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# Overheard At SF MusicTech Summit XI & Watch The “Artist Tools” Panel
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/overheard-at-sf-musictech-summit-xi-watch-the-artist-tools-panel/
- Published: 2012-10-10T09:10:05.000Z
- Updated: 2012-10-10T09:10:05.000Z
- Description: Yesterday’s eleventh SF MusicTech Summit in San Francisco continued in its tradition of gathering some of the brightest minds at the convergence of music and technology for a full day’s. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/10/overheard-at-sf-musictech-summit-xi-watch-the-artist-to
- Author: admin
- Tags: Apps, Mobile & SMS, Conventions & Awards, Music Marketing, Social Media, Startups & Funding, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:49

[![Screen Shot 2012-10-10 at 1.34.33 AM](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e2017ee4126326970d-150wi "Screen Shot 2012-10-10 at 1.34.33 AM")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e2017ee4126326970d-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

Yesterday’s eleventh [SF MusicTech Summit](http://sfmusictech.com/?ref=hypebot.com) in San Francisco  
continued in its tradition of gathering some of the brightest minds at the  
**convergence of music and technology** for a full day’s worth of panels and  
discussion. The event drew in people from all over the world and was by far **the**  
**largest one yet**. Hypebot’s [Hisham Dahud](http://twitter.com/hishamdahud?ref=hypebot.com) was in attendance to moderate the  
“Artist Tools” panel (video link below) and reported back with some key quotes  
overheard during the event.

  
### **Overheard**  
**at SF MusicTech Summit XI**

**Artist**  
**Tools (watch this panel in its entirety [here](http://sfmusictech.eventer.com/SF-MusicTech-Summit-11-1007/Artist-Tools-by-Steve-Rennie-and-David-Dufresne-and-Taynah-Reis-and-Matt-Mason-and-Hisham-Dahud-and-David-Haynes-1080?ref=hypebot.com)):**

“Data is the new  
hustle; \[the music business\] is getting much fairer than it used to be.” -Matt Mason,  
BitTorrent

"I don't  
spend a lot of time talking ‘data’ with my artists – they don't care."  
\-Steve Rennie, REN Management

"I got news  
for you guys: There's nothing rational about the fucking music business!" -Steve  
Rennie

"YouTube  
has been a billion times more powerful than Facebook or Twitter." – Nataly  
Dawn, Pomplamoose

**Pandora:**

"There are  
100,000 artists on Pandora & 70% are indies; artists making $100K – $2  
million." – Tim Westergren, Pandora founder

"An NPD  
study says that Pandora users bought 29% more music when engaged on the  
platform." – Westergren

Impact on  
Pandora's business from Spotify: "No impact from any business launched in the  
past 5 years." -Westergren

**Music’s cultural significance:**

"Music has  
been with us longer than writing, agriculture and civilization." – Bryan  
Kim, Tracks.by

"Music  
experience coming back full circle to a community experience; seen heavily in  
EDM among other genres." – Kim

**The state of the music industry:**

"The music  
industry created its own demise by putting digital music into the hands of  
millions w/CDs (ripping)." – Jeff Price, Tunecore founder

“Artists aren't  
making money anymore? WTF are you talking about?! Most artists NEVER made  
money!" – Price

"Once  
commercial radio is removed from the car, the old model of the music business  
will be completely out." – Price

Overheard:  
"60% of Android users (as well as iTunes customers) have an average music  
budget of $50 per year."

**Digital Marketing:**

“The half life  
of a tweet is 9.9 minutes; half of your engagements will come within 10 minutes  
of a tweet." – Colin Brumelle, Twitter

"If your  
target market is under 25, you cannot ignore YouTube." – Rachel Masters,  
Red Magnet Media

"YouTube is  
the new MTV – it will one day be the #1 revenue source for copyright  
holders." – Jeff Price

"The best  
tool for artists is not Facebook, but the bit of paper fans write their email addresses  
on at a gig." – Benji Rogers, PledgeMusic

"Letting  
fans record and share our shows has exponentially increased our concert  
attendance." – Michael Franti, leader of the band Michael Franti and  
Spearhead

"The more  
you show who you are, the more the fans will relate." – Franti

**EDM:**

"EDM  
artists tend to be the first who 'get' new and disruptive technologies." –  
Alexis Giles, DJZ

"The fan is  
the headliner; the DJ is the soundtrack." – John Boyle, CFO Insomniac

**Music vs. Sports?**

Overheard:  
"People spend 3.5 hours a week watching sports, but 14 hours listening to  
music; yet sports is $500 billion industry and music is only $70 billion.”

Overheard:  
"Don't monetize content, monetize fans. NFL knows how to do it but music  
industry doesn't.

**Software:**

"Concentrate  
on the voice of the product and the features that are the most important."  
–Sean Porter, Ticketfly

**Crowdsourcing:**

“PledgeMusic  
keeps money back for refunds, so people chase us and not the artists." –  
Benji Rogers, PledgeMusic

**Music Festivals:**

“Festivals that  
are innovative, creative, and treat customers right will be the successful  
ones." – Rick Farman, Superfly

**Mobile:**

Overheard: "20%  
of the product is getting 80% of the use, so we go back and do some unfortunate  
fat trimming."

"App  
developers: respect the knowledge that you won't always have bandwidth \[for  
primary functionality\]." – Ethan Kaplan, Live Nation Labs

"Music  
streaming apps must become simpler and get right to the actual music (look at Songza)."  
\-Steve Jang, Soundtracking

Cache Is King:  
"Apps should download music to my device for quick offline play." –Jang

"Warner  
Bros Records' business from mobile devices has doubled in the last year."  
– Ayal Kleinman, WB

**More**: [Interview With SF MusicTech Coordinator Brian Zisk](https://www.hypebot.com/sf-musictech-summit-next-week-interview-with-coordinator-brian-zisk/)

—

***Hisham Dahud*** *is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for [Fame House](http://famehouse.net/?ref=hypebot.com) and an [independent musician](https://soundcloud.com/hishamdahud?ref=hypebot.com). Follow him on Twitter: [@HishamDahud](http://twitter.com/hishamdahud?ref=hypebot.com)*