ThisWeekIn Closing, But Topspin CEO Ian Rogers Says He’ll Continue This Week In Music
On Friday Jason Calacanis announced the impending shutdown of the ThisWeekIn video podcast series. But Topspin CEO Ian Rogers has confirmed that This Week in Music will be resurrected in a more occasional form. Though the series never gained serious traction, the archived videos remain and offer a rich selection of interviews from music industry figures. Rogers shared his favorite interviews from the series.
Jason Calacanis announced the shuttering of the ThisWeekIn network with the clarification that he will continue with the This Week in Startups series. In building up to the announcement he not only evokes a tale of Luke Skywalker but also name checks both B.I.G. and Jay-Z.
Today's post from Ian Rogers doesn't reference major figures in pop culture but, in addition to a generous round of thanks, reveals that he will continue This Week in Music on a more occasional basis possibly via YouTube shows from Steve Renman and J Sider.
When asked if he had any favorites, Rogers shared the following list of interviews:
"Marc Geiger of William Morris Endeavor…talk[s] about his career in the music industry, ArtistDIRECT, William Morris, Lollapalooza."
"Al Teller, former head of CBS, Columbia, and MCA Records…talk[s] about the music industry past and present. In a fascinating interview, Al talks about going into the music industry after receiving two engineering degrees from Columbia and a Harvard MBA, how the industry evolved over the past 30 years, and where he sees the future of the business going."
"Rob Wells, President of Global Digital Business at Universal Music Group…talk[s] about UMG's gobal initiatives in the digital music space. The conversation includes streaming services, the difficulties various international music markets present, what entrepreneurs should know when approaching and doing business with UMG or their like, and finally, what new services and music Rob loves right now!"
"Ian sat down with Scott Rodger, the man behind artists like the legendary Paul McCartney, indie-darlings Arcade Fire and many others."
"Andy Gould, Manager (Rob Zombie, Guns 'n Roses, Morrissey) joins Ian Rogers in the studio to talk about music, his career, and artist management."
There was an earlier version of This Week in Music but Ian Rogers was the man behind Season 2. However, as Rogers states, he wishes he'd "had more time to do a better job" and points to some areas in which he could have been more involved.
At this point in the game, thoughtful podcasts are a hard sell, especially in areas that for various reasons remain arcane and obscure to both the business and tech press. Add to that the fact that This Week in Music videos were not embeddable, killing virality within music and music industry blogging, and that such a series would really need to be promoted episode by episode until a following for the show itself developed, then you do have a tough challenge.
So it sounds like past shows of This Week in Music will remain available on YouTube and future ones may land on Renman Music & Business. And hopefully I'll do a better job keeping up.
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/App.net) blogs about music crowdfunding at Crowdfunding For Musicians (@CrowdfundingM). To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Shame … a great series. Ian Rogers was a good interviewer.