Urban Network Digital and Music Industry Quarterly (Recap)

On Saturday June 10th I was blessed to be in attendance for the Urban Network Conference in Los Angeles. The three day event took place at the Hilton Hotel in Woodland Hills and featured many of our industry brothers and sisters as panelists.

That Saturday, the opening panel on ‘What Every Industry Professional Should Know’ was moderated by Bryan Calhoun,  a digital strategist and business developer with the blueprint group. The panelists were Avery turner, the CEO of True Indie Consulting, Janie Jennings, who serves as general manager of Machine Entertainment, Entertainment attorney  Nyanza Shaw,  music industry executive and UN ambassador to Vienna Cappriccio Scates, Fade Duverny who is a Marketing Consultant, Jennifer Horton who holds an extensive background in marketing, consulting, Senior Vice President of Universal Music Group Distribution, and Greg Miller who is head of Music Marketing and Publicity at Big Hassle Media.

Bryan Calhoun (digital strategist and business developer)

Fade Duverny (Marketing consultant and founder of Loud Records)

Greg Miller (music marketing and publicity at Big Hassle Media)

From left to right: Carron Joan Mitchell  (Intellectual Property, Counseling & Transactions, NixonPeabody LLP) Brandra Ringo (A&R, Universal Music Publishing) J Hatch (Co-Founder of iStandard and author of How I Left My Job and Made it in the Music Industry)

Additionally I sat in on the “A&R for a Social Media World” panel. This was moderated by Cee Barrett. Barret sits as the associate director and writer publisher relations at BMI. Sitting on the panel was Earl Johnson, A&R Manager at Rostrum Records, Carron Joan Mitchell who is head of intellectual property, counseling and transactions at Nixon Peabody, Brandra Ringo, an A&R at Universal Music Publishing, Monica Payne who serves as executive vice president of talent at Artistry Worldwide Management, Serge Durand A&R at Priority Distribution and Capitol Records, and Gary Leon who is an A&R at Atlantic Records.

This panel was an excellent opportunity to learn how everyone got into the business and the importance of developing relationships with artists.

Sitting in on Herb Trawick’s interview with Da Internz (Production duo from Chicago consisting of Marcos “Kosine” Palacios and Earnest “Tuo” Clark) was inspiring. This is an industry fueled on overcoming adversity and Da Internz showed that and more. Da Internz both stated that they were born to make music. They describe their sound as “Gourmet Ratchet”and have received several Grammy nominations for their work with Nas and John Legend.

Da Internz being interviewed by Herb Trawick (co-host of Pensado’s Place)

Overall the Urban Network Conference had an outstanding turnout and provided its attendees with a strong networking base. The day was closed out with various performances from up and coming hip-hop and R&B acts. Special thanks to all the vendors and sponsers of the event.