New York , 30th November 2021
A2IM Members and Non-Members Can Purchase Tickets Here
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) has revealed additional panels and speakers for its second annual Let’s Get Digital summit. The two-day online event takes place December 9-10 and is designed to connect the independent music community, creating opportunities between independent record labels, digital service providers, technology solutions, and other music industry professionals.
Let’s Get Digital will feature a series of online workshops, executive one-on-one networking sessions, and lively discussions on trending music-tech topics, new technologies, and licensing solutions. Notable topics of exploration include sync opportunities within the fitness tech space, unique ways to engage with fans outside of traditional platforms like social media and DSPs, and a series of “Lightning Talks” that will bring attendees behind the scenes of some of the largest digital marketing campaigns from A2IM membership this past year.
Let’s Get Digital 2021 will include a panel series on one of the year’s hottest topics: NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Jesse Kirshbaum (Dreamstage CMO/NUE Agency CEO) will moderate the discussion for NFTs: Are They Worth It For Independents?, which explores the opportunities that are available for independents in the NFT world. The panel features an artist-to-artist conversation between internationally-acclaimed dance artists Aluna (Mad Decent) and Barclay Crenshaw, a.k.a. Claude Von Stroke (Owner of Dirtybird Records), along with Chloe Jeniky, NFT/Marketing Manager at Mau5trap Recordings.
NFTs 360 takes a closer look at what NFTs are and how to get started in the digital space. The panel, moderated by A2IM CEO Richard James Burgess, features Rasty Turek, Founder and CEO of Pex, the trusted global leader in digital rights technology; as well as Paula Van Der Waerden, Co-Founder, Head of Partnerships at RCRDSHP, Bruno Guez, CEO at Revelator, and Joe Connors, Director of Strategy & Development at Dirtybird.
The Lightning Talk four-part series Digital Marketing/Fresh Takes goes behind the scenes of some of the most successful digital marketing campaigns in the independent music space this year. The series includes presentations from EMPIRE’s Moody Jones, (SVP of Digital & Creative) who oversees over 200 releases a month and helps artists navigate their digital rollouts, and Peter Kadin (VP of Marketing), a music industry expert with over a decade of experience in marketing, public relations, and content development, discussing how they worked to bring late R&B singer and actress Aaliyah to streaming services.
Sarah Wefald, Senior Product Manager at Stem, will moderate a conversation between John Waupsh (Co-Founder/CEO of Nerve) and Peter Sinclair (Co-Founder/CEO of beatBread) about the new crop of FinTech companies that have created tools to financially empower independent artists and labels, from making income sources more transparent and accessible to supporting artists in maintaining ownership and independence.
Speakers at Let’s Get Digital 2021
Additional speakers TBA
| CREATING GENDER PARITY IN MUSIC SPACE
Alyssa Mark – A2IM
Chissy Nkemere – Women in Music
Brooke Rascoff – Women in Music |
FITTECH: ARE WE SWEATING TO YOUR MUSIC?
Lauren Pufpaf – Feed.FM
Kirt Debique – SyncFloor |
| GENDER IDENTIFICATION INITIATIVE – WHAT IS IT?
Monica Corton – Go To Eleven Entertainment
Maxie Gedge – Secretly Group
Mark Isherwood – DDEX
Andreea Magdalina – SheSaidSo |
HOW DO YOU PLAN AROUND THE CREATIVE?
Robby Morris – Secretly Group
Sydney Hard – Mom+Pop
Tasha Stoute – MNRK |
LIGHTNING TALK SERIES:
DIGITAL MARKETING/FRESH TAKES Dee Diaz – Reach RecordsMoody Jones – EMPIRE
Peter Kadin – EMPIRE
Tess Kendall – Ninja Tune
Dan Faughnder – Light in the Attic |
LOOKING BEYOND “LIKES”…WHAT NEW TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE TO ENGAGE WITH FANS OFF OF TRADITIONAL SOCIAL PLATFORMS?
Chandra Karp – Ingrooves
Amanda Colbenson – Ghostly
Arpan Deol – Renaissance
Bas Kruijssen – Kwettr |
| NO IN-HOUSE SYNC-REP? NO PROBLEM.
