Industry Ink (3-7-13)

Shirley Hutchins

Music Row Administrators Group has announced their “2013 Spring Series” of speaker meetings, with an “Emphasis on Multi-Media.”

–On March 21, Mike Stewart, President and Founder of Soundpages, Inc. will speak. Soundpages, Inc. is a complete multi-media production facility in Atlanta. Stewart and Tom Long released “This Guitar Can Talk” and both will speak on making money online with music, books and video, using social media case studies. A Q&A will follow.

–On April 18, Savannah Music Group GM Bob Saporiti will speak. Throughout the 70s, Saporiti became owner/operator of Free Spirits Studios. In 1984, he became Nationa Promotion Director of Warner Bros. Records, where he rose through he ranks to Senior VP Promotions.

–On May 16, Sybril Bennett, Ph.D. and Exec. Director of the Department of Media Studies at Belmont University will speak. She coaches individuals and organiztions on implmenting multi-media strategies using traditional as well as social media.

All three meetings will be held on BMI Nashville’s 6th Floor Theater. Each meeting begins at 1 p.m. CT and will last approximately one hour. To be added to the MRAG e-vite directory, send name, company, contact info and e-mail address here. Reservations are required at each session.

• • •

Nashville’s Pro Music Academy will bring a unique twist to the traditional music lesson experience, thanks to the vision of drummer Chad Chapin and help from several top touring musicians. “I started PMA because it was really important to me to bridge the gap between aspiring musicians and working, professional musicians,” says Chapin, who founded Pro Music Academy and also serves as an instructor. “When I was growing up and dreaming about one day performing on stage, I had no access to the pros I would go see in concert or on television – so that was really the beginning of my idea behind Pro Music Academy!  We make it possible for students to learn from the players backing some of the biggest artists in music, and not just someone with technical knowledge, but musicians with real, ‘out-on-the-road’ life experience.”

Since opening Pro Music Academy in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood in June 2012, Chapin says the reaction from the local music community has been overwhelmingly positive, with the school currently serving more than 100 students and working with approximately 40 different instructor musicians. PMA offers weekly classes for students of all ages in guitar, drums, bass, piano/keyboards, songwriting, mandolin, cello and violin.  The school also offers vocal lessons from a host of renowned vocal coaches and works with students across the country.

Pro Music Academy is located at 2801 Bransford Ave., Nashville, TN 37204.  Contact PMA at (615) 200-0604.  A list of current instructors and pricing is available online at www.ProMusicAcademy.com.

• • •

Dylan Altman

Songwriter Dylan Altman will be at Nashville’s Belcourt Taps on March 19 beginning at 9:30pm. Altman has had three No. 1 songs: Tim McGraw’s “Watch The Wind Blow By,”Jake Owen’s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” and most recently Jason Aldean’s “Take A Little Ride.” Other artists who have recorded Dylan’s songs include Trace Adkins, Will Hoge and Gabe Dixon.  He is an avid supporter and volunteer for Musicians On Call, an organization that provides live music for patients in area hospitals, and he co-hosts an annual benefit for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) with good friend and frequent collaborator EMI Records Nashville recording artist Eric Paslay.