Speaker Biographies
Anthony Ackenhoff, MD & Founder, FRUKT
Anthony is co-founder and Managing Director of FRUKT and provides high-level strategic business advisory and insight for clients as well as managing the commercial development of the business. With an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics, Anthony has a diverse range of experience in business strategy, consultancy (PA Consulting) and the music industry. Prior to founding FRUKT, Anthony was Director of New Media at Warner Music International where he established the label's first digital asset management system and also developed key digital partnerships with companies such as Microsoft, and Intel. He then became Head of Entertainment at Vizzavi (a Vivendi and Vodafone joint venture) devising new service offerings and managed the production and launch of both UK and French portals.
Andy Allen, MD, Backstreet Merchandising
Andy Allen has been an influential figure in the music scene for over 20 years. During this time he has built up a global merchandise company, an artist management company and promoted indie clubs in London.
Initially Backstreet served the merchandise needs of bands and record labels, but the client list now far extends that of the music business. Backstreet has expanded into a global company, with bases in the UK and US providing a wide range of merchandise and marketing support for corporate promotional purposes.
Current clients include: Razorlight; Babyshambles; Scouting For Girls; One Night Only; Spritualized; The Gossip; The Charlatans; Fall Out Boy; Damien Rice; Gogol Bordello; Fall Out Boy; Radio 1; Random House; Harper Collins; Polydor Records; EMI Records; Universal Records; Carlton TV and The Capital Group amongst others.
Offside Management has had significant success with Reef and Swervedriver. Reef’s second LP sold in excess of 500,000 records worldwide, and Swervedriver have released four albums and toured the US on a number of occasions since forming in 1989.
Allen has also been dynamic in the London alternative club scene since 1987, beginning with the launch of Syndrome which he continued to promote for five years. Labelled the first indie club in the UK, it quickly became the London home for many alternative bands and artists.
He still promotes Pump Up The Volume (80’s music, Friday nights) and Club Silver (alternative music, Saturday nights), both held at the Underworld Nightclub, Camden.
Ray Anderson, CEO & Founder, Bango
Ray is Chief Executive of Bango, the business that uniquely enables content providers to market, deliver and sell their products and services directly to mobile phone users on all networks world-wide.
He co-founded Bango in 1999 after realizing that the convergence of the internet with the ubiquity of mobile phones could open up huge opportunities for content and service providers. Ray positioned the company to benefit from the opening up of the operator portals in 2004, and the transition of the mobile content business from a messaging model to a customer friendly browse and buy Internet model.
In 2005, Ray led the successful floatation of the company, and continues to build and steer the Bango team forward in to one of the most exciting markets in history.
In 1988, Ray established IXI which created the industry standard network GUI - X.desktop. IXI was an early leader in the creation of the web. It sponsored the first ever WWW conference at CERN and shipped the world's first mercial web browser. In 1993 The company merged with SCO and then floated on NASDAQ. Ray held senior executive roles in SCO, including general manager, senior VP Marketing, and senior VP of New Ventures. He played a key role in transforming SCO from being a small "PC Unix" company to it becoming the industry standard Intel Unix provider.
Before IXI Ray was a co-founder of Torch Computers which he sold to CATSCO in 1984. Before that he worked for Acorn Computers, The General Electric Company and Sinclair Research.
Ray is an entrepreneur, innovator and investor with 20 years experience. He was named "Technology Entrepreneur of the Year" in February 2006 and in September 2006 at the ME Awards was given a special award for outstanding contribution to the mobile entertainment industry. A member of "The Cambridge Angels", Ray was a founding investor in a variety of growing companies including TeamStudio, Tenison Technology, Electronic Share Information (sold to E*Trade), Aspective, Trigenix (sold to Qualcomm), RE5ULT (82ASK), Shortfuze, Midentity and other technology businesses. He holds a 1st Class Degree in Computer Science from Cambridge University. He is a keen pilot.
Max Arguile, Licensing Manager, GB eye Ltd
Max is the Licensing Manager for GB eye Ltd, Europe's leading poster and print company. As well as the best in film and TV licenses, GB publishes retail and tour posters for the biggest names in rock and pop including My Chemical Romance, Metallica, Green Day, Muse, Led Zeppelin, Avril Lavigne, Paramore, Iron Maiden, Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons and Girls Aloud.
GB also publish classic acts such as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Guns N Roses, Nirvana, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, Tupac, The Clash, and Joy Division. Max has to balance a such diverse roster because GB's distribution includes 75% of the UK poster market and different retailers have different needs. As well as the full market penetration at retail, GB now provide tour merchandise from posters and prints to badges and keyrings.
Ruth Barlow, Head of Live, The Beggars Group (UK)
She joined the Beggars Group in 2002 working National Radio for the Groups labels, promoting records by The White Stripes, Biffy Clyro, Interpol, Electric Six and TV On The Radio amongst others.
In 2006 she was invited by Beggars Group chairman Martin Mills to establish a new role that aims to strengthen the Group's ties in the live arena. In the short time that Ruth has occupied this role she has been responsible for special events including the much publicized Radiohead at 93ft East, The White Stripes and Chelsea Pensioners event at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Beirut live on the Southbank, as well as numerous shows and ‘showcases’ involving Beggars Group artists.
Aside from the generation of live events, she has set about building relationships within the live industry resulting in new opportunities for the Group and also continues her more traditional live marketing and promotional work across the Group’s vast and varied roster.
Baskind Richard, Director, Edge Legal Limited
Richard Baskind’s clients include artists, songwriters, producers, labels and publishers ; he holds the belief that only by representing all areas of the entertainment industry can a lawyer really have the experience to know what the parties to a negotiation will each be seeking. He is involved in advising a number of successful established artists, including Nick Cave, Norman Cook and Gavin Rossdale Rodrigo y Gabriela, Lucie Silvas, Nerina Pallot as well as a number of independent record companies and publishers including Skint Records, Southern Fried Records, Waterfall Records and Fabric Records. Richard trained as a lawyer at law firm Herbert Smith and also spent time working "in house" at BSkyB. Following his time at BSkyB, Richard moved to law firm Theodore Goddard where he worked in the Entertainment and Media group. In 1998 Richard joined Eatons solicitors where he linked up with David Glick. Eatons merged with Mishcon de Reya in October 2000, where Richard worked in the Media and Entertainment group for just over three years. Richard specialises in all aspects of the music industry whilst also advising in other areas such as film, TV and sport. Richard set up Edge Legal Limited with David Glick in February 2004.
Pim Betist, Co-founder, Sellaband.com
Pim Betist worked for Heineken and Shell before creating sellaband.com with co-founder, ex-Sony executive, Johan Vosmeijer in August 2006.
He created the concept behind the music platform SellaBand.com, also known as the record label of the future. SellaBand has recently welcomed the 18th artist to reach the magic threshold of $50,000. The honour goes to Ellie Williams, a British singer songwriter, who needed exactly 50 days to reach the $50,000 target. SellaBand has been described as the latest online European revolution in the way music is consumed. Since the website launched in August 2006 it has enabled 18 unsigned artists to record professional albums, which are 100% funded by fans. Since then almost $2,000,000 has been invested by music fans from over 100 countries.
Earlier this month SellaBand released three albums by three female singers: "Bewitching" by Clemence (France), "Pasion de Mujer" by Lily (USA) and "Fire and Snow" by Mandyleigh Storm (Australia), all of which are available via Amazon, iTunes and other online music stores.
Andrew Blachaman – CEO,GET ME IN!
Andrew Blachman is the General Manager of GET ME IN!, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster and the first company dedicated to an open marketplace for tickets in the UK and Europe. Andrew joined GET ME IN!
as CEO in 2006 and led the Company's sale to Ticketmaster early in 2008.
Before joining GET ME IN!, Andrew was a consultant to StubHub, the leading North American secondary ticket marketplace recently acquired by Ebay. Prior to Stubhub, Andrew held a number of roles for WideRay (now Qwikker), a mobile content delivery company backed by Sequoia Capital, including European Director and VP of Sales and Business Development.
