Ohio University boasts the largest annual music conference in the Midwest, the Music Industry Summit. This year marked the Summit’s seventh year, and this year, the event was expanded to span three days.
The keynote speakers initially included Charles Wesley Godwin, DJ Premier and Julien Baker & Torres, although Julien Baker & Torres had to pull out of the event due to one of their band members sustaining a concussion. S.G. Goodman was able to step in and fill that time slot for attendees hoping to listen to another performing artist's experiences.
Josh Antonuccio, the director of the Music Industry Summit as well as the School of Media Arts and Studies, starts preparations for the Summit a year or more in advance.
“We typically begin planning each year about 12 to 18 months in advance,” Antonuccio said. “With some artists, it's a longer time period because for our keynotes, very often we're working around their album release schedules, their touring schedule, and so there's a lot of moving parts that have to kind of come together to make it work.”
Professionals from various sectors of the music industry are invited to the Summit to impart their expertise. The events allow students to interact, network and gain knowledge on working in the industry.
“This year we have over 70 industry professionals and creatives coming in, and it's across the board,” Antonuccio said. “It’s artists, it's people in the industry, people in creative sides, tech sides, licensing labels, social media. So really, it's about trying to cover as much ground as possible.”
The Summit also involves several student organizations on campus. This year, Women in the Music Industry threw the Summit’s afterparty, held at The Union and featuring Ohio artists Blush, Solon and Starranee.
Rylie Stopperich, a senior studying music production and recording industry, is the president of WIMI. Using SAC funding, WIMI typically sponsors a female or nonbinary speaker at the Summit who aligns with the organization’s values.
“We started the process way back in the summer, and we were like, ‘We know we want to do a show,’” Stopperich said. “So we started thinking about artists, taking down names because we wanted this to be bigger than our other showcase in the fall.”
Andrew Holzaepfel, the executive director of the OU Performing Arts and Concert Series, co-presents the Summit with Antonuccio. Holzaepfel is largely involved with booking the shows at the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
“We're always looking for artists that would obviously appeal to students and community members, but also as we're building this conference into a larger, nationally known event, we're looking for artists that will draw industry leaders and other people as well,” Holzaepfel said.
Holzaepfel feels passionate about opening up opportunities to students who might be at a disadvantage due to a lack of significant music industry presence around Athens.
“We should still have the opportunities to see amazing actors, amazing comedians, amazing musicians, amazing theater productions, just like anybody would in a metropolitan area,” Holzaepfel said.
Maggie Louderback, a freshman studying theatre production design and technology, attended the Summit looking to benefit from professional development opportunities.
“My favorite event was probably the live audio mixing event because that's what I'm most interested in doing career-wise,” Louderback said. “I always think it's really important if there's something that you want to do as a career, you ought to get your feet on the ground and watch people do it.”
By attending the Summit, Louderback was able to gain knowledge on sound production and secure an interview for an audio production internship.
