AS HEARD ON THE ...
ERNESTO CERVINI
BEN MURPHY
AS HEARD ON THE ...
Musician and Publicist
ERNESTO CERVINI
For the full conversation , listen to the March 15 , 2023 episode .
CM : You ’ re a really interesting guy to talk to , in that you have your music , and you have other work within the music industry , and I feel like a lot of our readers and listeners are also in that position . What are some tips for balancing those things and making everything you do as successful as it can be ?
Cervini : Good question . I think for me , the biggest thing is just staying organized . I ’ m really diligent with keeping a to-do list of what needs to get done every day . And along with that , making sure that it helps me not to get overwhelmed by how much I have to do . If I can separate my tasks into just putting them on certain days — I have to do certain things on certain days — then I don ’ t look at the whole list of everything that has to get done and freak out . Because it can be easy to do that . And I find that if that list gets too long , I get paralyzed . Just trying to find a way to make sure that I don ’ t get overwhelmed with how much I have to do , I think that ’ s really important .
And then in terms of finding something that you can do in music , that maybe can
add to what you do as a musician , I think one of the really important things is just keeping track of what it is that you enjoy doing , along with playing your instrument , whatever instrument that is . I think once you pay attention , and you find different things that you might have interest in , as well as playing music , then it ’ s a matter of just seeing where there is a need in the scene . Being a musician comes with a lot of other stuff that we have to do ; every musician needs a website ; every musician nowadays needs a video . Musicians need mixing , mastering , recording engineers , musicians need to pay their taxes . That might sound silly , but if you ’ re someone who ’ s really great with numbers , and has an accounting degree , but also a musician , you can be that person for everyone . It ’ s finding where that niche is . And so , I found with the publicity company , there weren ’ t that many publicists in Toronto that were doing publicity for jazz musicians . There was a need in the scene , and so I just kind of started doing it . So , I think it ’ s just paying attention to what ’ s happening and what ’ s lacking . One big way you can do that is just by talking to your peers .
Sommo Festival Creator
BEN MURPHY
For the full conversation , listen to the March 22 , 2023 episode .
CM : There ’ s obviously a lot to get into with the lineup [ of Sommo Festival ]. And I ’ m really curious to know how that starts . Are there specific acts that , that you seek out , thinking they would be great ones to have ? How does a lineup for a festival like this come together ?
Murphy : You start at the top for sure . We probably identified 10 to 20 acts for the first timel , getting this off the ground , that we thought would fit well with this type of festival . And then it ’ s really trying to agree on a price and trying to agree on a date . So , without the festival existing before , we were pretty flexible on dates . We bumped around the summer a lot and ended up conveniently , the weekend after Cavendish Beach . So that logistically works out well for us . And then after we kind of get the main one done . In this one , it was Mumford and Sons . So , once we got Mumford and Sons down , you start to fill out some direct support for them , with how that day looks , and how do we want that day to feel and , and we don ’ t want it all to be the same . But it can ’ t be too separate either . I think that was the goal . And then looking at the other headliner , with Maggie [ Rogers ], which we are pumped about because I really think she ’ s not an up and comer , but
people are really starting to kind of get on board with her . And so , they ’ ve got to fit with both days , because we do want to sell a weekend pass . But we also want to diversify a bit . You ’ re touching a few different parts of the population or whatever . So , then we fill in that day . And then after we kind of get the main stage done , we move to the second stages .
Listen to new episodes of the Canadian Musician Podcast every Wednesday at www . canadianmusicianpodcast . com . All episodes can be found on the website or through Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Stitcher , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts .
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