Third annual music conference a success
Published:Monday | October 3, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Junior Forbes and his team did it again. Once more, they took the initiative to bring the Caribbean together through music and were quite successful at this feat. The staging of the third annual music conference was held September 21- 23 in Manhattan, New York, at the Marriott Marquis on Broadway.
The conference was held over three days with an impressive array of panellists speaking on equally interesting topics in several forums. This conference is geared toward educating members from all areas of the music fraternity on the ever-changing landscape that is the music business as it relates to genres of the Caribbean. The event started off with a bang on Wednesday, September 21, with a networking session at the Negril Village Restaurant, followed by two full days of panel discussions from several stalwarts in the various areas of the music industry.
On Thursday, topics such as production, publishing, brand building, marketing and endorsements were covered where a wealth of information was shared. Panellists for the session titled 'Inside the Production Booth' were Ed Robinson Sean Da MA$TAMIND Noel and four time Grammy-award winner James 'Bonzai' Caruso. The discussion was focused on music development for airplay, lyrical content, and music jingles. An interesting and highly informative insert in a category entitled 'Pitch It' was introduced. Here, a seemingly young yet well-rounded entrepreneur showcased his business and demonstrated how its concept could help those in the music business. He was 22-year-old Alex Morrissey of Jamaicansmusic.com. This entity is a music-service company that is making significant strides in the industry and the community at large.
Brand Building, Endorsements and Marketing Music in the Digital Age, was presented by ASOM Productions at the final plenary session for the day. Industry insiders touched on a series of brand development, protection, and marketing along with brand partnership.
Day three saw an impressive turnout of participants that proved to be quite the attentive audience. Topics such as Artiste Management - moderated by Michelle Arthurton - included panellists Victor Lewis and Shamita Carriman.
Financial Management
The financial management presentation was presented by Mr. Steve Gordon (author of The Future of the Music Business).
'Navigating the New Music Business, was moderated by Ms Karen Marie Mason and included accomplished panellists such as Steve Gordon, Esq; BET's own Kelly Griffin and Tyesh Harris.
After the lunch break, an extremely informative and sometimes humour-filled session convened dealing with 'The Dos and Don'ts of Touring". This session included the likes of veteran music man Copeland Forbes (who held his audience captive with some humorous and other more serious recollections of the many tours he has organised and executed over the years) who provided some very awe-inspiring moments.
The proceedings ended with a session entitled 'The Changing Face of Radio'. This saw panellists such as veteran broadcaster Pat McKay of Sirius XM Satellite radio, Kerry Dennis, Sydney White and Gary Bernstein.