Proudly Presenting…ktc mgmt
wow, its finally here…
I started ktc mgmt as a consulting company back in 2004. My business partner and I had helped a few big companies with projects and did fairly well in doing so. We learned a lot, won some and lost a few too. Things were pretty good.
In 2008, I decided to change the companies focus towards music because of many personal influences, my family and because I thought it would be fun to take on another challenge.
Coldplay said it best.
“Nobody said it was easy, No one ever said it would be this hard”
After grinding out efforts on the management side with a band divided in Sweden and the U.S., absorbing/learning as much as I could about the music business and helping my family with a music-based non-profit, I started to see the light on what ktc mgmt should do next.
We want to help artists make and save money. We won’t make them sign any difficult contracts, we’ll just touch and go as you need us. We’ll work our asses off for your music and your band. We’ll do whatever it takes.
None of this is possible without a boat load of thanks to:
Aurora Cowen, Charissa Lock, everyone at ktc that helped with design, development, SEO, video and music production, my friends who keep my grounded and my family which inspires and supports me in the most unbelievable of ways.
Time to shine here at ktc.
Our press release from earlier today can be found here: ktc mgmt Press Release
Look for this blog to relaunch at killingthecabinet.com soon.
Oh and we’re releasing a video soon too.
Thanks,
Matt
SOPA & PIPA are just the beginning…
Learn a little bit more about SOPA and PIPA.
My official take on these bills:
“Although I do believe artists deserve better protection for their music, I think both of these bills (SOPA and PIPA) are poorly written. However, I personally and professionally hope every traditional and digital medium realizes this as truth and will work together to formulate a plan that will solidify and not break the greatness of the internet.” - Matt Downes, president and founder of ktc mgmt 1/17/2012
matt
Justice & The Rapture @ Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas
Check out this uber cool video from Justice called Civilization from last year.
We’ll be here, without fail:
Direct support will be provided by The Rapture. Here is “In the Grace Of Your Love”:
matt
10 Days, 6 Great Songs
Some great new songs I’ve heard through the first ten days of the year.
Awolnation - “Not Your Fault” (special thanks to @jade_sue)
Ryan Adams - “Do I Wait”
Alex Day - “Forever Yours”
Cub Scouts - “Evie” (special thanks to @wearehunted)
Paper Route - “Better Life” (new album out soon, special thanks to @shinyredelea)
Sneaky Sound System - “Big”
Don’t forget to support these artists any way you can. Buy their albums, merch or go see them live.
***special write-up about the Shins tomorrow***
matt
January 2012 Releases!
Albums to get excited about:
Cloud Nothings: Attack on Memory [Carpark]
Super pumped for this band to shine in 2012. They rock n roll very hard.
Snow Patrol: Fallen Empires [Fiction/Interscope]
I’ve been listening to these guys for a third of my life. With classics such as “Run” and “Chasing Cars” in their already dynamite catalog, they look to add the track “This Isn’t Everything You Are” to that list.
Chairlift: Something [Columbia]
The Brooklyn American pop duo releases their third studio album and first Major label release with Columbia records. (after being on the ultra hip Kanine Records and having their last album re-released on Columbia) You might remember the ultra pop track “Bruises” which was featured in a Ipod commercial back in 2009. Excited to see whats on deck!
All three albums are slated for a January 24th release.
Lana Del Rey: Born to Die [Polydor]
The beautiful and trendy Lana Del Rey looks to put out her first major label release this month and set the world on fire. CAA is taking care of her touring and she should be ready to take America by storm after her January 14th Saturday Night Live appearance. Good luck Lana. Album out 1/31.
matt
ktcmgmt.com, killingthecabinet.com
2012!!!
thanks to my friend Jackie for this cool “city” landscape picture.
I want to get in shape. I want to breath better. I want to sleep better. I want to work harder. I want to contribute more. I want to listen better. I want to share more. I want to donate more. I want to see more of the world. I want to reconnect with people I miss. I want to be closer to the people I love. I want to care more. I want to believe more. I want the world to be a better place. I want to earn all of everything making it that much sweeter. Dig a little deeper, try a little harder, live a little better and get a little further.
Here’s to 2012! Happy New Year!
matt
ktcmgmt.com, killingthecabinet.com
Earbits(ing)
UPDATE: The earbits people corrected me on some of my statistics below. They have 200+ labels and 50,000 songs (not 100 labels and 20,000 songs as I indicated below…Thanks for the info @earbits!).
Earlier this year I came across a few new music services. Turntable.FM, Rdio and Earbits. Rdio is ok but needs a bigger catalog. Turntable is cute and at its peak earlier this year was a great place for music discovery. I found some new music from Mute Math, a couple bands I had never heard of (*yet) like Phantogram, Washed out and Crystal Stilts on Turntable but lately they’ve gone soft on the user-front. The one that I use on and off that may be the richest of all new music discovery solutions is earbits.com.
Out of the Y-combinator VC program Earbits has raised between $500k and $1m depending on what source you read. They’re a commercial free music-radio-station and marketing platform. They were also a part of the initial Facebook music integration so they’ve made some serious strides in the last two years from kicking off back in 2009.
Its pretty easy to get your music up there if you’re new artist that controls his or her own masters and publishing. You submit your music to them and it goes through an approval process. From what I’ve learned, about the selection process, its a combination of music quality (ie. how well its recorded) and musicianship that goes into the decision to add your music to their catalog. They aren’t eager to dismiss anyone as almost anything that falls into the “gray” area usually gets accepted. They are here for the music. The company chiefs are musicians themselves and have the “musician” in mind. All they ask from the bands are a high quality photo, a bio and the music. They take care of the rest.
The interface is clean and easy to use. They require you to sign-up through facebook so they know you’re real and also have iOS and Android applications. They’ve pretty much thought of it all. Once you’re logged in you can browse around by genre to listen to music and favorite tracks or dismiss them and move on without limitations. Once you click your favorite genre a song starts playing immediately. The page you’re on is has a player at the top, a picture of the band/artist in the middle, your facebook friends in a row (above the fold, for sharing) and further information about the band/artist that you can scroll down to see (a bio, more pics, more tunes for preview and concert dates.) You can skip a bunch of songs in a row until you favorite something or just let it play without having “liked” or “disliked” anything. Tracks that you liked can than be shared via twitter or facebook and will also be placed in your account for future.
They don’t “charge” the artists for playing the music and conversely they don’t pay them for plays either. What they intend on using the platform for in the future is to charge bands for “local” plays. Say your Indie-Genred’ band has a show coming up in Los Angeles in 3 weeks. They will play your bands songs to the Los Angeles Indie crowd user-base for a few pennies per track. On your profile picture a promotion to your show with links to buy tickets will appear. Seems like a smart way to integrate conversions.
What’s unique about earbits is that most of the music is from unsigned bands. Where I might click skip on Pandora, until I hit my cap, because I’ve heard the same Muse song 45x already, earbits lets you skip, like or hate as much music as you want to consume. They’re library is about 20k songs deep and over 100 independent labels, at the time of this writing, and is expanding everyday with tracks from all different genres and music from all over the world. You won’t find Michael Jackson, Muse or Jennifer Lopez in their catalog but thats not the point of Earbits. They have more products coming out in the future including a cloud solution. They’re a great team of people and with a simple interface, great music and facebook integration Earbits looks to be around for the long-haul.
If you control both sides of your music you have every reason to get your music up on Earbits.com. Check it out!
matt
ktcmgmt.com, killingthecabinet.com
