Speakers

To see the speakers and schedule for SF MusicTech Live! on Friday, May 29, 2020 please visit: www.sfmusictechlive.com

Below is the Speaker List from the last in-person SF MusicTech Summit which took place on October 17, 2017

John AcquavivaPlus Eight Equity Partners, Managing PartnerJohn Acquaviva as a DJ/Producer and Entrepreneur has flourished in the heart of electronic music. His multi talented persona is Superman like; the quintessential businessman by day – running Plus8 Equity Partners and an iconic musician by night. John Acquaviva is the eye of the storm on an incredible hurricane. The techno icon’s strategic positioning along the electronic music spectrum as an inspired soul, rather than a hit maker, has made for one of the most exciting producers the community has ever experienced. Read More

Dave AllenDave, Allen, North, Inc., Director of Artist and Music Industry AdvocacyDirector, Artist & Music Industry Advocacy NORTH Music
Former Artist Relations at Apple Music, Apple Inc. June 2014 – March 2017
Former Director, Artist & Music Industry Advocacy at Beats Music. January 2014 – June 2014
Adjunct Lecturer, specializing in Digital Strategy at the University of Oregon. January 2010 to present Former Interactive Creative Director at NORTH, a brand agency in Portland, Oregon. April 2009 – January 2014 Founding member of Gang of Four. Follow on Twitter: @DaveAtBeats / @North

Patrick AndingWilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, Rosati – AssociatePatrick M. Anding is an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he represents public and private technology and media companies through all stages of their growth. Patrick specializes in areas of corporate and securities law, including general corporate representation, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. His practice also focuses on intellectual property, licensing, and commercial transactions, with specialized emphasis in the digital exploitation of intellectual property.

Before attending law school, Patrick worked in the media and entertainment business as a producer and media architect. He has supervised and produced film, music, and new media projects for a diverse range of companies and non-profit organizations, including DreamWorks, Disney, Mattel, the BBC, New Line, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and The Guggenheim Museum.

Patrick served as the director of production and development for the music, DVD, and film company Palm Pictures. At Palm, Patrick oversaw the development, acquisition, and production of the company’s home-video catalog. He also managed feature film post-production, working on films such as Scratch, The Last Minute, and the triple-Sundance-award-winning documentary Dark Days.

Lauren ApolitoHFA/Rumblefish, SVP Strategy & Business DevelopmentLauren Apolito is Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at HFA/Rumblefish, part of SESAC Holding’s Music Rights Organization. As SVP, Lauren is a thought leader in the creation and execution of HFA/Rumblefish’s growth and diversification strategy. Since 2001, Lauren has been a driving force in the digital music business as she led development and launch of HFA’s rights management platform, Slingshot, now branded Rumblefish.

For over a decade, Lauren’s achievements have had an industry-wide impact, both providing music publishing community with new revenue opportunities and facilitating the administration of intellectual property rights for those in the music distribution chain including digital distributors, labels, aggregators and mobile companies.

Over the past year, Lauren’s efforts have fueled revenue growth, client diversification, licensing opportunities, and new service offerings. She expanded licensing opportunities for publishers, providing new interactive streaming, background music, lyrics and tablature revenue vehicles. Additionally, she has enhanced the HFA/Rumblefish service portfolio with new services, including those to facilitate the administration of direct licensing deals between publishers and distributors both on the performance and mechanical side. Lauren has continued to expand HFA/Rumblefish’s administration client roster that includes leading players in the digital space.

Prior to HFA, Lauren was VP at Citigroup/eCiti where she launched cutting-edge online banking solutions and analyzed strategic investments in technology. At Nikko Securities, Lauren was responsible for strategic planning in South America. She also managed entrepreneurial ventures at International Resources Holdings, an asset management company. Additionally, Lauren founded and was President of Echo Travel, Inc.

Lauren has a MBA in Finance and International Business from Fordham University, Graduate School of Business. She also has a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Bucknell University and studied at Regent’s College European Business School in London. Follow on Twitter: @rumblefish_inc

Mike BakerRadio NowhereSinger/songwriter: for most, the term still brings to mind the sound of one voice and a fingerpicked guitar, or a quiet piano, sketching a monochromatic study of one individual’s emotional landscape. Mike Baker, who performs and records as the Northern California alternative pop/rock act Radio Nowhere, is not that kind of singer/songwriter.

Possessed by kaleidoscopic musical visions and a tendency to spend more time singing about hostage crises than inner pain, Baker plays a pawnshop full of instruments and handles the engineering and production chores in solo pursuit of his own brand of panoramic sound: “electric roadtrip singalong music”.

Loud guitars, mistreated beatboxes, catchy choruses and a reverence for classic pop songs mark Radio Nowhere as something like a fellow traveler with the likes of The Wallflowers, Counting Crows, and Elvis Costello. Fans who’ve always loved these artists, but wished that they’d turn their amps up a little bit, will definitely notice a kindred spirit in Radio Nowhere. Follow on Twitter: @radionowhere

Eli BallLyric Financial, Founder & CEOAlthough he got his start on the creative side of the music business, for the past decade in his role as Founder and CEO of Lyric Financial, Eli Ball has been serving the global music community by creating a variety of financial products tailored just for them. His most recent venture is called SNAP* vATM, an automated platform that enables creatives to tap into their revenue streams at their convenience, rather than wait for royalty and performance organizations sometimes infrequent payment schedules.

More information on Lyric Financial can be found at www.lyricfinancial.com. Follow on Twitter: @lyricfinancial.com

Jean-Baptiste ThiebautJUCE, Senior Director of Developer Products and Partnerships
Jean-Baptiste is the product manager for JUCE. Prior to joining ROLI in 2012, JB was innovation manager at Focusrite. JB is the founder of the Music Hackspace and holds a PhD in Human Computer Interaction from Queen Mary University, an MA in music composition from Paris VIII, and is passionate about music, creativity and technology.

Jason Boyd aka “Poo Bear” Grammy Award winning Producer/songwriterIf you thought you’ve never heard of 4x Grammy award winning singer/songwriter PooBear, you actually have! He is the lethal pen behind hits like Justin Bieber’s ‘What Do You Mean’, 112′s ‘Peaches & Cream’ and ‘Anywhere’, Usher’s ‘Caught Up’ and ‘Superstar’, as well as Chris Brown’s ‘She Ain’t You’ and ‘I Can Transform Ya’.

Darryl BallantyneLyricFind, Founder & CEODarryl Ballantyne originally conceived LyricFind in 2000 with Mohamed Moutadayne and Chris Book at Ontario’s University of Waterloo to be the largest, most accurate destination for lyrics on the Internet. Officially launched in 2004, the company pioneered the licensed digital lyrics space, successfully negotiating the first-ever mass lyrics licensing deal with EMI Music Publishing in 2005. Since then, Darryl has grown LyricFind to be the largest legal, licensed lyrics database in the world, with millions of licensed tracks available representing thousands of music publishers. LyricFind is also the first lyrics service to have true worldwide rights from all major music publishers (and many more).

LyricFind has established licensing and content relationships with over 3,000 music publishers, Rovi, The Harry Fox Agency, The Echo Nest, and many more. The company now delivers services to hundreds of web sites and mobile applications that want to enhance their music products with lyrics, including Microsoft’s Bing, Lyrics.com, Pandora, Shazam, SoundHound, Samsung, Nokia, HTC, MetroLyrics, SongMeanings, Universal Music, and mSpot. In addition, LyricFind offers two direct to consumer mobile applications, Lyrics Lite and Lyrics Pro for the iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry Playbook platforms.

