CMJ 2012

Dave Cool (yes, that’s his real name) is the Director of Artist Relations for Bandzoogle, a website and marketing platform for musicians. Through blogging, social media, and travelling to conferences, he keeps an open dialogue with the indie artist community about the challenges they face, and what strategies they can use to advance their careers.

The Producer Machine.

NewVillager is a group of musicians and artists currently living and working in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 2011, they released their debut, self-titled album on IAMSOUND records and toured internationally with Okkervil River, Titus Andronicus, Sunset Rubdown, Metronomy, and Best Coast. They have performed live and built installations in museums, galleries, and concert halls, including Jack Hanley Gallery in New York, Human Resources in Los Angeles, Fredericks and Freiser in Chelsea, Black and White project space in Brooklyn, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. All of their... Read more

Your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. Enough punchlines to KO your favorite boxer, a sense of style somewhere between island boy & big city and a sound that encapsulate the definition of NOW.

Hailing from Rihanna’s homeland Barbados comes – TEFF

2004 – 2012: Senior Vice-President International ‘The Orchard’

A pioneering music and video distribution company operating in more than 30 global markets and providing a comprehensive sales and marketing platform for music and videos content owners.
As SVP International I am Responsible of Orchard 20 partners spread out in other territories,
Those partners are;
- signing local labels and artists to Orchard distribution platform
- Collecting all public performance and broadcasting royalties from the local society on behalf of Orchard’s labels.
- Marketing and selling Orchard music... Read more

David Adams has worked with SoundCloud for the past two and a half years within their content team working directly with labels, managers and artists. SoundCloud is the world’s leading social sound platform where anyone can create sounds and share them everywhere. During his time at SoundCloud the platform has grown to announcing over 20M users and 200+ connected applications.

Promoting bands in his native Manchester at the height of 'Madchester', Paul relocated to located to London to take a position with the legendary Bron Agency in 1991. After two years Paul joined the world of producer management. A whirlwind six years followed with hits from acts as diverse as Tool and Radiohead. In 1999 Paul established Real Producers that led him to spend more time in the US, where he moved in 2001 to run the NY office for Worlds End. In 2003, Paul moved to Magus Entertainment, where he worked with Duran Duran, Daniel Bedingfield, Jimmy Douglass amongst others. In 2012 he left... Read more

oe Ahearn, Curator of Performance and Installation of Clocktower Gallery, is a leading voice in the national network of underground music spaces. Since 2008, Ahean has been resident curator at the Silent Barn, a premier underground music space, where he has curated innumerable music shows, book releases, and artist made video game exhibitions. Ahearn is also the Managing Director of Showpaper, a non-profit, bi-weekly arts and music newsprint with a 60-volunteer staff pool and a circulation of ten thousand. He is also Founder and Event Organizer of SleepWhenDeadNYC, a series of inter-organizational... Read more

Dave Allen is the Director, Interactive Strategy at NORTH, a Creative Brand Agency in Portland, OR.
 
As founding member and bass player for the post-punk band Gang of Four, and later a digital consultant for Fortune 500 companies, Allen has been a frontline player in the music industry. Adjusting with industry evolution, he became a corporate advisor and a Digital Strategy pioneer. He has worked at companies such as Intel, eMusic and Nemo Design.

Allen is an Adjunct Lecturer leading a Digital Strategy class at the University of Oregon, Eugene. He also is a Visiting Lecturer at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland... Read more

Marcie Allen is President of the NYC based, award-winning music experiential agency, MAC

Presents. Allen has brokered and executed multi-faceted programs on behalf of numerous

Fortune 500 brands and chart-topping artists. She’s an eleven-time nominee and six-time

winner of Billboard’s “Concert Marketing and Promotion Award” and has been named to

Billboard’s “Women in Music” list every year since 2010. Allen was included in Billboard’s

“Power 100” list in 2018, “Branding Power Players” list in 2016 and 2017, named to the first-ever

“Hip-Hop Power List” in 2017, honored on

... Read more

Michele Amar: Director of the French Music Office at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in NY. Previously, Director of International Content at IODA, and International Expert for multiple companies. She focused in business development and international label export/distribution. She ran the International dept at Putumayo World Music, and developed its distribution network in over 90 countries and founded an independent label in NYC.

A manager for over 15 years, Eddie has worked with bands such as Local H, Live, Chantal Claret, Morningwood, Sunny Day Real Estate/ The Fire Theft, and many others. He was influential in the creation of Vh1 Records, a label to which he signed his act Morningwood in 2009. Along with his management company The Greenhouse, Eddie recently founded Tour De Force Music & Services, a one stop tour support company focused on delivering financial and creative services to select artists.

I am co-owner of the three independent record labels Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian, of the music distribution company SC Distribution, of the artist management company Fort William Artist Management, and of the music publishing company Secretly Canadian Publishing. Our companies have offices in Bloomington (Indiana), New York City and London. I’ve been working in the music industry since 1995, solely in the independent music sector, and I’ve recently been elected to the Board of Directors for A2IM, the preeminent trade organization serving the independent music community in...

Born in NYC, Serko Artinian has been telling stories professionally through Video and Photography in the USA and abroad, for over a decade.

