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

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 

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.