Aspen Live: A Family Affair

Aspen Live celebrates 20 years next Dec.Aspen Live, a preeminent music and live entertainment industry think tank and networking conference celebrated it's 19th year this past weekend.  Jim Lewi once again brought together "the Aspen Family"  an eclectic group of agents, managers,  ticket-sellers, venue owners, marketers and live entertainment veterans from all over America, and one guy from Scotland.

Click 4 pix:  Aspen Live, A Family Affair.

As an industry outsider...AspenSpin was again given carte blance access to the inner circles of the music and live entertainment businesses.  Aspen Live has a extensive history of professional collaborations and mutually beneficial relationships built over years of skiing and partying in Aspen.   For many of the attendees #AspenLive is clearly one of the highlights of their year.  They get to break out of their molds, blow out of L.A. or NYC or Nashville or Seattle or Albuquerque or even Denver and let their hair down in Aspen.   Every year a few "newbies" try to crack the code and get taken in by the Aspen Live Family.  It was amazing how well the 5 young, vivacious, pretty and professional women from United Interests / W.A.R. Records of Boulder fit into the Aspen Family...which is composed mostly of grizzled music veterans.

Bob Lefsetz trading barbs with Peter Mensch.The infamous Bob Lefsetz of the influential music  industry rag, The Lefsetz Letter led off with a "sit down" with Peter Mensch founding partner of Q Prime Management.   Mensch, quite the racanteur,  has an interesting story to tell.   His long career in music has been colorful & successful, but he started as a nerdy, friendless, social outcast who's claim to fame was that he had more albums than anyone else in the dorm at University of Chicago.  He managed to score a job as tour accountant on Aerosmith's 1977-78 Draw the Line tour...which Mensch affectionately called the "snort the line tour" where he bonded with opening act AC / DC just as they were hitting America for the first time.  Despite being "the worst tour accountant in history" AC/ DC became his first major management client.  His firm Q Prime is one of the most powerful independent managers in the business.  Suffice to say...he has a good rap.  His motto..."don't get mad, get even."

Ticketing ScienceJim McCarthy, CEO of Goldstar Events had to follow Mensch to the podium.   It was not an easy task. Goldstar has sold over 15 million tickets for more than 10,000 venues since its inception in 2002.  You can sign up for discounted tickets in your market at GOLDSTAR    While e-ticketing and big data are fascinating topics...hearing about the time Keith Richards told Peter Mensch to tell Mick that "he looks like a pooftah" was a tough act to follow. 

Day 2 led off with a meaningful story about how Aspen Live creates opportunities.  Felice Mancini, President and CEO of Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a non-profit that provides instruments to schools for their music programs and Emma Leggat, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Stub Hub presented their case study.    Inspired by the acclaimed motion picture about music educator Mr. Holland...the foundation provides instruments and other support for about 4000 students every year.   Ms. Mancini is a tireless networker and clearly passionate about music education. Ms Leggat's goal...to humanize the e-commerce giant.   Last year in Aspen Mancini connected with an influential exec. from Stub Hub to get the ball rolling. Owned by E-Bay, Stub Hub is the 800 pound gorilla in the e-ticket space and the secondary market for tickets.  One year later...Stub Hub has agreed to sponsor The Next Stage Concert Series that produced 5 concerts across the country to benefit Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation.  Click here to watch a very compelling 2 minute film about the collaboration between Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation and Stub Hub and how they are helping 1 kid at a time.

Seth Goldstein on raising capital for the music space.Seth Goldstein, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, angel investor and DJ led a round table discussion about financing options in the music space.  It's safe to say...that while sexy...investments in music are usually a high risk ...rarely rewarded asset class.   I'm not saying it can't be done...but making money in the music world is always difficult.  One  peanut gallery comment that seemed to hold some truth " Silicon Valley hates music because it's in L.A. and Silicon Valley hates L.A.   Another weizenheimer shouted that the music business is "full of flakes".  No one denied it.   Check out Seth's DJ app.  CROSSFADER

Day three rolled out the gargantuan players.  Ashley Bradbury from Facebook gave a very nice presentation about the best way to use Facebook.  It became clear that Facebook wants to control everything you see and that the best way to maximize the utility of the social network is to pay them for placement.   Ashley who seems like a great lady also shared many ways by which you can give your data to Facebook.  My take home... big bro is watching...and  everybody calls him Zuck.

