Tag Archives: UMC Academy

Unveiling UMC Academy 2.0: Meet the Faculty!

More instructors. More subjects. More opportunities to learn, grow, and connect with the music industry.

We’ve had the opportunity to travel all over the world, learning from independent artists and industry professionals alike. A common thread in these conversations? While there are countless people with talent across the musical landscape, talent is only part of the equation.

The modern creative landscape makes being an independent artist so much more complex than write-record-release-perform-succeed-repeat. Embarking upon a career in the music industry requires us to challenge ourselves in new and evolving ways. We must learn how to communicate our messages, foster genuine relationships, and create opportunities. Building a career as an independent creative means keeping an open mind to possibility, a willingness to learn new skills, and the ability work in community with others moving in a similar fashion.

We’ve built that community — and it’s full of professionals who are ready to equip you with everything you need, as you scale the mountain toward your creative destiny!

Introducing UMC Academy 2.0

Our revamped UMC Academy gives you the power to build your own curriculum, based on your needs at this point of your creative journey. Our Faculty is skilled, well-versed, and successful in a variety of disciplines across the entertainment landscape — and they’re here to pay their knowledge forward!

Each UMC Academy Faculty member gives you the option to join them on a free discovery call, giving you the opportunity to share what you’re working on, while helping them understand how they can best serve you. From there, you and your Faculty member work together to decide your best path forward, developing a roadmap for greater success and visibility in the greater creative landscape.

Click the image below to meet our new UMC Academy Faculty!

‘Don’t Say No’: 20 Years as a DJ (ft. Dominic Longo)

Our latest guest on The Quinn Spinn is… my brother.

My brother Dominic has been a professional DJ for the past two decades. Like anybody building an entertainment-based business from zero, he’s learned countless lessons along the way — lessons which he now looks to teach the next generation of aspiring event DJs.

Also, this episode offers a throwback all the way to the pre-historic days of The Quinn Spinn. In case you didn’t know, we got our start as a college radio show called Dominic & The Quinn at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA in 2007-08.

Join Dominic’s Facebook group
We now mentor aspiring DJs through UMC Academy!
Become an UnderDog!

The Quinn Spinn is recorded and produced at Helping Our Music Evolve, Nashville ,TN.

Opening theme: REVEL 9 – All I’ve Become

The Quinn Spinn
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Community, Artistpreneurship, and Releasing the Anchors

I want to thank Kevin Cobus and The Indie Distributor — the wonderful folks behind Gussapolooza, one of our favorite festivals here at UMC — for this spirited conversation on The Indie Distributor podcast.

This conversation took place during the #RoadtoSXSW, and takes a deep dive into the importance of collaboration within a creative ecosystem (like the one we’re building here). We also touch on several of my 60+ Lessons from the Creative Journey, and highlight the importance of showing up for ourselves — while setting healthy boundaries.

UMC Founder Gerard Longo at Departure Conference Mentors Lounge

Gerard Longo is the Founder/CEO of Underground Music Collective (UMC), a Nashville-based educational and multimedia platform serving the music industry and independent creatives, everywhere. For more than a decade, UMC has impacted thousands of musicians, creatives, and industry stakeholders through multimedia content, live music experiences, the UMC Academy artist mentorship program, and the UMC UnderDogs community.

Since launching UMC with The Quinn Spinn podcast in 2013, Gerard has spearheaded UMC’s collaborations with local, national, and global brands, including Universal Music Group, Red Bull, the Tennessee Titans, the Nashville Predators, Creative Artists Agency, Liberty Tax, ArtsQuest, Helping Our Music Evolve, and Redfin Real Estate. Gerard’s work has been featured across major media outlets including iHeartRadio, Fox News Digital, MusicRow Magazine, and many more.


About Departure: Departure (the reimagined Canadian Music Week) is where the world’s hungriest talent in music, art, comedy, and technology find the inspiration, support, and resources they need to take it all the way. Learn more.

’60+ Lessons’ Launch Party + FREE Building Your Authentic Artist Brand Workshop

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!

Before you can get to where you want to go, you must answer a very important question…

WHY?

What drives you to create? How will connecting to the world through music enrich your life, and the lives of those around you?

It’s a deep question, and we want to help you uncover the answer. That’s why we’re hosting our Building Your Authentic Artist Brand workshop on Thursday, February 27 from 5-8:30 p.m. at Helping Our Music Evolve (615 Main St., Suite G1, Nashville).

In this FREE interactive workshop, we’ll walk through the steps of developing your authentic artist brand. We’ll uncover what connects you to your audience, and how to build a community that will attract media, performance, and partnership opportunities.

The workshop portion of the evening runs from 6-8 p.m. Before (and after), join us for an exclusive book release party in celebration of 60+ Lessons from the Creative Journey: A Handy Guide for the Budding Entrepreneur — the debut release from UMC Founder/CEO Gerard Longo.

