Can Altruism Be The New Music Business Model?

Young indie artists with promising careers find themselves signing away their album and publishing rights or other assets in order to propel themselves forward. Most music services for indie artists require a fee for “promotional services” often leading to nothing more than negligible results, if at all. But what if artists had real opportunities for creative development and exposure at no cost, no strings attached, purely for the love of music? Look at the developing world of music philanthropy and whether this will be the salvation for artistry and creativity in the music industry of tomorrow.

Presenters

Anina Moore

Dir of Communications

Texas Commission on the Arts

A program administrator at the Texas Commission on the Arts since 1998, Anina Moore was named the agency's Director of Communications in November 2013. When not administering grants to nonprofits, she works with independent artists and maintains the agency’s roster of Texas touring artists, geared to help nonprofit organizations present top quality artists in their communities. Anina holds degrees in poetry from Bard College and Texas State University.

Chris Douridas

Radio Host/Music Supervisor

KCRW-FM/School Night!

Throughout most of the '90s, Chris held the music director position at KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, one of the most respected and progressive radio stations in the country. As host of KCRW's popular daily new music program Morning Becomes Eclectic (1990-1998), Douridas was the first to play demos from then-unsigned artists Beck, Gillian Welch, and eels among many others.

While Chris was still in his KCRW role, Geffen Records enlisted him to identify and recruit new artists as an A&R consultant, bringing to the label the bands Remy Zero and That Dog. Two years later, he became an A&R executive at DreamWorks Records where he brought in the eels and Propellerheads, among other acts.

While at DreamWorks and KCRW, he hosted the inaugural season of Sessions at West 54th, a weekly PBS music performance and interview program, which bowed in the summer of 1997, and is still in syndication. The show featured 48 acts including David Byrne, Fiona Apple, Patti Smith, Sinead O’Connor, Beck, Philip Glass, and the television debuts of Belle and Sebastian and Ani Difranco, among others.

In the digital realm, Chris ran AOL Music where he oversaw Radio@AOL, and created, produced and hosted the popular Sessions@AOL interview and performance program (AOL Keyword: Sessions). For Sessions, Chris hosted and produced interviews with Paul McCartney, U2, Madonna, Moby, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, John Mayer, Nelly and Avril Lavigne, among hundreds of others.

From there, Steve Jobs personally hired Chris to be the Creative Programming Consultant for Steve Jobs and the launch of the new iTunes Music Store. Douridas created the critically-acclaimed live performance and interview series, iTunes Originals, featuring Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Depeche Mode, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Jack Johnson, Sting, and others. He also created iTunes Essentials, an ongoing series of downloadable music playlists for the iPod culture.

But Douridas is probably best known in film circles as a music supervisor and consultant for award-winning film and television projects, including Northern Exposure, the Austin Powers series (Chris brought in the game-changing Quincy Jones’ “Soul Bossa Nova” for the project), 187, As Good as It Gets (ACADEMY AWARD nominee for Best Picture), Heat, Grosse Point Blank, Grace of My Heart (engineered the Grammy winning pairing of Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach), American Beauty (ACADEMY AWARD for Best Picture, GRAMMY nominee for Best Soundtrack), One Hour Photo, Down With Love, The Girl Next Door, Rumor Has It, Bobby, the record-setting Shrek 2 (ACADEMY AWARD for Best Animated Picture, GRAMMY nominee for Best Soundtrack), and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Other recent film/tv projects include the celebrated new Showtime series House of Lies, starring Don Cheadle, the just released Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Lake Bell's In a World, American Teen, The Women, The Education of Charlie Banks, and Shrek Forever After.

Alongside his work in the film and TV world, Douridas continues his dedication to presenting the best music on the planet by nurturing new artists through his ongoing radio work and his wildly popular live concert events series, School Night.

On the radio front, Douridas shares his discoveries through KCRW’s new online all-music channel Eclectic24 which he conceived and curates, his weekly radio program heard on KCRW-FM, kcrw.com, and Radio@iTunes (among the artists making their radio debuts on the program are Michael Kiwanuka, Ray LaMontagne, John Mayer, Brett Dennen, Nelly Furtado, Nicolas Jaar, Matt Corby and Birdy).

In April of 2010, Douridas launched School Night as a free weekly live music series at Bardot in Hollywood, presenting up and coming new artists alongside legendary musicians, in a dance party atmosphere. Each week features new artists, icons and the coolest DJs. Since launch over 1000 artists have been featured including legends Chrissie Hynde, Moby, Stevie Nicks, Florence+ the Machine, Lucinda Williams, Neil Finn, and Peter, Bjorn and John, as well as the US debuts of London Grammar, The Naked and Famous, Two Door Cinema Club, Michael Kiwanuka, Katy B, Birdy, and others. Soon after launch, the series was named “America’s Best Party” by Paper Magazine. Recently School Night launched a weekly sister series in the New York City area at The Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg.

Christopher Tyng

Founder of Grow Music Project/Songwriter/Composer/Producer

Grow Music Project

Chris Tyng is the innovative founder behind Grow Music Project (GMP), the new launch pad and hub for emerging, independent music artists and bands. GMP is curating a community built around the idea of altruism, giving back and supporting great emerging artists. Based on his own personal story of his beginning in the industry, Chris and the GMP family support deserving independent artists and bands by helping them hone their craft and talent, and push through the saturated online and DIY marketplace. The Grow Music Project is a place where talents are fostered, where the creative process is backed up with professional resources, and where the wider audience these artists deserve is captured.
As a composer and songwriter, Chris has worked with artists including Michael Stipe, Beck, and Coolio, and has written and produced music for movies and television. Tyng has brought shows such as "Futurama” and “Suits” to life, giving each of these series its own musical style.

Peter Schwinge

GM

The New Music Seminar

Peter Schwinge is the General Manager of the New Music Seminar (NMS) and NMS New York Music Festival. He leads the selection of NMS’ Artist on the Verge Project, providing deserving indie artists with access to gear, consultations with industry veterans and exposure.
Peter is the founder of Moving Target Group, which encompasses Moving Target Music, an artist management division, and NordicSpotlight.com, a media division. Peter has a rich professional history in audio and video production, web development, performance, event coordination, consultation, and licensing. Previously, he owned and operated NakedEdge Productions, a multimedia production facility in NYC. Currently, he is the General Manager of the New Music Seminar / New York Music Festival.