As an authority on licensing and digital content, Darryl has spoken at industry events including SF Music Tech, MIDEM, SXSW, Canadian Music Week, Music & Media Finland, Digital Music Forum East and West, New Music Seminar, and many more. Before launching LyricFind, Darryl was Manager of Digital Development & Distribution at EMI Music in Los Angeles, where he was involved in deals with companies such as MusicMatch, Napster, and iTunes. Darryl earned a Bachelor of Mathematics with a Business minor from the University of Waterloo. Follow on Twitter: @DBToronto

Jason Boyd aka Poo Bear has undoubtedly redefined the entertainment industry with his innovative, dynamic and empowering abilities to deliver music through the power words. With his clever blending of various genres of music accompanied by the intricate use of words and harmonies, it is without question that after over 350 million records sold worldwide, he is a force to be reckoned with.Read More

Tony BlankSendGrid, Community Development LeadTony’s work experience reflects his passion for music and technology. His first career was as an audio engineer in Atlanta. More recently, he built a data center in South Carolina for Google, built products at a number of start-ups, and led the developer relations program at Context.IO. Currently, he enjoys talking to companies and accelerators about SendGrid as Team Lead on the Community Development team. In the gaps between gigs, he enjoys playing live music in bars and beeeeer. Follow on Twitter: @thetonyblank

Dae BoganTuneRegistry, Founder & CEODae Bogan is a serial entrepreneur, educator, consultant, researcher, writer, public speaker, and business advisor interested in music rights, metadata, financial pipelines, transparency, interoperability and collaboration within the greater music industry. He is the Founder & Chief Researcher of Royalty Claim, a music licensing research initiative and an online database of music licensing entitlements. He is also the Founder & CEO of TuneRegistry, a music and rights metadata management platform.

Dae also engages in the music industry as an Innovation Fellow at the UCLA Center for Music Innovation, a member of Berklee College of Music’s Open Music Initiative, a member of the Music Industry Research Association, a member of the Recording Academy (The GRAMMYs) Advocacy, a member of the Music Business Association, the organizer of the SoCal Music Industry Professionals, and a SXSW Music Mentor. Follow on Twitter: @daeboganmusic / @tuneregistry

Yvan BoudilletStartup SesameA Digital Entertainment Expert with 10+ years’ experience leading digital development and consumer strategy for EMI and Warner Music in France, Yvan connects the dots between Startups & Creative Industries as Entertainment lead of Startup Sesame, Tech Event driven acceleration program and founder of TheLynk, an advisory agency that he founded in September 2016. Follow on Twitter: @navY / @startupsesame

John BoyleChief Growth Officer & Interim CFOAs Chief Growth Officer and Interim CFO of Insomniac Events, John Boyle leads the company’s international expansion efforts and other business development initiatives, in addition to overseeing corporate finance. Flagship brand Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), whose Las Vegas edition is the largest single-weekend music festival in North America with 420,000 attendees, continues to grow worldwide with festivals in London, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Delhi, and Tokyo, with more to be announced soon. Previously, Boyle was as an A&R and marketing executive at Giant Records, Virgin Records, and Warner Bros. Records. As a talent manager, he represented acts including actor and platinum rapper Xzibit, multi-platinum rock band Alien Ant Farm, and Bay Area hip-hop legends Blackalicious. Boyle begin his career producing concerts for events such as the X Games and the US Open of Surfing, which led to helping launch the Vans Warped Tour and owning/producing winter music festival SnoCore. Born in Oakland, CA and raised on skis in the High Sierras of Lake Tahoe, Boyle holds a dual MBA from Columbia Business School in New York and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and BA in Economics from UCLA.

Kevin BreunerCD Baby, VP MarketingCD Baby’s VP of Marketing, Kevin Breuner, has spent over 20 years working in the music business, both as an artist and an industry professional. A San Diego native, Kevin went east to attended Belmont University in Nashville, TN where he studied Music and Music Business. After college, he joined the Atlanta based band Smalltown Poets who later signed a recording contract with a major label under the EMI umbrella. Their self-titled debut album received critical acclaim selling over 200,000 copies and landing the guys with a Grammy nomination plus multiple Dove Award nominations. Kevin is approaching his 12th year at CD Baby and his 200th episode as host of the DIY Musician Podcast. Follow on Twitter: @kbreuner / @cdbaby

Shelita BurkeArtist & Data ScientistShelita Burke is an international pop star, technologist, and entrepreneur who uses blockchain technology and cryptology to innovate in the music industry. As a co-founder of the music technology company, Audience Academy, Shelita is disrupting the music industry and empowering recording artists and marketers with an innovative approach to growing large audiences. Using data science, behavioral science and AI technology, she has been able to generate over 29 million Twitter impressions and millions of Spotify plays on her latest releases. Follow on Twitter: @ShelitaBurke

Carlos CabreraPatreon, VP Data Science & OperationsCarlos manages data science and business operations at Patreon, a membership platform that allows creators – musicians, video makers, podcasters, illustrators & more – to earn salaries from their fans. He also plays the drums with several Bay Area bands. @cmc818 / @patreon

Carolina CastillaMassive Act, Inc., Founder & CEOCarolina Castilla is a music business entrepreneur with 16 years working in the music industry as a Manager, Tour Manager, PR and event producer helping bands from Latin-America, the US and Europe.

Previously she served as tour and hospitality manager for Depeche Mode, Coldplay and David Guetta, General Producer of AES (Audio Engineering Society) Conferences and managed the Grammy-nominated producer Joel
Hamilton for Latin America.

Carolina´s dream is to make live music performances easy and accesible for musicians. Massive Act is a platform where musicians and industry professionals, find intuitive tools (manage logistics & build tech rider) and revenue opportunities (booking, endorsements and sponsorships), enabling everyone in the live music industry to achieve their career goals and have fun doing it. http://massiveact.com

Cindy W. Charles, Esq.Amazon, Head of Business Development for Music, Amazon TicketsCindy Charles has been working in the digital media space since 1997. She recently became Head of Business Development for Music, for Amazon Tickets. In that role, she is responsible for leading strategy and business development in connection with Amazon’s new business, offering concert tickets for sale. Prior to that for over 2 years, she was Head of Business Development, Video Shorts at Amazon and had been licensing short form video content from studios, television networks, MCNs. labels and other short form content providers. Prior to that, for a 3 year period, she was handling business affairs and business development consulting in the digital media space for clients who have included Beats Music, Yahoo, RIM, Spotify, MOG, Smule, Topspin, Soundhound, EchoNest, Nintendo, PopSugar, Pulselocker, NARM, Focus@Will, iJukebox, MediaNet, and others. Prior to 2011, for 8 years, Ms. Charles was General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Law and Business Affairs for MusicNet, an early digital music service owned by Warner Music Group, EMI, Bertelsmann and Real Networks, which was then re-branded as MediaNet. Ms. Charles has also held a variety of positions for MTV Networks over a seven year period including Vice President of Law and Business Affairs for MTVi, an interactive division of MTV Networks. Prior to MTV Networks, Ms. Charles was General Counsel for WarnerVision Entertainment, the video division of the Warner Music Group. Ms. Charles also served in legal positions at Worldvision Entertainment (a division of Aaron Spelling Productions), the Screen Actors Guild and various law firms. She is the co-founder of Women in Digital Media, a networking group based in NY and San Francisco that has over 1500 members.

