Happy Digilogue Day to all who celebrate!

On Saturday, I rose extra early and got my introverted ass out to Digilogue Day in Williamsburg to rub elbows with music enthusiasts & pros of ALL kinds, from data analysts to artist managers to business development global market gurus!… and had a really great time! Did it restore my faith in the music industry in general? Sort of!

What is the Digilogue?

If you’re new to the Digilogue, it is a diverse music and tech community of creators and industry pros. I first found them via their VERY popular Audiomack playlists (which are open to submissions always!), but was surprised to also find in them a treasure trove of music career resources, including job listings, and more.

For $60, I attended Digilogue Day, “an all day music and tech conference supporting artists, students, professionals, creatives, and music lovers!” In addition to the insightful panels & workshops on the day, I also got access to some cool + free parties in the city during conference week, a one-on-one mentor session with an inspiring industry veteran, access to a Discord server for attendees, free headshots, feedback on my music!…

Where’s the web3?

How does web3 fit into this? Well, one of the panels explored “the state of music and tech,” featuring panelists from TikTok, P00LS, and Wave, a metaverse concert company. I will share my biggest takeaway from that specific panel, which is: web3 music professionals agree that artists need to think longterm with their web3 plans, and make sure they’re bringing along their fans/supporters for the ride.

Here are 10 takeaways — some web3-specific, and some not! — from this very rad music and tech conference.

1. Distribution deals are a huge wave. Maybe I’m Amateur Hour but I did NOT know how huge distribution deals are nowadays — especially for smaller/independent artists! Signing to record labels is so over. The Orchard, Genius, oneRPM… all of these companies scout talent for distribution deals in which artists aren’t turning over masters or ownership, but a slice of the royalty money that comes in. It could be for one song or a few; it could have time limits or not. This video from the Brandman Network may be helpful on this topic!
2. The Digilogue community is for independent artists and tomorrow’s superstars. This community, while it certainly has its powerful friends, is all about the independent artist. In other words, there was a real ethos of working together and networking together in every panel, every interaction; no one was too cool to be there. Attendees praised the Digilogue for its accessibility to information, support, and people power. 
3. There are good and bad apples everywhere. We all know the music industry gets a bad rap for being full of huge jerks, lol. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect at this conference; I’ve just started to meet more Digilogue-connected people in person, and I rolled solo. I was impressed with how humble and helpful so many people at this conference were (see takeaway #2). Some of the most successful & impressive panelists were candid in the fact that not everyone you meet IS there to work with you in a genuine way. I like to think we were a mostly good apple bunch. 🙂
4. Justin Bieber had a metaverse concert? I honestly did not know such huge names were doing metaverse events on such a regular basis. It’s interesting how I don’t hear about them in my web3 music Twitter bubble; I think there is much to gain in learning about how huge names are utilizing new tech that relates to web3, so this is the kind of convo that was new & intriguing to me at the tech panel.
5. Where do people in the traditional music industry stand on web3 anyway? It was also interesting to talk to so many people about web3, and see where both artists and companies were at with that kind of tech. As always, Melanie McClain brought super smart web3 realness to her panel while also being able to relate to the non-web3 music industry, which I don’t think I can say about most people. In general: artists are curious but intimidated/confused; companies are looking at how to profit most; interest in metaverse possibilities may be eclipsing music NFTs (I have no hard evidence to back this up but I think the media is able to tell the metaverse story a lot easier than one about music NFTs, hence the interest building!).
6. I don’t think I met any record labels? None tabled, and I only met 1-2 people who worked at labels (I do see a few mentors represented big labels). The representation at the conference was much more in the distribution and royalty-focused area of things, which makes sense in that these are the accessible traditional paths to compensation for us as independent artists. It would’ve been cool to talk to an indie label or two, though! Like, where are they?
7. beatBread. Umm, wow! I have to say, this workshop was the most surprising of the conference. Forget labels, forget distribution deals: beatBread is here to give high performing artists hefty amounts of money based on an algorithm built by data scientists! What? While the required 10k monthly Spotify listeners to qualify is probably out of reach for many of us, it’s an option to keep in mind for when you do get there!
8. The world of music is getting more global than ever. I think BTS is the biggest & most obvious example alongside the huge rise in popularity of reggaeton. One of my goals as an artist is to make my collaborations more global. We have the technology and means to connect with artists all over the world, and those connections can be such incredible melding of creative minds!
9. Try to be an expert in at least one thing. Someone in the audience asked a question about balancing his many different creative projects, and how to best utilize his insights into what’s going to trend or pop next. I loved the suggestion he got from Ceddy P, which is to get elite at ONE of those things. The value you’ll provide will be high, and it could more easily open avenues to get into the next and next thing. 
10. What happens next? Good question, reader. Will the friends we met at Digilogue Day remain? Will one of those new IG friends go on to great things and think of you for a great opportunity down the line? Will you do the same? Well, I’M HERE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN! For now, I’m making my list & checking it twice of all my new contacts — check your DMs this week! 😉 

xo C