Serko's ability to grasp the technology industry quickly makes him exceptionally helpful for effectively producing digital media.

His core interest lies in investigating ways to build interactive and intuitive tools which bridge virtual and lifeworld experiences, contacts, and community.

He is also the Curator & Producer of nycmobileapps.com

Asho left home and school at an early age to sing in punk rock bands. He realized quickly that it was better for everybody that he stayed on the other side of the stage. In the 90’s he managed bands and started up the indie punk label Emily Records.

Asho annoyed everyone in the Brisbane music scene for a few years before getting a start in the call centre at Polygram Records in 1991. He spent the next two decades working at independent and major records labels in Brisbane and Sydney and has held positions in A&R, Marketing, Promotions, Publicity, International Licensing and Sales.

2010 sta... Read more

Ricki Askin is the Music Supervisor for VICE Media, Inc, clearing all the music in all of VICE’s many online franchises including “The Creator’s Project,” “VICE Guide to Travel” and “VICE News.” She recently Music Supervised VICE Film’s much-buzzed about film, “Reincarnated,” starring Hip Hop Icon Snoop Dogg. She also pitches and places talent for various performance, programming and event opportunities including coverage on VICE’s live music discovery site, Noisey.com, and various brand partnership opportunities in conjunction to VICE’s VIRTUE vertical – a full service...

Aileen Atkins is a partner at Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP, where she provides business, legal and strategic advisory services for a variety of digital media, software/technology, advertising and creative entities. Her practice includes structuring, negotiating and drafting all forms of business arrangements, including content and IP licensing, distribution, technology and marketing partnerships, corporate structure, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions  and employment, as well as providing general strategic advice related to structure, implementation and investment. As Sr. VP and... Read more

Nate Auerbach is the Music Evangelist at Tumblr, where he works closely with the music community to help artists engage their audience and bring more exceptional content to the platform. Prior to Tumblr, Nate was a digital executive at The Collective Music Management and spent three years at MySpace Music.

Prior to practicing law, Craig was the general manager of Gypsy Records which was a joint venture with music business legend Walter Yetnikoff’s (former president of CBS Records/Sony Music) Velvel Music Group.

Craig joined Serling Rooks Ferrara McKoy & Worob in 2008. His law practice has an international focus and he concentrates in the areas of music, marketing and branded content. He represents a variety of clients including recording artists, music producers, songwriters, management companies, independent record labels, independent publishers, production companies and marketing companies... Read more

Director of Music Placement for MusicSupervisor.com, Cindi Avnet seeks out new talent for
pitching to film/tv placement. Cindi liaisons with the top music executives at all the
major studios including Disney/Touchstone/ABC, Sony, Paramount, Warner Brothers,
Dreamworks and others. She also works closely with most of the best-known
independent and staff music supervisors working on major films/TV to determine
specific song needs and to promote music from the MusicSupervisor.com system.

Adam Ayan is a Grammy Award, 3x Latin Grammy Award, and TEC Award winning Mastering Engineer, who works at the world class mastering facility Gateway Mastering in Portland, ME. Adam’s diverse list of mastering credits includes projects for such artists as Nirvana, Madonna, the Foo Fighters, Sarah McLachlan, Keith Urban, the Rolling Stones, Rascal Flatts, Pearl Jam, Carrie Underwood, Godsmack, and Incubus, to name a few. Adam has mastered several Grammy Award winning recordings (in the double digits!), and has over 80 Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum projects to his credit to date.

Many of t... Read more

Jonathan Azu is General Manager & Executive Vice President of Red Light Management, an innovative artist management company with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Charlottesville, Nashville, Atlanta and London. RLM’s artists include Tim McGraw, Alicia Keys, Phish, Ben Harper, Alabama Shakes, Kool & the Gang, Tiesto, R. Kelly and many more.
In his role as General Manager, Jonathan oversees organizational planning and development for Red Light’s portfolio of managers, clients and shared services staff. Additionally, as Executive Vice President, Jonathan works with Red Light’s sister compan... Read more

A product of the Manchester music scene, Bair got her start in radio and discovered and helped sign multi-platinum, artist Gabrielle. Bair moved to New York working for Polygram Records in the 90's, working with artists such as Portishead, Orbital, and Rammstein. During the early 2000's Bair joined AMP promotions and enjoyed much success working several multi-platinum artists to crossover radio. Bair became V.P of Artist Relations of Talenthouse in 2008 and went on to become Head of Music at the innovative crowd funding site indiegogo.com

Zach Bair is a serial entrepreneur, new media and technology expert, and the quintessential believer in bringing more value to artists, labels and fans by creating new and exciting revenue streams.

