Speaking Of The Arts

We have a couple of exciting announcements to make today. First, I want everyone to know we just launched a brand new website for the podcast! www.speakingofthearts.com has a new updated look and feel and contains every episode we’ve done since we launched back in 2015. The newer episodes feature both audio and video versions with our guests. I want to thank my team member Marie Le Claire for all of her work behind the scenes and for making the new website look great. Next, I want to draw attention to an exciting webinar we are hosting this Thursday, July 16, 2020. The webinar is on the topic of Live Streaming and we have an incredible lineup of guest speakers who will discuss best practices including how to monetize your next stream. Artists and promoters will especially benefit from the webinar so please go to www.epsteinco.com/news for more information on how to register for the event. Space is limited so be sure to sign up soon. Now, onto today’s podcast episode. I have wanted to have this guest on t

Today we are featuring a new organization called NITO (https://nitolive.org/) which stands for the National Independent Talent Organization. In their own words “NITO is a non-profit group initially formed by like-minded independent talent agencies for the purpose of promoting the welfare and prosperity of its members and their represented artists, as well as for the indirect benefit of those associated with them. NITO welcomes a broader coalition of the live music ecosystem beyond independent talent agencies. From the point of inception, NITO has been working tirelessly to advocate for the survival of the live music community as the nation and economy slowly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.” My own agency (https://www.epsteinco.com/) is a member of the organization and I encourage anyone listening who is an agent, manager, artist, or crew member to consider joining. As an organization, we are actively lobbying congress to provide additional funding and support for the live music industry. Joining me tod

Today we are featuring a new company on Speaking of the Arts called Virtual Concert Hall. They have created a unique product that aims to solve a major problem for both artists and venues right now. As we have all experienced these past several weeks with live streaming, the quality from these sessions can be less than great and the experience for both the artist and fans is also less than ideal. So, how does Virtual Concert Hall work? Here is a brief description of the process: "We ship a sanitized box of state-of-the-art video & audio equipment to you and guide you in setting up via FaceTime. You perform and we capture the best version of you and your music. For livestreams, we provide a feed to your platform(s) of choice. You ship the box back to us. We edit and create a broadcast-ready master of your performance and deliver files to you." I love the simplicity. The company was created by Adam Abeshouse https://www.abeshouseproductions.com/ and Adam is my featured guest speaker today. Adam is a mult

Today’s episode is about a new coalition recently formed to help support agencies during the pandemic. The coalition is called PAMAC, which stands for the Performing Arts Managers and Agents Coalition. This is a group of more than 150 artist managers, booking agents and independent producers in the performing arts industry, with support from 16 arts service organizations, including Americans for the Arts and the League of American Orchestras. In their own words: “PAMAC has united our sector with a mission of working together in collective action to advocate for arts support relief amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We are bringing our message to Congressional leaders to urge them to legislate for extensions and recapitalization of funding for the entire arts sector." Joining me to talk about PAMAC is Laura Dunaway and Cindy Liu, both from Park Avenue Artists. Laura Dunaway joined Park Avenue Artists in 2016. Prior to joining PAA, Laura was an agent with United Talent Agency (formerly The Agency Group) wher

Today we pick up on our Artists in Quarantine mini series and feature the pianist, composer, and activist Fred Hersch (https://fredhersch.com). Our conversation covered a lot of great things that Fred is up to right now including his daily live streamed concerts (https://www.facebook.com/fredherschmusic/), his new album with Esperanza Spaulding (https://esperanzaspaldingfredhersch.bandcamp.com/?fbclid=IwAR30TpnRPjh7WnpPx-Bgv7eSvL_ezddvmYZXrvIUe9xZc1Hd5UO81UgYhTU), his documentary called The Ballad of Fred Hersch (https://fredherschfilm.com/), which is available on YouTube, his production of My Coma Dreams (https://mycomadreams.com/), his steady release of new singles on Spotify, and how Fred approaches meditation and some of the benefits he receives from his practice. I am always inspired after speaking with Fred and I hope everyone listening enjoys our conversation as much as I did. Stay safe and take care. Live music will return.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Speaking of the Arts. My guest today is Kristy Edmunds. Kristy currently serves as the Executive and Artistic Director for UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance https://cap.ucla.edu/ . Prior to this, Edmunds was the Founding Executive and Artistic Director of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA)https://www.pica.org/ and the TBA Festival (Time Based Art) in Portland, Oregon https://www.pica.org/tba/ . She was the Artistic Director for the Melbourne International Arts Festival https://2019.festival.melbourne/ from 2005 to 2008, and was the first to serve an unprecedented four-year term. Upon completion she was appointed as the Head of the School of Performing Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts/University of Melbourne, and after one year became the Deputy Dean for the College. Concurrently, Edmunds worked as the inaugural Consulting Artistic Director for the now critically heralded Park Avenue Armory in New York (2009–2012)http://www.armoryonpark.org/ .