Who wants merch? Rockandrolltshirts.comVivien Lewit, director of Content Partnerships at You Tube (owned by google) led a discussion about monetizing content on You Tube.  You Tube is one of the primary vehicles for music consumption today and many artists are making bank on You Tube.  To provide some perspective on You Tube, 300 hours of video are uploded every minute. That's 12.5 days of vid...every 60 seconds.   50% of those views are watched on mobile devices.  The salient point...if you're a musician...control your publishing rights, partner up with You Tube...write, perform and record a hit vid...and start cashing checks. 

Another year of Aspen Live is a wrap. Next year will be the 20th edition, so expect some BIG, BIG things according to Jim Lewi.  It was a weekend packed with information flow, humongous dinners, late night rap sessions, inside jokes, gossip and brand building and of course all the merch you can handle courtesy of Dean Gelfand at RockandRollTshirts.com   The skiing, the hiking the cooking classes etc etc make Aspen Live a unique and powerful event. As always,  there was an extreme amount of hugging it out at Aspen Live.  If you are crazy enough to want to pursue a career in music and live entertainment...get your a$$ out here next year for Aspen Live.  Join the fam, because as always it was another great jam sesh with the Aspen Live Family.

Click 4 pix:  Aspen Live, A Family Affair.

Best wishes to veteran AspenLive Family member Andy Summers who suffered a terrible injury while skiing Spar Gulch for the "last run".  A concussion, a few cracked ribs and a collapsed lung never killed anyone ( i don't think)  Word has it Andy will be fine after some serious rest and recovery time.  But no crowd surfing for a while.  Positive vibes go out to Andy.    

Just as everyone was packing up to head to the airport...a major POW storm hit Aspen, hense the delay in the publishing of this article.  

Rob Gordon brought some new blood to Aspen Live. The ladies of United Interests / W.A.R. Records

Backstage pass. Getting it done after hours at Aspen Live.  

Aspen Live: For the Love of Music

Aspen Live 2013: Click 4 Pix.Aspen Live, the entertainment think tank,  in it's 18th incarnation, took place this past weekend in Aspen.  Music industry veterans from all over North America made their annual pilgrimage to A-Town for Aspen Live.  The Aspen Live "family" is comprised of  managers, agents, promoters, ticket-ers, venue owners, marketers and really anyone interested in the business aspects of the music biz.  Aspen Live is the brain-child of Jim Lewi, a music industry vet who spent 14 years living in Aspen.  This year, A. Party of AspenSpin, a music biz outsider, was able to get inside Aspen Live and learn the real meaning of " it's all about the hang". Interesting seminars as well as parties sponsored by Voice Media, Access Pass & Design and Belly Up Aspen contributed to the experience.

Click 4 Pix:  For the LOVE of MUSIC

Dan Steinberg and industry icon Alex Hodges. Click 4 pix.Thursday's highlight was Steinymania as Dan Steinberg of Square Peg Concerts hosted cocktails with industry icon, Alex Hodges.   Mr. Hodges, currently the CEO of Nederlander Concerts has used his Southern charm to navigate the music world for more than 5 decades. The first concert he attended was Elvis at the Fox in Atlanta in 1956.  Alex wove stories about promoting frat parties in the 50's and eventually  "breaking" Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and others in and around Macon, Georgia.  He briefly took a real job in Atlanta after college...but when his partner Phil Walden passed him an acetate recording of The Allman Brothers first album... before it was released...he bolted back into the music biz without a second thought.  He told a great story about the rivalry between The Allman's and Lynyrd Skynyrd and how he signed Skynyrd by telling them they would never be billed 2nd to ABB. That deal was eventually renegotiated.   Hodges worked with Atlanta Rhythm Section, Charlie Daniels Band, Stevie Ray Vaughn and many others.   Steiny asked the provocative questions to get the real stories from Hodges.  It's clear why he is one of the most widly loved guys in Music.  A true gentleman.

