The Business of Hip Hop and Much More: Workshops and panels filled the day in Grand Rapids. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
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From taking advantage of rapidly changing technology to the proper etiquette for marketing music to media outlets to tips on songwriting, recording and stage presence, Saturday’s Music Econ Summit at Bamboo in downtown Grand Rapids covered a lot of ground in mentoring Michigan musicians on the business side of their art.
Hosted by the non-profit Michigan Music Alliance, the conference drew about 120 registrants from across the state along with dozens of presenters, panelists, volunteers and music industry experts who helped offer up a day filled with critical information for budding artists as well as veteran musicians, songwriters and music professionals.
As Nicholas James Thomasma, MMA executive director and veteran musician/songwriter, put it: It was all about “the business of being an artist,” with plenty of opportunities for attendees to network, ask questions of those in the know and hand out business cards “like candy.”
Nicholas James Thomasma (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
There was plenty of all of the above on Saturday with notable experts such as recording studio owners Michael Crittenden and Robby Fischer, Christian hip-hop star Steven Malcolm, Lutely CEO Kyle Jekielek, Sounds of the Zoo founder Jennifer Hudson-Prenkert, Opnr CEO Dre Wallace and more on hand for presentations and panel discussions.
Attendees heard about ways to release their music quickly with the help of AI tools and how to improve the way they present their songs visually.
Panelist Yessina Gomez called it amplifying the “physical movement in storytelling. … At any point that you’re ready to take your music to a visual aspect to be seen, that is when you should be considering having movement in your speech presence and in your setup. … What is the message that you’re sending out to the world?”
In that same vein, Local Spins founder John Sinkevics emphasized that this message from artists with new music or upcoming performances needs to be presented to media outlets in an organized, precise fashion with biographical information, updated photos, website and track links, and other basic details. “If you want to be treated as a professional, you have to act like a professional,” he stressed.
The conference also featured various vendors, one-on-one mentoring sessions and free photo portraits by Chelsea Whitaker Photography.
PHOTO GALLERY: Music Econ Summit 2026 at Bamboo
Photos by Chelsea Whitaker and John Sinkevics