Our Top 5 Moments of Music Biz 2017

In case you haven't been before, the Music Biz convention in Nashville has quickly become one of the music industry's best conferences in the U.S. It’s the only music business event in North America that brings together the influential decision-makers from the commerce, content and creative communities under one roof for four productive days of meetings, education and networking. We headed to Nashville to attend the conference this year.

Here are our top moments:

1.  Connecting with our Nashville members.  Sparkplug has local team members in Nashville who connect with our members on a day-to-day basis; however, it was great to have our NY team meet with the local Nashville Community. We got to know a number of our members personally at a private rooftop cocktail party and were blown away by how welcoming, supportive, and excited for Sparkplug everyone was. We also had some one-on-one meetings with members who had some great ideas for more ways that we can be a valuable resource for and connect with the Nashville community. Last but definitely not least, we had some quality time with Cassandra and Tim, our Nashville ambassadors. 

2.  Hanging out with our partners.  We also had time to catch up with some of our Nashville partners, like Evamore.  Evamore is a highly curated marketplace of bands, which can be booked for private parties, gigs, and events. Evamore customers use Sparkplug to book the audio equipment and backline needed for their events. Evamore is based in Nashville and we absolutely loved spending time with their impressive founders, Channing and Makenzie.

3.  Networking with top music industry companies.  Music Biz has incredible panels, award ceremonies, presentations and more, but we weren't expecting them to offer such great parties! Every night there was a sponsored cocktail party (or sometimes two or three), where all attendees came out, had a drink and a nibble, let their hair down and did some heavy networking. Companies in attendance included the major labels, Spotify, Merlin, Nielsen, the Orchard, ONErpm, CD Baby, HFA/Rumblefish, Loudr, and A2iM, just to name a few.  The conference felt very well attended but it was manageable, not an onslaught of people. You could have real conversations with some of the biggest players in the industry. 

4.  Learning!  MusicBiz prides itself on not having any "101" panels, and it's so true. Every panel we went to covered new, innovative, or complex facets of the music industry. Sparkplug CEO Jennifer also moderated a panel which was a record deal mock negotiation. Other highlights include Nielsen's Leading Ladies presentation, with inspiring speakers such as Kelly Clarkson, Julie Greenwald, Tracy Gershon, Jessica Sobhraj, and others.

5.  Exploring Nashville. Nashville is such a beautiful city! We managed to make it beyond just the convention center to explore the city, particularly East Nashville! We even made some more touristy destinations, like our late night visit to the Parthenon in Centennial Park.