Open Music Media Belfast is the new name for the NI Music Industry Meetups. Why? A couple of reasons. Firstly we’re keen to give our participants access to a wider network – Open Music Media was founded in London and there will be ‘OMM’ events happening worldwide. Secondly we like the focus, ambition and intent of Open Music Media.

It’s where music is going. The time for lamenting the death of the old regime is over, and OMM is forum for ideas and a meeting of minds that will help shape the future of the industry. Whilst it’ll ask the big questions that affect us all, it’ll also focus in on the new strategies that will help our music thrive and our music businesses prosper.

Yes, we’re all in business, and OMM Belfast will be the friendly, focused and inspiring place where we’re all pulling in the same direction.

The next OMM Belfast takes place at the Limelight on Friday December 4th, from 6-9pm.

We’ll be looking at the mix of music, media and social networks, with perspectives from BalconyTV.com founder Stephen O’Regan and Gawain Morrison, founder of Filmtrip, musician, promoter and pioneer of alternate uses of music in media.

Facebook event link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171257027313&ref=ts

so on friday night i started a green curry but realising that my chicken was a bit wiffy, i opted for the safe option and ordered in from the excellent Jasmine in Ballyhackamore. not wanting to waste the already softened onions and garlic, i fired together a quick and surprisingly tasty broth as follows:

1. soften one small onion and a large clove of garlic in oil/butter
1.5 add chopped leek and soften too
2. add a chopped carrot or three
3. season
4. add some chopped chard (from the vegetable box)
5. add a vegetable stock cube
6. add a pint or so of stock
7. cook still the veg is tender

best served the next day with some bread and cheese

this is a test posterous

rich

Techcrunch reports that “360″ Music Deals Become Mandatory As Labels Prepare For Free Music - as announced by Edgar Bronfman, CEO of Warner Music. Fair enough I say, for those that want to get into bed with the majors. Its a simple deal: they invest in you, they own your IP, and they get a return on everything. This makes perfect business sense to me, if you want to submit yourself to that ham-fisted machine and accept the consequences. Thankfully there's an alternative 360 approach that a lot of artists are (perhaps unwittingly) pursuing, as characterised by the luminous Andrew Ferris of Smalltown America, who stood head and shoulders above many of the panelists at Thursday's NIMIC 'The Way Forward' conference. Andrew described how STA have been an unashamedly 360-degree operation since day one, except they aren't a record label collecting copyrights, but a creative services agency that offers a range of skillsets and services. If they really believe in your music, they'll invest, but if you just need to access some expertise in distribution, touring or merchandise, they can help you out for a fair price. Similarly, Nick Fitzsimons' Penny Distribution service is designed to demystify licensing and publishing for acts, whilst offering access to targeted online marketing and internet radio contacts that would otherwise take considerable effort to reach. Both of these music businesses are based in Northern Ireland :-) Many artists I come into contact with 'don't know where to start' - and I guess that is a fair point, it can be overwhelming but the information is out there. Blogs like New Music Strategies and Hypebot offer ongoing commentary and analysis of the many new tools and ideologies that have developed in music recently, particularly the convergence of music, marketing, social media, attention and commerce. There are no solid answers, but that's half the fun. One thing is certain: musicians can no longer afford to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to 'business', they will simply be left behind. These services complement the many areas that artists can manage directly, such as digital distribution, building fan mailing lists and social interaction, forming part of an inspired new music ecosystem that is fair and respects all the skills needed in a successful music enterprise.

i've enabled commenting on here. feel free to speak your mind :-)

having seen Simon Rimmer make a baked aubergine 'omelette' a few weeks ago, and tasted the one my mum made i decided to give it a bash and a twist... beware - this is garlic-tastic!! slice an aubergine lengthways and fry it (in batches) till golden slice a red pepper, toss in oil and bung in the oven for 10 mins or so meanwhile, grind a teaspoon of cumin seeds and stir into to 4 beaten eggs then blend 3 or 4 decent garlic cloves and a good handful of breadcrumbs (1 slice) add 4 good tablespoons of Crème fraîche to the garlic and stir combine the garlic mixture with the eggs and season take the pepper slices out of the oven (peeling the skin if you've sliced the pepper lengthways) to assemble, lightly oil a baking dish and add a layer of aubergine pour over about half the egg/garlic mixture slice some mozarella and scatter over the top add the rest of your aubergine and then the rest of the egg/garlic finally scatter the pepper slices over the top finish with some torn basil leaves and a grating of parmesan bake at 200 for about 12 mins or until really golden serve hot, or from the fridge essentially this is one of those dishes that you can add what you want and it will always taste good!

