An Inside Look at the Annual IEBA Conference

IEBA members from all over the United States and Canada gather every year for their annual Conference.This year's conference took place at the Hilton in downtown Nashville in mid-October.

You may be asking yourself what is IEBA? IEBA is member networking and professional development opportunities. Membership is open to talent buyers and sellers, artists, managers, agents, venue managers, entertainers and entertainment organizations.

It is also open to entertainment related professions and services such as newspapers/radio/TV, advertising, publicity/PR, equipment, lighting & sound, stage/production and music business.

Day 1
Their annual conference got started this year with a golf tournament at Hermitage Golf Course, the 3rd annual Harley ride, new member orientation, a reception and finally a private performance at The Stage by Kevin Fowler, Steve Holy, Villebillies and Uncle Kracker.

Day 2
On the second day of this two-day convention, Matt Mason sang the National Anthem and Jason McCoy from the Road Hammers sang the Canadian National Anthem to get the day off to a start. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was honored for their 40 years of music and presented with an award from IEBA. Rodney Crowell introduced the band and gave a brief history and also joined in on a song with them. The keynote speaker of the conference was David Kusek from Berklee Music College of Music and co-author of "The Future of Music" gave a lecture on the future of the music business.

There was a panel presentation on "Online Music Business" along with sessions about concert promotions, corporate and fairs/festivals that also went on during the day. Third Day also gave a lunchtime performance. A live auction was also held where buyers could purchase the incredible talents of Neal McCoy, Jo Dee Messina, Third Day and Tracy Lawrence. Monday night was the Buddy Lee Attractions Birthday Bash at BB Kings with performances by Alvarado Road Show, LoCash Cowboys, Brian McComas, Gary Nichols, PovertyNeck Hillbillies, and Trent Willmon.

Day 3
The third day got off to a bang with breakfast and entertainment provided by Heartland and Emerson Drive. There was a panel presentation on "Independence Unplugged" about independent record labels vs. labels such as RCA, SONY, etc. The Drew Davis Band, Little Big Town and Danielle Peck gave pre-lunch performances.

Conference goers were treated to a fabulous lunch with performances from Odiss Kohn from Category Five record label. Jo Dee Messina took the stage and rocked the conference to finish out lunch. There was a panel presentation on "The Future of the Concert Promoter", along with concurrent sessions on facilities, casino buyers, and marketing/sponsorship.

President & CEO Alan Valentine also gave members of IEBA a private tour of the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center. A cocktail reception was followed by the iebaLive awards banquet. The comedian team of Mack & Jamie hosted the banquet. Nick Dorr of Variety Attractions was presented with the Founders Award. The Industry Achievement Award was given to Narvel Blackstock. Brian O'Connell of Live Nation was the recipient of the Talent Buyer Award. Ronnie Milsap gave an outstanding performance and was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Ricky Van Shelton was also on hand and received the Career Achievement award for his retirement from performing. ZZ Top took home the Living Legends Award.

I highly recommend that if you are membership eligible and able to attend this conference next year that you do so. It's a great conference filled with a lot of information, networking, great entertainment, and great people from all walks of the music communities.
For more information on IEBA check out their website at www.ieba.org

Article Written & Submitted by Nora Mayor