Nov 19, 2013 CASH Music Summit: Los Angeles
How could Maggie Vail and Jesse von Doom possibly follow up on helping to grow Kill Rock Stars, one of the coolest and most important record labels of the ’90s and ’00s? The label that brought the world Bikini Kill, Unwound, Sleater-Kinney, Elliott Smith, Quasi… Somehow they’ve expanded their scope from cultivating Riot Grrrl, indie punk, and just plain cool music to empowering all musicians everywhere.
Maggie and Jessie started CASH Music six years ago with the intent of making music sustainable by providing an open-source distribution platform. Today, they help out over 200 artists, from Sleigh Bells and Metric to Boyz 2 Men, and because the Portland, OR based team is a nonprofit organization the artists will never have have to worry about the services being bought, sold, or otherwise taken away from them.
The Los Angeles Summit, which took place on Saturday afternoon at The Echoplex, was not only free but offered complimentary pizza and coffee. There were two conversations about technology and music, and the first featured Maggie moderating Tara Tiger Brown (Co-founder LA Makerspace and Represent.LA), Alison Wolfe (singer of Bratmobile and Cold Cold Hearts), and Tatiana Simonian (VP of Music at Nielson). What a cool, powerful group.
Their message was that women are outnumbered and overlooked in tech–not that unlike how they are in the music–and that they need to help each other to create a better community. Simonian said that despite feeling overloaded, she always carves out time to help other women and makes time for panels only if they address women’s issues. Likewise, Wolfe said that the number of theses being written on the Riot Grrrl movement is “insane” but that she won’t regret making time to help interested people who approach her when doing research. Brown added that not only does tech need more women in the workplace (not to mention boards) but that they should be from all cultures and backgrounds.
It could have easily been a bummer of a session–and there was no shortage of specific examples of the panelists finding gender-related challenges and pitfalls in their chosen fields–but the tone was never less than lively and constructive. It was easy see why each has accomplished so much and is so esteemed in her individual field.
The closing talk was between Pascal Finette, the former Chief of Staff at Mozilla and current Portfolio Manager at Google Giving, and Mike Watt, first-generation L.A. punk and legendary bass player for bands including the Minutemen and fIREHOSE. Their conversation as free-wheeling and all-encompassing as their theme–that open-source programming is punk rock. It breaks down barriers between haves and have-nots, cuts out the middleman, and empowers the powerless.
Watt was quick to note that there are are plenty of examples of the punk spirit before the musical genre ever surfaced. Punk artist Raymond Pettibon blew Watt’s mind when he introduced the bass player to the Dada movement, which predated punk by more than 50 years. Before that, Watt says, Walt Whitman self-published poems to stop the Civil War. But they agreed that code is indeed analogous to a poetry or songs, and its spirit can and should be punk.
Finette wondered aloud about leadership in the modern age. People are quick to be angry, write blogs, or leave scathing comments on other people’s blogs, but who is actually doing anything? Like music, code can help drive a cause. “Every army has a drummer boy,” said the bassist.
The overarching message? Musicians needn’t fear technology. Rampant piracy, barely profitable streaming, somewhat discernible digital outlets, and YouTube are game changers, but tech isn’t a that different of an animal than music. There are things in common, from discrimination to grass roots. Maggie, Jesse, and their team hosted the summit to help artists not only find commonalities with their tech counterparts but perhaps even allies.
I love how the event was as free from barriers as real punk rock or open-source coding. Nonprofit and crowd-sourced, anyone could have strolled in the Echo Park concert venue off Glendale and Sunset. Can such an idealistic model last? Why not? Learn how the team benefits artists at the CASH Music site, find out how you can help the cause at their Kickstarter page, and plan to attend future summits in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, and Seattle while you’re at it.