try as i might, i never seem to be able to fully deplete the supply of carrots that gets topped up each week by the vege man, so before they all went bendy and wizened i did a quick carrot soup search to see if anything interesting popped up. low and behold the BBC Good Food site popped up, (between the site and the excellent mag, GF is getting a lot of use in this household), with a great recipe for Honeyed carrot soup - its very easy and damn tasty, tho next time i'll halve the honey to reduce sweetness slightly. the family has just spent the weekend moving my Nana's furniture and wotnot to her new house and alongside my mum's corn beef and pickle sarnies, the soup went down a treat with the troops!

Check out http://www.digitalcircle.org/2008/10/17/digital-circle-podcast-08-crisis-what-crisis/ for the latest Digital Circle podcast featuring myself, Michelle Gallen, and Ruairi McNally chatting with Davy Sims about the impact of the global economic crisis and new ways of doing things... including the Escape Act album release :-)

Just back from a few days in Manchester/Salford, having attended the UnConvention unconference at Sacred Trinity Church. The event brought together a bunch of like-minded independent music people, all seeking to learn, share and make new friends. I met a lot of friendly, interesting people doing innovative things to make and promote music. I wish these kinds of events could happen every month, cos they generate such a wealth of ideas and inspiration, not to mention new friends! Certainly the main thing I feel post-conference is that i'm glad we're following the independent path. We're not slaves to something that might never happen. Escape Act operate in the real world, and now that the worm has mostly turned for the old music industry, we're in the best position possible to pursue our goals in our own way. Its liberating to say 'i don't want a deal' but i don't mind a bit of outsourcing! ;-) It strikes me that its important for 'the kids' to understand the new independent music industry. Many talented people could save themselves a lot of time and frustration by sidestepping the usual myths associated with a) getting a deal, b) not being a sell-out, and c) being a rockstar. Outside the NME/Top40 merry-go-rounds, making music has gotten a lot purer again, but also a lot wiser, and the lines are constantly being redrawn. It was great to enjoy the most splendid craic of Nick and Tracy over the three days, and it was great to make the acquaintance of many folks including fellow Swervedriver fan and design guruMark Brown, Paddy Steer (of Tool Shed), Andrew Dubber straight-up new music strategist, and Colin, Brad (curry king;), Gareth, Chris, and Phil. Finally I was simply blown away by the awesome performances ofDenis Jones and Tool Shed. Check 'em out!

this was extremely tasty and easy to make, courgettes are more versatile that i first thought. 1. boil the kettle, chop some spring onions and the pancetta and heat a little oil in a pan. thinly slice a courgette (i use a cheese slicer) then cut into thin strips. 2. fry the pancetta in the oil, when it starts to crisp, add the onions. place the tagliatelle in some salted, boiling water. 3. remove the pancetta and onions from the pan, and keep warm. add a couple of tablespoons of pesto to the pan along with some crème fraiche and warm through. 4. with about 2 mins before the pasta is cooked, add the courgettes to the pot. drain when the pasta is done, adding a few tablespoons of the pan water to the pesto mixture. 5. return the pasta/courgettes to the pan, and add half the pesto mixture, tossing carefully to ensure everything is evenly distributed. plate up, sprinkling the onions and pancetta over, and adding the rest of the sauce. grate over some parmesan, grind some black pepper and serve with some sliced tomatoes. nom. another good use for courgette is carrot, cumin and courgette soup: toast some ground cumin seeds in the pan, then soften onions, and carrots, courgettes and a spub along with stock, cook, blitz.... eat!