Keynote: Scott Cohen
”Show Me The Money” was the name of the keynote by Scott Cohen who told the listeners how to make money in the new digitalized music world.
Scott Cohen is a house-hold name in the international music industry: He is the co-founder and Vice President of The Orchard, a huge independent music and video distribution company, and he is longtime manager of The Raveonettes amongst others.
The full title of the keynote was: “Show Me The Money – Making money in the Music industry is a challenge. The digital age created more opportunities but also added layers of complexity. Learn the tricks of the trade.” And the venue Radar at Godsbanen was full of people, all dying to pick up a few tips from the man who knows a thing or two about making money in the music industry. Scott Cohen began by talking a quick pole of the audience, to see what kind of people had shown up. It turned out that the audience was full of musicians, journalists, record label representatives and other industry people.
Scott Cohen Photo: Thorsten Overgaard
Cohen’s main point was clear: If you want to make money in the music industry today, you need to have a community around you. With cases such as Lady Gaga and Kesha, he tried to convince the audience, that the days were you make an album, put it into mass production and then sell it and get rich are over. These days you need to get online, build up a trusting fan base (and start out by giving them things), and THEN convince them to buy not only your music but tickets to your concerts.
They key, Scott Cohen told, was especially social media and Facebook, and he let the audience know that he always puts aside money in bands’ marketing budgets for Facebook adverts. But Cohen also emphasized that the music still needs to be great, for all this to work.
Afterwards, when the applause had settled, Scott Cohen took time to answer questions from the audience, and they keynote went 15 minutes over time – but no one seemed to mind one bit.
Topphoto: Thorsten Overgaard
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