As CEO of the original DiscLive in 2004, widely regarded as the pioneer in the space of “instant” live recordings offered to fans immediately after concerts, Bair commercialized the concept over a period of 8 years and through three different iterations of the company. In 2009 Bair partnered with EMI Music and created the Abbey Road Live US brand, which his company RockHouse operated exclusively. More recently, Bair re-introduced the original brand as “DiscLive Network.” He and his team have recorded and produced live content all over the world with clients such as Slash, Peter Frampton... Read more

Darryl Ballantyne is the CEO & Founder of LyricFind, a company which pioneered the licensed digital lyrics space, successfully negotiating the first-ever mass lyrics licensing deal with EMI Music Publishing in 2005. Since then, he has grown LyricFind to be the largest legal, licensed lyrics database in the world, with millions of licensed tracks available and hundreds of lyrics sublicensing clients.The company now delivers services to hundreds of websites and music services that want to enhance their music products with lyrics, including Amazon, Google, Spotify, Pandora, Microsoft’s Bing, SoundHound... Read more

Annie Balliro is a 20+ year veteran of the music industry and oversees the worldwide marketing strategy and programming for more than 150 Hard Rock Cafe, Hotel & Casino locations for Philanthropy, Memorabilia and Artist Relations. In her time at Hard Rock International. Annie has developed innovative philanthropic programs, in collaboration with the world's most iconic musicians, to generate over $20M+ and over $200M+ in media value to support a wide range of deserving causes. Peace & Love.

I Am Bambino

Vlad Bar has done A&R at Capitol, Virgin, Mercury and Jive Records where he worked with artists such as Sum 41, The Decemberists and Sean Lennon. He most recently entered the world of music publishing by running the publishing arm of Frenchkiss Records.

Ryan oversees all aspects of music licensing and strategic integration for Primary Wave Music's artists/catalogs in both the advertising and video game industries.
Recent projects include: Daniel Johnston's Space Ducks collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy Entertainment, Real Tuesday Weld's collaboration with Rockstar Games on L.A. Noire's in-game soundtrack, Anamanaguchi and Hyundai's Art Basel 2011 project, and Hall & Oates collaboration with Google. Recent TV ads include Ford, Nike, Nissan, Carl's Jr/Hardee's, Buick, Royal Caribbean, Tropicana, Burger King, ESPN.

Artist Manager, A&R/Publishing/Film & Television executive, label owner, storyteller, singer songwriter, reggae nerd, falafel expert, caffeine freak, good dude, i swear.

Cathy Bauer has dedicated her career to the independent music community. Ms. Bauer worked her way up the ranks at Lookout Records from the era of Mr. T Experience and The Hi-Fives to Ted Leo and Pretty Girls Make Graves. She later served clients, worked with the engineering scrum, and marketed content at IODA. As a teenager she booked all-ages DIY punk shows, and throughout recent years occasionally consulted with bands and labels looking for guidance. Currently responsible for sales and marketing of releases by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley and Antibalas which entails connecting... Read more

Steven C. Beer is an attorney with the firm Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo, P.C. and concentrates his practice on film, television and music matters.

He represents industry-leading film production, film finance and film distribution companies and has acted as counsel to numerous award-winning writers, directors, producers, and multi-platinum musical artists.

Born in Boston, MA first gig was an internship at WBCN. A move to LA at aged 19 brought work and life experience in Entertainment Law, Music Management and the International Dept at William Morris in Beverly Hills. Fulfilling a lifelong dream with a move across the pond to London UK and a job at ITB nurtured and moved her up to Agent status with current and previous Roster that includes Sufjan Stevens, Emiliana Torrini, Lucy Rose, St Vincent, My Brightest Diamond, Beverley Knight, Vintage Trouble etc.

Rich Bengloff is the President of the American Association of Independent Music (“A2IM”), a not-for-profit trade organization that represents over 290 dues paying Independent music labels located across the country stretching from Hawaii to Florida, that have banded together to form a central voice advocating for the health of the Independent music sector in the areas of advocacy, commerce and member services. Rich has spent much of his career in the music and entertainment industry, during the past 25 years having worked at both music labels and music distributors at both independent (RED...

Nic Bennett researches power, ideology, and belonging in science communication at The University of Texas as a doctoral candidate of the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations. They engage arts- and science-based research and practice to critique, disrupt, and reimagine science communication spaces. Alongside scientists, artists, activists, and community members, they hope to expand the circle of human concern in science communication and STEM.

In August of 2008, Aimee Berger brought two entities (her management and concert tour company) in house to Primary Wave Music. Berger oversees the Camplified tour, a concert and branded experience inside summer camps for emerging artists and sponsors interested in targeting a captive audience of tween and teen campers. She also handles additional brand partnerships and marketing initiatives for Primary Wave and its live events division Hear Here.

Christian Bermhardt is an agent currently with the Agency Group in the LA office. Before that he ran his own company called Kork in San Francisco until merging.

Jess Beston has had a long love affair with music.Starting in the classical world she dabbled in opera and gained a BA-Music from Sydney University, but then discovered guitars and Radiohead and everything changed.She moved to London,worked at HMV and bought a bass.She has since played in several indie bands,and worked in Licensing & PR at EMI Australia,then as A&R Manager at Universal Australia.She signed and made records with many well-loved Australian bands,but after 11 years at labels she needed to try something new.In July 2012 she started unique,boutique music business “Tiny Monster...

