A first glimpse of ADE Pro’s program with The Outlaw Ocean Project and more

Thursday, 10 September 2020
We are delighted to announce that Ian Urbina, journalist for The New York Times, The Atlantic and The National Geographic, will be taking part in ADE Pro along with musical collaborators Steve Rachmad and Vince Watson to talk about his 2019 book The Outlaw Ocean and their subsequent groundbreaking storytelling projects.

The Outlaw Ocean Music Project

The book is based on five years of reporting, much of it offshore, exploring lawlessness on the high seas. More recently Urbina has launched The Outlaw Ocean Project non-profit organisation, which engages in innovative storytelling practices on ocean issues, and also features The Outlaw Ocean Music Project, melding music by Steve Rachmad and Vince Watson with Urbina’s passionate and ground-breaking journalism. The trio will be discussing the joy and pain of creating music to accompany and compliment the dramatic storylines that make up this modern-day tale of cat and mouse, currently being played out on the world’s oceans.

Watch the trailer for The Outlaw Ocean below:

The Future of Merchandising and Fan Engagement

Alongside that, a major focus of ADE Pro this year is the opportunities being created by an exceptional situation that has made many of us question what is essential and what is not. And one thing that is undeniably fundamental to the music industry is that business continues, and in that spirit we’ll be looking at The Future of Merchandising and Fan Engagement in terms of how new, sophisticated manufacturing processes mean that short runs of highly personalised merchandising can introduce a whole new generation of tribal identifiers, and perhaps even new styles of fandom. Speakers from the music industry will be joined by branding and marketing industry experts with a very different and highly sophisticated perspective.

New Opportunities for Labels and Artists

Continuing with some much needed optimism, we’ll also be examining the many New Opportunities for Labels and Artists that are being brought about by both the never-ending advance of technology, and the rationalisation of previously entrenched practices that the pandemic has exposed as expendable. The Elephant In The Room will be dissecting the pressurised situation that publishers and lawyers often have to confront when hit records that were created by a team of writers also involve a big-name DJ who, of course, wants a share of the IP even though she or he perhaps didn’t add much to the song.


More program and speaker updates are set to follow in the weeks leading up to ADE, so stay tuned to our channels or subscribe to the ADE Pro newsletter.

Curious about more ADE Pro 2020?