This week we’re doing an interview with Mark Dobies! Besides being a musician he is also a Marketing & Engagement Coordinator at Ingrooves Music Group.
Among other things, we will be talking about the role music plays in his life and the changes in the music landscape.
YVES: Hi Mark! I appreciate you taking the time for this! To start off, if you don’t mind, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up working in the music industry.
MARK: It’s been nothing but bands and gigs and recording studios since the bug bit me. I started playing gigs at age 13 around the state. I met and worked on tunes with a few guys who’ve had some success – Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chris Shiftlett from the Foo Fighters, a few others, all of which in hindsight were extremely kind and generous to me despite my age and inexperience. I worked in radio, then, recording studios, and in a few other musical odd jobs, and landed an internship here at Ingrooves. They decided to keep me and I’m glad they did!
YVES: That is an impressive resume! As you mentioned, you currently work as a Marketing & Engagement Coordinator for Ingrooves, one of the biggest distribution and marketing companies in the world. I am pretty sure that when you grew up you wanted to become an astronaut or a fireman, just like the rest of us. So how exactly did that come about?
MARK: I’ve pursued music fervently for many years, which meant I was always crossing paths with other music lovers. If something popped up, I took it. It’s not a path, it’s a mentality that others can see. Once they see it and it’s genuine, they’ll take a chance on you. The rest after that is how you choose to dice it.
I still demand some tradition in my life. I’m starting to learn that the secret to protecting music’s integrity is to leave it mostly alone. Keep playing, keep perfecting your craft, but never expect a single cent or accolade from it. It’s like demanding your kid be a certain thing when they grow up. That’s not for you to decide. Dollars should be handled entirely by the business side of things, but that isn’t music.
Music is a flower, if you overwater it, it wilts. Its entire function is to be appreciated, not to be used for any singular purpose.
YVES: I can see what you mean. It is my understanding that you interact with a lot of playlist curators like myself in an effort to promote your client’s music. Can you run me through what an average working day looks like for you?
MARK: For my day, I used to primarily pitch people with independent playlists to get adds for our artists. Lately, I’ve been helping more as the “glue” around the office to help the executives liaison for various departments. I still do playlisting but the landscape has really changed. It feels like maybe some players with bigger pockets have had their way with it if I’m being honest.
YVES: Of course, your job provides you with front row seats to all the developments in the music industry. Let’s look at revenues. Interestingly enough, whereas the revenue from streaming music services continues to grow at an explosive pace, the number of actual digital downloads is plummeting. Digitalmusicnews.com posted an interesting article recently stating that in 2017, for the first time in seven years, the revenue from physical products exceeded those from digital downloads, mostly driven by a newfound resurgence of vinyl records. Where do you think this development will take us and do you foresee a future where streaming is NOT expected to take up over 90% of the total music revenue (it currently sits around 65%)?
MARK: No, I think it’s pure economics. The market doesn’t think or feel, and it also doesn’t sit, it can’t. It’s in a constant motion seeking the place where the least amount of energy or time is spent for the highest amount of value.
For a $30 piece of vinyl, I can get 3 months of Spotify or Apple Music, granting me access to almost any piece of music I can think of. It’s just much cheaper and easier. Someone will invent an even MORE convenient means of consumption, and when this happens, it will be even more instantaneous and music will be even more ubiquitous.
“The market doesn’t think or feel, and it also doesn’t sit, it can’t. It’s in constant motion seeking the place where the least amount of energy or time is spent for the highest amount of value.”
YVES: You and I have had several conversations about the importance of social media exposure. This week it was announced that Kim Kardashian will be the recipient of the first-ever CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Influencer Award. Whether people like her or not, it is undeniable that she made a career out of social media exposure and now wields considerable power as a result. What are your thoughts on the importance of social media exposure for artists and record labels in the music industry?
MARK: I suppose it’s all economics. Attention is the new product, and it is highly, highly fragmented in the digital age. That means there are more bite-sized pieces of your focus to own. Businesses pay a premium to have it. I think this was a by-product of massive amounts of information, and now businesses volleying in that space for digital real estate.
Social media is a tool. It’s important to differentiate the product from the tool. Music is music, and platforms like Instagram are places where you share pics and videos and people engage. There’s an algorithm for views, likes, comments – It’s a program, that’s all. If you discover the intersection where the two live, one can feed the other. First, find out what you want to say, find the people who care and the space they occupy, then say it to them. Loudly. Unapologetically. Don’t insult them with a sell. Give them what they came for.
YVES: Besides your job linking you to the music industry, you are also a singer/songwriter yourself. Care to tell us a little bit more about that part of your life?
MARK: It’s a wonderful gift. Music feels a bit like a stereo in my mind, and if I allow it to, it fills me right up to the brim. It’s a friend who I engage with when I want, and when I choose. I don’t allow it to control my life – the moment I spot obsessive or negative thinking, I correct it. If not letting it consume me entirely means I’m not a real artist, then I am not a real artist.
If you see music as non-essential, then it operates as a function of humans chattering. If it has some emotional desperation fueling it, some intention, then it grips people and feels vitally important. That is the communicative intent. I think it’s suggestive psychology more than anything else, kind of like hypnosis.
I just sort of understood from a very early age HOW these artists were trying to say what they were saying. They talked with their own flare and I really appreciated that. I understand the contents of their flare, and what they are doing to create that emotional effect. I don’t always know how, but I mostly know how.
Personally, if an idea seems interesting or relevant, I record it. If it doesn’t entice me, I table it and know that maybe my brain is just chattering, or I don’t understand the concept fully yet.
YVES: Your new single ‘Float’ is primed for release on June 22nd. It is my understanding that this song is very personal to you. Is this something you are willing to elaborate on and does it make you feel nervous or excited to realize that others will be able to listen to your song and, in some ways, experience your very personal history? Or how does it make you feel?
MARK: Yes, the video and single are out in June and I can’t wait to have it out. Every song is very personal, but the release of the song isn’t about me, it’s about who hears it. It needs to leave the nest – I wrote it many years ago. I hope people like ‘Float’. If they don’t, I hope they hate it. I just hope they think or feel something. I don’t care honestly, I’ll be fine either way.
I think I’d rather not explain it. It isn’t my place to write and also to interpret the music. I’ve done that in the past and regretted asserting myself. It felt arrogant.
YVES: More artists seem to share that sentiment. If people would like to see you perform live, in what areas do you usually perform and do you have any gigs lined up?
MARK: I’d recommend people follow me on Instagram @markdobiesmusic. I post updates for shows there.
I normally perform around the Sunset Strip area in Hollywood. The LA area is so oversaturated with bands at this point, but when I get to play for friends, I really enjoy it. Sometimes I’ll play around the country but generally, it has to make sense to do so. Currently, I don’t have any gigs lined up, just the ‘Float’ release on 6/22.
YVES: Thank you so much for doing this interview, Mark! Before we close it down, any final thoughts?
MARK: Thank you, Yves! I feel lucky to contribute anything I can to the artists who are brave enough to pursue their truth. I’m thankful to the curators like yourself. You guys really bridge the gap between the industry and the people in a way. I’m thankful I got to witness that intersection as it grew and to be a small part of it. I’m lucky that I have musical family members in many different parts of the globe who’ve accepted me at my best and worst. I’m very lucky.
Follow Mark Dobies on his Facebook Page!