Space is limited! Come gain insight featured by reputable music industry conferences across North America, including SXSWNOLA MusiCon, and more!

REGISTER HERE!

FREE WORKSHOP: Building Your Authentic Artist Brand

Before you can get to where you want to go, you must answer a very important question…

WHY?

What drives you to create? How will connecting to the world through music enrich your life, and the lives of those around you?

It’s a deep question, and we want to help you uncover the answer. That’s why we’re hosting our Building Your Authentic Artist Brand workshop on Thursday, January 9 from 6-8 p.m. at Helping Our Music Evolve (615 Main St., Suite G1, Nashville).

In this FREE interactive workshop, we’ll walk through the steps of developing your authentic artist brand. We’ll uncover what connects you to your audience, and how to build a community that will attract media, performance, and partnership opportunities.

Space is limited to the first 10 registrants! Come gain insight featured by reputable music industry conferences across North America, including SXSWNOLA MusiCon, and more!

REGISTER HERE

FREE WORKSHOP: ‘Building Your Authentic Artist Brand’ Jan. 9 in Nashville

Before you can get to where you want to go, you must answer a very important question…

WHY?

What drives you to create? How will connecting to the world through music enrich your life, and the lives of those around you?

It’s a deep question, and we want to help you uncover the answer. That’s why we’re hosting our Building Your Authentic Artist Brand workshop on Thursday, January 9 from 6-8 p.m. at Helping Our Music Evolve (615 Main St., Suite G1, Nashville).

In this FREE interactive workshop, we’ll walk through the steps of developing your authentic artist brand. We’ll uncover what connects you to your audience, and how to build a community that will attract media, performance, and partnership opportunities.

Space is limited to the first 10 registrants! Come gain insight featured by reputable music industry conferences across North America, including SXSW, NOLA MusiCon, and more!

NOLA MusiCon 2024

NOLA MusiCon is a unique music industry conference and event in the heart of one of the most diverse and vibrant music communities in the world, New Orleans, Louisiana. The three day event features informative sessions and inspirational interviews with music industry professionals and thought leaders, one-on-one mentor sessions, demos, unparalleled networking, and much more!

Conference sessions will take you through every stage of your music career, from inspiration, creation, production and distribution, to navigating the music industry. Attendees will be immersed in topics from music creation, production, recording and live performance to music supervision, PR, publishing, revenue streams, activism and music tech.

The goal for NOLA MusiCon is two-fold: to inform and educate artists and other music professionals in the business of music, and to show that New Orleans is more than a fun place to see the best music in the world, it is also a great place to grow your music business.

Where Music and Entrepreneurship Meet…

Last month, I had the honor and privilege of returning to IHeartMedia headquarters in New York City to record a follow-up interview on the Passage to Profit Show. Hosted by Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart of Gearhart Law, the Passage to Profit Show showcases innovative entrepreneurs from a wide variety of industries, and is syndicated on more than 30 radio stations nationwide.

In this episode, I discuss why it’s important for artists to think and function like entrepreneurs, and how the UMC Academy equips them to do so. We also analyze what prominent artists like Taylor Swift and Bon Jovi have done to build their creative ecosystems and withstand changes in popular music trends.

Joining me on this episode are brilliant entrepreneurs, including:

  • Geofencing experts Ernesto Cullari and Barbara Wardell from Cullari & Wardell agency. Discover how GPS technology is revolutionizing targeted marketing, allowing businesses to attract the right customers at the right time. Learn the secrets behind geotargeting, from capturing foot traffic to sending personalized ads, and find out how even small businesses can leverage this powerful tool to boost their ROI. If you’re curious about the future of marketing and want to stay ahead of the curve, this episode is a must-listen!
  • Remi Leibovic, MCM., the founder of RCL Media LLC, a woman/Latina (Cuban/Argentinian) owned social media agency that specializes in data-driven social media management and content creation for small businesses. Remi bases her outreach on meeting new people and creating problem-solving solutions for today’s businesses via social media and the stories told through visual content creation.

Ready to Learn the Fundamentals of Beatmaking?

Foundation Mecca is a Nashville-based hip hop artist and producer who wears many hats. He’s one-third of the heal hop trio Heru Heru, as well as one half of Da Healerz with fellow Nashville native, Lord Goldie.

On Wednesday, July 17, join Foundation Mecca for a special Q&A, Fundamentals of Beatmaking. In this virtual session, Foundation will reveal everything you need to know to get started with production for artist projects, sync, and more. We invite you to bring your questions to the chat, which we’ll answer live on the stream!

This conversation is being offered to the public for FREE by the UMC Academy. For more educational content and creative connections, consider joining the Academy today: https://umcworldwide.com/academy.

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