Mastering the Music Business – 2nd edition

In the period 10-11 July 2017, the second edition of the Conference MASTERING THE MUSIC BUSINESS took place – an event organised by Star Management, the Star Education Association, together with the National Institute for Cultural Research and Training (INCFC), in partnership with Overground Music and Agenția de Vise (Agency of Dreams).

MMB is a conference dedicated to the music industry, mainly addressed to the independent artists. On this occasion, INCFC conducted a study on the satisfaction of the participants in the conference, with the purpose to supplement the data on this sector with information on the expectations and needs of the main actors in the music industry.

The conference, opened by artist Smiley, included the presentations of Romanian and foreign guests: Chris COOKE (CMU Insights), Sam TAYLOR (TUNECORE) – who presented the largest marketing and sales platform for independent labels and artists, Barna NEMETHI – who spoke about the making of video clips in Romania, from idea to production, Cătălin DAVIDESCU (Dark Side) and ALINA Tirla (VIP Pictures) – who spoke about merchandising as an additional source of incomes. Furthermore, the conference also hosted the launch of the autobiographical volume “Life”, signed by Keith Richards, the famous founding member of the Rolling Stones band.

The General Manger of the National Institute for Cultural Research and Training, Mrs. Carmen CROITORU, and the Manager of the Research Department, Mrs. Anda BECUȚ, opened the second part of the conference, with the presentation of the “White Book for Unlocking the Economic Potential of the Cultural and Creative Sectors in Romania” and of the chapter “Contemporary practices and preferences of consumption in music and dance” of the 2016 Cultural Consumption Barometer.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A session, due to the high interest shown by the participants in the conference. Within the series “Indie Success Stories”, talks were given by Bobby STOICA, Codruț DUMITRESCU and Nicu ALIFANTIS (in dialogue with Anca LUPEȘ).

In parallel with the event of the Aula Hall, three workshops took place, coordinated by Iulia POP from Overground Music (Social Media for the artists), Marius MATACHE from Forever Folk (How to produce your own album) and Dan FINȚESCU (How to propose your music to a radio playlist director).

The second day of the Conference started with a case study: „UNTOLD – Best Major Festival of East Europe”, presented by Edy CHEREJI. Lucas ILIEV (Music Gateway) spoke about the “Sync Market (image-music synchronisation – film/advertising/video games) at global level and in East Europe”. Călin CLEJ (PepsiCo România), Irina PETROVICI (Grolsch România), Raluca Oana SAVA (PP Distributors) and Dinu PĂNESCU (The Hub Partners) spoke about creative campaigns and presented case studies.

The programme of the day also included four workshops held by Anca LUPEŞ (How to make your marketing plan. Why and what are the steps to follow), Cristian FLOREA (Blogging for artists), Cosmin IONESCU (How to build your EPK) and Aura NECSAT (Writing projects on non-refundable financing).