Earlier in his career, Andrew was an investment banker in Goldman Sachs'
high technology group in Silicon Valley and Hong Kong. Andrew holds a B.A. in economics with distinction and an M.S. in engineering economic systems from Stanford University.
Fred Bolza, Digital Director Development, Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK
Fred joined Sony BMG recently to contribute to its transformation from a record label into a fully fledged music entertainment company. Fred came from the MCPS-PRS-Alliance where he worked for just under 2 years monitoring the ways in which music is made, distributed and consumed as well as how the underlying business models can work together in the context of convergence. Prior to joining the Alliance, Fred worked for 7 years as a management consultant advising ISPs, mobile operators and media companies on strategy. His interest in music is not just professional as he currently DJs a monthly jazz night, writes about obscure records and used to be in Canadian garage punk “sensations” The Cryptics.
Paul Brindley
Paul Brindley is the Managing Director and co-founder of Music Ally. Paul has a background as a musician, having played bass guitar with The Sundays, an indie band who sold over two million albums worldwide. He then went on to work as a researcher in Tony Blair’s private office at the House of Commons, before picking up again with music by writing New Musical Entrepreneurs, a report into the impact of new technologies on the UK music industry. This influential textbook on the early days of the digital music business was published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank in March 2000. He was also called in to advise the UK Government on the policy implications of technology and new media. After co-founding Music Ally in 2002, the company has gone on to become a world leader in digital music research and strategy, advising clients including the likes of Universal, EMI, Tesco, Orange and BBC. Paul is a respected authority and regular commentator and public speaker at various music and media events worldwide.
Tom Bywater, Managing Director, Power Amp Music
Ben Cardew - Music Week
Aug 05 – Present Music Week
News editor. Writing news, reviews and features. Editing and rewriting copy
Oct 2003 – Present Big Issue / The Stool Pigeon / Total Film / The London Paper
Freelance writing, features and reviews
Sep 2004 – Aug 05 CMPi
Graduate trainee at Property Week, Printing World, Music Week, Cabinet Maker
Writing news and features. Subediting
June 2004 Bella
Feature writing shifts. Researching and writing features. Rewriting copy
Summer 2004 The Bookseller
News desk shifts. Writing news and features
December 2003 Event Magazine
Work experience. Writing and researching news and features
Jan – Feb 2002 The Guardian
Internship at The Editor
Writing and researching articles, using Quark.
Oct 1995 - June 1999 Manchester University Student Newspaper
Writing reviews and features.
Editorial work. Layout. Subediting.
Scott Cohen, Founder and VP International, The Orchard
Scott Cohen is one of the leading experts in digital distribution and new media. Mr. Cohen co-founded The Orchard in 1997 with legendary Producer/Songwriter and co-founder of Sire Records, Richard Gottehrer. The Orchard is a leading digital distributor of music with offices in 29 countries, representing over 2,500 labels from more than 75 countries covering every genre of music with a catalogue of more than 1 million songs.
Mr. Cohen is a recognized public speaker and university lecturer who travels the world evangelizing new models for the digital age. In 2007 Mr. Cohen was appointed as Visiting Professor at the London Metropolitan University.
Mr. Cohen began his career in the music business in the late 80's as an artist manager of both independent and Major Label artists. In addition to his responsibilities at The Orchard, Mr. Cohen manages the Danish sensation, The Raveonettes.
Richard Connell – VP Creative Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK
After years of trying to get into music Richard finally packed in his job as Night Shift Manager of Sainsburys Croydon to go back to college in Scotland, studying for a BTec in Music Business Administration. He left there on a Friday and on Monday joined Mushroom/Infectious Records as ‘Office Schlep’ before being promoted to head of marketing. From there he joined London Records as Marketing Manager followed by BMG as a Temporary Product Manager. Three years later he moved to Columbia, a division of Sony BMG, as first Marketing Director and then VP of Marketing. He is now Vice-President of the Creative Group at Sony BMG which uses consumer insight to drive a creative marketing vision for each of Sony BMG’s acts.
Andrew Connell, Head of Nokia Global Category Management – Music, Games, TV&Video, Communities
My current role is launch the above Nokia services to end customers. We are currently deep in launch phase of ‘Comes with Music’ – a package where the consumer buys in to get unlimited music downloads to their mobile device or PC and then keeps them forever. We hope that this supports the artists and music industry in getting legitimately rewarded for their work.
Prior to this role I worked with our key UK customers to launch and promote our Nseries range of multimedia computers , a feature rich series of devices optimised for internet and media consumption.
Before Nokia I have 6 years experience with O2 including helping to build Tesco Mobile and Genie.
Musically I can be found tapping my toes to diverse tunes including AC/DC, Foo’s, Faithless & Jose Gonzalez.
Steven Corn, CEO, BFM Digital
Steven Corn, CEO & Founder, brings over 20 years of strategic media and music licensing experience to BFM Digital, a digital distribution company specializing in representing independent artists and content via all the major download services. Corn is responsible for the over all vision of the company and signing BFM Digital's current clients which include iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Napster, MediaNet, Rhapsody and many others. Prior to forming BFM, he created Corn Music Services, Inc. a company that licensed music, sound effects and images to cellular providers around the world for use as ringtones, wallpaper and ringbacks. Corn Music Services continues to provide consulting services for high-volume licensees and licensors such as Myspace, Fox Interactive, Oddcast and kSolo.com.
Previous to this, Corn held the position of Executive Vice President at Licensemusic.com, the first complete, online music licensing service. He also served as the Vice President/General Manager of Megatrax Production Music, a leading production music library.
His background in the music industry also includes music supervision for independent films and television movies. Additionally, he was in charge of music for many theatrical and home video releases at LIVE Entertainment (now Artisan Entertainment). In that position, he negotiated soundtrack deals and administered their catalog of publishing rights in over 60 films.
Steven Corn is also a contributing editor for the newsletter “RoyaltyReport” where you can find his regular rants in a column called “The Digital Lowdown”.
Gareth Currie, Director, GULP! Marketing
Ben Drury, 7 Digital
Ben began his career in 1996 as a founder of dotmusic.com, an internal venture at United News and Media. Dotmusic quickly became a leading online music destination attracting over 1.8m unique users per month (in 1999).
In 2000 Ben was headhunted by BT Group to head up the broadband music efforts at their ISP BT Openworld. As Head of Music at BT, Ben successfully launched a major music channel before leading the acquisition of his old company dotmusic in 2002. At BT, Ben pioneered music and video downloads on dotmusic with the UK’s first unlimited subscription offer.
Ben then founded 7digital with James Kane in 2004 with the vision of creating a digital media marketplace. Tapping into the burgeoning demand for digital media, 7digital operates services that bring together suppliers and consumers of digital media. 7digital is backed by Balderton Capital (formely Benchmark Capital Europe) – one of Europe’s leading technology venture capital firms and in January 2008 7digital raised £4.25m in its series B investor round.
In 2007, 7digital was awarded the prestigious Red Herring award Top 100 Europe Award as one of the most promising technology companies in Europe. As of April 2008, 7digital employs 40 people in London and Cologne and has over 1.2 million registered customers.
Ben is the Deputy Chairman and Director of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) and is a board director the Official UK Charts Company.
Dr Alice Enders, Enders Analysis Ltd
Dr. Alice Enders is senior media/telecoms analyst at Enders Analysis Ltd, a leading UK independent research and advisory services company, specialising in the media and telecoms sectors. Alice publishes research on the recorded music market, the exploitation of content on the Internet, and supplies services on music copyright matters
Andrew Fisher, CEO, Shazam
Andrew was appointed CEO of Shazam in March 2005. He has been responsible for determining the companies strategic focus to help consumers seamlessly experience music across devices through discovery, transaction and social networking services and led the execution of this in more than 45 countries across EMEA, Asia, North and Latin America . Prior to joining Shazam Andrew was European Managing Director of InfoSpace Inc. At InfoSpace Andrew led the company's significant European growth focusing on music and entertainment services for mobile operators and portal solutions for many leading online service providers. Over the past 14 years, Andrew has led the successful growth of a number of technology focused enterprises. He founded and was Managing Director of TDLI.com which was acquired by InfoSpace Inc with an enterprise value of $400m and was General Manager of Thomson Directories Business Ventures. Andrew regularly speaks at major industry events aswell as contributing to print, radio and television media.
