You Are In Control - Day 1 Report

…and so to Reykjavik’s intriguingly retro-modern Hotel Saga, where IMX’s first major conference, You Are In Control, is about to begin. The setting: an unusual yet strangely dapper conference room fitted with the kind of curvaceous ceiling lighting and mirrored pillars that wouldn’t look out of place at a New York discotech, circa 1979. Ben Frost and Valgeir Sigurdsson welcome the guests with some electronic goodness. The krona might be down but spirits are definitely up.

Jane Dyball: “In Rainbows”
Following a brief introduction from IMX MD Anna Hildur and an opening speech by Icelandic radio legend Andrea Jónsdottir, the conference gets properly underway with a presentation from Warner/Chappell’s Jane Dyball, the lady responsible for initiating and organizing the controversial but wildly successful pay-what-you-like download scheme for Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”.
 
The “In Rainbows” model, she confessed, was very much “made up as it went along”, with ideas being thrown into the melting pot at great speed. Digital rights in the master recordings were consolidated with publishing rights, and performing rights were taken out of collecting societies to create a “one stop shop” for licensing. Anyone who wanted a digital license on this album from anywhere in the world only had to go to one place - Warner/Chappell Music. Thus 200 years of sturdy publishing practice was subverted in a very short time indeed.

The innovative experiment, as we know, resulted in the album being available exclusively (for three months) on Radiohead’s own website, offered to the listener in exchange for a ‘donation’ based on what the buyer felt the record was worth. Dyball couldn’t divulge the average payment, but offered many interesting results, namely that 30,000 people paid “full price” for the record when it was released via iTunes; the band made more money from “In Rainbows” than from their previous (and highly acclaimed) effort “Hail To The Thief”; and that the subsequent tour was the band’s most successful yet.
 
When asked if the experiment would be repeated, Dyball remained non-committal, stating that though it was financially successful there were many specific factors that made it work (Radiohead being at a “certain point” in their career and not being signed to a label were just two) - and that those circumstances might be difficult to repeat. She did admit however that the experiment may well have changed the way these things work forever.
 
Panel: Can We Control The Internet
The conference’s first panel – moderated by Paul Brindley from Music Ally – was centred around the idea of whether or not file-sharing on the internet can be controlled, and if so, how best to do it. Brindley promised a heated discussion and that was what emerged as lawyers, journalists, publishers and representatives of the University of Iceland put across their various points.
 
There was talk of taxation to provide listeners with more legal download options, of FLIFF (Feels Like It’s For Free) licensing (practically the same thing under a different name), and of perhaps just educating the masses more, to prevent so much file-sharing.

Most, if not all, were agreed that the current governmental laws seeking to lay hefty punishment on sharers were unnecessary. Of the new ideas mooted it was felt by some that ideas such as “bandwidth throttling” – restricting use of internet bandwidth for offenders – was perhaps even more draconian, while maybe transforming ISP providers into paid distributors of music rather than spies (an idea put forward by Freibank publishing’s Mark Chung, might be a more positive approach.
 
The panel eventually heated up as promised when Chung and veteran Icelandic journalist Árni Matthíasson clashed over the possibilities of combating online piracy. Matthíasson claimed that not only was it unethical to monitor and trace sharers (“you don’t frisk people when they leave the record shop”) but that it’s also technologically impossible. He also claimed that the artist should be ever closer to the fans and that he would not mind if major labels “went down in flames”. Chung, and others in the audience, reminded him that the established model of majors at least allows for investment in new artists, whereas DIY activity and guerrilla marketing invariably does not raise enough funds to do this - hence a lack of new music.

Laura Seach: “Digital Marketing”
Next up was Laura Seach, Head of Digital for veteran UK electronic label Ninja Tune, who took us through some of her digital campaigns for high profile Ninja artists Roots Manuva and The Cinematic Orchestra. Laura spoke in detail about her campaigns, outlining many clever and subtle tricks of the trade that could be adopted by active indie labels wanting to promote an artist.

Essential tools for her indie promo campaigns included unique websites, up to date mailing lists, utilizing mobile phone networks - “hard work because mobile phones tend to avoid indie artists, since they don’t make enough money” – setting up independent ringtone networks and even, in the case of Manuva’s latest album “Slime & Reason,” managing to sell physical copies of the record via SMS marketing and promotions. Another innovative aspect of digital marketing endorsed by Seach was selling digital sounds via the live scene. Working with a UK company called Concert Live, Ninja are able to sell copies of live recordings directly after the gig at which they were professionally recorded and pressed.
 
