WHO ARE YOU?
I have been a lot of “things" since 1984 but music has always been part of my life, I’ve been a DJ since I was a teenager and I can’t imagine my life without it. Side by side me through good and bad moments and was lucky enough to also have a business relationship with HER. If we have to focus on the present I’m an Italian living in Budapest, a father of two amazing children, a serious skier and I recently discovered an important addiction to road cycling.
WHAT ARE YOUR JOB TITLES?
I’m the founder and managing director of an amazing creative company called THIRTY5 and the manager of Klangphonics. Since 2007 I offered a different kind of services to the music business scene, starting from web & graphic design to brand identity, social management, online marketing, music production and business consulting. I’ve worked with a lot of popular names in the industry like Steve Angello, Avicii, Axwell, Adam Beyer, Joseph Capriati, Marco Carola, Sebastian Ingrosso, Luciano, Timo Maas, Erick Morillo, Mauro Picotto, Swedish House Mafia, Matthias Tanzmann, Umek and Paul van Dyk just to name a few. This behind-the-scenes experience convinced me to switch to my core business at the moment: artist and music management. I decided it was time to help talents I believe in build and experience a successful career.
WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL?
The best way is to explain how my job is involved in the Klangphonics project. Sharing the vision is the first step to set up the right journey to achieve what we deserve. Being an artist manager means to me to give the possibility to 100% focus on music and creativity, music is the key and always will be. My artists don’t have to think about anything else, so I manage all the other daily aspects like music management, publishing and neighbouring rights. I deal with promoters and booking agencies for scheduling new events. I deal with travel agencies to optimize the road plan and I do my best to minimize any unexpected issues. I take care of business deals behind the social network profiles, Klangphonics is a project that generates a high organic reach and we receive a lot of paid partnership requests, but we accept only something compatible with our concept. Speaking about socials I’m focusing on converting the fanbase into its own platform (i.e. website), it’s extremely important to have your own database of contacts. What I always say is that “Your social followers are not really yours”, we are guests on a platform owned by someone else. The most important and difficult part then is to say more NO than YES, only in this way in my opinion it's possible to build a strong and successful artist present and future.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO IT?
Being a quite popular local DJ in my 20s I needed to improve my online presence, despite hiring an external collaborator I decided to go for the self-made way. I discovered that I liked the digital world and so I gained skills in web & graphic design. Then the MySpace era came and I was one of the few worldwide designers able to customize via code the original structure of the platform to transform it into what we call today a One Page website. This gave me the opportunity to build business relationships with a lot of artists and musicians worldwide, I worked with them also in the following years learning a lot of strategies and aspects that I find really important in my today career as a music manager.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHERS?
Be human. Human relationship is the purest asset you need. Do everything for the love of music, with the aim to build something that will last, that will always be a good and happy memory for you, your artist and the fanbase. But most of all protect and respect the value of the talent you’re working on, this is absolutely the priority you must keep in mind, always, no matter what.
The man behind THIRTY5 Group. Eclectic digital entrepreneur, working closely with the most important profiles of the music, sport and fashion industries. Roots in Italy, based in Budapest since 2013. Selected as one of the best 200 national young talents in 2010. Three times winner of the Italian Web Awards. Scrupulous manager, engaged in providing his expertise to the professional growth of new young talents, without forgetting the starting point. THIRTY5 is a global underground electronic music group founded by Alberto Ferrari in 2007. THIRTY5 sets a new standard on the music scene and lifestyle through its artists booking/management and creative agencies. albertoferrari.com klangphonics.com thirty5group.com instagram.com/albertoferrari instagram.com/klangphonics_
Words by Alberto Ferrari / THIRTY5
Alberto Ferrari