Cliff Fluet, Partner, Lewis Silkin
"Cliff joined Lewis Silkin LLP as a Partner in April 2006. He was formerly in-house counsel at Warner Music and legal director and company secretary for Capital Radio plc (now GCap Media plc). He now acts for some of the world’s largest names in music, mobile, branded content, production and online. He also specialises in working with clients in the media whose businesses are being transformed by convergence or whom are embracing content-based entertainment for the first time such as FMCG and lifestyle brand owners, advertising agencies, digital agencies and financial institutions."
Eamonn Forde, Editor, Five Eight
Eamonn is the Editor of Five Eight, the monthly music business and strategy magazine and daily news e-mail. He has been doing this for over six years, dissecting all areas of the music business and how new business models, technologies and brands are changing the rules of engagement. He is also Managing Editor of the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers' (IAEL) yearbook. Prior to Five Eight, he worked at the Association of Independent Music and, before that, worked in academia, specialising in popular music studies (completing his PhD in 2001). He spends too much time listening to Bob Dylan and Sparks but likes new music too.
Stuart Galbraith, Kilimanjaro
Angel Gambino, Global VP, Music & Content, Bebo
Angel was Global VP, Music & Content at Bebo where she was responsible for Bebo's global music strategy, product and partnerships. Gambino joined from her previous position as VP, Commercial, Strategy & Digital Media for Viacom UK, Ireland & Nordic where she was responsible for MTVN’s business strategy & development across the 11- channel portfolio of MTV, VH1, VH2, TMF, Nickelodeon and Paramount Comedy brands, with particular focus on growing MTVN's P&L through digital media. Prior to MTVN, Angel was at the BBC where she held the position of Controller, Business Development & Emerging Platforms. She was responsible for extending the BBC’s four television and nine radio channels to mobile, broadband and on-demand. Before the BBC, Angel was Director of Broadband at gameplay, having previously consulted to a number of Fortune 500 companies in the area of online transactions. In Angel’s earlier career she served as Director of Legal and Business Affairs for NGOs.
Becca Gatrell, Creative Services Manager, Universal Music Publishing
Alasdair George, Director, Edge Group
Alasdair was at the specialist entertainment law firm Compton Carr from 1985 to 1993, where his clients included Blur, Happy Mondays, Stereo MCs, Warp Records, the Clash, John Lydon and Sade.
He moved to an in-house business affairs position with the Epic Records label at Sony Music UK in 1993, becoming head of legal affairs of Sony’s whole UK and Irish operations in 1995 and then head of legal & business affairs in 1999. He oversaw the legal aspects of Sony’s merger with BMG in 2004, and continued as head of legal & business affairs for Sony BMG until late 2006.
Alasdair joined the Edge Group in early 2007, working at both Edge Legal and Edge Investment Management. His clients at Edge Legal span the music, sport and fashion sectors. As Managing Director of Edge Investment Management, he is part of the team responsible for managing Edge Performance VCT, the UK’s largest VCT fund in the live entertainment sector.
Paul Gilbert, Co-founder/Managing Director, ESP3 BV
Nick Godwin, Music Manager/Consultant, 19 Management
Simon Goffe, Yes Music and Heavyweight Management
Simon Goffe spent the eighties as a DJ, music journalist and setting up his own promotions company and record label before starting Heavyweight Management in 1989 with Double Trouble & Rebel MC as his first act. He went on to manage various dance and urban artists including Us3, Shut Up & Dance, the Freestylers and Sway and won a Mercury Prize with Roni Size. After a short deviation into publishing A&R with Universal Music, he set up Brownswood Recordings with partner Gilles Peterson and last year developed a music supervising/synch licensing company called Yes Music, who also work in brand development and sponsorship.
Jim Griffin, Warners
Tim Grimsditch, Global Marketing Manager, Nokia Music
Matt Hardisty, Partner & Creative Director, AnalogFolk
Steve Hatton, General Manager, Anthill Trading (Overseas) Ltd
Andrew Heeps, Director, Art Vinyl
Philip Herbert, Partner, Hamlins LLP
Paul Hitchman, Co-Founder & CEO, Playlouder
Paul Hitchman is co-founder and CEO of Playlouder and Media Service Provider (MSP). A Cambridge Economics graduate, Paul worked in the music industry for 10 years (including stints at BMG and Warner Music) before founding Playlouder in 2000.
Playlouder is an award-winning digital music & media company that has consistently been at the forefront of innovation in online music services including the first legal downloads in the UK, the UK’s first internet-only digital singles, and pioneering webcasts of live events such as Glastonbury Festival.
In 2004 Paul co-founded Playlouder MSP (subsequently re-named Media Service Provider), a music channel partner for ISPs that enables music to be bundled with broadband access, and offers ISP subscribers unlimited downloading and streaming of music, including legal file-sharing, for a fixed monthly fee. MSP-powered services are the first in the world to monetise P2P file-sharing on broadband networks, and are the first to bring together the Music and ISP industries in a commercial partnership. MSP has been awarded the Popkomm IMEA award for innovation.
Paul co-founded and is a director of Consolidated Independent (CI), Europe’s leading provider of digital asset management and distribution services to music companies, with clients including Beggars Group, Sanctuary, Ministry of Sound, PIAS, Pinnacle, Mute, Domino, Naïve, K7 and Demon.
Paul is also a director of the Playlouderecordings record label and the Concrete & Glass music and art festival and has provided strategic consultancy to a number of media companies including Channel 4, Channel 5, BBC, Chrysalis Group, Entriq and Global Cool.
Jack Horner, Co-Founder & Creative Director, FRUKT
Jack is a co-founder of FRUKT and works with clients overseeing idea generation, planning and creative direction. Prior to founding FRUKT Jack began his involvement in music as a dance music producer. He joined Warner Music UK initially in International Marketing and then became the label's first Head of New Media. From there Jack moved to establish a music division for pioneering digital design agency AMX under the chairmanship of Malcolm Garrett before working with Accenture on a global music venture for Heineken. Jack is a member of the Coolbrands Council 2008/2009 and has recently been included in the Who’s Who of Britain’s Business Elite, which identifies the UK’s top 4% of eminent Young Business Leaders. Jack is also a member of the Board of MIDI Music Company - a music charity supporting young people in the artists in South East London and has been chairman of Judges for BT Digital Music Awards for 7 years.
Vance Ikezoye, CEO, Audible Magic
Vance Ikezoye co-founded Audible Magic in 1999. He has over twenty years of experience in high technology sales, marketing, and technical support including thirteen years at Hewlett-Packard Company. At HP he was involved in both the computer systems and medical products businesses. After HP, Ikezoye joined Trade Reporting and Data Exchange Incorporated, a VC-funded information company startup, where he served for five years in the positions of Vice President of Sales, Marketing, International, and Business Development. During that time, he developed distribution channels in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia. Ikezoye holds a Bachelors degree in Engineering from U.C. Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School
Louisa Jackson, Co-founder and Director of Content and Sales, Director of Content and Sales
Louisa Jackson is a company co-founder and Director of Content and Sales at VidZone Digital Media since 2002. Louisa brings a wealth of experience gained from managing a team of 12 digitally specialised staff, dedicated to the production, distribution, marketing, promotion and reporting of Independent and Major music internationally to mobile networks and other digital services like MSN, MusicStation, iTunes, Xbox, Nokia and Real Music. Louisa and her team are constantly evolving to keep pace with the ever changing digital world.
Jürgen Jaron, CEO, Mufin & Magimix
Jürgen Jaron is a visionary leader and a proven strategist in the music technology market with over 20 years of experience in corporate management, business development, product development and revenue generation. As the founder and president of mufin, he is responsible for ensuring that the company offers the best possible digital music experience to the consumer and the most advanced audio recommendation and monitoring solutions to its business customers. This involves setting the technical and strategic vision for the company while leading the day-to-day operations.
