Speaking of the Arts

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I am Mike Epstein and today's episode features Sebastian Rios of New Jazz Underground. New Jazz Underground is an American trio featuring Abdias Armenteros (Saxophonist/Composer), Sebastian Rios (Bassist/Composer), and TJ Reddick (Drummer). They have been described as “an innovative and ultra creative collective striving to establish themselves as a defining voice for the genre of Jazz and beyond”. Their music signals a merging of traditional sensibilities in Jazz with the modern influence of swing, hip-hop, house/afro-beat, and afro-cuban music. Millions have viewed their viral videos such as: “they can hate but we still swingin'”, “f**k/s**t/c**t/jazz”, “sad boy jazz”, as well as many others featuring the band's exuberant chemistry, effortless musicality, and raw ambition in sound. In this interview, I talk to Sebastian about the formation of the trio and their upcoming, debut album titled Hoodies. I encourage everyone to check this group out and catch them on the summer festival circuit where they will give debut performances at the Newport, Montreal, and Monterey Jazz Festivals among others.

Welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I am your host, Mike Epstein and I am excited to share today's episode with you. We are featuring the amazing singer, Stella Cole. Stella is getting ready to release her debut album on August 30 and I had the opportunity to speak with her earlier this year where she shared more about the recording process and creating the music. We also talked about Stella's earliest musical influences, how she got started as a professional singer in New York, and much more. Her CD release shows are on sale now and you can see where she is performing at StellaCole.net or on her Social Media channels. Thank you for listening everyone and now, please enjoy my conversation with Stella Cole.

Welcome back to Speaking of the Arts! Today's guest is Chris Mees, founder and director of the B Natural booking agency. I've known Chris for several years now and was really looking forward to our chat. Chris is a driven, smart, successful entrepreneur who has built a respectable agency from the ground up. We were able to cover a wide range of topics in our conversation including the importance of mentors, taking risks, the challenges and opportunities associated with being an entrepreneur, and specific topics related to the agency-artist-management relationship. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Thanks for listening.

Episode 80: Cyrille Aimee by Mike Epstein

Hello Everyone! And thank you for tuning in on this new episode of Speaking of the Arts. My name is Mackenzie and I am the Operations Manager at Epstein Fox Performances and I will be your host for today's podcast. I am so excited to bring you guys a really special guest, critically acclaimed composer, bandleader, and most importantly Tenor Saxophonist, James Brandon Lewis. We are going to invite him into the conversation on everything music. Today's episode we are touching on topics regarding his musical history, inspirations, Molecular Systematic Music, and of course his lovely new album, For Mahalia, With Love.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts! My name is Marie Le Claire. I'm the east coast agent at Epstein Fox Performances and your host for today! Today, I'm excited to bring you a conversation with famed singer and one of the newest artists on the EFP roster, Magos Herrera! We discuss Magos joining the roster, her journey as a Mexican artist starting over in the US, some of her various projects and of course, her beautiful new album. You will also hear clips of the songs, "Gracias A La Vida" and “Aire" from her new album also called Aire. I hope you'll enjoy our conversation!

Hello and welcome to Speaking of the Arts https://www.speakingofthearts.com/ . Today we feature Epstein Fox Performances https://www.efperformances.com/ , the new booking agency I have co-founded with my partner, Michael Fox. (For more information on Michael, you can listen to Speaking of the Arts Episode 68 https://www.speakingofthearts.com/episodes/68 where I featured Michael and what was then his new agency, Fox Performances). There's a great saying in the world of entrepreneurship: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” From July 2013 to August 2022, I was in the fast but alone category, running my previous agency. (OK, I wasn't entirely alone and I need to give a shout out to Marie Le Claire who helped keep things running smoothly from the moment she signed on and whom I've had the pleasure of seeing evolve into one of the best agents I know). Along the way, one of my primary goals was always to build a bigger team. When I first met Michael Fox several years ago, I was impressed with both his knowledge of the industry and his passion and drive for helping artists succeed. To my credit, I actually tried to hire him a few times over the years. To his credit, he kindly passed each time! When I found out Michael started his own agency in 2020 my first thought was “Yes! This just might lead to a bigger opportunity for us to finally work together.” Fast forward to June of this past year when I called Michael and asked if he would consider becoming a partner with me so we could build a brand new agency and company together. Spoiler alert, he said yes and here we are. This episode features our new team and you will hear from Michael, myself, Marie Le Claire and Mackenzie Whitman. We talk about the mission of Epstein Fox Performances, some of the new artist projects we are excited about, how we try to offer a unique experience to the artists we work with, general advice for new and established artists, and much more. I truly believe that my career in the music industry, which celebrates 15 years this October, has been leading to this moment. Everything I've tried to do before now has all been R&D and I am really proud of our team and what we are building here. You can check out all of the great artists we are working with at https://www.efperformances.com. I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. Our guest today is Katherine McVicker. In 2014, Katherine founded the boutique agency, Music Works International https://www.musicworksinternational.com/ , after three decades as an agent developing the touring careers of dozens of artists such as Brad Mehldau, Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and many others. In 2000, she launched the European touring career of Norah Jones and spent seven years developing Jones' profile internationally. Most recently, Katherine published the online course “Anyone can book a gig,”https://musicworksintl.thinkific.com/courses/anyone-can-book-a-gig which breaks down the core components of what goes into booking shows for independent artists. I recently spoke to Katherine about the course and wanted to share our conversation with everyone so they can learn more about this and where to find it. Independent musicians will find this episode particularly useful.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Speaking of the Arts. Today we are speaking with members of the vocal group Kings Return https://www.kingsreturnmusic.com/ . We just signed these guys to our booking agency https://www.epsteinco.com and I am so excited for everyone to check them out. Recently, Kings Return posted a video on YouTube of their version of Ave Maria https://youtu.be/dRzI8y-EJJ0 , sung in an acoustically gorgeous sounding stairwell, and it has gone viral with almost one million views. Watch that video and you'll see why. The band consists of Vaugn Faison, Gabe Kunda, JE Mckissic, and Jamall Williams. In December, they released a new holiday album https://open.spotify.com/album/3koALGOJF8Cz4jCUKUeirm?si=D7r2fqg2ScGdcA1W7fk53Q and the band is currently hard at work on their next major recording. You can check out their new single Beauty https://open.spotify.com/track/09weoaL9omm3CsgY472tjx?si=fde2caafb71e40bb which will also be on the album and you will hear it on this episode as well. This band is doing something special and I am grateful for the opportunity to be working with them. Please enjoy my conversation with Kings Return.