Fred Beteille is Chairman of the Music Business Association, where he works to advance and promote music commerce by finding common ground across a diverse industry and membership.  As Head of Product Content Strategy at YouTube Music, Beteille helps spearhead music, artist and rights management products and initiatives. Prior to joining YouTube, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Google-acquired RightsFlow, overseeing the company’s licensing and royalty administration functions and technologies. Earlier in his career, he held the positions of Senior Director of Strategic Technology... Read more

Eric Bieschke leads the playlist algorithm, music curation, and Music Genome Project teams for Pandora. He joined Pandora in 2000 where he built initial prototypes for Pandora's playlist algorithms. His work now powers personalized playlists for more than 150 million registered users listening to Pandora across the web, on their phones, in their cars, and at home. To date these millions of listeners have thumbed more than 20 billion songs while listening to billions upon billions of hours of music. Eric is an expert in music recommendation systems, machine learning, and is an amateur DJ.

Frank Blasucci is the Label Manager at Krian Music Group (founded by Frank Liwall of Royalty Network Inc.) As the Label Manager, Frank oversees the execution of each of their artist's projects, managing all aspects of the rosters' album releases including the marketing, PR and distribution needs.

Previously, Frank was director of marketing, promotions and artist development for Green Street/Executive Music Group overseeing projects with artists including Beck, Crystal Method, David Bowie, Rob Zombie and more.

Stephen is Vice President of Business Affairs and Senior Counsel at HFA. He works on cutting-edge licensing arrangements and services for his clients. Prior to HFA, Block served as EVP and General Counsel to several digital music companies. Stephen has run his own new media law firm, and he started his career as a commercial litigation associate.

With over 18+ years in the entertainment industry- music industry maven Fiona Bloom launched The Bloom Effect in 2007. A unique one stop that specializes in branding for artists, labels, and lifestyle companies. The Bloom Effect brings a huge roladex of global contacts from around the world to its clients providing a wealth of insight/knowledge and consultation for getting your project seen and heard. The Bloom Effect specializes in launch parties, international music events, live shows, album publicity, digital marketing, A&R consulting, Social Media and promotion. The Bloom Effect has produced... Read more

As co-founder of Road Recovery which helps young people battle addiction & other adversities through support from the entertainment industry, Jack Bookbinder understands the importance of doing service and giving back to youth, while receiving support himself in the process as a Diabetic Type II. After 20 years in the music business as part of the management team and consultant to artists as diverse as Gregg Allman, Jeff Buckley, The Strokes, Ben Folds and current manager for OURS at Fun Palace Entertainment, Bookbinder utilizes his experience of marketing artists through both grass roots methods... Read more

David Boxenbaum is a Founder and GM/COO of A&M/Octone Records. Founded in 2000, the label is home to platinum artists: Maroon 5, Flyleaf and Hollywood Undead, as well as several developing artists. David oversees the day-to-day business of the label, including marketing, sales, distribution, international, legal, finance and business development.

David has a BA from The Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Don Braden is a musician of the highest caliber. Having spent years as the saxophonist with greats like Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard and Roy Haynes, he has developed an extensive knowledge of every aspect of jazz performance. He is an imaginative, technically excellent, soulful saxophonist, and his harmonic and rhythmic sophistication give him a unique approach to improvising as well as composing and arranging. Most important of all: he has a beautiful sound, and he swings! All this combines with his joyous yet disciplined personality to make him one of the most important young... Read more

Al Branch is the general manager and partner at Blueprint Group, a full service, multi-platform management and artist development company.

A leading firm, Blueprint Group's roster includes Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Hit-Boy, T.I. (co-managed with Jason Geter) Lil Twist and producer Kane Beatz,

Beyond their highly successful Grammy campaigns, Blueprint Group is celebrated for their creative branding initiatives, having aligned their artists with brands such as, but not limited to, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, AT&T, T-Mobile, Blackberry, Boost Mobile, Moet Hennessy, Grey Goose, Martini Moscato, Sprite, NBA 2K, FIFA 2011, Def Jam Rap Star, Gatorade, Louis Vuitton, Converse and Nike. Blueprint Group is also known for focusing on the development of their clients touring profile and their involvement in groundbreaking tours which include the recently completed Club Paradise Tour headlined by Drake... Read more

Lindsay Brandt is a music manager who has been apart of the Mick Management team since early 2006. She signed critically acclaimed up and coming band WALK THE MOON to the Mick roster in early 2011. Previous to that, she ran all digital platforms and marketing plans for artists including John Mayer and Ray LaMontagne. While a student at Hofstra University majoring in audio, Brandt held the Music Director position at WRHU and was known for being a tastemaker around campus. After a successful stint interning at ATO Records in early 2006, Brandt formed a relationship with then boss Michael McDonald... Read more

Andrew Brightman is an artist and producer manager based in Los Angeles. He has held A&R positions at A&M and Atlantic Records. He has landed over 30 major record and publishing deals for new artists over the years. He manages new artists on Universal Republic Records Baby Bee and The Secret Sisters as well as other artists in development. His company and clients have worked with every major label and many indie labels.

Jeff Bronikowski is an 18-year veteran of the media and entertainment industry. Prior to joining The Echo Nest in September, Jeff was Vice President/GM of AOL Music/Winamp and prior to that served as GM of Yahoo! Music.

Jeff spent the bulk of his career in the music industry at Universal Music Group, where he held several positions in digital strategy and business development, most recently as Senior Vice President of Global Digital Initiatives.