Ted CohenTAG Strategic, Managing PartnerTed Cohen is Managing Partner of TAG Strategic. In an industry that’s been slow to embrace change, Ted was the exception to the stereotypical entertainment-exec rule. But, when you start out on the road with Prince, Alice Cooper & Van Halen, you’re primed for the unexpected. TAG is a digital entertainment consulting firm focused on creating strategic relationships, identifying market opportunities, growing brands and defining best practices for the entertainment, tech & mobile industries. TAG provides strategy, guidance, market intelligence, product ideation and business development services to global firms and select start-ups. TAG delivers market leadership & sustainable, defensible advantage in the dynamic/rapidly evolving digital marketplace. Known throughout tech & media as “part ambassador/part evangelist,” Cohen was instrumental in crafting the licensing agreements upon which Rhapsody and the iTunes Store were built. Previously, as SVP-Digital for EMI Music, Cohen led global digital business development for this iconic label. During that time, EMI led the industry by embracing & exploiting new tech & business models such as digital downloads & online music subscriptions, wireless services, hi-def audio & Internet radio. Prior to EMI, Cohen co-founded and Chaired the groundbreaking Webnoize conferences. Ted also led Consulting Adults, with clients such as Universal Studios, Amazon, Microsoft, DreamWorks Records, Liquid Audio and Napster. Cohen also had senior positions at both Warner Brothers & Philips Electronics. A 35-year media industry vet, Cohen chaired MidemNet & also served on the Grammy LA Board of Governors & the Grammy National Trustee Board. Currently on the board of Mouse.org, an innovative computer literacy program, Cohen served two terms as Chairman of Mobile Entertainment Forum Americas. Ted received the 2013 NARM Presidential Award, previously awarded to Ahmet Ertegun, & Dick Clark, among others. Ted continually looks for the next innovative tech & his next challenge; he really loves his life. Follow on Twitter: @spinaltap

Bill ColitreMusic Reports, Inc., General Counsel & VP Business Development, Royalty ServicesBill Colitre serves as General Counsel and head of both Business Development and Royalty Services for Music Reports. He began his legal career in the Entertainment Department of Loeb & Loeb LLP where he was a founding member of the iLaw Group and later served as counsel to the firm of Altschul & Olin, LLP, the Roll International Corporation (parent company of Teleflora LLC, Fiji Water LLC, and other enterprises) and CBS Paramount Network Television Home Entertainment. Over the years, he has served leading artists (Diana Ross, Rob Thomas, Tenacious D), publishers (Warner/Chappell, Leiber & Stoller), labels (Universal Music Group, Ruthless Records), digital aggregators (CD Baby, INgrooves), music services (Sirius XM, SoundCloud, Pandora), producers (CBS Paramount, Netflix), and consumer products companies (American Greetings, QVC), among many others. Mr. Colitre holds a BA in Communication from UC, San Diego and a JD from Loyola Law School, where he obtained First Honors awards in Computer Law and Internet Law, as well as the American Jurisprudence Award in Copyright.

Josh ConstineTechCrunch, Editor-at-largeJosh Constine is a Senior Writer for TechCrunch who has reported on startups for five years. Constine graduated with a self-designed Master’s degree in Cybersociology from Stanford University where he studied privacy and memes. He’s written over 2200 tech blog posts, focusing on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Spotify amongst his coverage of early stage startups, social networks, streaming music, virtual reality, and drones. Follow Josh on Twitter: @JoshConstine

Michael DrexlerWarner Music Group, VP Digital Strategy & Corporate DevelopmentMichael Drexler serves as Vice President, Digital Strategy & Corporate Development at Warner Music Group, a major music company with interests in recorded music, music publishing and artist services, where he leads strategic investments and corporate development while managing existing strategic relationships.

In his previous role as Executive Director of Business Development at Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Michael oversaw BMI’s Digital Licensing BD team and managed efforts to open up new revenue streams for writers and publishers in the digital world. At BMI, Michael led licensing negotiations with top tier digital media clients such as Spotify, Napster and YouTube and served on key committees handling strategic development and business process reviews. During Michael’s six-year tenure, BMI’s annual digital licensing revenues grew by 600% from $20 million to $140 million.

In his previous roles as Senior Director of Business Development, Corporate Development and Strategy at Sony Music and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Michael negotiated content and equity agreements in new digital environments and co-led various transactions including the acquisition of metadata powerhouse Gracenote, investments in IODA, MOG and a Joint Venture with Italian Dada Entertainment.

Michael is also an accomplished ragtime and jazz pianist, music producer and audio engineer with hundreds of album credits and two Grammy nominations to his name. He received his MBA from Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business in NYC, holds an M.A. in Music Production (Diplom-Tonmeister) from the Hochschule für Musik Detmold (Germany) and earned a professional diploma from Berklee College of Music in Boston. Follow on Twitter: @modrexler

Vanessa A. FerrerMerch Cat LLC, Founder & CEOVanessa Ferrer has been a successful businesswoman for over 15 years in finance and artist management. Armed with the heart of an artist, the belief that she could make a difference, and the drive to make it happen, Ferrer founded InFocus Artist Management in 2009. A Certified Public Accountant and alumna of NYU with an M.S. in Real Estate, she solidified her music industry acumen through Berklee College of Music’s music business program and hit the ground running. After managing several touring clients and consulting with high-profile industry professionals, Ferrer used her multi-faceted background to develop and launch (2015) Merch Cat, a musician friendly platform for music artists to sell and manage merchandise at live shows. Since the launch of Merch Cat, Ferrer has spoken at over a dozen conferences, including Music Biz and SXSW 2017, and has quickly become a familiar face and respected voice amongst her peers in the music community. Through her speaking efforts, Ferrer aspires to educate artists to help them have sustainable careers, as well as inspire other entrepreneurs in music and music technology. Ferrer is a member of NARAS, A2IM, the Music Business Association, and Women In Music. Follow on Twitter: @vfinfocus / @merch_cat

Joao FiadeiroYouTube, Product ManagerJoao Fiadeiro is a Product Manager in YouTube‘s Music team, where he is focused on driving initiatives aimed at fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between Google, musicians, labels, and the wider music industry. Previously, Joao was the lead music data scientist at YouTube, responsible for quantifying and finding solutions to challenges related to licensing, monetization, subscription, growth and user behavior. Always thirsty for data, he is fascinated by how data and networks can be analyzed to uncover emergent social phenomena.

Prior to joining Google, Joao obtained a master’s degree from the Oxford Internet Institute (at the University of Oxford) where he delved deep into how user behavior in social music platforms (eg: SoundCloud, Last.fm) can reveal much about our social affinity and identity.

When he is not looking for fresh-off-the-oven Berlin techno beats or building robots, Joao loves exploring the intersection between art and technology: creating 3D VR visualizations and new ways of experiencing music beyond the audiovisual. Follow on Twitter: @jfiadeiro

Jason FiberTHX, Head of Business ProductsJason Fiber is the Head of Business Products for THX. In that role Mr Fiber oversees all B2B Product development, management and deployment for the well recognized brand. Prior to joining THX Jason was (and continues to be) the President and Founder of Superfecta, a multi-faceted digital media entertainment company. Superfecta’s suite of offerings includes consulting services to businesses working to establish a footprint in the ever-evolving digital landscape and guidance to actors and musicians seeking direction in the entertainment industry.
Previously Fiber was President of Cordless Recordings, which was Warner Music Group’s ‘eLabel’ — the first such initiative of its kind among the major record labels. Jason partnered with music legend Jac Holzman (founder of Elektra & Nonesuch Records) to design and launch Cordless as a different kind of recording company. Cordless leveraged online and mobile communications technologies to support musicians of every genre and career stage.

Earlier in his career, Fiber worked at Wherehouse Music, a leader in entertainment retailing. As Vice President of Internet Services for Wherehouse, Fiber spearheaded the creation and expansion of the company’s online retail business and oversaw the development of in-store, digital music sampling stations. Fiber also created and produced an Internet-based, weekly music talk show, “The Wherehouse Lounge.” Before joining the Wherehouse, Fiber was a producer and project manager at the Web development agency, BoxTop Interactive/iXL, where he ran the entertainment group, producing Web sites for recording artists Rage Against the Machine and Alanis Morissette and brands such as Guess Clothing and UPN.

From 1993-1996, Fiber held the lead management role at World Domination Recordings, an independent label subsidiary of Capitol Records. He began his career in the A&R department at Epic Records.

