June 25th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Termeh Mazhari
As a publicist whose client roster consists almost entirely of musicians, I’m always on the lookout for the latest online platform that’ll help give my clients the exposure their music deserves. I recently came across Zoxsy, a new site that helps musicians build their fan bases, get radio airplay, as well as film/tv placements, and more. I spoke with founder and CEO Justin Blaney about his vision for Zoxsy.
Termeh Mazhari: When did you create Zoxsy? And what was your vision for the site?
Justin Blaney: I first came up with the idea for Zoxsy in the summer of ‘08 as I was gaining experience in the music industry as more of a professional than a hobbiest. The more I emerged myself in the industry, the more I became aware of how poorly the industry related to and treated emerging artists. Being a lifelong entrepreneur, I could think of nothing more exciting than to set out and do everything in my power to right those wrongs. My vision has evolved in many ways from what it once was and as the experiences of hundreds of artists around the world have been added to my ideas our collective vision has become even more compelling and relevant.
Termeh Mazhari: What makes Zoxsy different from other social networking sites for musicians?
Justin Blaney: Well, Zoxsy isn’t a social site. Zoxsy’s purpose is to provide opportunities for artists and songwriters to advance their careers and eventually earn a good living doing what they love. A by-product of this mission is that Zoxsy is a great place to meet people and discover cool new music. The problem with the seemingly endless array of social/music discover sites is they focus on social and casual music discovery features without giving artists the tools they need to really succeed. Whereas Zoxsy focuses on creating useful tools for artists and the industry in order to help them find each other easier and more effectively, creating a means for artists to make a living from music rather than just sharing their creations for free.
There are a ton of other differences too, like how Zoxsy doesn’t try to shove premium packages/services/products down our member’s throats - in other words, we’re trying to help artists without picking their pockets. We’ve also built mountains of trust with our members by listening and when possible implementing their feedback. Zoxsy is founded and run by artists and we love hearing what other artists have to say.
Termeh Mazhari: You’re also a musician. Where can people hear your stuff?
Justin Blaney: I love to make and listen to music. It’s my lifelong passion. Check out a sampling on (where else?) Zoxsy.
Termeh Mazhari: Do you feel that your music career taken a backseat to your entrepreneurial goals with Zoxsy?
Justin Blaney: Yes, but musically speaking this last year has also been one of the best of my life. I’ve been able to listen to cool new music and meet amazingly talented and hardworking artists in quantities that only a music junkie like me could be excited about. I’ve also been able to use Zoxsy as a member to grow and build connections with other artists and executives in the industry. It’s my dream that as many other other artists as possible will be able to use Zoxsy as I have and experience for themselves the joy that Zoxsy brings me as a member of this community.
Termeh Mazhari: What advice would you give to an emerging artist trying to navigate the social media landscape?
Justin Blaney: There are a ton of sites to choose from and signing up for a new service really takes a commitment if you’re going to get a return on your time investment. I would look for a site that offers tons and tons of stuff for free (if not everything) with as few limits and “premium packages” as possible. Next, I would look past the praise and seek out all the negative feedback I could on a service before I invested much energy in it. I’ve fallen for some services in the past and only after investing lots of time and money discovered that there were a lot of people writing about their own negative experiences with the site that in hindsight reflected my own. You have to decide for yourself whether the negative feedback is just an odd example or truly something to place merit in.
Termeh Mazhari: What else can we expect from Zoxsy? What’s next?
Justin Blaney: We are constantly in the process of adding new features - especially as we get feedback from our members on what they need to be successful. Expect to see some revolutionary new ways to find songs that “sound like” another song, mood, or artist. Expect to find tons of free opportunities to submit music to. Expect to see a lot of growth - we’re already one of the most popular music business websites in the world - and our growth is accelerating as more and more people discover us.
I hope whoever is reading this joins all of us in the Zoxsy community in making the music industry a better place for emerging artists to thrive We’re working our hearts out to help make this transformation a reality and with so many talented people on board already one can’t help but feel that something great is happening.
Posted in: Interview, Music, Social Media
Tags: discover new music, justin blaney, online music community, online tools for musicians, sites for musicians, social networking for musicians, social networking site for musicians, zoxsy, zoxsy founder, zoxsy justin blaney
June 19th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Termeh Mazhari
The Annual New York City Marines “Mess Night” will take place this year on June 30th, 2009.
The New York City Marines will host their second annual “Mess Night” at the New York Athletic Club. The event will help raise funds for the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation and the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction.
“Mess Night” is a recreation of the historic “Mess Night” event held on Saturday March 20th, 1920 and attended by Sir Winston Churchill. The posh event originally took place at Oddenino’s Imperial Restaurant on Regent Street in London and featured classic dishes such as “Poule au Pot Alexandra” and “Culotte de Boeuf Imperial”.
