Open Music Media #4 – Friday July 9th, 3-6pm – Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast

The sometimes monthly meet-up returns in July as part of the Trans:mission weekend of events at Trans Belfast Festival.

Open Music Media provides an open forum for casual networking and partnership building. Usually centered around a theme, the events generally take an informal Q&A format followed by open chat.

Previously we’ve welcomed guests from Liverpool Sound City, First Music Contact, PRS Foundation, Rightsman, Island Records, Balcony TV, Sentric Music and many many more.

This month’s event in association with Work West’s Creating Entreprises Programme welcomes all sectors of the creative industries and hosts representatives from the arts, music, drama, fashion, film, IT and law industries.

We would love to see you there, so please join us between 3-6pm at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast on Friday 9th July.

To RSVP to our Facebook event click here

Location: Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast
Time & Date: Friday July 9th 2010, 3-6pm

Open Music Media Belfast #3 – Copy-which?

The next Open Music Media Belfast is at 6pm on Wed June 2, at Sonic Academy, 25 Talbot St., Belfast! Please RSVP via Facebook or in the comments – Thanks!

Open Music Media gives networking and learning opportunities to anyone working in the music/media arena – It’s an informal way to meet some new friends and find out more about what’s going in the music and media world in Northern Ireland.

This month’s topic will look at the issues surrounding copyrighting music and other IP.

With the rise of Creative Commons, is Copyright dead? What about the idea that fans and re-mixers are “stealing” music? How do you Copyright your music anyway and how does that translate into money from your work? Does Copyright actually damage cultural expression? And if Copyright reform is needed, how can that happen?

With the recent Irish blogger’s spat with IMRO over IMRO’s demand for payment to stream music from their sites, it’s more important than ever that musicians and others involved in music understand what’s at stake.

Guest speakers will include include music lawyer Fran Cotton and Stuart Flemming from PRS.

There will be an opportunity to ask these folks questions about any issues you’re facing.

Attendence is FREE for all and is open to all ages.

Open Music Media, Belfast #2 – Showcases & Festivals

Next OpenMusicMedia Belfast: Monday, Feb 22nd 2010 – 18:30 – 21:30 – Lavery’s Bunker (Free nibbles, too!)

There are now endless opportunities for bands to showcase their talents at industry events, conferences and festivals.

How valuable is this to a band’s career? And when is the best time for a band to start ‘showcasing’?

It is worth spending money travelling to industry events to showcase, or would money be better spent touring and playing to fans?

We’ll also be looking at how bands and artists can apply to play at festivals. What are festival bookers looking for when choosing acts?

Adam Turkington from Trans Urban Arts Festival joins us as a guest speaker. Adam is the main booker for the festival which runs throughout the month of July in Belfast.

We are also pleased to welcome Becky Ayres from Liverpool Sound City Festival as a guest speaker. Becky has previously worked with London Connected Conference and now co-ordinates the International element of LSC.

Also in attendance will be Steve Reddy from First Music Contact who co-ordinates a number of showcase events in Ireland and are also responsible for the Irish showcases at SXSW.

As always, the format of the evening will consist of a short 30-40 min ‘structured’ discussion followed by informal networking drinks and chat.

The Facebook event is here

Open Music Media Belfast #1

Folks seemed to be hitting their stride at Open Music Media Belfast. This was, after all, the 9th such meetup in Belfast in just over a year. Not including UnConvention Belfast in February 09. – which was essentially an accumulation of the energy built up by these thinly-veiled excuses to drink beer in the company of friends.

http://twitpic.com/s4oc4
http://img238.yfrog.com/i/oz6.jpg/

Stephen O’Regan, founder of Balcony.TV and Gawain Morrison of Filmtrip added some salient and at times contentious thoughts on “thinking creatively” about media outside of just music and how that can be used to your advantage, which was great to get the juices flowing during the brief Q&A. But as always the real value was during the open chit-chatting before and after.

Among the faces I’d never met before, I chatted to a former record store owner, a recording studio manager, a music publisher & music strategist, a booking agent/artist manager, two local venue owners and a partridge in a pear tree. Whew! Bring on 2010, I say…