Farah Nanji 

 

Okay, so we have finally reached to the finish line of our special Amsterdam Dance Event takeover here on the mission makers podcast. We've heard from nine exceptional industry leaders and artists around the ecosystem of the electronic music industry today. And if you didn't get a chance to attend at EA, or if you miss some of their panels, then dive back into this catalogue because there are some really, really important conversations. And we'll give a little summary of that at the end. But I really want to use this episode to kind of just wrap up my closing thoughts on at EA, it actually was my first time attending at EA. And I have to say, I feel really annoyed that I didn't attend this before, because it has honestly been one of the most important music conferences I've attended for my career. And so therefore, you know, the first thing I'd love to share with you guys or advise you guys is if you're an artist, or an industry professional, make this a priority save up for this conference, because it is a really a mean amazing investment and an amazing opportunity. And it is an expensive conference, there's no doubt about that, you know, the ticket prices are high, the accommodation price is high.

 

But honestly, the knowledge and the connections that you come out of are, you know, second to none. And so therefore, it really should be something that you know is on your calendar, especially if you're serious about your career. And this year, although I obviously haven't been before you can 100% feel that there was this staggering amount of pent up demand since the festival was unable to fully take place since the pandemic. And our coverage of the festival really began before ADA II and we were lucky enough to get an interview with the CO directors of the festival Yan in mind. And they really shed light on what it takes to organise a conference of this magnitude and how the conference has grown from its debut as a three day conference in 1996, where there were just 300 delegates, today where over 600,000 artists and aficionados attend over five days. And there's a lot of planning and support from the local authorities, government and key stakeholders. And as soon as I landed, I could really feel add, because there were artists and industry professionals on my flight. There were huge advertisements and billboards in the airport. And you know, it really felt like the city was buzzing in those five days and had been taken over by the colours of yellow and black. So it was really felt really exciting. Especially I think, you know, a lot of people were saying, this year that ad was massively about reconnecting with the community, you know, and really discussing the Frank realities of the tough road ahead. And you can only get perspectives like that by being together in rooms to have conversations like this. And yeah, so with that first episode with the ANA minder, we really spoke about what topics were important to cover. I have to say that this year, the programming was exceptional, and the conversations were geared around things like the impact of the music ecosystem on climate change, operating in countries of conflict with panellists such as Sama, Abdulhadi and Nastia from Ukraine and Palestine.

 

There was a lot of talk about web three Metaverse, and how artists can leverage and how artists can leverage those disruptive technologies. But also what are the new realities for agents and managers, and so much more it was it was very difficult to actually choose and prioritise which conversations to attend because there was just so much and yeah, we also had the opportunity to actually see in practice from artists like Richie Hawtin, showcasing how DJs can mint their own NF T's and how companies like Spotify Tik Tok and YouTube were also giving master classes and those masterclasses had to our queues to get in. And of course, you know, signature part of ad E is of course, the phenomenal parties all throughout there were standout performances from fellow mission makers like Carl Cox, who presented his live show or some Soundwave and Eric Prydz had presented our holographic show that was sold out and yeah, to many artists to name and I have to say from my end, I didn't go full throttle on all the parties because I really wanted to make sure that I was able to be present and capture the opportunities of the conference in the daytime. I also had a lot of interviews like the ones that we've been airing, you know, all throughout the day as well throughout those days. But I did attend 20 years of Watergate 15 years of electronic groove with another mission maker Brian said, actually met him for the first time after our interview there also went to the bio plastic bio plastic vinyl launch party at the W and I went to the sound of cabinet party as well. So actually yeah, for parties five days, still still quite a lot. So my first tip would be definitely arrived the day before so you can get settled in collect youwell past, combat any jetlag, and just like be fresh and ready for Monday morning, 9am, whatever it is,

 

