#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation Podcast

Arts Curation: Championing Independent Music

Episode Summary

Daniel Seligman is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of POP Montreal and the Founder of Danagement Artist Management. Daniel talks about how he made his way into the music business with no strategy and how Pop Montreal grew out of a very fertile music scene at the beginning of the 2000s. Marc and Daniel also get into "the hustle". Festival showcases can only help artists so much. Artists also need to know what their goals are and how to help themselves. As an artist manager, Daniel offers tips on sustaining a career in music, be it as a musician or on the industry side, plus a whole lot more...

Episode Notes

" If you’re passionate you should be able to find the hustle because it’s what you love to do. Most people in the music industry are passionate, so if you’re not then it’ll be hard to get to the hustle. My main piece of advice: Find what you’re passionate about and the hustle will follow."

Today's guest is Daniel Seligman who has been active in the Montreal and international music scene since 2000. He has managed Stars, The Unicorns, Socalled and Yves Jarvis through the company he co-owns called Danagement. In 2002 Seligman co-founded the multidisciplinary festival POP Montreal and remains the festival's creative director. An annual not-for-profit cultural event, POP Montreal champions independence in the arts by presenting emerging and celebrated talents. The 5-day festival showcases more than 400 performances to audiences of over 60,000. Founded in 2002, POP Montreal helped break countless emerging artists to the world while providing a dizzying and diverse array of headliners like RZA, Fever Ray, Bonobo, The Orb, Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega, Godflesh, David Byrne, St Vincent, Butthole Surfers, John Cale, Beck, Franz Ferdinand, Regina Spektor, Queens of the Stone Age etc. 

Danagement Artist Management oversees music management, business management, tour production and grant writing for a wide variety of artists including;  Basia Bulat, Braids, Jean-Michel Blais, Le Ren, Owen Pallett, Sarah Neufeld, Socalled, God Speed You Black Emperor, Wolf Parade, The Besnard Lakes and more. In 20 years POP Montreal has produced thousands of shows and events throughout Montreal and around the world. On a festival landscape that’s persistently male and Euro-centric, POP succeeds in offering attendees respite. This year the festival takes place in Montreal, from September 27th to October 1st, 2023. The 5-day festival showcases more than 400 performances to audiences of over 60,000.

Show Notes:

#HowWeListen Live: In Conversation

Pop Montreal

Danagment

00:10 - Byta.com

02:26 - Ursa Pop Montreal HQ & Great venue

05:00 - Montreal is unique, Montreal was super cheap

07:08 - I started off managing Stars

08:51 - Music Management is not rocket science, if you have a driver’s license, you have a usable skill

10:15 - The basics skills required to manage a band

11:00 - How did Pop Montreal get started/Peter Rowan

13:20 - The importance of alternative weeklies

14:37 - Posters were cool

16:20 - Montreal’s moment in the sun (when it comes to indie rock)

20:15 - Why did you start Pop Montreal?

25:30 - Pop Montreal was for the artists

28:20 - Byta.com

29:35 - You can not just go and play at a festival, you need to do more

32:10 - Booking agents are now key

36:00 - Opinions on Social media

38:20 - there are more gatekeepers

41:20 - Michelle Cable artist manager

43:10 - Daniel’s work as an artist manager

45:42 - Have to have the passion, and do your homework

50:56 - You have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty - Chris Blackwell

52:44 - Find the passion & the hustle will follow.

54:25 - Byta.com

Music by Fin Productions and Oliver Lyu