Texas Music Pickers has teamed up with industry experts to bring you an information-filled day that’ll help get your band to the next level!
We’re hosting an all-day seminar at The Hilton in College Station, on December 12th that’ll provide you with extremely beneficial tools, resources, and insights for navigating the Texas/Red Dirt music scene! This year topics will include:
- Radio Promotion
- Spotify
- Social Media
- Booking
- Management
- Resources Offered by the Texas Music Office
- Successful and Profitable House Concert Tours
- And Much More!
Our seminar will conclude with an in-depth interview with one of our scene’s top artists who will offer insights on their career path, the things they’ve learned, and advice they can offer to up-and-coming artists.
Each session will include a 35-minute presentation from an industry expert, plus a 15 minute Q&A with the audience.
Immediately following will be an after party at The Tap. Not only will attendees have the opportunity to network over cocktails, we are also flipping on the sound system and opening up the stage, so artists can get in front of our seminar’s industry experts, the fine folks at The Tap, us, and the rest of the seminar attendees in a song-swap format!
Seminar Tickets are available here: Seminar Tickets
Here are this year’s speakers:
KEYNOTE ARTIST: WILLIAM CLARK GREEN
JOHN MARKS – HEAD OF COUNTRY MUSIC AT SPOTIFY
Over the last year our inbox has been flooded with questions about Spotify, so we knew this was something we were going to need to cover in this year’s seminar. Rather than us providing you with the limited knowledge we have, we decided to bring in THE TOP DOG OF COUNTRY MUSIC AT SPOTIFY (the Global Editor for Country Music at Spotify), John Marks!!!
Marks will be demystifying the world’s largest streaming platform, providing insights on the role Spotify plays in the Texas/Red Dirt scene, as well as the country music scene in general, giving advice on how to pitch to playlists, showing artists how they can best utilize the tools and resources of Spotify, and much, much, more!
Bio:
CHAD KUDELKA – FOUNDER & CO-OWNER OF RED 11
Chad Kudelka is the founder and co-owner of Red 11 Music; one of the largest and most respected booking agencies in Texas, and one of the leading Boutique Agencies in the country with offices in Austin, TX and Nashville, TN. The agency was nominated for Independent Booking Agency of the Year by Pollstar in 2016. With his partner in Nashville, Jon Folk, the agency represents some the scene’s top acts like Cody Johnson, Turnpike Troubadours, Roger Creager, Shane Smith and the Saints, Koe Wetzel, and many more!
With nearly two decades of national booking experience, and an extensive background in merchandising, accounting, artist management and record/radio promotion, Kudelka will be offering insights on the most important aspects artists should consider when looking for a booking agent, the decision process his agency goes through when adding artists to their roster, the biggest mistakes artists make, and much more!
JOHN DICKSON – OWNER OF DICKSON PRODUCTIONS
Have you ever wondered the best way to pitch to large music festivals and major events, or what it takes to organize one, or have questions about advertising, marketing, record labels, print media, etc…?
Well we’re excited to announce that John Dickson, owner of Dickson Productions, will be a part of the “Pick Our Brain” session at this year’s Texas Music Seminar! Dickson productions is the company behind festivals like The MusicFest at Steamboat, Rio Frio Fest, Fest Out West, and many other major events in our scene and this will be your opportunity to ask him, Katie Key (“The Queen of Texas Music”), and one more panelist soon to be announced, well… pretty much anything on the business or music side of the industry!
The “Pick Our Brain” segment will be a 30 minute Q&A session where the audience will get to ask questions and seek advice from some of the top industry experts in our scene!
Bio:
John Dickson has been a featured speaker at the Americana Music Association Conference, and his company, Dickson Productions, presents or consults on more than 100 performances and special events each year, including Fest Out West, Rio Frio Fest and MusicFest at Steamboat which is now one of the longest running music festivals in the country (33 years) and recently deemed “The Super Bowl of Texas Music”!
In addition to providing expertise consulting in advertising and marketing for artists, events, and major record labels, Dickson Productions publishes its widely distributed biannual MusicFest Magazine, whose pages include letters of recognition from artists, politicians, even Presidents. Also the force behind Right Avenue Records, Dickson Productions now can add ‘record label’ to its roster of qualifications, as the company recorded and released the acclaimed double CD live recording, Undone: A MusicFest Artist’s Tribute to songwriter Robert Earl Keen. Texas A&M University Press and the Center for Texas Music History joined forces to publish the John and Robin Dickson book series on Texas Music, designed to promote scholarship on a variety of topics related to the state’s musical heritage.
Over the years, Dickson Productions has worked with hundreds of esteemed national touring acts and up and comers alike and has successfully produced events across the nation.
