Interview with Nick Bobetsky at Milan Records

Emily: Tell me a little about your position and the type of company you work for:
Nick: I am SVP of Milan Records. We are an indie record label that speciazlizes in a diverse group of developing and emerging artists, soundtracks and world music.

Emily: Do you think Internet Marketing is important to your business? Why or why not?
Nick: Extremely. I have over 1,000 music blogs that I share new music with. I encourage the blogs to give the mp3 away. I consider this extremely valuable marketing for the entire record, project and artist's career. In addition, with the slow death of print, the struggling and poorly run radio and the ever increasing competitiveness of television, the Internet is an efficient and effective way to put new and interesting music in front of people who appreciate it

Emily: Do you think Social Networking is important to your business? Why or why not?
Nick: I do. Myspace is dying and Facebook is not media-heavy enough to really be a substitute of the music haydays of Myspace and I'm not sure who is going to step up. Lala, Imeem, Pandora, ILike etc are all great sites - I think Spotify is going to be the future. Social networking is so important because to have a truly successfuly campaign online, you need it to go viral. Therefore, social net sites are an integral part in encourage open and creative communication between FANS - not advertisers and consumers

Emily: What types of Internet Marketing tactics are used by your company?
Nick: Giving away music, publicizing videos on sites, pushing tour dates online, tastemaker sites such as Flavorpill, LAist, Chicagoist etc... The Internet gives me the opportunity to share music - which is the most valuable asset I have... Therefore I look for any opportunities that helps me appeal to the band's fanbase and also explore new avenues, genres and communities of people

Emily: Does your company belong to any Social Media sites? Which ones and why?
Nick: All of the big ones - We are not actively looking to brand Milan so we do not put a huge amount of effort into them... However, we are present to try to aggregate our music

Emily: Do you think Internet Marketing and Social Media have influenced your company either positively or negatively? Please Explain.
Nick: I think that digital downloading turned the music industry upside down in the turn of the century and the music industry completely screwed up. I think things are getting very exciting - but the discrepancy between content and profit is nowhere near what it used to be. However, good music, if handled correctly will always see the light of day. Internet Marketing and Social Media create new and interesting ways to do that - you just have to think differently and expect to work much, much harder to yield the same results. However, the dinosaurs that once ran the music industry are slowly dying - In my opinion it can only get better and provides a world of opportunity.