FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Scott Aiges
Tel: (504) 558-6100
E-mail: saiges@jazzandheritage.org

‘SYNC UP’ WILL LINK LOCAL MUSICIANS WITH FESTIVAL AND FILM BUYERS DURING JAZZ FEST

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc., as part of its economic development mission, is launching an initiative to connect the independent musicians of Louisiana with professional music buyers from around the world who will be in New Orleans for Jazz Fest.

The project, known as Sync Up, is the result of a partnership between the Foundation – the nonprofit organization that owns the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell – and three agencies of the Louisiana state government: Louisiana Economic Development, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor and the Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism.

“We have long known that many music business people from around the world come to Jazz Fest,” said Don Marshall, the Foundation’s executive director. “For us, the goal is to find the right way to leverage the festival’s impact for the benefit of the local music industry – especially our performing artists.”

Most Louisiana musicians are completely independent. They make recordings and perform publicly, but most do not have record labels, booking agents, publishers or managers to help them reach wider markets.

Sync Up’s goal is to connect these artists with professional music buyers in two main categories:

• Festival promoters, who hire bands for well-paying live performances
• Music supervisors, who select music to be licensed for use in films, TV shows, commercials, videogames and other visual media.

For festival promoters, the Foundation will host a series of “power breakfasts,” or mini conferences, on both Jazz Fest weekends. These will take place from 10 a.m. to noon on April 25 and 26, and May 2 and 3, in the Jazz & Heritage Gallery, in the Foundation’s offices at 1205 N. Rampart Street.

The breakfasts will feature panel discussions with visiting festival buyers, digital media distributors and others. There will also be information displays from local artists and music businesses.

Although the principal target market for these events are festival buyers for live performance bookings, music professionals from all sectors of the industry are invited – managers, agents, publishers, record labels, attorneys and more.

Admission to these events is free. But seating is limited, so advance registration is required. To register, please see: www.jazzandheritage.org/syncup.

For music supervisors, the Foundation is reaching out to the film and TV studios that are actively doing film productions in the state and using the state’s highly successful incentive program. Studios stand to save money by using Louisiana music in their productions – either by licensing the use of existing recordings, or creating new recordings here to meet their specific needs.

In collaboration with the State of Louisiana, the Foundation is inviting the music supervisors from those studios to New Orleans, where they will learn about:

• The ways they can save money by using Louisiana music or recording new music here
• The range and diversity of Louisiana music
• The quality of our production facilities
• The people who will be their key contacts for doing business here

The Foundation has created a detailed itinerary that includes a day at Jazz Fest, where the music supervisors will have the chance to experience the range and authenticity of Louisiana music.

With $500 million in film production per year, Louisiana should be claiming at least $10 million for local music to be included in those films’ scores and soundtracks. Louisiana’s fast-growing videogame industry is worth $11 million to the state’s economy and could be generating significant revenue for local musicians.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell is a major economic development engine in its own right. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year and has a total economic impact of more than $300 million annually. It hires hundreds of Louisiana musicians – and provides them with a major showcase that often leads to new performance opportunities.

“Our Foundation’s mission is not only to preserve our indigenous culture, but also to help our tradition bearers support themselves,” Marshall said. “By using the appeal of Jazz Fest to help our artists get more band better festival gigs, and to license their music for use in film productions, we help them tap into significant revenue streams they wouldn’t be able to access on their own.”

Sync Up is presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. Co-sponsors include: The Louisiana Department of Economic Development; the Office of the Lieutenant Governor; the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism; Billboard; Pollstar; CD Baby; Audiosocketmusic.com; Bug Music; the Orchard; Sound Exchange; and SESAC.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that owns the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, and uses the proceeds to fund year-round community development activities in the areas of education, economic development and cultural programming. Programs and assets of the foundation include: radio station WWOZ 90.7-FM; the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive; the Don Jamison Heritage School of Music; the Tom Dent Congo Square Lecture Series; the Jazz Journey concert series; the Community Partnership Grants program; the Raisin’ the Roof housing initiative; and the S.E.E.D. micro-loan program for entrepreneurs. The foundation also produces community events such as the Crescent City Blues Festival, Fiesta Latina, the Congo Square Rhythms Festival, the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival, the Down By the Riverside Thanksgiving concert and others.

For more information, please call the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation at (504) 558-6100.