CLAY NEUMAN – FOUNDER AND OWNER OF VISION ENTERTAINMENT
Clay Neuman, owner of Vision Entertainment, will be conducting our Radio Promotion session at this year’s Texas Music Seminar!
Neuman will be offering insights and answering questions on the decisions artists should make when deciding to go to radio, the process he and his teams goes through when adding people to their roster, how radio promotion has changed over the last few years, and much more!
Bio:
In an ever-changing industry that is synonymous with The Wild West, Clay Neuman, founder of Vision Entertainment, has spent his 20 year career as a pioneer in artist development. In 1997, after a short internship with Arista Austin Records, Clay started working full time in BMG’s Dallas branch as a coordinator in the radio promotion department for Arista Nashville. Witnessing the decline of the traditional model, Clay saw a crucial need for true artist development. With Arista’s blessing he started work to bridge the gap between major label commerce and grassroots marketing by utilizing the M Street radio station directory along with soundscan sales monitoring. This entrepreneurial effort resulted in growing Arista Nashville’s 20 plus secondary country radio station database to 80 plus based purely on their ability to influence record and concert ticket sales. In 1999, Clay served as Head of Radio Promotion at Arista Austin. The imprint focused heavily on Adult Alternative Album (AAA) and the new Americana Music format. In addition to the core formats, he oversaw hiring and working with radio promotion independents for Adult Contemporary and Alternative radio. In his first year of traveling the country to work these multiple formats he helped Arista Austin earn the coveted title of “Major Label of The Year” while he received a nomination for “AAA Promotion Person of The Year,” and won “Americana Promotion Person of The Year” at the 2000 Gavin Awards in San Francisco.
In 2001, Clay founded the independent radio promotion company, APEX Music. His first clients included the bluegrass trio Nickle Creek on Sugarhill Records and the then independent powerhouse, Pat Green. During the growth of the Americana format and during the birth of the Texas Music Chart, Neuman continued the focus on promotional efforts that planted the flag of independent artists on both the Billboard airplay and sales charts. Over the next decade and a half, Clay and his team have served as a trusted radio promotion team for many of the most successful core artists in the Texas Music format [Randy Rogers, The Turnpike Troubadours, Stoney LaRue, Jason Boland, Parker McCollum].
In 2011, with the irrefutable rise of the “independent artist,” Clay reinvented his company’s stronghold as a driving force towards the future of promotion and marketing with the launch of Vision Entertainment. The company’s multifaceted infrastructure not only embraces all the key pieces required to raise an artist through the ranks of the industry, but also provides the building blocks needed to win their game. Today, Vision Entertainment’s in-house team maintains a strong focus on radio and streaming promotion along with artist management in order to reach the highest goal of career longevity.
DAVE LYTLE – OWNER AND FOUNDER OF 415 ENTERTAINMENT AND 415 PRODUCTIONS
Dave Lytle, owner of 415 Entertainment and 415 Productions, will also be a panelist in the “Pick Our Brain” session at our Texas Music Seminar!
Lytle will be joined by John Dickson, owner of Dickson Productions, and the “Queen of Texas Music”, Katie Key, for a session that’ll allow our seminar attendees to “pick the brain” and gather insights of some highly-respected industry experts! It’ll be a 30 minute Q&A session, where the audience can ask questions and seek advice on….well pretty much anything on the music or business side of the industry!
Bio:
Dave Lytle has over 15 years experience in the music business that includes Artist Management, Festival Owner And Producer, Concert Promoter, Tour Manager, Talent Buyer and more. After acting as Tour Manager for Cory Morrow for seven years Dave was part of the start up team at 415 Entertainment in 2007. As owner he now manages Texas artists William Clark Green and Flatland Cavalry.
In 2008 Lytle co-founded 415 Productions and Lone Star Jam which just celebrated it’s tenth anniversary this past May. Over the past ten years 415 Productions has been producing and promoting hundreds of events such as The KVET Free Texas Music Series, The KOKE Free Music Series, The Texas Cowboys Harvest Moon Festival, Party In The Park and more.
KATIE KEY – CREATOR AND EDITOR OF KEY MUSIC NEWS, CONVEYOR MANAGEMENT TEAM, CO-FOUNDER AND FORMER EDITOR OF THE TEXAS MUSIC CHART AND BEST IN TEXAS MAGAZINE
“The Queen of Texas Music”, Katie Key, will be a part of this year’s Texas Music Seminar!
Currently she writes a music blog titled Key Music News and is also a part of the management team for a great group of artists under the Conveyor Management umbrella: Cory Morrow, Brandon Rhyder, Kyle Hutton and Market Junction.