Day one included an interesting discussion of "Content" led by David Rubin of Rabbi Where and Jeff White from Ticketfly.   The word content was used "317 times"during their slide deck...which did not seem to bother anybody in the room except industry poobah Bob Lefsetz.   Goldstar Events CEO Jim McCarty spoke about mobile.  His presentation entitled "how not to suck at mobile" made several salient observations for the mostly old school crowd.   For me...the take home points were obvious, the incredible rise in the use of smart phones and tablets will continue and that 50% of Goldstar's ticket sales are via mobile.

Day 2 was all about business.  Many Aspen family members skied or rode our mountains.  Several people went on a snowmobile excursion to the Maroon Bells and others took a gourmet cooking class.

Anita Ellberse & Vince Bannon debated Blockbuster Theory.at Aspen Live 2013. Click 4 pix.At 4pm, the school bell rang.   Harvard Business School  Professor,  Anita Elberse presented her findings on the blockbuster theory.  Ms. Elberse has the distinction of being the youngest tenured prof. in the history of HBS.  Her book, Blockbusters...hit-making, risk-taking and the big business of entertainment served as a template for her discussion.  Anita is an empirical modelist who does academic research using vast pools of data in an effort to predict future results.  Her theory in a nutshell...bet most heavily on the most likely winners.  She suggested that our world is quickly moving towards a "winner take all" marketplace.  She put this into perspective for the music people...by sharing her research.  Using a sample size of 8 million songs... 94% of them sold fewer than 10 copies.  A full 1/3 of the songs sold only one and the top 102 songs accounted for 50% of the market.   Basically the odds of an unknown making a huge hit record are very low.  The winners are almost always controlled by the major record companies.  It's a "grab for scale" she added.  "So you're pissing on their dreams"? asked Vince Bannon referring to the huge number of aspiring musicians.  To paraphrase Anita...basically...yes.   Her book sold very well at the merch table.

Jay Sider from Band Page spoke about monetization and engagement.  The concept of "moment of intent" has a 25X greater chance of a conversion on-line.  Band Page is a company that gathers content, commerce and data all in one place for Performers. Nic Adler owner of The Roxy in L.A. and a social-media jaugernaught  shared his thoughts on Curation vs Content and gave an up-to-date overview about what's hot in social media.  

By Saturday everyone was in the chill zone.  The entire vibe of the conference had changed.  It appeared as if a special bonding had occurred.  Maybe it was the altitude?   The Old guard has finally realized that technology has taken over the music business.  Some of the "young guns" of the Aspen Live family found their voices.   The rules of passion for their livelihood, which has thrived for decades on relationships and mutually beneficial goals, has changed drastically in the past several years.  There was a flash bomb toast when the poobah of music, (Bob) interrupted the main speaker to prickly opine. It resulted in an unexpected belly laugh on stage-right.  Everyone seemed more relaxed...or maybe it was just me who was more relaxed.  Plenty of good natured burning was going on throughout the meeting room.  When Jim Lewi suggested that the group have "1 meeting instead of 100" attention was turned to Kristina Wallender.

Founder Jim Lewi calming Kristin Wallender 10 seconds before her presentation at Aspen Live. Click 4 pix.Introduced as "the marketing lady from Ticketfly"  Kristina is a music industry neophyte and she seemed a little nervous, but she actually killed.   Her previous position with an extremely large on-line reseller who is attempting to rule the world.  Hint: it starts with A and ends with mazon allowed her to drill deep into e-commerce.  She shared 5 simple points that everyone can learn from A-Zon.

* Obsess about customers

* Create a loyalty program

* Invest for the long term

* Never stop experimenting

* Use technology (and data) to your advantage.

Kristina compared the statement "I think"  to the concept of "the data says".  Think about that for a second.  The data is usually pretty reliable...right?   She said companies should identify, encourage and do anything in their power to engage "super customers".   The top 5% of customers at Ticketfly account for 20% of sales.

The final presentation raised a few eye-brows.  Stubhub the ticket re-seller owned by E-Bay gave their spiel.  By this point the crowd was chomping at the bit to get to the open bar.  StubHub has "legitimized the ticket scalping business" but you will never hear that come out of the mouths of the Stubhub guys. To summarize...one comment from the peanut gallery..."we are just ahead of the Amish when it comes to adopting technology".

