On March 24 and 25, 2006, more than 300 students, faculty, and industry professionals converged on the campus of University of the Pacific in Stockton California for the 2006 Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA) national conference hosted by the Conservatory of Music and Pacific’s Music Management/MEISA club.

The two days were filled with panels, workshops, networking and a host of social events. Some of the highlights were keynote addresses by Leonard Richardson who screened clips and promos from many of the successful television series that he has supervised the music for including One Tree Hill and Smallville.

On Saturday, Semisonic drummer and author Jacob Slichter talked about life on the road, the ins and outs of recording, touring and promoting albums for a major label and life after stardom.

One of the most popular events was the “Breaking an Artist” panel, which kicked off with a montage of new video clips followed by a thought provoking discussion with Word Entertainment CEO Jim Van Hook, KUSF Program Director Lisa Yimm, Universal Music Artist Development Rep Russell Gatewood, moderated by Professor John Kellogg. Another panel that gave the delegates plenty to think about was the “Digital Media Opportunities” panel, which featured reps from Yahoo! Music, Rhapsody, Universal Music Publishing, SoundExchange and was moderated by Billboard’s Antony Bruno.

Friday night’s MEISA events included a packed open mic night featuring more than a dozen student performers and a knock-down, drag out fight to see who the national MEISA Music Trivia champ would be in Rockin’ Jeopardy. University of Colorado Denver’s J.J. Italiano came out victorious, winning a humongous basket of prized and a $1,250 scholarship to BerkleeMusic.com

Platinum sponsors ASCAP, Pacific’ Eberhardt School of Business, and BerkleeMusic.com generously supported the conference along with SESAC, Shure, the Brubeck Institute and a number of additional local sponsors and restaurants.

The conference ended on a high note with an SRO concert by hip-hop artist Common at the Bob Hope Theater in downtown Stockton that many of the conference delegates attended.

Next year’s conference will be hosted by Cal Poly Pomona and be held March 23-24, 2007.

Leonard Richardson On Stage