In 1993, prior to mufin, Mr. Jaron founded MAGIX AG together with Dieter Rein. Today, MAGIX AG is a leading provider of multimedia software and online solutions. Its portfolio focuses on the personal multimedia segment and its products are available in over 30 countries around the world. MAGIX AG's mission is to continually advance and improve technology, at the same time increasing ease-of-use and enjoyment of the consumer's multimedia experience. Mr. Jaron currently serves as the CEO of MAGIX AG, which is the controlling shareholder of mufin.
Jürgen Jaron has extensive experience in speaking at high profile industry events, including the IFA, Digital Music Forum and AES Convention.
Peter Jenner, Managing Director, Sincere Management
Peter Jenner - Sincere Management & President Emeritus, IMMF
After gaining a First Class Honours Degree in Economics at Cambridge University, Peter Jenner became a Lecturer at the London School of Economics at the tender age of twenty-one.
His career in academia lasted for four years after which he left to devote his attention to managing an up-and-coming modern music group that had caught his attention. The band's name was The Pink Floyd.
After their time with the Floyd was over, Peter and his business partner Andrew King then put on a series of free concerts in London's Hyde Park which culminated with The Rolling Stones in 1969.
Now, after more than forty years in the music business, the list of clients he has worked with reads like a Who's Who of musical successes. He has managed T Rex (fronted by Marc Bolan), Ian Dury, Roy Harper, The Clash, Robyn Hitchcock, Eddi Reader, Baaba Maal and others.
Peter continues to manage the career of Billy Bragg and in 2006 was the co-author of the well received Music Tank report Beyond the Soundbytes. He is also the President Emeritus of the IMMF, a director of the UK MMF (Music Managers' Forum), and has many other projects on the go.
KIRSTY JONES
KIRSTY IS AN ASSISTANT IN THE MUSIC TEAM. SHE ADVISES A WIDE RANGE OF INDUSTRY CLIENTS INCLUDING RECORDING ARTISTS, SONGWRITERS, RECORD LABELS, PUBLISHERS, PRODUCERS AND MANAGERS. KIRSTY HANDLES ALL TYPES OF NON-CONTENTIOUS MUSIC WORK, INCLUDING CONTRACTUAL ISSUES AND RIGHTS MANAGEMENT. SHE PRO-ACTIVELY WORKS WITH HER CLIENTS TO ASSIST THEM IN ACHIEVING THEIR CAREER OR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES. HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE REPRESENTING THE FEELING IN ALL CONTRACTUAL MATTERS.
Email: kirsty.jones@wiggin.co.uk
Telephone: 01214 631334
PA: Alex Edwards/Tina Camm - 01242 631 218 alex.edwards@wiggin.co.uk or tina.camm@wiggin.co.uk
CAREER HISTORY
• 2006 - Joined Wiggin LLP
• 2004 - Joined Edge Legal
• 2002 - Qualified into Mishcon de Reya
EDUCATION HISTORY
• 2000 - Joined Mishcon de Reya as a trainee
• 2000 - LPC at Nottingham Law School
• 1999 - LLB (Hons) from University of Nottingham
Nigel Jones, Solicitor, Sheridans
Nigel specialises in music and intellectual property related work providing advice to companies and artists on all aspects of their activities in the music and media fields. He advises on licensing, recording, music video, book and music publishing writer agreements and music and media related catalogue and corporate sales, acquisitions and due diligence, endorsement, sponsorship, live performance, touring and record label start up, investment, sale and general business affairs advice.
Nigel Jones’s client list includes Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. Nigel is listed as a Legal Expert in the Music Industry section of the Legal Business publication.
Trevor Jones, Licensing Director, Danilo Promotions Limited
Trevor has enjoyed a varied career that has given him a wide breadth of experience. He has been involved in the Licensing Industry for over 30 years having been a retailer, publisher, creative, licensor & licensee. During this time he has gained an understanding of the challenges facing the Licensing Industry across music, sports, film, TV & celebrity brands.
His current role is Licensing Director at Danilo Promotions Ltd who are the market leading publisher of Officially Licensed Calendars & Greetings Cards. He is responsible for License selection & then ensuring that the product is successful both creatively & commercially!
Natalie Judge, Matador Records
Natalie Judge is the UK Label Manager of American indie label Matador Records. Home to established artists like Cat Power, Yo La Tengo and The New Pornographers and new acts like Times New Viking, Jay Reatard and Shearwater, Matador Records is also one of the four labels that form the Beggars Group of Labels.
Natalie previously worked for both Drowned In Sound and 4AD before joining Matador last year.
Jonathan Kim – EIR, Crosslink Capital
Justin Kniest, CEO, Fabchannel
Gideon Lask, eCommerce Director, HMV UK
Born: 1st August, 1975 – London
University: Bristol – International Business Studies
Career
Nov 2006 - E-Commerce Director - hmv
Responsible for ongoing development and implementation of HMV’s online and digital strategy via hmv.com, and development of hmv’s forthcoming ‘social discovery’ content site – get.closer.com.
2004-2006 Head of Internet - hmv
A key figure in the development of a multi-channel retail strategy for HMV, incorporating the HMV store offer, HMV Digital downloads and hmv.co.uk.
2000-2004 Managing Director - LetsBuyIt.com
Internet Retailer operating in 14 countries with a 4.5m person database. Started as Head of Business Development, rose to become Group MD, and co-owner following an MBO in 2003.
1997-2000 Management Consultant - Ernst & Young
Focusing on E-Commerce projects within the retail and finance sectors.
Steve Levine, Record Producer and Broadcaster
Award-winning producer, Steve Levine started as a trainee tape-op at CBS studios in 1975, before progressing to in house engineer and working with many now classic new wave & punk acts The Clash, The Jags, The Vibrators and XTC.
Steve produced all of Culture Club’s classic hits and the bands’ three multi-platinum albums. He also produced an album for the Beach Boys.
Since then he has worked with a wide spectrum of artistes and composed a number of film scores. Artists collaborations include Honeyz, China Crisis, Gary Moore, Ziggy Marley, Louise, The Creatures, Lemmy & Motorhead, David Grant, Westworld and Mis-teeq.
Steve is a regular guest speaker at seminars and a contributor to radio and TV programs, including BBC’s 6 Music and Radio 2 where he presents the documentary series - The Record Producers featuring producers Trevor Horn, Arif Mardin, Nile Rodgers, Holland Dozier & Holland, Gamble & Huff, Stock, Aitken & Waterman.
Along with his radio & TV work Steve is also busy producing bands for his new label Hubris Records.
Steve is a Director of MCPS-PRS Alliance and The British Academy of Composers & Songwriters.
Jeff Liebenson, Counsel, Herrick, Feinstein LLP
Jeffrey M. Liebenson concentrates his practice in digital entertainment, music and intellectual property law.
Jeff has more than 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry and in matters involving entertainment content and technology.
Jeff advises on content licensing and digital exploitation. His experience includes representing Sony Music in the establishment of Pressplay (the current Napster service) and representing EMI Recorded Music in the first iTunes negotiations with Apple. Jeff represents several online and mobile distributors of digital entertainment.
Jeff negotiates complex rights agreements, acquisitions, joint ventures among multi-territorial companies and distribution agreements. He consults on copyright and trademark issues, including those relating to new technologies.
Jeff was chief legal officer and business affairs executive for the international division of BMG Entertainment with responsibility for music, video, videogame and internet activities in 53 countries.
He also was responsible for the legal and business affairs of a sports cable television network operated by Rainbow Programming, the joint venture of NBC and Cablevision. In that capacity, he negotiated programming, distribution and related agreements.
