Welcome + VOLUMES #1: The Start – Finding Your Passion, Purpose, and People
Life is about doing what you love with awesome people. Sometimes, the most impactful opportunities come from unexpected places, the relationships you build, and the risks you're willing to take. In this session, you'll learn how to identify what excites you, discover where your skills fit, build a network that opens doors, and navigate the uncertainty that comes with getting started. Whether you're chasing a specific career path or still figuring it out, you'll leave with practical tools to help you find your direction—and the confidence to take the first step.
The Assistant Diaries: Shaking Off Mistakes and Lessons Learned
Word travels fast in this industry — especially when you think you've just set the wrong first, second, or millionth impression. In this session, we sit down with people who were convinced they blew it early on: the wrong email, the bad meeting, the call they never should have made. They'll break down what actually happened, what should have happened, and how they bounced back. Spoiler: almost nothing is as career-ending as it feels in the moment.
Give and Take: Practicing Intentional Networking + Collaboration
In a world obsessed with quantity, the real edge is depth. This is not a "how to cold email 500 people" session — it's about building relationships that actually hold weight, instead of resurfacing once a year when you need something. We'll talk about what genuine give-and-take looks like, how to be useful before you ask for anything, and how the strongest careers are built on a handful of real connections rather than a massive contact list.
VOLUMES #2: The Discovery – What This Industry Actually Is
Nobody's syllabus covers the 11pm text from an artist, the deal that falls apart twice before it works, or the year that feels like nothing is happening. Good Play Music founder and CEO Amanda Samii and manager/A&R Sam Schulman get into the real shape of the job — what a day actually looks like, which expectations to bring with you and which to leave at the door, and how to keep your bearings when the path stops being a straight line. Come curious.
Leaning into Friction: Learning to Navigate Hard Conversations
Telling a friend the working relationship isn't working. Explaining why the placement fell through. Owning a mistake before someone else beats you to it. Most people dodge these moments — and it costs them. This panel gets specific: what to say, when to say it, and how to walk out with the relationship intact. You'll leave with actual scripts for the conversation you've been dreading.
Keeping Cortisol Spikes in Check: Regulating Real-Time Emotions + Closing Session
Rent, deadlines, the group chat, keeping up with culture — the stress starts before your first alarm snooze. You'll learn how to catch a spiral before it takes over, with practical systems for regulating emotions in an industry that never chills. You'll leave with tools you can actually use the next time everything hits at once.
Welcome + VOLUMES #3: The Grind – Inside The Makeup of a Music Team
Nobody makes it alone in this business — you join a team full of personalities, ambitions, and very strong opinions, all pushing one vision. Meet a real team from inside one company and see how they split the work, squash disagreements, and stay aligned. You'll leave knowing how music teams actually run — and how to become the person everyone wants on theirs.
The Founder Mindset: Creating Your Own Career
Everyone has the idea. The notes-app business plan. The "I should really start that" moment. Almost nobody executes. This session is the brick-by-brick blueprint for actually building it — how to scope it, fund it, and keep going from absolute zero. You'll leave with your first three moves mapped out. No more sitting on it.
The Student Tastemaker Takeover
Your turn. Students take the mic on what they're streaming, what they want from this industry, and what companies keep getting wrong about the next generation. Unfiltered takes from campuses across the country — you'll leave knowing exactly where your peers think this business is headed. Maybe a group chat gets started.
Signals vs. Noise: What Really Makes You Stand Out
Everything is urgent. Everyone's posting. Your feed says hustle harder. The actual skill? Knowing what to ignore. You'll learn how to prioritize when it all feels important, what genuinely makes you stand out, and the systems that keep you locked in. You'll leave with a filter for cutting the noise — less hustle theater, more signal.
VOLUMES #4 – Legacy – What We Leave Behind + Finale
Legacy isn't just about titles or awards. It's about the impact we have on others. As we close the summit, we'll hear from a music exec who's shaped culture, lifted artists, and stayed grounded through the chaos of this business. They've been through it all—the boardrooms, backstages, shifts, and politics. Our story doesn't end when we hit a milestone; it's in the people we support, the values we live by, and the culture we leave better than we found it.
Story Stage: Creative Process
How does a song go from a voice memo to the record everyone's talking about? Hear from the people in the room — A&Rs and creative tastemakers — on how music actually gets made, signed, and shaped. You'll learn what A&R really does day-to-day, how execs develop their taste (and trust it), and what it takes to build a career around finding what's next.
Story Stage: Live & Touring
Every show looks effortless from the crowd — that's the trick. From promoters booking the rooms to the teams routing the tours, hear from the people who bring live music to life. You'll learn how the live business actually works, the roles behind every show you've ever been to, and where you'd fit on the team.
Story Stage: Artist Management
Part strategist, part therapist, part person-who-answers-at-1am. Managers sit at the center of an artist's entire career — and this is your look inside the job. You'll learn what managers actually do all day, how they build rosters and trust, and whether this beautifully chaotic career path is the one for you.
Story Stage: Music Tech & Digital
Every play, post, and payout runs through this side of the business. Hear from execs working where music meets technology — from streaming platforms to the social and digital spaces where fans actually live. You'll learn how these companies make decisions, what the data really says, and the career paths most students never knew existed.
Story Stage: Music Publishing
Publishing is how songwriters own their work, make songs work harder, and get paid every time it's used. You'll learn how this side of the business operates, how the deals get made, and how to break into two of the industry's best-kept-secret career paths.
Story Stage: Marketing & Fan Engagement
Every song you love found you somehow — that was marketing. Hear from the people who turn releases into moments and casual listeners into superfans. You'll learn how campaigns really get built, what cuts through in an endless feed, and how to tell marketing that connects from marketing that's just noise.
Story Stage: Brand Partnerships
When an artist lands the campaign, someone built that bridge. Meet the execs connecting music with the world's biggest brands — and getting artists paid beyond the music. You'll learn how partnerships come together, what brands actually want, and how to build a career where music meets everything else.
