#CMR2017 Q&A: Panellists Vanessa Picken and Simon Cahill on digital in 2017

TMN will be bringing you the highlights of Contemporary Music Roundtable’s inspiring and informative panels, workshops and talksin Sydney on Wednesday and Thursday this week. One of the sessions we’re most looking forward to is the Digital Rights Management panel on Wednesday; in preparation, we asked two of the expert panellists to give us the skinny on working in the digital space in 2017.

VANESSA PICKEN

Director & Founder, Comes With Fries

How did you end up in your current role?

As the founder and Director of Comes With Fries, I have particular interests in empowering artists and brands within the creative sphere to navigate and break down barriers for cut through.

Having worked for many world leading companies; Nokia, T-Mobile, EMI Music, I developed a wealth of knowledge for all facets of marketing across technology, digital, retail and music. From these tenures, I am bringing the learnings across to CWF in a modular format those that want a dedicated team to try new things, react to the fast pace of digital and to make things happen. My role and my company’s role is ultimately to create services that provide value to who we work with.

What does a day at work look like for you at the moment?

The day in the life at Comes With Fries varies. As we manage a number of clients, across a multiple of services so we are very planned and task driven in our approach to work. Nothing says ‘delivered’ more than a great plan, solid documents, killer staff and ticking off that task list. My day starts by clearing the inbox and allocating workflow. As I don’t work in my inbox, it’s really key to manage the expectations and the flow of work for clients, so clear communications and transparency on how we work is part of the CWF charm.

Aside from client liaising, implementation of the strategy and content plans, a core part of my day is learning (digital moves so quickly and our role is to be all things digital to help our clients navigate this landscape), so a webinar/ podcast or headline skims for key developments is always on the daily planner. Lastly, networking and client liaising. For me this is key. Conversing, engaging, living and breathing the world in which we ‘work’ is paramount. It’s a community, a family even, that we find ourselves in so it’s important to respect, support and encourage each other. Our industry will be stronger for it!

What question are you asked all the time about streaming and/or digital distribution?

Utilising streaming is still an unknown business for artists in my opinion. They know how to deliver their music to the streaming partners. However the questions I get asked all the time is how to I grow my followers, streams and manage my own page. The questions are always skewed to the result and never want to understand the process and the opportunities at hand to build streaming as a key channel for fan connectivity and promotion.

And what should people (specifically, artists and those who work with them) be asking instead?

It’s all about the data, the developments and the integration that streaming can provide. Questions about what the data is telling us, how we can navigate the platforms to leverage all artists opportunities and how we can extend the reach via seamless strategic integrations across the artist’s digital footprint.

What are Australian artists and labels doing really well right now?

Across the board, Australia is producing exceedingly great music from all genres and across all stages in artists careers. I think that the industry is leveraging this quality by understanding the importance and the power of an artists’ brand for marketing. I see more and more considered marketing, which for me is exciting.

I am a strategic person so seeing artists and teams thinking through a plan and how it fits together from an overarching brand perspective is proving that we are developing key stories for artists so that they can be authentic and unique. This is what is going to allow artists to shine and stand out from a very crowded digital landscape.

When was the last time something new, cool or inspiring in the digital spacemade you say “holy shit”? What was it?

I am loving the AI developments. From helping stroke victims to walk again, virtual assistances, to taking a picture of an amazing meal and telling me the ingredients. As part of my learnings for digital I am always looking at other industries, so delving into this space in its full spectrum is really exciting. It’s the holy grail of those ’holy shit’ moments for me every day! I can’t wait to see how we can apply it more on the marketing side of music and artist plans.

SIMON CAHILL

Head of Digital, Warner Music Australia

How did you end up in your current role?

By saying yes to roles that were outside of my current skill set! After 10 years at labels doing everything from sales to A&R, I took 5 years out to work in Brand Partnerships at a company called The Sound Campaign. During that time streaming rose to prominence and the digital revolution had come into full effect. When I came to Warner, It was through a role running Marketing & Brand Dev for Parlophone, and when that changed I was offered my current role as Head of Digital and Brand Development – I said yes and it’s been the most rewarding role of my career.

What does a day at work look like for you at the moment?

Anything from audiences/customers (CRM, CMS, pixels and other random acronyms), content (creation and dissemination), andbrand partnershipsdriven by consumer insight.

What question are you asked all the time about streaming and/or digital distribution?

It used to be, “Can you fix my Spotify account?” and now has progressed to “Can you get me a Google Home?”

And what should people (specifically, artists and those who work with them) be asking instead?

“How do I create and maintain the best connection with my audience?”

What are Australian artists and labels doing really well right now?

Starley is killing it on Spotify, amazing job by her and the team, Crooked Colours are now over 2M plays on Flow and Vance Joy clipped 2M plays in a week!

When was the last time something new, cool or inspiring in the digital spacemade you say “holy shit”? What was it?

Every. Single. Day. There is something new and mind-bending around every corner – in the not too distant future we’ll all be taking to our speakers, asking them to play our favourite artists, give us a playlist based on the weather and reminding us of new releases from our favourites while making our own AR videos set to music. Buckle up, it should be a fun ride.