ROBIN SCHOEPF – CO-FOUNDER OF BIG BLIND MANAGEMENT
Robin Schoepf has been involved in artist management for the better part of 15 years. As one of the founders of 36D Management with then partner Shannon Canada, Robin assisted in the development and management of artists like Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Mike McClure Band and the Randy Rogers Band. Robin has remained part of the Randy Rogers Band’s management team since leaving 36D and in 2016 joined forces with Randy Rogers to establish Big Blind Management. Their current roster includes Red Shahan, Parker McCollum, Seth James and Bruce Robison.
Robin will be focusing on how to set up and maintain organization for touring bands, tour management (with or without a tour manager) and what to consider before seeking management.
BRENDON ANTHONY – DIRECTOR OF THE TEXAS MUSIC OFFICE
As Director of the Texas Music Office, Brendon Anthony sets the agenda for business development, helping music industry professionals navigate their entry into the Texas market, as well as moving their businesses to Texas (including corporations, start-ups, and everything in between). Appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2015, Brendon provides the link between the Office of the Governor’s Economic Development & Tourism Division executive staff, private sector music industry businesses, and non-governmental music organizations and trade associations. In addition to leading the Texas Music Office, Brendon is also the point person for the Music Friendly Communities program which helps connect the various music markets throughout the state with one another, establishes best practices for economic development success, and fosters the development and connection of higher education music programs to real-world music business opportunity.
CHRIS FOX – CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF TEXAS MUSIC PICKERS
Chris Fox, co-founder and editor of Texas Music Pickers will be leading the session on how to optimize your band’s social media usage. Not only will he discuss how to use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram more effectively, he’ll also be guiding you through what’s on the horizon in digital marketing. He’ll cover the best ways to engage fans, the type of content that responds best to the platforms’s algorithms, best practices for boosting posts, the most common mistakes bands make, converting social media followers to fans, and much more!
Chris Fox got his first taste of the Texas music scene in 2002 after sneaking in to a Randy Rogers concert at the age of 17 in Huntsville, Texas. He later attended Sam Houston State University where he received his Bachelors in Business Administration. After spending a few years in hardware and software sales in Houston, Chris decided to go back to school and pursue his passion. While teaching Business and Marketing classes in College Station and finishing his MBA, Chris and Steve Fox, went on to start Texas Music Pickers after using it as a way to get in to a sold out concert -True Story! Chris and Steve officially launched their website in March of 2014, highlighting singles, albums, and videos of established and up-and-coming Texas and Red Dirt artists, providing valuable marketing analysis and advice, as well as, publishing the Texas Music Spotify Chart. The website currently averages 25K hits a month, and they’ve amassed nearly 30,000 social media followers! In the last 28 days, Texas Music Pickers has had 435 page likes, reached 130K+ people, and received 35K+ post engagements on Facebook alone.
THE GIBBONSES
After two successful national tours, Jackie and Brandon Gibbons will unlock the immense financial and community building wealth of opportunities that come from performing House Concerts. They will share their personal experiences and the actionable steps that any artist can take to book, plan, and execute their very own national tour using this performance model.
BIO:
After working together for several years performing in a Top 40 cover band on cruise ships Jackie and Brandon found their way back to Texas, where in 2015 they formed the Americana duo, The Gibbonses.
They dove straight into the Texas Music Scene by getting involved in 95.9FM’s Ranch Factor, Larry Joe Taylor’s Songwriter Competition, Texas Music Picker’s Battle of the Bands, and Rattle Music Magazine’s Singer-Songwriter contest.
After releasing their debut album, ‘Among The Rubble’ in the spring of 2016, they began touring relentlessly, pursuing both the traditional Texas circuits, as well as their DIY House Concert approach. Driven by their love of performing, no matter what the venue, for these two the goal is always to bring people together to share authentic and meaningful experiences through music and community.
We recommend clicking “going” or “interested” on the Seminar’s Facebook event page so you don’t miss out on any updates or announcements: Facebook Event Page
The seminar will be held on Tuesday, December 12th at the Hilton in College Station and tickets are $119. There are only 150 tickets available. Last year’s seminar sold out, and we’re are expecting to sell out again this year, so don’t wait to get those tickets!
Seminar Tickets are available here: Seminar Tickets
Special room rates at The Hilton College Station are available here: Hilton College Station Room Rates Page
Seminar After-Party Link: http://www.texasmusicpickers.com/texas-music-seminar-party-2/
Music addict, a sucker for heartbreak songs, and avid Houston sports fan! I’am also the Editor-in-Chief of Texas Music Pickers.
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