MSCLVR Interview Series #056 w/ Andrew Kotliar, Investing In Creators @ Magna Entertainment Partners!

min.png">Investor Andrew Kotliar stops by to discuss the unique investment opportunities they are looking for in the worlds of music and entertainment!

Alrighty! We are back! Another week, another show and I hope you thoroughly enjoyed our last release featuring the illustrious Keith Shocklee of Public Enemy fame. It was our first ever live audience recording along w/ two great co-hosts and Even Headphones were the sponsor so if you haven’t already make sure you check that one out after you’ve thoroughly indulged yourself in the balance of this episode.

This episode of the podcast is featuring Andrew Kotliar – Partner at Magna Entertainment Partners where he leads investments in Creators and creative projects in music and entertainment!  

min.png">I was (and to a large degree) still am intrigued by Andrew’s scope of investing.  The casual listener might suspect that, since this is primarily a music technology podcast, our guest would be looking for “traditional” technology investment opportunities.

That casual listener would be mostly wrong.

I think Andrew and his team are scratching at the surface of a niche space that could have a butterfly effect that dramatically changes the world of music.  The Magna team are simultaneously a) bringing opportunistic institutional capital to creative corners of music and entertainment where it’s previously never dared to go AND b) they are providing a framework through which content and creatives can present themselves as an uncorrelated asset class that is actually investable.

min.png">Ironically Andrew’s journey has deep web software technology roots but the tech he know builds is in the much needed form of the practical application of investment knowledge he brings to a space that historically has been perceived to lack structure and maturity.

This one is for entrepreneurs, creatives, and investors alike…without any further ado…Andrew Kotliar!

Andrew is on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/akotliar/

Liz is on LinkedIn, too : https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-zavoyskiy-8645a488/

Learn more about Magna Entertainment : https://magnainvests.com/entertainment/

Check out the previous episode w/ Keith Shocklee: http://bit.ly/msclvrEp_055_KeithShocklee

Music Credit: Panthurr – https://soundcloud.com/panthurr

Support the podcast & The MSCLVR Foundation : https://www.patreon.com/MSCLVR

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSCLVR Interview Series #055 with Keith Shocklee of Public Enemy, The Bomb Squad!

min.png">The renowned producer & DJ Keith Shocklee joins us in this live interview to discuss the future of music, production, Hip Hop, the art of DJing, and the types of products he will and won’t endorse!

This episode of the podcast is the recording of a Mouth Media Live Event sponsored by EVEN Headphones featuring yes – a live audience interview with the one and only Keith Shocklee and an esteemed panel of co-hosts – Ashlee Ray, Danny Aronson.

If you don’t know who Keith Shocklee is – haaaave you met Hip Hop? Keith is one of the original members of Public Enemy, the hip hop production team The Bomb Squad and a member of the Rock + Roll Hall of Fame.

OK – so for those of you who weren’t there when we recorded this live interview in NYC’s Soho area at the EVEN Headphones (@weareeven) pop up shop on Greene St – you missed out on something special. Lucky for you…we are bringing the energy and vibrancy of that beautiful sunny summer afternoon to you through the miracle of recorded audio. Thank the audio gods!

min.png">In this recording I am joined by co-hosts Ashlee Ray (@ashleeray) and Danny Aronson (@dannyaronson). Ashlee is a multi-talented ninja of multimedia, hip hop lover, and an amazing on-air personality. Danny is the CEO and cofounder of EVEN Headphones which will absolutely change the way you listen to music since they automagically manipulate the music you hear to match the range of frequencies that your ears are capable of picking up…you know…Science. Links below to learn more about that!

This is one of those episodes where a long intro is not necessary. It’s live. It’s with a legend. We’ve got great cohost and a dope sponsor. Enjoy!

Thanks to EVEN Headphones for sponsoring this awesome event! Learn more about EVEN (Glasses for your Ears) : https://www.weareeven.com/

Keith on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-shocklee-98959046/

Ashlee on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashlee-ray-743a2366/

Danny on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyaronson/

Music Credit: Panthurr – https://soundcloud.com/panthurr

Support the podcast & The MSCLVR Foundation : https://www.patreon.com/MSCLVR

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSCLVR Interview Series #054 with Brent Baisley, VP Engineering, Ticket Evolution!

min.png">This episode of the podcast is featuring Brent Baisley – VP of Engineering at Ticket Evolution – a NY based ticketing software business founded in 2010 and likely to be the B2B marketplace where most of the tickets you buy on sites like Stubhub or Seatgeek come from.

