Juels of Rome's Updates: "Old School Rules with New School Tools": WSA Unplugged Takes Over Atlanta November 12-15

Monday, October 26, 2026

"Old School Rules with New School Tools": WSA Unplugged Takes Over Atlanta November 12-15

Four Days of Music, Business and Culture: The 13th Annual WSA Unplugged Experience & 2026 Icon Awards Land in Atlanta

The 13th Annual Unplugged Music Experience & Conference, featuring the 2026 Icon Awards, returns to Atlanta November 12-15, bringing together songwriters, producers, publishers, music executives, sync professionals and independent music entrepreneurs for four days of industry access, education, fellowship, live performance and opportunity, powered by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and FYI.ai.

Guided by the theme "Old School Rules with New School Tools" and the message "Your Power Is Limitless," this year's experience celebrates the creative foundations of the music industry while exploring the business practices, ownership strategies and new tools shaping its future. Across four days, attendees can expect industry workshops, music and film listening sessions, business panels, fireside conversations, live performance showcases and networking.

"It's incredibly important, now, more than ever for songwriters to get their house in order. Every songwriter should be an indiepreneur, doing business with industry corporations as their own loan-out corporation. This is at the heart of WSA; business & longevity as a creative doing business," says Kevin Shine, Founder & President of Writing Sessions America.

The centerpiece of the weekend is the 13th Annual Icon Awards, Friday, November 13 at Morehouse College's Ray Charles Performing Arts Center. Red carpet runs 7:00-8:00 p.m., followed by the ceremony from 8:00-10:30 p.m., with formal dress requested. This year's honorees read like the architects of the sound itself: Fred "Toxic" Taylor, Demmette Guidry, Keith Thomas, Raheem "Kilo" Pugh, Gongu Roach, Jason Orr, Traci Hale, Rockwilder, Floyd "DanjaHandz" Nathaniel-Hill and Makeba Riddick-Woods.

Saturday's marquee moment is Hitmaker's Academy: Successful Music Indiepreneur & Hitmakers Forum, November 14 from 5:45-7:15 p.m. at Rolling Out Magazine, with scheduled panelists Bernard "Focus..." Edwards Jr., Dana "Rockwilder" Stinson, Khari "Needlez" Cain, Makeba Riddick-Woods, Mike Will Made-It, Floyd "DanjaHandz" Nathaniel-Hill and Aldrin "DJ Toomp" Davis. The day also packs in a songwriter workshop, a Quality Control Listening Session moderated by Timothy "Fontainn" Gayles, the SheEO vs. CEO Workshop platforming solutions to eradicate gender bias in a male-dominated industry, and a WSA Fireside Chat with Lila Haralson and special guests.

The business programming runs deep. Friday's conference at Rolling Out Magazine features the Music Indiepreneur Workshop on loan-out corporations, the "Panel and Pitch" Film & Television Workshop, "Content vs. Copyright: Making Money & Protecting Ownership Rights," and the MLC Workshop "Baby, I Got Your Money" with Dae Bogan. Thursday's kickoff at Atlantucky Brewing brings a keynote from platinum producer Darrell "Delite" Allamby, a Quality Control Listening Session and a live radio performance showcase, while Saturday night's closeout returns to Atlantucky for more listening sessions and performances.

The experience concludes Sunday, November 15 from noon to 3:00 p.m., free to attend, with special guest Raheem "Kilo" Pugh, producer of Lauryn Hill's landmark The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, discussing the business of music as an independent entrepreneur, followed by the UME 2026 closing event with Kevin Shine.