Hi! I'm your host this week, Marie Le Claire. I'm so excited about our guest this week, Nate Query, long time bass player for the Grammy nominated, Portland, OR based rock band, The Decemberists http://www.decemberists.com The Decemberists have toured all over the world, performing for an extremely dedicated fanbase for over 20 years and have an impressive body of work that continues to evolve with each project. In our conversation, we talked about how the Decemberists got together and what it's like to keep a band together for such a long time and celebrating the band's 20th anniversary during the pandemic. We also talked about Nate's volunteer work with the organization, Open Hearts Open Minds https://www.ohomoregon.org OHOM is an Oregon-based non-profit organization that supports individuals serving prison sentences through arts and dialogue—facilitating personal and institutional transformation and growth. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Nate Query! Please check out these these helpful, informative and entertaining links from Nate. Nate's link tree https://linktr.ee/N8Q 9 solidarity commitments suggestions from Mariame Kaba https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ByMHRNbsntdyziubfPJq7vDzxiBFEqroxzCUgKsxp9E/edit?usp=sharing Black prairie on the streets of New York, 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STxtk09-2kw

Hello and everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts! We are changing up our content today to deliver what I hope will be a very informative and practical episode: Financial advice for artists. My guest today is Charlie Epstein. Charlie has always been a part of two different worlds - financial advising and the theatre. As a professional actor, Charlie has performed in roles from Shakespeare to Neil Simon, as well as stand-up comedy in NYC and improv with Chicago City Limits. Charlie's financial advising experience is nationally recognized, as you will soon hear in his bio, so I figured, who better to have on this podcast to advise artists on their finances during a global pandemic, than someone who truly understands what it takes to be a performer? Charlie has over 40 years of professional experience in the financial services industry where he has worked with individual clients and companies of all sizes. His companies currently oversee more than 1B in assets under advisement. Charlie is known nationally as the 401kCoach (although he points out at the beginning of our conversation he is no longer going by this title..more on that later) Charlie has trained more than 10,000 financial professionals how to best serve the needs of their clients. He is the bestselling author of Paychecks for Life: How to Turn Your 401k Into a Paycheck Manufacturing Company https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/free-book-offer.html and Save America, Save! The Secrets of A Successful Retirement Plan. https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/free-book-offer.html Most recently, Charlie has combined his acting and financial talents in the creation of a new one man show called Yield of Dreams-Paychecks for Life. https://yieldofdreams.live/ Working with a team of professional comedians, Charlie has created a “Financial Theatre” experience designed to “make money funny” while illuminating the 15 Myths of Money that inhibit people's ability to achieve financial independence and live the life they've always dreamed of. You will hear us refer to his show Yield of Dreams, throughout our conversation and I had the pleasure of seeing it premier this past August. I am confident our listeners will get a lot out of this episode. Charlie offers sound advice for musicians, presenters, agents, etc. or anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of how to save and invest. We talk about his 10-1-NOW Formula, the Desirement Calculator https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/desirement-mortgage-calculator.html he created to help people determine what their number is to be able to fund all of the things they desire in life, and his Myths of Money https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/myths-of-money-workbook.html deck of cards. If you would like to set up a free consultation with Charlie and his company feel free to call his office at 413-224-3606 or click this link here to submit an email https://www.epsteinfinancial.com/contact.html

Speaking of the Arts is pleased to feature Gordon Hanks and JazzSLC. Gordon co-founded the concert series in Salt Lake City over 27 years ago and I wanted to have him on the show to talk about his own unique background and what he has learned from producing the series for so long. Gordon is extremely passionate about the music and that clearly comes through in our interview. A little more on his operation: "JazzSLC is a non-profit, concert series funded and produced by the GAM Foundation. What began as a “let's try producing one concert and see what happens,” has developed into a unique, nationally recognized not-for-profit jazz concert series. In the 27 years since the series' inception, JazzSLC has featured world-class jazz musicians and proven the popularity of jazz in Salt Lake City." I loved speaking with Gordon and I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Welcome to Speaking of the Arts! Today's episode features an innovative company in the music industry called Open Studio. Open Studio was founded by the great pianist Peter Martin. The company has created a unique way of teaching music lessons online. They feature some of the industry's greatest performers by creating an immersive learning experience using innovative software called Living Notation. I took a few lessons prior to interviewing Peter so I could better understand the experience and I was very impressed by the variety of lessons offered as well as the incredible high quality of video and audio. We talk more about what Living Notation is during our interview but that feature alone makes the lessons worthwhile. A little bit more on Peter Martin...Peter is an acclaimed jazz pianist and entrepreneur. Over the past 25 years he has performed at most of the major venues and jazz festivals on six continents, including twice at the White House for President Obama. Peter was recently featured in the New York Times for his ground breaking work. Open Studio is offering our listeners $10 off any course of their choosing. Simply enter the coupon code WELCOME10 and head to https://www.openstudiojazz.com and sign up!

