Dear Friends and Associates,
I hope that this letter finds you all well, safe and in good spirits. This is going to be a long letter, so apologies in advance. I hope you’ll find it of value.
First, let’s talk about the coronavirus crisis
There’s no denying we’re facing a crisis right now in our society that’s going to make it harder for all of us to do business and to live our lives during the next few months. We are living in a new reality and we have to adapt to it now so we can be ready to take advantage of opportunities now and in the future.
And in this new reality, beyond keeping a positive mental attitude, keeping ourselves safe, social distancing, and making sure our hands are clean, the question I want to answer is how we can support each other and how to keep doing business.
I‘ve been giving a lot of thought over the past couple weeks on how we at Sync Summit, and how I personally, can continue to be of service to you, our customers and our friends in the industry. And in my thinking, I kept coming back to something Steve Jobs said twenty years ago after the dot-com crash when Apple was still struggling to re-find its footing:
“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path.”
I think we should – all of us – choose a different path rather than downsizing or diminishing our efforts in the face of adverse events. In business and life in general, this quote from Steve Jobs has always been a touchstone for me in times of crisis. When we are faced with a threat – whatever it may be, I believe it’s our responsibility to help each other to find a way to work and live successfully in the new reality, whatever it may be and whatever challenges we face.
This is the path I followed when I started my first business twenty years ago while battling cancer. It’s the path I followed after the events on 9/11 devastated my city and my business. It’s the path I followed after the 2008-2009 financial crisis and it is the path I will follow during the crisis we’re facing today.
I believe the key to our current and future success is to work together, help each other as we can and through deliberate, rational action, prevail.
So how do we do prevail, and how can we at Sync Summit work together with you to help you to navigate the current crisis and prevail?
From my perspective, the only logical choice that will allow us – to allow me – to continue to serve you, my customers, is to innovate and find new ways to deliver to you the solutions you need to make connections and get access to tools, technologies and deals you need to succeed in sync.
Here’s our plan to serve you moving forward:
- Sync Summit Events Go Online. As of today, though we’re not postponing any of our live events (yet), we are taking immediate, concrete action to continue to provide you with access to the people, the knowledge, the solutions, the information and the potential deals we’ve strived to since I started Sync Summit eight years ago.
Starting right now, all Sync Summits will be available virtually, and that means that regardless of where you attending one of our events – online or in-person, you’ll still get to network, to share your music, see product demos, participate in panels and keynotes and more, including:
- Real-time discussions where you can ask questions and get answers
- Set up of pitch sessions and meetings
- A personal EPK on the sync summit website
- View demonstrations of new technology and services
- Perform at and see music showcases
- Workshops
- Our setting up of meetings on your behalf with speakers and sponsors
- Sharing of contact information from all participants after the event
- A video archive of the entire event
We’re employing technology that allows us to provide every key aspect of our events virtually so you can watch and participate in panels, keynotes and demos, interact with fellow participants and speakers, get your music heard by music supervisors and learn more about solutions that can help you do business in music licensing and composition.
And, If we do postpone one of our in-person events, we will let you know at least a month in advance, we’ll announce the new date immediately for the in-person event, we’ll still hold the event as scheduled as an online event, and still deliver to you every important aspect of the event online.
For all of you that have already registered for a live event, you will be able to participate in the virtual versions at no extra charge and you’ll of course still have a ticket for the rescheduled live event without paying any extra fees.
For those of you that would like to just attend one of our events online, the cost will be $199 (Click here to learn more and how to sign up), And, if you decide that you wish to attend any of our events in-person, you’ll be able to use the $199 as a credit you can apply to the cost of attending one of our events in person.
It is my belief that by providing an online version of all of our events, we’ll be able to give people all over the world more opportunities to connect with each other and do business, to do it more efficiently and at a lower overall cost, and I do hope you’ll consider joining us now and in the future online and in person.
- More Sync Listening Sessions. Our Sync Listening Sessions, which always take place online, will take place more frequently. These sessions are hosted online and give you the opportunity to connect your music to and speak directly with a music supervisor, get real-time feedback and learn more about music supervisor’s projects and work. Click here to learn more, view the current schedule of sessions and how to take part.
- Weekly Free Sync Chats. Starting this week, I’ll hold a 1-hour free chat, sometimes by myself, sometimes with guests, where we can answer questions, share stories and network with each other. The first chat will take place on Friday, March 20th at 2PM Eastern Time – Click here to sign up.
- Sync Summit EPKs. We are going to put up a new area of our website where all of you can have your links and information listed as a free service, launching April 2nd, which we will promote and share with our database and on our social media channels. To take part, send to me at mark@syncsummit.com a link to your bio, a photo, a link to your website and a streaming link to a playlist of your songs and we’ll include them on our website.
It is my hope that though the steps we’re taking, along with all the intelligence and information on our site, our consulting services and our membership program we can continue to be of service to you, our customers, and to the entire industry we all work in and serve.
If you can think of anything else we can do to help you in your work, or just want to drop me a line and say hi, send me an email – I’d be happy to hear from you and I am here to help.
In the meantime, be stay safe and stay well.
Best,
Mark Frieser
Founder and CEO
Sync Summit