[COLUMN/KOLUMNA] Mind the Gap by Sara Al Hamad: Networking/Umrežavanje

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Networking

Networking. The process in which everyone gets drunk so they don’t feel weird while repeating the same 5 sentences to different people. My first event of this type took place last Wednesday in the form of Sandbox Social, organised by Kobalt Music/AWAL and music:)ally.

Kobalt Music could easily be described as a music startup company that scaled. They have revolutionised music administration in a way it became “accountable and transparent”, as Willard Ahdritz, the founder of Kobalt, often likes to say. With their modern software, they track and report music usage everywhere in the world and alert their artists right away. What often happens in many publishing companies, is that the publisher “sits on the money” for a year or even two in some cases, so the artists cannot get paid. This is the consequence of the way publishing contracts are made, where publisher collects 50-100% of royalties on behalf of the author from the collecting societies. Collecting societies are slow and usually take a huge chunk of artists’ earning for basically nothing, and the way they calculate earnings is often a mystery even to them. All this organisation and bureaucracy puts the artists in a very shitty position that takes time to untangle, so they have to “borrow” money from the publisher, in the form of so called “advance”. By seeking an advance, they usually have to agree to even worse contract provisions than the ones they had. Kobalt Music used technology to change that and so far, it was definitely a good call.

After Sandbox enabled me to meet a dozen people working on amazing things, I was ready to award myself with a nice evening in Bermondsey. Surrounded by couples, me and my dear friend cooped up in the middle of the floor in Small Beer Brew, and silently opened up our beers and crisps. It was my first Sofar Sounds experience, so I was quite excited to see what will happen, but I couldn’t help notice all the people in romantic positions surrounding us. After more than a year of chasing career goals and completely ignoring any kind of intimacy, I was feeling a bit out of place.

The evening was properly introduced by a young musician with a powerful vocal, Sebastian Schub. This guy doesn’t need a mic. His voice echoed throughout the room for 40 or so minutes, singing about heartbreaking stuff, depression, and a perfect girl who even plays – the bass. After him, there was a poet and a young girl singing for her dad, who was also there. The poet was very funny and entertaining but not quite what I wanted to see. All in all, it was a nice evening, but I expected something a bit different and more edgy.

The idea behind Sofar Sounds is something also worth mentioning. Sofar is a global community where guests and artists come together to experience music in an intimate and respectful setting on a secret location. The address of the concert is emailed on the day of the event. Talking during the concert is not allowed, which makes me particularly happy. One of the things that can really annoy me is people talking when there is beautiful music to be heard. The Sofar idea was launched in 2009 in London, and today it is truly a global community of music lovers.

Since I was feeling a bit romantic this week, I will leave you with a smooth and sexy rhythm to snuggle with, brought to you by Sofar Sounds. Until next Monday – behave!!

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Umrežavanje

Umrežavanje. Proces u kojem se svi napiju kako se ne bi osjećali čudno dok ponavljaju istih pet rečenica različitim ljudima. Moj prvi događaj takve vrste bio je ove srijede u obliku Sandbox Sociala, organiziranog od strane Kobalt Music/AWAL i tvrtke music:)ally.

Kobalt Music bi se lako mogao opisati kao glazbeni start up koji je skalirao. Revolucionirali su glazbenu administraciju na način da je postala „odgovorna i transparentna“, kao što često zna istaknuti osnivač Kobalta, Wilard Ahritz. S njihovim modernim softwareom prate i prave izvješće o korištenju glazbe svuda u svijetu te obavještavaju svoje autore odmah. Ono što se često događa u mnogim izdavačkim kućama jest da izdavač sjedi na novcu godinu ili čak dvije godine tako da autor ne može dobiti isplatu. Ovo je posljedica načina na koji se sklapaju izdavački ugovori, gdje izdavač ubire od kolektivnih društava od 50 do 100 posto prava u ime autora. Kolektivna društva su spora i obično uzimaju veliki dio kolača autorske zarade za skoro pa ništa, te je način na koji oni obračunavaju zaradu često misterija i za njih same. Sva ova organizacija i birokracija stavlja autora u dosta usranu poziciju za koju treba vremena da se otpetlja, tako da moraju „posuditi“ novac od izdavača u obliku takozvanog avansa. Tražeći avans uobičajeno je da se moraju složiti na još gore ugovorne provizije od onih koje su do tada imali. Kobalt Music koristi tehnologiju koja bi to promijenila i do sada je ovakav potez došao na odobravanje.

Nakon što mi je Sandbox omogućio da upoznam neke ljude koji rade na sjajni stvarima, bila sam spremna da se nagradim s jednom lijepom večeri u Bermondseyu. Okruženi parovima, moj dragi prijatelj i ja našli smo se u sred Small Beer Brewa te tiho otvorili naša piva i čipseve. Bilo je to moje prvo Sofar Sounds iskustvo, tako da sam bila dosta uzbuđena vidjeti što će se dogoditi, ali nisam mogla neprimijetiti sve ljude oko nas u romantičnim pozama. Nakon više od godinu dana traženja karijere i svojih ciljeva te kompletnog ignoriranja bilo kakve intimnosti, osjećala sam se kao da ovo nije mjesto za mene.

Večer je primjereno predstavio mladi glazbenik sa snažnim glasom, Sebastian Schub. Ovom liku ne treba mikrofon. Njegov glas pušta echo kroz cijeli prostor 40 ili više minuta, a pjeva o srceparajućim stvarima, depresiji i savršenoj djevojci koja čak svira – bas. Nakon njega, nastupio je pjesnik i mlada djevojka koja pjeva za svojeg oca, a koji je također bio tamo. Pjesnik je bio vrlo zabavan, ali ne baš što sam htjela vidjeti. Sve u svemu bila je lijepa večer, ali sam očekivala nešto ipak drugačije i uzbudljivije.

Ideja koja stoji iza Sofar Soundsa je nešto što vrijedi spomenuti. Sofar je globalna zajednica koja na jednom mjestu okuplja goste i autore kako bi iskusili glazbu na jedan intiman i respektabilan način i to na tajnoj lokaciji. Adresu koncerta pošalju e-mail-om na dan događaja. Pričanje tijekom koncerta nije dozvoljeno, što me jednim dijelom apsolutno oduševljava. Jedna od stvari koje me dosta mogu iznervirati jest kad ljudi pričaju dok je oko njih može čuti predivna glazba. Ideja Sofara je pokrenuta 2009. godine u Londonu i danas je to doista globalna zajednica ljubitelja glazbe.

S obzirom da sam se ovog tjedna osjećala dosta romantično, napuštam vas uz smooth i seksi ritam kojeg trebate prigrliti, a kojeg šalje Sofar Sounds. Do sljedećeg ponedjeljka – budite pristojni!

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