Welcome to Speaking of the Arts. Today’s guest is Jay Sweet. Jay is the Executive Producer of The Newport Folk Festival ( https://www.newportfolk.org ), The Newport Jazz Festival ( https://www.newportjazz.org/ ) and Newport Festivals Foundation ( https://www.newportfestivals.org/ ), a 501(c)(3) which expands the impact of its Festivals through music education initiatives throughout the United States. During his tenure, the Newport Folk Festival has won five Pollstar awards for Music Festival Of The Year; and America's original music festivals have regained their stature as premier happenings. Our conversation took place approximately 48 hours after Jay and his team had to make the announcement they were cancelling both festivals this year and I am grateful to Jay for taking the time to speak with me during that difficult period. Jay spoke to me about several important things that are very timely for our industry including how we can support artists now, even if you can’t give them money. By the end of our con

Welcome to a special episode of Speaking of the Arts. Today’s episode will feature the audio from a live panel discussion we recently hosted via Zoom. The topic was on the Future of Performing Arts and our guest speakers explored different scenarios for how to present music going forward. Guest speakers include: Kendra Whitlock Ingram, President and CEO of the Marcus Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, WI www.marcuscenter.org Mark Jacobson, Senior Programming Manager, UMS/University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI www.ums.org Ryan McMaken, Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival, Savannah, GA www.savannahmusicfestival.org Gillian Friedman Fox, Director of Contemporary and SOLUNA Programs, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas, TX www.mydso.com Tim Jackson, Artistic Director of the Monterey Jazz Festival and Artistic Director/Co-Founder of Kuumbwa Jazz, Santa Cruz, CA. www.montereyjazzfestival.org www.kuumbwajazz.org Shlomo Lipitz, VP National Programming, City Winery, NY, NY www.citywinery.com Jonath

Today we are featuring the award winning pianist and composer, Emmet Cohen. The National YoungArts Foundation recently featured Emmet for his weekly live stream concert series called Live from Emmets place. Emmet does this with his trio every Monday night at 7:30PM Eastern and you can tune in and watch via Emmet’s facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/heyemmet/). In this episode, I talk to Emmet about his experience with live streaming and some of the unique challenges that can come up during the process. We also talk about Emmet’s exclusive website membership and what you get when you sign up (https://emmetcohen.com/exclusive), as well as Emmet’s upcoming debut release on Mack Avenue Records. More on Emmet: Emmet Cohen is the winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards and the Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association, and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Indianapolis. He placed first in both the 2014 American Jazz Pianists Competition and the 2011 Phillips Piano Competition at th

Speaking of the Arts welcomes NEA Jazz Master Delfeayo Marsalis and Epstein & Company's own Marie Le Claire. In this episode, we talk to Delfeayo to hear more about his new album JAZZ PARTY and what he has been up to during quarantine. Listen as Delfeayo speaks in depth about the conception for his Uptown Jazz Orchestra and the unique approach they take to each show. For the better part of a decade, acclaimed trombonist, producer and composer Delfeayo Marsalis has spent Wednesday nights at the helm of his sprawling Uptown Jazz Orchestra’s residency at Snug Harbor in New Orleans. With Jazz Party, Marsalis’ seventh album as a leader, he delivers an original composition-heavy set of music that showcases the same exuberant energy of those shows, complete with modernized twists on New Orleans songbook gems and musical traditions, and swinging, groove-infused homages to the contributions of modern jazz masters. Spiked with the NEA Jazz Master’s wry wit and visionary production acumen, Jazz Party sees Marsalis

Today is the first episode of a new mini series I will be doing where we will be featuring some of our artists during this time of quarantine. My first guest is Kat Edmonson and we actually had Kat on the show almost exactly 2 years ago so if you like what you hear today then please check out that interview which is episode 34 (http://www.speakingofthearts.com/episode34/). Today, I speak with Kat to learn about some of the unique things she is doing from home to stay creative and active as an artist. For example, Kat has created a new live show that she streams from her apartment in NYC every Sunday night at 7PM Eastern. You can tune into Facebook to catch that and you can also check out her new website http://www.kat.live where she is archiving each episode as well as other new content. Our conversation is wide ranging and covers a lot of topics and emotions that I would imagine many artists are going through right now so I hope everyone finds this helpful. On a side note, I wanted to update everyone who

