Thursday and Friday were jam-packed with more Mondo.NYC panels and showcases (though we had to skip some Thursday night activities to swing by The Studio at Webster for the Arkells—stay tuned for our Day in the Life photo gallery chronicling that). Before we head out for more tonight, check out the highlights below, and as always, be sure to check back for our continued coverage.
Thursday Panels
The second day of Mondo.NYC kicked off at 9 a.m. with two panels focusing on licensing, as well as one on livestreaming and another on virtual reality. In “The Livestreaming Revolution,” moderator Karen Allen of Karen Allen Consulting discussed with the panelists (Juyan Azhang of Krue, Neal Cohen of Superfly, Kendall Ostrow of United Talent Agency, Ron Pruett of Al Roker Entertainment and Yonatan Sela of YouNow) the plethora of livestreaming platforms available and, most importantly, how to monetize livestreaming for your project or business.
Throughout the day there were various panels focusing on subjects like booking, marketing, A&R and entrepreneurship. In addition to the panels, Day Two also included live sessions in one of the smaller conference rooms, featuring performances by Henry Hall (who played his Mondo.NYC showcase at the Bowery Electric the previous evening) and UK singer-songwriter Hannah Scott. These intimate sessions are a perfect way to, first of all, break up the day going from panel to panel, but also to experience artists in a stripped-down, atypical musical environment. If you can hold an audience in the harsh lighting and acoustics of a conference room, you’re doing something right.
Thursday Showcase
Jamie Kilstein is the funniest, loudest guest at your party, but no one wants him to stop talking. The comic-turned-musician-turned-back-to-comic performed standup at Union Hall in Brooklyn Thursday night, marking his return to standup after spending a year focusing on his band, The Agenda. The showcase, entitled “Holy Fuck Jamie Kilstein’s Doing Standup Again,” was loud and in-your-face in the best way. Kilstein hopped up on stage, and it was 0-to-Trump in 10 seconds. If you’re looking for a comic who doesn’t pull punches and emphatically speeds from one wildly graphic, more-often-than-not political rant to the next, Kilstein’s got you covered.
Friday Panels
The final day of Mondo.NYC panels broached the subjects of entertainment law, digital distribution, radio promotion and marketing international artists. Many of Friday’s panels, including one on the ethical dilemmas raised by representation of multiple clients in the music business, were heavily focused on the legal side of artist relations.
During the panel entitled “Marketing International Artists as a Cultural Export: Successfully Impacting the North American Marketplace,” moderator Rev. Moose of Marauder discussed music as a cultural export with panelists Angela Dorgan of First Music Contact, Eric McLellan of Warner Brothers Records and Consulate General Sandrine Ligabue of Switzerland. The panelists talked a lot about their specific job functions and the challenges of marketing an international act in the US market. “The cultural landscape of a country says a lot about that country’s values,” said Ligabue when discussing the importance of promoting Switzerland’s music across the globe. Music, the panelists agreed, is a huge part of any country’s culture.
Leeds-based Where Fires Are performed a live session in one of the conference rooms during the panels on Friday, and I stopped in to catch a few songs. To loosen up the crowd (and make it feel less like a presentation in a classroom), the band stepped up to the front of the room and started cracking jokes to the audience. The singer provided a disclaimer before beginning their set, explaining that the band is usually jumping around covered in body paint, adding that it is nice to be able to perform in a less production-heavy environment. The band launched into their energetic rock ballads, and you could easily imagine them amping up several notches onstage at a festival instead of in a conference room with a seated audience taking notes on their laptops and, occasionally, texting on their phones. The band also was sure to make use of Facebook Live (something we’ve all learned is a crucial marketing tool this weekend) by livestreaming the full set with the help of a friend in the audience. Total pros.
Friday Showcases
Organised Scum
Like all good Britpop bands, Organised Scum have a sense of humor. Their lyrics are wry (they’ve got a song called “Who’s The Prick?”), and they’ve got a general looseness onstage that leads to lots of banter—between band members, but also with the crowd. Singer Tom Duggins promised the audience at Pianos that if they stuck around for at least half the set they’d get to hear his Anthony Hopkins impression, and when the time came, he delivered. The impression left much to be desired, but on the musical side of things, we’re intrigued enough to check out that “forthcoming EP” they kept mentioning.
The Everymen
New Jersey’s The Everymen went into their set at Pianos facing a unique challenge—their frontman Mike V was stuck in North Carolina, thanks to a delayed flight. Lesser bands might crack under that kind of pressure, but The Everymen rose to the occasion, with singer Catherine Herrick and saxophonist Scott Zillitto picking up the slack and tearing through tracks from their newest album, These Mad Dogs Need Heroes, as well as a handful of covers (including Alice Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen” and Queen’s “Mustapha Ibrahim”) to fill in the gaps. The Springsteen comparisons are inevitable when you’re talking about a great bar band from Jersey (and in fact, someone in the crowd requested a Springsteen impression from Zillitto), but regardless of whether or not you hear the Boss in their music, their earnestness and doo-wop influences always make for a good time, even when only five out of six of them make it to the show.