Innovating Music

Mike Butera has gone on some intriguing journeys, connecting music performance passions, philosophy and sound studies, and tech in creating new musical instruments for regular people to get into music. He shares his path to launching Artiphon after years in academic circles, ways he learned how to market new devices and thrive with Kickstarter, and how the adventure is going so far as they get ready to release the Chorda in late 2023. Guest: Dr. Mike Butera, Founder & CEO, ArtiphonDr. Mike Butera is the founder & CEO of Artiphon, a music tech company designing smart instruments that anyone can play. Mike received his Ph.D. in Sound Studies from Virginia Tech and was a professor of Sociology and Philosophy for 6 years. Prior to founding Artiphon, Mike was a consumer electronics product designer, a touring musician, and a public speaker in music & technology. What are you most passionate about with your current work? : Inspiring people to be musical for just a minute every day!Links:https://artiphon.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebutera/https://www.facebook.com/Artiphon

Jason Kramer shares his journey to being an EMT during the AIDS Epidemic, LA Riots, and Northridge Earthquake to Fox Sports to KLOS and KCRW. He talks about the magic of Sunday nights, how he created and drove his own luck through persistent work, asking for opportunities, and taking on new challenges. He shares a bit of his experience being present during the inception of Billie Eilish, including being in the opening scene of her documentary and playing himself in three movies. Jason discusses his various creative pursuits, including photography, directing videos, and teaching.Guest: Jason Kramer, KCRW DJ, Music Supervisor, Photographer, and EducatorFor the last 20 years, Jason Kramer has been in the field of music and radio. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Kramer worked as an EMT during the late 80s and early 90s; and through the 1992 Los Angeles riots. After changing his career as a medic in the hard streets of LA for ten years, he decided to work in radio starting in 1992 on KLOS, screening calls for the widely popular "Seventh Day." From that point on, Jason realized that music and radio were his calling.During his transition, he started off with a stint working with SoCal favorites Sublime and their label Skunk Records. In 1996, he moved on to Fox Sports TV as their full-time music supervisor for 6 years, leading him to become a show producer on Fox Sports Radio. He has also worked in various other aspects of music including management, radio DJ, publishing, creative consulting, music photography, education, and as a music supervisor. Jason started off as a KCRW volunteer in the mid-90s and has been on air since 1997 during a show called The Lab. You can hear Jason on his weekly show on Sunday nights on KCRW and KCRW.com, and can be found playing himself on several films and TV shows in the past few years. Links:KCRW: https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/jason-kramerX: https://twitter.com/kcrwkramerIMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2625239/Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_KramerFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.kramer.37LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liquidcourage/

Jordy Freed from Sony Corporation of America shared his journey from jazz saxophone and building websites to public relations and marketing. Twists and turns took him to radio, Blue Note, Grey Advertising, and finally to Sony. He shares the stories of his twists and turns and the challenges of managing and growing diverse brands. Jordy talks about what he's excited about now and what is changing the workflow of creators.Guest: Jordy Freed, Head of Partner Marketing & Strategy, Brand & Business Development, Video & Sound Products, Sony Corporation of AmericaAs the Head of Partner Marketing & Strategy, Brand & Business Development, Video & Sound Products at Sony Corporation of America, Jordy Freed leads marketing, business development, and communication strategy for the multinational company. A talented sax player who considered becoming a professional musician, the Philly native got his start as a publicist for the jazz firm DL Media, held marketing and PR roles at Blue Note, and made a quick foray into advertising at the top firm Grey. Upon returning to Blue Note in 2016, he partnered with Sony on the creation of NYC's Sony Hall, the first venue to feature Sony's immersive music experience, 360RA. This led to an in-house position at Sony, where he became the first U.S. employee on their Brand & Business Development team, with the remit to develop multi-million dollar business strategies. In this role, he has overseen collaborations with Doja Cat, Pink, Lil Nas X, Pharrell Williams, and Alicia Keys, struck deals to reimagine the David Bowie catalog in 360RA alongside immersive activations, led the company's partnership with Amazon Music, and much more. He now leads marketing and business development for 360RA, as well as global branding activities for a host of sound products.Mentioned LinksSony Corporation of America: https://www.sony.com/en_us/SCA/index.htmlJordy Freed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordyfreed

