Revolt TV’s First Revolt Music Conference Is A Gathering Of True Power Players
Revolt TV, Sean Combs' "Multi-Platform TV Network," is holding its first Revolt Music Conference October 16 through 19 in Miami Beach. They've announced more of their speakers and, at this point, it's clearly a gathering of true power players. I was pleasantly surprised to find two major figures from the early rise of hip hop blogging and media sites as well. There will be a lot of history in the room yet RMC looks like it's addressing many of the key issues faced by the music industry as a whole as it looks to the future.
Revolt Music Conference yesterday unveiled a roster of additional speakers and planned panels that rounds out the picture quite nicely.
Folks like Sean Combs, Russell Simmons, L.A. Reid and Bob Pittman are easy to recognize even beyond the music and entertainment industries. But if you go through the list of announced speakers you'll realize that there will be a lot of hip hop history in the room.
Revolt Music Conference is certainly not just about hip hop but when you see many of the names that were instrumental in hip hop's rise from the streets to the boardrooms you know it's potentially something quite special. Some of these people went from being totally shut out to becoming leading industry figures.
Web Upstarts Included In The Mix
Two names that stuck out to me might not be as familiar to Hypebot readers but they were instrumental in the development of hip hop on the web in the previous decade.
Necole Bitchie emerged on the hip hop blogging scene with a celebrity gossip blog approach that helped make hip hop blogging a powerful force in media. She was an important part of a wave that moved hip hop blogging from outsider status to role player in the entertainment industry.
Lee "Q" O'Denat is the founder of World Star Hip Hop with which hip hop bloggers had a love/hate relationship in the early days. This was the first site that I ever heard of accused of offering fake video views as a paid service.
Though the design has improved and I don't immediately see the street beatdown videos that I recall being so popular, the winning combination of black music, street culture and eye candy remains. Clearly they've become a more established part of the industry though I have no idea how they're currently regarded beyond O'Denat's appearance at this conference.
But I should point out that World Star Hip Hop took the kind of chances that VCs now seem to encourage when they use the word "naughty" and that they have supported from the early days of YouTube to the current development of apps like Snapchat.
Revolt Music Conference Panels
Announced panels will address many topics of interest related to the current landscape. The list from yesterday's announcement includes:
The State of Women in Music
Social Media: Influence, Currency and Monetization
Disruptors: The New Record Business
The Lost Art Form of A&R
How to Start Your Own Independent Label
Coming to America: EDM
The Business of Music Publishing
360 Degrees of the Music Business
The New Deal: Brands and Artists
More: Revolt Music Conference
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) recently launched DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
