MusicMakers Workshop Schedule

3-Day Workshop Schedule

Day 1: Marketing / Branding

Brand YOU: Find Your Story
10 – 11:30pm
What is the core of your passion? What called you? How are you educating and empowering? Behind every music maker is a vision; a story that makes their music different from any other. The goal of this workshop is to lead you back through your story so that you can define it and communicate it to agents, publishers, and venue owners. Most importantly, though, it will help you communicate your story to the tribe of listeners who are looking for exactly what you offer and will fall in love with what you do.

Brand YOU: Telling Your Story
11:45 – 1:15pm
Investment in the Arts Must be Emotional Do you really know the story of your music? In this workshop, we’ll work on your story and how to tell your story. From there, we’ll expand on that vision and look at your Identity (how it looks) – which can later be expanded to be your Vision Board, Imagery, Font, and Style Book.

Brand YOU: Marketing your Brand
2:15 – 3:45pm
Build Your Tribe. People talk all day about creating an audience. About getting your stuff out there and pulling in new listeners. But if that audience doesn’t attend your shows, buy your merchandise & CD’s, or in other words, GIVE YOU MONEY for what you’ve created, you are no closer to a successful career. What we are talking about is one step deeper. We’re talking about your TRIBE.

Personal Pitch BreakOut
4 – 5pm
Participants pitch their musical project in a 1 on 1 personal environment with music professionals or in a peer review environment. This is an opportunity for musicians to speak directly with booking agents, publicists, publishers and the like and get feedback. This event is open to all conference attendees but available on a first come basis. All attendees will be able to pitch to peers in breakout groups.

Pitch Main Event
7:30 – 8:30pm
Participants apply to pitch Shark Tank style to a panel of music industry professionals. The Pitch Event will be run similar to a masterclass where the audience can learn from the feedback provided by the panel. The top 5-6 submissions will have an opportunity to present and to receive feedback.

Day 2: Finding Revenue

Maintaining the Instrument: Movement, Meditation, Breakfast
8:30 – 9:30 am
Morning Opener Keynote
9:30 – 10 am
Booking 101
10am – 11:30am
Are you ready to start performing at a national or international level? A booking agent can be your best ally in that effort. This panel discussion will arm you with information about how to find and vet an agent, what you can expect from an agent, standard deal terms and how to manage that relationship.

Music Publishing 101
11:45-1:15 pm
Performance income is limited. How does a musician make money at 10:00 am on a Tuesday? By writing music instead of performing it! This panel of publishers and musicians will address various areas of revenue available to you, how to approach a publisher, how to vet a publisher, and how to get started putting pencil to paper.

Expanding your Scope
2:15 – 3:45 pm
There are excellent financial opportunities over and above performance and recording. We will discuss Grants; Endorsements; Composition for Film/TV/Advertising; Session & Side-person Work; Arts Education.

Understanding Copyright
4 – 5 pm
Promises of digital royalties for Producers, Mixers, and Engineers & new bills in Congress seem to guarantee a new brighter horizon for many who have not enjoyed this type of revenue in the past. But is this future so promising? This panel discussion will explore details of the new house bills as well as touch on under-utilized or unclaimed revenue based on existing royalty, rights, and trademarks.

Personal Pitch BreakOut
5 – 6 pm
Participants pitch their musical project in a 1 on 1 personal environment with music professionals or in a peer review environment. This is an opportunity for musicians to speak directly with booking agents, publicists, publishers and the like and get feedback. This event is open to all conference attendees but available on a first come basis. All attendees will be able to pitch to peers in breakout groups.

Building Community
7:30 – 9:30 pm
As musicians, we are leaders. This Workshop is for Community Leaders (all attendees and the general public). We will discuss methods of nurturing the Arts Industry; creating new jobs; supporting Arts Organizations; facilitating Cultural Tourism.

Day 3: Building a Healthy Career

A Healthy Career: Keeping It Together (When Everyone Wants a piece of You!)
10 – 11:30 am
You’re watching the successful players and it’s clear that to make a living you have to keep multiple irons in the fire. But – How do you keep track of it all? This panel will talk about keeping all the balls in the air, how to prioritize, how to manage expectations, and how to accept and recover from the inevitable mistakes that happen when you’re pushing forward. We’ll also talk about how to manage Balance between the Day Job and your career.

Teamwork: Building Your Team, Keeping Your Team, Trusting Your Team.
11:45 am – 1:15 pm
We discuss how to create a dream team to help you accomplish your goals. What does your team look like? What are you expected to do as an Artist? Who’s in the driver’s seat? We will also talk about the Evolution of the Team: There will be turnover. How do you handle that?

The Red Tape
2:15 – 3:45 pm
This workshop will walk you through “The Red Tape”: Taxes, Insurance (Life, Disability & Health Care), Retirement Plans, & Social Security. You will learn how to create good habits in these areas now to avoid heartache later and how organizations such as BMI, ASCAP, or SESAC are there to support you as you do.

Improvising Life
4pm – 5 pm
Music is a metaphor for Business. Music teaches us to be fluid and to accept an ever changing landscape. The ability to be flexible is just as important in business. Many things that you want to be constant in your career are actually variables. This workshop will help you be ready for and comfortable with change, to plan for it, and even turn it to your advantage!!
The Big Wrap-Up
5 – 6 pm