TODAY, the Island Music Conference kicks off at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston with a session dubbed YouTube Day.

It is expected to run from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and is free for guests who are registered on the Island Music Conference (IMC) website.

Co-conceptualiser Shaggy believes that members of the entertainment fraternity could benefit from the conference.

“You used to have certain set avenues of income, now you have multiple avenues of income… You never used to have YouTube. Now you have Apple Music, you have Spotify, you have Sound Exchange — you have all these things and they’re coming at you from all these angles. You have to educate yourself and [learn] what they are about, how they operate, and how they operate territorially — because in a lot of things the territorial laws are different. So many things are changing. It’s a different time and now is the best time,” he told the Jamaica Observer in an exclusive interview.

YouTube’s Director of Black Music and Culture Tuma Basa is expected to be part of today’s panel discussion.

“You might have artistes and managers who have several questions they want to ask so this is the environment for it,” he said.

Aside from Basa, other speakers at the IMC include attorneys Lloyd Stanbury, Andrew Krents, and Sapna Lal. Tanya Lawson from Audiomack; Madeline Nelson from Amazon; Diego Herrera, Pandora; Loretta Gadson of BMI; Damien Granderson and Steven Carless from Warner; and SeaniB from BBC1Xtra are some of the industry experts who will attend.

“These are movers and shakers in their respective fields… The good thing about this conference is that a lot of people are going to be available to have conversations, so you can network. You should use the opportunity at this conference to network, get people’s numbers to get connections to further your brand,” advised Shaggy.

The Island Music Conference, which will be held under the theme ‘Cari Culture’, is slated for the Courtleigh Auditorium, Jamaica Pegasus hotel, and the Courtleigh Hotel and Suites in New Kingston from February 8 to 12.