Listen to Brent break down his philosophies around management styles, the story behind Ticket Evolution’s early beginnings back in 2010, how the secondary markets around tickets are evolving, and the role technologies like the one he builds upon support that evolution. First – let me say that Brent was a pleasure to meet and converse with!  There is feeling you get when you meet super smart people who manage to remain very humble while simultaneously exhibiting the character of a great leader. I’ll tell you – if you are in product or engineering, are looking for a new opportunity, and you value management that want to invest in people – go work for Brent right now!Beyond just liking Brent I found this conversation intriguing for a variety of reasons – the genesis of the Ticket Evolution business is pretty cool since the founders were originally building tech to solve their own ticket management problems and.(clearly) what they were building was undeniable because 120 of the largest ticket brokers decided to invest and now 8 years later they are a quiet giant in the space. min.png">Brent is shy of a year at the company and  represents the type of hire that can add multiples to the long term value of the business so it will be interesting to stay in touch w/ him and who knows…MSCLVR may one day be a Ticket Evolution API user Without further ado….Brent Baisley! Brent is on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentbaisley/

Ticket Evolution’s website : http://www.ticketevolution.com/

Referenced in the show – check out Blonde Maze’s music (she works w/ Brent and he was cool enough to give her a shout out!) : http://www.blondemaze.com/

Music Credit: Panthurr – https://soundcloud.com/panthurr

Support the podcast & The MSCLVR Foundation : https://www.patreon.com/MSCLVR

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSCLVR Interview Series #053 with Mike Schiano, Co-founder, SongMeanings.com!

min.png">This episode of the podcast is featuring Mike Schiano – cofounder of SongMeanings.com – one of the largest and longest standing lyric websites with a focus on community conversations around what song lyrics mean to you, the listener!

I love this conversation with Mike for quite a few reasons but I will just list these 3 and you will be able to infer the rest I trust when you hear the conversation :

1 – Mike and his co-founder Brian Adams began working on Song Meanings back when they were in high school and this business (with all of its successes and pitfalls) has been at the core of a life long friendship of two partners who operate remotely but remain conjoined by their passion for what they have built…it resonates with me personally because my partner in MSCLVR.com and I have a similar story.

min.png">2 – Mike, for the most part, is a self-taught software engineer…combine that with the fact that he had enough discipline in high school and through college to stand up a business (one related to music no less) that, in many ways foretold of two phenomena that would eventually dominate the Internet – it’s worthy of acknowledgement.

3 – The phenomena that Mike and Brian tapped into – perhaps too early – were “Social” (before the waves of Facebook, Twitter, etc) and “User Generated Content” (ahead of the rise of sites like YouTube)

Mike is on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-schiano-2326442b/

Check out Song Meanings : http://songmeanings.com/

Referenced in the show –  “The Outline” interview w/ Mike : https://theoutline.com/post/2199/the-story-of-songmeanings-the-best-lyrics-site-on-the-internet?zd=1&zi=ruqatoef

Music Credit: Panthurr – https://soundcloud.com/panthurr

Support the podcast & The MSCLVR Foundation : https://www.patreon.com/MSCLVR

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

min.png">This episode of the podcast features Philip Butler & Michael Tom – cofounders of NYC based startup Radiate – creators of an iOS and Android app aimed at connecting new friends and enhance the experiences of music festivals-goers around the world!

This was an interview well worth the wait for me – this conversation took at least 4 attempts over just as many months to make happen primarily due to shifting schedules and at least one occasion where we showed up ready to record to a locked studio (definitely my fault…as if you needed me to tell you that!)

These young entrepreneurs are hungry and their energy for their product and audience  is palpable. We’ve discussed the impacts of technology on the live show and festival scene in many of our conversations on this show but this is the first time we’ve had product owners and founders sharing their stories.

And that’s not the only “first” to speak of.  

min.png">Radiate is quite like the first ever tech startup (or at least music tech startup) whose origins can be traced back to the playing w/ swords.  That’s right – these founders met each other as young competitive fencers which, you know, naturally would lead to them moving to New York City to found a tech company to enrich the festival goer experience…right?

