Five Q's with Indie Week/Screen X Screen/CD Baby’s Darryl Hurs
Presented by Slaight Music and launching next week, the virtual SxS Conference focuses on the digital market for music. It is the creation of the folks behind Indie Week, and its founder discusses both events and his gig at CD Baby here.
By FYI Staff
It turned out to be a very busy year for Indie Week founder Darryl Hurs. In early 2020 he was planning to put the conference on pause for a year but when the Global pandemic hit he decided that artists more than ever needed to stay connected and he took the 2020 edition successfully online.
On top of Indie Week, he has founded the Screen X Screen Conference, hosted Indie Weekly sessions, and does marketing development for CD Baby Canada. He still found time to answer five questions for FYIMusicNews.
The first Screen x Screen Conference (SxS) takes place February 16 - 20. How does it differ from Indie Week?
“SxS focuses on the digital market for music - namely live-streaming, gaming, AI, VR, marketing, and online tools. The pandemic has forced us to advance online and now is the time for everyone to know as much as possible about how things work and where there's money to be made. Indie Week is more about all aspects of the music industry and international markets”.
Can we expect to see another Indie Week this November and will it incorporate live music?
“Indie Week will indeed be back in November but as far as live music goes the jury is still out. There will be online showcasing that may be pre-recorded. We will have another online conference in April called Indie101 that will focus on the business, from writing a song to production, publishing and distribution, marketing etc. Basically the A-Z of creating and releasing music.”
You have hosted a series of free Indie Weekly events since last year. Do you plan on continuing these?
“Indie Weekly is every Tuesday 4pm est (Toronto time), it's free to register and attend, and we always have some great guests from the industry sharing their knowledge. They have been great and we have seen the audience grow. We now have a new online community from around the world tuning in and networking.”
What else is in store for Indie Week?
“Well, the world has changed, and we have to change with it. A number of people are waiting for things to get ‘back to normal’ - there's a good chance it won't be back to normal and things will be different. For now, we are full steam ahead online. We are hosting 3-4 online conferences this year, we have the weekly sessions every Tuesday, we also are working on mentorships programs as well as a few more surprises that we can't mention yet. It's an exciting time and new opportunities are presenting themselves. Stay tuned to indieweek.com!
You also are involved with CD Baby, tell us about what you do for them?
“I run the market development for Canada which involves everything from marketing, strategic planning, local support, guest speaking (mostly for schools and conferences), social media, running the Canada playlist, and more. It's a great position and very rewarding especially during these times helping artists. One artist who in particular stands out runs a channel on YouTube called Mikey and His Uke. Last year he was doing ukulele punk rock covers on Facebook, and now he has a channel with over 11K subs and has many videos in the 100s of thousands of views. Just shows where you can go with an idea.”
– Screen X Screen (February 16-20) is presented by Slaight Music and CD Baby
