Ozzy Osbourne's former bassist shares a stage with Suno at the SIQA Summit 2026, and I'm moderating it

On Thursday, November 12, 2026, BLASKO, the metal bassist who played for Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie, sits on the same stage as Sam Berger, Senior Director of Artist Partnerships at Suno. And I’m the one asking the questions.

It happens at the first SIQA Summit in Downtown Los Angeles, the day before the AI Music Awards, and tickets are $99. I’m moderating 2 of the day’s 4 panels: Brand Development in AI Music at 10:15 AM and Building Artists in the AI Age at 3:00 PM.

SIQA runs the AI Music Charts I report on every week, and I sit on its Creative Advisory Council. Here’s who else is on stage, panel by panel.

Who is on the SIQA Summit 2026 Building Artists in the AI Age panel?

The 3:00 PM panel is the one I’m most curious about, because it puts 2 eras of artist development on 1 stage.

On one side is BLASKO. He played bass for Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie and now manages artists, so he knows artist development from the stage and from the manager’s chair. On the other side is Sam Berger, who runs artist partnerships at Suno, the tool behind 92.8% of the tracks submitted to SIQA in its mid-year 2026 report.

Between them sit RoccStar, a Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter, and Drake Murphy, an A&R at PlayPulse and Create Music Group. Janie Jennings, a music industry veteran and founder of Creative’s Flow Ecosystem, completes the panel.

That’s a bassist, a Grammy-winning producer, an A&R and Suno in 1 conversation.

I think the people who built artists before AI and the people building them now belong in the same room. The panel runs 45 minutes, from 3:00 to 3:45 PM.

My first panel of the day is the one I’d tell every Suno creator to get up early for.

Why the SIQA Summit 2026 Brand Development in AI Music panel is the one for Suno creators

If you make songs in Suno and you want people to remember your artist name, this is your panel. It runs 10:15 to 11:00 AM.

Telisha “Nikki” Jones is the songwriter behind Xania Monet, the first AI act on a Billboard radio chart. Next to her is Romel Murphy, CEO of dai+drm and Xania Monet’s manager, who signed a joint venture with Create Music Group earlier this year.

Then 2 artists who are building a name right now. Olivia B. Moore is an Atlanta-based AI-assisted R&B artist whose “Love Notes” climbed to #2 on the SIQA Top 100 in March 2026. Ava Bently is also a SIQA and Billboard charting AI artist. Both are nominated at the AIMAs the next night.

Muhannad Nassar, an award-winning AI filmmaker, rounds it out, because an artist name needs a look as well as a sound.

So you get the creator, the manager, 2 charting artists and the person who makes the videos, all on 1 stage.

Between my 2 panels, 3 more sessions fill the day.

Which other sessions run at the SIQA Summit 2026?

The summit is single track, so you don’t have to pick between rooms. Here’s what runs between my 2 panels, with everyone on stage. SIQA’s speakers page has the full bios.

Deepgram and The AI Chicks at the SIQA Summit 2026, 11:10 AM

Right after my morning panel, Deepgram, the speech AI company, runs a sponsored fireside chat and demo with Kiley Williams, Senior Engineering Manager in field engineering. Lana Hout and Aisha Corpas Wynn host it as The AI Chicks and record a live podcast session in the same slot.

AI Music’s Hidden Communities at the SIQA Summit 2026, 1:35 PM

After lunch, Marcus Lawrence, founder of Zinstrel, moderates a 30-minute panel on the AI music communities most of the industry never sees. On stage are Itai Leibowitz, CEO of Vibya, AI music community leader Kai Hannover and Ilya Volkov, co-founder of AI.Love.Jazz.

AI Music in the Next Generation at the SIQA Summit 2026, 2:10 PM

Marcus Lawrence stays on for the next panel. Brian Gregory, the AI film director behind Chaisen Hale, joins AI music artist and music literacy educator Alex Sourov. Jules Miller, founder and VC at Prose Ventures, brings the investor view, and Felly The Voice, a Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum R&B singer-songwriter, brings the artist one.

Then my second panel takes the stage, and after that comes the slot SIQA is keeping secret.

Who is the celebrity guest at the SIQA Summit 2026 closing fireside chat?

Honestly, I can’t tell you yet. SIQA hasn’t announced the name.

What I can tell you: the fireside runs from 4:00 to 4:50 PM, and Corbin Bolies, the AI reporter at Variety, is moderating it. Straight after, at 4:50 PM, the same guest receives the SIQA Visionary Award.

If I get a chance to speak to that person, I’ll be super cringe, starstruck and have no idea what to say. I actually can’t believe SIQA pulled it off and got this person in the room.

Here’s how the whole day fits together, and how to get in.

SIQA Summit 2026 agenda, tickets and venue on November 12

Check-in opens at 8:00 AM and the SIQA keynote starts at 9:00 AM. SIQA hasn’t named the keynote speaker. Justin Shaifer, founder and executive producer of Fascinate Media, is also on SIQA’s speaker list without a named slot on the agenda yet.

The first AIMA awards are handed out between the sessions, starting with the Off the Charts Spotlight Award for Malvia Sol at 10:05 AM. Closing remarks are at 5:05 PM, and a happy hour runs until 6:30 PM.

Summit tickets cost $99. The day is single track with limited capacity, and SIQA only shares the exact Downtown LA venue once you register. The AIMAs follow on Friday, November 13 at The Mayan, with separate $250 tickets. My SIQA Summit conference guide has who it suits and how to plan both days.

If you can’t make it, tell me: what’s the 1 question you want me to ask these panels? Send it through my contact page before Thursday.