Went to the San Fran Music Tech Summit today, on behalf of good ol' Audible Magic. Great conference - always thrilled to be there. Pity, all of those NDAs that I'm covered by, or I'd be able to offer some color commentary.
I went to the last conference they threw, also at Hotel Kabuki, right after I started at Audible Magic, and I'll admit - I had low expectations. Til it blew me away. When do you get to grab an unplanned lunch with someone from a company that just acquired another company, someone from the acquired company, and be the third piece of the puzzle yourself? The sessions weren't bad, either.
Fast forward to today, and I can actually say I regret not going to a conference event. Usually I'm the guy who either flits in and out, or sits in the back pounding on his blackberry and/or laptop, totally oblivious of his surroundings, until cocktail hour (which, for anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, always starts about half an hour before they say it does on the schedule, if you're nice to the staff). But today was different.
I was captivated by the discussion between Fred Von Lohmann of EFF and Zahavah Levine of YouTube, and a few other people, on the subject of copyright issues in music law. It was awesome. You'd think that after this long in online media I'd know that stuff cold. I do. But I feel like most of that coldness came from today.
So what's to regret? Thanks to work, I had to peace out midday - halfway through the social networks and music panel, and it helped that it didn't seem great - but then again I only lasted for four minutes of it, and I was pounding away on the blackberry for 3.5 of them, until I realized I had to go anyway. So perhaps I judged too quickly. But the regret - the regret.
Tim Ferriss, who wrote "The Four Hour Work Week", was interviewed by Derek Sivers of CD Baby, after I left. Wish I had been there for that. I actually regret it.
I was reading about his diet... the slow carb diet. I happen to know one or two things about diets, and I'm in pretty good shape. Not insane shape, but pretty good shape. The knowledge he has of diets, nutrition, etc. (you've got to read at least a few of the 800+ comments to get a sense for the depth of it) is astounding. If he approaches everything in life with that kind of intensity (which he seems to) he's on his way to being downright wise. Like I said: impressed, and I regret not being there for it.
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