Mike FiebachFame House, Founder & CEOMichael Fiebach is the Founder and CEO of Fame House, a digital marketing and e-commerce agency focused on the music and entertainment industries.

Fame House grew as an independently funded, one-person company, to a multi-city, 25-person operation in 2 and a half years, and was acquired by the publicly held SFX Entertainment on October 21st, 2013. Subsequently, Fame House was acquired by Universal Music Group in May, 2016. Fame House is now a 50-person company with offices and employees in Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles.

Fame House clients have included: Universal Music, Interscope, Beatport, Bravado, Corona, AB InBev, Mastercard, T-Mobile, Atlantic Records, Eminem, Tiesto, Pearl Jam, Ice Cube, Pretty Lights, DJ Shadow, Loco Dice, Richie Hawtin, Mysteryland, TomorrowWorld, Q-Dance, and Disco Donnie, among others. Follow on Twitter: @FameHouse

Brian FuranomemBrain, FounderSanta Monica based entrepreneur Brian Furano brings a demonstrated history of connecting celebrities, and talent from the music, and entertainment industry, with top brands, and companies looking for strategic partnerships.

Furano Co provides valuable creative ideation, strategy, road mapping, and 20+ years of industry knowledge and relationships, to create and amplify a variety of projects from celebrity-branded restaurants, rock, and roll fashion lines, tech company launches, and both live, and media events, and productions.Follow on Twitter: @brianfurano / @memBrainLLC

Zack GreenburgForbes, Senior Editor of Media & EntertainmentZack O’Malley Greenburg is the senior editor of media & entertainment at Forbes and author of two books: Michael Jackson, Inc and the Jay-Z biography Empire State of Mind. In a decade at Forbes, Zack has investigated topics from Katy Perry’s touring business to Wu-Tang Clan’s secret album. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Billboard, Sports Illustrated, McSweeney’s and Vibe; he’s served as an expert source for BBC, NPR, MTV, NY Times and 60 Minutes, and as a speaker at SXSW, TEDx, Georgetown, Harvard and Yale, his alma mater. A recovering child actor, he played the title role in film Lorenzo’s Oil (1992). Zack is now writing a new book, THREE KINGS, which will be published in early 2018 by Little, Brown. Follow on Twitter: @zogblog / @forbes

Gary GreensteinWilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, PartnerGary Greenstein is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where his practice focuses on intellectual property, licensing, and commercial transactions, with specialized expertise in the digital exploitation of intellectual property. He regularly represents companies in transactions with record labels, music publishers, and program suppliers. He advises companies on complex intellectual property matters and frequently assists in the development of new business models. In addition, Gary advises investors on due diligence in the digital media area and companies in all stages of their development cycle.

Prior to joining the firm, Gary served as the first general counsel at SoundExchange, Inc., the sole entity designated by the Copyright Royalty Board to collect and distribute statutory performance royalties for sound recordings. Gary previously was the vice president of business and legal affairs at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In this role, he negotiated and drafted licensing agreements for webcasters and satellite radio services, managed complex arbitrations before Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels, and prepared proposed legislation, regulations, and congressional testimony.

E. Michael HarringtonBerklee Online, Course Author & ProfessorDr. E. Michael Harrington is Course Author and Professor at Berklee and has served as consultant and expert witness in hundreds of music copyright/IP matters involving The We Shall Overcome Foundation, Dixie Chicks, Adele, Steven Spielberg, Steve Perry, Tupac, Lady Gaga, Deadmau5, Danger Mouse, Adam Levine, Busta Rhymes, Samsung, HBO and others.

He has been interviewed by media including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law, NPR, Bravo, CNN, BBC, CBC, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, the “Today Show,” Time, Huffington Post, Fortune, Salon and others, lectured at Harvard Law, GWU Law, Cardozo Law, BC Law, NYU, Beverly Hills Bar, Texas Bar, Boston Bar, Minnesota Bar and other schools and organizations.

He has bicycled twice from Los Angeles to Nashville (2,500 miles) and once from Oregon to Nashville (3,400 miles). Follow on Twitter: @emh2625

Dave HaynesTheWaveVR, Head of Business Development & PartnershipsDave Haynes heads up BD and partnerships for TheWaveVR, the leading social VR platform for music. Previously, Dave was part of the founding team at SoundCloud and co-founded Music Hack Day. Most recently Dave was at Seedcamp where he led a number of investments in early stage startups and developed a passion for emerging technologies such as AR and VR. Follow on Twitter: @haynes_dave / @thewavevr

William HochbergGreenberg Glusker, PartnerBill Hochberg heads the music department of Greenberg Glusker LLP, handling transactional and litigation matters for well-known and up-and-coming creative talents and their innovative companies, from monumental creators such as Bob Marley and Curtis Mayfield to top pop artists like Fifth Harmony and Britney Spears, and many in between. Bill writes on key music- and media-related topics for the Atlantic, WIRED and other premier publications. He’s frequently quoted in the media on the state of the music industry and how music law and technology can help artists and music companies become more successful in the future.

Cherie HuForbes, Media & Entertainment Contributor / BillboardAs an entrepreneurial journalist, Cherie combines data-driven business acumen with superior storytelling skills to propel innovation in the music industry. She one of the youngest contributors for Forbes, and has also written for publications like Music Ally, the Harvard Political Review and the Juilliard Journal. Her diverse background in the music business, ranging from A&R at a major record label to data analytics at a live concert startup, informs her insights into its digital future.

As a musician, Cherie leverages her talents in a wide range of genres to create and collaborate unconventionally. She studied classical piano at Juilliard, and has performed both solo and chamber recitals all over the world, from Shanghai to New York to Tuscany. She also has experience in classical, jazz and electroacoustic composition and improvisation, and regularly posts covers, medleys and original songs on her YouTube and SoundCloud channels. Follow on Twitter: @cheriehu42

Michael JeffreyTiVo, VP Client Management, Metadata ExecMichael (MJ) focuses on bringing strategic and technical solutions to market for TiVo (formerly Rovi). Michael, having successfully designed and developed several high-end video and music metadata solutions, is a recognized leader in music and video technology . Michael comes to Rovi from Peel Technologies (Smart Remote used by over 100M global users) where he led product development as VP Engineering. Prior to Peel, Michael held several leadership positions at Gracenote where he was instrumental in developing new (and sometimes crazy) music and video solutions that drove growth. Michael has extensive mobile experience leading development of the first mobile content and payments platforms with Vodafone, Verizon Wireless, and Nextel. Follow on Twitter: @TiVo

Edwin JoassartHLO S.A., CEOEdwin is the CEO of HLO, the company behind the wonderful PlayGround – infinite remix app for iPhone and the expressivity enhancing hardware for djs: the CTRLCap.