Jeff previously was senior counsel to RCA Records and an associate at Colton Weissberg Hartnick Yamin and Sheresky where his practice focused on litigation involving entertainment, copyright, trademark, labor and commercial law issues. He also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County, New York. Jimena Llopis, Music Intelligence Solutions
Name: Jimena Llopis Rivas
Contact Information Phone: +34607071209 e-mail: jllopis@uplaya.com
Nationality Spanish
Current Positions: General Manager, Music Intelligence Solutions Inc, EMEA
Executive Chairman, Polyphonic Human Media Interface S.L
10 years of Industry Experience
2004-present
GM, Music Intelligence Solutions Inc, EMEA since September 2007
Executive Chairman of Polyphonic HMI S.L. since September 2004
Jimena has been collaborating with Polyphonic HMI since its birth, being responsible for the Company since 2004. In her first two years of Management she restructured the Company, closed two investment rounds securing the initial capital needed, and grew the Company from 4 to 14 people while achieving a ten-fold revenue increase. She also secured the IP protection for the company assets, being granted a US patent for the company main product lines
Under the next years of her Management, the company positioned its products in the mass market trough a partner, developed a new product line, and closed an A’ Capital investment round to undertake the current US expansion and creation of the Music Intelligence Solutions Inc team.
Member of the Board of EleQuant Inc. since 2004.
2002 to 2007 Consultant for Group AIA, and AIA’s Vice President of New Business Development from 2004 to 2007.
2000- 2002 Telecom Biz Manager. Created and managed the Telecom Business Unit of Group AIA: defined the Unit needs, designed Innovation Products, commercial strategy and Managed a Human Team of 20 people average. In two years she led the unit to generate 30% of AIA total revenues at the time.
1998-2000: in 1998 joined Group AIA in the Banking and Finance Business Unit, and was appointed Assistant Manager of this Unit in 1999.
In parallel, collaborated in obtaining strategic projects for the Energy Area for AIA
Conferences and Events
Participated as an invited speaker and panellist in many Innovation and entrepreneur related events as well as Music & Technology events, including the Women and Innovation event (Barcelona, 2008), Innovation Barcelona Forum 2007, London Calling 07, MIDEM 06 (digital promotion & Marketing panel at MIDEMNet), the Technological Bridge in India 05 (as one of two Companies representing Barcelona in Innovation Technologies), NEXT05 (Barcelona, Spain), among others.
Media coverage
As an executive of Polyphonic HMI and Music Intelligence Solutions Inc, she had to undertake many public interviews for the media. Some of the Company’s coverage includes: CNN , BBC, Antena3 (Spanish TV), VARA (Dutch PublicTV), Midem News, The Economist, The Guardian, Le Monde, Actualidad Económica, El País, Expansión, El Mundo and La Vanguardia. A HBS Harvard Business case was conducted on PHMI
15 years of Academic Experience
Jimena has worked 15 years in academic institutions around the world, where she also held leading positions. Her experience includes positions such as “Ramón y Cajal” Researcher at the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona 2002-2004); Researcher at the Venezuelan Scientific Research Institute (IVIC Caracas); Professor at Simón Bolívar University (USB, Caracas); Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T. at Cambridge), the Mathematical Science Research Institute (M.S.R.I at Berkeley); the Mathematical Research Centre (C.R.M, Barcelona),), University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Toronto, Evora University (Portugal), among others. She is author of research papers in Mathematical Logic, Set Theory and Artificial Intelligence; and has participated in many International conferences as an invited speaker.
Studies
• Bachelor in Mathematics at the USB (Caracas) in 1983 with Honours
• Master in Mathematics at the USB in 1985 with Honours
• Ph.D. in Sciences with mention in Mathematics at the Universidad Central de Venezuela (Caracas) in 1989
• Post Doctoral stage, 1990-1992, MIT (Boston, USA)
• Short course at IESE “Creating Company Value”, 1999
• 12 years of musical studies in piano, harmony, counterpoint and composition
Languages
Bilingual Spanish (mother tongue) and English (lived in the US during childhood)
French: High level within conversation comprehension and expression, and written comprehension. Acceptable writing skills
Steve Lowes, Director of E Commerce, Backstreet International Merchandise
Steve Machin, VP International Business Development, UltraStar Entertainment
Allan McGowan, Associate Editor, IQ magazine
Allan McGowan has forty years of experience in the advertising, music and entertainment industries. He has worked in record retail, and as a concert promoter, artist manager, and booking agent for such companies as Chrysalis and Virgin, specialising in the arrangement of European tours. he has produced and programmed both established and new talent showcase events for major media trade shows in Cannes, Hong Kong, Austin Texas and Cologne amongst others. He has worked on music videos as a storyboard artist and produced and script edited for television, and is a music business journalist having contributed to various trade magazines.
At present he is Agenda Consultant for the annual International Live Music Conference (ILMC) and is Associate Editor of the ILMC Journal, IQ Magazine .He is also Editor of Vip News, an on-line data and news service for the live music industry and administrates music publishing company Wintrup Songs Ltd.
Allan has presented and moderated panels at the Noorderslag Seminar/Eurosonic Festival in Holland, the Amsterdam Dance Event and Popkomm in Berlin. He has attended Midem and SXSW in Austin, Texas as a journalist and panel participant or moderator, and has participated in Export Music events in Germany, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Scotland.
Luke Magnuson, International Music Category Manager, T-Mobile International
Luke has been with T-Mobile International since 2005. In his role as International Music Category Manager, he is jointly responsible for setting the overall music strategy for the group. Additionally, Luke heads up an International Music Program encompassing areas of proposition, terminal marketing, communications/branding, sponsorship/PR, sales campaign management and partner management.
Prior to joining T-Mobile International, Luke was Co-Director of Content Development at RES Media Group in New York where he developed rich media (music & video) content download/streaming offerings over a range of platforms including RES.com, sputnik7.com and epitonic.com. As part of Chris Blackwell’s Palm Pictures group, he also worked in an A&R capacity for both the record label and film distribution arm of the company, managing existing and developing new artists.
With an undergraduate degree from London Guildhall University, Luke gained his MBA from the University of Surrey.
Andrew Martyn, CEO, Mubito AB
Andrew Martyn is a new media entrepreneur based in Malmö, Sweden, and is originally from Australia. His passion is the cross-over between media and internet and particularly within product development. His company Mubito provides a platform to enable artists and labels to more easily publish and commercialise their music on the internet, with a focus on direct to consumer. As such, he's heavily interested in direct to consumer selling, ad supported models in music online, fan communities and the changing roles of players in the industry as it restructures.
Madeleine Milne, MD Europe, eMusic.com
Ruth Mortimer, Editor, Brand Strategy
Ruth Mortimer is editor of Brand Strategy magazine, the leading global business magazine for senior marketing executives. She is responsible for the title¹s print product, website, newsletter and blog. She is also a columnist for Marketing Week magazine and contributor to Design Week.
As part of her role, she often appears on the BBC, CNN or Sky News to comment on branding issues. She was previously freelance, writing about business issues for a large number of magazines and newspapers in the UK and Australia. She still contributes to Channel 4 on issues concerning music, film, TV and design. Prior to this, Ruth had a former existence as an archaeologist, specialising in the Middle East and based in south east Turkey.
Audu Maikori, Chief Executive Officer/President, Chocolate City Entertainment Ltd and partner – Law Allianz (Entertainment and intellectual property attorneys)
Audu is a graduate of law from the University of Jos,Nigeria and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2000. He started off his legal career at the law firm of Chief Afe Babalola SAN for about three years, and thereafter was appointed Legal advisor of Leasing Company of Nigeria (B.O.I subsidiary)2003, Abuja Markets Management Limited (as company secretary Legal Adviser)2005, and with CPCS Transcom Canada(2006) as a Senior Legal Consultant on legal and regulatory reforms in the areas of power, telecommunications and transport in rapid succession.
He is currently a partner in Law Allianz (a law firm) where he heads the entertainment and Intellectual property department. He has represented various local and international artists, record labels, marketers and distribution companies.
He is the Founder/ CEO of Chocolate City Entertainment, which is a record, label, artiste management, recording studio and an events consultancy company. In 2001, he founded the Guild of Artistes and Poets (G.A.P) a not- for -profit arts promotion society that promoted(s) a variety of Nigerian artistes.
Audu co- organized the first ever Nigerian International Music Summit (NIMS) aimed at establishing a legal/regulatory framework for the Nigerian Music industry in March 2007. Over 400 music industry stakeholders drawn from all over Nigeria attended the event.
