Ian Hogarth is the CEO & Co-founder of Songkick. I recently caught up him to talk about the company he founded four years ago after quitting his job at Bain & Company, Singapore. Ian holds a Master’s in machine learning at Cambridge.

Songkick helps you keep track of live music. By integrating your iTunes, Last.fm or Pandora profile, you are able to receive alerts by email whenever a band you listen to announces a date in your city. It also shows users where to buy the cheapest tickets and see who else is going.

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this with me Ian, How are you doing today?

Great thanks! Thanks for taking an interest in our product.

Can you give the readers some background information about yourself, especially about what you were doing before you started Songkick?

Sure. Pete and I are best friends from Cambridge where he studied law and I studied Engineering. Michelle and I met studying Mandarin in Beijing. We quit our jobs in publishing (Michelle), enterprise software (Pete) and strategy consulting (Ian) to start Songkick.

How did the idea for Songkick come about and what made you decide that this was the right idea for you to pursue?

We all share a huge love for live music, and believe that seeing your favourite bands live is something everyone should experience more. We knew a lot of friends who wanted to see more concerts but didn’t have time to keep track of when their favrouite bands came to town. We realised we could use our software development skills to simplify that process and autumatically tell you when bands you listen to announce dates in your city.

Can you tell explain to the readers what Songkick is about?

Songkick helps you keep track of live music. You sign up, give us access to your iTunes, Last.fm or Pandora profile, and we’ll then alert you by email whenever a band you listen to announces a date in your city. We’ll show you where to buy the cheapest tickets and see who else is going.

What would you say was the hardest part of setting up the business?

Finding our first few hires. We were very lucky to meet an amazing developer very early on, Phil Cowans who was working at Microsoft Research then. Looking back, persuading him to quit his job and join us was one of the most significant events.

You rolled out a new integration with Warner!, Can you tell us about it?

Yes absolutely. In order to able to tell our users about every concert by their favourite artists we have built up the most comprehensive database of concert information in the world. We’re very excited to be working with Warner to power the tour data on their artist sites, thus ensuring that bands can present the most accurate and timely data on their tour dates to their fans. This saves bands and managers significant time, and means they can spend more time on their music.

Should we be expecting any other new features on the platform anytime soon?

Yes we have two big launches coming…stay tuned!

How is Songkick funded and what is your revenue model?

We are funded by angels and VCs from the technology and music industries including Y Combinator, Index Ventures, Alex Zubillaga, Jeff Clavier, Stefan Glaenzer, Peter Read, Dan Porter, Betaworks and other great angels.

We generate revenue by generating sales of commerce related to live music – tickets and soon merchandise and live recordings. We are a lead generation engine for the live music industry helping to solve the problem that 50% of concert tickets go unsold.

How has the your market changed since the company’s launch in 2007 and how has your business changed to keep pace?

The ticketing market has continued to fragment with some fantastic new ticketing services emerging like Crowdsurge, Eventbrite, Ticketfly and Topspin, so we’ve continued to focus on aggregating the largest database of concert listings to provide the best service to our users.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Improving the quality of our user experience. That leads to happier users who spread the word more passionately to their friends.

As a UK-Based company that is successful and has been successful with funding, Do you think start-ups in the US have it easier than the UK? What is your take on this?

I think wherever you do it a start-up is hard. In London you have a few advantages as well as the well publicised disadvantages – it’s slightly easier to hire a great team, and for us London has more concerts than any other city in the world, so we’re close to a major live music market which helps refine new ideas.

If you you were to start another enterprise, what might it be?

I would like to do something to help reduce child trafficking.

Since the launch of the company in 2007, what moment would you describe as the most memorable so far?

The night we logged 1 million gigs in our database, and stayed up watching the database before launching a major new version of our site.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

Stay as focused as possible and keep simplifying down your ideas till you have something small you can launch quickly and iterate on. Be ruthless in hiring only the best people. Keep fit and try to exercise even in the longest times.

Finally before we go, Songkick has been a company that has been very successful with raising money, Could you share some tips on raising money?

Be authentic. Find other entrepreneurs to mentor you through the process. Try to avoid letting raising money distract you from what really matters – building a great product and delighting your users.

Thanks for your time Ian

UG started experimenting with music from an early age, with his mom teaching him how to play the piano at the age of three, although he admitted losing interest in music during his teenage years but everything picked up again for him when his dad gave him his first guitar.

This is the full interview with Singer/Songwriter from Berlin, Germany – UG (Urban Germany).

Can you give the readers some background information about yourself?

I am a singer-songwriter from Berlin, Germany.

So did you initally get into music? What is your first memory of being inspired by music?

I have had a strong connection to music from a very early age. My mom started giving me piano lessons when I was three. I lost my passion for music for awhile during my teenage years but picked it right up when my dad gave me my first guitar. I have been very involved in music ever since.

What made you decide to start uploading covers and songs on youtube?

YouTube presented me with a rare opportunity to share my music with the world so I started uploading some videos and got an overwhelmingly positive response from people all over the world. Naturally, that inspired me to keep going and I’m still in awe when I look back and see what wonderful opportunities those videos have created for me.

What has been your favourite cover and why?

I have several covers that bear a special meaning to me. “Because of you” by Ne-Yo was the first one I’ve ever done and I often feel like it paved the way for me. Then of course there is my “Nothin on you” remix that got an incredible number of views and got me a lot of attention as a songwriter.

What has the response been so far from youtube? What opportunities it has that brought you thus far?

The response has been phenomenal. YouTube provides artists with the opportunity to directly connect with their listeners and supporters which I think is incredible. My videos have given me the opportunity to travel and have shows all over the world. Also, they provided me with the chance to work on music professionally.

Is there a song or album that has been really important to you growing up and why?