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. Today's episode is part 2 of my conversation with Ulysses Owens Jr. If you did not listen to part 1, I would suggest you start there before listening to part 2. In today's episode we cover what I would consider essential information for both artists and presenters including: How Ulysses avoids burnout How to break out of the artist sidemen mentality When you should start saying No Ulysses's new touring projects Diversity inclusion in the arts and why a comprehensive educational outreach program is essential for every arts organization What Ulysses is currently reading Thanks again to Ulysses for his time and wisdom. I learned so much from speaking to him and I hope you will too. Please enjoy part 2 of my conversation with Ulysses Owens Jr.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I am Mike Epstein, your host. Today's episode is a real treat. We are featuring the drummer, educator, entrepreneur, author, non-profit organizer, band leader, producer, etc. etc., the list really goes on and on, Ulysses Owen's Jr. I've always been a fan of Ulysses's drumming but until I did my research for this interview I had no idea how multifaceted he is. In fact, it was a challenge just to summarize his extensive biography for this introduction. A few quick highlights - Ulysses has been named a Rising Star by DownBeat's Critics Poll for five years straight. He is a recipient of the 2013 ASCAP Plus Award, a Gold Medal winner of the 2014 Global Music Awards, a 2015 Jazz at Lincoln Center Swing! Awards Honoree, and 2019 “3rd Runner-Up,” in Classic Jazz Category in the Modern Drummer Magazine Readers Poll. Among many of Owens's accomplishments are his performances on the 2010 GRAMMY award-winning Kurt Elling live album, Dedicated to You, and the 2012 GRAMMY award-winning Christian McBride Big Band album, The Good Feeling. His work with Joey Alexander, the Christian McBride Trio, and Gregory Porter have also received recognition by the Recording Academy, garnering GRAMMY nominations for the albums; My Favorite Things, Countdown, Out Here , Live at the Village Vanguard, Nat King Cole and Me. This is really just the tip of the iceberg with Ulysses and our conversation turned out to be part 1 of 2 because there was so much to cover. In today's episode, we talk about his approach to jazz education, his new podcast series From the Drummers Perspective, his thoughts on entrepreneurship, and his new book The Musicians Career Guide. Ulysses is the real deal folks and be sure to tune in again soon as we will be posting pt 2 of our conversation in the next week or so. Thanks for listening and now please enjoy my conversation with Ulysses Owens Jr.

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. My guest today is Michael Fox. Michael and I go way back and I've wanted to have him on the show for a long time. Fox is the Founder and Owner of the booking agency Fox Performances, LLC. Fox previously worked as the Midwest Agent at International Music Network. (Side note, you can check out Episode 12 of Speaking of the Arts in which we featured the founder of International Music Network, Scott Southerd). In his tenure there, Fox booked National tours for Buena Vista Social Club, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Dianne Reeves, among many, many others. In addition to booking artist tours, Fox also works as a consultant for San Antonio Parks Foundation to help curate Jazz S'Alive, an annual two-day jazz event in Travis Park. Fox has also served on panels at the Arts Midwest and APAP conferences as well as a handful of colleges, speaking about the cultivation of Global Music audiences, activism in art and artist representation. Fox holds a Master's degree & Artist Diploma in Double Bass from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Our conversation covers a variety of topics including Michael's own unique approach toward running his booking agency and what he is looking for in terms of prospective clients. Thanks for listening everyone and I hope you enjoy our conversation!

My live experience includes performing at Woodstock ‘94, supporting The Rolling Stones, REM, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Oasis and Bryan Adams at Wembley with my first band Del Amitri throughout 1994-97, followed by touring and playing with Marianne Faithfull, Sinead O'Connor, Sheryl Crow, Robbie Williams, James Morrison, Will Young, Squeeze, Lewis Taylor, Hamish Stuart, The Waterboys, Jeff Lorber, Trevor Horn and Seal, Rumer, Terry Reid, Ronnie Wood, Dionne Warwick and many more. View my Live credits. Other experiences I've had include playing the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony with Mike Oldfield, being the house drummer on the BBC/ITV TV show The Voice for 7 years and playing on the Terminator Genisys and Mission Impossible Fall Out (Bongos) soundtracks for composer Lorne Balfe also Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Lion King 2019 for Hans Zimmer. The main part of my career has been within the recording industry, and over the past 20 years or so I have recorded 58 Top 10 albums for artists including Cher, Seal, Robbie Williams, Billy Idol, Adele, Enrique Iglesias, Dionne Warwick and Rumer, James Morrison, Cee Lo, Celine Dion and Ronan Keating. My discography also includes 18 Top 10 singles and to date, I've recorded 29 No. 1 albums and 10 No. 1 singles which have featured on various pop and rock charts around the world. View my full Discography. Spoiler alert! This is not the bio for myself, Mike Epstein which I'm sure you've realized by now. I've just read the bio of Ash Soan, one of the top session drummers in the world. Over the course of almost 70 episodes for SpeakingoftheArts, I can honestly say I was both more nervous and excited in preparing for this one than probably any other. Sometimes we are lucky enough to meet our own personal heroes and people who have a strong influence on us and how cool is it that when you finally meet them, they turn out to be even more generous and kind than you'd hoped for. That was exactly my experience in speaking with Ash for this episode. We talk about his trajectory as a musician, how technology has changed both the way Ash records music and listens to it, how he prepares for sessions with major pop stars, what his process is for saying No and Yes to projects, and much more.