In June 29th 2007, Audu emerged the global winner of the International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year (IYMEY) and has since acted as a resource person for capacity building seminars and workshops in and around Nigeria.
The British Council Albania invited him to speak on a workshop on the creative economy, which was organized in collaboration with the Albanian Ministry of Culture and Tourism in early January 2008. His paper “ How to set up a successful creative business in an emerging economy” received positive reviews.
His company is currently working in partnership with the government of Nigeria to develop a policy for the music industry in Nigeria. His firm commitment in re structuring the music industry in Nigeria led to his facilitating the first ever Nigeria Pavilion as London Calling as a means to build capacity and open doors for much needed investment into Nigeria which has a population of over 140 Million people.
Artistes under Chocolate City have received numerous nominations and awards both locally and beyond including Best Album, Song of the year, Best New Artiste at the Nigerian Music Awards (NMA) 2006 in the UK and most recently Award for Best Rap Single 2008 at the HHW Award for the song “Crowd Mentality” by M.I.
Neil Mowat, Strategic Director, Better Days
Neil is director of Better Days, a strategic and creative agency specialising in Brands marketing and Music.
He has been working in this field for ten years for a variety of major clients ranging from Inbev to the Labour Party.
Over the last 5 years he has worked closely with Inbev brands in Europe such as Tennent’s Lager and Brahma on developing innovative new solutions within music provision.
Neil represents Inbev on the panel.
Will Muirhead – Founder, Tixdaq
Molly Neuman, Lookout Records
Originally from Washington, DC, Molly Neuman began her career in music as the drummer for the seminal riot girl band Bratmobile. After graduating from The Evergreen State College in 1992, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and began to work at Lookout Records in 1994. In 1997 she became a partner and has been instrumental in the signing and development of such artists as The Donnas, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Ted Leo/Pharmacists among many others.
After moving to New York in 2004, Molly became involved with the as yet unnamed U.S. independent label trade association as a member of the search committee for its first president, and a founding board member of A2IM upon its formation.
In addition to Lookout, Molly is a partner at Indivision management, a management company focusing on independent artists, has founded a new label Simple Social Graces Discos, and works at eMusic.com. She is absolutely committed to the independent music and anticipates being a punk rocker for the rest of her life.
Fran Nevrkla, Chairman & CEO, PPL
Fran Nevrkla is Chairman and CEO of PPL (a collecting society licensing the public performance and broadcast of recorded music for 6,750 UK and international record companies and over 47,000 performers) and VPL (which provides a similar service for music video clip producers). Before joining PPL/VPL in 2000, Fran worked at Warner Music UK for 24 years, latterly as Director of Commercial and Business Affairs and since 1985 had been a non-executive Board Director of PPL and VPL. Fran served two terms as Chairman of the Rights Committee of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) from 1986 to 1988 and 1997 to 1999. Prior to an injury in 1976, Fran was a professional violinist with several top British orchestras. In addition to his PPL/VPL responsibilities, Fran is a Board Member of the US Copyright Alliance, a member of the CBI’s SME Councils, a Governor of the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, a Fellow of the Radio Academy, a Trustee of the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) and a member of the Government New Deal for Musicians (NDfM) Advisory Group. Since his time at Warner Music Fran has been actively involved in many industry-type negotiations, Copyright Tribunal Referrals, MMC and OFT Inquiries as well as political lobbying in the UK and Brussels. Born and educated in former Czechoslovakia, he lists amongst his special interests music, theatre, reading, ice hockey and good red wine.
Peter Palmer, Head of retail and licensing International, Bravado
Peter Palmer heads bravado retail business world outside america. He has previously held international commercial roles as a vp with emi music and in the consumer packaged goods industry with Kraft and Procter @ Gamble
Bravado are the largest music merchandise business globally and represent major rock music acts such as led zeppelin metallica iron maiden slipknot bullet for my valentine. Now part of universal music they are the only music merchandise business that can offer a completely integrated service from touring to retail to licensing globally.
Patrick Parodi, MEF Chairman, CMO & GM Amobee Media Systems
Tim Parry, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Big Life Management
Jesus Pindado, Vice President, Strands
Jesús brings a strong international business development background working with Europe, Asia, and North America. He adds over 10 years of hands-on engineering, business development, and management expertise in the technology arena.
During the last 7 years he has held various key operational roles in Global Locate, a fabless GPS semiconductor and Location Based Services supplier for wireless and consumer electronics applications that was recently acquired by Broadcom. With a recent focus on sales, product marketing, and business development strategy, he has developed a deep understanding of the competitive landscape around technology, services, and business models across the wireless value chain.
Earlier in his career he worked in aerospace engineering for Orbital Sciences Corporation, developing and testing novel avionics systems for unmanned reusable launch vehicles.
Jesús has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan.
John Potter, Executive Director, DiMA
Steve Purdham, CEO & Founder Investor, We7
Steve is passionate about music, but apart from his early days as a DJ (that's right shiny suits, double decks and mirror ball), his success to date has been in the computer industry, a sector he has been involved with since he was 14 (a time when PCs existed only in science fiction!).
Co-founder and still board director of SurfControl, (the world-leading internet protection systems provider), today Steve is CEO of ad-supported music download service We7, which he founded with the support of Peter Gabriel. We7 is the first free and legal service of its kind in Europe, ‘grafting’ short and relevant ads onto the start of music tracks ensuring that artists receive royalties for making their songs available, whilst consumers will receive and share DRM-free music legitimately.
Steve's entrepreneurial abilities have also been recognised by many prestigious industry awards, including IOD Director of the Year, Technology CEO of the Year, Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, and Techmark Personality of the Year.
Peter Quicke, Managing Director, Ninja Tune
Nick Raphael MD Epic
Nick Raphael started his working life in the nightclub business and DJ’ing. In 1994 he moved into the record business as a product manager at London Records rising to label manager for FFRR.
Then leaving to establish Northwestside Records at BMG in 1996 where his first signing was Jay-Z. Staying at Northwestside until it was folded into Arista Records where he was installed as A&R Director.
In 2001 Nick was approached by the Chairman of Sony to become the youngest Managing Director of Epic Records at the age of 29, since then Nick has held the post of VP of Sony UK, founded White Rabbit Records at the newly merged SonyBMG and once again returned to restart Epic Records in the UK.
Throughout the last 11 years he has maintained his core involvement in A&R signing artists from genres as diverse as Dance (Mylo/Armand Van Helden), to US Rap (Jay-Z), to R’N’B (Lemar/Big Brovaz) to Opera (G4), to Pop (Charlotte Church) to Alternative (Imogen Heap) and Metal (Cradle of Filth
Paul Resnikoff, Founder, Editor, Digital Music News
Ghizela Rhowe, Copyright Group
Ghizela Rowe helps run the Copyright Group, an extensive collection of master recording rights in soul, jazz, blues, classical, country, disco, funk, easy listening and audio books - from KC & The Sunshine Band to the London Symphony Orchestra, Charlie Parker to the Archies via Curtis Mayfield and Christopher Lee reading Dracula. She is involved in licenses for CD's, ringtones, downloads, film, TV, ads, corporates, branded CD's, promotion and marketing internationally.
Additionally she has worked in broadcast TV for thirty years on a broad range of programming from news (BBC LDN) and entertainment (Eurotrash/C4) to schools (Learning 4 Fun) and religious (Your Faith & Mine/ITV-1). Her specialisation is in music having produced numerous pop videos (Japan, Human League etc) in the seventies, Channel 4 arts and music documentaries and long form videos (The Faces, Roy Orbison etc) as well as working on weekly pop show the Tube in the eighties and live shows and events (MOBO Awards/C4 & BBC-1) more recently.
Be Rozzo, MAMA Group
Founder of the Barfly and Fly magazine 1997.
Presently the MD of promotions for the MAMA Group live divison.
Ric Salmon, Managing Director, Harvest Entertainment.
Ric most recently held the position of Vice President of A&R at Warner Music International (WMI). In that role he was responsible for selecting promising artists from Warner’s local rosters and overseeing the launch of acts globally. He also fronted the acquisition of new artists or those not currently with WMI.
