Alana Jessica Ward

Friday, October 26, 2012

American Online Music Publications

It was a little bit harder to research online American music publications from here because I'm quite out of touch with the scene over there. However, this is the short list of ones I've found and really think I'd like to be a part o:

http://lessthan3.com/
http://www.rollingstone.com/
http://www.gottadancedirty.com/
http://daftwho.com/
http://www.ilictronix.com/
http://electrojams.com/

I've made contact with someone from Less Than 3, so hopefully he can shed some more light on the online music publication scene overe there for me.

Australian Online Music Publications

Having already done some research into festivals and event companies, I realised that it would also be a good idea to research online music publications that I might want to work for. Many of them cover a lot of the festivals and music events, and I would consider working for one to have a bit of a balance between digital media and the music scene. Although I would miss out on the event production side of the industry, I think this area is still worth researching. I took a while checking out different Aussie music blogs and websites, and came up with the following that I would like to work for:

Out of these I think the ones that I am most interested in are Tondeaf (because of it's local and Aussie focus), In The Mix (because it's pretty much the biggest EDM blog here) and Faster Louder (because it's also a really good EDM blog). But, best to keep my options open for the time being I'd say!

American Music Event Companies

I thought it would be helpful to also research American music event companies, given my plans to move over and find employment in the US next year. I decided to do this research by also looking at the companies that put on the events I would love to work on over there, as follows:

Coachella
Stage Coach
Burning Man
Outside Lands
Electric Daisy Carnival
Ultra Music Festival
Beyond Wonderland
Escape from Wonderland
Together As One

COACHELLA & STAGE COACH - GOLDEN VOICE

Research tells me that Coachella was founded by Paul Tollett and organised by Goldenvoice, a subsidary of AEG Live (a live entertainment promotion subsidary of Anschutz Entertainment Group, the world's largest live show promoter). So quite impressive. Their headquarters are in Los Angeles, California, which fits in really well with my plans to stay in Cali. Definitely a company to keep an eye on...

BURNING MAN - BURNING MAN FOUNDATION

Burning Man is without a doubt my most favourite event in the whole, entire world and it would be my asbolute dream job to work for the Burning Man Foundation. They're based in San Francisco, which although I prefer Southern California for the heat I would be willing to make the move up to Northern California for a job with them. The main reason I would love to work for Burning Man is because I'd be working for a company who I really believe in and love what they stand for. I've been keeping an eye on any job openings for a while now, and will continue to do so.

ELECTRIC DAISY CARNIVAL, BEYOND WONDERLAND, ESCAPE FROM WONDERLAND & TOGETHER AS ONE - INSOMNIAC

Insomniac is one of the BIGGEST big guns when it comes to the EDM scene in the US, and so working for them would really be a privilege. They've been producing events since 1993, which means that they're a very established company, and produce some of the biggest EDM events in North America. Having been to all of the above festivals, I know that they produce amazing quality music events with a great focus on art as well, and would love to work for them some time in the future.

OUTSIDE LANDS -

There doesn't seem to be much info on who actually produces Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival on the web, except that it's been running since 2008. More digging required.

ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL -

Ultra Music Festival was founded in 1999 by business partners Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes and is based in Miami. Although I'm not too keen on living in Miami, I would consider it if I got a job working on Ultra since it is considered to be "the world's premiere electronic musi festival" by many.

Australian Music Event Companies

In all my research of music festivals and events throughout Australia, I realised that although I had identified a number of events I would like to work on, I really needed to know which companies were responsible for producing these events. That way when I'm job searching or looking to network in the industry, I can identify particular companies that I would like to find employment with and target. Even if I started off working on an event I wasn't particularly interested in, but was produced by the same company that produced other events I'd love to work on, it could be a stepping stone towards me securing that dream job.

I started off researching the companies behind the list of events I'd idenfitied as productions I would love to work on:

- Big Day Out
- Rainbow Serpent
- Eclipse
- Stereosonic
- Creamfields
- Summadayze
- Falls Fest
- Good Vibes
- Soundwave

And here is what I found...

BIG DAY OUT - CREATIVE FESTIVAL ENTERTAINMENT

Big Day Out is produced by 'Creative Festival Entertainment', a partnership between founder Ken West and C3 presents. I looked quite deeply into the history of this festival to find out that Ken West originally founded the festival in 1992 with Viv Lees, but Lees left last year amid trouble they were having with booking talent and high bidding wars. Fortunately, American company C3 stepped in to buy Lees' share of and help the festival find a new direction. I also did some research into C3, an independent concert promotion, event production and artist management company based out of Austin, Texas. It was founded by Charles Attal, Charlie Jones and Charlie Walker in 2007 (hence the 3 C's) and produces amazing festivals in the US such as Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, as well as hundreds of other events nationwide. This is particularly of interest to me, because after I made contact with a couple of people at Big Day Out for PNR interviews I managed to score myself an internship there. If I continue working with them and manage to find some sort of paid position, there's always the possibility that I might be able to find work with their partners C3 when I move to the US. Creative Festival Entertainment offices are based in Sydney, but they also have a smaller office here in Melbourne.

