Ed Bicknell - Seminar: Music Marketing (Tomkats, Broadway, USA, 26th June 1998) |
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| Review by Ken Donaldson
(Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA) |
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I did attend the Ed Bicknell session at Tomkats on Friday afternoon. Ed spoke to a small audience of about 40 or so persons. Many were songwriters, musicians, managers etc. There were some record company personnel in attendance as well. It was a question and answer session that, as Ed put it, "could last for 5 minutes or 2 hours" depending on the involvement of the audience. He ended up speaking for about 2.5 hours. Some of the highlights... -MK was once approached by Ford who wanted to use his music to promote the Ford Sierra. MK said something like "No, it's a piece of crap" and refused to allow them the use of his music. As it turned out, Ford copied Telegraph Road for their commercials, but just enough that legally it wasn't copyright infringement. I think the music had to have 7 or 8 copied notes in succession, but the copy always stopped short enough to keep them (Ford) out of trouble. MK called Ed, told him they were using his music anyway and he should have just said "Yes". It was a big contract (I recall about US$750,000) and Ed said he fell out of his chair when Mark said "No". -Ed said that David Knopfler didn't quit Dire Straits, he was DEFINITELY fired! -Ed had to wake Mark up just before session. Apparently he had a long night (but not at the after concert party!) -Ed made the observation that he and MK never discuss the possibility of a Dire Straits reunion - it just never comes up in conversation! -MK has taken a somewhat "self-indulgent" path with his new music, and that although Ed hasn't always agreed with him, MK can certainly afford to take a less commercially successful route at this stage of his career. -I asked Ed if there was any chance of seeing MK play again during the events that ran through today (Sunday). Ed said almost definitely not, that MK and the Band would be in the studio exclusively. -Ed is a very funny and frank speaker. He didn't hold back any punches when talking about people he doesn't care for. -Ed autographed my Notting Hillbillies liner. He said he would because he did play on it. -When the session was finishing up, Tom Morales (President of Tomkats, the promoter of Chet Atkins Musician Days) brought a note to Ed and said that VH-1 was interested in making a special or the concert. Ed indicated that should be OK! -Tom also said that CBS wanted to videotape some of Mark's Master Session, but Mark said NO! -Tom said that MK wanted less of a roll in next year's Chet Atkins Days, but has apparently agreed to come back again! -Tom is trying to convince Mark to bring the Notting Hillbillies for next years event. COOL! |