WMC 2011 Schedule Panelist

John Parker - Parker Recordings

Panelist Schedule:

March 10, 12:00 pm - Room B-210
March 11, 12:30 pm - Room B-211
March 12, 1:00 pm - Room B-115
John Parker has been involved in the music business since 1985. His career began when he joined Kingsborough Community College's radio station, B91 and converted it into NY's only 24/7 Dance Radio Station at the time. John held the positions of On Air Talent, Publicity Director, Music Director and then Program Director for B91 during his stay. During his time at the station, this 10 watt "powerhouse" had a weekly CUME of 250,000 as verified by an independent auditor. In 1989, Parker made the jump from Radio to Records, joining independent powerhouse label, Profile Records. There he had a chance to work with Run-DMC, DJ Quik, Rob Base, N2DEEP, Judy Torres, Special Ed, Poor Righteous Teachers and many others. At Profile, John was in charge of Retail and Dance Promotion. After a 5 year stay at Profile, he went to work for Select Records. There he worked with The Jerky Boys, Chubb Rock, Red Hot Lover Tone and Whistle. In late 1995, John was given the opportunity to join a start-up label that was going to be opened by his former Profile boss, Cory Robbins. At Robbins Entertainment, John held the position of VP, A&R/Dance Promotion up until leaving the company in 2009. He has signed and/or worked with Cascada, D.H.T., DJ Sammy, Lasgo, Ian Van Dahl, Rockell, September, AnnaGrace, Reina, Cynthia, George Lamond and to name a few. Parker was also one half of the Mix team known as the Happy Boys. With over 1.5 Million Mix CD's Sold, the Happy Boys are amongst the Biggest Selling Mixers of all Time. He has also Produced or Co-Produced over 30 Compilations on Robbins including the their best selling Trance Party, Dance Party, Best of Trance, Best of House and Techno Party Series. In 2009, John started his own label, Parker Recordings, that is distributed by Next Plateau. His very first signing, Alex Sayz, had his single debut on the Billboard Dance Airplay chart less than 30 days after its release. The label has had 3 Top 10 Dance Airplay records in Billboard in its short life. Including Longo & Wainwright featuring Craig Smart’s “One Life Stand” which peaked at #3. Awards include being a two-time winner of the IDMA Award for "Best National In House Record Promoter" at the Winter Music Conference. John was also named the #1 Dance A&R Person in the World by HitQuarters.com for 2007. He also wound up on the list of overall A&R people in America at #14 and on the World Chart at #20. In addition, John was the on-air celebrity judge for WNEW-FM's "NY Morning Mix Idol" in 2006. It was an official American Idol contest to find talent in NYC. He also is a founding board member of the Dance Music Hall of Fame, has been a part of the DanceStar Awards nominating committee and is a voting member of NARAS. He's also spoken at a number of music seminars, including the Winter Music Conference, Promo Only Summer Sessions and DJ Times Expo, about issues from A&R to Marketing and Promotion.