Designed and taught by musician and entrepreneur Lou Hill and attorney Bri Whetstone, Crescendo is a series of seven free workshops targeting independent musicians held on successive Tuesday’s starting September 26th. Sessions cover topics including copyright, licensing your music, collecting royalties, touring, festival gigs, album releases, and new technologies changing the music economy. There is no fee to attend Crescendo sessions, and though each session builds upon the last and artists are encouraged to sign up for the entire series, artists may pick and choose which sessions they would like to attend. Though there is no fee, we do hope you will become an artist member of The Ella Project.

CRESCENDO 2023 SCHEDULE

For a detailed schedule, please click here.

Tuesday September 26: Intellectual Property for Musicians. RSVP here!

Tuesday October 3: Publishing and Revenue Streams. RSVP here!

Tuesday October 10: Working with Labels, Master Recordings and Record Deals.  RSVP here!

Tuesday October 17: Streaming Royalties and Performing Rights Organizations. RSVP here!

 Tuesday October 24: Music Contracts, Band Agreements, and Trademarks. RSVP here! 

Wednesday November 1: Festivals and Finance. RSVP here!

 Tuesday, November 7: Releasing, Pitching, and Monetizing Your Music. RSVP here!

About our Lead Presenters

Lou Hill Born and raised in the city of New Orleans, Lou Hill has been in the music industry for more than 20 years. Trained as a professional musician, Lou Hill has had the opportunity to work on multiple sides of the music business. As Founder, songwriter and drummer for the Billboard Top 20 charting band Water Seed, he has the proven experience to understand the ever-changing market. Formerly the head of marketing for Louisiana Red Hot Records, he is now heavily involved in helping the growth of the New Orleans’ music industry.

Bri Whetstone An attorney at the New Orleans firm of McCranie Sistrunk Anzelmo Hardy McDaniel & Welch, Whetstone practices intellectual property law. Before joining the practice of law, she worked LucasArts in San Francisco in Business Affairs where she handled Copyright applications, drafted contracts, managed international trademarks, and drafted the Lucas Companies’ social media policy. She is a 2013 graduate of Tulane Law School, where she served as an Honor Board Representative for three years, was a member of Tulane Inn of Court, and was the President of the Entertainment & Arts Law Society. She has been a longtime Ella Project pro bono volunteer. She has presented workshops for Ella since 2017, and has designed the Music Business Intensive.

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the City of New Orleans’ Office of Cultural Economy