CP NEWS: Same Vibe, Different Season: Summer Music Conference

[ddm-news]

-Mike Gehrig

The first annual Summer Music Conference kicks off next Thursday in San Francisco. Through its series of panels and exhibitions, it provides networking, educational, and clubbing opportunities. Oh, and DJs. Lots of DJs. And the slew of debaucherous, late-night club parties that come along with any self-respecting dance music conference.

Highlights include the two-stage SMC Festival, which will be held on Saturday, September 30th and includes artists such as DJ Heather, Gabriel & Dresden, Johnny Fiasco and Andy Caldwell, the Technology Expo on Thursday September 28th and Friday September 29th, 2006 at 1015 Folsom, where leading industry developers, pioneers and trendsetters will cover a broad range of topics that are seen as key to digital music industry professionals, and the SMC Panels, which will commence with a keynote address by Tess Taylor, founder and president of the Los Angeles Music Network (LAMN) and the National Association of Record Industry Professionals.

In addition, artists such as Q-Bert, Crystal Method, Groove Armada, Tiga, Ferry Corsten, DJ Krush, Green Velvet, Buju Banton, Doc Martin, Miguel Migs and Terry Francis are all slated to play throughout the week in San Francisco.

CP caught up with Jennifer Manger, CEO and founder of the SMC.



So what's the mission of Summer Music Conference?

Jennifer Manger: To bring together professionals in music, media and technology to generate new opportunities, create synergies and identify trends for the future.

We believe that integrating the understanding of how technology is impacting the making of music and the distribution and marketing of music is a huge topic in the music industry today. By offering a conference and technology expo surrounding these topics we hope to provide the artists and professionals within the industry a better chance of success and positive economic impact for all.

Talk about the different events and activities that will be going on at the SMC.



SMC offers the conference Panels hosted by Ruby Skye - which provides leaders in the industry an opportunity to discuss major topics impacting the trends and new ideas that are shaping the future of music making, marketing and distribution and licensing.

The Technology Expo hosted by 1015 Folsom is a chance for artists and professional to get a better understanding of what technology is available to them and how to use it. The Expo is also host to the INGrooves A&R Session which offers budding producers with original music the chance to submit their works to the A&R team for review and feedback directly. This is a great opportunity for up and coming artists to get their work into the marketplace. The best submission will get a chance at a digital distribution deal through INGrooves, inclusion on the upcoming SMC CD compilation and the Digidesign Mbox 2.

In addition to all this there are over 50 plus parties in San Francisco throughout the week and the SMC Festival on Saturday, September 30th. The SMC Festival is an outdoor festival with two stages of music happening downtown (2nd & Minna) from 12 noon to 7pm.

What makes this conference different than other music conferences? For example, I read about it giving industry professionals the chance to network with industry representatives in digital music, licensing, and online distribution and gaming industries.

We feel that SMC is different because our focus is on the technology aspect of the music industry. While we think we complement the other music conferences taking place in the U.S. - we feel that being in San Francisco and having so many of the companies that are a driving force in the industry in our back yard this is a natural setting for having a focus on the technology aspects of the music industry.

Talk about the team behind the SMC.



The SMC team is made up of eight people who have considerable experience in business, promotion, licensing, music production, A&R, and who have been artists/producers in their own right. Though our knowledge, experience and relationships we have been able to produce, what we hope, to be a conference focusing on quality of content and information provided.

Why San Francisco?

Well since the core team is based in San Francisco and we have all been working in the music industry here for a considerable amount of years, we feel that San Francisco is the natural setting to "connect the dots" between the artist, promoters, venues, with the companies that are driving the industry.

The Bay area is home to Apple, Napster, Rhapsody, INGooves, IRIS Distribution, IODA, Ubisoft, EA, OM Records, Remix Magazine, EQ Magazine, etc. If we can bring together all of the companies that are driving the industry and the artists they we think this becomes a-can't-miss opportunity for all involved. The idea is to get the communication and networking started....if that can happen then we feel all entities involved will benefit.

Okay, so the purple elephant in the room… Talk a little about why there are two music events in the city (the Love Fest and SMC) within a week’s time in San Francisco?

SMC was founded over a year and a half ago with the idea that we could "give legs" to our artists by combining the industry and the artists in one place. The timing for SMC is apt because it provides a nice counterpoint to the Miami Winter Music Conference and the M3 Summit in March and this is the best weather during the year to visit San Francisco.

In your opinion, is it a good thing to have these two events occur so close together or do they take something away from each other?

I think that the two events really have two different missions. SMC is really designed to focus on creating new business opportunities for all entities involved; networking, information, new technology, etc.

While still giving our city and our artists a chance to shine and create new business opportunities - SMC wants our artists, venues and promoters to be successful. In the end, anything that promotes San Francisco and the music industry is a good thing.

Tell us about your relationship with LPSF (Loveparade San Francisco) in the past? Why did you leave the organization?

Pete Fraser (SMC VP of Entertainment & Bookings) and I started out as volunteers for the inaugural 2004 Loveparade San Francisco. We continued our extensive work for 2005 with an agreement for compensation and were extremely involved in the implementation, building of the infrastructure and execution of the event. We were able to triple the attendance numbers for 2005! In the end though, the LPSF Board defaulted on their contractual obligations to us.

Now, onto the music. Give us some more on the acts you have performing and who you’re looking forward to seeing.



We are very excited to have so many great artists performing during SMC. I personally am looking forward to seeing Green Velvet, Q-Bert, Buju Banton, Tiga, Terry Francis, DJ Krush but there are so many talented artists I am going to be party hopping to catch as many performances as possible.

We're doing our best to showcase the SF music scene while also bringing in great talent. You can check out all 50 plus parties here from September 27th through October 1st in our official SMC Event Guide www.nitevibe.com/smc/.

Is the SMC something you believe will become an annual event and do you want it to stay in San Francisco?

Our objective is to build SMC into an annual event that has a positive impact on all participants. We will start planning the 2007 event, making it event bigger and better later this year. Yes, this will be staying in San Francisco - our goal in producing SMC is to focus on San Francisco and impact the music industry San Francisco style.

For more info, check out the official site.

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