Ric began his public achievements in the world of music when he was just 18 by winning the Daily Telegraph Young Jazz Musician of the Year 1994. It was at University, whilst studying for a Degree in Music, that Ric began producing and releasing singles with independent labels in London and in 1997 he was taken on as both Label Manager and A&R Manager at Serious Records. Two years later Ric became A&R Manager at Sony Music. In 2000 he took up the position of A&R Manager at Ministry of Sound where he stayed until taking the role at WMI in 2004.
He left WMI in April 2007 to set up Harvest Entertainment.
Ric also sits on the BPI International Committee and the Soho Theatre Development Committee.
Feargal Sharkey, CEO, British Music Rights
Feargal was born in Derry N. Ireland August 1958, the second youngest of seven children.
Shortly after leaving school, a promising career delivering televisions for Radio Rentals was rudely interrupted by a request from the BBC for “The Undertones” to perform their first single, “Teenage Kicks”, live on “Top of the Pops”. Never one to shirk difficult decisions he informed his superiors that he was just popping out for lunch; they still keenly await his return.
There followed a hectic period of some twelve years, world tours, hit albums, late nights and bad food in transport cafes spanning most of the UK’s motorway network. All of this activity culminated in a successful solo career and the release of “A Good Heart”, a world-wide number 1.
The early Nineties brought a new beginning and a post-match transfer to the administration side of the industry, initially as A&R Manager for Polydor Records, more late nights in transport cafes, and then as Managing Director of EXP Ltd.
Feargal has also served as a Member of the Radio Authority and in 2004 was appointed Chair of the Live Music Forum, an advisory committee established by Government to monitor and evaluate the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on the performance of live music.
In January 2008 Feargal was appointed Chief Executive of British Music Rights, an umbrella organisation representing the interests of composers, songwriters, music publishers and their collecting societies.
Andrew Shaw, Alliance
Andrew Shaw spent 12 years at Flextech Television (now Virgin Media Television) where he was responsible for Distribution and Corporate Development. He attended Harvard Business School in 1999 before joining Telewest Communications (now also part of Virgin Media) as Commercial Director for its digital TV launch. Following Telewest’s acquisition of Flextech, he added content acquisition to his responsibilities, sat on Flextech’s Management Board and was Chairman of Front Row Television.
In 2002, Shaw joined Liberty Global and relocated to Tokyo, Japan as Director of Strategic Development for Jupiter TV’s 16 channels. In 2004, he established and launched Japan’s largest video on demand platform, Jupiter VOD, where he was Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer.
In October 2006, Shaw returned to Europe to join The MCPS-PRS Alliance as MD, Broadcast & Online. He is responsible for the licensing and scheme development teams, and ensuring that the Alliance embraces change and remains at the forefront of licensing in the digital age.
Ralph Simon, MEF Americas Founder & Chairman Emeritus
Michael Smith - SVP Business Affairs, Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK
Michael started his legal career as a Barrister specialising in crime but his infatuation with music led to him applying for and getting a job with a music law firm advertised in a national newspaper. After several years in private practice he joined Jive Records as head of business affairs where he remained until it was sold to BMG having become the biggest and most successful independent in history .He stayed with the BMG family and is now Senior Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs at SONY BMG.
Mike Smith, MD, Columbia Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK
Mike Smith is Managing Director of Columbia Records, a division of SonyBMG, where he currently works with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Kings Of Leon, Kasabian as well as recently breaking The View, Mark Ronson & Calvin Harris. He began his career as a post boy with MCA Publishing before becoming a talent scout and bringing in Blur & The Smashing Pumpkins. He then got a job at EMI Publishing where he worked with Robbie Williams & The Verve. While there he signed the The White Stripes, The Libertines, Scissor Sisters, Arctic Monkeys & Arcade Fire. He was appointed MD of Columbia in 2006
Patrick Sullivan, CEO, Rights Flow
Mr. Sullivan is a founding member and President and CEO of RightsFlow. Privately held and employee-owned NY-based RightsFlow, LLC - a music, media and entertainment-focused Professional Services & Outsourced Music Licensing Solutions. RightsFlow specializes in intellectual property licensing and copyright management. Separately, Mr. Sullivan holds a seat at the Board of Directors at World Hunger Year (WHY). He is one of the music industry’s foremost authorities on digital music and rights negotiations – a wide expertise including such areas as: mobile, media, advertising and brand special products. He is a leader in strategic thinking and has been at the forefront of music industry evolution throughout his 17 year career.
Over the past several years, he served as a dual Vice-President of Licensing and Music Services for both The Orchard & eMusic. At eMusic, Mr. Sullivan was responsible for designing and directing one of the largest independent DPD licensing operations in the world. His guidance in this field was crucial to the development of eMusic’s retail strategy, vastly increasing the amount of product available for sale. Additionally, through bulk licensing practices, he was able to simultaneously reduce overhead costs and potential liability.
While at The Orchard he was responsible for the creation and management of Orchard Music Services, a division which included publishing administration, mobile negotiations, mechanical licensing and administration, ringtone licensing and administration, synchronization exploitations, and the creation of new licensing models. His efforts transformed the company into a unique entity in the digital space.
Prior to The Orchard, he was a Strategic Licensing Consultant for Selverne, Mandelbaum, & Mintz, a New York based Entertainment Law Firm. His projects included full licensing services for RoweAmi: negotiating and securing all publishing licenses as well as designing and implementing a licensing department from a start up into a fully functional operational role. In addition, he has worked as a consultant for the law firm Paul Weiss, RealNetworks, and many media and entertainment companies.
From 1999-2004 he served as the Director of Research and Development at the National Music Publisher's Association/Harry Fox Agency (HFA), where he managed industry negotiations, internal corporate policy matters, new media, and public relations for the member organization. While there, he worked on crucial industry issues such as the Supreme Court case of MGM v. Grokster, industry litigation against MP3.com, Napster, and the recent settlement of Bertelsmann with NMPA.
Mr. Sullivan was a key player in negotiating the agreements that permitted the launch the majority of the online music and mobile services that make up the market today.
Mr. Sullivan is a former Teaching Fellow from New York University (1997-2000) and is currently an Adjunct Faculty Member at Hunter College’s Film & Media Department, a position he has held since 2003. He frequently lectures at corporations, universities, and conferences around the world about intellectual property and copyright. He holds a Bachelor of Science from SUNY New Paltz and graduated with honors from New York University with a Masters Degree in Business.
Anthony Swede, Creative Planner, FRUKT
Ant has worked in the advertising and marketing world for the best part of his supposedly adult life, which amounts to a dozen happy years. There aren't many corners of this world that he hasn't squeezed his way into at one time or another, having worked in media agencies, creative agencies, publishers and now the supersonic music marketing jet plane that is FRUKT. After a five year stint working on the PlayStation brand at MGM and Naked, designing the PlayStation Experience and launching a fanzine called Pilchard Teeth, he decided to give his thumbs a rest, first taking take his idea generation habits to BBH, and then becoming the first News International employee to wear sneakers in a meeting with Mr. Murdoch. An accolade indeed. The crowning moment of his career came when, in a campaign for E4, he persuaded 20,000 men to apply for a TV programme called Lapdance Island, which was an utter fabrication.
Geoff Taylor, CEO, BPI
Geoff Taylor is Chief Executive of the BPI, a Governor of the BRIT School for the Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon, a Director of the UK Official Charts Company and a Trustee of the UK Record Industry’s charity, The BRIT Trust.
Short details of his career prior to leading the BPI are set out below:
December 2005 – February 2007: General Counsel and Executive Vice-President, IFPI
• Oversaw all litigation, licensing, internet anti-piracy and regulatory matters for IFPI worldwide
• Continued to run UK Copyright Tribunal proceedings and led settlement negotiations to conclusion
• Developed IFPI’s international internet piracy and litigation strategy
• Advised IFPI national groups on music publishing negotiations worldwide
• Developed IFPI’s strategy against digital stream ripping
June 2004 – October 2005: General Counsel, BPI
• Led BPI’s campaign of litigation against major illegal filesharers
• Led online Copyright Tribunal proceedings and negotiations on behalf of the BPI
1997 – 2004, various legal positions at IFPI, dealing with music publishing issues (for example negotiating the 1998 IFPI-BIEM Standard Contract), regulatory affairs and litigation (including CD plant settlements and internet piracy litigation).
