Tony Ward is the founder of Man On The Ground - a Hong Kong-primarily based music and entertainment consultancy firm. Ahead of launching Man On The Ground, Tony spent more than 15 years in New York in executive promoting positions at Sony Music, BMG, Arista Records, EMI Records and Sanctuary Management. Tony managed advertising and marketing campaigns for numerous effective artists, such as, Santana, Sarah McLachlan, Patti Smith, Eurythmics, Beth Orton and Spiritualized. For the previous 3 years, he's served as the Plan Director for Music Matters, Asia Pacific's annual premiere music business occasion. Tony shared with us his beneficial insight on the future of music and the breaking of acts.
RL: How did you get began in the music business?
TW: I've been a music fanatic my entire life and did not feel of significantly else expanding up. Then, in the 80s, I worked at my college radio station in the US. I often loved the music from the UK - specifically from the then indie label, Virgin Records. So when I graduated, I decided to move to London and was determined to get a job in the music business. I truly managed to land a job at Virgin Records in London and worked there for a couple of years.
RL: What led to the creation of Man On The Ground?
TW: When moving to Asia, I right away recognized that numerous western artists or entertainment organizations right now view Asia as an chance market for expansion and development, and are in want of a person to aid them navigate the nuances of the market here. Lots of from the west see Asia as a huge query mark and require assist producing connections, launching a item or service, or assist with profession advice.
RL: Inform us around your function in Music Matters? What led you to take the position as System Director?
TW: Many weeks right after moving to Hong Kong, I was introduced to Jasper Donat, who is President of Music Matters. He was seeking for somebody with business practical experience to design and style the conference System and safe guest speakers. We hit it off. The conference has grown to be the premiere business occasion for Asia. My function at Music Matters is to build the panel subjects, find acceptable panel and keynote speakers and create the Plan. I also work on the festival side of the conference - Music Matters Reside.
RL: What was your most thriving promoting campaign for an artist?
TW: In the mid-90s, I was in New York at EMI Records and worked with a band known as the Fun Lovin' Criminals. They had been an remarkable Reside band with remarkable personalities and charisma. We felt they had been excellent for the UK and European markets, so we focused on breaking the band in that area and committed to this by taking the band there once more and once again. More than the course of a year, they went from playing tiny clubs to big festivals across Europe and nonetheless have a huge right after in the UK nowadays. So the philosophy of possessing a band return repeatedly to a market worked and I nonetheless feel in it to this day. I also worked on Santana's Supernatural album, which sold 25 million albums about the planet - so that was quite cool as effectively.
RL: Who has been your favourite artist to work with? Why?
TW: With no a doubt it was Patti Smith and we worked on many albums collectively. It sounds including a cliche, but she is a correct artist - musician, painter, poet, writer, and photographer. In 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2010, she won the National Book Award for her book Just Youngsters. Not quite a few artists can say that.
RL: How do you assume social media has impacted the breaking of acts?
TW: It has definitely come to be beneficial in breaking an artist from lots of angles - for instance, several artists are currently found on YouTube and labels troll the net searching for talent - so there is an further avenue for discovery. When used well, artists can open a very valuable line of communication and commerce with their fans by way of social media. But in the finish, it really is nevertheless around the music and playing Reside. If you do not have that practical experience, it does not matter how lots of Facebook fans you have in the lengthy run.
RL: Exactly where do you see the future of music heading?
TW: I consider it really is searching up from Exactly where it really is been going more than the previous 10 years, specifically for the independent, self-enough artist - but in unique strategies from how we've gauged results in the previous. As an artist, it will be additional around producing your own network of fans and advertising and marketing and promoting straight to them. And it will continue to be around the Reside side of the business and obtaining a international viewpoint.
RL: What is your guidance for indie artists everywhere who are hoping to take their careers to the subsequent level?
TW: Work very difficult on becoming an amazing Reside act and constantly work to hone your Reside craft. Take your time and do not attempt to skip any measures. Also, attempt to travel to the A number of music market conventions and events about the planet. It really is not low cost, but you will find out a lot, possibly build new and valuable connections, and discover how the sector operates from a worldwide point of view. Appear for every chance out there for worldwide festival efficiency slots- there are possibilities for indie artists. You can even attempt to use the crowd-funding selections that exist these days to assist fund the trip. There are also so quite a few on-line tools that indie artists can use to grow their fanbase - from promoting and streaming music, studying analytics, making and promoting merch, raising funds, and possessing your music distributed digitally about the globe. Study the tools that are at your disposal.
Tony Ward lives in Hong Kong and continues to dispense ideal promoting tips.
Man On The Ground Official Web page: www.manontheground.asia
Reign Lee is the founding editor of INDIE MAG ( http://www.magcloud.com/browse/situation/424234/ ) - a worldwide magazine for independent musicians. She's also the founding director of Give Me Liberty - Writing For You ( http://www.libertywriting.com/ ) - an editing and writing service consultancy.
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