Michael Huppe, CEO of SoundExchange, fell in love with IP and came into music through law. He had played keyboard and trombone as a young person and ended up at the Recording Industry Association of America, which led him to SoundExchange. He shares how SoundExchange is also a tech company, needing to help and represent its members with opportunities from new technologies, as well as providing a system's backbone for a growing streaming music industry.Guest: Mike Huppe, President and CEO, SoundExchangeMichael Huppe is the President and Chief Executive Officer of SoundExchange, where he champions creators and spearheads the use of technology, data, and advocacy to power the future of music. Whether he is leading efforts to launch new lines of business or advocating on the steps of Capitol Hill for creator-first legislation, every aspect of Michael's work is undertaken on behalf of SoundExchange's larger mission: to ensure that creators are compensated fairly, efficiently, and accurately for their work. To date, SoundExchange has distributed more than $9 billion in digital performance royalties to over half a million music creators.In addition, Michael is an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School, a frequent contributor, published author, lecturer, and active community member. His opinions have been published in Variety, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, Music Business Worldwide, Billboard, and The Hill, among other outlets.What are you most passionate about with your current work? : "Being able to champion creators and helping to create a fairer, simpler, and more efficient music industry through innovative technology and data solutions."Mentioned Links:SoundExchange website: https://soundexchange.orgMike at SoundExchange: https://www.soundexchange.com/team/michael-huppe/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhuppe/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/soundexchange/Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_HuppeFollow Michael on Twitter at @MikeHuppeAI article in Forbes, 12-12-22, “Artificial Intelligence Has Big Implications for Ownership in the Music Industry”, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/people/michaelhuppe/?sh=6dd42e5140b2

Dave Ratner moved from skiing to managing bands into law, and now works with creative companies out of Boulder, CO to understand how to maneuver so many different new opportunities in music.  He talks of innovation in his own life as to how to add capabilities, learn by doing, and then add that in with great creatives. He shares wisdom in how to evaluate risk, plan for success, and use both common sense and contracts to decide what innovations to pursue and how to understand the questions under the legal hood. Guest: David Ratner, Managing Partner of Creative Law Network Following a career in the music businesses as a tour manager, publicist, band manager, and founder of his own management agency, Dave Ratner is now the Managing Partner of Creative Law Network, a boutique entertainment law firm in Colorado. Dave counsels clients throughout the music industry on everything from contracts and licensing, to intellectual property registration and protection, to dispute resolution. He is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Denver College of Law. Dave is an adjunct professor at the University of Denver College of Law, Chair of the Entertainment & Sports Section of the Colorado Bar Association, Advisory Committee Chair of Colorado Attorneys for the Arts, Vice President of the Swallow Hill Music Board, Secretary of the Board of the Colorado Independent Venue Association, and speaks frequently on entertainment law issues throughout the country. What are you most passionate about with your current work? : Helping artists succeed! Mentioned Links: Creative Law Network: https://www.creativelawnetwork.com/dave-ratner/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/creativelawnet LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daratner/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativelawnetwork/