Philip KaplanDistroKid, CEOPhilip is the founder and CEO of DistroKid. DistroKid is one of the world’s largest music distributors and helps and helps over 100,000 artists & labels get their music into online stores & streaming services. Prior to DistroKid, Philip founded TinyLetter (acquired by MailChimp), AdBrite (acquired by SiteScout), and wrote the best-selling book, “F’d Companies: Spectacular Dot-com Flameouts” (Simon & Schuster). Philip is an active angel investor, advises several companies, and was Entrepreneur in Residence at Charles River Ventures. Philip is a death metal drummer and lives in New York City. Follow on Twitter: @pud / @distrokid

Dallas KashubaDreamHost, Founder & Co-CEODallas Kashuba is a tinkerer, musician, technologist, and early stage investor. He grew up as an Air Force kid in the 1980s which led him to high school in North Dakota. Through the long dark winters there he practiced drawing heavy metal skulls and sang badly in a punk band. In a quieter moment reading OMNI magazine in January 1991, Dallas was inspired by an interview with Jaron Lanier, the father of VR. That pushed Dallas’ already existing interest in computers to later bloom into studying computer science at Harvey Mudd College in California. While there he started DreamHost, a pioneering early web host, in 1997 with his three co-founders. In addition to his day job as Co-CEO of DreamHost, his current interest areas are wearables, smart devices, indieweb, the intersection of music and technology, and of course, VR. Follow on Twitter: @dallas

David LowryHydric Media, Co-FounderDavid Lowry is the Co-Founder of Hydric Media, the tech studio for the music industry. It’s a first class team of designers, developers and music fans based out of NYC and Australia. The team works with the latest in mobile, web and music tech to create amazing apps for some of the top names in the music biz, including: Spotify, MTV, Sony Music and Bose. Follow on Twitter: @lldavedave / @hydricmedia

Jim MahoneyMerlin, U.S. General ManagerJim Mahoney is the US General Manager of Merlin the not for profit, global digital licensing agency representing the world’s leading independent music labels in licensing music for use on services such as Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud and YouTube. Members of Merlin include Beggars Group, Curb Records, Domino, Dualtone, Eleven Seven Music, Entertainment One, Epitaph, Hopeless Records, Mad Decent, Merge, Ninja Tune, Secretly Label Group, Sub Pop, Warp Records and Yep Roc Records/Redeye Distribution. Mahoney joined Merlin in September of 2014 after spending 7 years as the Vice President of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) the trade organization representing the rights and interests of U.S. independent music companies. He has spent his 20+ year career in music working entirely within the independent sector having also served as President of Fat Beats Records & Distribution (working with Atmosphere, Black Milk & RJD2), Senior Director of Urban Product Development at Roadrunner Records (working with MC Breed and producer Domingo) and National Director of Marketing and Promotions at Profile Records (working with DJ Quik, Camp Lo, Smoothe Da Hustler, Nine, Special Ed & Run DMC).

Larry MarcusWalden Venture Capital, Managing DirectorLarry Marcus is a Managing Director at Walden Venture Capital, a Sprout Stage™ Investor based in San Francisco and Woodside, CA. Larry’s focus is digital media and consumer services. He was named to the 2012 Billboard Power 100 Most Powerful in Music and Billboard Twitter 140 to Follow. He was a Founding Investor in Pandora (NYSE: P) in early 2004 when Walden led the rebirth round to focus the company on launching a consumer-facing service and was a Director from 2004 through its IPO. Larry is a Director at SoundHound, (sound and voice search), BandPage (platform for bands online), Aarki (mobile advertising platform), Boombotix (Ultra-portable speakers), Scientific Revenue (in-app revenue optimization), goTenna (off grid communications), and a Board Observer at MeUndies and TodayTix. Other early stage investments include Jukely, LyricFind, Maestro, LightWave and BounceChat. Prior to venture capital Larry was a leading digital media equity analyst at Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown where he backed Netflix for their initial IPO among other leading game and internet companies. Follow on Twitter: @larrymarcus

Maxine MarcusThe Ambassadors Company, FounderMaxine Marcus was born in May of 2000 and attends Pinewood School in Los Altos, CA. Before starting The Ambassadors Company, Maxine Marcus ran an ambassador program for a social media app, BounceChat. Watching the company grow based off of the feedback and insights from teens helped her realize how crucial new ideas and basic feedback are in the development and improvement of a company. Maxine also worked with SoundHound on social media strategy and marketing with a focus on SnapChat and Instagram. She personally consults with many of her clients as well, such as Got it and SoundHound. Outside of her passion for teen consulting, she has a passion for music, and has released a 5 song EP as well as collaborated with R.E.A Music and Slaptop.

Michael McCartyChief Membership & Business Development OfficerMichael McCarty is responsible for leading innovation in the Membership department while creating and delivering cutting-edge, 21st Century services to current and future SOCAN members. His mandate is to ensure that SOCAN extends its place as a vital leader among global music rights organizations and the choice of Canada’s music creators. Prior to joining SOCAN, Michael served as President of EMI Music Publishing Canada and President of Canadian rights management company, ole, where he played a key role in the development and international success of many notable SOCAN members. With more than 25 years’ experience in the music industry, including his service on the Board of Directors of SOCAN, he was a member of the Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA), past director for the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA), and a founding director of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Michael is a graduate of the Fanshawe College Music Industry Arts program.

Vaughn McKenzieJAAK, CEOVariations of blockchain implementations have captured the music and media industry’s attention, however met with great skepticism and scrutiny over practicality or necessity. Enter JAAK, the London-based tech­­ company founded by Vaughn McKenzie, alongside Freddie Tibbles and Viktor Tron. The startup have cut through much of the hype, identifying a practical solution to a very real problem.

JAAK is creating a comprehensive platform to enable music industry partners to access, manage and utilize metadata for musical compositions and recordings.

While current sites offer some of this information, JAAK provides a simple framework for connecting identifying information from labels, publishers, performing rights organizations, and managers.

By streamlining what’s historically been a frustrating process for even the most seasoned music industry professional, JAAK seeks to increase industry efficiency while facilitating easier and more immediate music licensing.

Vaughn holds the position of CEO at JAAK, with a background in UX, Product Management and five years of Software Adoption at Virgin Media.

Kathleen McMahonSoundHound Inc., Vice President & General ManagerA mobile industry pioneer, Katie McMahon has been at the forefront of working with emerging technologies and platforms that change the way people interact with connected devices. She drove the global, mass-market adoption of mobile music recognition and is currently responsible for SoundHound Inc.’s consumer business including the launches of the Houndify platform and the Hound voice search and assistant app.

At SoundHound Inc., the Silicon Valley-based company that developed Speech-to-Meaning™ and conversational language interface platform, McMahon is responsible for launching products and scaling the company. Prior to joining the executive team at SoundHound, Katie was Vice President of Business Development at Shazam, where she managed and led the company’s mobile strategy, including the Shazam app launch on the iPhone and other strategic distribution and marketing deals that drove global awareness. Prior to Shazam, McMahon was Founder & CEO of Westport Communications Inc., a mobile hardware and software company, based in Tokyo. In 2002, she was recognized as the first western woman to launch a technology company in Japan. Her career in mobile began at Japan Communication Inc., working in the office of the CEO on responsible for projects including IPO preparations and investor relations. She has been named “Top Silicon Valley 50” and “Top 50 Women”by Mobile Entertainment.
Follow McMahon on Twitter: @SoundHound / @HoundApp / @KatieMc___

Keith McMillenKeith McMillen Instruments, Founder & CEOKeith McMillen (Born July 10, 1957, Bermuda) is an audio and music technology innovator, known for developing instruments, including the first modern violin to control synthesizers, first programmable audio mixer, the first blue-tooth violin bow, and several next generation MIDI controllers as well as innovations to improve audio quality for internet telephony.

In 2005, Keith McMillen founded Keith McMillen Instruments (KMI), a hardware and software developer that creates music and stage equipment allowing musicians and sound professionals to interface with computers. He founded the company after touring as a musician with large, cumbersome gear and realized the need for equipment that is compact enough to be easily carried on board an airplane. KMI produces products that provide musicians with the tools to create a new level of expression and control in their performances. These instruments are considered Polyphonic Multidimensional Controllers enabling use of the proposed MIDI extension MPE. Follow on Twitter: @keithmcmillen

Chris McMurtryExactuals, Head of Music ProductChris is the Head of Music Product for the LA-based payments company, Exactuals. A native of Nashville (Music City, USA), Chris is also a classical composer, technologist, and the founder of Dart, The Music Metadata Company™. He continues his mission of ensuring that data does not get in the way of accurate payment and attribution through Exactuals, the development of RAI, and as Head of Data for Dot Blockchain Media Inc. Follow on Twitter: @cmac13

Eddie MeehanWonderful Union, CEO
Wonderful Union’s co-founder Eddie Meehan, whose non-stop travel schedule saw him visiting 30+ countries in 2016 alone – is continually exploring new possibilities to fully reinvent the interaction between artist and audience via groundbreaking methods of content promotion, fan club management, direct-to-consumer merchandising, E-Commerce and fulfillment, VIP ticketing initiatives and branding services.

