Ask the Experts!

2026 Montauk Music Festival Free Industry Workshops

Ask the Experts! At the MMF15

Friday, May 15 at Shagwong Tavern
Presented by The Montauk Music Festival & Sponsored by The Montauk Sun & the Shagwong

MAXIMIZING YOUR POTENTIAL AS A MUSICIAN

Friday, 5/15 | 11am - 2pm
Lunch 12:15pm - 1:00pm
Sponsored by Shagwong Tavern

The Independent Advantage: Artists in Control of Their Careers

This panel looks at how artists today are building real, long-term careers without relying on the traditional music industry playbook. We’ll talk about what it actually takes to stay independent—from owning your music and growing a fanbase to playing shows, touring, promoting releases, and making money. Panelists will share what is working and what is not working for them or their clients, and how their approach has changed over time.

By the end, the audience will have a better understanding of what being “independent” really means (and doesn’t mean) today, which tools and platforms are worth focusing on, how to balance creative freedom with paying the bills, how to best market your music and your brand, and how to decide whether a label deal, partnership, or hybrid setup makes sense for their own goals.

Panelists Categories:

• Artist Manager

• Distributor

• Marketing Service Rep / Publicist

• Booking Agent
• Artist that is making a living as a DIY artist

Bios

Lou Plaia

Artist Manager/Consultant/Artist Services Specialist

Hot Rats Entertainment, LLC

www.hotratsentertainment.com • LinkedIn

Lou Plaia is a seasoned music industry professional, starting his career at Atlantic Records where he spent 12 years rising through the ranks to ultimately become the VP of Marketing & Strategic Planning. He then helped relaunch Atlantic Records imprint, Lava Records, and was the Head of Marketing & Artist Development there for 4 years. In these roles, he worked in some capacity with Kid Rock, Matchbox Twenty, Simple Plan,Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Stone Temple Pilots, Jewel, Hootie & the Blowfish, O.A.R., Collective Soul, Tori Amos, George Carlin, and many others.

After leaving Lava Records in 2006, Plaia “disrupted” the industry and founded ReverbNation, a platform offering ALL artists distribution, publishing, promotional tools, and thousands of live performance and media opportunities that were previously only available to artists signed to record labels. ReverbNation became the largest DIY Artist Services Platform in the world, with more than 5 million artists. At the end of 2021, Plaia sold the company to BandLab.

From 2022-2025, Plaia was the A&R Director for the award-winning global independent music publisher, Sentric.

Plaia currently owns and operates Hot Rats Entertainment, a boutique artist services company that he started in 2022. Hot Rats offers customized services for recording artists ensuring that they receive the support needed to thrive in their careers so they can focus on their music creation and performances. Hot Rats provides their clients with a strategic roadmap that includes a current assessment of their brand and positioning in the marketplace, release planning, registration and onboarding songs and metadata with Distributors, Publishers, PRO’s, SoundExchange, and the MLC so royalties are paid properly, tour budgeting and travel, merchandise management, business set-up, and more. The company handles all the non-sexy aspects of the music business so the artist doesn't have to. At Hot Rats, Plaia also manages the Spinefarm/Universal recording artist, Deadlands.

Plaia also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Five Towns College, teaching Artist Management.

Throughout his career, Plaia has been a guest speaker at more than 100 music industry events.

John Harris

John Harris, Talent Buyer & Consultant

Facebook • LinkedIn

John Harris is a music industry veteran with over four decades of experience spanning artist management, talent buying, event production, and live entertainment promotion. For the past eight years, John has served as the Talent Buyer for XL Live (1,200 capacity) and Southside Stage (3,000 capacity) in Harrisburg, PA, bringing both emerging acts and major artists to central Pennsylvania audiences.

John’s career in the business began unexpectedly in the 1980s while managing bars, nightclubs, and hotels, where he discovered a talent for booking live entertainment. That hands-on experience evolved into managing bands and promoting concerts at larger venues. From Harrisburg’s iconic Metron (1,000 capacity)—which hosted artists such as The Ramones, Bon Jovi, Hall & Oates, Joan Jett, Simply Red, Steppenwolf and Beck—to the city’s City Island amphitheater, where he produced shows with Grateful Dead, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Motley Crue The Cars and Santanna, John helped put the region on the live music map.