RAINBOW SERPENT

It was pretty impossible to figure out what company puts on Rainbow Serpent, or I think that the company might just call themselves 'Rainbow Serpent' or something. I know this festival pretty well from having gone to it myself in the past, and I know that it's not a very profit-driven event with lots of volunteers that don't get paid, and it's more about providing everyone value for money. Since the festival is set in Beaufort, Victoria, I know that their offices must also be in this state. Although this one was hard to find employment info about, I know that should I want to find work with them the best place would be to start at the contact page on the festival website.

ECLIPSE - RAINBOW SERPENT, SYMBIOSIS, GLADE, PSYCLONE EVENTS AND MOSAIC

Eclipse isn't an annual festival, but only occurs when there is a natural solar eclipse predicted. The next one just so happens to be this year in a few weeks time, and a big week-long festival in far north Queensland has been planned to celebrate it. From doing a bit of research into this event, I found that the event was not produced by one particular company, but instead the event production team comprised of key members from renowned international events such as Rainbow Serpent Festival (Australia), Symbiosis Festival (USA) with support from Glade Festival (UK), Psyclone Events and Mosaic. Having been to Rainbow and Symbiosis, and heard great tales of the others, I'm honestly seriously impressed that such festival heavyweights are collaborating to produce an event together. So impressed so, that I actually bought an (expensive) ticket and flights so that I can go check this out. I feel like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity (the next Eclipse doesn't happen till 2028 and who knows if I'll be in Australia for it) but moreso a really unique event experience to see what's possible when multiple festival companies come together to produce something amazing. I hope from going to this I can really see how they pulled it off and be inspired.

STEREOSONIC, CREAMFIELDS - TOTEM ONELOVE

My research tells me that Stereosonic and Creamfields, two of my favourite EDM events are produced by the one company Totem Onelove. Who knew? A bit more research into Totem OneLove told me that it was created in 2007 when the two powerhouses Totem Industries and Hardware Corporation merged together. I also know that they have offices based in Melbourne, which is obviosuly super convenient for me. They've also produced other events such as Solar Music Festival and Outrage. I would actually love to work for a company like this, and have made contact with their marketing director John Curtin (a bit of an industry heavyweight himself) to let me know if any such opportunities arise.

SUMMADAYZE - FUTURE ENTERTAINMENT

Summadayze is produced by Future Entertainment, which actually reminds me of another festival I would be keen to work on - Future Music! They actually have a huge portfolio with over a decade of experience, over 20 festivals per year, including artist management, festivals and concerts. What really REALLY interested me with them though was finding out that they have a specialist marketing and communications agency called The Sound Campaign that develops marketing and media solutions through the entertainment industry. This is something that I would LOVE to work for, combining events and media at the same time. I would love to work for either Future Entertainment or their agency The Sound Campaign, and so I will definitely be following both of these up for future jobs.

FALLS FESTIVAL -

From my research it seems the people that produce this event really just call themselves 'the team behind the Falls Music & Arts Festival', so it makes it a bit harder to find out more information on employment with them. It would seem that they are based in Victoria, given that the festival is in Lorne, but more research here is needed.

GOOD VIBES -

The Good Vibes festival was launched in 2005 by Justin Hemmes and Jam Music. Unfortunately the festival is currently on haitus after trouble selling tickets in 2011. Chasing work with them might seem a bit redundant if they're not producing events at the moment.

SOUNDWAVE - SOUNDWAVE TOURING

Soundwave Touring have been producing Soundwave every year since 2007, and also promotes tours for bands and musicians throughout the rest of the year. I actually couldn't find out much more than that since they have very little information about the company on their website or elsewhere, but instead seem to want to focus on the bands that they're touring at the moment. Soundwave Touring focus on rock, punk and metal music, which I am less interested in, but if I were to find a job with them I would definitely still take it because they're such a respect company and would be good to get experience in.

American Music Festivals

My first experience with the American music festival scene was really where my passion for event production started. Given my plans to move back to the US next year, I thought it would be helpful to include a list of US music festivals that I have researched and decided I would love to work on. Consider it something of a 'target list' for when I move to the US next year and am looking to find events to find with with:

Coachella
Stage Coach
Burning Man
Outside Lands
Electric Daisy Carnival
Ultra Music Festival
Beyond Wonderland
Escape from Wonderland
Together As One

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Australian Music festivals

I sat down and did some research on the different music festivals that exist in Australia, and found that there were A LOT. A lot of online music publications often references the fact that there are apparently "more music festivals per capita in Australia than anywhere else in the world". I found this surprising at first but once I actually started looking at all of them, I realised that Australia has an extremely impressive showcase of music festivals in a very diverse range of styles and genres.

