Amplify Music 2021 Session List
Day 1: Expanding Music in 2021
Times: 8 am – 2 pm Pacific Time + Mixer
Session 01: Welcome and Overview
Welcome to the Amplify Music 2021 Day 1 programming on Local Music Communities in 2021 and beyond.
Session 02: Continuing What Worked into 2021
What worked in 2020 that we can take forward into 2021? Join this panel in exploring the various elements of what grew in this challenging time in areas ranging from how we shifted into virtual co-creation to the surges in music streaming. Music instrument and DAWs, as well as electronic gear, became sought-after creative tools. New organizations were founded to push for representation. What else happened that grew in 2020 and into 2021?
Session 03: Explosion of Streaming TV and Music Virtual Production
While venues and theaters were closed and opened and closed again — many people shifted to their streaming services and developed whole new habits in a time of challenging TV and film production. 2020 was the year of Streaming TV and online gaming growth during the time of COVID-19 and how the surge in sync for film, TV, and games changes the geographies and opportunities recorded music during the pandemic.
Session 04: The Where and Who of Live Music in 2021
This session will focus on “The Where and Who of Live Music in 2021.” We will tackle questions such as: What dramatic changes in venue landscapes might we expect in 2021? Will this change how we use and permit space in the future, changing the economics of venues and events? How does this change the future of Festivals and Mass Gatherings, in the short and long term? Lastly, how do shifts differ by geography?
Session 05: The Virtual Where: Livestreaming, Gaming, and New Experiences in 2021
This session will focus on “The Virtual Where,” diving into how music technology has evolved through livestreaming, gaming, supporting fundraising efforts, new creation/collaboration tools- and how has new tech helped artists and creators in their local communities? Lastly, will livestream experiences change expectations by artists and fans?
Session 06: Community and Creative Identity in a post-WFH era – Radio as Connective Tissue in a Hybrid World
This session will discuss the evolving role of radio as the connective social glue during the pandemic. Radio can connect local news and music to local business — and be a lifeline to both information and entertainment. How did radio become challenged or thrive in 2020 and how does the growth in pandemic-spurred media leave radio in a post-pandemic world? What is radio’s role?
Session 07: Government Action/Inaction Across the Globe
Government funding became a key factor in local venues and artists’ lives last year. Different cities, counties, and countries reacted differently — and had different infrastructures already in place or were entirely missing. Our guests will share stories of working with various government entities and how those relationships have changed over the past year — and where we need those relationships to continue to transform.
Session 08A: Cities and Regions Working Together for 2021
In this session, we will be looking at how cities do/can work together. Local is not just a city. These guests will share what is happening in regions and countries as cities work together (or don’t) and super-communities and emergent organizations look at how to grow whole regions around futures of local music.
Extended Bonus: Be Present Everywhere 2021 – Where Organizations and Leaders are Taking the Year Ahead
Day 1 will end with a round-the-world conversation. “Be Present Everywhere 2021” has been a traveling buffet across the past year, led by Robert Singerman from LyricFind and CAB. This session will bring together voices from around the world who have been working with music festivals and music communities and will share snapshots of what they have planned for 2021 and beyond.
End of Day Mixer
Each day will end with an Online Mixer to meet other creative leaders from other countries and adventures.
Day 2: Community, Artist, and Emotional Impacts
Times: 8 am – 2 pm Pacific Time + Mixer
Welcome, Day 2
Welcome to the Amplify Music 2021 Day 2 programming on Local Music Communities in 2021 and beyond. Today’s theme is “Community, Artist, and Emotional Impacts” — how are we amplifying and expanding music communities and health?
Session 09: Rebuilding Arts Organizations in 2021
In Day 2, where we’re digging deeper in recovery and human systems. How can we rebuild arts organizations this year? Many arts organizations were cobbled or crippled in the past year. How can we help these organizations rebuild in a changing environment? What has been successful in various regions and spaces? How can your organization find healing pathways and kindred spirits?