In addition to venue programming, John founded and produced the Millennium Music Conference & Showcase in Harrisburg for 25 years, as well as The Singer-Songwriter of Cape May (NJ) Conference & Showcase for 15 years—two respected industry events that helped connect thousands of artists with career opportunities.

John has also worked in Production Management for Live Nation at venues in Hershey, Scranton, and State College, PA, and continues to serve as an entertainment consultant for select artists, venues, festivals, and special events. In 2022, John was awarded the Whitey Noll Lifetime Achievement Award from the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame.

Barry Heyman

Principal Attorney

www.heylaw.com

Barry Heyman is an attorney practicing music, entertainment, intellectual property (copyrights and trademarks), and digital media law for over 20 years. In 2004, Barry founded Heyman Law where he is the principal attorney. In his law practice, Barry advises individuals and businesses on a wide variety of legal matters including drafting and negotiating contracts, forming corporate entities, and handling copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property matters. Trained as a classical pianist and performing as a global music DJ has resulted in Barry’s deep understanding of the creative talent he represents adding to the knowledge and expertise he brings as an established entertainment industry professional and attorney. Barry’s clients include creative talent ranging from songwriters, musicians, producers, to recording and performing artists, as well record companies and artist management companies. Corporate clients include entrepreneurs, startups, talent management companies, film and audio-visual production companies, record and publishing companies, entertainment and media companies, events companies, marketing and public relations firms.

In addition to his law practice, Barry has held several teaching positions at and is presently the Program Coordinator of the Music & Entertainment Industry Studies program at Five Towns College.

Rick Eberle

Founder/CEO: Magnetic Vine

Partner: G&R Events

As a Record Executive, Rick Eberle made a name for himself working on online initiatives for artists such as Pink, Usher, Outkast, Dido and others at Arista Records in NYC. He spent time in venue management and booking for The Downtown, presenting artists like Jewel, Fall Out Boy and Maroon 5. Rick

has also had a long career in radio, including time at 92.7 WLIR FM and at 94.3 The Shark, where he was instrumental in the initial branding and launch of the station as Promotions Director. Rick has hosted Rising Stars Radio on 90.3 WHPC FM at Nassau Community College in Garden City since 2017. He also previously presented his "Rick's Rising Stars" TV show on Fios1, which aired over 100 episodes. Additionally, he is an accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarist. As a BMI affiliated artist, several of Rick's songs have been used by Nickelodeon on their shows.

Rick’s label services incubator Magnetic Vine offers record label/ film studio marketing services, publicity, social media, talent management and booking duties for venues, festivals, conventions, TV/radio stations, bands, artists, actors, authors, chefs, sports figures and companies of all kinds. In music,

the company has successfully produced and promoted events with Long Island stars like Eddie Money, Ninedays, Alessi Brothers, John Coltrane Home, Sky Katz, Forever in Your Mind and other well known acts such as Gin Blossoms, Spin Doctors, Sugar Ray, Zak Starkey of The WHO, Trey Songz, Peter Tosh Estate, Heavy Metal Hall of Fame, Jeffrey Gaines, Fun Lovin

Criminals, Ryan Leslie, Push Play and others. In film, the company has strategized promotion campaigns, run celebrity red carpets and handled onsite coordination at Film Festivals such as Long Island Film Expo, Long Beach Intl Film Festival and Gold Coast Intl Film Festival – which have included appearances by cinema heavyweights Ed Burns, Hugh Grant, Daniel Baldwin, Brian Dennehy, Paul Sorvino, Susie Essman, Phylicia Rashad, Baz Luhrmann and so many more.

