How Music Works: Output Belfast music conference aims to grow the music economy

Next Thursday (February 16th), Belfast city will once again become a hub for visiting and local music industry as Output, the conference and showcase festival returns for its third year.

In its short-time of operation, Output has impressed with its ability to bring some of the most interesting and vocal voices in music to The Metropolitan Arts Centre (Andrew WK and Steve Albini were previous keynote speakers), along with showcasing the emerging talent in Northern Ireland (and some bands from the Republic too).

For Mark Gordon, who works on programme development for Generator NI, which puts on Output with the help of Belfast City Council, Output builds on Belfast’s history of music conferencing.

The festival is free with registration and has some pertinent industry speakers among the expected talks of streaming platforms, music PR, festivals and collection agencies. These include: Amy Lamé, recently appointed Night Czar of London; Crispin Hunt, co-writer with Florence & The Machine and Ellie Goulding; Ferry Gouw, graphic designer for Major Lazer; producers Liam Howe and Rob Ellis; and panels about the overlooked genres of country and metal music that you won’t find on most conferences.

Gordon sees Output and Belfast City Council's support for it, as a desire to grow the creative industries in Northern Ireland, buoyed by the recent success in television, pointing to the visibility of Game Of Thrones's presence there.

“The music economy is definitely a part of that discussion as music brings people here to hopefully live and make their home, it allows the local industry to grow and thrive. It has a cultural benefit and then it has an economic benefit -whether it’s an artist, a small publisher, a small label, management company, a blogger or PR company. It creates a better city which is where a lot of the positivity comes from.”

The night-time economy

The increased interest in the idea of promoting night-time economy in many countries is reflected in Amy Lamé’s appearance at Output. Northern Ireland has stricter licensing laws than the Republic, but despite this some prominent talent has developed in recent years in dance music such as Bicep, Phil Kieran and Space Dimension Controller and in the AVA Festival. There is hope that increasing the dialogue around the value of music and the night-time economy that that can continue on a greater scale.

“Once the clock strikes one, the booze stops being sold and that has meant that in many ways, our club culture and live music has done exceptionally well, probably above its weight, to be allowed to flourish in a situation that has more of a glass ceiling than say, Dublin, the UK or Europe.”

Songwriting

The night-time part of Output will see artists such as Silences, Chanele McGuinness, Jealous of the Birds (Armagh’s Naomi Hamilton), Callum Stewart, Ryan Vail, Robyn G Shiels, Carriages, Robocobra Quartet and Le Boom among the bands playing the free showcases (Nialler9 is among the hosts) around the city for industry eyes and the public alike.

As a composer with Score Draw Music, who write music for television and ads, Gordon is aware how difficult it can be to make music work as a living as an artist.

A successful career starts with songwriting, which is the hardest thing to achieve. As well as a two-hour co-writing masterclass with Notting Hill Music, Output’s 2017 keynote speaker Bob Lefsetz, an industry commentator and consultant, Gordon notes, is known for his insightful writing about songwriting and the empowerment of independent artists in the digital age.

“If your songwriting isn’t extraordinary, it’s like a house that doesn’t have solid foundations,” says Gordon.

Great songs are the beginning and artists have to work hard after that he continues.

Hard working, class musicians

“For an artist to making something like £10,000 a year is the biggest step up and for what it’s worth, the bands I’ve seen successfully do that have built a network in the industry which they’ve built through quality of material without doing too much hard asking. They’re great live, their music has been picked up and endorsed and that music has lead to a sync opportunity or to play meaningful run of shows in a territory that is worth more than 50 quid a night.”

Gordon also acknowledges that a career in music isn’t attainable for everyone.

“A band is a bit like a football team, you have the artist at the front, if you don’t have those other 10 people in your team, it’s going to be super hard. For some, it maybe won’t be a full-time income but that’s OK as well as people go into music for completely different reasons.”

As Gordon sees it, Output is an opportunity for artists and industry alike to learn and network with each other .

“I’m a great believer in putting groups of creative people in rooms together and letting them chat. You need to meet people face to face if you want a relationship to continue going forward.”

Output is also an opportunity to approach music industry topics with fresh enthusiasm and energy, which explains why the exuberant party-starting Andrew WK was their first keynote speaker in 2014.

“I went to conferences when I was younger and they were all so serious - delegates sitting there with big frowns on their face, and it would be dry and quite dull,” says Gordon. “It felt alien from what he music industry can be about - which is passionate raw creativity and it being articulated and adopted.”

- Register for Output here