DESCRIPTION:
21st Century Nashville would be almost unrecognizable to the folks who founded fledgling music businesses there in the early 1900's. Alongside current country chart toppers like Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift, new "royalty" from beyond the expected genre boundaries - artists such as Jack White, Ben Folds, Kings of Leon, Ke$ha, Paramore and, recent transplants, the Black Keys - have all emerged to take their rightful seats in the city's court in 2011. That growing diversity is also reflected in the city's evolving music businesses, from international artist management and booking to App developers and new model innovators. Yet there are sill obstacles and perception problems for the brand of "Music City" to overcome.
Media

Presenters
MODERATOR Jason Moon Wilkins CEO Next Big Nashville
Jason Moon Wilkins is currently the CEO of Next BIG Nashville, the co-founder of synch license consultancy Full Service Music, and manages Nashville artist PUJOL. Wilkins is also a Member of the inaugural Nashville Mayor's Music Council (where he is the Co-Chair of the Branding Committee), is a Leadership Music Alumi, has served on the Board of The Recording Academy Nashville Chapter and was recently nominated for a Nashville Emerging Leader Award by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. His music career, begun at the age of 18, includes time logged as a music journalist (The Tennessean, the Nashville Scene, American Songwriter, NME and others), a Music Director & DJ, touring/recording bass player for Josh Rouse, Garrison Starr and Neilson Hubbard among others, as an artist with his bands toybean and Blue Eyed Blacks and later as a manager for artists such as Venus Hum.

Mark Montgomery Entrepreneur In Residence Claritas Capital
Mark Montgomery is a pioneer in the e-commerce and business to consumer marketing space. Over the past 15 years, he has worked with hundreds of entertainment and corporate clients, including names like Sony, Kanye West, Keith Urban, RIM/Blackberry, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam, Best Buy, Gnarls Barkley, Rascal Flatts, and General Motors to name a few. Mark has been working in the web space since the early 90's, launching his first B2C ecommerce play in early 1996. In 1999, he co-founded echo, a company focused on building communities around entertainment brands. He was the co-creator of the patented platform echotools™, a direct to consumer delivery and data management system which ultimately grew to serve millions of users and distribute hundreds of millions of pages, data feeds, and e-commerce transitions. The company was sold in 2007 to IAC/Ticketmaster for eight figures, returning nearly a ten multiple to echo's investors. A winner of multiple "Best in Business" awards, as well as "Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2007, Mark is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist in the US and Europe for corporate functions as well as conferences on a variety of topics. He is currently the Entrepreneur in Residence for Claritas Capital, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with his EIR role, he holds several board seats in the profit and not for profit companies. In addition, he maintains a small list of consulting clients focused on overall strategy, business development, branding, and technology initiatives.

Lee Parsons CEO Ditto Music
Ditto Music is a digital music distribution service responsible for 11 UK top 40 singles , all with unsigned artists. As CEO of Ditto Music, LEE PARSONS overseas distribution and marketing campaigns for over 20,000 worldwide artists including Suzi Quatro, Finch and Lil Wayne.

Jonas Stein Turbo Fruits

Mike Grimes Co Owner Nashville Scene

Ben Swank Third Man Records