LAUNCH Music Conference & Festival 2026

Plaia launched Hot Rats Entertainment in 2022 to provide consulting and various artist services for solo Artists, Bands, Songwriters, Producers and Managers. At Hot Rats, he also manages the Spinefarm/Universal recording artist, Deadlands, a female-fronted metalcore band. 

From 2022-Feb 2025, Plaia was the A&R Director for Sentric Music, a global, award-winning independent music publisher that offers rights management services and sync licensing opportunities. His main role at Sentric was to sign talent to their roster. 

In 2006, Plaia founded ReverbNation and “disrupted” the music business by offering ALL artists the promotional tools, distribution, publishing administration, and opportunities that were previously only available to artists who were signed to record labels. Within a few years it became the largest DIY Artist Services Platform in the world, with more than 5 million artists/bands using the platform. Plaia dedicated most of his time brokering valuable opportunities for the artists by connecting them to media outlets, Managers and Booking Agents. He also created alliances with dozens of record labels and publishing companies to act as an A&R source and also created partnerships in the live music space with Warped Tour, The Sturgis Buffalo Chip Festival, Summerfest, Louder Than Life, Aftershock, Rocklahoma, Sunset Music Festival, Sunfest, Barefoot Country Music Festival, Pepsi Southern Gulf Coast Jam, SXSW, Launch Music Conference, and many other high profile events. After 15 years, Plaia sold the company to BandLab in November 2021.

From 2002-2005, Plaia was the Head of Marketing and Artist Development for Atlantic Records imprint, Lava Records. And from 1990-2002, Plaia was VP of Strategic Marketing at Atlantic Records. In those roles, he worked in some capacity with Kid Rock, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Matchbox Twenty, Simple Plan, Jewel, Hootie & the Blowfish, Stone Temple Pilots, Collective Soul, Brandy, Lil’ Kim, O.A.R., Skindred, George Carlin, Mike Stern and many others. 

Plaia is also an Adjunct Professor at Five Towns College in New York where he teaches classes on Artist Management and Concert Production & Promotion.