Back to (music) business!
One of the most common openings for a blog post is: “After several months of inactivity…”. I think that happens when life outside the blog is bubbling with action and change. That’s certainly been the case for me. Since last spring, I’ve been swept into a whirlwind of events and gained such momentum that it’s been hard to document any of it. Changing cities, jobs—basically changing life—has a lot to do with that.
Even though I still feel completely immersed in this new rhythm (and I’m enjoying it to the fullest!), I’ve reached a point where I really want to write about what’s been happening—if only to document it and, maybe, get a little closure as things shift, settle, or move on.
In my last post, I was preparing to head to Vienna—the capital of music—to present a paper I’d written for the Vienna Music Business Research Days 2013 conference. The paper was titled “Disintermediation Effects on the Music Industry: A Return to Old Times?” and it’s available on the conference website, here.
The whole trip felt a bit magical, given the circumstances. I travelled to Vienna alone, right in the middle of a heatwave, with temperatures around 32ºC. I stayed in a lovely, cosy apartment I rented through Airbnb—chosen mainly because it was close both to the university where the conference was held and to the historic city centre. The owner welcomed me warmly and made me feel so at ease that I almost felt at home. I was a little nervous at first since it was my first time using Airbnb, but I definitely got lucky on this trip.
At the conference, my presentation went so well that I could hardly believe it. The audience was enthusiastic, and there were plenty of questions and discussion afterwards. One of those questions came from Peter Jenner—manager of Pink Floyd and The Clash!—and we ended up talking about my perspective on the music industry over coffee during the break. It was genuinely exciting to see that my (fairly progressive) approach resonated with both newer and more senior generations in the room.
The conference focused largely on copyright in music, and it featured excellent speakers and some great discussions. You can read more about it here, and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in music industry topics. I also made some good friends there, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped make it such a great experience. So, thank you: Madeleine Tschmuck, Carsten Winter, Peter Jenner, Joachim Haupt, Lorenz Maxon, and Peter Bubstinger.
And as the cherry on top: my paper received the Young Scholars’ Best Paper Award 2013, which felt really nice.
The article itself was actually a byproduct of my master’s dissertation, which explored the impact of economic disintermediation in the independent music business. At the time, the dissertation was still a work in progress. In the months after Vienna, I focused on finishing it, which meant interviewing several independent musicians and music professionals from the Portuguese indie music scene, including :papercutz, Astroboy, The Poppers, Nuno Saraiva (La Máquina management), and Lovers&Lollypops.
It was a lot of work, but I really think it paid off. By the beginning of September, I had the final document written, printed, and submitted. By the end of October, I was ready for my dissertation defense. My disputation was with Prof. Carsten Winter, a guest professor from the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media, and it went very well. I earned a Summa Cum Laude, which I’m incredibly proud of.
I’m hoping to publish a link to the final version very soon.