Industry Panel / Q&A

The Montauk Music Festival in conjunction with The Montauk Sun presents: 

Industry Workshop for Musicians – Ask the Experts

Gurneys Inn - Friday, May 18th from 2-4pm

Please join us for a workshop for performing Montauk Music Festival artists where there will be a panel of industry experts who will be discussing recent trends in the music industry.  The workshop will be informal and will provide attendees an opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the industry’s top experts in engineering / mixing, promotions / booking, musical composition and entertainment law.  Some questions to consider:  How do you choose the right producer, copyrighting songs and why this is important, what is the purpose of music societies like ASCAP and BMI, musical composition and sound recording, how do you make a living from your songs, promotion techniques, singer-songwriters and recording agreements.

 This is free to all MMF performing acts, and free to all non-performing acts that show proof of BMI, ascap or sesac memberships.  $25 for general public. 

This year we are thrilled to announce the following experts for the 2012 Industry panel:

Michael Conrader – Audio Engineer / Tour Manager

Michael is a professional freelance Audio Engineer and accomplished backline technician, working in the industry since 1987 and has deep experience in Live Sound, Studio Recording and Mixing, Broadcast Mixing and Tour Manager.  His live sound experience includes Mixing FOH and Monitors in venues such as Stephens Talk House, Joe's Pub, All- House of Blues, Nokia Theaters, The Paramount, The Beacon Theater, & New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Fest to name a few.   

As a tour manager, FOH engineer, Monitor Engineer, or Backline Technician he has worked for artists such: Esperanza Spalding, Stanley Jordan, Michelle Shocked, Paula Cole, Ndea Davenport, Roy Haynes, David Sanborn, Al Jerreau, Christian Mc Bride, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett Dave Holland,  Harry Connick Jr., Alex Bugnon, Jimmy Cobb, Meatloaf, Hall And Oates, Angie Stone, Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Josh Groban, Alicia Keys, Peter Cincotti, Mandi Moore, 3LW, Rhona Bennett, Edie Brikell and the New Bohemians, Skid Row.

Michael has started his own label MC² Music and is currently recording and producing un-known new songwriters and artists. 

Bob Donnelly – Attorney

Bob Donnelly has been a full-time music lawyer for 35 years.  He has represented artists or managers of artists who have sold three hundred million albums.  His clients include several members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Jazz Hall of Fame.  Former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer gave Donnelly much of the credit for settling a case with the major record labels resulting in a payment to artists of $55 million dollars in back-due royalties. Bob Donnelly is a frequent contributor to Billboard Magazine and other legal and music industry trade journals.  He is also a full-time music geek.  He has been awarded 40 platinum record plaques and was recently named to the "Super Lawyers" list and as one of the 100 most distinguished lawyers in the U.S. of Irish-American descent.

Jonathan Fritz – Musician

Jonathan Fritz is both a passionate stage performer and sought after session guitar player from New York City.  As a self-taught player, he has mastered many guitar stylings.  Jonathan travels the world playing for a wide range of audiences.  He has been on live tours with Lionel Ritchie and Ritchie Havens and has played with such greats as John Mayer, Josh Stone, Gavin DeGraw, Jimmy Buffet, Billy Joel and Van Morrison.  Jonathan is endorsed by Takamine Guitars and is a featured artist on their web site at Takamine.com.

Lou Plaia – Co-Founder – ReverbNation

In 2006, Plaia co-founded ReverbNation, the leading music-marketing platform used by more than 2 million Artists/Bands, Managers, Labels, Venues, Festival/Tour Promoters and other Music Industry Professionals. Every day, musicians and their support teams turn to ReverbNation as a source for powerful marketing & business tools to compete in the social media age. ReverbNation also offers high quality opportunities for artists in the form of licensing deals, lucrative brand sponsorship programs, and high-profile concert bookings.
Prior to ReverbNation, Plaia worked twelve years at Atlantic Records before becoming the Head of Marketing and Artist Development for Atlantic imprint, Lava Records, where he worked for four years with artists such as Kid Rock, O.A.R., Simple Plan, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Unwritten Law, Skindred, and many others. He was also responsible for negotiating strategic partnerships such as Nascar's Chevy Rock n Roll 400, Schick's Intuition Tour, Disney's Grad Night and many other sponsorship deals.