The Business of Music Publishing: Networking: Grammy GPS: A Road Map For Today’s Music Pro- Atlanta, GA

Grammy GPS: A Road Map For Today’s Music Pro - Atlanta, GA

A lot of people want to know the infamous answer to the question, “How do I break into the recording industry?” The answer that I have always gotten is “NETWORKING”. When you are attempting to break into any industry a good thing to do is to network. Join associations that you have an interest in and go to networking events to meet and mingle with the professionals that drive the industry that you are interested in. I joined the Atlanta Grammy Chapter last year, and I have been to three events so far. These events have been proven to be the best reasons to go networking. The main reason I believe in networking in because it works.

The latest networking event that I attended was the Grammy GPS: A Road Map For Today’s Music Pro. This event was a mini-conference and had an array of panels that proved to be worthy for all members and non-members who attended. There were 5 panels ranging from Music and Entertainment Law, Vocal Workshop, Producer Panel, and a special panel with recording engineer for the Beatles, Geoff Emerick. Some of the panelists were Kawan “KP” Prather, Attorney Omara Harris, Ne-Yo, Ledisi, Bryan Michael Cox, Justin “Just Blaze” Smith, Jan Smith, Rich Levy, Margaret Marshall, Butch Walker, Brendan O’Brien, Steve Lillywhite, and others.

The panels that I attended were the most insightful panels that I have personally attended. Since networking is the main topic for this blog, I must say that I learned my greatest lesson in networking today from attorney Omara Harris. She said, “The reason most people fail in getting into the recording industry is the lack of networking”. She also said “most people do not follow up after meeting with industry professionals”. “Twenty five percent of networkers normally fall off after the first email, 50% make it to the follow up phone call after the email, and maybe 10% out of the 100% will actually land a job or opportunity within the industry. By the way, if you do not know who she is, please do some research on her. You may want to retain her for her services.

I cannot wait until the next networking event. I will be there front and center. I appreciate the local Atlanta Grammy Chapter for putting on a great event. I really learned a lot from each of the panelists. I got a lot of information out of this process. I realize that it takes a special kind of person to pick him/herself up by the bootstraps and make their dreams come true.

Here are pics and videos of some of the panelists:

Kawan “KP” Prather