Alison Stolpa is the Content Manager for https://www.CareersInMusic.com and its sister site https://www.CareersInFilm.com. Founded back in 2010, CareersinMusic.com set off on a mission to curate and deliver truly valuable music career information, sourced by trusted experts. Their aim is to provide deeper insights, reveal more piercing data, and genuinely help users gain an edge on the competition through many Industry Insights articles, Gear & Software reviews, and over 100+ music career profiles. Alison's day-to-day duties include managing a staff of writers, publishing content, and interviewing industry experts. She is a graduate of the University of Westminster, London's Music Business Masters program and has worked in music retail, college radio, and entertainment PR. A Minneapolis native, she now lives in Los Angeles with her two work-from-home assistants/cats. Alison reached out to me to see if I'd be interested in talking about what booking agents do. I told her I'd be happy to and that I also wanted to use it as an opportunity for our listeners to learn more about CareersinMusic.com. We cover booking agent basics in our conversation as well as some of the many topics that CareersinMusic.com offers. Thanks for listening everyone and I hope you enjoy our conversation!

It's been several months since we did an episode and a lot has changed in the time between! Thanks to the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant, the SBA has released just over 4 billion dollars to venues and agencies around the country. The total funding for the program is approximately 16 billion, so there will be a lot more released in the coming weeks. We are already seeing the impact of this with more and more shows being scheduled in the coming months and, even more exciting, are all of the shows currently taking place with sell out crowds and enthusiastic audiences everywhere. I think back to a year ago this time during the summer of 2020 and how far we've come. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to all of the scientists and doctors and of course frontline healthcare workers who worked tirelessly for months to deliver the vaccine and who continue to do so each day. Without them, the music industry would have truly ceased to exist. I thought we could use today's episode as an opportunity to hear from our listeners. We are asking the simple question - how have you survived the last year and what are you most looking forward to in the coming months? We want to hear from promoters, artists, managers, agents, and anyone else in the arts. Please email us at booking@epsteinco.com with your story. Assuming we receive enough interest, the plan is to compile approximately 10 responses or so into an upcoming episode where we will highlight each story. Thanks again everyone and we look forward to hearing from you.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Speaking of the Arts. What a year this has been. At a time when live music is needed more than ever, we’ve had to put it on hold and watch musicians perform almost exclusively on our screens. There is some good news though as we wrap up 2020. Through the tireless efforts of NIVA (the national independent venue association)www.nivassoc.org and NITO (the national independent talent organization)www.nitolive.org , as well as several other arts organizations, our community has rallied together and witnessed the passing of the Save Our Stages act. The bill provides 15 billion dollars in direct funding to venues, agencies, and other arts organizations and is a much needed lifeline at this point in time. You can visit SaveOurStages.com for more information on how this might apply to you. Thank you to everyone who took the time to write their congressmen and women these past several months. It truly paid off. Today’s episode continues our discussion on best practices for live streaming. My guests are Nicholas Milos and Chad Hilligus. Nicholas is currently the general manager of the Luckman Fine Arts Complex www.luckmanarts.org in Los Angeles, where he oversees production of all of their live music events. Chad is currently the executive and artistic director of Performance Santa Fe www.performancesantafe.org . Our conversation goes in depth into how each organization has had to pivot to both producing live streaming events and also producing new content to serve as future virtual events. We talk about what is working and not working for them, how to think about exclusivity in the world of streaming, whether or not streaming has a place in the future once we can do events in person again, and what new opportunities might arise as a result of the new Save our Stages act. Before we begin the episode I want to thank all of our listeners and I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Here’s to 2021. Stay safe and take care.

Today we are featuring the one and only Donny McCaslin https://www.donnymccaslin.com/music . Donny made national headlines a few years ago when he worked with David Bowie on what would ultimately be Bowie’s final album, Blackstar. Since then, Donny has released the critically acclaimed album BLOW and, prior to the COVID shutdown, he regularly toured the United States, Europe, and Asia as the leader of his own high energy band. On August 14, Donny released a new single called Reckoning https://www.donnymccaslin.com/music , an emotional response to the recent months of heightened protests in the wake of increased racial violence. From the press release, “While certain sections of the song channel anger and a sense of urgency, other sections reflect the possibility of hope for more positive and meaningful actions like those of the Black Lives Matter movement. McCaslin worked on the piece with GRAMMY®-nominated producer, (re-)mixer, bassist and composer Ben Rubin. Rubin used news coverage samples of recent protests at start and end along with a DJ premier - inspired boom-bap beat to set the song’s focus. McCaslin laid down some of the saxophone and flute tracks through his phone, recorded in a closet, expressing his emotions in a raw, unfiltered setting." The track is available on your favorite streaming platform now and I encourage listeners to check it out. It is Donny’s artistic reaction to the long history of injustice facing the black community and is very timely.

