juice your online presence

I currently manage the web and social media strategy and develop sites for musicians ranging from wet-behind-the-ears to Grammy-award winners, helping them navigate the dynamic world of social media to help build loyal, engaged fans in the most effective, creative ways. You can see some best practices I shared with musicians and managers at my clinic I gave at the SXSW Music 2012 (see my slides here).

I’ve always led a double life of music and technology which serves my clients well. On the music side, I co-owned and operated San Francisco’s Blue Room Studios and served as an audio engineer for countless CDs including a Grammy-nominated Latin jazz release, assisted in the production of a double platinum album, and served as a guitarist, keyboardist and singer for various bands.

On the technology side, I served as co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for Angry Coffee.com, which launched the first publicly-available web-based interface to Napster and Napster-like networks just as the Internet emerged as a musical force. We made the front page of the Wall Street Journal due to how dangerously close we came to developing a “Napster-killing application” in close conjunction with an EMI executive.

Today I am able to bring my technology, business and music experience to my clients and other professionals as both consultant and industry expert, including but not limited to, serving as Community Engineer for The SF MusicTech Summit.

I enjoy keeping up to speed on the latest and greatest ways for musicians, bands and brands to implement a strategy of communication via the Web, Facebook and Twitter, which enables fans to find, listen, share, buy, and engage the artists’ music via the Web or live in local venues. WordPress is my platform of choice to support a maximum-impact Web presence. My clients include bands and brands seeking visually exciting and effective Websites, incorporating permission-based marketing which drives calls to action and tangible, commercial results. Please do not hesitate to contact me today.

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the best music and technology conference

As the Community Architect for the SF MusicTech Summit , I have cultivated sponsors, attendees and panelists since the inaugural Summit. This bi-annual conference attracts over 1000 executives, investors and entrepreneurs whom come to the event to find business opportunities and help to establish and participate in the buzzing Northern California music and related technology market.

If you are not already familiar with this great event and are involved in the evolving music/technology ecosystem in any capacity please feel free to reach out to me to discuss sponsorship or panel speaking opportunities.  I am always on the international lookout to turn the executive producer of the event onto new start-up companies that are willing to make the investment to come to San Francisco and share their new technologies with this community.

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and I don't think I'll ever stop

I was COO and Co-founder of Angry Coffee, where we thought Napster was obnoxiously playing in the supposed “grey area” of copyright law. We took it into our own hands, building a competing service that would be legal. How? We hacked into Napster,and made the front page of The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, July 26, 2000. 3 months and 80 major media mentions later we entertained a $300K acquisition offer from Listen.com and shortly thereafter a $20M Letter of Intent from Vitaminic S.P.A. I gained invaluable experiences in writing product specifications, M & A and due diligence processes. And not least, learned how to navigate the landscape of personalities and power brokers in the space.

The start-up is immortalized on Wikipedia and reads as follows:

Angry Coffee, led by Adam Vincent Powell, Todd Tate and CTO Jeff Burchell, deployed the first publicly available web interface to P2P networks when they launched Percolator in June of 2000. When Napster denied Angry Coffee users access to their database, the story appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal.

On June 27, 2000 Angry Coffee made this statement: “Napster has shut us out of their network. We think it’s lame that a company that built its business through unauthorized distribution would consider Percolator to be an unauthorized use of their resources, but they’re entitled to their opinion.”

Soon after this event Angry Coffee went on to assist EMI and Capitol Records with the marketing and promotion of internationally famed band Radiohead, with the release of Kid A in 2000.

I am always open to joining new or existing companies as a team member or advisor. Please feel free to reach out to me.

Like ChatWithTheBand! As VP of Community I am working in tandem with the development team on the product road map, community outreach, and business development. Look for a fully featured App by the SF MusicTech Summit XI or sooner!

ChatWithTheBand lets bands and music artists run listening parties and fan video chat right from their Facebook pages. It’s easy to use and any band with a webcam and mic can be up and running in minutes. 1-to-1 fan video chat while enabling a true 1-to-many group chat experience within Facebook. CWTB can also enable an array of custom eCommerce and co-branding experiences.

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shut up and play your guitar

I front two recording and soon-to-be performing acts.

“Life Love Misery” is an alternative rock group featuring a string quartet.  I am the lead singer-songwriter that wrote all the string arrangements and produced this sonically sound 10 song release with my two band mates and production partners, drummer Ken Stavropolous (Starship, Cacaphony) and bassist Mario Previti (of the legendary Plant Studios).

“Sayla Dobro” is my Dobro playing alter-ego.  The tex-mex sounds that come about when you mix the Dobro with a vintage Yamaha Synth Accordion patch, a Cuban Tres, and a Casio drum machine are a “lo-fi must hear”. I play every instrument on these recordings and produced them in a make-shift project recording studio in my former residence garage in Northern California.

Over the years I have played on, engineered, and produced many recordings. Stay tuned for my discography.

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