Indies Going Mobile
With the explosion of smartphones and tablets, the undeniable next big wave is mobile. What is surprising (or not so surprising to veteran industry watchers) is that the music business is lagging behind retail, hospitality, media, sports and even film and TV entertainment in the mobile arena. There’s Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody... but what about direct artist presence? Ringtones are fading, apps have proven to be too expensive and cumbersome to update, and mobile-optimized websites have barely been touched. Most artists simply rely on Twitter, but basing your marketing strategy on any one channel may not be the smartest idea. The majors are lagging, but the Indies and DIYs better start catching up.
Presenters
Ted Verani is a veteran in the mobile and wireless space. Over the past 13 years, Ted held a number of leadership roles with established companies in the industry. As SVP of Sales and Marketing at Trilibis Mobile, Ted focuses on strategic account development, carrier relations and all aspects of marketing. At Jumbuck, as SVP of Global Sales & Marketing, he led global carrier sales and marketing. At Enpocket, as VP of Business Development, he was responsible for Content & Community Applications and worked with wireless carriers to grow distribution channels. Earlier in his career, Ted led sales for the Americas region at Landmat (acquired by Enpocket), oversaw Content & Applications at Vodafone Global, and managed SMS products at AirTouch Cellular (now Verizon Wireless).
Ted holds an MBA in Marketing from the Marshall School of Business at University of Southern California, and a BA in Economics and International Relations from the University of California, Davis.
Ted is a frequent speaker at industry events such as Mobile Web and Apps @ CTIA Wireless, Mobile Marketing Forum, Mobile 2.0, Digital Hollywood Content Summit, iDate, Mobile Entertainment Show and Mobile Entertainment Summit.
Shane is Director of Strategic Partnerships at The Echo Nest, a music intelligence company that powers smarter music applications for a wide range of customers -- including Spotify, Clear Channel (iHeartRadio), MTV, Nokia, MOG, Thumbplay, EMI and a community of over 10,000 independent app developers.
He has been an executive in the digital music business for over 14 years. Early on he produced concert webcasts and artist interviews for House of Blues Digital. He then went on to manage Grammy Nominated Latin afro-funk band, Yerba Buena.
In 2006, Shane moved to San Francisco and was an early member of imeem where he was Director of Business Development and built out the music team. In 2009 he was recruited by MobiTV to head up their Business Development efforts in music as well as handling licensing for NBA, UFC and Fox Sports.
Shane has been known to play golf, snowboard, travel with his camera and frequent the city of New Orleans as much as possible.
Gray Gannaway helps music companies such as CD Baby, Rumblefish, and Kill Rock Stars be awesome by working on business development, strategic partnerships, licensing, and marketing. With over a decade of experience in the music industry, Gannaway served as VP of Digital Strategy for Relapse Records and SVP of Business Development for CD Baby, and has actively been negotiating music deals with mobile companies and carriers since 2004.
He also has been engaged for branding events by companies such as Google and Scion, has advised online strategy for the roster of Hip Hop Since 1978, helped launch BookBaby.com in 2010, and has numerous other cool things in the works.
Tricia Rice oversees the digital sales and online marketing department for both Vanguard Records and Sugar Hill Records as the Director of Digital Media for the Welk Music Group. She began her career in 1995 at ASCAP in the Los Angeles Membership Department and made the jump into the digital space in 1999 where she worked as a Content Producer for the House of Blues Digital Department and then went onto joining the AEG-TV team to produce live concert events via satellite to theatres.
In the past 6 years at the Welk Music Group, Tricia has been the leading force in re-designing and launching two new websites for both Vanguard Records and Sugar Hill Records, managing the content from the 60 years worth of rich catalog titles as well as new releases while increasing the overall digital share year after year. Tricia has helped develop the careers of indie artists on the label including Matt Nathanson, Greg Laswell, Mindy Smith and The Watson Twins.
Chris is the Sr. Director of Digital Marketing and Sales for Wind-up Records, one of the leading independent record labels. He is responsible for overseeing, implementing and executing online sales and marketing plans for all of Wind-up's roster including Evanescence, Seether, O.A.R., Company of Thieves and Civil Twilight.
He began his career while still in college working for Clear Channel, shortly thereafter moving over to Universal Records, as the Director of Creative for Universal Motown and Universal Republic.
Wednesday, March 14
