SYNC UP LINKS LOUISIANA MUSICIANS TO THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE


The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation will host its second annual conference for music industry professionals during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell.

Sync Up: The Jazz & Heritage Talent Exchange is a series of morning conference sessions held the Friday and Saturday of both festival weekends (April 24-25 and May 1- 2). Topics to be discussed include the economic climate for international music festivals, distributing music through such digital media as video games, artist development in the Internet age, new funding mechanisms like nonprofit record labels, copyright protection and more.

The Sync Up conference takes place at the Jazz & Heritage Center (1225 N. Rampart St.) – a historic building adjacent to the Foundation offices that the Foundation purchased last year and is converting into an education center.

Admission is free, but advance registration is required as seating is limited. Register online at www.jazzandheritage.org/syncup,
or by calling (504) 558-6100.

The Sync Up conference debuted in 2008 as one of the Foundation’s efforts to support the local music industry by connecting Louisiana’s independent artists with top professionals in music, film and digital media.

Highlights of the 2009 conference include:

Jill Sobule, the hit-making singer and songwriter, will discuss how artists are turning to fans to directly fund the recording of new music.

Seymour Stein, the legendary founder of Sire Records who discovered Madonna, the Talking Heads, the Ramones and many others, will address how to groom artists for the “big time.” Sync Up is proud to partner with The Grammys™ to present this panel discussion entitled, “The Lost Art of Artist Development.”

Randy Eckhardt, music consultant for videogames that include “Guitar Hero” and a veteran of Electronic Arts, will join a number of top digital media figures on the panel “Video Games: The New Record Labels?”

Sync Up is especially pleased to welcome as a partner WOMEX (The World Music Expo) – the highly respected European conference, headquartered in Berlin, which gathers to music festival promoters from around the world. WOMEX’s chief executive, Gerald Seligman, will present a keynote address at Sync Up on how the music industry can adapt in a digital world. He will also a moderate panel on the international festival market during a time of economic downturn.

Sync Up is presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, the nonprofit organization that owns the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, and uses the festival proceeds for year-round activities in education, economic development and cultural programming.

Sync Up gratefully acknowledges the following sponsors:

Louisiana Economic Development

WOMEX

The Grammys™

GNO, Inc.

Loyola University New Orleans/Center for Music & Arts Entrepreneurship/Music

Business Development Program

The Louisiana Independent Music Exchange

The Red Stick Animation Festival

Valentino French Quarter Hotels

Basin Street Station



Complete Schedule with confirmed panelists:


Friday, April 24

9 a.m. – Registration and Welcome

10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Panel discussion:
The Festival Market: Where the Big Gigs Are
Hugh Southard, Blue Mountain Artists (Charleston, NC)
Nicolas Gilliet, Ascona New Orleans Jazz Festival (Switzerland)
Peter Hvalkof, Roskilde Festival (Denmark)

10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Presentation:
Copyrights & Trademarks: How to Register and Why You Should
Ashlye Keaton, New Orleans Entertainment Law Initiative (New Orleans, LA)
Exit to Jazz Fest

Saturday, April 25

9 a.m. – Registration and Welcome

10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Panel discussion:
Video Games: The New Record Labels? Sponsored by GNO, Inc. Ric Neil, Image Metrics (San Francisco, CA) Randy Eckhardt, video game music consultant (Mill Valley, CA) Arif Gursel, Microsoft (Redmond, WA) David Hirshland, Bug Music/Windswept (Los Angeles, CA)

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Panel Discussion:
How An Indie Band Can Break Into Overseas Festivals
Christian Kuffner, the Zydepunks (New Orleans, LA)
Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots (New Orleans, LA)
Gary Edwards, Sounds of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)


Exit to Jazz Fest

Friday, May 1

9 a.m. – Registration and Welcome

10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Panel discussion:
The Lost Art of Artist Development
Sponsored by The Grammys™
Angelia Bibbs-Sanders, The Grammys™ (Los Angeles, CA)
Seymour Stein, Sire Records (Los Angeles, CA)
Paul Ebersold, producer (Memphis, TN)
Josh Rabinowitz, Grey Worldwide/New York University (New York, NY)
Michael Pillot, producer and manager (New York, NY)
Mark Samuels, Basin Street Records (New Orleans, LA)

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Panel Discussion:
The Medici Model: Fan Funds and the Nonprofit Record Label
Jill Sobule, artist (Los Angeles, CA)
Chris Joseph, Threadhead Records (Los Angeles, CA)
Tim Kappel, Loyola University/Grammy U (New Orleans, LA)


Exit to Jazz Fest

Saturday, May 2

9 a.m. – Registration and Welcome

10 a.m. – 10:20 a.m. – Keynote Address:
Digital Impact and Bracing for the Future
Gerald Seligman, WOMEX (Berlin)

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Panel Discussion:
International Festivals: Promoting World Culture in a Global Economic Crisis(Sponsored by WOMEX)
Gerald Seligman, WOMEX (Berlin)
Jan Rottau, Ingolstadt JazzTage (Germany)
Luciano Linzi, La Casa del Jazz (Italy)
Peter Tladi, Joy of Jazz Festival (South Africa)
Peter Himberger, Impact Artist Management (New York, NY)

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Panel Discussion:
Under the Radar: Real Deals in the Big Easy Nobody Knows About
Ashlye Keaton, New Orleans Entertainment Law Initiative (New Orleans, LA)
Greg Eveline, Eveline & Phillips (New Orleans, LA)
Dino Gankendorff, Provosty-Gankendorff (New Orleans, LA)
Suzette Becker, attorney (New Orleans, LA)
Donna Santiago, attorney (New Orleans, LA)



The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that owns the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, proceeds from which support the foundation’s year-round community development activities in the areas of education, economic development and cultural programming. Programs and assets of the foundation include: radio station WWOZ 90.7-FM; the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive; the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music; the Tom Dent Congo Square Lecture Series; the Jazz Journey concert series; the Community Partnership Grants program; and the Raisin’ the Roof housing initiative. The foundation also produces community events such as the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, Fiesta Latina, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival and others.


"WOMEX is honored to be partnering with the Jazz & Heritage Foundation in it's Sync Up event for artists, talent buyers, music licensors and videogame developers," said WOMEX. "Like so many all over the world, we are huge fans of the festival and of the local music it so prominently represents. We also take pride in casting one more vote for a resurgent New Orleans, the birthplace of so much of the best in American music." Gerald Seligman, director of WOMEX

For more information, please call the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation at (504) 558-6100.