Culture
2022 Ohio University Music Industry Summit brings Michelle Zauner, CAAMP, Noelle Scaggs, and more to Athens April 4 + 5
By: Emily Votaw
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Since 2018, the Ohio University Music Industry Summit has been bringing together some of the liveliest voices of the industry for the benefit of the Ohio University community and the wider public alike.
Tuesday, April 5 through Wednesday, April 6, the Summit returns to offering engagement with its programming entirely in-person for the first time since 2019.
The 2022 Summit sessions focus on topics of contemporary concern to the music industry, like the Metaverse, NFTs, artist branding, and more.
Josh Antonuccio, Summit organizer and Director of Ohio University School of Media Arts and Studies, said some of the highlights of the upcoming conference include a session with storied music supervisor Chris Douridas (responsible for many of the Dreamworks films of the ’90s and ’00s, as well as a curator for KCRW); sessions examining what the rise of the Metaverse and NFTs means for the music industry; a session with Chris Messina, responsible for the production on Bon Iver’s “22, A Million” album and creative director of Bon Iver’s live shows, just to name a few.
All of the sessions outside of an Opening Night Party at Stuart’s Opera House and the CAAMP performance scheduled for Wednesday night in the Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium are free. All events require registration, which can be completed at ohio.edu/music-industry-summit.
Antonuccio spoke to WOUB from SXSW 2022, another music industry-centric conference offered fully in-person in 2022 for the first time since 2019.
“It’s been the first time that I’ve been around people in this kind of context since the pandemic started in March of 2020. Really, for most people in the music, tech, and film industry, this is the first event that’s really been able to roll in this fashion with this many people,” Antonuccio said. “It’s been extraordinary to be back around people again — people feel energized and I’m excited to see something similar happen for us this year.”
While it’s refreshing to be around people in a live setting, Antonuccio said the entirely virtual 2021 Summit had tremendous success reaching a wider public. This year the focus will be on in-person programming, but he hopes to take some cues from last year to increase the accessibility of the event.
“It’s been the first time that I’ve been around people in this kind of context since the pandemic started in March of 2020. Really, for most people in the music, tech, and film industry, this is the first event that’s really been able to roll in this fashion with this many people. It’s been extraordinary to be back around people again — people feel energized and I’m excited to see something similar happen for us this year.” – Josh Antonuccio, organizer of the Ohio University Music Industry Summit and Director of the Ohio University School of Media Arts & Studies
“We are taking some lessons from last year, we had an insane amount of engagement globally across 38 countries and almost the entire United States. We had upwards of 4,000 people engage with our conference last year in some fashion,” said Antonuccio. “We want to really focus on the in-person aspect, but we’re also gonna be offering a virtual platform. We have our own conference app that will have all the day programming streaming out for people to engage with.”
A number of impressive keynote speakers are scheduled to make an appearance at the Summit. These include Noelle Scaggs of Fitz & the Tantrums, Athens/Columbus rooted band CAAMP, and independent hip-hop artist Saba. Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast will also present during the conference, reading from her award-winning book, “Crying in H Mart: A Memoir” on Tuesday before DJ-ing the Summit’s opening night party at Stuart’s Opera House.
In addition to the sessions and keynote speakers, Antonuccio said a focus of this year’s Summit will be networking – something that has been sorely missed by many aspiring and established music industry professionals since it pretty much came to a halt in March 2020.
The 2022 Music Industry Summit networking events include the opening night party at Stuart’s Opera House featuring a DJ set from Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast, starting at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5; and a limited capacity “Music and Tech Happy Hour” scheduled for Wednesday, April 6 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Little Fish Brewery.
“A lot of it is just understanding that these events are about building relationships, and that’s true of this event, in particular. The goal of this event is to create a real pipeline to the industry to facilitate opportunities for students where they would normally have to travel out of the area to get that,” he said.
Antonuccio stressed that registration for all in person 2022 Ohio University Music Industry Summit events is essential. Registration can be completed at ohio.edu/music-industry-summit. All events take place in the Baker University Center unless elsewhere noted in the event schedule. All events outside of the Opening Nigh Party at Stuart’s Opera House and the CAAMP performance are free.