The National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers have set the panelist line-up for their metal and urban panels that will be held at the organization’s annual convention, to be held at the Hilton Chicago on May 14-17.
Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel will moderate the metal panel, which will be populated by Relapse Records head of sales Pat Egan; Killswith Engage manager Vaughn Lewis; Roadrunner Records national director of digital sales and retail marketing Austin Stephens; EMI Label Services/Caroline Distribution senior coordinator of customer marketing; and Metal Insider/The Syndicate’s Bram Teitelman.
The urban panel will be moderated by former WEA urban executive Ray Arceneaux, while panelists are Fake Shore Drive founder Andrew Barber, WGCI DJ Tim Buck II; Ch’rewd Management/Mid C Media CEO Ranadeb O. Choudhury; the Music Experience owner Dedry Jones; National Entertainment Retailers Assn. marketing contact Eugene Luckett, who heads up his own marketing firm All Angeles; Sound of Norristown owner Marty Gibbs; WPWX music director Barbara McDowell; and Fontana Distribution president Ron Spaulding.
Both hour-long panels will take place on May 15, with the urban one beginning at 2pm and the metal one starting at 3pm.
Besides being open to convention delegates, the panels are being sold separately from the overall convention at a cost of $99, which also includes entrance to the NARM/A2IM Music Business Crash Course, a two-day educational course that will focus on how independent artists and labels remain current in the transforming music economy, that will take place on May 14 &15; and the cocktail reception sponsored by Rocket Science also on May 16.