Since the beginning of social distancing, live streaming has been the one major performance opportunity available to artists. We can easily spend all day everyday now tuning in to watch artists of all types. As a result, our industry has simultaneously become flooded with live streaming and confronted with many new challenges. For example, how do you compete for people's attention with so many streams happening? How do you determine the proper price for virtual tickets when your patrons are used to viewing content for free? What type of artist fee should you offer an artist for a virtual concert? Should you use Facebook, YouTube, and/or Instagram to stream the event or are there better platforms out there? How do you make a unique experience for your patrons when you no longer have the ambience of your venue? If you are an artist, how do you make a unique experience for your fans who may be watching your show on a small phone? Lastly, what will all of this look like when live music can finally resume in person? These questions and many more are fundamentally changing how live music is presented and received. While we won’t have time to address everything on today’s webinar, our goal is to share new ideas that address some of these basic challenges. Today you will hear from Laura Simpson, CEO and Co-Founder of Side Door (https://sidedooraccess.com/home). Side Door’s platform marketplace is built to connect artists with curators, venues, service providers and audiences to make booking, ticketing and payments easy, fair and transparent. Next you will hear from Andrew Baranbom, Founder & CEO of First Tube Media (https://www.firsttubemedia.com/), a full-service livestream content platform that makes it turn-key for brands to execute innovative sponsorship programs. Next up will be Eric Essex, Director of Programming at the University of Alabama Birmingham’s prestigious Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center (https://www.alysstephens.org/). Over the years, Eric has booked everyone from Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis and Pat Metheny to Diana Krall, Yo-Yo Ma, Emmylou Harris and Oscar winning actor Al Pacino. Next you will hear from Nicholas Russotto, Director of Music Programming at the 92nd Street Y in New York City (https://www.92y.org/). Finally, you will hear from Emmet Cohen (https://emmetcohen.com/), winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards and the Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association. I also want to thank my team member Marie Le Claire who is with us today to ensure things run smoothly. Thank you Marie.

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 the podcast since I started the series and we finally connected. Maria Schneider is a 5x Grammy winning conductor and composer and she has worked with everyone from David Bowie to Dawn Upshaw. In 2019 the National Endowment for the Arts bestowed on Schneider the nation's highest honor in jazz, naming her an NEA Jazz Master. Recently, the National Recording Registry inducted her Grammy winning album Concert in the Garden into the registry and she was also given the distinction of being elected into the 2020 American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Schneider has become a strong voice for musical advocacy and in 2014, she testified before the US Congressional Subcommittee on Intellectual Property about digital rights. She has also appeared on CNN, participated in round-tables for the United States Copyright Office, and has been quoted in numerous publications for her views on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Google, digital rights, and music piracy. Our conversation centers around Maria’s new album Data Lords which is now available for order. This is by far her most ambitious project to date and it is a double album release. Head over to www.mariaschneider.com now and order yourself a copy. You will not be disappointed. We also talk about about Maria’s earliest influences during her musical upbringing, what makes a good bandleader, and so much more. I had a blast speaking with Maria and I hope you enjoy today's episode. Thanks for listening everyone.

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 today are two of NITO’s founding members including Brad Madison of Mongrel Music (https://www.mongrelm.com/) and Jack Randall of The Kurland Agency (https://www.thekurlandagency.com/) . Our conversation covers NITO’s current and long term goals as well as some of the benefits of joining the organization. We also discuss the current state of the touring industry and what needs to happen in order for it to survive and ultimately resume operations. As always, thanks for listening everyone and be well.

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 multiple Grammy winner for the audio engineering and production work he has done throughout his 35 year career. His bio is extensive, however, a few highlights include work with Itzhak Pereleman, Joshua Bell, Emanuel Ax, The London Symphony, and the Boston Symphony among many others and he has produced and engineered recordings for Sony, BMG, Naxos, and EMI. Our conversation covers what Virtual Concert Hall is all about. I think both artists and venues will find this especially useful since the product can serve either side equally well. As always, thank you for listening and hang in there folks. Things will get better.

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) where she booked a very diverse roster of artists such as Alison Balsom, Jake Shimabukuro, Jane Krakowski, Kishi Bashi, Snarky Puppy, and many more with orchestras and music venues/series all across North America. Cindy Liu joined Park Avenue Artists in 2018, as artist manager on the teams of Joshua Bell, Daniela Liebman, Ryan Silverman, and Larisa Martínez. As of this recording, the Coalition has received over 10,000 signatures and you can visit https://change.org/artsrelief to learn more about how to support their mission. Full disclosure, I immediately signed up when I heard about it and I encourage our listeners to do so as well. Please enjoy my conversation with Cindy and Laura. Link to APAP's guide to reopening https://www.apap365.org/Portals/1/PDFs/Advocacy/PACC%20Reopening%20Advisory%20%20Draft%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Ver%204.0.pdf

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 Edmonds. 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/ . Our conversation took place during mid May. We talked about the unique relationship between artists, producers, managers and agents and how social distancing has completely changed this dynamic. Kristy also spoke about some of the scenarios she is exploring with her team at CAP UCLA https://cap.ucla.edu/ for future presentations as well as some very important resources that artists can take advantage of right now. These include Americans for the Arts and ArtistsRelief.org https://www.artistrelief.org/ . The latter is a fund which is currently awarding $5,000 grants to artists facing dire financial emergencies due to COVID-19. You can go do ArtistsRelief.org to learn more about this. I am grateful for Kristy’s time and I think you find find this conversation both very honest in terms of where the performing arts are currently at as well as inspiring. Thank you for listening everyone.