The Aspen Live Family Dinner and a late night after party closed out the weekend.  Old friendships were renewed and new ones formed.  The older generation struggled to find an app for that...while the young guns geeked up.   This year it seemed like the generations were closer to a merger...with the old guys listening a little bit more and the young guys speaking up.

It's still a relationship business.  In Aspen...it's clear that everyone had a blast, made a few new contacts, learned a couple of things...but in Aspen, really...it's all about the hang.

Thanks to Jim Lewi and everyone who participated in Aspen Live 2013, the entertainment think tank.

Click 4 Pix:  For the LOVE of MUSIC

Going social...off-line is a big part of Aspen Live. "It's all about the hang. Click 4 pix.Nic Adler from The Roxy, The Goldberg Bros from Belly Up and Rob Bordan a local real estate pro joining forces at Aspen Live. The Kids Table at the Aspen Live Family Dinner. Click 4 pix.Late Night party sesh with the crew from Aspen Live 2013. Click 4 pix.

Backstage @ AspenLive / O.G. in the ZG.

Aspen Live, an intimate music and entertainment conference went viral this past weekend in Aspen. #AspenLive in it's 17th year, attracted some fresh faces and some fresh ideas about "live entertainment" and the future of the music industry.  AspenSpin, an outsider to the biz, had a backstage pass to document the proceedings.  We witnessed the O.G. music industry guys perk up and listen when the new blood & social geeks spoke up. We observed the wired generation  of tweeters pause from texting and listen to the stories from their elders.  We watched the old school and the new school of music merging...right here in Aspen.

Click 4 Pix:  Backstage @ Aspen Live

Jim Lewi created Aspen Live in 1995 when record companies were flush with big budgets and it was good times for all.  In 1995 the music business a.k.a. " the boys club of cool" per Michael Rapino was still thriving.  The internet was in it's infancy...and many in the record biz did not recognize the changes looming on the horizon.  Many old school music execs probably never envisioned how Steve Jobs and a little company call Apple would revolutionize the method by which recorded music was consumed. The music business has changed drastically since 1995. Those that adapted are still in the game that they love. Those that didn't...??? they're thinking about logging on to My Space.

The AspenLive family is a tightly knit group (an understatement) of industry professionals, many with long standing relationships.  This years #aspenlive conf. included, agents, venue owners, promoters, marketers, ticketers, technologists and social media pros.  There were no major record labels in attendance, a glaring change from 1995.   The keynote was a chat with Michael Rapino, CEO of LiveNation (Ticker LVY), producer of over 30,000 concerts per year in 41 markets serving 100 million fans. Live Nation is parent company of Ticketmaster.   Bob Lefsetz, proprietor of the extremely influential music industry blog, The Lefsetz Letter prompted Rapino to summarize  his rise from a mullet headed & earing wearing teen in Thunder Bay, Ontario to the CEO post of the largest live entertainment company in the world.   Clearly Rapino's passion for music drove him.  He knew exactly what he wanted to be as a University student at age 20. He wanted to be the #1 concert promoter in the world, and he drew up a plan, on a napkin, which he has framed in his office.  The plan eventually took him around the world and now...he cribs in the corner office at LVY in Beverly Hills.

On the hot seat. Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation, During his Keynote at #aspenliveIf you google "Steve Martin"  you'll see a white haired guy in a white suit playing a banjo.  If you google Steve Martin, The Agency Group, you'll meet one of the greatest guys in music, a white haired guy who prefers not to wear a suit.  We understand why everyone in the biz loves Steve.  Steve Martin, the Agent started off booking bands in the 70's in The Hamptons (before they were the Hamptons) at Hot Dog Beach ...a shack on Dune Road.  He promoted on-campus shows for Springsteen, Jerry Garcia, Patti Smith before moving to NYC.  Fast forward to the present, Steve runs North America for The Agency Group, the largest independent talent booking agency in the world.   He was grilled by Dan Steinberg (@theJew) for an hour...and the stories started to flow. 

