Panos Panay has long embodied the ideal mix of music and tech - he currently serves as the Co-President of The Recording Academy, previously founded and ran Sonicbids, and co-authored Two Beats Ahead, an exploration of music, entrepreneurship, and innovation. What better person to kick off and inspire our attendees?

Panos sits down with journalist Alison Fensterstock, to discuss his successful career in the music industry and what he foresees for the future of the industry.

Dawn Richard mixes Creole culture, bounce, R&B and her own Southern identity into her unique pop melange. As a member of Danity Kane and Diddy’s Dirty Money, Dawn was able to explore the ins and outs of commercial pop music. As a solo artist, she opted to self-release her music. Over the span of five critically acclaimed full-length albums, Dawn has made the message clear that she will not bow down or bend to industry norms.

Dawn sits down with Brent Craig, Founder of Jammaround, to discuss her amazing career, both as an artist and as a tech entrepreneur, and how her hometown of New Orleans continues to influence her music. 

We know the right licensing or sync deal can change an artists entire trajectory, but it's not all about huge, splashy placements. Today's media universe offers more opportunities for licensing than ever, both large and small. We'll discuss new discovery platforms for artists, licensing in the metaverse, new Web3 tech to facilitate deals, and the increasing opportunities for collaboration and licensing in emerging media.

In-person music creation has been exceedingly tough the last two years, but innovations in virtual collaborative writing, new social networks, AI-generated music, and more have made this an exciting time to make music.

With the cancellation of the already postponed New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in October 2021, many of New Orleans music venues and musicians were left with few options to recoup the much needed revenue that would have been generated by the large number of shows that had already been booked during the dates of the festival. Cut to the creation of NOLAxNOLA, a branded series of live music shows created by a coalition of some of New Orleans' iconic nightclubs and music venues, along with New Orleans & Company. Hear from some of the organizers, venues and musicians that brought this idea to life.

TikTok has become a launching pad for massive stars and a critical piece of an artist's overall social and fan engagement strategy. Hear from TikTok experts on how to get the most success from your presence on the platform.

It's easy to write NFTs off as this year's biggest fad, or worse as a cynical play for quick cash in today's wild west of Web3. But NFTs have long-tail value for artists, enduring worth for fans, and wildly untapped potential beyond just expensive JPEGs. Come discover how all kinds of NFTs could change the future of the music community.

Finding capital to fund your project can be difficult.  As a rising star, you may be struggling to find money to record a hit.  You’re hitting the live show circuit to generate funds, but traveling for performances also comes at a cost. You’re selling merch, but only after the upfront cost of production.  You’re self-promoting and self-releasing tracks, waiting for the traction to take hold.  What can a creative do to help fund their project, and career?  What is the blueprint for success?  This panel will explore common pitfalls, but more importantly, solutions and tactics to help catapult a creative to their best success.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are changing the way we interact with the world on a daily basis. The potential of AI/ML to transform music creation and how we experience it is being increasingly realized as musictech startups and global powerhouses release groundbreaking technologies. Whether it is stem isolation used by Kanye West’s Stem Player, deep user analytics used to enhance music discovery by Spotify or Google’s Magenta, which generates new music with minimal user interaction, the world of music is being affected in profound ways by these technologies.

This panel seeks to specifically explore the evolution of careers in the music industry as they are disrupted by this automation. Will studio drummers be out of work when drum machines get so good that it is hard to tell the difference? Are mastering engineers’ careers threatened by the advent of AI mastering tools? Is the music creation process going to be replaced by computers? We explore these questions and much more.

hyprAUDIO, DAWNn Audio, Myxstem

What exactly is Immersive Audio? Where can you hear it? Does it really make a difference in the way you hear sound? Join mastering engineer and three time GRAMMY winner Michael Romanowski, and two time GRAMMY winning producer, engineer and mixer Chris Finney (that's five y'all!) as they answer these questions and more. They'll also discuss what Immersive Audio means for music creators and the opportunity for creativity with new releases, as well as back catalogs. 

There's no shortage of articles telling us that Web3 and DAOs will fundamentally change the business of music, from ownership to distribution to experiential. But will the old ways really disappear just like that? Who are the big players, and what does the near and longer-term future really look like given these new tech paradigms? Hear from the experts working on the front lines.

Fernando Garibay is a modern day renaissance man. He is the Founder and CEO of the Garibay Center, an institute aiming to instill orthogonal thinking and achieve higher levels of performance for corporate, academic, finance and entertainment leaders from around the world by invigorating creativity through his unique music knowledge and methodology. Garibay is also a record producer, songwriter, DJ, academic and entrepreneur, and was the official musical director of Lady Gaga's Born This Way Ball and the producer of her Born This Way album. Formerly an executive, producer, and artist at Interscope Records, Fernando spent over a decade as part of the in-house creative team at Interscope.  He is a mentor at several startup accelerators such as Gener8tor and Titletown Tech, and is a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School and at MIT. 

Fernando will sit down with Sabrina Short, Founder and CEO of NOLAvate Black, to discuss his career and share his insight on creativity and success.

Music tech startups were put through the wringer during the pandemic, but we've emerged red-hot with an explosion of innovative ideas to evolve the music industry and fan experience, certainly bolstered by the emergence of blockchain and DAO advancements. Hear about the state of the industry, and what VCs, investors, and entrepreneurs are looking for in 2022.

From streaming music and watching concerts to a DJ spinning tunes while you party with your friends from around the globe…the metaverse is opening up a new (second) world of revenue stream opportunities for the music industry.

Vampr is the world’s largest and most active social-professional network for musicians. This music startup has helped fledgling musicians broker over 7 million connections worldwide. Now they are unveiling Vampr Academy, which will deliver expert education as they revolutionize the music space.

It's not a new concept to tell musicians to approach their careers as a business and a brand. But what does that mean in 2022? In so many ways, the doors are blasted open for entrepreneurs of all sizes, and new tech is making it easier and more important than ever to take charge of your business side. Let our experts tell you how.

Gebre Waddell is an American entrepreneur, author, and software engineer based in Memphis, TN.  Waddell is best known as CEO and Co-Founder of Sound Credit, author of Complete Audio Mastering published by McGraw-Hill, and for audio mastering work for a range of musical artists including Ministry, Lil' Wayne, Rick Ross, Public Enemy and others.  Waddell also serves on the Board of Trustees of The Recording Academy/GRAMMYs and as Chairman of the Tennessee Entertainment Commission.