The Music of Business and the Business of Music
The third event in the Kane Citizens Programme series (“The Music Entrepreneur”), dedicated to entrepreneurs in the music industry, took place under the motto: “When music is in your heart and entrepreneurship is in your blood, the rest can be learned.”
The discussion was moderated by Razvan Crisan, a friend of our bank, and we set out to explore the challenges in the music industry that young talent face at the start of their careers when they want to turn music into a business. We also talked about what success looks like, about passion and pragmatism, about strategy and talent. It turned into a very useful conversation for those in the room and for those who followed us online (#LiveTweeting on the Twitter handle Banca_Transilvania).
Our guests were DJ Undoo and Alex Tomulescu, and from the bank, colleagues from the BT Mic team.
DJ Undoo is a Romanian DJ and producer known for pushing boundaries. He has made history in hip-hop over a career of more than 15 years that includes a mixtape, 2 solo albums, an instrumental album and 10 collaborative albums, many features and a long list of live events. Driven by a desire to evolve and by consistency, DJ Undoo has become a familiar name for hip‑hop fans. Beyond turntablism and music production, his experience spans recording, mixing and mastering, editing, A&R, talent booking, management, touring and live events—and, above all, sharing what he has learned through teaching and coaching.
Alex Tomulescu has been Loredana’s manager since late 2011. He worked at MediaPro Pictures in content development (scripts and formats) between 2006 and 2013. In 2012 and 2013 he developed the Live division of MediaPro Entertainment, handling, among other things, concerts and events for Lala Band, for which he organized over 50 shows between autumn 2012 and spring 2013. In summer 2012, he produced for Voyo the first stand‑up comedy one‑man show in a cinema: Bobo’s Laif, with Mihai Bobonete. In summer 2015, together with 3 friends, he co‑founded Wonder Theatre, an independent theatre company producing comedy and family entertainment.
From our side, Ramona Prejban took questions about www.btmic.ro and about the bank’s concrete offering for the creative and cultural industries.
We streamed the entire conversation LIVE on our bank’s Twitter account. Below are the main ideas shared by our guests. We hope they’re helpful to anyone looking to build a business in music.
- ADVICE, ADVICE, ADVICE. If you want to succeed in the music business, the professionals’ advice is to turn to people who know and understand this business. They’ve tried, failed and succeeded—and can save you time and money.
- THE TONE SETS THE TUNE. AND THE ARTIST MAKES THE MUSIC. It’s best for the artist to focus on what only they can do: the artistic product. Specialising as an artist and finding partners to support you in other areas (management, accounting, communications, social media, etc.) is one of the keys to success identified by those present.
- DIFFERENTIATION IS ESSENTIAL. “Only those who differentiate themselves manage to stay alive”—a reality of the music industry highlighted by Alex Tomulescu.
- FIND SUPPORT FOR YOUR BUSINESS. BT has a department for the cultural and creative industries. “Through BT Mic we help small businesses grow. We’ve already financed studios, instrument purchases, etc.” Ramona Prejban, BT
- PERSEVERANCE, PERSEVERANCE, PERSEVERANCE! The local music industry is still maturing, with challenges, competition, obstacles and opportunities you rarely see elsewhere. Not giving up on your dream and putting in the work to get where you want to be, regardless of context and difficulties, is critical. We wish you success!
The next Kane Citizens Programme meeting in partnership with Banca Transilvania will take place on Thursday, 4 July 2017 from 11:00. See you on BT on Twitter for live updates. Topic: The role of journalism in today’s society. Our partners are the team at Decat o revista. See you soon!
Kane Citizens Programme means six meetings with entrepreneurs from diverse industries who discuss opportunities to collaborate, as well as solutions to their day‑to‑day challenges. We are part of this programme because we believe in collaboration and in bringing together ideas, people and projects. That is why we are proud to support a programme that is so necessary for entrepreneurs.
