On June 5, artist development went under the microscope at nonprofit ThinkLA’s annual Entertainment Brunch presented by Nextel, which hosted 450 entertainment industry professionals at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
This year’s edition of the brunch featured a trio of panels centered around the theme “The New Era of Disruption” in music, film, TV, video games and more. During a panel titled “The Business of Music: Breaking Artists & Building Global Fandoms” moderated by Billboard deputy editor, business news Chris Eggertsen, three executives — Capitol Records vp of marketing Jessica Eason, Amazon Music head of culture amplification Ida Kay and WME senior partner/agent Keith Sarkisian — discussed the increasingly complex and multifaceted business of artist development in 2025, with examples cited from their work with artists including Doechii, Justin Timberlake and Pitbull.
Topics covered during the panel included the increasing pressure on artists to be multi-hyphenates and extend their brands into multiple arenas; the music industry’s growing emphasis on direct-to-fan interactions; the importance of data in making decisions about everything from album rollouts to tour routing; the importance of traditional media like radio and late-night TV shows in 2025; and more.
The event featured two additional panels. The first, titled “The Business of Diversity: Why Multicultural Stories Win,” was moderated by Erika Lewis, cultural engagement & partnerships, global business marketing at TikTok, with panelists Derek Padilla-Ravega, director of media planning & strategy at Walt Disney Studios; writer/producer Migizi Pensoneua (Reservation Dogs, Alien: Earth), and Ellene V. Miles, senior vp of global intersectional marketing at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The last panel, titled “Innovation in Marketing,” was moderated by creator/producer/actor Matt “Supes” Ramos. Panelists included Aileen Del Cid, head of global marketing & PR at Samsung TV Plus; Monica Austin, CMO of Blizzard Entertainment; and Elias Polisher, executive vp of worldwide digital marketing & data analytics at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In addition to Nextel, the ThinkLA Entertainment Brunch was sponsored by SambaTV, JustWatch, Fandom, Tubi, Max.Live, Doing Things and Midnight Oil. The organizing committee for the brunch was led by ThinkLA executive director Don Lupo; ThinkLA event directors Brianna Brady and Mikaela Wilson; and ThinkLA’s partnership team, Linda Schwab and Grace Cuffel.
ThinkLA committee members also include co-chairs Joe Shields (co-president of ThinkLA) and Sara Yazdani (Creativ Company), along with Kim Lewis (BET), Rory O’Connor (TikTok), Matt Wolf (Audigent by Experian), Matt Weisbecker (CRO. My Code), Ashley Wandishin (World Surf League), Richard Taw (Hollywood Branded), Gregg Rubin (Goodway Group), Peter Reisner (New York Times), Allison Mellon (Fandom), Jon Margolis (Atmosphere TV), Jake Hay (PopShorts), Stephanie Delgado (LatiNation), Jason Costes (UTA), Margee Anderson (Media.net) and Danielle Klein (Doing Things).
L-R: Erika Lewis, Derek Padilla-Ravega, Migizi Pensoneua, Ellene V. Miles
Gabriel Mora
L-R: Matt “Supes” Ramos, Aileen Del Cid, Monica Austin, Elias Polisher
Gabriel Mora
ThinkLA Entertainment Brunch speakers and committee members
Gabriel Mora