New in music? Here’s what to focus on at music business conferences

For those struggling with the question: do I focus on meeting loads of people, or do I focus on quality time? A word of advice.

I’ve had a busy summer. It started with Midem in Cannes where I was moderating two panels. The week after I flew to Barcelona for Sonár+D where I moderated another panel. And I’m wrapping it up with c/o pop convention in Cologne, where I just moderated 5 panels that I helped put together.

It was a tremendous honour to have an organisation believe in your vision, and basically letting you fly in interesting folks from around the world to put them into a room together. 💙

Those rooms are what conferences are about. That’s what the appeal is to me. The face time, being inspired by interesting people, who are also inspired at that moment by the interesting people around them. It’s a special kind of thing. You can’t do that by Twitter, email, or Skype calls.

It’s easy to get conferences wrong. You have to get out of your shell. Especially if you’re fresh out of college or new in the business and don’t really know anyone yet.

But before I dive into specifics, here’s the most important thing:

The best jobs are not acquired by cold job applications you randomly send out. They come through connections. This means that the network you build is going to shape your career. If you are young, this means that some of the people you meet will be with you for the next 30 or 40 years.

People are in music because they’re passionate about it. They don’t often transition out. They’ll end up in different places, and so will you, but they’re likely to stay in the business. The connections you make are connections that may last DECADES.

How can we improve the ROI of this conference?

I first started thinking about the topic of this article when Midem sent a post-conference questionnaire over with the question of how they can give me as a visitor a better return on investment.

But here’s the thing… the most valuable connections I’ve made at Midem are not the connections I needed at that time, at that year that I visited. They are the relations I’ve built that only started to matter over 5 years later, when I was in a different job, in a different country, and the same for my counterparts.

So, what to do at a conference?

Identify people you want to speak to. Go see their panels. Follow up on Twitter, and better yet: reach out beforehand. Then come up after the panel and have a chat. Show your face. You will run into each other again some day. Don’t be sad if they don’t remember: just remind them of where you met before. Next time they’ll remember.

Sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised when someone you looked up to remembers you many years later from a one time meeting. Grant yourself that surprise.

When you’re in a room waiting for a panel, talk to the people next to you. Just say hi. Ask what they’re doing at the conference. Find out if it’s their first time. Just say something. Because you will run into each other again some day.

Maximize serendipity

By doing all those brief chats, people will know you. They’ll know what you’re up to. And you will know what others are up to. Introduce people to each other if that can help them out.

Don’t sell yourself too hard. Listen. Learn. Respect. Understand the person next to you, or in front of you, and keep in mind that your paths may cross for the next 30 or 40 years.

Go up to those people you always see at conferences

From Midem, to Sonár, to Amsterdam Dance Event, SF MusicTech, to Eurosonic… There are people you just spot from time to time. You’ll recognize them, and maybe you’ll even figure out what they do. Talk to them. You’re obviously part of the same community.

From quantity to quality

I try to set up all my meetings during the day, and keep my evenings open for spontaneous events and dinners. It still blows my mind what type of tables I’ve been able to sit at, and am now somehow able to put together.

It felt super uncomfortable at first to sit down at a table with people that have been putting out the soundtracks to my youth. It felt like I wasn’t really allowed there somehow. Like I didn’t belong. I was creating a huge distance between myself and ‘them’, and it was complete bullshit. Don’t do this.

You belong. This is the music business. All of us have felt like we didn’t belong, or couldn’t fit in at some point. For many of us, it’s a big reason of why we’re in music in the first place.

I use the evenings to spend hours of time eating, drinking, talking, and laughing with people about all kinds of stuff. Business, politics, music, the future, technology, whatever. Some of those people I’ve never spoken to since, or never seen again, but some of those people will be in your personal or professional life until you retire or die.

You are loved

Don’t be shy. Don’t sell yourself too hard. People want to connect with you. And if someone doesn’t: move on. Not everyone’s a match. Sure, it can be disappointing, but that’s how it goes. Perhaps you caught the person at the wrong moment. At least you’ve said hi. You’ll run into each other again sooner or later, and it may be different then, or not.

But you are loved. People are in music because they’re passionate. We like people that are also passionate. And it’s a tough business in which mental health issues, depressions, and burn outs are far from uncommon. We need people to share our struggles with, so we like speaking to people that can easily understand us.

So get into those rooms. Smile. Be curious. Say hi.

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