Prior to UMG, Jeff worked in financial analysis and strategic planning at HBO.

Jeff is an Adjunct Professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, wher... Read more

Carrie got her start in music in 2002 in a make-shift office in her bedroom from where she did freelance promotional work for independent musicians. She earned her sea legs with a leap into radio at WXJM where she served as a DJ for four years, Underwriting Director for one year, and Music Director for two years. During that same time period, she worked for Planting Seeds Records where she set up their social media presence, created BackPage Publicity, dabbled in album design, writing press releases and most anything else that needed to be done. From there, she explored concert photography before... Read more

Dan Burt has been supervising and producing music at JWT (2009 Adweek Global
Agency of the Year) for over 10 years and has worked on thousands of
commercial spots for global and national clients. He has brought
groundbreaking music to JWT, making branded entertainment a reality for even
the most unexpected clients, including Schick and Diamond Trading Company
("A Diamond is Forever" campaigns), and has further strengthened giants like
Smirnoff and Macys - collaborating with artists across the music spectrum,
helping start quite a few careers in the process. He has produced "hit song"
realities... Read more

Toby Butterfield is a partner in the firm’s Litigation and Intellectual Property Groups. Mr. Butterfield has 20 years of experience litigating and counseling on copyright, trademark, defamation, digital media, and commercial matters. He has been listed as a New York area “Super Lawyer” for Intellectual Property Litigation by Law and Politics magazine since 2007.

Mr. Butterfield’s clients include media and entertainment companies, and designers and manufacturers of luxury goods. His recent work includes successfully representing the owner and publisher of Business Traveler magazine in... Read more

Charles Caldas is CEO of Merlin – the global rights agency representing the world’s most important independent music companies.

Merlin acts to ensure its members have effective access to new and emerging revenue streams and that their rights are appropriately valued and protected. These members embody over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors, representing some of the world’s most important independent artists, and command around a 10% share of the global and US music market.

Since commencing operations in May 2008, Merlin has struck deals with a wide variety of digital servic

... Read more

An icon of hip-hop culture and a pivotal part of the MTV News team, Sway Calloway has been a staple within music-news for more than a decade. Already a vanguard radio personality, record producer and hip-hop artist, Sway joined the MTV News team in 2000 and has been front and center for some of music's biggest moments.

Sway first caught the public's eye when he and his partner King Tech (Tech) staged break dancing and rap performances in and around their hometown of Oakland, California. Recognizing Sway's instincts for great sound and promising talent, Interscope enlisted him and Tech to prod... Read more

Victoria Camera began her career at Atlantic Records where over the course of 10 years she has nurtured the careers of both developing and platinum selling artists in the Tour Marketing and Artist Development world where her roster included the likes of Kid Rock, Rob Thomas, Shinedown, Simple Plan, NEEDTOBREATHE, Gnarls Barkley, Staind, and Jason Mraz and more.


In addition to those roles, Victoria oversaw the Lifestyle and Street Marketing Department where she launched digital and experiential marketing campaigns with tie-ins to some national brand sponsorship programs including Skull Candy, Y... Read more

The room begins to shake. It starts as a low vibration and builds. Something big is coming as the floor emits quiet anticipation. In the midst of the crowd sits a strange sort of silence. And then an ear-shattering, slightly defiant yell fills the void, KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID CAPRIIIII! It rattles the walls. Kid’s voice enters the space before he does and all at once, the audience knows what it’s in for. "I am unlike rap acts that just walk from one side of the stage to the other in concert. I’m a total crowd hyping entertainer. That means doing it 110% every time I hit the stage. I want...

Hannah Carlen has been working in radio for over ten years, first as a music director, then as a college and noncomm radio promoter, and presently as the head of radio for all formats with the Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, and Secretly Canadian label group.

Maryelizabeth Carter
Owner, The Underground Management
maryelizabeth@theundergroundmanagement.com

Maryelizabeth Carter is owner of The Underground Management with more than 19 years of working in the music industry under her belt. Her vast experience helped build the company by developing talented artists in an international marketplace. She has created her American-based company to represent artists from around the globe. Many industry conferences around the world have welcomed Carter as a featured speaker. Carter began her career as a disc jockey at one of the pioneering alternative U.S. radio stations. From there she assisted in building legends' own companies including Henry Rollins' record... Read more

James is a Vice President and member of the senior management team at Extensis Group, a firm that serves as the outsourced human resources department for 250 companies, including a number of media, tech and service companies in the New York area.

Previously James was Vice President Human Resources at Warner Music Group and prior to that was VP Human Resources at TVT Records.

James founded Hudson Gain Corporation, which he sold in 2011. He is also an investor in start-up music platform Hotathon.com.

James started his music career as a recording engineer in studios in the Philadelphia market... Read more

Mikal Celentano founded and heads operations for Hotathon.com a platform to cross promote musical artists and charities. She is a leader in marketing, premium goods and operations. Mikal spent 17 years in product management, marketing, international marketing and ecommerce at Tumi, the luxury travel goods company. In 2010 she relaunched Tumi’s direct to consumer store which outperformed the company’s goals and prior online stores. She also managed operations for Hudson Gain Corporation. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Art History from Wellesley College.