Among his recent accomplishments, Meehan has led innovations in the development of B2B ticketing platforms, co-founding Queue, then bringing the event management tool to a successful acquisition by Eventbrite. Wonderful Union remains partnered with Eventbrite, the world’s leading self-service ticketing platform, offering their clients exclusive services through Eventbrite’s global marketplace. Meehan also united with promoter Peter Shapiro (Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well & Brooklyn Bowl) to create the all-new music-focused social network, FANS.com.

Founded in 2007 as ground(ctrl), Wonderful Union has grown from its original home office in Sacramento, CA into a worldwide, multi-tiered agency with fully staffed offices in Hamburg, Nashville, Toronto, and Tokyo. Wonderful Union’s client roster includes the biggest names in music, including Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, Drake, Lady Antebellum, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, and Nicki Minaj.

Wonderful Union is continuing to rule the tour industry pack, handling VIP ticketing initiatives, exclusive meet-and-greets and more for the biggest tours of 2017, including Justin Bieber’s “Purpose World Tour” and the Backstreet Boys’ hugely successful Las Vegas Residency. They also managed the biggest tours and artist development initiatives in recent years, including Taylor Swift’s “1989 World Tour” and Drake’s “Summer Sixteen Tour,” the most successful hip-hop tour of all time. Follow on Twitter: @EddieMeehan / @WonderfulUnion

Erik MendelsonRecordGram Inc., CEO & Co-FounderErik is currently the CEO of RecordGram, the most recent winner of the TechCrunch Disrupt Cup and featured company on Apple Music’s original series “Planet of the Apps.”

Erik is in the process of launching an ICO and implementing blockchain and crypto currency into the RecordGram ecosystem.

Additionally, he’s a tenured Executive Music Producer and artist manager whose artist clients have generated over $20 million in revenue. Furthermore, Erik has successfully implemented strategic and progressive marketing initiatives over his career and is a proven leader in developing new revenue streams for ongoing businesses in the entertainment industry. Follow on Twitter: @erikanswerman / @recordgram

Jim MyrickFlex. EiR & Serious Fun, Co-FounderJim is an expert in hardware acceleration, open innovation, sensor fusion, telecommunications and full stack agile software development having founded a number of Silicon Valley and European technology firms. Currently he is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Flex, a 26 billion dollar a year global high tech manufacturing firm, he is the co-founder of Serious Fun AB, a Swedish telecommunication design, build and operate engineering consultancy located in Malmo and an EiR at RocketSpace the premier global co-working accelerator.

He is a patent holder for real time animation technology used with brands like the Simpsons, Sponge Bob and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is considered one of the pioneers of children’s edutainment crafting groundbreaking titles based on the Peanuts gang, Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse at Big Top Productions and Image Smith. Executive producer of the Amnesty International Paris Concert featuring Peter Gabriel, Radiohead, Page & Plant, Tracy Chapman, Bruce Springsteen in 1998.

Myrick started his first computer graphics firm from the R&D development of high end color electronic prepress and big data visualization tools at the storied Xerox Parc renowned for the invention of the Macintosh user interface. Myrick assists partners in bridging Europe and Silicon Valley harnessing open innovation and rapid prototyping of IoT products and services for digital health, connected living and industry 4.0 applications. Follow on Twitter: @DrMyrick

Bobby NallSXSW, Conference Programming Senior SpecialistBobby Nall handles curating and producing Music session programming for SXSW, with a focus on emerging tech, VR/AR, and fun with big data. RIYL: punk rock, silly tattoos, and dangerous hot sauce. Follow on Twitter: @pickaxebobby

Julia NunesJulia Nunes IncJulia Nunes’ album, SOME FEELINGS, was released in September 25, 2015. Early on in her career she found success on YouTube and started to garner a dedicated following. She tours the world playing in clubs and living rooms and makes albums and videos in between.

A list of cool stuff she’s done:

– Tours with A Great Big World, Ben Folds, and Ben Kweller
– Performances at Bonnaroo, VidCon, SXSW, and on Conan
– Speaking at XOXOfest in Portland OR, Midem in Cannes FR, The Conference in Malmö SW.
– Shared the stage with Weezer, Amanda Palmer, and Katy Perry
Follow on Twitter: @julianunes

Melissa O’BrienSXSW, Conference ManagerMelissa O’Brien heads up the Music conference programming team at SXSW.

Dave ParkRecombinant, CEODave Park is co-founder and CEO at Recombinant, a music analysis and media technology lab.

Dave has led design and development of JamBandit, an interactive virtual talent platform that puts the fan in the band, enabling anyone to play any instrument on any song, expertly and improvisationally, by touchscreen or motion control.

This technology is factoring broadly in the release plans and r&d efforts of major rightsholders, labels, and publishers as they prepare for marketing music in multitrack format in 2018 and beyond.

Prior to Recombinant, Dave was an artist manager, producer, and a&r consultant. In addition to being an early champion of Korn and Papa Roach, Dave managed and co-produced the Grammy Award-winning group Deftones. Follow on Twitter: @recombinantinc

Rishi PatelPlus Eight Equity Partners, Managing PartnerRishi Patel is Managing Partner and Co-founder of Plus Eight Equity Partners, a global venture capital firm that has partnered with electronic music industry leaders to invest in groundbreaking music technology companies. He has 10 years of experience working with corporations and the private equity community as an investment banker on Wall Street and has executed over $11 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions. He has worked at firms such as Morgan Stanley & Co., Perella Weinberg LP and Jefferies LLC. He received his undergraduate degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Adrian PerryCovington & Burling LLP, Special CounselAdrian Perry’s practice focuses on licensing, acquisition, development, sale, use, and commercial exploitation of intellectual property, technology and data. Mr. Perry has particular expertise advising clients with respect to content licensing and distribution issues, including through digital and mobile platforms, and advising clients in sports, entertainment and media with respect to their technology transactions. A musician who has toured internationally, Mr. Perry brings to his legal practice significant experience in the entertainment industry. He has licensed his music for film and television and worked as an A&R consultant for a major record label for several years. Mr. Perry is also a certified information privacy professional (CIPP/US). Follow on Twitter: @adrianjperry

Shilpa PrasadYouNoodle, Corporate & Relationship Management, Sales & Marketing LeadAn entrepreneur by nature, Shilpa brings her passion for making change to her work at YouNoodle everyday. With experience having run her own design studio, Shilpa offers creative energy and leadership to the company, where she oversees all things related to Corporate and Relationship Management, Sales and Marketing.

Over the past two years, Shilpa has managed key relationships with industry leaders such as Cisco, PwC, Salesforce, Booking.com and major institutions such as the World Bank, executing large-scale innovation programs and building meaningful partnerships that support the future growth of the company.

Shilpa led the efforts with the World Bank to create WeMENA, a business plan competition for female entrepreneurs throughout the Middle East and North Africa with solutions to build resilient cities. In addition to her work supporting female entrepreneurs through WeMENA, Shilpa has been an advocate for women as a part of campaigns such as Dark is Beautiful and serving as a mentor for aspiring female entrepreneurs.

Heather RafterRafterMarsh, Principal CounselHeather Dembert Rafter has been providing legal and business development services to the audio, music technology and digital media industry for over twenty-five years. As the principal counsel at RafterMarsh US, she leads the RM team in providing a wide variety of services to small and medium-sized companies.