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 conversation, I was impressed at how positive Jay came across for both the future of Newport and it’s incredible history, and you will hear some great stories from Jay.

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 Jonathan Winkel, Director of Jazz Ensembles, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI www.uwm.edu Tom Warner, Director of Performing Arts, Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA www.longwoodgardens.org Brice Rosenbloom, Founder and Producer of the NYC Winter Jazzfest, Jazz Coalition Co-Founder, and Boom Collective Owner www.winterjazzfest.com www.jazzcoalition.org www.boomcollective.com You can tune in and watch the video recording here. https://youtu.be/LWn4iHqbEhk

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 the University of West Florida and, as a finalist in the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition, he was received in the Oval Office by President Obama. Cohen has appeared in varied international jazz events, including the Newport, Monterey, Detroit, North Sea, Bern, Edinburgh, and Jerusalem jazz festivals, as well as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. He has also performed at the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Birdland, Jazz Standard, London's Ronnie Scott's, Jazzhaus Montmartre in Copenhagen, Lincoln Center's Rose Hall, the Cotton Club in Tokyo, and Washington's Kennedy Center. He is Hammond B-3 organist-in-residence at Harlem's SMOKE jazz club.

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 – along with Roger Lewis, Terrance Taplin, Khari Lee, and more of the Crescent City’s finest musicians – making a strong musical case for the notion modern New Orleans jazz can and should be as celebratory in nature as it is cerebral in execution. Over the course of his prolific career, trombonist, composer, producer, educator and NEA Jazz Master Delfeayo Marsalis has been hailed as one of the “most imaginative...trombonists of his generation,” a title that reflects decades of musical exploration, preparation and risk-taking, much of which began during his childhood in New Orleans, where his father, Ellis Marsalis, introduced him to jazz in the family home. Eventually, Delfeayo says, he “gravitated toward the trombone,” which felt like “an extension of my personality.” He was simultaneously developing his ear for music production after his brothers, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, piqued his interest in the process, which he continued to develop while producing their demo tapes and interning at Allen Toussaint’s Sea Saint Studio. He’s gone on to produce more than 100 recordings for artists including his brothers, his father, Spike Lee, Harry Connick, Jr., Terence Blanchard, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and others. An exceptional trombonist, Delfeayo has toured internationally with bands led by Art Blakey, Slide Hampton, Abdullah Ibrahim, Max Roach and Elvin Jones, as well as his own groups. Delfeayo recently served as Music Producer for the film “Bolden!,” a mythical account of the life of Buddy Bolden, and has worked extensively in arts education. He holds a master’s degree in jazz performance from the University of Louisville and an honorary doctorate from New England College. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.

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 listened to our last episode with Brice Rosenbloom where we highlighted the Jazz Coalition Commission Fund (https://www.jazzcoalition.org/). As I record this, the fund has raised over $25,000 so thank you to everyone who is supporting it. More on Kat: Dreamers Do, Kat Edmonson’s 2020 record, explores the common human struggles around daring to dream, including a range of emotional and psychological consequences. The album begins with a promising invitation to settle in for the night and dream. Joy and magic are revealed before an eventual left turn is taken, and a wild night ensues. A question gets raised in Kat’s vulnerable original, “Too Late to Dream”: “Are the messages we receive as children about following our dreams relevant through adult life?” Self-despair is explored, however all doubts are ultimately laid to rest in a stunning duet with guitarist Bill Frisell on the song “Age Of Not Believing.” Dreamers Do follows the release of 2018’s Old Fashioned Gal, which Billboard calls “an intimate journey from doubt to resolve and implied triumph.” In 2014 Edmonson released The Big Picture, which debuted at 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers, 1 on Contemporary Jazz Chart, and 2 on Total Jazz Chart. Her 2015 performance on “CBS This Morning: Saturday” garnered the program’s highest rated viewership since 2006. Her 2012 LP Way Down Low was described by The New York Times as “fresh as a spring bouquet,” and her performances at WNYC’s Soundcheck and Daytrotter were included in “Best Live Performances” and “Best Sessions of 2012,” respectively. The Texas native began crafting her signature sound while performing in Austin’s local club circuit for years before releasing her debut LP Take To The Sky in 2009. She went on to tour worldwide with high profile acts including Lyle Lovett, Chris Isaak, Gary Clark Jr., Shawn Colvin, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Nick Lowe and more.