OK enough reading – these guys tell some hilarious start up stories here so get to listening!

Without further ado…Philip Butler and Michael Tom from Radiate!

Philip Butler on LinkedIN : https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-butler/

min.png">Michael Tom on LinkedIN : https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-tom-66848b79/

Download the iOS app here : https://radiate.app.link/jnj5FvHrPC

Download the Android app here : https://radiate.app.link/h1kaw9RtPC

Check them out : https://www.radiatetheworld.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSCLVR After Dark #005 Mo’ Data, Mo Problems with Monica Zhang, Music Attorney

min.png">This After Dark episode is featuring Monica Zhang – San Francisco based Music and Entertainment Attorney and, if we get our way, future host of her own segment or show under the MSCLVR podcast umbrella!

This was recorded during this year’s SXSW – Monica’s first – and she was kind enough to join us sharing insights from some of the music panels she had attended  particularly the “Mo Data, Mo Problems” panel which seemed appropriate as she was our live audience member to the interview w/ Sung Cho from Chartmetrics, which, if you dig music and data you should absolutely listen to as well!

Monica has got a great personality and brings a unique tech + business law perspective to the After Dark conversation having previously worked at music tech startup Loudr (which recently was sold to Spotify).

min.png">I am shamelessly trying to get Monica to join us and host a show so don’t mind me lol – so you never know – if you like her voice then you may be in luck! We’ll keep you posted

Follow Monica on Twitter @monicazhang

Check out Taryn Southern’s music referenced during show : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RhLXep_730

Music Credit: Panthurr – https://soundcloud.com/panthurr

Support the podcast & The MSCLVR Foundation : https://www.patreon.com/MSCLVR

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSCLVR Interview Series #051 with Jon Leonardo, President/Co-founder, Tanz Festival Group!

min.png">This episode of the podcast is featuring Jon Leonardo – President, Co-founder of TanZ Group – a live festival production group that operate a variety of music festivals in Los Angeles, Miami, and Cleveland…so if you frequent any of those cities make sure to follow Jon (links below).

This is a great episode – I mean, they’re all great – but this one is great for a few unique reasons. Jon Leonardo brings a levity to conversations that just makes them fun.  Despite his propensity to crack a joke – when you meet Jon you can tell that he is deadly serious about his business which any good entrepreneur or business person will ultimately recognize and respect.

He is in the music festival business so he is in the business  of fun – addicted to putting out fires and creating amazing experiences – Jon was born to do this.  He is an Artist himself (paintings, murals and such) and that creativity comes through in the way that he and his team design the Tanz festival experience.

min.png">In this episode we learn about Jon’s early age entrepreneurism, Tanz’ recent expansion through acquisition, a forthcoming Tanz podcast which undoubtedly will include lots of beer consumption, and if all that isn’t enough – Jon hits us off w/ some pretty killer Dad jokes…what’s not to love?!?

Without further ado…Jon Leonardo, President and Cofounder of Tanz Group

Jon Leonardo is on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonleonardo2/

Tanz festivals here : https://www.tanzproduced.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSCLVR Interview Series #050 with Stas Tushinskiy, CEO, Founder of Instreamatic!

min.png">This episode of the podcast is #050 featuring Stas Tushinskiy – CEO and cofounder of Instreamatic – a San Francisco based startup that are at the bleeding edge of instream audio advertising – pioneering the first class of voice-activated advertising which could have a very meaningful impact on your streaming music experience and the music industry as a whole!

So first off – I have to thank Stas again for recording with us in less than ideal audio recording conditions – we were at SXSW and our “studio” for the day a bar/lounge called Rainey Social – and while the atmosphere was quick cool I will admit that the acoustics were – let’s just say – challenging at times

I am sure most listeners will be able to tune out the SX/Austin background noise and Stas handled like a champ. He is a startup CEO from Russia born in the former Soviet Union so I’m sure podcast background noise doesn’t rank high on his “things that perturb me” list.

min.png">Nevertheless – I appreciate Stas for that and of course for sharing the story of how Instreamatic are at the forefront of an audio advertising revolution to be – this is a potential breakout year for the company so don’t be surprised if you or your Alexa loving friends are are interacting w/ audio ads by using your voice (as opposed to click of your mouse or finger on touch screen) – all perhaps naturally integrated into your listening experiences on Spotify, Soundcloud, or any other application or environment where audio is the primary medium.