Many of our guests move on a nonlinear line between jobs and ideas.  Kevin in one of our few guests who has been with a single company -- CD Baby -- for a long period of time.  He shares his journey with both CD Baby and as an artist with Small Town Poets.  We talk about challenges exploring new technologies that don't yet have revenue models, educating creators on how to better engage and focus, and producing the long-time CD Baby Podcast with more than 300 episodes.   Guest: Kevin Breuner, CD Baby's SVP of Engagement & Education CD Baby's SVP of Engagement & Education, Kevin Breuner, has spent over 25 years working in the music business, both as a recording artist and an industry professional. A San Diego native, Kevin went east to attend 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. Over their career, Smalltown Poets has amassed ten Top 10 songs on radio, with two reaching the coveted #1 spot. Now residing in Portland, Oregon, Kevin heads up CD Baby's content marketing efforts and hosts their popular DIY Musician Podcast, with the goal of helping artist understand the vast opportunities they have in this new music economy. “I'm very passionate about helping artists understand that they can have a career on their own terms,” says Kevin. “I've been on a label and I've released music independently; I know what it feels like for an artist to pour their heart into a project and then send it out to the world.” Smalltown Poets (smalltownpoets.tv) recently celebrated the release of their 10th album titled NWxSE. Kevin has also had songs used by the NFL, Peacock, ABC, Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, and countless indie film productions. What are you most passionate about with your current work? : Helping artist understand how they can build a career on their own terms. Mentioned Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kbreuner Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kbreuner DIY Musician Podcast: https://podcast.cdbaby.com/ DIY Musician Blog: https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/ CD Baby: https://cdbaby.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-breuner-a512938 EDM article: The Changing Role of a Music Distributor in 2022: https://edm.com/industry/the-changing-role-of-a-music-distributor-in-2022 Small Town Poets: https://smalltown-poets.lnk.to/LITO and https://smalltownpoets.tv/

Jessica's journey -- what a ride!  Music change agent Jessica Powell shares her Roads Taken, ranging from following a now-ex boyfriend across countries to using her languages at CISAC and on a wild boar farm (!!) -- to Google London, Google Asia, and to her current AI and Stems startup, AudioShake.   And even that founding with her co-founder Luke Miner began as a "What If" exercise around bass lines and karaoke, before landing with Billy Mann and peermusic to experiment with AIs and stems to create a next-generation stem separation platform for artists and new creative technologies.  We ran into her at Music Tectonics' annual conference as AudioShake won the "Swimming with Narwhals" Tech Startup Pitch Competition, the latest in a recent series of wins for this new company. Guest: Jessica Powell, CEO and Co-Founder, AudioShake Jessica Powell is the CEO and co-founder of AudioShake, which uses AI to separate songs into instrumentals and stems so that they can be opened up for new opportunities in sync licensing, remixing, and emerging immersive, education, and social media formats. The company won Sony's Demixing Challenge, and was called the “cleanest stem separation tech” by DJ Mag. Powell spent over a decade at Google, where she sat on the company's management team, reporting into the CEO, and ran the company's global communications organization. She began her career at CISAC, the International Society of Authors and Composers, in Paris. She is also an author and essayist, whose work has have been published in the New York Times, TIME, WIRED, and elsewhere. Mentioned Links: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/themoku and https://twitter.com/AudioshakeAI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/audioshake/ and Website: https://audioshake.ai and https://indie.audioshake.ai Music Tectonics' Swimming with Narwhals Music Tech Startup Pitch Competition: https://www.musictectonics.com/pitchcompetition Billy Mann: https://www.billymann.com/ Mary Megan Peer and peermusic: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/mary-megan-peer-named-as-new-chief-executive-officer-of-peermusic-as-ralph-peer-ii-shifts-to-executive-chair/ Donovan's Season of the Witch: https://youtu.be/GU35oCHGhJ0 CISAC (International Confederation of the Societies of Authors and Composers): https://www.cisac.org/ Her book, The Big Disruption: A Totally Fictional but Essentially True Silicon Valley Story - https://www.amazon.com/Big-Disruption-Jessica-Powell-ebook/dp/B07PK5S8D9/ Canadian Music podcast interview: https://www.canadianmusicianpodcast.com/episodes/audioshake-jessica-powell Webby Awards info: https://www.webbyawards.com/news/jessica-powell-co-founder-audioshake/ Magnetic Magazine interview:

We are in post-production on new episodes, so our host, Gigi Johnson, shared a story about "Postcards" and Postcard Moments that has come up in prior episodes and in many recent conversations. She shares how a single postcard created a pivot that changed her direction when a TA offered the suggestion that she apply for USC Film School after a single class. She challenges us to explore "postcards" in our lives -- both given and offered. She also suggests that postcards are all over past episodes, which we'll call out with additional content in the future. Mentioned: Happenstance Theory - Krumboltz, J. D. (2009). The Happenstance Learning Theory. Journal of Career Assessment, 17, 135-154. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1069072708328861 Example article: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/careers/2019/04/30/how-planned-happenstance-can-help-your-career/ NextCareer.me resources: https://nextcareer.me Find Innovating Music on your favorite player: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovating-music/id1107854634 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6tlu2VMRUff34wIRUKmSJf Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0bcdc276-7fee-42ec-9e09-6ca9daceb07b/innovating-music iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-innovating-music-28334239/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InnovatingMusicPodcast Sibling Shows: ♦️ Creative Innovators: https://www.youtube.com/@creativeinnovatorspodcast ♦️ Amplify Music Conversations: https://www.youtube.com/ @Amplify Music 

Bruno shares his saga from playing the drums and enjoying international music, mixing songs and culture from Tunisia, France, and LA. Those facets led to studying at UCLA Ethnomusicology, becoming a DJ at KCRW, and building a record label in his living room. He shared work in place-based music and compilation records, in building the sonic architecture of hotels, vacations, and clothing brands -- creating soundtracks to vacations and lifestyles. His own independent label became his inspiration to work to streamlining the complexity of running a music label. His work in Filemaker Pro and Salesforce for his own company became the early stages of the 2015 go-to-market for Revelator. He became a “product guy,” helping labels in many regions with streaming music processing and accelerating catalog valuation and fractionalization processes. We closed with discussions from Web3 -- moving from an information-based to a value-based Internet -- and new types of marketplaces and tokenized economies that will go beyond what artists can do today. Guest: Bruno Guez, Founder and CEO, Revelator Founder of Revelator, and a former Director on the Board of Merlin Network, the leading music rights agency, Bruno Guez brings over twenty-five years of experience as a seasoned digital music executive working with Chris Blackwell' Island Records and Guy Laliberte's Cirque du Soleil. With a strong vision to retool the creative industry, Bruno saw the opportunity to provide a game-changing technology platform for global rights administration and royalty management using blockchain technology, with a goal of enabling efficient and fully transparent reporting, real-time payments and innovative revenue streams for rights owners, creators, artists, producers, and publishers around the world. Links: URL: revelator.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunoguez/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/brunoguez @brunoguez

[Enjoy our podcast this week that we share with our sister Maremel Network podcast, Creative Innovators.] Dick Huey claims that his career jumps have been "educated luck."  "Because they they are luck. And I'm, I'm I don't ever pretend that I have more information than everybody else does. But I think I'm good at identifying opportunity. So for me, this felt like opportunity. And I jumped at it. And then of course that launched a 25-year career in digital music."  And so Dick shares with us his 25-year career, ranging from teaching software applications to getting his first music management client to building his digital music chops at Beggars Group to building Toolshed.  He works now on his three-legged stool of interests: helping big picture enhancements of the music business, working with record companies, and engaging in ed tech and new technologies. Guest: Dick Huey, Founder/President, Toolshed Dick Huey moved to New York City in 1997 to work for independent label powerhouse the Beggars Group (XL Recordings, 4AD, Matador Records, Rough Trade. He created and staffed the group's digital media department as global head of digital in the early days of digital music, determined the group's strategic direction, and licensed its groundbreaking catalog of world-class independent music from artists like the Pixies, the Prodigy, Throwing Muses, and many others.   Huey launched his NY Hudson Valley-based digital strategy company Toolshed in 2002, long before remote work was in vogue. Toolshed offered an early bespoke label and artist digital marketing, direct music service licensing, and download hosting service that created groundbreaking digital campaigns for Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco, and Aimee Mann amongst hundreds of hundreds of others. Labels and distributors including Matador Records, Beggars Group, The Orchard, Touch and Go, PIAS, Righteous Babe, and Merge Records were also clients. In 2010, Toolshed expanded into music rights acquisition for consumer brands, media, tech, sports, and entertainment companies. Spotify contracted with Huey to lead its US independent label licensing efforts prior to and during Spotify's US launch in 2011. Red Bull Music Radio, SoundExchange, 8tracks, Digital Rights Agency, Red Mountain Ski Resort, Jaxsta, and Tunecore are all past clients or advisory relationships.   Huey is currently a Business Development Consultant to AIMS API, an artificial intelligence music search platform based in the Czech Republic, as well as to Entertainment Intelligence, a high end music analytics platform for direct-license content owners. He is a music license consultant to the US independent record label Merge Records and to stealth cloud radio startup HijackRadio, and an advisor to Techstars accelerator winner Paperchain and Australian personal social media monetization platform OkTY.   Outside of the music industry, Huey is a senior teaching assistant at NYU Professor Scott Galloway's two-year old educational sprint startup Section4. Huey regularly TA's online classes of up to 200 students on the topics of Subscription strategy, Brand, Platform, Product, Data Analytics, Growth Innovation (brand association with physical stores), and Storytelling. Several of the classes Huey TA's are taught by Galloway himself.   He held a 9-year board seat at SoundExchange representing Matador Records. He is a past Executive Director and board chairman of the Future of Music Coalition, based in Washington DC. He was chairman of the new media committee at the American Association of Music (A2IM) from its earliest days, as well as a consultant to independent entity the Association of Independent Music (AIM).   Huey is a USSA-certified downhill ski racing coach and committed biker and mountain biker. He moved from the New York area to the Columbia River Gorge in 2021. He began his career as a musician, then a music manager, and signed and...