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 jazz community active and compensated to create new work. United behind the goal to support deserving artists and boost overall morale, we are launching the Jazz Coalition Commission Fund. With an initial silent funding goal of $40K - $50K, deserving recipients will receive $1,000 micro-grants through a nomination and jury process among coalition members. The funding pool will have a secondary stage with a public GoFundMe campaign and additional outreach to grow the fund and increase the number of overall recipients. Recipients will live-stream their works-in-progress and will eventually premiere their music at partner venues when public assembly is safe and possible again. Coalition members support the Commission financially by contributing to the fund directly and/or by attracting new donors. Coalition members will participate in the nomination and juried selection process of recipients. Presenter coalition members will offer recipients opportunities to premiere the new works at their venues. My conversation with Brice goes in depth into the fund and you will learn more about it including how to participate or apply for a grant. Presenting an eclectic mix of concerts and festivals for over twenty years in New York City, Brice Rosenbloom is proud to utilize his extensive booking experience and resources towards live music projects that align with messages of progress and social justice. For over a decade Brice led the programming team as Senior Music Director at the West Village music venue Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) where he presented the likes of Andrew Bird, Anthony Braxton, Beck, Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Erykah Badu, Esperanza Spalding, Flying Lotus, Four Tet, John Zorn, Kamasi Washington, Little Dragon, Lou Reed, Meshell Ndegeocello, Mos Def, Mumford & Sons, Nils Frahm, Norah Jones, Rufus Wainwright, St. Vincent, Tegan and Sara and many more. Prior to LPR, Rosenbloom launched and is currently running the NYC Winter Jazzfest. Now in its 16th year, it is praised by the NY Times as “the city’s most renowned jazz festival”. From its early years at the Knitting Factory in Tribeca, Winter Jazzfest has grown into a 10-day, multi venue, citywide festival that featured over 700 musicians, 170 groups, and welcomed more than 18,000 attendees in January 2020. Recognized for its three-fold mission of supporting new artists, continually expanding audiences, and amplifying messages of social justice, Winter Jazzfest redeems jazz as a musical beacon towards progress both on stage and off. Brice's early programming aesthetic was developed while working at Jazz at Lincoln Center, 92nd Street Y, The Knitting Factory, Central Park SummerStage, and at MAKOR, where he presented a residency featuring Norah Jones just before her Grammy takeover. In 2016, Rosenbloom received the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award for extraordinary leadership and vision in expanding the audience for jazz.

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 Hamlisch, Branford Marsalis, Lang Lang, and the Chieftains, among many others. As one of the newest members of the Prism team, Joe is based in Austin TX where Prism is headquartered and can be reached at joe@prism.fm.

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-Designers, maintains an active mailing list, and hosts the new podcast, Experiencing Data. Earlier in 2018, Brian joined the International Institute for Analytics' Expert Network as an advisor on design and UX. Our conversation covers the intersection of music, data, and technology and I hope you find it as fascinating as I did! Episode Links: http://crashandboom.com http://orchestrotica.com/presskit | brian@orchestrotica.com | @orchestrotica https://www.designingforanalytics.com | brian@designingforanalytics.com | @rhythmspice https://www.designingforanalytics.com/podcast-subscribe/

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 approach to what he calls "fan relationship marketing." This is particularly relevant for artists and arts organizations right now as everyone is trying to make sense of how to use their data to better connect with fans and patrons. There is also a great marketing story about what Brian learned from Trey Anastasio, the guitarist from the widley popular group Phish. Thanks again to Brian for taking the time to speak with me. Please enjoy our conversation and thanks everyone for listening to Speaking of the Arts!

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.

Hi everyone and welcome to speaking of the arts. Today’s episode will be different from our usual format of interviewing a key promoter, presenter, agent, artist or manager. I’m going to be talking about something we’ve created internally here called Artist Scorecards. If you go to our website at http://www.epsteinco.com, you will see a tab at the top appropriately labeled Artist Scorecards, where you can download one and follow along. This is a tool we came up with to help artists think about their thinking, as it relates to 7 core aspects of their career and I thought it would be a good idea to describe how the tool works. So, if you are looking at the card you will see we’ve listed each one of these aspects as a mindset including Touring, Recording, Technology, Fan Management, Management, Business, and Marketing. This is not to say that these are the only mindsets which an artist needs to think about, but rather, what are arguably some of the most important. This tool is designed to give you, the artist, a baseline measurement of where you are currently at with each one. Here is how to use it. First, enter in the current date in the cell at the top right, followed by your target date. Your target date should be exactly 90 days, or one quarter, from the current date. The reason being, is that 90 days is a very measurable amount of time from which to work with and you can actually take very simple actions within that amount of time to help move you to a higher score. The great thing about this, is that you are able to see your progress over time fairly quickly. Eventually your first target score will becomes your current score once you create a new card for the next 90 days and so on. Simple enough, right?

Welcome to the 40th Episode of Speaking of the Arts! Today we are featuring Tim Wilson. Tim is the Executive Director of the Western Arts Alliance, or WAA as it is commonly known. Tim has led the arts service organization and performing arts market based in Portland, OR for more than 20 years. I had the opportunity to meet Tim at this years WAA conference and he kindly agreed to be on the show. We talk about all sorts of things including the pros and cons of the exhibition hall model, new ideas for how to improve the overall conference experience, and where Tim sees the future of the conference headed. I learned a lot speaking with Tim and I hope you find this as insightful as I did. Thank you guys for your continued support and please enjoy my conversation with Tim.

Today’s episode is actually a live recording from the recent Arts Midwest conference in Indianapolis. I led a session on podcasting and the arts and I was joined by two experienced podcasters including Colleen Cook and Trevor St. Aubin. We cover all sorts of great topics such as why should an arts organization do a podcast in the first place, what are the technical aspects involved with producing a podcast, how to think about podcast content, and marketing your podcast. Colleen and Trevor, if you guys are listening, thank you so much for your participation in the event, I learned a lot from speaking with you both and I hope we can all connect again soon. So, without further ado, here is my recent session from the 2018 Arts Midwest conference. I hope you enjoy.

