IBMA365 is an ongoing webinar series presented by the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Join us virtually for resources on topics pertinent to the global bluegrass community.

Upcoming Webinars:

Streaming Licensing for Venues, Presenters, and Festivals
Tuesday, May 18 at 12:00pm CT on Facebook Live
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Moderated by Patrice O’Neill, Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of Wintergrass
Ashley Joyce
, Senior Vice President, Legal & Business Affairs at National Music Publishers’ Association
Robert Meitus, Partner, Meitus Gelbert Rose LLP and Co-founder and VP of Industry Relations at Mandolin
Rusty Weiss, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP

While most discussions dealing with licensing rightly focus on the artist or songwriter, this session will focus on people who create and produce events – both live, and increasingly more important, streamed or hybrid events.

With the virtual certainty of some version of streaming being added to all live events, proper licensing has become murky and clear answers are largely non-existent. We’ve assembled a panel of experts who will provide clarity for producers of live events with questions about how to and what kind of licensing is required in the streaming world.


Past Webinars:

The Mechanical Licensing Collective: How Songwriters Can Collect Licensing Income for Digital Streams
February 5, 2021

The MLC’s CEO, Kris Ahrend, and Alison Brown, GRAMMY-winning banjoist and co-founder of Compass Records Group, give a comprehensive and informative webinar all about The MLC – the new nonprofit organization exclusively responsible for administering blanket mechanical licenses to digital service providers in the U.S. and distributing royalties due under those licenses to self-administered songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers. Ahrend provides an overview of how and why The MLC was created and the scope of the organization’s work to-date; discuss The MLC Portal, the Data Quality Initiative and some of The MLC’s other dynamic tools and resources; outline why prospective Members should join now to ensure they receive the digital audio mechanical royalties they are owed and close out the webinar with a Q&A session moderated by Brown.


WE ENDURE is a webinar series on personal and professional resilience. Presented by the International Bluegrass Music Association, WE ENDURE provides discussion and resources on mental health, diversity and inclusion, and alternative revenue models. Each webinar will explore techniques to help you stay connected, cope with a new normal, and help those around you do the same.

Mental Wellness, Part One: Caring For Yourself & Others
July 9, 2020

Moderated by Danielle Bowker, MusiCares
Anni Beach, Jam Pak
Zack Borer, Backline
David Moultrup, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker
Tristan Scroggins, Scroggins & Rose

The past few months have been an adjustment for all of us. The music industry already comes with its own unique set of challenges, but the added stress of our current climate can leave us feeling confused and anxious. You are not in this alone. In part one of our mental health discussion, bluegrass community members and mental health professionals will join together to share their stories and offer tangible ways to help you and your loved ones during these trying times.


Mental Wellness, Part Two: New Vulnerabilities
July 23, 2020

Moderated by Danielle Bowker, MusiCares
Kelsi Harrigill, Artist/Event Producer
Al Andrews, Porter’s Call
Auntmama (MaryAnne Moorman), Storyteller

The past few months have been an adjustment for all of us. The music industry already comes with its own unique set of challenges, but the added stress of our current climate can leave us feeling confused and anxious. You are not in this alone. In part two of our mental wellness discussion, bluegrass community members and mental health professionals will join together to discuss mental health concerns brought on by the impacts of the pandemic on the live music economy.


Love Listens: Part One
August 6, 2020

Moderated by Sarika U. Peters
Jake Blount, Artist
Professor Dan Boner, East Tennessee State University
Tray Wellington, Artist

As increasingly more people are moved to learn from voices all too often overlooked, dismissed, or ignored, so too must the bluegrass community listen to the voices of the excluded and overlooked within our musical family. In part one of our discussion on diversity and inclusion, panelists describe their experiences and feelings as people of color living and working within what is an almost always entirely white culture. What feels safe and welcoming? What doesn’t?


Love Listens: Part Two
September 3, 2020

Moderated by Michelle Conceison, Market Monkeys
Marisa Kolka, Folk Alliance International
Lisa Schwartz, Philadelphia Folksong Society
Jamie Katz Court, PineCone (Piedmont Council of Traditional Music)

As the nation has been moved to listen and learn from voices all too often overlooked, dismissed or ignored, so too must the world of Bluegrass lean in and listen to the voices of the excluded and overlooked in our own midst. Love Listens is a two-part series designed to provoke empathy and spur action. In part two, panelists discuss concrete actions they’ve taken to make their events and organizations more welcoming and accessible to all.

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