I’m fresh back from the 2015 A3C Festival and Conference, and I just put together this official recap video and article to elaborate on my personal experience this year 🙂

While I was in Atlanta (October 7-11), I did post some various showcases and event clips on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – for those of you who follow me there. I also was able to jump on Periscope one of the days just to kind of summarize my experience to that point.

If you attended this year, you know that there was a lot going on! There were sometimes on the upwards of four to five different panels, performances, showcases that were live simultaneously in different venues across downtown Atlanta. And because of this, it was essential to prioritize your schedule each day to prevent potentially missing something you wanted to see.

There were a lot of Hip Hoppers there – underground, East Coast style stuff – mainstream trap style artists and performers, and pretty much everything in between.

Here’s a more detailed run down on my day-by-day experience at A3C Festival and Conference 2015

Pretty much every day, with the exception of Wednesday, was a full 12+ hour day.

Wednesday (Oct. 7)

Initial registration day. This was more or less a half day, but there were some various performances in the evening that were dope. Wednesday we got checked in, got the hotel situated and got the all-access A3C wrist bands.

Later that evening we attended the Tune Core Live Music Showcase – including a number of independent artists, different styles and genres. Chris Rivers (son of the late Big Pun) also performed later in the evening.

[Video clip of Chris Rivers performance (A3C 2015) @ 1:45]

Thursday (Oct. 8)

Thursday was the first full day, and is when some of the various business panels started. The first one we attended was called Creating Today’s Creative Economy: How to Create Capital Stability for Your Creative Movement.

[Video clip of Keith Shocklee (Public Enemy) @ 2:06]

When you hear perspectives from this many different people established in the industry – whether they are independent, with a label, or with some other company or service – but they serve some sort of role within the music community – there’s a lot of really great information and value you can get out of attending one of these.

In addition, most (if not all of them) opened up for a Q&As. And some of the panels were actually all Q&A – and they just opened up the floor for an hour or so. That kind of stuff is really invaluable and I tried to find the balance of recording some of it and also just kind of experiencing some of it.

Another panel we went to was Where Music and Tech Meet. They discussed various tools that you can use to help promote your music online and a number of other great topics.

[Video clip of Chris Hicks @ 3:00 (record executive/artist manager: Timbaland, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, T.I., Usher and more)]

Then later on, after a few of these music business panels, Dame Dash was scheduled to speak in a 1-on-1 style interview. He couldn’t make it for whatever reason, and so Young Jeezy ended up filling in last minute for him.

[Video clip of Young Jeezy Interview (A3C 2015) @ 3:42]

Afterwards, there were more music showcases for independent artists that we attended. A lot of dope performances, too many really to name.  And we just stayed out and listened to to music and networked the rest of the night.

Friday (Oct. 9)

Friday morning was a panel called How to Make Money: Revenue Streams Available for Artists.

[Video clip at @ 4:17]

And after that panel was a one-on-one conversation and interview with Ryan Leslie – where he was talking about his new application that enables the artist to have the direct communication and direct relationship with their customers, versus distributing through iTunes.

He discussed the new model for his “lifetime” album and how he grossed $2 million as an independent artist without a label, selling directly to the consumer.

[Video clip of Ryan Leslie @ 5:03]

After the Ryan Leslie conversation was a 1-on-1 producer branding panel including The Alchemist and Oh-No (Gangrene). While there was a lot of good information discussed, it would have also been good to hear some other producers who are newly established in the music game and maybe would have had a different approach and angle of how they’ve been able to brand themselves. Overall it was still dope.

Next was a producer round table. It was a live interview with five different producers and Just Blaze was one of the notables there. There was a lot of great conversations – they talked about hardware and software, about different stories and experiences from their career and more. I wasn’t able to capture all of the video but I did get a clip of Just Blaze.

[Video clip of Just Blaze @ 6:25]

The rest of the evening we went to the festival grounds and watched the main performances, Cam’ron was the headliner. Just Blaze DJing, plus other performed including Beanie Sigel, Freaky Zekey and more. Back in the day was a really big Dipset and Heatmakerz fan, so I was pretty excited to be able to experience that.

[Video clip of performances @ 7:07]

Saturday (Oct. 10)

Saturday morning was a panel called Managing and Utilizing Social Media in 2015. Ryan Leslie was the headline speaker and pretty much stole the show.  But you also had other panelists speaking on how they built their clothing brand and how they built their graphic design brand through social media. Again, it was great to get everyone’s perspective on how they built and established their brand and how they are continuing to cut it through the clutter on social media.

[Ryan Leslie on Social Media (A3C 2015)]

Next was Dig Deep: Conversation About Sampling. This was probably one of my favorite panels that I attended. Just a few of the producers on the panel included: Bink!, Denaun/Mr. Porter (D12), Diamond D, AntMan Wonder and more.

A lot of stuff got brought up about sample clearances, which I know is a big topic that I get questions about a lot. In addition, there were a lot of valuable conversations that got started. I didn’t get any video footage simply because I didn’t want to be distracted from what they were saying by trying to hold a camera and record it.

[Denaun/Mr. Porter, Diamond D, Bink! and AntMan Wonder on Sampling (A3C 2015)]

And to top it off, once the panel was over I walked out of the room and The Alchemist was standing right there in front of me. He’s one of my favorite producers in the game, and I got to talk to him for a minute and snap a pic. So that was pretty dope 🙂

[The Alchemist (A3C 2015)]

[Bink! (A3C 2015)]

After the sampling panel, a one-on-one interview with Rakim was schedule.  He wasn’t able to show up for the interview in the afternoon, and so Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds opened up the floor for a Q&A. There were some good questions that were asked, as well as a number of really bad questions. Nonetheless, it brought up an interesting conversation.

[Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds Q&A (A3C 2015)]

And I almost forgot about the Pete Rock interview.

[Video clip of Pete Rock Interview @ 9:53]

Saturday evening was the main performance on the festival grounds. It was even dubbed De La Soul day, as they were the headline performers. There were so many people that shared the stage that day. And I’m sure I missed some of the names. But just to name a few of the performances besides De La were Pete Rock, Rakim, The Alcoholics, Talib Kweli and A Tribe Called Quest.  Even though some of the acts got cut short due to the Atlanta noise ordinance, that was definitely one of the best overall shows just from start to finish in my opinion.

[Video clip of performances @ 9:53]

Sunday (Oct. 11)

The last official day of the A3C Festival and Conference 2015. Things were kind of winding down. The main showcase was Taylor Gang and Wiz Khalifa on the festival grounds.

Before we went out for the music for the day, we were out there hanging out in front of the hotel and the legend Pete Rock was having a conversation with Cypha Sounds in front of the hotel.

[Pete Rock (A3C 2015)]

We were able to go up and snap a few pictures, and then he ended up casually sitting down on the bench right next to me. I heard him talking to somebody about he’s waiting on a ride to go pick up some shoes, but I definitely wasn’t expecting him to sit down right there. That was a pretty cool experience to say the least.

[Sitting next to Pete Rock (A3C 2015)]

[Pete Rock (A3C 2015)]

Afterwards we ended up going to the festival grounds and watching some of the performances the rest of the evening. That pretty much wrapped up all of what we did for A3C for those five days.  If you weren’t able to attend this year and you’re interested in knowing more about what all went down, you can link to the official A3C Festival and Conference website here.

Hopefully I’ll see you next year if I didn’t see you this year. Stay inspired and happy music making! 🙂

 

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