There have been a number of songs and albums that were very important to my development as an artist. I grew up on R&B and hip hop music of the late 90’s/early 2000s (Boyz2Men, Joe, Craig David, etc.). Even though I enjoy the contemporary music we have right now I feel like I learned most about singing and writing music from listening to the latter.

What are you currently working on at the moment, What should your fans look forward in earing/seeing soon?

I am currently working on a lot of songwriting projects for other artists. However, I am also working on a new EP of my own from time to time and I can’t wait to share those songs with the world!

How would you describe your music? What kind do you think you play?

Songwriting wise I think I’m pretty versatile but I think I feel most comfortable with acoustic/pop/R&B music which is also reflected in the songs that I put out as an artist.

When did you realize you could actually do this as a career?

The internet has given me an opportunity to showcase my music. This has not only blessed me with attention from music consumers but also some people in the music industry. I have a couple of really good contacts now and the rare opportunity to do music on a professional level in the big leagues. How that will work out? I honestly don’t know but I am eager to find out!

What has been the hardest part in getting your music out there?

I think the hardest part nowadays is to set yourself apart from the rest and to find your own lane. YouTube for instance is crowded with talented people. Therefore, it is hard for most people to get people to discover and watch their videos.

What advice would you give to other musicians trying to get off the ground?

I think all you can do is put your music out there. Having a plan helps. What are you going to do once you have built your audience? What are the next steps? Often times, people assume that getting a lot of views on YouTube is the ultimate goal when it’s not.

It’s all about what you are doing with the attention you have gotten and how you benefit from it. Realistically, you cannot build a career off of doing YouTube videos and giving a couple of shows here and there. That won’t pay the bill for the next 10 years. So if you are aiming for longevity make a plan and think about what it is you want to achieve with you music.

Other than that, I always encourage people to put their videos up no matter what. I was very excited to have 50 people listening to my stuff in the beginning, just the same way I am excited to know that several thousands are listening to it now. I didn’t start off thinking I could possibly make career off of this. I just wanted to share my music and I think that’s something that you should keep no matter what level you are doing your music on.

Do you do music full-time?

I invest a lot of time in music but I haven’t finished school yet so I am not doing it full-time at the moment.

If you weren’t a singer/songwriter what would you be doing?

I am studying business and telecommunication networks and I could totally see myself working in that field in the future.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?

Being able to travel the world to do music and signing my publishing deal!

Do you play any other instruments apart from the guitar and the piano?

No, not really. The guitar and the piano are my favorite instruments.

What bands/musicians have you played with thus far? Any gigs in particular that meant a lot to you or shows that were the most memorable?

I have shared the stage with a lot of talented people like Jeremy Passion, Gabe Bondoc, JR Aquino, SummerBreeze and others. My most memorable performance was probably the first “For your soul” show in San Francisco. It was my first show in the U.S.

Are you still looking to get signed, and how important is it to you? Do you feel artists lose creative control when their under the control of a label?

I am currently focusing on songwriting which is what I’ve always been aiming at. As for losing creative control as an artist when signing contracts that very much depends on what label you are signed to and at which point in your career you are.

As soon as there are financial interests behind your music you are basically bound to be influenced in your creative output which is understandable on some level. After all, from a labels perspective it’s nothing more than a financial investment at the end of the day.

When you give someone your money you tend to wanting to control what the person is doing with it. I am not saying that this is how it should be but I guess that’s just the way it is. If you can prove to a label that you know what you are doing and that your work will result in commercial success you will automatically have more liberties in your contract.

Do you have any goals you may want to reach with your music?

Yes! A lot of goals! But whether that will work out only the future can tell…

If you could perform with anyone in the world, either dead or alive who would it be? Why?

WAY too many to name… lol

Thanks for your time UG.

Don’t forget to connect with him on:

http://twitter.com/urbangermany
http://www.youtube.com/user/urbangermany
http://www.facebook.com/UGmusic

Jack Foster and Archie Lamb decided to leave school half-way through sixth-form to set up a recording label Takeover Entertainment, with no experience or qualification in management.

They started off by promoting ̉student parties while they were still at school, and were soon making ‘real money’ from promoting grime nights in Norwich with a host of London-based urban artists.

They later met Tinchy at one of those nights and quickly struck up a good friendship.

Archer even got his father Norman Lamb MP to remortgage his house to give them a £10,000 business loan.

Mr Lamb, a solicitor by training and North Norfolk MP since 2001, has been known to attend gigs wearing his suit, having voted in the House of Commons.

He said this about his son’s career choice, he said: “We take the view that, had he gone to university, we would have given him as much financial support as we could afford.

“My younger son is applying at the moment, so he will get that support.

“It would have been unfair if we had not done the same for our older son, who is doing something entrepreneurial and exciting.

“The only bad thing is that my Vauxhall Astra was driven around the country, taking Tinchy all over the place. It was ruined, so I had to use a Citroen instead.”

Just Imagine Norman Lamb listening to one of tinchy’s song on his i-pod preferably “number one” with a star in the hood t-shirt on, Quite a thought right??

Although their journey has been nothing but easy, having to embark on tours and long journey around the country to expand Tinchy’s fan base and also to get support and increase their profile from indie and pop acts.

They said the only source of money they had coming in was from the sale of their Star in the Hood T-shirts at the time.

Until they finally hit the jackpot, after the release of Tinchy stryder’s single stryderman, after its release, it quickly got into Radio 1’s playlist, The next day Island Records got in touch, wanting to sign him.” The rest is grime history.

Takeover recently acquired the support of Universal Records, whose influence will doubtless further Stryder’s career.

Chris DeWolfe, the co-founder and chief executive officer of MySpace.com and Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Music Group have a conversation about the future of music online and the current trends that are shaping the music industry today At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

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