Rick is a Partner at G&R Events, which curates the Jones Beach Bandshell Summer Concert Series, many shows at Eisenhower Park Lakeside Theater, and regularly brings in acts to theaters and venues across the east coast. Rick also works with 501 C3 Non For Profit The Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center in Patchogue, screening quality mainstream, independent, foreign films and operas and plays captured live from world stages, presenting series and festivals with guest speakers, offering field trips, classes, and workshops in filmmaking and animation.

Ed Poston

Head of A&R

Symphonic

Ed Poston is an NYC based music executive with 20 years experience in music specialising in A&R, artists development and rights management. He is currently Head of A&R for Symphonic leading a team of 40 creatives spearheading global expansion. He has a history of working with top tier talent including artists such as Aurora, Bombay Bicycle Club, Childish Gambino, Ed Sheeran, James Hersey, Walshy Fire (Major Lazer) and many more, achieving multiple Gold and Platinum certifications and awards such as Grammys and Ivor Novello Awards for companies including Concord, Glassnote, BMI, Kobalt, Creative Titans, Southern Records and Big Sister.

Ariel Hyatt

https://cyberprmusic.com/ • Facebook • LinkedIn

Since the dawn of the digital music age, Ariel Hyatt has helped thousands of artists across all genres and career stages navigate the confusing and ever-changing music business with greater ease and efficiency. Her passion, expertise, and intuitive guidance make her a transformative force for musicians looking to accelerate their careers. Ariel’s greatest strengths lie in making what feels overwhelming and complicated seem easy and digestible, teaching, creating artist systems, and her relentless quest for learning.

“I’m a thinking partner,” Ariel explains. “A mind-numbing amount of new music is released daily—navigating alone is overwhelming. An empathic, experienced cheerleader who coaches, advises, and shortens the learning curve can make a profound difference.”

Ariel’s desire to help artists is deeply personal and is literally in her blood. Her mother is a New York Times Best Selling author and speaker who dedicated her life to empowering women. While her mom was touring the world speaking, her father, an Emmy Award-winning producer, enjoyed a prolific documentary career but struggled to adapt to the rapidly changing film industry. “What my father went through mirrors what I see musicians face today. The world shifts quickly, and without the ability to adapt, you can get left behind. Witnessing him falter motivates me to be resourceful and resilient for my artists.”

This firsthand understanding of creative challenges drives Ariel’s devotion to the artist’s mindset and the power of music. It fuels her work as an author, podcaster, and course creator. “There’s a science to effectively growing your music career, but there’s no definitive roadmap—the journey is unique to each artist.”

Ariel’s commitment to educating artists has taken her to over 70 conferences in 13 countries, including SXSW (where she’s spoken 19 times), CMJ, MONDO, Vivid Sydney, Hubspot Ignite, and Social Media Week New York. She has also toured Canada and Australia, teaching marketing masterclasses to artists and creating multiple courses for top music industry colleges and universities.

She has written six books on PR, crowdfunding, and new media, including Music Success in 9 Weeks, Musician’s Roadmap to Facebook & Twitter, Cyber PR for Musicians, Social Media Tuneup, and Crowdstart. Her latest release, The Ultimate Guide to Music Publicity, reached #1 on Amazon in the Music Business category. The book includes insights from music industry luminaries, veteran publicists, and 11 indie artists who share their inspiring PR journeys.

Years ago, Ariel realized that while publicity is essential, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. “The two things most artists I talk to are missing are a plan and a team. That’s what we’re here to provide. The problem is, most teams aren’t accessible to artists until they’re already well-established.”

This is what makes Cyber PR unique. Ariel and her team specialize in creating long-term strategy plans called Total Tuneups, offering a rare combination of art and commerce tailored to musicians. “In today’s digital marketing climate, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work involved. We love rolling up our sleeves to help musicians connect to themselves first and then to their fans in meaningful ways.”

Born and raised in New York City, Ariel now lives in Manhattan with her husband, son, and their 20-year-old tabby, Hunter C. Thompson (the “C” stands for cat). She serves on the boards of Women in Music and Sweet Relief Musicians Fund and is a proud graduate of Leadership Music in Nashville.

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