v1.0, 20040825, ht

“THE MUSIC BUSINESS TODAY: THE PERFECT STORM”

Ron Fair, President of A&M Records is one of the record industry’s most vital players. In a 25 year major label career he produced several number one records including “Where is the Love” by the Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake; “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton; “Big Yellow Taxi” by Counting Crows; and “Lady Marmalade” by Pink, Mya, Lil’ Kim and Christina Aguilera whom he discovered, nurtured and signed. As Producer, Co-Producer, Arranger, A&R Executive and creative partner, Fair and Christina Aguilera share an incredible string of 10 number one hits, selling over 25 million copies worldwide. Working his way up from bar mitzvah piano player to studio gopher to fledgling songwriter, recording engineer, A&R man and record producer, he brings an extraordinary scope and vision to his musical projects and the rebuilding of A&M Records. He has just completed producing “Car Wash” by Christina Aguilera for Dreamwork’s “Shark Tale” and five songs on the vocal debut album by Queen Latifah. Currently A&M/Fair are respresented on the charts with hits by Snow Patrol; Vanessa Carlton; The Black Eyed Peas, Butterfly Boucher and Keyshia Cole.
In his keynote address, Fair will explore the conundrum of multi-level problems and circumstances that have resulted in the disgorgement of over forty percent of the industry, with an eye to future conditions and possible remedies.