This year’s Mess Night will offer guests a feast of historic delicacies and green tea cocktails. The evening, while formal, promises to be fun as well – with $1-and-up fines for violating the strictly enforced guidelines of the mess (including: chewing gum, swearing and discussing politics, shop, money or religion!). All fines are donated to the featured charities of course.
Get your tickets now at www.nycmcc.org
The Annual NYC Marines “Mess Night”
June 30th, 2009
New York Athletic Club
180 Central Park South 9th Floor NY NY
6:00PM-11:00PM
Posted in: Food, New York City Events
Tags: marine corps law enforcement foundation, marines mess night, mess night, mess night 2009, mess night june 2009, mess night june 30, mess night locations, mess night new york athletic club, mess night nyc, national foundation for facial reconstruction, nyc marines mess night, nyc mess night, nyc mess night 2009, winston churchill mess night
June 5th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Termeh Mazhari
Yesterday, I attended the first annual Billboard Music and Advertising Conference (June 4-5, at the W Hotel). The conference - hosted by Billboard’s editorial director Bill Werde - was focused on how music and advertising can go hand-in-hand, and enhance each other’s emotional impact and drive sales. It also featured panel discussions with case studies on how major brands (like Crystal Light, and Converse), artists and music supervisors can benefit from working together. It was a day filled with back-to-back interviews and panels, each one more informative and engaging than the next, including music industry all-stars like branding visionary Steve Stoute (Translation, LLC), music advertising mogul Josh Rabinowitz of Grey Worldwide, and of course, the main draw of the day: legendary music producer and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams.
Bill Werde, who punctuated the keynote interviews with his dry, sharp humor, was kind enough to grant me an interview…
Termeh Mazhari: How did idea for the Billboard Music & Advertising Conference come about?
Bill Werde: We’ve been kicking around the idea of the Music & Advertising conference for a while. It’s really one of the parts of the music business that has remained strong in the face of declining record sales. But what we saw at another event called Music & Money, that goes on in March, is that we did a panel there on music and advertising and the panel was not only really well attended – it was also quite incendiary. There was a lot of dispute between the agency side and the label side and there’s this great respect where they realized that they could make each other money but there’s also this great tension about who had the ownership and who was more important…so it’s kind of like, Hey we really should make this happen. And here we are…a few months later.
Termeh Mazhari: What keynote speaker were you most looking forward to interviewing?
Bill Werde: Well, one of our keynotes today was Pharrell Williams and I’ve just been such a big fan of his work for so long – from the pop stuff he’s done with Britney and Justin , and so many other people…He’s an amazing artist. His own stuff, N.E.R.D., actually, I think is kind of really underappreciated. And at the same time, he’s done a lot of cutting edge work with [Chris] Brown so I was really kind of curious to see what he would be like, you know, as a person, as a businessman…And he definitely had more of an artist vibe which is kind of what I expected. But it was good. He was smart, he’s really nice, and funny…I thought he was great!
Termeh Mazhari: How has Billboard been coping with the decline of magazine sales, especially now in light of the news of its peers like Blender and now Performing Songwriter that have folded…?
Bill Werde: I think Billboard’s coping by keeping a pretty laser focus on the parts of the business that are succeeding, both internally – in terms of our own business – and externally – in terms of the music business. You know, today is evidence of that. This is a conference that we pulled together pretty quickly. It’s standing room only. And yeah, you know, I think that as long as we continue to keep our eyes on the places where commerce really intersects, and keep our eyes on the places in and around music that are making money, and that are making more money, and really kind of help people do business around those areas, then we’ll continue to succeed. That’s kind of on the B2B side of our business. A lot of people don’t realize the extent to which Billboard is almost two distinct brands right now. I mean, we’ve got Billboard print magazine which is a business magazine…
Termeh Mazhari: A trade…
Bill Werde: We are a trade, but I just view us as a business magazine. I think we’re The Economist for people who make money around music. That’s what I saw it to be. A little bit of Wired Magazine, a little bit of Economist…maybe a little bit Rolling Stone. You know, I want Billboard to be recognized as a smart, savvy, kind of essential read for people who make their living in music. But then at the same time we have Billboard.com. Now Billboard.com is a pure music fan site. It is not music industry. Billboard.com has 4.5 unique million users a month. You know, there’s probably 20,000 people that work in the music industry so with 4.5 unique million users a month, I think that really underscores what we’re doing. We’re re-launching that site on July 15. We’ve seen growth, great growth – from a traffic perspective, from a revenue perspective…however way you cut it, we’re really excited about Billboard.com
Termeh Mazhari: What else can we expect to see from Billboard?
Bill Werde: On July 15, we’re re-launching the site and I think we’re really going to change the way people define the music experience in terms of charting. I think everyone knows the Billboard charts, right? But I think we’re gonna change people’s definitions of what that really means. We’re gonna make those charts experiential. We’re gonna make the data and the information you can find much more easier to access, much more easier to find. And that’s really my excitement on the consumer side. On the business side, it’s events like this that, you know… It’s always working to keep the focus of the print magazine on the parts of the business that are remaining robust and where the good ideas are coming.
