Berklee Blogs introduces Devin Wojtanek, a Music Business major and spring intern, as he begins his internship with Indie Ambassador, the team behind presskit.to, a portfolio web app designed to enhance communication within the professional music & entertainment industries. In today’s blog, Devin tells us about an exciting new project and his thoughts on SXSW”.

Indie Ambassador was super involved in this year’s SXSW. I unfortunately have never been able to make my way down to the lone star state to partake in the giant music fest. By virtue though, I really felt like I was involved in something bigger than myself these past couple weeks. It makes me yearn to be there in person one day, possibly playing the Berklee Showcase, working with some company, or of course, just being there for the music. 

Presskit.to launched an online radio station for SXSW, streaming their own catalogue of live sessions. They also were lucky enough to be allowed to stream the Berklee Showcase live. I was in the office at the time of the show, which spanned all afternoon with eleven bands. Included was a high school blues band, whose front man was taking Ear Training on Berklee Music Online before college. I wish I had thought of doing that!

The whole Berklee lineup included these pre-Berklee students, current students, and alumni. I cannot stress enough how cool I think it is that such a forum exists for new and upcoming musicians. Not only does SXSW offer its own giant stepping-stone on a massive scale, but you can also witness other organizations, such as Berklee, whose involvement is just as important, making sure that these upcoming artists are showcased in the right fashion. These smaller organizations that get involved in SXSW really help to make sense out of all the madness that is the up and coming music scene.

Being in multiple bands myself, I can attest to that sense of uncertainty when it comes to attempting to showcase your music to as wide of an audience as possible. You can end up giving off a “noisy” vibe, possibly coming off as desperate, and giving more emphasis to being heard than just playing. SXSW, along with its partners and contributors, enables bands to solely focus on playing the music. That’s a beautiful thing. I feel I also should mention to everyone reading that Dave Grohl’s keynote speech (you can find it on NPR) is one of the most inspiring musical speeches I’ve ever heard.

Outside of SX, another project I’ve been working on at Indie is developing a list of potential future marketing partners. I am delving into the depths of the Internet looking for music related companies, which IA and Presskit.to could partner with in some way. This also involves not only finding the companies, but also explaining why, and what sort of strategy we could possibly use to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship.

First off, I felt like this was way too legitimate of a project to give an intern, but I of course took it on with the best of my abilities. I felt a lot of the time I was only spit-balling ideas and potential strategies, but I soon realized that that’s what this project was about. It’s pure brainstorming, of which there can be no bad ideas. I’m quite positive that most of my suggestions won’t be legitimate enough to undertake, but just a few ideas could end up making a real impact. I’m pretty excited about that.

 

Read Devin’s Other Posts:

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The Future of Music is Technology

Starting Out…

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Bio

Devin Wojtanek is a Music Business student in his final semester at Berklee (hometown: Chicago). He has played guitar in numerous punk bands during his stay in Boston, and currently finds himself as half of the guitar duo known as Safety. After graduating Berklee he plans on moving to NYC with his buddies to continue pursuing both the artistic and business aspects of music. He is currently a marketing intern at Indie Ambassador, a company which has recently launched the portfolio web-app Presskit.to.

 

Check Devin out on Facebook:

Devin Wojtanek

Safety (band)

Foul Weather Fans

 

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