Second annual Music Industry Summit to feature Public Enemy’s Chuck D, music supervisor for ‘Stranger Things’

People from Athens and beyond will have the opportunity to learn different aspects of the music industry Thursday at the second Ohio University Music Industry Summit.

The one-day event will bring regional and national leaders in the field to Baker Theatre for a jam-packed day of discussions and panels. The day will end with a concert in Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium featuring three bands.

Josh Antonuccio, the Music Industry Summit director, selected a lineup of panelists who will teach students various aspects of the music industry. The topics include publishing and supervising music, building a music festival in Ohio and tour life. Sameer Gadhia of Young The Giant will discuss the latter with the rock band’s tour manager, April Kulcsar.

“It’s people at different stages of their career,” Antonuccio said. “Some of them who have been doing this for a while, some who have just seen some recent breakthroughs and are just kind of starting. So I think that will be a really helpful conversation for students to hear.”

The panels kick off at 11:15 a.m. with Nora Felder, the music supervisor for Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things.

Lexi Murray, a sophomore studying music production and strategic communication, has aspirations to make music for television and movies. She hopes to learn the different aspects of the music department on productions like that.

“I’m just interested for that point of view,” Murray said. “I think it's a really great opportunity.”

Antonuccio will moderate the keynote address from Chuck D of hip-hop group Public Enemy.

Chuck D currently hosts the Spotify Studios’ podcast Stay Free: The Story Of The Clash, in which he often compares the rock group to Public Enemy. Antonuccio wants to touch on that endeavor, as well as the bands Chuck D works with now, including Rage Against the Machine.

Antonuccio also wants to discuss how Public Enemy built a “conscientious-based music style” that saw so much success and had a lot of influence on the music industry.

“A lot of times people are like, ‘Oh, you have to sound a certain way, be a certain thing to find success,’” Antonuccio said. “Any time I get to talk to artists who have built success on their own terms is always really thrilling.”

The summit last year was comprised of one long panel, but it received such positive responses that Antonuccio decided to expand it.

Originally, the events were supposed to span the course of half a day. As more people registered and leaders in the industry jumped on the project, the program became a day full of panels and networking. Students from other colleges, as well as people in the music industry who are not on panels, are expected to attend and will be able to network at Alden Library’s new CoLab on the third floor at 6 p.m.

Antonuccio also oversees the OU trip to South by Southwest (SXSW), a festival that brings music, film and interactive media to Austin. Antonuccio wanted to start a festival along the lines of the SXSW prototype in the Midwest, and more specifically Ohio, so the summit is providing him that opportunity.

The conference will conclude with a concert in MemAud with performances from three Columbus-based bands: WYD, Blueprint and Doc Robinson. Those three acts will also sit on a panel about entrepreneurship in the music industry. Concluding the day with concert is the most fitting way to end the OU Music Industry Summit, Antonuccio said.

“You go to the conference, and the panels are great, but it’s about the music. If you’re not going to see music, then it’s just an intellectual exercise,” Antonuccio said. “Definitely having that (concert) as a point to remind people, ‘This is why we’re in it. This is what we love about it.’”