News

The COVID-19 crisis has no doubt been a huge topic for concern amongst our community.  It’s been vital for us to continue communicating and stay connected at this challenging time.  On Tuesday 31st March at 6pm, 66 music managers gathered online (thanks to Zoom!) for the MMF’s first ever Virtual Manager Meetup to connect and share knowledge!

Tina Sunderland, Director at MMF Associate accounting firm SRLV went through some key points on finance options and business planning in light of the COVID-19 crisis – a summary of which can be found here.

Jim Sanders, Director of Business Development at Associate Ochre discussed optimising D2C (Direct to Consumer) opportunities in the current climate.

Some key takeaways from Jim: 

• A retail and marketing strategy that you’re in complete control of is more important than ever right now
• Logistics infrastructure for delivering d2c orders is still operating reasonably well so take advantage of it
• There’s a lot of goodwill at the moment and fans want to support artists by buying direct
• Customers are moving to online shopping

Some words of wisdom from Jim on the point of navigating release schedules in the current climate – “There’s been been a trend since this crisis started to push major releases back into later on in the year, which perhaps makes a lot of sense for some releases, but there’s also a counter argument here that there’s perhaps now an opportunity, a big opportunity because there’s going to be less competition with those big releases. In terms of going after a share of a customer’s wallet or pitching playlist, so maybe it’s worthwhile considering bucking a trend…” . Lets keep the music coming!

Jim walked us through a few recent Ochre client case studies before then taking specific questions from “the floor”.

Amanda Playle, CEO of Decade Management (Pendulum, Knife Party, Hybrid Minds, Cameron Hayes), discussed some of the online live streaming activities her artists have been involved with in recent weeks including Rampage Radio LIVE from the Pendulum Studios in London, adapting to meet the demand from fans in absence of the huge 15,000 capacity Rampage arena show which Pendulum Trinity were due to headline, postponed due to the situation around COVID-19.

Key takeaways, tips and tricks

• You need to think about your artists’ internet connection. If possible, plug into the router and make use of full internet speeds. You can get little dongles from Amazon (USB to Ethernet cables) which can be plugged directly into the back of your router. It’s a heck of a lot better than relying on the WiFi connection which can be unstable.
• Think about your artists’ sound – which room/environment works well for your artists acoustically?
• Think about your location/visual presentation. I’ve seen quite a lot of brilliant artists who sat on their bed for a stream with their pants on the drying rack in the background. What works for every artist is different, but get your artist to think about what is in their streaming environment – make sure it looks as exciting and engaging as possible.
• Crowdcast is one option that lets you cast live streams across multiple platforms.
• There’s a lot of good information out there – do some Google searching and get your head into it.
• Make sure your artist tests the stream to you (the manager) before going live. If it looks/sounds rubbish – make recommendations and get them to adjust audio and video until everyone is happy before sharing with the world!

Thanks to all our speakers and guests! If you have any questions please e-mail lovisa@themmf.net.