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AES Europe—A Different Perspective

The AES Europe convention convenes early each year in Amsterdam, Munich, or Paris, depending upon the year. By attending this convention you gain a new perspective about the international audio industry and benefit through networking with an entirely different group than you find at the U.S. convention. As you meet foreign colleagues, you learn about different studio practices and also discover new business affiliations through hardware manufacturers whose products may not be available or not yet introduced in the U.S. You also have the opportunity to meet and develop a relationship with new European strategic partners. As the global nature of our business evolves, each year seems to attract more American manufacturers and facility owners to AES Europe than the previous year. This alone indicates that we have become a unique global industry. And don't forget, attending this foreign convention can be a deductible business expense! You benefit from enjoying this new and exciting environment, and your business pays the cost of the trip. What's better than that?

In my opinion, you can never learn enough about the tools for creating sound and how to better conduct business in our industry. Exploring Europe for additional business at home can only result in a win. Getting to know the style of foreign facilities and the people who control them can provide you with cross-referrals to and from your foreign facility friends for your clients (and theirs) when they travel. With high-speed global transmission and satellite feeds available in every major market, additional overdub and transfer opportunities are also readily available in both directions. Take a look, for example, at the APT Web site at: www.aptx.com to see all of the facilities, by city, equipped to provide these services with what appears to be the most current successful protocol. You can profitably utilize this information by letting your U.S. clients know that you are connected to major European facilities and can perform useful services for them there if the need should ever arise. You will also benefit by providing your services to these strategic affiliates in Europe as well as offering them a commission for any referrals received from their facilities.

Many of the major manufacturers upon whom we all count to furnish us with hardware critical to the success of our audio businesses are headquartered in Europe. Attending the AES convention there provides an opportunity to visit their headquarters and manufacturing facilities, much of the time at their expense. If you have a good relationship with their suppliers or representatives here, a visit can usually be arranged by your local representative before you depart. There is nothing like a visit to factory headquarters to increase your competitive edge by learning what new gear is planned for the near future. It also serves to strengthen your personal relationship with the executives of the company headquarters you visit, which can only serve you well. All you have to do is ask, and you will be amazed at how much “confidential” information you can acquire about new developments that you could later be interested in exploiting.

“So, how can I attract European clients to my U.S. facility?” you might ask. First, there is the very sophisticated European audio trade press. Get some professional help and create a press release about your facility and the clients you service. If you attend AES Europe, go and see these publishers (almost all of them have a booth, or as they call it a “stand”) at the convention. You will increase the chances of your release being published because you took the trouble to meet and greet the members of their staff, and explain who you are and the services that you perform. You will increase your chances of success even more if you utilize a European PR person. You can get a referral to one from whoever helps you with your U.S. trade press, or from the executives of the U.S. magazines themselves. In this way, your press release will be written by that person, to whom you have been referred, in the European style, and he or she will perform the introductions to European trade press executives at the convention as an additional service. You will now have the maximum chance for your information to be published, since the audio industry trade magazines there will know your European PR person and be able to contact him or her with any questions they may have about you or your facility.

Next, there are several European audio facility directories that can provide free listings for your facility in their U.S. section. Pick up copies of the European trade magazines and directories that apply to your business while you are there. Most of them are free. Subscribe to those publications that are applicable to the services that your facility provides back home. Most subscriptions, if you are part of the industry, are also free. You will get an entirely new outlook and fresh ideas on how to make your business more effective. By meeting your foreign colleagues, you will probably learn about new opportunities for services that you could offer internationally as well. You will also find that almost all of them speak excellent English and are anxious to trade industry information with you about the recording and client requirement differences between your two countries. I have always found the experience of comparing notes with them to be very beneficial.

Also, foreign artists are eager to justify recording in the U.S. For example, an Austrian friend of mine, who owns a major recording studio in Vienna, tries to regularly bring new artists/ clients of his to L.A., New York, or Nashville each summer. His successful plan is to take advantage of the fantastic studio musicians here in the U.S., which allows him to get a unique sound that is totally different than he would get in Europe. He will only consider the facilities he knows/reads about. Your facility could be one of those.

The key to success in attracting international business is: know your client. You might be surprised at how little effort it takes to attract artists from Europe to your facility by understanding their cultural wants and needs in addition to the equipment and space they require. In order to do that most efficiently, you should visit their countries and observe their cultural and functional differences as often as you can justify doing so. Foreign clients must believe that when they come to your facility the results will be the same or better than at home and that the difference in cost, if any, can be justified by what they hear on their tapes at the completion of the project. They must also be convinced that they will have more fun, just as you will when you visit the European AES. By attending, you will better understand their needs and wants—which could bring more business both to and from your facility.

Combining business with pleasure is one of the most personally rewarding aspects of our industry. You can never, in my opinion, have enough “how to” information. New ideas to make your operation better, more efficient, and more comfortable, with unique equipment used in other parts of the world, will give you the competitive advantage in your own marketplace. Take advantage of it.