Jon Mizrachi – Bodega Sync
Lyle Hysen – Bankrobber Music/House Of Hassle/Rough Trade
Katrina Balcius – DISCO
Kirt Debique – SyncFloor |
SHOW ME THE MONEY! WHAT ARE THE LATEST TRENDS IN FINTECH TO HELP YOU AND YOUR ARTISTS GET PAID?
Sarah Wefald – Stem
John Waupsh – Nerve.FM
Peter Sinclair – BeatBread |
| NFTs: Are They Worth It For Independents?
Jesse Kirshbaum – Dreamstage/NUE Agency
Aluna – Artist, Mad Decent
Claude Von Stroke – Artist and Owner, Dirtybird
Chloe Jeniky – Mau5trap Recordings |
NFTs 360
Richard James Burgess – A2IM
Bruno Guez – Revelator
Rasty Turek – Pex
Paula Van Der Waerden – RCRDSHP
Joe Connors – Dirtybird |
| LET’S GET REAL: WHAT IT MEANS TO OWN YOUR DIGITAL FUTURE
Katie Alberts – Reach Records
Shannon Bradley – Merlin
Janely Fernandez – Merlin
Tomas Talarico – MOJO Latam |
DOLBY
Ben Givarz – Dolby
Peter Berard – The Domino Recording Company
Emre Ramazanoglu – Dolby Atmos Mix Engineer, Jon Hopkins
Mert Ozcan – Producer, Engineer, Mixer; The Record House |
| THE BANDCAMP BREAKDOWN: INNOVATIONS AND PRACTICALITIES Andrew Jervis – Director of Artists and Labels
Amir Nerukar – Hip-Hop Ambassador
Amelia Ideh – Manager, Artist Onboarding + Education |
QOBUZ: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWEREDEmmaline McCourt – Music Merchandiser
Rachel Silton – Acquisition & Marketing Manager |
| YOUTUBE: AN INTRODUCTION TO YOUTUBE SHORTS
David Krinsky – Head of U.S. Independent Label Relations
Kristine Mbadugha – Manager Independent Music Partnerships
Simone Davis – Global Shorts Music Program Manager
Jyoti Vaidee – Product Manager
Karthika Periyathambi – Product Manager |
AMAZON MUSIC: PRODUCT UPDATES & MAXIMIZING OUR TOOLS
Danielle Giles – Indies PM / Label Relations |
| MDCP/ITA/COMMERCIAL SERVICE OVERVIEW AND ROLLOUT OF THE EXPORT MUSIC GUIDES 2021
Marisel Trespalacios – U.S. Department of Commerce |
MDCP/ITA POLICY UPDATES
Rebecca Korff – U.S. Department of Commerce
Elliot Silverberg – U.S. Department of Commerce |
Let’s Get Digital 2021 takes place December 9, 2021 from 1 – 5 PM ET and December 10, 2021 from 12 – 4 PM ET. This event is sponsored by Amazon Music, Bandcamp, DISCO, Dolby, Let’s Get Digital, Merlin, and Qobuz, with other sponsors soon to be announced. If you are interested in partnerships or group tickets, please contact sales@a2im.org.
Learn more and purchase tickets here.
About A2IM:
A2IM is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit trade organization headquartered in New York City that exists to support and strengthen the independent recorded music sector. Membership currently includes a broad coalition of nearly 700 Independently-owned American music labels. A2IM represents these independently owned small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) interests in the marketplace, in the media, on Capitol Hill, and as part of the global music community. In doing so, it supports a key segment of America’s creative class that represents America’s diverse musical cultural heritage. Billboard Magazine identified the Independent music label sector as 37.32 percent of the music industry’s U.S. recorded music sales market in 2016 based on copyright ownership, making Independent labels collectively the largest music industry sector.
The organization’s current board of directors comprises: Marie Clausen – Ninja Tune, Mariah Czap – Yep Roc, Steven Hill – Warp Records, Heather Johnson – Ninety9lives, Lisa Levy – Robbins Entertainment, Madeline Nelson – Heads Music, Martin Mills – Beggars Group, Louis Posen – Hopeless Records, Darius Van Arman – Secretly Group, Zena White – Partisan Records, Victor Zaraya – Concord.
