Music Business 210: Planning For Success with Greg Gordon
As an on-going component of our curriculum, Pyramind founder and Director, Greg Gordon, draws upon his rolodex of friends and associates in the industry to join him in his advanced Music Business class. Aptly titled “Planning For Success”, Greg both interviews and moderates a class led presentation that takes us on a journey through the careers of successful audio professionals from all walks of the industry.
In this session we’re joined by Six Degrees President and Co-founder Bob Duskis. These video excerpts highlight the transitions and challenges faced by anyone running an independent label in todays streaming driven marketplace. Bob’s history as an A&R rep for Windham Hill records, at the height of its market ascendance, helped to set the stage for the partnership formed by he and Pat Berry. His deep industry connections, including working with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, helped inform and set the stage for what would become Six Degrees Records.
Bob makes a point of telling us Six Degrees is not a world music label but rather a label that works with unique and exceptionally talented artists from around the world. With a deep collection of releases ranging from Brazilian singers Céu and Bebel Gilberto to Indian techno artists Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale and so many more it’s clear that Bob’s visionary eye for talent knows no bounds and has led him to build and sustain a label of great depth and significance. At 20 years old, the label has made its mark, both in the recording industry, and even more notably, among the artists themselves.
Bob eloquently presents the significant changes the recording industry has gone through and the importance of having deep industry connections that generate as many revenue streams as possible. Of particular importance being music supervisors that ensure that licensing deals are a constant that help drive the label into the 21st century.
About Our Guest
Six Degrees Records is the brainchild of Pat Berry and Bob Duskis, two veterans of Windham Hill Records, who helped guide that label through one of its most fascinating periods in the early 1990s, This was when Windham Hill began to shed its acoustic new age label and spread into less easily defined forms of electronic, world, dance, and even classical music. Berry and Duskis found that their years of working together resulted in a unique synergy between A&R and marketing, and the decision to strike out on their own, and to create something that reflected their shared, distinctive vision, was a natural one.
Part 1
00:01:02 – Marketing for Artist and Label Support00:01:44 – Napster vs The Music Business00:4:00 – Downloading vs Streaming
00:6:00 – Monetizing Music vs Consumers
00:7:40 – Boom in EDM in Mainstream Music00:9:10 – World Music vs Mixing Genres00:13:15 – Indie vs Major Labels
00:15:32- The Nature of the Deal00:16:25 – Branding and Connecting to your fans
00:17:35 – Marketing Plans for Artist00:18:25 – Singles vs Albums / Building a Buzz00:20:09 – Remix Trades
00:22:10 – Licensing for Labels and Artist00:28:00 – Distribution for Indie Labels 00:30:25 – What make you stand out as an Artist
00:33:06 – Other Emerging Markets
00:35:10 – The Future of Music
00:36:07 – Find your Drive
Music Business 210: Planning For Success with Greg Gordon