Unfortunately this is both a good and bad thing. The oversaturated festival market in Australia means that many of them are dropping like flies. There's only so much money that a punter has to spend when it comes to the festival season, and unfortunately some of the festivals aren't making numbers. It also means that there's more competition for acts, and something of an ever-rising bidding war for talent has begun where much of the festival's money goes towards paying for the line-up. Over the past couple months I've watched some Aussie festivals crumble under the pressure, and listened to industry debates where key players have spoken out about how the riding bidding wars are hurting the local industry (see Ken West here talking about how this negatively affected the 2012 Big Day Out this year).

Becoming aware of industry issues in the Australian festival market such as the over-saturation and the bidding wars makes me wary of entering it, because I know how competitive it is and and how hard it will be to stay on top. From my research into the American market, I've realised that while they are starting to have similar issues, they are nowhere near as bad. The main problem is the fact that Australian festivals are used to having to pay higher prices for artists to fly down here to perform, but now the artists have started to clue up to this fact and know they can charge exorbitant fees and the many festivals will keep bidding for the until the prices go up the roof. In the US they can't charge fees anyway near as high, and they also don't make anywhere near as much with the lower exchange rate. What I see here is a problem with international artists looking at Australia as a bank to come down and cash in at, damage the local industry, and then head off back to wherever they came from. I think it's important for me to be aware of issues like these as I look to forge a career in the industry. Looking forward to my plans to move back to the US next year, it also makes me lean towards working in the US event production industry more where the risk and cost isn't quite so high.

In amongst my research of Australian festivals, I came up with the following list of events that I would love to work for and be involved in. This is a good starting point for me getting experience, and knowing places to look for possible work with.

Australian festivals I would love to work on:

- Big Day Out
- Rainbow Serpent
- Eclipse
- Stereosonic
- Creamfields
- Summadayze
- Falls Fest
- Good Vibes
- Soundwave
- Harvest Festival

This is obviously a small selection of the huge list of festivals Australia produces nationally, but I thought I would keep it small so I know the exact type of events I want to work towards producing, and also limit them to ones accessible to me here in Melbourne.

Introduction

This is a research and personal networking report conducted on the digital media and music events industry in Australia and the USA, created within the context of RMIT University's School of Design and Social Context.

My name is Alana Jessica Ward, I am a final year Media student at RMIT University, and I want to forge a career for myself as a digital media professional within the event production industry.

I saw this report as a way for me to take my first few steps into this industry, and I went into it with the following aims:

To connect with industry professionals in both the digital media industry, the event production industry, and also some who worked in a role that combined the both.
To find out what roles exist that utilise digital media while working within the context of event production.
To get a better understanding of the history and climate of the industry.
To identify and profile key players and companies that I would like to work for, and events that I would like to work on.
To gain realistic expectations of what a day-to-day job in the industry entails.
To make a concentrated effort to also extend my research to the US digital media and events industry, because I am planning to move their next year and will be seeking employment over there too.
To reflect on all of the above and walk away with some new industry connections, some good advice, and a plan as to what the next step in my career will be.

Before diving into the research, I should briefly explain how I have come to arrive at the conclusion that I want to work with digital media in the event production industry. I came into the Media course at RMIT fresh from highschool with the aspiration of becoming a music journalist. I loved music, I loved writing, so I figured (as many I'm sure have before) what better job was there than writing about music? I didn't want to do a straight journalism course because I grew up in a digital age and I'd seen the shift of the world onto the internet. I knew that while there was always going to be a place for words, the web had allowed for the creation of different forms of media to stand up and demand attention: images, videos, animations etc. My creative streak also just wanted to learn how to make these aethetically-appealing works of art, and communicate with them. As I went through the degree I realised that while I liked creating videos and audio clips, working in film and radio wasn't quite for me. It was too one-dimensional. I liked the online space where I could create a number of different media forms and use them to communicate with people, where I could write and create images and collages and audio clips and videos and playlists. Then social media became king, and I saw the arena that Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and LinkedIn and Pinterest and Instagram and Spotify and Flickr and Tumblr (and on and on and on) created for all these different mediums to really proliferate and thrive, and really connect with people.

Somewhere around the middle of my degree when I was studying abroad in San Diego and interning at a local events company my love for music events and festivals burst onto the scene. California has an AMAZING live music and events scene, and the fact that EDM had just blown up meant that I myself was swept up in the wave of excitement and fun. When the wave died down though, I realised these events weren't just things that I liked attending, but I wanted to be part of the team that put them together. I didn't want it for the glitz and glam factor, but I wanted to experience everything about it from volunteering and directing people and handing out tickets and photographing and cleaning up to helping set up the art forms and design the stages and book the line-ups and market the whole event. Now I really have no experience in stage design or talent booking, but marketing was something that I knew I could handle very well utilising the power of social media marketing and my knowledge of how to create a number of different media forms. And there, was born my aspiration to work in digital media within the events industry.

Four years later, and almost at the end of my degree, I have spent the past few months meeting with individuals that work across these sectors - including marketing directors for major music festivals, event producers and talent bookers, managing editors of online music publications, and writers that contribute to such publications. Some of these meetings have answered my questions, challenged my expectations, and raised new questions that I now need to answer. Continue through the Pinterest board to follow my research journey as I set about to meet the above aims.