Marie-Alicia is Co-Founder of Musicmetric, the global go-to company for insights and analytics on any artist and fan trend worldwide.

Marie-Alicia created the Digital Music Index which documents all the changes in trends across social networks and the BitTorrent network.

Her role is to inform the industry on opportunities through reports such as the DMI and to lead business development of the company.

CLIFF CHENFELD is the Co-CEO of Razor & Tie, an independent music company and Kidz Bop, a kids’ music, marketing and digital platform. Founded in 1990, Razor & Tie has scored a number of Gold and Platinum albums and now includes a record label as well as publishing, media buying and video divisions. In 2001, Razor & Tie launched Kidz Bop which has since become the most popular kids music series in the country and a leading on-line presence. Mr. Chenfeld has been the executive producer of a number of movies including the comedy Serious Moonlight and the documentary How Sweet The Sound. Prior to... Read more

Bernie Cho is the President of DFSB Kollective, a Seoul-based creative agency that specializes in providing digital media, marketing, and distribution solutions to 480+ Korean Pop music artists. DFSB collaborates with artists and their management to devise customized strategies that directly connect them to local and global fans. Since 2009, the agency has successfully produced numerous K-Pop concerts and showcases around the world, as well as secured No. 1 Apple iTunes chart debuts for various K-Pop albums in numerous countries. Prior to founding DFSB Kollective, Cho served as the Head of MTV... Read more

Phil Cialdella has been working in music publishing for over 18 years, and was formerly the Senior Vice President of Administration & Licensing for Cherry Lane Music Publishing (representing songwriters & catalogues such as the Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Elvis Presley, and Quincy Jones). Phil is now the owner and founder of Wonderlous Music, a new boutique music publishing company providing professional representation, song catalog management, and administration on behalf of select songwriters, composers, producers, music publishers, record labels, and film production companies.

Jeff Clyburn is currently the Vice President of Music for National Geographic Global Media. He overseas Nat Geo Music - a full-service record label whose roster includes Grammy Award winning Grupo Fantasma, Balkan Beat Box, Bedouin Soundclash, Palenke SoulTribe, Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew and more, NatGeoMusic.net - a comprehensive website featuring artists around the world, and provides music supervision for their film and television properties. He is also the founder and part owner of the Templar Music Group (DCide, Wanderluxe and Elixia records).

Ben Cockerham is a product manager at YouTube, running operations for RightsFlow, a company he co-founded, which was acquired by Google in late 2011. At RightsFlow, Ben was the CFO and Chief Strategy Officer, overseeing corporate planning, finance, and business development operations. He has an extensive background in BD, international rights issues and negotiations, as well as finance and music history.

Ben was recognized with the 2010 Billboard award: "30 under 30" Music Industry Executives, and is frequently featured in industry conferences and trade articles. Ben's lifelong passion for music has fueled his commitment to simplifying licensing and bringing transparency to creators... Read more

Barry Coffing is a Music Business Entrepreneur who grew up in Houston and graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. After short stints at HBU and The University of Houston he began his professional music career in Houston. For six years he was not only performing in bands locally but he was a top Jingle Singer, Music Producer and Composer. It was then that his talents were discovered by Steve Tyrell & Barry Mann and he was invited to Los Angels. After several trips and two of his songs being placed in movies he decided to join the company and move to LA.

Over the next... Read more

Cari Cole is one of the most respected and in-demand celebrity vocal coaches, artist development experts, and new music business mentors in the industry. She has worked with some of the biggest names in music. Her client list includes multiple Grammy winners, legendary rock stars, contestants on the hit TV Series, The Voice and American Idol, major and indie label artists, and thousands of independent artists. She helps musicians find their voice, build their brand, and create successful careers in music. To find out more about Cari and to get her free Vocal Road Warrior 3-part series on how to keep your voice healthy while you are out conquering your tour, visit her website/blog: www.caricole.com... Read more

I have worked in the music business since the age of 15 playing in bands and releasing records. My label has worked with major label partners such as Epic, Atlantic and currently Warner Brothers Records with a focus on early artist development.

An experienced leader in Strategic Partnerships, Business and Product Development in Digital Media, Mobile Content and Start-Up Ventures. Tom works across licensing for Music, Film, and Publishing as well as productivity software and Venture Capital. Blending Entrepreneurial and Corporate skill sets to uncover new Innovationas and Market Opportunities through partnerships, joint development, investments, and acquisitions. Tom is an active Mentor to the New York and Boston Tech communities, a volunteer and supporter of Arts programs for youth and an Angel Investor.

Attorney Contardo has experience working and negotiating with key players in the entertainment industry. She specializes in music and media transactions, as well as business entity establishment, Intellectual Property, Copyrights, and Contracts Generation negotiation and review.

Lindsey Cook currently does A&R for RCA, specializing in rock/alternative music. She has held past A&R positions at MySpace Records, Shangri-La Music, and Universal Music Publishing Group.

