By now, Scion A/V, the creative enterprise of Scion, which is a subsidiary of Toyota, is familiar to most metallers. Take it as a multinational sticking its cash-filled fingers into the underground’s bum or as an unlikely benefactor to artists like Immolation, Arsis, Enslaved, Primordial, and countless more, the company willing to throw multi-stage music festivals for the price of pocket lint (maybe less), and doing so with style, substance, and, of course, precision branding. Oh, Scion A/V do small-sized black ‘n’ white ‘zines, too. Tell me (Chris), what has the Ford or Chrysler or Chevy you’re driving done for you lately? Besides excruciating appointments with service departments every 8 months, give or take. Actually, that’s not an endorsement for Scion, but more like a statement of truth if this were the ’90s.
More Scion A/V stuff then? Right. This time, they’ve paneled a few heavy weights in underground merchandising–Season of Mist’s Gordon Conrad (ex-Relapse Records), JSR Merchandising’s Oscar Martinez (ex-Century Media), and some guy I’ve never heard of named Edison Chen; sorry, dude–to discuss, for real, why merchandising matters to most metalheads. In addition, the panelists go over music sales and merchandising as a supplementary (or primary) revenue generator for bands who’ve experienced (or are experiencing) the hardships of dwindling record sales in the wake of downloading or streaming. Actually, it’s more than that, and we’re pretty sure you understand, ’cause if you’re like us, you have more black t-shirts with offensive graphics than you’d like to admit. Fact is: your black t-shirt collection never stops growing.
The Scion A/V Music(Less) Music Conference took place on October 3rd and 4th in Los Angeles, California. OK, let’s check out the latest discussions from Music(Less).
** Scion A/V has created and championed projects for over 100 underground musical artists, supported tours and special events, created film documentaries, curated art installations, and produced a collection of ‘zines. In addition, Scion A/V executes the annual Scion Music(Less) Music Conference and operates 17 broadband radio stations via Scion Streaming Radio. For more information, visit ScionAV.com
