Daniel Glass & Amanda Palmer at Canadian Music Week

I just interviewed them, this is what I learned...

DANIEL GLASS

1. Word of the year...RELENTLESS! That's a key to Daniel's success, his unflagging devotion to getting it done.

2. Last year's word...INSPIRATION! You can't create if you've got no inspiration. Keith Richards told Daniel to go to Marrakesh, Daniel did, he's traveled the world to get recharged and inspired. That's where the great music comes from, that's why so many of the great records were cut in unique, out of the way, locations. Whether they be Headley Grange or the Chateau. You mix it up and you get ideas. So get out of the house and experience!

3. The live show is what closes Glassnote on the act.

4. If Daniel can't see the act being on terrestrial radio, he doesn't sign it. He learned this lesson from Jerry Moss. There's a treasure trove of wisdom out there if you mine it.

5. He pays out 50% to the artists on recordings. That may change, a la Martin Mills/Beggars, but Daniel believes in fair deals. If everybody's not happy, it doesn't work. He had one treacherous negotiation, he regrets it.

6. If you want to be on another label, do so. Glassnote is only interested in those who are only interested in them.

7. He doesn't hire anybody from major labels, because he doesn't want to untrain them, to hear the old war stories and how they did it where they used to work.

8. Everybody but his general manager is under thirty, you must be willing to work 7 days a week, or Glassnote is not for you.

9. You must read the Sunday "New York Times." It's a requirement of employment at Glassnote.

10. Terrestrial radio usually doesn't get the new and different. Don't try to find something that fits a slot, discover something unique and bring radio to it. That's why the live show must be so good. So Daniel can bring radio programmers to the gig to be closed.

11. Glassnote wants the merch. They've got an in-house guy who does it. If the act becomes really big, they'll make a deal with a larger company. On big acts, as much as 40% of merch is sold outside the venue, i.e. not at the gig.

12. Glassnote does not require a 360. Does not require you to sign publishing, although they do have a publishing company with six employees focused on syncs.

13. Satellite radio counts. It's where acts get started, get their buzz.

14. Don't be afraid of new technology/ideas. While everybody else decried Spotify, Glassnote embraced it. There's no money in being rooted to the past, and there's a ton of money in the future.

15. Nothing advertises your label more than successful acts. If someone's interested in signing to Glassnote, Daniel says to talk to Phoenix or Mumford or... Treat people right. Karma...it comes back.

AMANDA PALMER

1. Was an outsider. Not one of the cool kids in either high school or college.

2. Became a living statue while on a school program in Germany. The key to success was being GOOD!

3. Was a stripper. Learned that more important than getting one dollar from fifty patrons is getting fifty dollars from one. That's Amanda's perspective, get hard core fans who believe.

4. Threw her own gigs to get started, in the communal house she lived in.

5. Hired an internet team after a guy at a gig told her she needed his services. Told her label they needed to hire him. The label said they would...for one month, just before the album came out. This inspired her to leave her label. The label is frequently behind the times, by interacting with friends/fans you stay informed.

6. Doesn't repeat herself. Sold over 10k worth of t-shirts via Twitter, but that was 2009, when the service was new, that's not replicable now.

7. Probably won't do another Kickstarter, because of fan fatigue.

8. Has no problem asking for money, it's all about trust. Don't beg for money, don't ask fans to help you survive, ask them to help you out with your project.

9. Felt misunderstood over the paying her musicians controversy. She'd been doing this forever, but now people who didn't know her were judging her. If she had to do it all over again, she'd stick to her guns. But her goal at the time was...just make this go away. In other words, the internet agitators win too much. It takes a lot of strength to stand up to the crowd. But what people really want is someone who does this...

10. The little people are often more powerful than the big people. Amanda sold the aforementioned Twitter t-shirts because she called up her web guy at 11 PM on a Friday night in Vermont who put it up on her website...would a big company do that?

11. Lives for fan interaction, can't stop refreshing her Twitter feed.

12. Lives to create, wants to do it all.


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