Thanks Jason Kincaid of Techcrunch!
Google has just launched into a surprise roundtable at its music event in Hollywood, where a number of top music executives and artists are discussing the news and the music industry. I’m live blogging my notes below (everything paraphrased).
Guests:
Mos Def
Wendy Nussbaum (UMG)
Steve Savoca (Domino Recording)
Syd Schwartz (EMI)
Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park)
Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic)
MS: We used to be called Hybrid Theory. We settled on Lincoln Park, we went online to see if we could get our URL. We were online early on, changed the name of the band to get URL that would give the fans the most direct link to our fans.
Q: Did you ever think international? Do you think about the French version of the Linkin Park website?
MS: We’re in the process of doing that right now to create an easier experience for fans in Asia and Europe..
Q:What do you think of what we’re launching today, what do you see happening from record label perspective?
WN:I think this is an amazing new product launch. Consumers want something easy, Google gives it to them. The key thing for us is that you’re leading people to legitimate sources of music. Whereas Googlesearch is dynamic, don’t control what rises to the top. This is guaranteed to be our partners.
Q: We’ve been talking about music discovery.
Syd Schwartz: I remember back in the day part of my things to do was build out my jazz library. I remember going to Tower Records, saw Donald Fagan of Steeley Dan, was trying to follow him to see what he got. Took a while, I discovered some great stuff but was sort of stalking the guy. Now I look at what has been presented here today… There’s never been anything like this to help discover music.
Q:What gets you excited in the world of Technology?
Mos Def: I think Google and technology and events like this have been incredibly important to artists. We’re still absorbing it, I think it will take half a generation to fully understand these. It’s a huge presence in artists around the world. Me, I walk around every day feeling I’m in Battlestar Galatica. I’m still really getting over the cell phone to be honest.
Q: Are you thinking of these as a megaphone?
A: It’s a way to share new content. I think what we’re in now is similar to the early 20th century which had lots of technological advances. It’s a wide open field. What you see here with having an artist recording a song Tuesday, having it out Wednesday or Thursday is really exciting, helps connect more organically.
Q; You represent lots of up and coming artists, what does this launching mean to you?
Steve Savoca: It’s absolutely outstanding to have an independent having a seat of the table today, this means a lot to us. What we do is niche, we’re tlaking about artists that are primarily word of mouth. People come to our artist through hearing about them and wanting to listen about them immediately. What we’re talking about here is instant gratification — hear about it, search for it, listen to it. This is a huge opportunity for us. What Lala has invented and what iLike brings these are fantastic, what’s been missing has been a conduit to bring music fans to these services.