Paul Carpenter (Founder of Plural): Why Agencies Need Agency Over Their Own Brand

Paul Carpenter (Founder of Plural): Why Agencies Need Agency Over Their Own Brand

Paul Carpenter, founder of the Atlanta creative agency Plural and president of AMA Atlanta, has spent nearly 30 years in marketing. He and Jeff cover the evolution of agencies, why curiosity beats optimization, AI's impact on video and music, the neuroscience of storytelling, and the resurgence of indie shops.

Daisha McBride (The Rap Girl): Going Viral and Going Independent

Daisha McBride, the Nashville rapper known as The Rap Girl, turned a high school nickname into a career spanning freestyles with hundreds of millions of views, a Queen Collective documentary, and the BET Awards stage. She and Jeff cover standing out in a country-first music city, her fast and prolific writing process, going all-in as an independent artist, and the discipline behind it.

Scott Welch, the Manager Behind Alanis Morissette — Spotting Talent and Betting Early

Scott Welch is one of the most accomplished managers in music history, having guided the careers of Alanis Morissette, Paula Abdul, Steve Perry, and Collective Soul. He and Jeff cover his path from merch truck to managing icons, telling artists the truth, spotting talent you can't quite bottle, the early mp3.com IPO, and his front-row seat to StubHub.

Live from Sync Camp: Aaron Mercer on Why Every Placement Is a Minor Miracle

Aaron Mercer, co-president of Premier Music Group, has spent 30 years in Nashville shaping how music moves through advertising, film, and TV — from his early days at BMI and Sony ATV to leading a firm whose clients include Samsung, Adidas, and the NBA. He covers the nuts and bolts of music licensing, why AI-generated music is a legal non-starter for commercial use, and how a Chevy commercial broke the band Fun overnight.

Live from Sync Camp: CJ Oliver on Producing, Perfectionism, and Reinvention

Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter CJ Oliver has 180+ tracks in the Soundstripe catalog and sync placements on NBC, Hulu, and Netflix. Her self-taught start at nine selling her first instrumental, breaking past being known as the violin kid, producing across R&B and hip-hop, AI in music, and advice for young artists.