Steven Corn is CEO & co-founder of BFM Digital (formerly known as Big Fish Media), a digital distribution company specializing in representing independent artists and content via all the major download services. Prior to forming BFM, he created Corn Music Services, Inc. a company that licensed music, sound effects and images to cellular services worldwide. CMS continues to provide consulting services for high-volume licensees and licensors such as Universal Studios, Myspace, Fox Interactive, and Oddcast. Previous to this, he held the position of EVP at Licensemusic.com, the first online music licensing... Read more

Kings of A&R owned and operated by Dean Cramer is listed as a top 10 Trendsetting Music Blog and throughout the last decade has helped hundreds of artists worldwide land licensing deals, endorsements, publishing deals, and major record deals.

Kings of A&R has been profiled in UK’s Financial Times and Billboard Magazine while capturing the readership of executives at major record companies, MTV, AOL, YAHOO!, major cable networks, booking agencies, and music supervisors. Dean has over a decade of experience in management as well as A&R.

Michael Creamer is a Grammy Nominated Artist Manager based in Boston, MA. Michael has been managing bands for over 20 years and currently represents Kim Taylor, Todd Thibaud, Oteil Bubridge , Letters to Cleo, Superdrag, Kay Hanley to name a few. He has worked with both indie artists and major label artists. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2009 for Best Historical Box Set for The Woody Guthrie “My Dusty Road” which he helped produce. Michael has successfully had his artists songs placed in Film and TV. Michael also produces many successful charity events including Theo & Paul Epstein’s “Hot...

Linda Lorence Critelli is Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations for the performing rights organization, SESAC in New York City. She is responsible for signing and working with SESAC’s up and coming roster of talent as well as working with the organizations established professionals. SESACs roster includes some of the biggest writers in today’s market including Nate “Danja” Hills (Justin Timberlake, Keri Hilson, Madonna), Bryan Michael Cox (Mary J Blige, Mariah Carey, Usher), Rico Love (Kelly Rowland, Nelly, Usher), Lady Antebellum, Billy Mann (Pink, John Legend), Swizz Beatz, Coheed...

Patrick Curley is an entertainment lawyer and the president and co-founder of Third Side Music, a boutique music licensing and copyright administration firm. Since its creation in 2005, Third Side Music has grown rapidly as a result of its stellar reputation and the quality of its catalogue.
 
Third Side Music boast a world class copyright administration department, which currently handles close to 20,000 titles from Canadian, American and international writers and composers.

It's synchronization licensing department is one of the best in the business.  Every year, it generated hundreds of... Read more

Michelle Curran began her career as head of promotions at both Island and London Records working with such notable artists as U2, Grace Jones, Bob Marley, Robert Palmer, leading to an extensive network within the music industry. Michelle set up and ran Logorhythm Music and the Real Music co. before starting up Amber music 15 years ago.

Under Michelle, Amber Music has gained a reputation for producing tracks that have an edge. She prides herself on discovering and employing some of the most talented composers out there and it’s what makes Amber continually at the top of the agencies’ list... Read more

Joe D'Ambrosio Management, Inc.; Founder/CEO

Joe D'Ambrosio is a 29 music business veteran who founded and runs his own talent management company representing some of the best 'behind-the-glass' talent working today. His clients include Tony Visconti, Hugh Padgham, Elliot Scheiner, Joe Zook, Jay Newland, Mike Pela, Brian Malouf, Rob Mounsey, Larry Gold, Kevin Killen, Thom Monahan, Vic Florencia, Nic Hard, Eric Robinson, Mario J. McNulty, Ryan Stewart, Lawrence Manchester, Evo Music, Brian Moncarz and Ryan Shore.

With 18 years of professional experience as a music producer and supervisor for EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and ad agency Bates Worldwide, Keith D'Arcy has placed hundreds of songs in campaigns for global brands like Nike, Mercedes, BMW, Intel, Fidelity, American Express, Pepsi, Fisher Price, Northwest Airlines, Heineken, and Viagra. He currently handles creative licensing for advertising and catalog acquisition for Songs Music Publishing.

Jonathan Daniel began his music business career in a hair band on the sunset strip. Nine years ago, Jonathan founded Crush Management. Crush represents more than a dozen artists and producers including Fall Out Boy, Courtney Love and Hole, Panic! at the Disco, Travie Mc Coy and Gym Class Heroes, Train, Cobra Starship, Chiddy Bang, Wavves and Butch Walker, as well as Big Champagne.com, the world leader in peer to peer measurement and Angels & Kings bars in NY, LA, Chicago, and Barcelona.

Lauren Danzy manages the artist/label outreach marketing strategy for SoundExchange, the non-profit performance rights organization that collects statutory royalties from satellite radio, Internet radio, cable TV music channels, and similar platforms for streaming sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board, which is appointed by The U.S. Library of Congress, has entrusted SoundExchange as the sole entity in the United States to collect and distribute these digital performance royalties on behalf of featured recording artists, master rights owners (like record labels), and independent artists... Read more

Tom Salta is one of the most versatile and prolific music composer/producers working in multimedia including film, television, advertising and most notably video games. Renowned for crafting memorable, emotionally engaging music for the medium, Salta has garnered widespread acclaim for his distinctive, world-class produced scores featured in blockbuster franchises including: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, From Dust, Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands, Red Steel 1 & 2, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 1 & 2, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 1 & 2. Recording under... Read more

A native New Yorker and NYU graduate, Jake Davis is a renowned filmmaker, known for his award winning music videos for today's biggest stars and commercials for cutting edge brands. His original series Jake Davis Test Shots has revolutionized the use of art films in the fashion industry. He also curates one of the most influential style blogs. An icon and tastemaker, Davis inspires with his innovative films, inimitable personal style, and ubiquitous influence.