My second tip would be 100% organise your schedule in advance. There's so much going on. And you really have to make decisions and prioritise what panels are unmissable, which of course is, as I mentioned tough in it in and of itself. But you don't want to be figuring out any of this on the day or trying to align schedules around locations, because ad II takes place the conference part in three or four key venues and then about 1015 minute walk away from each other. And so you really want to kind of design your schedule around those locations and make sure that yeah, of course, you know, there are things like the Spotify and the YouTube masterclasses, that you are in those lines before and you've allowed enough time and ad has a phenomenal platform, if you're a pass badge holder, you can get access to their platform where you can see all of the delegates that are attending. And this is really good, because that means that you can kind of reach out to anyone that you want to request a meeting with well in advance, you know, industry professionals are organising their, their their schedules well in advance. So, of course, it's tough to get 100% success rate, if you're cold pitching for meetings. But you know, if you want this bad enough, you've got to give it your best shot, right. But it's also a great time to actually organise a meeting with your existing networks, because, of course, there are people coming from all over the world. So you can catch up with you know, that person who books you for a show in Africa or that manager in India, and you know, so on and so forth. Or even Of course, fellow artists, if you're an artist as well, I remember one of my favourite evenings actually was the Watergate 20 years, because I met up with a DJ out here in London, who's a good friend, but we never get to meet because he's Him and I are both obviously, quite busy with our careers. His name is Antoine Hart, and you know, we had dinner with with Tim and he was also another great artist from London. And, and some resident DJs at fabric as well. So you know, really cool to just kind of meet even though we live in the same city, just like people that don't normally get to sit down and have dinner with. So that's, of course, really awesome. And then the fourth tip, I would say is like make sure you're staying as close as possible to the venue. And this may not be as important to some but for me, it was really, really important because number one, it allowed me a very crucial 30 minutes extra rest in the mornings. And when you're coming back to three in the morning, which is actually quite early for add, you know, but you have to offer eight, nine in the morning that those 30 minutes make make a big difference. And then because I was recording this podcast, I needed to come back a lot of the time to my hotel and drop back any heavy or precious gear. And of course, you do have to pay a premium to stay close to the venue's. But yeah, for me, it was absolutely worth it, because I just don't see where I would have found the extra hour, both days to kind of or sorry, to come back and forth between venues also really important. You know, for me personally, to have like a really comfortable bed, again, you're so flat out, you need to be taken care that you're getting that sleep. So I'm trying to keep that routine as consistent as possible. So I really tried every day to start my mornings off with like a meditation, but also going to the gym.

So then I could just be fresh and ready, you know, for the day ahead. And definitely not consuming much alcohol because you don't want to be getting to towards the end of the week and just like completely, you know, drained and you will be anyway from the energy it just takes to be out there. But of course things like that are harder. And to be honest, you know, you can drink any time of the year, you can go to parties all the time. So treat this for the opportunity that it is and to be kind of like present and really maximise that and to be as switched on as possible. Because like, again, also, you only sometimes get five minutes with someone, hey, I hope you're enjoying today's show. And of course, if you are a little review or share with your friends would be much appreciated. But I just want to take a quick pause to share some interesting news that mission makers has unexpectedly grown into becoming a boutique podcast agency. And for the last year and a half, we've secretly been producing content for some high impact brands from tech unicorns and Silicon Valley, to disruptive companies at Davos. So if you're thinking of starting your own show, and you're looking for some help, then send us a message because we would absolutely love to bring your story to life and help you amplify your content while really connecting on a much deeper level with your audiences. Now let's get back to the show. So you want to be able to just like nail that, but personally, I learned so much through the week, for example, I went to this really cool brunch that was called agents. And sorry, it was a brunch for agents and artists in the industry. And you could just kind of apply to attend. It wasn't that difficult. But you know, it's like an intimate room of like, let's say 50 people and they had a panel with wesselman and basically agents from wesselman, which is one of the biggest agencies out there for the music and entertainment industry. And they had I think five or so different agents each one of them wasrepresenting a different territory. And it was really interesting, because basically you get the opportunity to understand like, what are the current challenges that are facing those agents and managers, especially in in different territories, and like hearing those different perspectives. So for example, I learned that, you know, some markets like Latin America have been thriving massively, post pandemic, but there have been other markets, particularly in Europe, such as Germany that have faced, you know, really, really tough, tough road ahead, promoters thought that they could put on two days shows to kind of recover back income. But they've actually seen that fans are not are not booking that second day, fans are also leaving it to literally the last 48 hours to book book tickets. So that of course, you know, adds a huge amount of stress, because you're putting so much money on the line and resources. And you're basically like sweating bricks, because you don't know if your investment is going to pay off, or you're going to be in debt, you know, until those sorts of 48 hours. And bear in mind in the past, so people would book events like well in advance, you know, get early bird tickets three to six months before. And I'm sure that for a lot of promoters, things like the early bird, like provide that that's crucial indication of getting towards a breakeven amount, and also with the cost of living crisis, something that would cost $20,000 to produce for example, and now cost $60,000. And it's impossible to pass that cost on to fans in the ticket pricing. So understanding that as an artist, or as it as you know, somebody operating in the music industry is quite important, because we need to have discussions and understand and think about solutions on how we can navigate some of that, but or even if, you know, we may not have the solutions, be aware that this is what's happening, and adjust our realities, adjust our expectations make the right strategy calls, also learned that in in, in, in markets like Germany, you know, they were taking a lot of refugees, or they have been taking a lot of refugees in the last couple of years. And somebody was saying, you know, every morning in Berlin, you go out to get your local coffee, and you see close to the to the to the near the main train station, like literally, you know, train and refugees coming in, having made this incredibly tough journey through through the oceans and seeing that every day, you know, the mood is sombre, and people are not as much naturally in the mood to go out as they were before. And you know, of course, Berlin is such a huge market for the electronic music industry. And I think, you know, what you really learn from an artists perspective is like just how much harder it is to break a new artist and what those people are looking for at the end of the day now, and and what what they'll invest in at the end of the day. So that, you know, is just invaluable, priceless information, and something that you don't get to hear, like, you know, very often and especially not in the in the kind of environment where you do have the opportunity to then go and meet those people. So I would say that like, you know, after these panels, a lot of the panellists hung around for a bit, let's say 1020 minutes. So there are opportunities to network with them. You know, of course, if even if you can't get those meetings in advance, you know, be at those panels where you can see people talking and make sure number one tip is sit in the front row. Because soon as that panel ends, you want to be the first person to approach that panellist. Otherwise, it will be more tough, because you may have to wait in a line. And of course, at that point, you know, two or three people in into that line, you know, they might pretty much go so you're going to miss the opportunity.