Termeh Mazhari: And finally, a question about New York…What are your favorite hang out spots in NYC?
Bill Werde: I love going to Rockwood ‘cause you never know what artist you’ve never heard of before is gonna really impress you on any given night.
Termeh Mazhari: What NYC neighborhoods do you like the most?
Bill Werde: Well, I’m going to shout out my own neighborhood, which is Jackson Heights. I love Jackson Heights. I’ve lived there for 3.5-4 years now. It’s really funny actually…At this event, there was a woman who works with a music supervision company who came up to me and said: I heard you live in Jackson Heights, and I live in Jackson Heights! And it turns out that when she came up to me, we were actually standing in front of another woman who lives in Jackson Heights who overheard us, so I think we’re gonna form the Jackson Heights music industry professionals club or something. It’s such a great neighborhood. There are streets in Jackson Heights where it’s literally like being in India, or in Mexico. There are rich, rich cultures there which means there’s amazing food. And at the same time, you’re starting to see you know…there’s a Starbucks there now…But I love my neighborhood. They just opened an organic health store there so it’s great.
What else do I love?…probably my favorite venue to see a show these days, outside of Rockwood, I still think Bowery Ballroom is one of the best places to go. There’s always something magical about…Actually, the new Beacon reopened. They really cleaned it and brought out the original work there, so it’s kind of beautiful. Unfortunately most of these days, I hang out in the office. And I have a 2.5 year old so when I’m not hanging out in the office, I want to be home with my family.
Posted in: Interview, Music, New York City Events
Tags: bill werd, bill werde, bill werde billboard, bill werde billboard conference, bill werde billboard magazine, bill werde editorial director, bill werde moderator, bill werde new york, bill werde nyc, billboard charts, billboard conference, billboard conference nyc, billboard event nyc, billboard events, billboard events nyc, billboard keynote interviews, billboard music, billboard music and advertising, billboard music and advertising conference, billboard nyc, billboard sales, billboard success, blender folded, bowery ballroom new york, bowery ballroom nyc, bowery nyc, decline of music magazine sales, decline of music sales, jackson heights, jackson heights nyc, josh rabinowitz, josh rabinowitz billboard, josh rabinowitz grey, josh rabinowitz music advertising, music and ads, music and advertising conference, music in ads, music in advertising, music supervisors, performing songwriter folded, pharrell producer, pharrell williams, pharrell williams bill werde, pharrell williams billboard, pharrell williams interview, pharrell williams music and advertising conference, rockwood new york, rockwood nyc, steve stoute, steve stoute branding, steve stoute translation, werde billboard
May 17th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Termeh Mazhari
Taking Back Sunday (TBS) – AMP3 PR’s new client – dropped a new single this weekend called “Everything Must Go.” The Warner Bros. Records band is gearing up for the release of their new album, “New Again”, which hits the streets on June 2nd, 2009. The album’s name reflects the band’s feeling of rejuvenation, which coincides with the announcement of new band member, guitarist Matt Fazzi. “We kicked around a bunch of different titles, but [New Again] always remained at the top of the list, and that’s because it really does feel like a new band,” says lead vocalist Adam Lazzara who boasts that the new guitarist/back-up vocalist Matt Fazzi “brings an excitement and a fearlessness to working on music that really makes us feel even more so that we can do anything and still call it us.”
The new single, “Everything Must Go,” is poised to become one of the record’s strongest tracks: an anguishing breakup anthem that starts slow and builds into a fury of drums of blazing guitar riffs. “Lyrically, it’s real autobiographical”, admits Lazzara, whose very public breakup with fiancee Chantelle DuPree in 2008 is an obvious influence to the new gut-wrenching single.
To listen to the new single, visit the TBS MySpace page, and to get the latest news and tour dates, go to TakingBackSunday.com.
For all media inquiries, please email TakingBackSunday(at)AMP3pr.com or Termeh(at)AMP3pr.com.
Posted in: Music, Taking Back Sunday
Tags: adam lazzara chantelle dupree, adam lazzara engaged, adam lazzara taking back sunday, chantelle dupree, everthing must go autobiographical tbs, everything must go, everything must go taking back sunday, everything must go tbs, matt fazzi, new album taking back sunday, new album tbs, takign back sunday, Taking Back Sunday, taking back sunday label, taking back sunday new again, taking back sunday new single, tbs, tbs adam lazzara, tbs autobiographical lyrics, tbs chantelle dupree, tbs label, tbs matt fazzi, tbs myspace, tbs new again, tbs new band member, tbs new guitarist, tbs new single, tbs new single everything must go, tbs official site, tbsnewgain, warner bros tbs
