Book My Band… The Stages of Your Career
Saturday, May 12th • 2:00pm
Ace Cafe (Stonebridge Room/2nd Floor)
The Florida Music Festival & Conference boasts a history of presenting the who’s who of all facets and genres of the music industry. The 18th Annual Conference welcomes some of the top names in the electronic dance community on Friday, May 11th at the historic, Ace Cafe, in the 2nd floor Stonebridge Conference Center. All registered industry, media and artists are welcome, as well as all UCF & VCC students are granted free admission to network and learn from the finest minds in the music business, throughout the FMF 2018 weekend.
Jim Mallonee
Senior VP of Southeast Booking for Live Nation Worldwide, Inc/House of Blues
Jim is currently the Senior Vice President of Southeast Booking for Live Nation Worldwide, Inc/House of Blues Entertainment, Inc. He oversees the following nine Live Nation venues’ talent booking: House of Blues Orlando, House of Blues Myrtle Beach, House of Blues Dallas, House of Blues Houston, House of Blues New Orleans, The Tabernacle (Atlanta, GA), The Fillmore (Charlotte, NC), The Fillmore (Miami, FL), The Ritz (Raleigh), The Aztec Theatre (San Antonio) and the Revention Music Center (Houston, TX). He ensures all these venues are reaching their goals all while being the prime talent buyer for House of Blues Orlando and St. Augustine Amphitheatre. Additionally, in the event one would think he wasn’t busy enough, Jim also has been the main talent buyer for festival shows such as WJRR’s Earthday Birthday, WHTQ’s Blues BBQ, WMMO’s Downtown Concert Series in Orlando, FL and the multiple-day Azalea festival in Wilmington, NC. However, being such a successful concert industry professional did not come without years of experience, expertise and good old fashioned business sense.
Eva Alexiou-Reo
FATA Booking Agency (founder)
Eva Alexiou- Reo is the founder of accomplished independent booking agency FATA Booking Agency. FATA booking has worked with the likes of JIMMY EAT WORLD, MAE, FLOGGING MOLLY, SAVES THE DAY, RUSTED ROOT, THE BLOOD BROTHERS, KEVIN LYMAN 4FINI, VINYL THEATRE, ALVAREZ KINGS and many more. In addition, she has worked as a professor teaching Music Business at Drexel University.
Alec Vidmar
United Talent Agency
Alec Vidmar, a proud UCF alumni, booked Homecoming among many CFE arena shows for the SGA Campus Activities Board while a student. He now counts Colt Ford, Steve Earle and the Dukes, Craig Campbell, Confederate Railroad, Don Felder, Jamey Johnson, Toby Keith and many others on his roster at United Talent Agency.
Chad Sheppard
Live Fast Entertainment
After a stint in Nashville, Chad found his way back to Florida and founded Live Fast Entertainment, with his partner Matt Wells and his wife Chelsea as a senior agent. Live Sat Entertainment is a Florida based agency that specializes in booking, artist development, and artist management. Their roster boasts a variety of Festivals along with buzz artists Ryan Upchurch, Struggle Jennings, Bubba Sparxxx, Rehab, Chanel West Coast, Redneck Souljers, Trace Cyrus, Mike Busey, Jelly Roll among others.
Lou Plaia
Reverbnation.com (founder/EVP Industry Relations)
Music industry veteran Lou Plaia co-founded ReverbNation in 2006. Since that time, ReverbNation has helped millions of emerging artists build their careers with its powerful career management and online marketing tools. These tools, combined with its A&R and Artist Development capabilities and broad industry relationships offer emerging Artists from around the world access to the global music industry. The company operates worldwide with customers on every continent and more than 10 million unique visitors come to ReverbNation.com every month.