Composer at Butter Music & Sound and 1/3 of the production team The SupaSonics.

Credits include commercials for Ford, AT&T, Discover Card, Hershey's, McDonalds, Lexus, etc. as well as artists on Interscope, SRC/ Universal, Sony including Miranda Lambert, Doxi Jones, Reggie Watts and more. Recent song licenses include American Reunion, An Invisible Sign (IFC), Tosh.0, Jersey Shore, Running Russell Simmons and many more.

Berklee College of Music graduate 2004, currently residing in New York City.

As an art presenter, festival curator and tour producer, Mehmet DEDE has been involved in booking hundreds of local, national and international artists in the last 15 years. As co-founder of the NY Gypsy Festival, he has hosted shows with nearly 100 artists, including Gogol Bordello, Beirut becoming one of the premier world music festivals in the US. As talent buyer for East Village venue DROM he has presented over 600 shows. As a tour producer, he has arranged North American tours for European artists like Mahala Rai Banda and Fanfare Ciocarlia. He has co-produced, with the support of the Turkish... Read more

As Vice President, Licensing, Matt is responsible for ASCAP’s licensing of digital services, from the world’s largest audio and video DSPs to burgeoning start-ups. He has overseen the strategy and growth of new media licensing for ASCAP since the emergence of music on the internet in the mid 1990’s. His experience includes mechanical and synchronization licensing, neighboring rights, IP/copyright law for music, business development and operations. He served as Strategic Planning Coordinator for NMPA/HFA from 1998 to 2001. Matt has a BA from Columbia University in New York.

Mona started out at KALX, Berkeley where she was Music Director and an on-air DJ. She fell in love with radio so much she decided to get her Masters in the subject in London. Goldsmiths College, University of London provided a fantastic program where she received her degree and expanded her radio skills which enabled her to do production work at Radio Wimbledon, Virgin Radio, BBC London, and BBC 6 Music.

After her time overseas, she returned to KALX to take a fulltime position as Operations Manager for the station. During her year back in Berkeley she coordinated the 45th anniversary fundraiser and celebration and produced a double 7" for the festivities. She then was offered a position at Sub Pop Records in Seattle doing college / non commercial radio promotions. From Seattle, she was relocated to Brooklyn, NY by Domino Records where she took the job of radio promotions as well as Project Manager. This job later morphed into Communications Manager. From this role she learned the inner workings... Read more

Rich is an outreach specialist and is primarily responsible for tracking down artists and rights owners for whom SoundExchange has unclaimed royalties. He represents SoundExchange at many industry events, conferences, and music festivals, spreading the word about the performance right and helping artists to get registered. Rich is a graduate of George Mason University and holds a BA in International Relations and an MA in International Trade & Technology. Rich is a native of the Netherlands and has been part of the SoundExchange team since 2007.

After five years of being a DJ, music director, and basically any job under the sun at WZBC in Boston, MA, David moved to NYC in the summer of 2009. He went from seeing shows in the front room of Brooklyn music venue Death By Audio to working with its record label in the back room, helping local bands like Coin Under Tongue and Starring. Landing an internship with the iconic UK-based record label Mute in fall of 2010, he soon took over the radio promotions department where he has run campaigns for major acts like Liars and M83, promoting artists not only at the non-commercial format, but also AAA... Read more

Antony Demekhin is VP Account Director and Music Strategy Lead for global music agency and licensing company, Music Dealers. After playing music for most of his waking life and wearing every music-related hat imaginable throughout college in preparation for a career in the music business, the uncertainty of the industry in 2005 drove him to another creative field; advertising. Antony spent the first 6 years of his professional career working with brands such as Macy’s, Procter & Gamble, Nintendo and Kellogg’s, before returning to the music world as a bridge between brands and the music industry... Read more

Corey Denis has been pioneering digital music marketing for fifteen years using everything from early ListServs & phpbb forums to social networks and MMORPGs. She started playing violin at age nine, but got her music industry start a little later at What Are Records? where she built and leveraged online street teams to increase sales and connect with fan bases for Frank Black, Figurine, Stephen Lynch, Maceo Parker, The Samples, The Innocence Mission, March Records & many others. By 2003 Corey was Director of Online Marketing and A&R at What Are Records & published the label's first online music... Read more

Prior to joining Songs, DeSavia was a partner/VP of Creative for the Los Angeles-based independent publishing company Notable Music. He came to Notable from a long career at ASCAP, where he served as SVP of Membership, heading up the PRO’s pop/rock staff, managing offices in LA, NYC, and Chicago. Earlier in his career, DeSavia spent six years in the A&R department at Elektra Entertainment where he both signed and developed talent and worked on projects with many iconic artists on the label’s historic roster. DeSavia began his career as a music journalist for the trade magazine Cash Box, where... Read more