If you have a Band, a Record and put on a show then in one day you will learn what it takes to get to the next level.

What To Expect:

After Each Panel the experts will stay for 30 min of small group Q&A so you can learn what you came to learn

1) Opportunities:

Sponsored by URLabel.net

Companies & Technologies That Give You A Chance

Randy Miller
President/URLabel.net

Randy is an award winning engineer with his work winning 3 Grammys & 1 Latin Grammy. He has worked with La Mafia, Kings X, Burt Bacharach, Johnny Nash and Destinys Child member Kelly Rowland and many others. As an artist himself he know how hard it is to even find out about opportunities. So he co-founded URLabel.net with CEO Charles Danna & COO Roy Gonzalez. They are sponsoring this panel to help artists get the breaks they need to suceed.

Roy Elkins
CEO/Broadjam.com

Broadjam is an international web community dedicated to independent musicians and their friends. Find new independent music, join a music social network, and collaborate with other indie artists and fans. Broadjam members can enter song and music contests, submit songs for Film & TV opportunities and much more. Roy Elkins the man who started it all will be there to tell you about it.

Kathy Douglas
Founder/Indie Extreme

Kathy Douglas is the founder of Extreme Dreams Artist Agency, the parent company of Indie Extreme, a business process outsourcing company for the music industry. The company has been involved in the day-to-day operations of 17 independent record labels over the past 2 years. A graduate of The University of Texas with a BFA in Art History, Kathy understand the heart of an artist and the powerful drive to create. Her artistic background coupled with years of management and marketing experience gave her the vision to develop Indie Extreme as a company committed to the development and support of independent artists and labels.

2) Social Networking:

Why Your Fans Are Your Ticket To Success

Grace Rodriguez
AYN Brand

Grace Rodriguez is President of AYN Brand, a Branding Strategies and Promotional Solutions company based in Houston, Texas. An accomplished media and communications professional, Grace has achieved recognition as an award-winning Producer of the “Destination Houston” television series, Editor of Rice Addict Magazine, and Host of “HaloHaloTV.” She specializes in leveraging new technologies and grassroots strategies to brand and build engaged communities for growing businesses, non-profit organizations, artists, and professionals. Grace is a passionate community advocate who has served on the Board of Directors for diverse arts, cultural, and business organizations, such as Spacetaker, the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Texas, and OCA. She is responsible for coordinating a number of events, programs, and initiatives – like YouthVote, Charity:Water Twestival, and the Houston Asian American Film Festival – in the Greater Houston area that benefit the arts, youth, cultural, and political communities. Grace Rodriguez has lived and worked in New York, Houston, Chicago, and Austin; and continues to share her knowledge and expertise as a social media consultant, writer, and speaker at conferences, workshops, and events throughout the country.

Matthew Wettergreen
Founder/Caroline Collective

Matthew Adams Wettergreen is equal parts researcher and community organizer.  Having recently completed his PhD in Bioengineering at Rice University with a specialization in Biomechanics and Computer Aided Tissue Engineering, his scientific research experience includes work in computational and experimental biomechanics, cellular solids, rapid prototyping and imaging modalities. His teaching experience covers areas of specialization such as biomechanics, bioengineering design and Computer Aided Design.

He is also a founder and director of Caroline Collective, a coworking space in Houston, TX, that fosters community, collaboration, and creativity across artistic and technological disciplines. Additionally he has been a DJ at KTRU 917.fm since 2001, hosts a live events show called “The Revelry Report,” and has worked closely with the Houston Music Community and individual artists on business and career development. Because of his support for and engagement with the Houston community, Dr. Wettergreen works to incorporate numerous programs and events at Caroline that motivate and enhance the community by exploring sustainable models, such as user-generated conferences, social media networking, and peer-to-peer education.

