Recording - April 2018 - 61

APRIL 2018
TAXI Road Rally 2017

Success Is No Accident, Part One
Moderated by Michael Laskow
Panelists: Bobby Borg, Gilli Moon,
Adventurina King, Sydney Alston,
Mark Steiner
Bobby Borg is a former major label, independent,
and DIY recording/touring artist with over 25 years
experience working along side the most respected
managers, producers, and A&R executives in the
music industry. He served as the VP of Special
Events for the Los Angeles chapter of the American
Marketing Association, and as Chairman of Music
Business at Musician's Institute in Hollywood, California. A recipient of UCLA Extension's
Distinguished Instructor of the Year Award, Borg
teaches DIY music marketing, music publishing,
and general music business classes both online and
on-campus and he speaks regularly at Berklee College of Music and other distinguished schools
worldwide. Borg is the author of Music Marketing
for the DIY Musician, Business Basics for Musicians,
and over 1,000 magazine and blog articles for Billboard.com, Hypebot, SonicBids, Music
Connection, Disc Makers, Band Zoogle, and more.
He is the founder of Bobby Borg Consulting, where
he assists rising music professionals globally. He
lives in Los Angeles.
Gilli Moon is a singer, songwriter, artist, and producer. She has worked with highly respected artists
such as Simple Minds, Placido Domingo, Eric Idle,
and will.i.am, and is a songwriting award winner in
the Netherlands, U.S., and Australia. Her songs
have been featured in independent films and network U.S. television programs, and she has released
six albums. She is the President of Songsalive! (a
nonprofit songwriters organization), CEO of record
label Warrior Girl Music, and a certified
professional coach. She has three books out, the
most recent of which are, Just Get Out There and The
360 Degree Songwriter.
Aventurina Kingis a singer/songwriter/producer
working in both Los Angeles and China. Before
moving to Los Angeles one year ago, she worked in
China as an artist and TV personality, during which
time she appeared on every single national TV plat-

(left to right) Bobby Borg, Gilli Moon, Adventurina King, and Mark Steiner (far right) all seem a little amused as Sydney Alston
(2nd from right) makes a funny point during the Success Is No Accident Panel at the TAXI Road Rally.

form and graced the pages of Cosmo Bride and the
Chinese New York Times equivalent. Since her move
to LA, she has written and sung two entire albums
for Warner Brothers Production Music, and her
songs have been synched in an upcoming Disney
movie, as well as a videogame. She just got a cut
with South Korea's biggest girl band of the
moment, Red Velvet, for their next album under
S&M entertainment. Recently, she's begun releasing her own songs as an artist, one of which was
recently featured on Spotify's "Fresh Finds" playlist.
Sydney Alston has 20-plus years of experience in
all facets of the music business, which has made
him an in-demand music resource for artists in Los
Angeles and around the country. In 2001, he was
hired by Disc Makers, the industry leader in CD
and DVD Manufacturing, and quickly rose through
the ranks and became the first executive in the Los
Angeles branch of Disc Makers, representing all
the AVL brands including cdbaby, and Merch.ly.
Sydney started his career as a touring musician, and
then opened a management company where he
represents artists and producers. As a manager,
Sydney has set up many Major Label and Publishing showcases with companies like Universal,
Warner Brothers, Sony, etc. He has been responsible for getting multiple record label and publishing

deals. As a direct result of his efforts, he was
responsible for developing 16-year-old Major
Myjah, and getting him signed to a lucrative recording contract with Warner Brothers records in 2014.
One of the producers he works with, Frederik
Thaae, produced a song that won the Eurovision
award for "best song" which propelled Frederik and
Emily Deforester's song, Only Tear Drops to Number One in 11 countries.
Mark Steiner is the CEO and co-founder of
GigSalad, the most diverse booking platform
nationwide. His career in the entertainment industry has spanned more than thirty years, including a
decades-long stint booking talent for performing
arts centers, festivals, and concerts through the
agency he founded.
Bobby, everybody in the room has heard the word
branding, but very few people that I know really
understand what branding is. In the context of building a successful career as an artist, and in the broader
sense of the word, can you tell us what branding really
means?
Bobby: Branding is the process of creating an
image in the minds of your target audience. And
Continued on page 62
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http://www.billboard.com http://www.billboard.com http://will.i.am

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