For fourteen years, she was the lead counsel for Digidesign, the audio division of Avid Technology, beginning as Director of Legal Affairs and rising to the role of General Counsel. During her time at Digidesign, the company expanded to include M-Audio, Wizoo Sound Design (which became AIR) and Sibelius Software. She started her legal career as a litigation attorney at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, focusing on intellectual property and commercial matters.

Heather has served in a variety of leadership roles in the American Bar Association, including Chair of the ABA Section of Science & Technology Law. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in California and is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales (although not currently practicing in that capacity).

RafterMarsh clients include ROLI, Ableton, Brainworx, Plugin Alliance, PreSonus and the Slate Companies.

When not working, Heather can be found on a yoga mat, attending live music or spending time with her family. You might also find her talking enthusiastically about her three children, two of whom work in Silicon Valley (Square, Google) and her daughter, who’s a college freshman.

Antony RandallCreating Equilibrium, COOExecutive producer and director for leading global music artists, and events such as concerts and festivals. CEO of ARE, world-class creative agency, and COO of Creating Equilibrium, an impact venture event and content platform with a fund for startups wanting to change the world. I am focused on using global events and content to share the positive message that we together can bring about a better tomorrow for our children.

Lars RasmussenWeav Music, Co-Founder and Chief Espresso OfficerLars Rasmussen is a co-founder and ‘Chief Espresso Officer’ at Weav Music, Inc in Brooklyn, New York. Formerly, he was a director of engineer at Facebook London where he headed up the Facebook Workplace team. Formerly, he was a member of Google’s technical staff, based in the Sydney office, and with his brother Jens is co-founder of the Google Wave effort. In early 2003, the brothers co-founded a mapping start-up, Where 2 Technologies, which was acquired by Google in October of 2004. Lars joined Google and worked as one of the lead engineers in the team that turned this acquisition into Google Maps, now used by more than a billion people around the world. Lars holds a Ph.D. in theoretical computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. He has possibly the world’s least developed sense of direction, and consistently types faster than he can spell.

Renee Richardson & Irish GregPop Up Bay Area, HostsRenee & Irish Greg have a combined SF radio history of 40 plus years… they have been hosting shows on terrestrial radio for years, with a popular morning show that ran more than ten years to a beloved fan base. Today they have their own show, Renee & Irish Greg’s Pop Up! It’s a compelling interview show interspersed with live music and lively conversation. Follow on Twitter: @PopUpBayArea / @RenadioSF

Jorge RincónDeezer, VP North AmericaJorge A. Rincón is a recognized executive and entrepreneur in the areas of digital media, mobile content, value added services, mobile applications and digital advertising. Rincon joins Deezer to lead the North America region (US & Canada) to exponentially grow Deezer’s B2C and B2B businesses. In his most recent venture, Rincón was the Director of Digital Products & Business Development for Millicom. In this role, Rincon lead the strategy and evolution of Millicom’s digital products and services ranging from music streaming, sports video content, movies and TV series, productivity applications and Mobile Money. Prior to Millicom, Rincon served as COO of Adsmovil, the leading Mobile Advertising Network serving the U.S. Hispanic and Latin America markets; part of the Cisneros Group of Companies. Before that, he served as the CEO of LatCel, a US based mobile content provider for wireless carriers and consumers. He also served as COO of StarMedia Networks, a leading mobile and internet portal for the US and Latin America.

Born and raised in Venezuela, Rincón arrived to the US in 1991 where he obtained an Industrial Engineering and Information Systems degree from Northeastern University in Boston. Then moved around the US, Asia and Latin America until finally settling in Miami. Rincón has over 20 years of hands on experience and has been featured as speaker in serval recognized industry conferences and is also a board member of the Mobile Marketing Association. Follow on Twitter: @jorgerincon / @deezer

David RingDavid Ring Media, LLC, FounderAfter 19 years as a digital business executive and attorney for Universal Music Group, David returned to the practice of music law and also launched David Ring Media, LLC, a technology and music consultancy for leading media, technology and entertainment companies, apps, digital service providers and start-ups. Follow on Twitter: @ringster

Jason RobertHelloSugoi, Co-Founder & CEOJason Robert is the co-founder and CEO of HelloSugoi, managing the company’s operations, driving product development, and overseeing marketing and brand initiatives strategy. After years as a touring drummer, he founded Lost Midas, a music production company. While there, he negotiated recording and publishing deals with the Tru Thoughts label, developed custom go-to-market strategies, and produced original content for press releases and social media campaigns. He released several albums to critical acclaim by the BBC and NPR, and performed extensively across North America and the UK. In addition, Jason has composed original songs at BMG Production Music for high-profile TV shows on NBC, CBS, FOX, Netflix, and Showtime. Follow on Twitter: @lostmidas / @hellosugoi

G. Marq RoswellTunesMap, Founder & CEOG. Marq Roswell is an American music supervisor, producer, and tech founder based in Los Angeles. He has contributed to the musical landscape of more than sixty films and several documentaries, with an impressive list of credits including: The Great Debaters, Spy Game, The Hurricane, Man with the Iron Fists, Tommy Boy, Dawn of the Dead, Wild at Heart, The Commitments, and Iraq for Sale. Roswell was a co-executive music producer for Soundbreaking, a highly acclaimed, eight-hour documentary series for PBS – conceived by Sir George Martin – that explores the history, art and science of making records, and was a film producer on I Saw the Light (Sony Classics), which portrays the life of legendary singer-songwriter Hank Williams. Roswell is currently the CEO of TunesMap, whose patented mobile and TV application unlocks the cultural context around the world of music through an innovative visual technology.

Scott RyanGracenote, VP MusicScott is Vice President, Music at Gracenote responsible for growing the company’s core music business as well as working directly with Product and Engineering teams to develop music solutions for major media and entertainment companies. He brings deep audio and music industry expertise as well as strong data chops back to Gracenote where he did his first stint from 2006 to 2012.

Prior to rejoining Gracenote, Scott served as Senior Vice President of Business at Watchwith, a digital advertising and metadata platform for premium video content. Before that, he was Vice President of Sales at The Echo Nest, the industry-leading music discovery platform and intelligence company acquired by Spotify in 2014. Follow on Twitter: @GracenoteTweets

Jacqueline SabecKing, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, LLP, PartnerJacqueline is a partner of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano and manages the firm’s San Francisco office. Ms. Sabec’s practice emphasizes the unique issues relevant to legacy artists such as the Grateful Dead, Kurt Cobain, Huey Lewis, Journey and songwriters and producers such as Poo Bear and Andrew Gold. Ms. Sabec speaks about protecting artist’s rights, promoting art and culture, and ethics.

Patti SilvermanSF MusicTech Summit, AdvisorPatti Silverman has spent the last 9+ years in the space where music and technology converge. While at Columbia Records in NYC, she developed a reputation as an early proponent of music tech. To run marketing campaigns for artists including Adele, Band of Horses, and Passion Pit, Patti scouted innovative products and breakthrough technologies.
This interest in the “future of music” brought Patti to SF, where she joined the SF MusicTech Summit as Communications Director. In her role, Patti became a master connector, supporting innovation in the music industry by bridging relationships between tech, artists and labels. She continues to work with the community as an Advisor.

