I posted a short clip a few days back that involved Black Lips drummer Joe Bradley briefly discussing the band’s record label situation. The full discussion on the topic is entitled “Artists As Businesses” and involves a panel additionally including DJ/Fool’s Gold Records founder A-Trak and Greg Anderson, guitarist of the drone metal band Sunn O))) and Southern Lord Records co-founder. All three offer insights on how they got started, the transition from being a band to a ‘professional entity’, the division of labor within bands and their ‘team’, and other functions that go beyond just playing music. Once a band crosses the professional threshold, things naturally become more complicated and there are more worries than merely worrying about dividing the check up amongst band members after playing a show. Lawyers, accountants, business managers, booking agents, and publicists enter the fray, requiring bands to divvy up their gross income amongst these persons. I find this to be very interesting and am eager to check out the other panel discussions that occurred during this Music Conference. A skeptic or a purist might wonder why a car company is involving themselves with underground music and will probably even scoff at the title of this post, but I never got a sense that any of this particular discussion was ‘corporate’ or brand enabling.

Link To Watch: http://www.scionav.com/music/musicconference/index.html#general3