Sunday marks the first ever Colorado Music Industry Conference, where local industry professionals and students alike will converge on the CU campus to hear from guest speakers and learn about local music organizations. Guests will come to the UMC from all over, including industry titans Spotify, AEG Live and Interscope Records.
Crave the Sound (Crave), a music-focused blog run by CU students, will present the conference. Crave’s founder, student Krista Barry, along with students Haasini Ravisankar and Kevin Cossette, took the lead in organizing the conference and attracting the impressive list of guest speakers. The CUI caught up with Barry to learn more about the conference. It’s open to the public, and you can RSVP here.
CUI: What inspired you to start this conference?
Krista Barry: I’ve been really involved in the Colorado music community. Through that and running Crave, I realized how many students at CU have a genuine interest in music, and working in the industry seems to be a common goal among many students. This conference will be an opportunity to learn more about the industry and network with the biggest names in the Colorado.
CUI: How did you go about organizing the conference and securing so many interesting speakers?
KB: There are so many really cool people in the Colorado scene, and many right here in the Denver-Boulder area. I reached out via email to the speakers and they got back to me, and were all really interested in speaking at this conference. There are not many events like it in the area, and all of the speakers want to share their stories.
We also have three people from out of state coming. I’m really intrigued by what Spotify does; I think they’re changing the game, so I really wanted to get a speaker who works for Spotify. Austin Kramer will be speaking at the conference — he’s the global head of EDM for Spotify, and graduated from CU Denver.
His friend J.J. Italiano, also a CU Denver graduate, will be coming to the conference as well. [Italiano] is the head of digital sales and streaming at Deckstar, which manages both Blink-182 and Porter Robinson. Overall, we have a great mix of people from different backgrounds, so they will all bring something different and interesting to the conference.
CUI: What are some of your goals for the conference?
KB: I want to bring together the Colorado music community — there’s going to be such a wide variety of people at the conference. It’s not just for CU students; it’s open to the public. I also hope it’s a great networking opportunity for everyone. When I was a freshman and sophomore at CU I didn’t really know about the companies involved in the Colorado music industry or how to become directly involved in the industry.
Hopefully some of the student attendees will be able to get an internship or get connected with an interesting organization as a result of the conference.
CUI: Anything else to add?
KB: Again, anyone is welcome! But please make sure to RSVP and get to the event room early to secure a seat.
The Colorado Music Industry Conference will take place on Sunday, December 4 from 12-4 p.m. The event will be held in UMC Room 235. Space is limited, so be sure to RSVP and get to the UMC early to ensure a seat at the conference.
Contact CU Independent Breaking News Editor Gavin Daugherty at Gavin.Daugherty@colorado.edu.
