Vancouver Island Music Business Conference – VIMBC

My first musical quest was to attend the Vancouver Island Music Business Conference (VIMBC) in Courtenay. I was wondering why I hadn’t heard of this event that happens in my own backyard. Would I find anyone from our readership area that was involved with this event? Would there be any singer/songwriters from our readership in attendance?

VIMBC is where aspiring and professional singer/songwriters could network and get tips from industry professionals on how to better craft and produce their own music, distribute and promote it.  There was a diverse group of regional, national and international music industry panelists that presented information in various workshops throughout the event covering topics such as songwriting, music publishing, production, marketing and promotion, legal issues affecting musicians, and funding resources.

I didn’t realize that an event of this caliber happened in my own backyard.

Here are some of the luminaries that were in attendance (you may want to google them or just google VIMBC and check out their creds.) Dan Hill, Jake Gold, Patricia Conroy, Terry McBride, Bill Henderson, Steve Wilkinson, Ralph Murphy, Ron Proulx, Jamie Warren, Keith Porteous, Steven McClintock, John Mang, Darcy D, Michael Behm, Bob D’eith, Terry O’Brien, and Susie McGregor.

Panelists: Ralph Murphy, Bill Henderson, Bob D'eith, Ron Proulx, Ron Irving and Jamie Warren

One of the folks in attendance was Bill Henderson. Bill was a panelist and performer at VIMBC. He’s been with the band Chilliwack since its inception and is a Canadian music icon. Bill grew up in Yellowpoint for a spell in his youth. He took sax lessons in Ladysmith from the Carter’s (a musical dynasty in Ladysmith in the late 50’s). Much  inspiration for Bill’s musical career stemmed from the radio and listening to Red Robinson.

Some of the inspiration for Bill’s music came to him from the time he would spend out at the wharf at the Tillicum Cottages in Yellowpoint when in “August and September when that thing happens on the Salish Sea, flat calm silver blue, seagulls going, in an incredible atmosphere and beauty that absolutely stoned me. I just wanted to take that and put it in my music. “Baby Blue” came close to that.”

Bill Henderson performs "Monsato Wind" at the Whistle Stop Pub in Courtney for VIMBC

Someone that I’d met, that wasn’t a panelist but is an aspiring singer/songwriter, Shauna Sedola. Shauna lives in South Nanaimo. She wrote her first song when she was 14. She heard about VIMBC through the Canadian Songwriters Association and by being a member of Music B.C.

When asked what was the best part of the conference Shauna replied “ The seminars, the quality of the panelists and the topics for discussion. Not only are the seminars relevant and exciting, it’s the fact that the panelists are really approachable. That’s the good thing about this conference, it has a homey feel and the professionals are willing to take the time to talk to you.” I asked her who influenced her the most, at the conference and she replied that Terry McBride’s keynote speech really impressed her. He talked about the way the music industry is having massive changes that are going on and that she as the new generation of talent have the power to influence the industry and create the change.

Special kudos go out to Susie McGregor and Andy Lorimer for bootstrapping VIMBC from the get go. The passion and determination that these two individuals put out, needs to be recognized and supported from our community as well.

Susie McGregor and Andy Lorimer put themselves on the line for VIMBC.

Susie and Andy have been putting themselves on the line running this event for the past four years. They are dedicated individuals that are passionate about sharing the ins and outs of the music business with musicians up and coming, journeymen and seasoned pros. Everyone benefits. They have been able to  attract icon performers , showcase acts by the hottest up and coming talent, as well as business expertise from established music industry professionals and this year brought the Vancouver Island  Music Awards to Courtney.

The advantages that VIMBC offers to Singer/Songwriters in our community is phenomenal. You would be hard pressed to meet the professionals that show up each year to this conference any other way than by attending VIMBC. Everyone is approachable. There are no dumb questions. From my view everyone involved feels a responsibility to one another to advance themselves to the next level or stage in the craft.

Case in point from a personal story.

I was in attendance of a seminar on Speech Level Singing with Darcy D a former front man for Prism. He asked for a musical guinea pig. I put up my hand. He picked me. Darcy put me through a vocal excercise or two which I failed spectacularly (in my head at least, yet, learned a lot). After the seminar was over I asked Darcy if he would take me on as a vocal coach. He said he’d see what he could do once he got back to his digs.

The following week I followed up with Darcy. He said that he could fit me in. I have my lessons over Skype. Everything is mighty fine. I’d been looking for a vocal coach for the longest time and my dream was made true by being in attendance at VIMBC.

That isn’t all that I’d learned there.

One of the through lines that kept coming was that as Ralph Murphy said “take a look around at that person next to you and say hi, shake their hand and realise that these are the folks that will be with you for the duration of your career”, to further that thought and to paraphrase some of the comments from other panelists and attendees…these are the people that you will see over and over and over during the course of your and their careers. You must make the most of each other, support each other, learn from each other, collaborate and grow with each other, that is the way to success in this business. You are the new pioneers. The fabric of the music business is changing and YOU are the change. Bring it on.

Please let everyone musical that you know, know about the terrific learning and networking opportunity at VIMBC. I expect to see a lot more folks from our readership area involved with this fantastic opportunity that is the VIMBC.

I just received an email from Susie and this excerpt details a little bit about next year at VIMBC.

We are planning VIMBC 2012 for Oct 10-14.
We already have Bill & Ed, Ralph, Dan , Angela, Sue, already committed! We bring in new panelists each year too but like to have some of the same people return as they are great teachers (and the top of the industry) and super people with a lot to teach, and on top of the ever changing industry.