Kyle SmetankaTiVo, Senior Product ManagerKyle Smetanka is a Senior Product Manager, leading product development across TiVo’s Metadata business. In this role, he is focused on designing and delivering compelling data solutions for the Media & Broadcasting, Electronics and Entertainment industries. Most notably, Kyle launched the Sports Metadata vertical in 2015 and SongConnect – TiVo’s first major application of machine learning technology in music discovery. Prior to TiVo, he has held positions at MarketShare (Neustar), Sony Music Group, Sony/ATV and BNY Mellon. He has a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Jeffrey C. SmithSmule, CEO & Co-FounderJeff started his career as a software engineer at IBM’s Scientific Research Center in Palo Alto, and after writing software for several companies, eventually cofounded a consumer business in electronic publishing that he sold to Novell/WordPerfect. Jeff took his second company public on the Nasdaq (‘TMWD’), which he grew from inception to several thousand enterprise customers. Jeff’s third company, which he co-founded and where he assumed a non-operating role as a board member, was acquired by Google/Android. Jeff co-founded Smule while pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Music at Stanford and serves as the CEO and Chairman of the Board. He recently completed his Ph.D., “Correlation analyses of encoded music performance”, where he documented cultural differences of music performance interpretation. Jeff previously received a B.S. in Computer Science at Stanford University. He has coauthored sixteen patents. Follow on Twitter: @smule

Zac SmithLandmrk, Project ManagerZac is Digital Project Manager at Landmrk, a location based experiences platform that has been called “the Pokémon GO for music”.

Earlier this year Music Ally named Landmrk as one of the music start-ups to watch in 2017, an accolade that was reinforced when Landmrk won the Start-Up competition at the Future Music Forum in Barcelona.

In his time at Landmrk, Zac has been the lead project manager for campaigns with Shakira, Rise Against and a brand partnership between Universal Music and Carling Cider for the electronic artist Jonas Blue. Follow on Twitter: @landmrk

Richard TitusArk Advisors, Managing Partner
Richard is an experienced Blockchain investor and is an active strategic ICO Advisor and managing partner for Ark Advisors, whose recently completed projects include AdEx, HIVE PROJECT, PO.ET and raised +$300m over the last sixty days. He is currently advising BlockV, CROWDWIZ, GUARDIAN CIRCLE, OMEGA ONE and SCIENCE. Companies Richard (co-) founded include Razorfish, Schematic & Videoplaza. His most recent start-up, Prompt.ly, was founded in 2013 and sold in 2016 to Breezeworks, his fifth exit in a row. Until February 2017, Richard led customer experience for Samsung Electronics. Named one of the Wired 100 in 2010, serial entrepreneur and executive Richard D. Titus has a passion for technology & innovation. He lives in the Bay Area with his two children. Follow on Twitter: @richardtitus / @arkiceadvisors

Ryan WalshFloodgate, PartnerRyan Walsh is a Partner at Floodgate. He leads early stage investments in technology companies. A student of great products and how they impact culture, his focus areas include marketplaces, subscription businesses, and products that include unique network effects and social psychology.

Prior to Floodgate, Ryan directed product management for media at Apple, including Apple Music and the iTunes stores for movies, music, and television. He joined Apple as part of the Beats by Dre acquisition, where he was Vice President of Product, managing design, product development, analytics, and growth. Prior to working with Beats, Ryan spent 15 years starting ventures, building businesses or helping others do the same.

He respects the process of creating something out of nothing, and believes that technology can be our vehicle to turn science into art, and vice versa.

Ryan actively performs improvisational theater and is a noted storyteller. He has produced and deejayed electronic music for over 15 years, under an alias. Follow on Twitter: @localbyproxy

Max WeinbergGeffen RecordsMax Weinberg has spent his career at the intersection of music, media and technology, using bleeding edge tech tools to advance the careers of artists across different genres. He is now Senior Director Promotional Marketing at recently re-launched Geffen Records. On top of Geffen’s legendary back catalog, their current repertoire includes artists such as Avicii, DJ Snake, Lil Jon, AlunaGeorge, and Mura Masa, among others. In his role, Max heads up all marketing and promotion across the roster and label releases.

Geffen uniquely has an internal artist management division, where Max is spearheading the marketing for Geffen-managed artists such as Poppy, Gryffin, Bipolar Sunshine, Michl and others.

Max was previously VP of Digital at Control Music Group, a collective of management and media companies.

Kristin GrantWestcott Multimedia, CEOKristin Westcott Grant is the founder of Westcott Multimedia, a music technology firm focused on building automated marketing tools for labels, independent artists and playlists. Previously, Westcott worked as the Manager of Global Streaming Strategies at Universal Music Group in Nashville, as-well, as an entertainment analyst for Magna Investments in New York City.

Stephen WhiteDubset, CEOStephen is the Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board for Dubset Media Holdings. White joined Dubset as CEO in February 2015. In this role White leads the strategy, execution and delivery for the company.

Prior to joining Dubset White served as chief executive and President at Gracenote from 2012-2014. White held numerous roles for the company across 14 years and played a critical role in growing the company from a small start-up, focusing on music technologies and information, into a digital entertainment leader that now touches millions of music and movie fans around the globe.

Prior to taking over as President, White served as senior vice president of product and content management, where he spearheaded the development of Gracenote technologies for top entertainment platforms and brands, including Apple iTunes, Ford Sync and Sony’s BRAVIA® HDTVs. In addition to heading up the product and content teams at Gracenote, White also spent more than five years leading the company’s sales and business development efforts.

Before joining Gracenote, White was the vice president of development for streaming music start-up Echo.com, which was one of the first companies to combine group content streaming and community features. Prior to Echo.com, White was a senior director and executive producer for CKS, a media consultancy based in Silicon Valley where he lead teams in the creation of web properties such as the Apple online store and GM.com. He began his career as a reporter and writer. Follow on Twitter: @swhite415 / @dubset

Bill WilsonIndie Ninja, Co-FounderA music industry professional with over two decades of experience working in varied roles within independent and major record labels, internet ventures, and mobile content, Bill Wilson brings a well-rounded perspective to the business of music.

From 1989 to 2004, Wilson founded and ran Blackout! Records, a NYC based hardcore punk label. He has also worked for Atlantic Records, Cellfish, RED, Caroline, and Earache Records. In addition to being a co-founder of Indie Ninja and dotBlockchain Music, he currently consults for several companies, including Qwire, Dubset, and The Music Business Association. Follow on Twitter: @billwnyc / @indiedotninja

Brian ZiskSF MusicTech Summit, Executive ProducerBrian Zisk is a serial entrepreneur specializing in digital media, web broadcasting and distribution technologies. He is a founder of BuzzMakers, Inc., which produces the SF MusicTech Summit and the Future of Money & Technology Summit. He is a co-founder of the SF MusicTech Fund. Additionally, Brian is a Co-Founder and Technologies Director of the Future of Music Coalition and a Board Member and/or Strategic Advisor for a wide variety of tech companies and non-profits. Brian was previously a founder of The Green Witch Internet Radio which was sold to CMGI (NASDAQ: CMGI) at the turn of the millennium. He is active in many influential computer-mediated forums, is quoted and published extensively in the media, frequently appears on panels and at industry events domestically and abroad, and is an expert at frenzy whipping, brand awareness, and in creating new business models. He is married to Shoshana Zisk. Follow Brian on Twitter: @zisk

Shoshana ZiskSF Music Tech, Co ProducerShoshana Zisk is the co-producer of the SF MusicTech Summit. She is also an entertainment lawyer with a wide range of experience in the music industry. Her experiences includes Interim Chief Operating Officer for In Ticketing, Business & Legal Affairs for George Clinton and his musical groups Parliament, Funkadelic and The P-Funk Allstars, and General Manager of Clinton’s independent record label The C Kunspyruzy. Her previous positions include Business & Legal Affairs at BMG U.S. Latin, the Copyright Department at Motown, and A&R Administration for Island Records. Shoshana is currently the CEO of Kiddie Village, which creates award-winning childrens videos and music. She is a member of the California, New York, and Florida Bars. She earned a bachelor degree in Classical Piano Performance and Juris Doctorate (cum Laude) from the University of Miami. Shoshana was recently the Musical Director for “Rent” (the musical) in San Francisco, CA & Hollywood, California. Follow Shoshana on Twitter: @shoshana / @sfmusictech