Martin Atkins

Hi, I’m Mike. I’m with Uketastic here at Chicago Web Conference. I’m sitting here with Martin Atkins, who’s written the book Welcome to the Music Industry, You’re Fucked. And he’s also spoken at quite a few regional tech conferences, UX MAD, Madison Ruby, and today here at Chicago WebConf. One of the kind of, and also he’s been in a few industrial bands, you’ve played drums with Ministry Nine Inch Nails, correct, can I joke, a few small bands from my youth. You come to these technical conferences and you talk about the music industry, what is it that you want to teach technical people about the music industry? I think that, that’s kind of a good question. One of the things I’m trying to do, for me, is expand my knowledge. I mean, I can do music business stuff, I can sit down with a band in half an hour, show them how to make an extra $60,000 in a year, blindfold, you know? Music business has been my life. Then education became my world, maybe six or seven years ago, and I love that, reaching out to younger and younger kids. Oh yeah, you teach at the Medicine Media Institute. Medicine Media Institute, yeah, but I also, I guest lecture all over the world, in music business and entrepreneurial activities, but I think that, I think the more interesting question is, more interesting to me anyway, is how did, initially, UX Madison reached out to me, right, which you don’t, for a programming conference, or Madison Ruby, which is Ruby on Rails, stuff that, I didn’t know these terms. Right. Six months ago. I thought it was super cool that they reached out to myself, Clyde Stubblefield, who’s the funky drummer, the world’s most sampled drummer, to come and speak to them at a conference about programming or whatever, and I haven’t seen that kind of openness, the desire to be exposed to new things from the music business. You know, the music business, you know, I just did a heavy metal convention in Calgary, and it was very cool. It was cool of them to have me, basically a punk rocker, come up and talk to them, but it would be, the equivalent of what UX Madison did would be for the Calgary Heavy Metal Music Festival to have a baseball player, or somebody from a cookery show, come in and go, “This is what we do with spinach, oh.” So after learning some interesting things from Dale Carnegie, about social media, about my dad. Social media stuff, before there was social media, learning from the Vikings, learning from a contemporary music blues class in California, that Woody Guthrie was actually kind of the first punk, you know, exposing myself to new and different, random things. It’s how I’ve learned, so that’s why I want to come do this. So it’s like, what am I here to teach these people? Nothing. I’m here to learn. That’s right. I think that some of the things I say about a band, also apply to a brand, you know, in the same way that a band has to worry about their fans, I mean, you know, I think those worlds have crossed over now. There are more fans of the iPhone than there are fans of most bands. Right. You know, the, you know, technology is the new, cool, coolest band. Yeah, you identified, I have an iPhone. It’s the new Starbucks. Right. And I just spoke at the Apple store last week, right, and I was nervous. I was more nervous about that than South by Southwest in front of a thousand people, you know, because it was the Apple store. Oh, so it was the brand presentation that you were like, I’m in Apple? Yeah. But it’s an Apple store, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m keynoting here. I’m doing this. I’m in South America. I’m doing that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I’m going to be at the Apple store. Ooh. Really? Yeah. It’s like. It’s like, oh, come on. But is it, is it because that just made me surprised to be like, the Apple store? You know, like. No. Apple is the new cool. Yeah. This week. Now it’s, now it’s reached the zenith of its coolness. Mm-hmm. It’s downhill all the way now. Yeah. You know, even Richard Branson says, you know, choose to be the underdog and Apple has been and now it isn’t. Yeah. And so the, the scene is set for some underdog, except Apple keeps buying all the underdogs, don’t they? Yeah. And so with your, with your goal of you learning by coming out and exposing, so that’s something I, I’ve, I’ve agreed with. I, I didn’t come into software development as a child. I didn’t grow up in it. I, I started as a 25 and had a variety of experiences and I think that’s flavored my approach to, to what I do in, in, in micro. Is that something, so seeking out those, those experiences and, and, and challenges that are beyond work, beyond your field, is that something you encourage? Yeah. Well, I, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t speak in public. Mm-hmm. And just, you know, I’m like anybody else. The first time, I, I spent my life behind a drum kit. Mm-hmm. On stage in front of anything to 15,000 people, live television. Mm-hmm. And, but to stand without a drum kit. Mm-hmm. Just to talk to people. My legs were shaking. Yeah. And you just keep practicing and doing that. I started to educate by accident. I went to Columbia College, Chicago, which is not far from here. Mm-hmm. To get interns to help me promote a tour. Mm-hmm. And I did a presentation for the faculty. Mm-hmm. And they said, “When can you start?” And I said, “I can start. I can take interns with me now.” They’re like, “No, when can you start teaching this?” Oh, really? And, and, and I was like, “Huh?” And I had this, I had this, I had this passion. Mm-hmm. And I had this slow-motion moment in my head of like, “This is ridiculous, but what would I tell my children? Grab the nettle, expose yourself to new opportunities.” So I said, “When does the class start?” Yeah. They’re like, “This Saturday.” Okay. Is it an hour-long class? It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. It’s an hour-long class. 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