It’s a green field opportunity and I personally am excited to see how Artists eventually adopt this technology to tease new music, tour dates, or really whatever …the audio ad can now help you simulate a conversation w/ Beyonce…are you grasping the import of this??

Ok … enough out of me – let’s get into the conversation w/ the CEO of Instrematic – Stas Tushinskiy!

Check out Instreamatic : http://instreamatic.com/ Stas is on LinkedIN : https://www.linkedin.com/in/stas-t/

Music Credit: Panthurr – https://soundcloud.com/panthurr Support the podcast & The MSCLVR Foundation : https://www.patreon.com/MSCLVR

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSCLVR After Dark #004 Podcast Polymathery

min.png">This episode of the podcast is featuring Me.

That’s right me, myself, and I. Juuuuuust me. Yay.

“Procrastination is effectively delegating to the future you” – Me.

So today I wanted to do something a little bit different and in some ways go back to the roots of why I am even on this microphone right now, why this podcast ever came to be.

I am a jack of all trades – always have been and presumably at this stage of my life I shouldn’t anticipate that changing in any meaningful way – this by no means is a brag – statistically speaking many of you listening to this right suffer from the same “master of none” stigma  – a word of advice- especially to our younger jacks and janes – if that is how you are wired – don’t change bc I doubt you’ll be happy if you do – my advice (for what it’s worth) is to resolve to work tirelessly to achieve mastery in a few areas (just one won’t be enough for you so wake up early and get to it!) and then be ok w mediocrity in the rest –

min.png">I remember feeling a sense of satisfaction when I first learned the meaning of the word Polymath – for the unfamiliar or uninitiated – a Polymath is essentially a fancier, Greek derived word for a Jack of all Trades…

I won’t butcher the Greek language here but in effect the original word means “having learned much” and I believe the English word polymath is generally reserved for people known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems…

So why do I tell you all this?

Well – I do so because it’s core to today’s episode.  Why we, and more specifically, I do this podcast. Even as I contemplate that now I realize that the depths of that question “Why do this podcast” could possibly take hours and actually like will so I may just break this up in bit size chunks and release them every once in a while unless you guys tell me to stop, which, by the way you are more than welcome to do!

But before I go on I have to confess something very important!

min.png">I am currently sitting on a few unedited interviews from SXSW and under different circumstances I would be releasing one of those today but – hey, what can I tell you – man plans and God laughs or some such euphemism to cover up for my procrastination.  We be back w/ a fantastic interview from SX next week I promise you and myself but you know what – I believe things happen for a reason and perhaps this episode will serve a larger purpose…will

What purpose? Well most immediately it will serve the goal to maintain a consistent cadence of content on the MSCLVR airwaves – my friends at Mouth Media – our partners in distributing this podcast – have often recommended I do this – BUT beyond filling the void – I think this “After Dark” episode could help me get back to the roots of why a year or some odd months ago I went out w/ my producer Tyler the Hitman Carey and bought and tested a whole bunch of audio recording equipment (most of which we returned by the way – more on that at some point down the line – some of you future podcasters might find it interesting)

The roots of this podcast are simple – MSCLVR is first and foremost a music technology start up cofounded by me and my long time friend and business partner Ariel or Ariel as his mother would refer to him

We will, in a future episode, feature Ariel and get into the current day status and future plans for the MSCLVR technology and business for those of you that are interested – but suffice to say – at the core of MSCLVR are two dear friends who share a love for music as well as a love for product and technology. Ariel and I went to engineering school together at the University of Pennsylvania back in the early 2000s – and in late 2015 we incorporated the business and while we currently operate somewhat stealthily on the platform between LA and New York this podcast is in many ways a reflection of our partnership because without him the original idea for MSCLVR might still be just that…an idea.

Ok – again – we’ll save that trip down memory lane for a future show for the startup geeks – the takeaway here is that at its core MSCLVR is all about music technology – and over the years we’ve met some incredible people pushing the music industry forward in their own ways large and small and we feel very much a part of a special community of lovers of music (he said awkwardly as to confuse them w the name of the business)…and this community we share happens to also be really passionate about human advancement through technology. There is no question that music and tech communities are some of the most diverse and vibrant….

