19 things we learnt at FastForward: Amsterdam

Photo credit: Amanda Rose Photography

Ahead of FastForward Sydney (taking place April 12-13), here’s a smidgen of what we took away from FastForward Amsterdam last month, as reported by APRA AMCOS Member Relations Rep UK & Europe, Adam Townsend.

1. “Know your limits and set a goal just above it so that it’s attainable” – Rapper/Manga author, ShaoDow
2. Separate the ’Artist’ from the ’Entrepreneur’ when making business decisions
3. Streaming is now dictating traditional radio charts
4. Use streaming data to identify trends and inform your creative and business decisions (such as touring markets)
5. Increase your level in the algorithm – make sure your metadata is 100% correct
6. To aid music discovery, record labels are creating tags based on key, BPM, and mood
7. Genres are gradually becoming less important, as mood-based playlists become more prevalent
8. Don’t just rely on Spotify – be active across multiple platforms
9. Email is still a highly lucrative form of communication to fans – build your email database!
10. Consider exclusive content for a loyal fanbase, and choose your timing to roll out content
11. Printing merch on demand eliminates the risk of holding too much stock – check out Teespring, Music Glue, Everpress
12. A pay-what-you-want model can be useful where there’s already a loyal fanbase, but high risk for new artists
13. The importance of music in shaping culture – the boom in free streaming allows users to experiment more, and geographically defined sub-cultures to develop.
14. Cross collaboration is the most effective way to break down barriers between genres
15. Beware of #fakenews – there’s an increased need to question the logic of where news is coming from
16. 30% of social media users are now using ad blockers – increasing the need for creative advertising
17. Create advertisements specifically for each platform – one ad creative does not suit all platforms
18. Create content for deeper engagement. Don’t just aim for click numbers.
19. Voice recognition is the next big thing for music advertisements

FastForward is a boutique music business conference aimed at connecting the next generation of music industry leaders, to help lay the foundation for a sustainable career in the modern music industry.

Following the sold-out success of the flagship conference in Amsterdam over the last 2 years, and first international expansion to London in September 2017, FastForward: Sydney debuts this April. Delegate passes are selling fast – early bird rate available until 8 March.

The two-day conference will offer a combination of ground-breaking keynotes, panel discussions, our specialist ‘FastFifteen’ mini-keynote presentations, cutting-edge tech activations, and intimate networking opportunities with delegates and speakers from across the music, media, technology, and entertainment sectors.

Speakers include David Francis (Zappar), Roger Field (Live Nation), Ash London, Set Mo, Chris Carey (Media Insight Consulting, UK), Dean Ormston (APRA AMCOS), Emily Scoggins (The O2, UK), Jake Challenor (Jaden Social), Susan Cotchin (International Royalties Rescue), Takayuki Suzuki (ParadeAll, Japan) and Tom Mee (Spotify).