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Confab for Indie-Minded Musicians Marks 5th Year
01/13/2005 2:41 AM, Reuters
Chris Morris
The major labels are
increasingly acknowledging the value of the entrepreneurial
spirit -- witness Warner Music Group's recently inaugurated
"incubator" entities and Universal Music Group's new indie
distributor Fontana.
That spirit is the bread and butter of the DIY Convention,
which makes its fifth annual stand Feb. 11-12, this time at the
Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. DIY's Music and Film Festivals
will hold concurrent showcases and screenings around town Feb.
7-12; on the music side, performers will include Steve Earle ,
Madeleine Peyroux and Hidden Cameras.
DIY founder Bruce Haring says of the intent of the
conference: "It's not just about the punk movement and being
anti-something. This is about knowing what your options are and
not signing your life away."
DIY's profile has grown since its humble beginnings in
2000, when veteran music trade journalist Haring co-founded the
convention with attorney Anita Rivas (who ended her involvement
later that year).
Haring is expecting 1,000 registrants at the L.A. event
this year. The past three years, a DIY Convention has been held
in New York in conjunction with the CMJ convention. Sidebar
shows have been mounted in Boston, Portland, Ore., San
Francisco and Nashville, among other cities. "We're taking a
leap forward," Haring says.
Participants have included Wayne Kramer of the MC5, the
Pixies' Frank Black , John Doe of X, Pat DiNizio of the
Smithereens, former Dream Syndicate frontman Steve Wynn and
perennial panelist Derek Sivers, co-founder of the online
indie-music retailer CDBaby. "Monster's Ball" producer Lee
Daniels, "Horns and Halos" director Michael Galinsky and Fox
Searchlight executive Susan O'Leary have represented the film
community.
The conference also has a small book publishing component,
but, Haring says, "I decided to do books as a separate thing
because the book community is so different from the film and
music communities."
On the music side, this year's convention will offer panels
on starting a business, digital delivery, video game placement
opportunities, the state of punk and urban music, songwriting,
licensing, distribution and marketing, promotion and publicity.
This year's keynoters will be former Babys lead singer and
solo hitmaker John Waite , who now operates his own DIY label,
and ex-Guided by Voices, Death of Samantha and Cobra Verde
member Doug Gillard.
Haring says he founded DIY after perceiving a vacuum for
those seeking a first foothold in the entertainment industry.
He says: "I'd never found a conference that told me how to
do what I wanted to do. . . . If you don't have a road into the
business and aren't lucky enough to have a mentor, you almost
have to come to an event like this."
Haring adds that now more than ever, the majors and the
Hollywood studios are paying attention to creative types who
are seizing the time on their own, with an eye to bringing them
into the big-time fold. "They're looking at this like the minor
leagues in baseball," he says. "It's going to be about
cherry-picking certain acts."
Reuters/Billboard
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