Session 10: Music Education – The Intertwining of Educational Disruption and Music Disruption
Last Spring, music education around the world suddenly went remote — or was severely disrupted at the very least. Many schools and educators pivoted and transformed how they taught music. Community education organizations already had pivoted in some cases and became global instead of just serving their local communities. Performers became online educators around the world, opening new doors and relationships. Will this continue in 2021? Will this five-years-of-change-in-one stick or transform expectations and global connections?
Session 11: Relocation: Transformations of City Centers and Suburbs
Where do we want to live if we have our choices? And where do we want to engage with music if we’re working and living in a hybrid or remote work world? Not all of us changed locations, but Central Business Districts are struggling with their futures and suburbs in many cities are the new normal. What does all of this do to permanently impact city centers and in many cases the locations of our music venues and city festivals? This session will discuss the past year’s transformations of city centers and suburbs.
Session 12: Whose Music Industries in 2021?
2020 also was a year of voices raised around diversity and inclusion in many areas of our lives, including music. When we talk about recovery, funding, and working together, whose music businesses are we looking to support? Does everyone have access to recovery funds? Are we looking to build back the local music business as it was or in ways to bring in more diverse voices and communities? Join us in a discussion about whose music businesses and communities we are building into 2021 and beyond.
Session 13: Streaming – Composing and Creating Into the Social Vacuum
2020 became a year of virtual creation and community. Will this stick as a permanent mode of creation and collaboration? What will this become in 2021 and beyond? Here we will discuss this challenge for creating in hybrid and virtual environments with a gathering of creators and composers.
Session 14: Financial Bets 2021 – Closing, Buying Up, Investing in Music
What a year in terms of buying and selling of music companies, despite the uncertainty and turmoil! Whole portfolios of music rights and entire companies have been rapidly being bought and sold. Venues were offered cents-on-the-dollar buyout offers. What will be the drives for funding and acquisitions in the future, and can it be used to fund live music and local music growth? Is this a global trend? Where will the money come from in the future to create new music? What will be real estate terms for new or changed venues? Who will be the future investors in local music and music ecosystems?
Session 15: How Artists Make Money in 2021/2022
How are artists making money in 2021? How do they piece together digital streams, virtual events, creating for synch, building/rebuilding relationships, and planning future directions? Who is taking the risk of uncertainty in future concerts happening and at what density? World Audio Day will continue its own conversations from its April 21 events with a session today about how artists actually are making money in the current environment.
Session 16: Youth/Fans – Where They See 2021 Ahead
A panel of Gen-Zers shares their desires, fears, and what they are thinking about music and the music business. What is the job outlook? Are they going to go back to shows quickly or wait? What about festivals? What are younger fans and community members wanting and seeing in this live-recovery era?
Session 17: Mental Health of Music Industry
Mental health is a challenge in normal times for the touring and creating musician, artist, recording engineer, and others in this field. Suddenly being challenged economically takes a fragile system and makes it challenged. Organizations have stepped up to help — but what is the long-term challenges and solution in an era of increasing uncertainty? We’ll talk about support systems and mental health challenges for music creators in local communities around the globe.
Session 18: Music in Civic and Emotional Recovery
Music enhances social and emotional wellness within a city. The disappearance of live music venues pushed people into singing from their balconies and porches in different regions across the creative shutdown. What will the role of music continue to be in our civic and emotional recovery from the pandemic and beyond? How will music be part of the healing future?
Session 19: Broken Puzzle Pieces – Ways to Rebuild Community
Our communities around the world have been challenged over the past year. How will we and can we rebuild? Our panelists will share potential strategies to begin to rebuild sociability, local nighttime economies, and music sectors within our communities.
End of Day Mixer
Each day will end with an Online Mixer to meet other creative leaders from other countries and adventures.