I could not be more excited to share this episode with you. I had the opportunity to speak with Jamie Marguiles today who is the label director at GroundUP Music. GroundUP is known for releasing incredible music from groups like Snarky Puppy, Bokante, Banda Magda, and so many more. I wanted to hear from Jamie all about how she and her team approach social media. If you haven’t checked out GroundUP music on Instagram or Facebook you are missing out. They do a fantastic job rolling out killer content each day and have developed a very loyal fan base. In our conversation, we cover all sorts of useful things like how to manage a content schedule, best practices for Facebook and Instagram and why Instagram is the best platform for musicians now. We talk about ways to effectively promote tour dates through each platform and much more. Here are just a few of the themes we cover: *How to manage social media content and plan content schedules in advance *Best practices for Facebook and Instagram *Killer tips for how to promote tour dates *How to utilize Instagram Stories *Why Instagram is the best platform for musicians to be on now *The importance of authenticity *Why Twitter is generally less important for new musicians now *Do artists still need a website? *Email lists for bands on tour and what not to do Get your pen and paper ready because you are going to come away with great tips and tricks. So, without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Jamie Marguiles.

"What are presenters saying?" This is the question displayed on the cover of our new artist data books for the 2019-2020 season. We are taking a look under the hood here at our agency and will be talking about new artists projects for the 2019-2020 fine arts booking season. You will learn about which artists are doing what, when they are available, and much more. Here to talk with me is Matt Morrell, our East Coast booking agent. Matt also books our artists in Asia and South America. One of our goals this year was to produce an artist brochure that presenters will hopefully find very useful and not simply discard at the conference hotels. So what is different about it this year? For starters, we are calling these our artist data books. We’ve included artist gross ticket sales information, configurations, availability, and select touring history so people can see who else is booking these artists. There are also no press quotes and instead we’ve included testimonial from presenters who have previously booked the artist. Listen as we discuss our new artists projects for the 2019-2020 presenting season!

Is the current performing arts system broken? How is the digital revolution affecting the way we approach our industry? What are traditional performing arts centers doing to try and reach younger audiences? Why do performing arts centers continue to spend significant resources on printed brochures? Are the annual booking conferences even necessary? These questions, and more, on today’s episode of Speaking of the Arts. Hi everyone this is Mike Epstein and joining me today are two veterans of the industry – Jeremy Ganter, Associate Executive Director and Director of Programming at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis and the esteemed and highly experienced IMN booking agent the one, the only, Alycia Mack. This episode questions many of the traditional ways in which business is done in the world of performing arts. Listen as Jeremy and Alycia weigh in on what can be done to make for a better system.

Hello everyone this is Mike Epstein and welcome to speaking of the arts. My guest today is Aisha Ahmad-Post. Aisha was recently named director of the Ent Center for the Arts at the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs. This is going to be a great episode as Aisha has a totally unique perspective on running a performing arts center. In fact, she has had to build her program literally from the ground up! This episode is full of useful information and we cover a lot. Prior to her new role in Colorado, Aisha served as the public programs producer at the New York Public Library. Before that, she worked for the Aspen Music Festival and School and also at Columbia Artists Management. There she worked with artists including classical pianist Lang Lang and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A classically trained pianist and double bassist, Aisha taught music theory as an associate instructor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. In fact, I first met Aisha when we were both students at Indiana. Look at us now!

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. We’ve taken some time off but we are eager to start rolling out new episodes for you. As such, I couldn’t be happier to have the opportunity to speak with today’s guest. Full disclosure…today’s guest happens to also be one of our esteemed artists with whom we have the privilege of booking: the one and only Kat Edmonson! Here’s why you need to know about Kat. In a relatively short amount of time, Kat’s career has seen her recording and/or performing and sharing the stage with the likes of Lyle Lovett, Chris Isaak, Smokey Robinson, George Benson, and Willie Nelson just to name a few. Kat’s 2015 performance on “CBS This Morning: Saturday” garnered the program’s highest rated viewership since 2006. As a leader, Kat has released three critically acclaimed recordings including Way Down Low and The Big Picture. The Boston Globe described Way Down Low as “one of the greatest vocal albums I’ve ever heard.” The Big Picture debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. On April 27 of this year (2018), Kat will release her 4th album as a leader titled Old Fashioned Gal. Links: Kat Edmonson website and tour dates Kat on Facebook Kat on Instagram

Speaking of the Arts is pleased to welcome Wulf Muller to the show. Wulf is a highly seasoned veteran of the recording industry. In 1999, Wulf became Vice President of International Marketing Classics & Jazz for Universal Music. Here he was responsible for International marketing efforts for all Classics and Jazz priorities worldwide, as well as all local signings on the Emarcy Jazz and Emarcy Classics labels. In 2003 the role of A&R for the Emarcy Label was added to his responsibilities and it was during this period that Wulf signed acts like Madeleine Peyroux, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Michael Brecker, and John Scofield. In 2010, Wulf started a new company called All-In-Music Service – a consulting company for the music industry. Universal Music Group International soon became his first client. At the same time, All-In-Music Service acts as the European tour co-ordinator for artists like Branford Marsalis, James Carter, Jane Monheit and Karrin Allyson. In 2012, All-In-Music Service signed an exclusive jazz A&R agreement with Sony Classical International to revive and build the historic OKeh jazz label. In this episode we talk about the history of the label, how technology is affecting the recording industry, Wulf's experience working with legendary artists such as Sonny Rollins and much more.