Martin was extremely tactful in his presentation, and he did seem mildly suspicious about all the big time media in the room (ie: AspenSpin).  He wound one yarn about his client, the late Fela Kuti.  Fela, a Nigerian artist and political activist  was a pioneer of "Afrobeat" music.  Fela's entourage included about 60 people...20 of whom were his wives.   Coming to the U.S. from Nigeria they had no coats, so Martin peeled off $1000 and sent an aide to buy outerwear in quantity.   Many will remember the iconic "snorkel jacket" from the early 80's... "it was like the Nigerian Army had invaded" laughed Martin. Steve Martin & Andy Somers of The Agency Group at Aspen Live . Click 4 pix. In a seperate vignette, that occurred way back when you could still smoke on airplanes.  Fela lit up a doobie on a plane headed to a show in Seattle.  When  the flight attendant..and eventually the pilot demanded that Fela distinguish his blunt...he replied (as imitated by Martin)..."I'm a Prince...and I will not".   Push came to shove and the plane was diverted to Denver.  Martin had to buy 60 one-way tickets from Denver to Seattle and promptly docked Fela's pay for the bill.  "That joint cost Fela $10,000" he recalled fondly. 

Hank Neuberger gave an enlightening presentation about live streaming.   Neuberger, CEO of Springboard Productions was billed as "The KING of LIVE STREAMING"  and it was clear after his talk...that he deserves the moniker.  Neuberger showed some sizzle reels from Coachella and Austin City Limits..which his crew streams Live/Live for millions of people all over the internet.  Technology has allowed for production quality to spike while keeping cost seemingly moderate.  Neuberger should be known as king of "engagement time" as his stats are off the charts in that category.  Live/Live is crucial to the viewer experience...as it has become clear that fans want to connect in real time.  Time shifting bands has proven to be a tricky proposition.  The "ah ha" moment occurred in 2010  when you tube got on board and announced a live stream of an Arcade Fire show ...2 hours before they hit the stage.  Unique visits for that show exceeded 1 million.  

John Boyle of Insomniac Click 4 pix.John Boyle, Chief Growth Officer for Insomniac spoke about Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and festivals.  WOW...EDM is the sh*t right now...it's white hot amd getting hotter.  EDM is a $4 billion business in 2012...expected to grow to $6 billion in 2013.  EDM O.G. Phil Blaine rattled off about 40 genres of EDM off the top of his head.   Insomniac's immersive 3-day festival of love, Electric Daisy Carnival attracts 110,000 people per day to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in June.   100's of "world class artists" (ie: DJ's) spinning electronic music from dusk till dawn. The special effects are deluxe.  "The Fan is the Headliner" said Boyle.  That sentiment was shared by Neuberger who had previously mentioned that 50% of the content streamed at EDM fests focuses on the audience.  The music, the lights, the vibe, the community,  EDM is now the sound of Madison Avenue and Wall Street.  Robert FX Sillerman has announced plans for a " billion dollar roll up" in the EDM space.   Las Vegas has surpassed Ibiza as the Capital of EDM.  Celebrity DJ's are signing lucrative "residency deals" in Vegas for up to $20 million.  Have disc drive...will travel.   Boyle was a little sensitive when the topic of drugs at the EDM festivals came up.  He countered by saying " there are plenty of drugs in rock & roll".  He must not have noticed the large numbers of  sweaty, glow in the dark clad, hug happy dancers with huge pupils in the crowd at EDC.

Andrew Dreskin, the first guy to sell a ticket on-line. Click 4 more pix.Andrew Dreskin is the CEO of TicketFly and  "the father of on-line ticketing". He shared his insights in the world of internet ticket sales.  Dreskin founded Ticketweb, the very first seller of event tickets on-line and one of the  first e-commerce companies in any category.  Dreskin a long-time industry veteran stressed the importance of the data and how social media has a strong impact over-all ticket sales.  Social ticketing is one of the most  important factors in the future of performance ticket sales.   So remember, next time you are humbble-bragging about a siiiiiiiiick show at Belly Up, posting your vids and pix....the venue owners in Denver, Boulder, Salt Lake thank you.  And every time you buy a ticket on line...your data is being mined.