Seach concluded that while digital marketing is certainly important, it only really work alongside other traditional forms of promo such as Radio and TV etc.
 
Einar Örn: Upstairs/Downstairs: If Now Was Then
After Laura came Einar Örn Benediktsson who, in his own inimitable way, told us the tale of his former band The Sugarcubes, from their involvement in the anarcho-punk scene in Iceland and the UK to their “losing it” in the early 90s. He emphasized mainly the band’s questing DIY spirit and uncompromising attitude in order to discuss whether, if the band were still going strong today, they would do things the same way or completely differently.
 
While Einar Örn, now one half of the Ghostigital project alongside Curver, is in general an advocate of the internet – and in fact started Iceland’s first ever Cyber Café (the Cyberia internet café), he did not think that the world wide web would have changed the Sugarcube’s fiercely DIY ethic very much. That said he did think the band would have created their own website to sell their own music, much in way Björk has done. Einar Örn ended his session in praise of hard work and warning against the limitations of technology. “How many MySpace millionaires do you know?” he shouted. “Or even thousandares?” The auditorium remained ominously silent.
 
Panel: Live Work + Digital Promotion
This penultimate panel focused on the importance for artists of touring and promoting yourself through the digital sphere. Mediated by Adam Lewis of US promotion company Planetary Group, the panellists discussed how best to use MySpace and other digital outlets to build up an artist fan base, and then how best to use their live experiences to interact with their fans.

Icelandic musician Ólafur Arnalds, one of the hardest working Icelandic musicians of 2008, outlined the humble origins of his hugely successful live career, which involved a girl from Munster in Germany inviting him to her hometown to play a concert. The panel agreed that student towns are worth focusing on for new artists as the buzz tends to build quickly and strongly.
 
Storme Whitby-Grubb, a former Iceland ex-pat from the UK, has had plenty of experience in touring with independent bands, both large and small, and encouraged artists to “get out there and mix with the fans”. Petri Lunden of Law and Media Management firm Hagenburg described his experience with mainstream bands such as Europe and insisted it is equally important for established artists to keep up the rapport.
 
Good news came from Plum Promotion’s Allan North, who agreed it was much easier to book new bands today than it was five years ago. The downside of the touring game was however pointed out by Ólafur Arnalds, who told us tragic tales of cancelled festivals, broken down tour vans and heavy financial loss. He also conceded that he learned the hard way, and agreed with Storme that these lessons could have been avoided via a simple insurance plan.
 
Panel: Majors and Independents
The final panel of the day, chaired by Music Week’s Chris Barrett, dealt with the ever-relevant topic of whether the major labels were these days necessary or superfluous. Icelandic superstars Mugison (who runs his own Mugiboogie label) and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason (from the band múm, who recently split with UK indie label Fat Cat) told of their respective experiences and philosophies, while Julie Weir from Visible Noise and Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity fame helped them discuss the pros and cons of major labels, branding and the dividends of social networking.

Of particular note was Mugi’s 13-show Canadian tour this year, during which he managed to sell 2,500 albums at the shows alone;  Örvar’s amusing story about a potential sponsor Lucky Strike wanting to give 300 concert tickets away in their packets of cigarettes (“how pointless would that be?”); and Mugison’s appreciation for major label heft via an anecdote about Swedish-Argentinian singer Jose Gonzales, who one week was supporting Mugi at a concert and the next week selling 200,000 units following the placement of one of his songs on a Sony ad.

A final discussion was regarding the current economic crisis and its potential to create a positive creative environment. Perhaps not surprisingly the panel wholeheartedly agreed that even in the bleakest of times music can thrive. And with that, Mugison dragged his old pal Pétur Ben on stage for a rousing rendition of “Jesus Is A Good Name To Moan” and “Let’s Go Dancing” – the perfect upbeat ending to a disco-domed day of industry intrigues.

Pics by Paul Sullivan. Mail him at paul@icelandmusic.is for hi-res versions. Or visit our awesome new PRESS PICTURE SECTION