Networking Within The Texas Music Industry – Why it’s Important

Most everyone I talk to in Austin agrees, Austin’s Music Industry community is fragmented, to the point of being ineffective.

Relationships within the Texas Music Industry in general, are tough. Most are working way too many hours to keep their ship afloat, and have little time left over to devote to building work relationships. Some are afraid of the competition. Most, I believe just don’t know how, to find each other. However it’s vital to our industry’s growth, to get to know one another, and to encourage partnerships throughout our industry.

There is strength in numbers and the future of our music industry relies on strong relationships within our own unique music community.

A few things you can do to improve relations and find the people you are looking for:

Technology and the Music Business

In Austin, we have technology sitting right at our doorstep. Programmers all over the city are wondering how they are going make the next greatest tool. Here’s a couple that have been built in Austin and are gaining national attention:

www.bandize.com – Organize your band from the ground up. Tour management software, if your band can conquer the road, you can have a career. Bandize will get you organized on the road and will be expanding to help you manage other parts of your business.

www.betterthanthevan.com – Could be the best couch surfing tool for bands yet.

We need to turn towards technology for answers – increase reach and impressions and creating more time saving tools, so we can concentrate on the bigger picture. The music community must get to know the technology community. They have the power to simplify what we do and develop creative ways to reach out to new fans.

Whitecrowe Encourages the Texas Music Industry to Unite

Whitecrowe is working to form the Texas Music Industry Association. It will be a  non profit organization, built to help educate the existing music industry on it’s growth potential within the state of Texas. It’s mission is also to connect TX based music professionals and help create real working relationships that will be beneficial for years to come. Most of all, it’s desire is to carve out a real music business sector, known for it’s artistic ethics and Texan’s genuine love of music.

If you have any interest in learning more as we build, sign up for the newsletter and we’ll keep you updated! Send us an email at info@whitecrowe.net, and please tell us a little about yourself and your business.

Austin City Music Office To Be Announced

Austin enjoys a ton of privileges when it comes to supporting music. Not only does it support such great causes like HAAM and Austin Music Foundation, it’s also gaining some national industry support from organizations such as NARAS (The Grammy’s) and globally known brands such as Gibson. In fact, if you take a good look, you’ll see we have more pieces in place to build a strong music industry, than anyone probably realizes.

I heard through the grapevine the City of Austin will create an official Music Office, which means both the State of Texas and the City of Austin recognize the potential of creating a real music industry hub here.

These are two very important components to our industry’s growth – and it shows both government entities believe that not only can we can build an industry that can compete with other nationally recognized Music Industry cities, but  also recognizes on a City and State level that the Music Industry is a realistic source of  economic development and growth.

Approaching Music as a Small Business

So you’ve fallen in love with the idea of playing music and/or supporting music.

And even better, if you could, you’d spend the majority of your alloted “work hours” in this most temporary life, entertaining crowds, and speaking to the masses via songs, it would feel like an overall more rewarding life lived, period.

Or maybe it’s about publicizing shows, promoting shows, building a business out of art, supporting art, all of which is not only an art form of it’s own, it’s essential to music and it’s future.

Music represents something very essential to us as human beings, down to the very primal core of our nature. It’s necessary for our spiritual and intellectual well being.

It takes a creative and brave mind to go down this path, given the current state of the music industry. But do not be afraid. Where tragedy lies, solutions are also found. And this is the perfect time to rebuild our industry.

The Whitecrowe Project launches today, Wednesday, April 22, 2009, in hopes of finding our new path within the music industry. 

I originally moved to Austin, TX in late 2006, to open up a Fitzgerald Hartley Austin office, with the hopes of helping out a developing artist community. Since my arrival, I have yet to find a successful way to apply the existing method of management to this new landscape. We closed the Fitzgerald Hartley Austin office in Dec of 2008. 

Artist Management is a great position in some respects, as it allows you to see the whole system at work. And I’ve spent time studying all the facets to this industry and have worked hands on, in all areas of our business. Its true – you learn best by doing. 

During these tumultuous times in our industry, my thinking was to come to Austin, dissect the system and rebuild, utilizing technology. What better city to do it in, right?