I was able to track down the ubiquitous Brian Zisk, Executive Producer of the upcoming SF MusicTech Summit IV (Monday, May 18, 2009 in San Francisco), and Shoshana Zisk, co-producer of the event.  Below is their interview with VolumeEleven.net:

Brian, you are a founding board member of the Future of Music Coalition as their Technologies Director, where part of your bio reads “expert at frenzy whipping, brand awareness, and in creating new business models.”  What originally got you interested in working in the music industry?

Brian:  I’ve always loved music, so when an opportunity presented itself to be a founding member of the Green Witch Internet Radio, an early legal webcasting network, it seemed like a fun way to spend my work time for a couple of years at least.  Our aim was to promote and help musicians.  We sold the company, and in the end, did not help musicians as much as we would have liked. So then I (and a few friends) started the Future of Music Coalition to help artists understand and adapt to the rapidly changing music/technology ecosystem.  After running it for a few years, we were so embedded in all aspects of the music industry, that I’ll probably never be able to get out of it!

What motivated you to begin producing the SF Music Tech conferences?

Brian:  I love getting people together, and there is a plethora of music/technology talent in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Considering that so many of us were seeing each other only once a year, in Austin for SXSW or Cannes for Midem, it made sense to create an event where we can get together without having to travel.  Plus, there were so many innovators who didn’t have the resources to travel this way folks can plug in to the scene even when they do not have the resources to travel to these shows.  And companies can bring their whole teams for less than what it costs to fly one or two folks all the way to France.

Plus, our conference is different. Many shows are all about just the CEOs and VPs of marketing.  They tend to leave their tech guys at home, not wanting to let others even know who the developers/creators are.  Our event specifically brings together the developers and CTOs to share knowledge and promote synergies and innovation.  Then the business execs, press, and investors all want to get in with these great creators.

This is the fourth SF MusicTech conference since January 2008.  What have you noticed in the music/business/tech world that is different now than at the first SFMusicTech conference in January 2008?

Brian:  At the time of the first summit, there was a little more posturing.  People in pockets were still raising lots of money.  Now with the tougher economy, companies are leaner and more focused.  There are just as many people doing startups, but they tend to have smaller and higher quality teams.  There’s less noise and more substance.

How have the conferences changed in their focus over this time, if at all?

Brian:  When we first started this conference series, no one knew what to expect.  Over time, a community has revealed itself and it’s become more about amplifying a great group of smart, innovative and interesting individuals.

Our focus has changed from event planning and education to connecting people and helping them to form alliances.

Shoshana, you are also a music lawyer, and past SF MusicTech conferences have included much needed discussion on how to approach the new legal concerns that have arisen with new technology.  What were the hot topics in January 2008 and what will be some of the hot topics this year?  Are there any music-related legal issues that you see perhaps never getting resolved?

Shoshana:  The hot legal topics in January 2008 included 360 deals, webcasting rate setting, and music-tech licensing.  For this summit, the legal panels are on two very hot topics.  The first legal panel is Doing Deals.  This is especially important in the down economy. In these difficult times, success in the music / technology sphere is all about the deals.  How do you find potential deals, how do you qualify them, and what are the terms and tips which will pay off in the long run regarding how to best structure these deals for your clients? We have some of top attorneys in the field discussing this topic, and it should be highly educational for both lawyers and business people.

The second legal panel is is Music in Audio-Visual works.  This panel features the General Counsel for YouTube and the Executive Vice President of Gotuit Media.  Producing videos and posting them online has become as simple as blogging.  Video & Music go together naturally, but the legal issues are quite complex, and in some cases, the stakes are high.  How do we continue with such advancement, in light of the proliferation of parties claiming rights in sounds and images?  That is a major issue which we will discuss at this summit.

As we all know, Silicon Valley based Apple/iTunes is the #1 music distributor.  With this, the LA vs SF line in the music industry was drawn pretty thick.   With technology and entrepreneurship playing such an important role in the current music industry, do you see a permanent shift of the music industry going to places that are tech focused like SF or rather do you see a music industry that will simply be spread out more widely than just LA and Nashville?

Brian:  When the music industry was just about a physical product it didn’t matter where it was based.  Now that it is a digital good those with digital expertise have started playing a more important role.

Any other thoughts you’d like to share?

Brian:  Things continue to be uncertain in the music industry, and at their core the SF MusicTech Summits have been about getting people together so that things can happen.  It is when interesting, smart and motivated folks get together that things can move forward.

Thanks Brian and Shoshana!  Looking forward to this year’s summit!  See you there…