So that was quite important, as well. And yeah, my goal is going into this conference for the first time was number one, just absorbing all of his amazing knowledge. As I said, like, you know, wish I'd come here earlier, because even if I didn't make the opportunity to network with people, just just that knowledge has been like super priceless. But of course, hand in hand with that is the fact that you have that opportunity to just to meet people and make the most of it really. And my goal, of course was, you know, meeting label owners, meeting agents, managers, and of course, you know, massive goal was just getting the opportunity to share back some of that knowledge through this podcast. And so on that topic over the last couple of months on this podcast, we've heard from nine industry leaders. We've heard from plus eight equities Rishi Patel and John Aqua Viva on the new realities of investing in the music industry. We've heard from the artists ne on conceptualising his music label. Sounds of Kemet, we have heard from Nico Paris on the journey of building Mixcloud. We've heard from Vandana Hart on uniting culture through dance and sparking a whole new dance movement with her Netflix show we speak dance. We heard from Ralph Coleman, the label boss of Mobley on adapting to changes in the music industry. We've heard about the urgency of standing in solidarity in the mission and impact Hortence of sustainability from Camille grito, who is the co founder alongside blondish of bio plastic. We heard about raising the game from Ben Turner, who's a legend in the industry who has made several notable contributions to the industry from starting the Association for electronic music to founding IMS DB there and managing artists such as summit Abdulhadi, Anna, Richie Hawtin, to name a few. And last but most certainly not least, we have also heard from Andrea Magdalena on the last episode of this takeover. Aundrea is the founder of the 15,000 strong community, she said so. And she shared a lot on deconstructing the dance floor, and also very importantly, how the vision and mission is evolving, as she said, so. So a huge thank you to all of you guys for listening in for reaching out, and to all of our amazing guests for coming in for sharing that insight. And I would also love to just give a massive shout out to Nikki as well, who's been leading the press at ad E. And she provided me many opportunities to have the conversations with some of our guests. So thank you, Nikki. And, yeah, what's next permission makers. So we are almost at the end of this year, and my January is going to be flat out with DevOps coming back up onto the agenda for 2023, I'm going to be involved in a space called the House of balance, which is an amazing space, centred around conscious leadership. And I'm going to be facilitating a few workshops, I'm also
doing a music workshop where I'll be debuting this really, really special track, because as some of you may know, I had the amazing honour of interviewing Deepak Chopra last Davos in May. And I asked him if I could sample some of what he said into music track and he kindly agreed. So I'm going to be debuting that for the first time at music workshop that I'll be doing in Davos. In January, I'll also be moderating a few other panels with some other collectives, and naturally DJing as well. So with that being said in the lead up to DevOps 2023 The next few weeks, you'll be hearing some of my favourite conversations that I had in May, the Deepak conversation is also going to be airing as well on this podcast. So yeah, we're kicking off with the DevOps debrief next week. And we're starting actually with a very special episode brought to you from my co moderators this year in Davos, known as Gaya and camera on and will really be talking about that whole experience like putting together this series of 30 panels that we did in less than two months and what it really takes to create interesting and informative panels, moderating those types of discussions and also conducting interesting interviews. So stay tuned keep it laser focused as always, and see you back here next week.

Unknown Speaker  18:03  
I hope you've enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed having these conversations. If you want to grab a copy of today's show notes then head over to mission makers.com forward slash ad e we also find notes from all of our previous episodes. And if you're interested in talking to me about future opportunities at at E producing podcasts are coming down to some of my music and major sports events and you can reach out to me at Mission makers or at dj.n1nja on Instagram and Tiktok thank you as ever for listening until next time, keep it laser focused.

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