And to be frank – at the onset we selfishly wanted to know the stories of this community more intimately for ourselves – the journeys of these entrepreneurs and influencers help us shape and motivate our own – and we figured we could also create a voice for ourselves within  music tech as a not so fringe benefit….but at the end of the day – we are very much driven to do this because of the stories we encounter and wish to amplify – hopefully for a greater audience to hear.

For example – just yesterday I found out that a buddy of mine sold his company Loudr to Spotify.  In the past he’s been somewhat cautious about telling the Loudr story on the podcast as some CEOs can be – but I really hope to get him on once the dust settles  because I’ve been fortunate enough to see his business grow and pivot and evolve into a fantastic technology company w/ great branding and obviously of great value for a behemoth company like Spotify to acquire – I believe they will move the company from San Francisco to the US Spotify Headquarters in New York and this buddy’s journey now continues into a new and exciting phase….wouldn’t you want to hear about this guy’s story? the struggles he and his team went through…the small wins that kept the business alive in it’s most fragile times – the reflections on those times when quitting sounded like the best option – chugging along and arriving to a point where – 10s of thousands of happy customers later – Spotify comes knocking? Yea – I want to hear that story, too!

So to quickly wrap this up – why do we do this podcast? The reasons are many and I look forward to exploring them quite honestly – I am a jack of all trades – a polymath in training perhaps – I do this podcast in many ways because I can – as a polymath in training I am often intrigued by new challenges – this challenge being “can I be interesting enough? can I get interesting people to talk to me – take out time in their demanding schedules to sit down with little ol’ me for an hour? can I edit and hopefully consistently improve the production quality of this show? can I even market the podcast? that part frankly has been a challenge despite marketing being a huge part of the way I make a living so hopefully we can unpack that issue together in a future episode – or if you’re listening to this and want to join the podcast marketing efforts feel free to reach out – shameless plug – hit us up at podcast@msclvr.com – awesome!

So in the end – my procrastination in editing my current stack of interviews and the sage advice of Marc Raco over at MouthMedia have led me to this new juncture in the MSCLVR podcast.

On occasion through MSCLVR After Dark I will share with you my story, our story alongside the stories of the fantastic folks that join us as guests in the MSCLVR Interview Series.  I am truly grateful for and humbled by everyone who has decided to get on the microphone with us over the last year and several months and, of course, I am humbled and grateful for all of you that listen to us – whatever the consistency – I am glad that you are here and at the end of the day – why we do this podcast – is you.

Music Credit: Panthurr – https://soundcloud.com/panthurr

Support the podcast & The MSCLVR Foundation : https://www.patreon.com/MSCLVR

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSCLVR Interview Series #049 with Sung Cho, CEO, Founder of Chartmetric.io!

min.png">I originally met Sung Cho at a one day music tech conference in San Francisco towards the end of 2017 aptly named SF Music Tech.  It’s a fantastic event that I’ve gone to every year for the last 4-5 years specifically because of the serendipitous connections that happen there.

I had heard about Chartmetric.io and had a “to do” on my task list for a while to try to make contact – at the time I was curious to see if there were any ways for our technologies to work together but when I randomly sat down next to Sung (not realizing at first who he was at first) I was more curious to hear the story behind how he went out building this powerful tool.

min.png">Chartmetric is tracking nearly 1 million Artists across about the same number of playlists (yes there are millions and millions of public playlists) as well as social media to help Artists, A&R, labels, managers, etc to see where their music is charting and visualize the data that helps them to tie playlist marketing strategies to boosts in social media following and vice versa!

We touch upon his gaming background, the startup hustle, pushing the lines of partner API rate limits and building an enterprise-level solution in terms of sophistication but without the enterprise price tag – Sung definitely has a soft spot for Indie artists and you can tell he truly wants to super serve that market.

Sung Cho on LinkedIN : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffponchick/

Chartmetric : https://chartmetric.io/

Music Credit: Panthurr – https://soundcloud.com/panthurr

Support the podcast & The MSCLVR Foundation : https://www.patreon.com/MSCLVR

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.