The smartest guys and gals in the virtual room of music-media technology gathered together at a real time-and-place site Monday -- San Francisco’s Nikko Hotel, to be geographically correct.
The 6th annual MusicTech Summit covered everything from the “Resurgence of Analog Synthesizers” to the "Future of Musical Instruments.”
A wonderfully diverse morning panel moderated by media consultant Celia Hirschman convened to talk about the multi-media “Rebirth of Video.”
Hirschman began the discussion by pointing out that as MTV rebrands itself as a reality-show network, video is what’s happening in music right now.
Michael Tilson Thomas, SF Symphony conductor
Add to Thomas’s job title “Youtube Symphony Orchestra Conductor” and “Artistic Director of the New World Symphony Orchestral Academy."
The Youtube Symphony Orchestra is the first such collective ever organized online, garnering over 1.1 million online views as of this writing.
Thomas and the late shipping mogul, Ted Arison, began the New World Symphony 23 years ago. Over 750 musicians have gone on to professional orchestras and ensembles all over the world.
The Frank Gehry-designed New World Symphony building is a 21st multi-media orchestral academy and symphony hall (see video) scheduled to open next year in Miami Beach, Florida.
Glenn Otis Brown, Youtube Music Devopment Manager
Celebrating their 5th anniversary this weekend, Youtube is “averaging around 2 billion streams a day now,” according to Brown.
He introduced (on video) Oklahoman Greyson Chance, a 12-year old, American Idol-ready prodigy whose Youtube cover of Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi landed him an Ellen DeGeneris appearance and a contract with Interscope. As Brown put it, “you can practically see the 12 year-old girls' hearts melting in the background.”
The kid’s video debuted on Youtube less than three weeks ago -- an eon in Internet time. A more recent video -- three-and-a-half year-old Howard Wong, a Santa-hat clad Little Drummer Boy from Malaysia -- has over 4.2 million views and counting.
Ben Folds, pianist and composer
Folds, the first person to perform a live concert on Myspace, played his “Ode to Merton” video and later a Dr. Dre cover by UC Berkeley’s a cappella ensemble, DeCadence.
Fun, but not necessarily the best use of Fold’s considerable talent and imagination -- which illustrates new media’s biggest challenge: All the video, interactivity, satellite links and optical fiber cable in the world won’t help an audience distinguish between a Freebird-style guitar shred and Yuja Wang performing a Prokofiev Piano Concerto.
Or to find the facts floating among a cynical PR campaign's torrent of informational effluent -- think the science community's incredulity towards British Petroleum’s downplay of the Gulf Oil disaster.
Pomplamoose's Jack Conte
Pomplamoose is a viral-video tornado comprised of Conte and his ethereal-voiced girlfriend, Nataly Dawn. Their wild-man / deadpan female-lead-singer act evokes Louis Prima and Keely Smith without the martinis, Vegas, and flashy clothes.
Hirschman introduced Conte through Pomlamoose’s cover of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” which has 4.5 million page views.
Ben Folds got in the last word: "Ten years ago we all seemed to know what was coming next. That's why it all came to an end."
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Jack Conte (above right) photo/Rick Marianetti.
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