1995-1997: associate at Brussels office of US law firm WilmerHale, specializing in EU competition law
1994: Stage at DG Competition, European Commission, Brussels
1993-1994: Trainee solicitor at Cameron McKenna solicitors, London
1992: Diploma in European Law at the College of Europe, Bruges
1990: Law Society Finals examinations, first class honours
1987-1991: Degree in Law & French, Sussex University, first class honours
1986-1989: Ran Avalon Recording Studios in Hertfordshire (small 16 track project studio)
1977 – 1981: Chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. Head chorister at 1981 Charles & Diana royal wedding.
Interests: playing piano/keyboards, tennis, music
Shelley Taylor, CEO, all dig down
In her latest re-invention, and there have been many, Shelley has just launched a little company that has big aspirations. Version 1, the blog. Version 2, the site. Version 3, world wide web domination. Stay tuned. Before this she founded and ran a research, publishing and consulting firm (Shelley Taylor & Associates) where she is best known for criticising any site or user interface bold enough to number in the top 1000 in the world. In her previous rendering she was responsible for identifying the scary, and so far incurable, consumer diseases: Post-Transaction Anxiety Disorder and Shopping Cart Abandonment Syndrome (often blamed for the deaths of many ecommerce sites), Mad Couch Disease (linked to horrible interactive television experiences) and more recently, Digital Deficit Disorder (caused by poorly designed digital entertainment sites
Andrew Till, Senior Director, Applications & Service Portfolio, Multimedia Team, Motorola Inc
Andrew Till is a Senior Director with Motorola’s Mobile Device Business. In his current role he is responsible for driving the development and execution of end to end services and value added applications for Motorola Multimedia product group. This includes implementing business models and the creation of new revenue streams for both Motorola and its partners.
Andrew previously held the positions of Product Portfolio and Strategy Director, Director of Customer Strategy and Business intelligence Manager within Motorola.
Andrew has over 14 years’ experience in the telecommunications field, having previously worked as a market analyst for Dataquest Europe Telecommunications Group, in the fields’ analogue and ISDN communications, and as Technology Strategist for both Psion Dacom and Psion plc.
Andrew holds a degree in International Business Administration and Italian. He currently resides in the UK.
Sarah Tinsley, Global Marketing Manager, Bacardi
As a student of Criminology at Middlesex University, BACARDI’s Sarah Tinsley probably never saw herself circumnavigating the globe with one of the hottest bands on a marketing campaign that has grabbed headlines from the trade press to the Sunday papers. But then, as Sarah has found out, it’s all about staying alert to opportunities as they come up.
It was from a simple chat with a guy at a party that Sarah first got into marketing. He was setting up a new drinks brand and liked her energy, never mind that she had no experience in the field whatsoever. The drink in question was Red Bull and over the next few years Sarah helped lay the foundations of a brand whose marketing has never been by the book.
In 2003, with iconic writer Colin McDowell, Sarah helped launch Fashion Fringe, an on-going talent campaign that insiders pretty much agree put London back on the map as far as fashion is concerned. It was around this time that the people at Bacardi started taking a serious interest in the way Sarah worked.
Having talked to her, they decided she was the right person at the right time to develop their global music programme for BACARDI, the latest incarnation in a long tradition of the drinks brand supporting music and musicians. She became a chief global experiential manager for the brand.
Aware of how the relationship between artists and labels was evolving, Sarah was instrumental to bagging Groove Armada – a perfect fit with BACARDI’s personality - to curate the latest globe-trotting BACARDI B-LIVE series of parties, putting together the most exciting mix of artists wherever they set down, she also oversaw the brokering of the ground-breaking deal that will see a Groove Armada EP on the BACARDI label. The world is taking note.
But don’t expect Sarah to take all the credit for this. “I have the most amazing team,” she says of working with BACARDI. “We all just seem to really inspire each other.”
Ronnie Traynor, COO, TuneTribe
Ronnie has worked on everything from reality TV to events consulting for labels and advertising companies. She was a music producer and researcher for 'Big Breakfast', 'Big Brother', 'Chained' and 'The Richard Blackwood Show' on Channel 4 before working as label and events manager for Distinct'ive Records, INK and Ragbull Recordings. As a freelance music and event consultant she has worked with clients like Reebok, Red Dot Clothing and Carling. Since initiating the set up of TuneTribe four years ago, she has played a central role in bringing the company to its current position as a prominent player in the digital music industry.
Alex Vlassopulos, Head Business Development, Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK
Sanjay Wadhwani, Director, Ingenious Media
Sanjay Wadhwani leads Ingenious Ventures, the private equity of Ingenious Media plc, and manager of Ingenious Media Active Capital (IMAC). IMAC is a £150m AIM-listed fund which invests in unquoted progressive media companies.
Sanjay joined Ingenious Media plc in 2000 from Arthur Andersen where he started his career as an accountant, specialising in corporate tax, prior to working in Andersen Corporate Finance. He helped form Ingenious Ventures and made investments in 19 Entertainment and Cream before focusing on building the corporate finance business of Ingenious Media, Ingenious Corporate Finance. Sanjay returned to Ingenious Ventures in 2006 to manage IMAC.
Sanjay has extensive experience in the media and entertainment sectors, and has advised on a number of transactions including: Robbie Williams on a multi-platform deal with EMI; Hat Trick Productions and Stage Three Music on successfully attracting private equity and bank finance; Shed Productions and RDF Media on their AIM listings; the sale of Ricochet to Shed Productions; and the sale of 19 Entertainment by Ingenious Ventures. He is also a non-executive director of a number of IMAC investee companies in the content and marketing services sectors including Whizz Kid Entertainment, Brand Events, Outside Line, Crystal Entertainment and Trinity Universal.
Jon Webster, CEO, MMF
Jon "Webbo" Webster has worked for 2 people most of his life - himself and Richard Branson. The former paid better.
Most of his career was spent at Virgin - both Retail where he began as a shop assistant in 1975; and at Virgin Records where he started in 1981 as Sales Manager before progressing through various posts before being appointed Managing Director in 1988. He was a member of the BPI Council from 1985 – 1992.
In 1983 he was instrumental in devising the Now! That's What I Call Music brand.
Following the EMI purchase of Virgin in 1992 he decided to leave corporate life, set up his own company, and worked with Virgin acts (Genesis, Peter Gabriel, UB40, Mike and the Mechanics) and others.
In 1992 he founded the prestigious Mercury Music Prize.
From 1992 – 2002 he wrote the “Webbo” column for Music Week.
From 2000 he moved into management with D*Note and Francis Dunnery (former singer with It Bites) setting up the internet sales label Aquarian Nation (www.aquariannation.com).
In May 2005, after 13 years working for himself, he was appointed Director, Independent Member Services at the BPI,the UK record industry trade body.
In October 2007 he embraced the artist centric future when he was appointed CEO of the Music Managers Forum (www.musicmanagersforum.co.uk).
Richard Wheeler, Head of Music & Film Partnerships, Orange UK
Dave Williams, Nokia
David Williams has worked in the mobile music and entertainment business since its inception in the late 90s. He directed Nokia’s polyphonic and sampled ringtone developments and negotiated some of the earliest technology and content licensing deals in that area. Since 2000 David has been involved in many technology and commercial developments relating to the digital music both at device and service levels.
David is currently Director of Content for Nokia Music and is responsible for global content operations and licensing
Dylan Williams, Strategy Director, Mother
Paul Williams, Editor, Music Week
Paul Williams is editor of Music week, a role in which he oversees and directs editorial content for the weekly magazine, the website musicweek.com and other Music Week interests, including the annual Music Week Awards. Paul has been with Music week since 1996, initially joining as reporter, before being promoted to chief reporter, news editor and then managing editor. He started his journalism career as a local newspaper reporter in East Sussex, covering everything from crime and politics to music, film and the theatre.