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I hope you are staying safe and healthy right now as we enter the second half of April 2020. This is a tough time to be in the arts and there is a lot of uncertainty as to when live music will be allowed to function again. I hope to offer something of value for all of the musicians and presenters listening who are wondering what opportunities may be available to them right now. My guest is Brice Rosenbloom, whom many of you may know from his work as producer and founder of the annual Winter Jazzfest in NYC. Brice has just launched what he is calling the Jazz Coalition Commission Fund (http://www.jazzcoalition.org/). Here is the official description: A collective of industry professionals, musicians, and supporters, the Jazz Coalition identifies global needs affecting the jazz and improvised music community, and strategizes response solutions and opportunities. In this immediate reality of live performance hiatus there is a need to keep artists in our ja

Speaking of the Arts welcomes Todd Walker. Todd recently launched a new agency called Outer/Most. They represent a ton of great artists including Flor de Toloache, Anoushka Shankar, Madison McFerrin, and many more. In this episode we talk about Todd's background as an agent, his goals for his new agency, his thoughts on signing and developing new artists, working with managers, and a lot more. Be sure to check out https://www.outermostagency.com/.

Speaking of the Arts welcomes Joe O'Neil! Joe currently works for the music software company Prism, a unique platform for promoters and talent buyers. In their own words, "Prism was founded by venue managers, promoters and artist reps committed to simplifying the complex process of booking shows, managing rooms, and routing tours through music promoter software." In this episode we talk about Joe's role at the company, some of the major problems the software is aiming to solve and some of the exciting things they are working on for the future. This episode is a must listen for promoters, talent buyers, agents, managers, and artists who are interested in learning about new technology that can simplify your life in the music industry. Joe joined the Prism team in December 2019 after nearly ten years in the music agency world, including with Columbia Artists Management, CAMI Music, and Opus 3 Artists. As an agent, Joe represented some of the biggest names in music and performing arts, including Yo-Yo Ma, Marvin

Fred Taylor was one of the most respected and genuine people I've ever worked with in the music industry. He passed away at the age of 90 on Saturday after dedicating his life to promoting the artists he worked with. Here we pay tribute to Fred and we will miss him.

Welcome to Episode 46 of Speaking of the Arts! Today we feature Jeff Kane from Live Nation/Ticketmaster. In this episode we talk about all things related to tickets including how to determine ticket pricing, how data is influencing an artist's ability to structure their ticket pricing, what some of the differences are between older generations of ticket buyers and younger millennial buyers, and how technology is changing the way concert venues create unique experiences for patrons.

Brian T. O'Neill leads the acclaimed dual-ensemble, Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica and has performed at prestigious venues in the US including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. In addition to being a busy independent musician, Brian is also a product designer and founder of the consultancy, Designing for Analytics, which helps enterprise companies turn data into indispensable information products and services. For over 20 years, he has worked with companies including DELL/EMC, Tripadvisor, Fidelity, NetApp, MITRE, JP Morgan Chase, ETrade and numerous SAAS startups. Today Brian focuses on helping clients create more useful, usable, profitable, and engaging decision support software and information products. Brian is also an international speaker and podcast guest, having appeared at multiple O'Reilly Strata conferences, Predictive Analytics World in Berlin, and on the IBM Analytics podcast, Making Data Simple. He also authored the Designing for Analytics Self-Assessment Guide for Non

Speaking of the Arts goes under the hood and discusses Epstein & Company's Unique Process for working with artists!

Brian Camelio founded ArtistShare in 2001. The platform is now recognized as the Internets first fan-funding platform. ArtistShare enables fans to not only fund their favorite artist’s projects, but to truly become participants in the creative process. Brian was a visionary in that he saw the internet’s potential as a way to connect fans and artists directly. Since 2003, ArtistShare projects have received countless awards and accolades including 30 Grammy nominations and 10 Grammy award wins. In March of 2019, Brian was contacted by the Web Foundation, which was founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited with helping to invent the internet. The Web Foundation was celebrating the Web’s 30th birthday and they complied a select timeline of events which included “the launch of ArtistShare which has had a significant contribution to the web.” I learned a lot in my conversation with Brian and hope you find this applicable to your own corner of the arts universe. In particular, we talk about Brian's unique app

Speaking of the Arts features the 14X Grammy Nominated pianist, composer, and activist Fred Hersch! In this episode we discuss many aspects of Fred's incredible career including lessons learned from legendary artists such as Stan Getz and Joe Henderson, how Fred approaches lessons with private students, what makes his current trio so special, his approach to solo piano performances, how Fred determines whether or not to accept a gig, what you should know as a presenter about Fred's performances, and so much more.