Thursday, September 8, 2016 - Today, Reverb.com Managing Director of Content Peter Schu participated in a panel discussion at “RM 72: Future of Music and Tech” hosted by General Assembly Chicago and Virgin Hotels Chicago. The event - attended by musicians, music industry professionals, tech community members and more - brought together Chicago music experts to discuss the rapidly changing music industry and how to stay one step ahead of the curve.

Schu joined Alec Stern, music producer at global advertising agency Leo Burnett, for a panel on artists and branding moderated by Jaime Black, founder/host of Dynasty Podcasts - the first and longest-running music podcast in the City of Chicago's history. The panel explored best practice for working with artists for marketing purposes, including how brands decide which artists to work with and tips for partnering with artists for videos and other content.

“You have to treat regular people like rockstars and rockstars like regular people,” Schu said of working with artists for the Reverb.com news site. “Whether we’re working with a Top 50 singer or a lesser-known indie band, we want to ensure that they’re comfortable enough to open up about something as personal as their music making and creative processes.”

According to General Assembly and Virgin Hotels, entrepreneurship and adaptation helped expand Virgin Records into the empire it is today and with that same outlook, “RM 72: The Future of Music and Tech” was created to gather industry minds to discuss innovation in the music business.