REVOLT TV rocked out their inaugural music conference this past weekend at the Fountaine Bleau hotel in Miami Beach. This special occasion also marked REVOLT TV’s one year on-air anniversary. With opening remarks from CEO Keith Clinkscales and Vice-Chair Andre Harrell, Friday featured rousing keynote addresses by Guy Oseary (Manager and Founder of Maverick) and Bob Pittman (Chairman and CEO of IHeartMedia) and a full day of panels, performances (Flo Rida, Jhene Aiko, and SZA) and parties. One of the most memorable panels was the “Congress Of Music” Panel with Timbaland, Jermaine Durpri, The Game, and ASTR. The panel talked about music trends, producers using the same drums, politics in the music business, and what they had endure to make it.
REVOLT Chairman Sean “Diddy” Combs joined in on the fun by sitting in the audience for a few panels, including the “Disruptors: The Future of Business” discussion where he engaged panelists Rio Caraeff (President & CEO of Vevo), Kevin McGurn (Chief Revenue Officer of Shazam), Britt Morgan-Saks (Artist Services at Spotify), Alex Ljung (CEO of SoundCloud) and Lars Murray (VP of Music Industry Relations at Pandora) and moderator Kenna about the future of the record business. Music industry titans like LA Reid, DJ Khaled and Daniel Glass determined that A&R is not dead after all.
Saturday kicked off with some inspiration from Russell Simmons as he led a sold out crowd in meditation as Saturday’s lead keynote speaker. Simmons talked about his book Success Through Stillness and stressed the point that there is no one way or right way to obtain success. He encouraged the young group of budding entrepreneurs to stay hungry and appreciate the power of managing one’s mind. Day Two panels featured some of the biggest titans of their perspective industries including Frank Cooper (CMO of Pepsico) and Marc Ecko (Founder & Chief Brand Officer of Complex Media) discussing “The New Deal: Brands and Artists” and legendary music producers Dallas Austin and Rodney Jerkins debating “The Business of Music Publishing” with singer-songwriter James Fauntleroy and Jessica Rivera (SVP, Head of East Coast Operations of Universal Music Publishing).
One of the biggest highlights of day two had to be REVOLT founder Sean “Diddy” Combs’ rousing keynote address entitled “#AskDiddy”. Attendees RAN into the Glimmer Ballroom as soon as the doors were opened to hear Diddy offer invaluable career insight and advice to a packed out crowd. The Revolt Music Conference weekend ended in an iconic way with Diddy presenting his good friend and iconic industry veteran executive Jimmy Iovine with an award for his illustrious forty year career. The gala began with a performance from Ne-Yo and moved to Diddy discussing Iovine’s musical contributions. A video presentation was also shown featuring artists from some of the over 250 albums that Iovine has contributed production too. Iovine then gave an engaging speech about the current state of music and the industry’s ever-changing landscape. Diddy presented Iovine with the “Started From The Bottom Now We Here” Award, and Iovine came to the podium to Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg’s “Nuthin But A G Thang”. Attendees spilled onto the patio to do their last bit of networking and head, in their cocktail attire, to LIV, the official nightclub of the Revolt Music Conference.
Busta Rhymes, The Game, Timbaland, Jim Jones, Jermaine Dupri, Trina, Mase, French Montana and more also came out to show their support. Revolt’s inaugural music conference was a success: networking, knowledge, and fun in the sun.
Check out more photos from the conference below. Photos by Eitan Miskevich, Marc Serota/Invision for REVOLT, and Jeff Daily/Invision for REVOLT.