on someone else’s record. You might meet your next producer or video director. The more you invite people into your process, the better the quality of your product will be.
https://www.francisbaptiste.ca/
Francis Baptiste is an Indigenous songwriter who covers topics of cultural reclamation, addiction, and fatherhood.