It was a HUGE weekend for Nic Adler and the entire crew at Adler Integrated (AI), a full service marketing agency in L.A.  First of all his dad, legendary record producer Lou Adler was named as an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  Adler and his team from AI were instumental in Aspen Live and the agency was one of the event sponsors.  Formed in the last year, Adler Integrated is on the cutting edge of social media marketing for live entertainment and events.  Adler Integrated  is an off-shoot of Nic's experience marketing his club... the legendary Roxy Theatre and his work revitalizing The Sunset Strip in L.A. by using social media.  Nic Adler was the catalyst in forming a highly engaged social community around the strip...working with former rivals for the greater good.  The whole AI team worked the internet, the conference floor and the late night party scene to help build the community of #aspenlive.  @NicAdler and the Aspen Integrated team at Aspen Live 2012. click 4 pix. AI's COO Nathan Levinson led a social media panel featuring Ian C. Rogers of Topspin and J. Sider of Bandpage.com.   A team from AI including Andy Sternberg, Alf Lamont, and Tonya Cooke along with P.R. pro Katie Fox from Blooming Footprint gave an interactive presentation focusing on how to manage a live event in real time.  AI strategist Kyra Reed and Nic Adler concluded the conference  with a quick re-cap of Aspen Live which stressed community building and everybody working together.   There was a lotta love in that room.

Aspen Live was a phenominal conference which included plenty of skiing during the day and partying at night. It was educational and informative, but "it;s all about the hang".   Aspen creates a very intimate experience and over the years helped to form a strong bond among the attendees.  The opening night cocktail party at Belly Up followed by the Elephant Revival show and the closing night bash at Limelight with DJ Carbo were highlights.  Some of the O.G. music biz guys learned a few new tricks and some of the young'uns gained the benefit of experience and the value of face-to-face interaction.

A few observations from AspenSpin:

* The Music Biz is mostly guys. "The boys club of cool". All the ladies must be chasing the talent.

* Music people like to swear (on mic.).   Almost every speaker included at least a few F-Bombs.

* Apparently skinny jeans are still cool in some parts of the country.

* Adapt or die...  this is not just true for the music biz.  But the music milieu is an obvious example. 

* The connection to music fans via social media is the most powerful sales tool known to man.   Way more powerful than a flyer.  It's like word of mouth on crack.   Converting "kinda fans" into "super fans" correlates to higher ticket sales.

* Technology is affecting everything.  From the music itself to the distribution to the sales and ticketing to the live streaming.  You have to be where the fans are...on-line.   Understanding the data is a powerful tool that leads directly to sales.

* Festivals are HUGE.   EDM is equivalent to festivals on steroids.   EDM festivals are a perfect storm in the concert promotion world.

* Artists have a lot more control over their message now.   Both for established acts and the zillions of hopefuls.  There are so many ways to get the content in the hands of fans today.   In order to succeed your content must be outstanding...so that it can be separated from the noise.

* Music is a global business.  Duh??  But new, untapped markets in Asia and South America are growing extremely quickly.

*PASSION...was the persuasive feeling throughout the weekend.  Each and every participant was clearly passionate about the music business.  It was very clear that these folks love what they do.  They love to discover acts, sign 'em, book 'em, promote 'em, sell tickets and present talent.  Just like music fans are passionate about the music...the people in the music biz are passionate about the biz.  They are finding new ways to succeed in a market place with no shortage of entertainment options.

Music brings people together...it always has.   This weekend in Aspen, #AspenLive proved it again...Rock and Roll will never die....and neither will EDM....yeahhhhhh Boiiiiiiieeeeee.   Thanks to Jim Lewi and Nic Adler for allowing AspenSpin to have a backstage pass to AspenLive.  It was a groove.

Click 4 Pix:  Backstage @ Aspen Live

Jim Lewi, Aspen Live Founder at the Swag Station with The Fromsons. Josh is Publisher of the Village Voice.

Elephant Revival from Nederland , Co. performed at Belly Up for Aspen Live. click 4 pix.It wasn't all meetings & biz..It was "all about the hang" Aspen Live 2012 Click 4 pix.: .J Sider and Dave Rubin took it into the night at Aspen Live 2011Helllz Yeeeah we partied. Eva & N8theSk8 at Aspen Live 2012. Click 4 pix.