Day 3: Reimagining 2022 – 2025
Times: 8 am – 2 pm Pacific Time + Mixer
Welcome, Day 3
Welcome to the Amplify Music 2021 Day 3 programming on Local Music Communities in 2021 and beyond. Today’s theme is “Reimagining 2022 – 2025” — where do we WANT to go that is different than just replicating 2019?
Session 21: FuturesCasting – Where Do We Want to Go?
In Day 3 we are focusing on Co-Created Futures of Local Music Communities. When we talk about the Future, we tend to talk about anticipated demographic trends or tech-driven science fiction. Instead of a given set of Futures, what Futures can we intentionally build within and between our communities? What are our intentions of where we would like to take our local music communities — and how do we get there?
Session 22: Rethinking Space – Futures of Live Events
As we return, we’re planning for unknown density, relationships with global touring, large vs small venue booking, increased costs, unknown appetites for tickets — what will the futures of live events be in the longer run, 2022 and beyond?
Session 23: Rethinking Space – Changing Roles of Real Estate and Single Purpose Spaces
A Venue now may need different densities and configurations — and is not the only way to be creating and performing in a local community. Ahead of the pandemic, all sorts of pop ups, outdoor events and festivals, and multi-purpose spaces were growing in many communities. In this session, we’ll explore the future of venues in a post-pandemic local world in terms of density, ownership, policy/permitting, and incentive structures. Real estate may never be the same — how will its challenges this past year shift our assumptions of what we expect in our creative cities and spaces?
Session 24: Rethinking Social Safety Nets and Shared Support
We knew going into the pandemic that local musicians and venues usually lacked social support for healthcare, housing, and basic living and working support. Then the pandemic proved the challenges, and many communities then moved to step up. What will we expect and what have we built (or need to build) in our local communities to support creators, venues, and related industries? This session will look deeper into what makes local music so vital to a community’s support system. Over the next three years, how can our local sectors augment social safety nets for music creators all the related systems in need?
Session 25: Rethinking Music Jobs
In recovery, will careers and jobs look the same as before? Will there be new pathways or barriers in how we work together and what resources/assets are needed for live and recorded music? How might music and music industry college programs and continuing education change? Where will music jobs be? And will the jobs of the future look the same — or do we have a big bout of retraining ahead for the new-er music industries in cities across the world?
Session 26: Rethinking Music Tourism
In the past year, both live music and tourism took a hit — so cities that held both were doubly damaged. How will music tourism change in a post-pandemic world? What does a healthy music tourism city look like going forward? Do we want or need to redesign our expectations, policies, and social systems?
Session 27: Rethinking Nightlife
Music is part of nightlife, but the nightlife industries are a lot more than music. During the pandemic, nightlife was further challenged, including restaurants, hotels, bars, and other venues. For some cities, nightlife became daytime or just closed with curfews — and bubbled out into unpermitted events. Where do we want to go for robust local nightlife? For the nightlife industries, what practical actions and strategies are needed and planned for recovery?
Session 28: Rethinking Organizing – new ways of organizing between and within music industries
This past year, we’ve seen NIVA and perhaps a dozen other new organizations bringing us together across sectors and geographies. We’ve seen political action around the globe get started or begin to move. We’ve seen new virtual festivals and gatherings. We’ve seen new virtual global organizations. What will we see in 2021 and beyond? Are we finding new ways of organizing in local music communities? Do we need organizations that don’t yet exist and that will emerge in recovery? Are there organizations we don’t need anymore?
Session 29: Rethinking – Changing Roles of Music in Media and Civil Society
We have asked extensively in the past year: what is the role of live music and music communities in our healthy cities and society? Music has found its way into all of our digital pores and spaces, and we’ve fought for its funding in the offices of government. Have we changed or made more visible the role of music in media and civil society? Do we want to change this in our moves ahead? What social roles and awareness do we need and want to change in music’s futures?
Session 30: Closing Conversations
We close Day 3 with a reflection on the conversations that took place in our panels as well as where Amplify Music moves going forward.
End of Day Mixer
Each day will end with an Online Mixer to meet other creative leaders from other countries and adventures.