3) New Technologies:

New Tech For The New Music Business

Dave Mech
GigNation

David Mech is president of Rudy records and Gignation.com.  GigNation solves the age old problem bands have finding Gigs outside their local area, venues wont hire a band without a following.  Just sign up with GigNation (Artist, Venue, or Fan)  Type in the city and date you want to play, bands having established Gigs matching your request will be listed along with genre info and a link.  Contact the band, open up for them and get a Gig…..anywhere in the Nation.

David Mech is a 30 year veteran of the music business.  He began managing bands including Robin Lane and the Chartbusters, and now manages The Tony Lee Thomas Band (which features various members of the Guthrie family.)

Mech is also the producer/director of “American Heart” a concert/documentary featuring Jefferson Starship, Big Brother and the Holding Co., David and Linda Laflamme and Tom Constanten.
Mech also produces Rock and reggaeton and has the longest running song on the Latinos Unidos Charts “Soul Rebel” with Los Forasteros and Bob Marley…The Reggaeton Remixes (Cleopatra Records). Mech has been a frequent panelist at the New York International Film and Music Festival and is a member of the MMF and NAPTE.

Mark Wolfson
Founder/Hit Music Link.com

Originally from Chicago, Mark Wolfson currently divides his time between Los Angeles and New York to accommodate his bicoastal and European clientele. Throughout his impressive career, Wolfson has received over 25 Gold and Platinum record awards.  Experienced in piano, cello, guitar, and vocals, Wolfson made his production debut in 1972, working with legendary artists such as Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes, Ice T, and Talking Heads, and on films including Stop Making Sense, That Thing You Do, Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Mamma Mia, and Mi Vida Loca, to name a few.
Wolfson’s production company, Reel Entertainment, LLC, has worked independently to develop unsigned bands such as Jane Child, Mighty Joe Young (STP), School of Fish, and Lions and Ghosts, and more. Wolfson has been instrumental in helping bands forge a solid career, maintaining the highest production standards with a focus on longevity. Wolfson spent seven years as director of production and development for Playtone/Epic Records, a position from which he recently resigned to join forces with a new music venture debuting in March 2009. On the philanthropic side, Wolfson has worked with New Directions, a homeless Veterans organization; Tipitina’s Foundation, which puts music back in the schools in New Orleans; and America’s Wounded Heroes/First Aid, which helps troops with injuries return to civilian life.

4) Organazations:

To be a Pro you need to join the PRO’s

Tess Taylor
Founder NARIP

Says Publisher & Editor of Hollywood Today, Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn, “Tess Taylor is one of the great resources of the music business. She’s a walking job fair. She has amazing insights into where the business is going and combines that savvy with a Rolodex the size of an SUV.”

These traits are at the core of the two organizations she founded, the Los Angeles Music Network (est. 1988) and the National Association of Record Industry Professionals (est. 1998), and of which she is president.  Music Connection says of NARIP events, “top-notch and brilliantly executed.”

Dubbed “International Music Ambassador” by music supervisor P.J. Bloom (Nip / Tuck, The Shield, CSI: Miami), a “powerhouse” and “a juggernaut” by others, Tess has connected countless people to jobs and opportunities through her work in the US and abroad and facilitated in launching hundreds of projects and several companies.

A music and record industry career strategist, Tess works with groups such as the European Music Export Office, Danish Songwriters Guild, French Music Export Office, German Independent Label Association, Brazilian Independent Label Association, World Championships of Performing Arts and others to connect their members to meaningful opportunities in Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, and throughout the U.S.

Tess has consulted businesses such as MySpace.com, InsideSessions (a joint venture between the Universal Music Group and Penguin Putnam, Inc.), The Walt Disney Company, BMG Entertainment (now Sony BMG), Concord Records and others. A frequently quoted analyst of industry developments, Tess has been a featured expert on national and international television and radio, and her analyses have appeared in national and international business press.

Tracie Verlinde
BMI

5) Music Licensing:

Listen to What Music Supervisors Want

Barry Coffing
CEO Music Supervisor.com

Chris Mollere
Fusion Music Supervision

Tony VonPerviux
Director of Music Creative/ABC

Dominique Preyer
Hear It – Clear It Music Supervision