Morgan Hayduk initially aimed for basketball and law -- and thank goodness kept going into building new tools and working with large organizations to fight fraud and manipulation in streaming music.  He shares with us his adventures in building his personal Toolkit of marketing, scaling, and selling -- plus working with his blockchain wizard co-founders -- to launch the audit and anti-fraud muscle of Beatdapp.  He shares what could be a great primer on the challenges of blockchain in music and why a million somethings can seem important for a startup. Guest: Morgan Hayduk, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Beatdapp Morgan Hayduk is the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Beatdapp, an entertainment technology company. Ranked #2 startup in Canada and Top 20 Music Companies globally by TechCrunch, Beatdapp is building digital supply chain infrastructure for the streaming economy. Prior to founding Beatdapp, Hayduk led enterprise growth and partnerships for ZipRecruiter (NYSE:ZIP), was the Director of Federal Government Relations for TELUS Communications, and served as a consultant for Canada's leading boutique government relations firm, Crestview Strategy. As a consultant, Hayduk specialized in entertainment & technology, representing Music Canada (the domestic trade association for Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music) and Hasbro's entertainment studio eOne, along with Facebook, Uber and TELUS. Hayduk was part of the team that led to the passage of Canada's signature music copyright protection legislation, which extended copyright from 50 to 70 years.  LA Clippers - Corporate Partnerships manager, Telus, Federal GovernmentRelations Hayduk earned his MBA and B.A. from Trinity Western University in Vancouver, British Columbia and resides in Toronto, Ontario with his wife and two children.   Mentioned Links: Email: morgan@beatdapp.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-hayduk-9206b456/ Michael K Williams, Vice, Black Market - Rage Against the Machines - https://www.vicetv.com/en_us/video/rage-against-the-machines/61d74f386562686c0c1f2a51 Dec 11, 2017, Evan Symon, “The Hellish Reality of Working at an Overseas ‘Click farm', https://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2550-the-hellish-reality-working-at-overseas-click-farm.html

Enjoy this final episode where Jack Conte blends the worlds of music creation (Pomplamoose and  Scary Pockets) and solving creators’ problems with systems (crowdfunding and community with Patreon).  He shares how he balances (or doesn’t balance at times) creating music with running a large tech business.  He also shares what he has learned, how his companies have shifted with the work-from-home world shift, and how he has changed/staffed his own creative processes in this distributed era.  His career journey has been an interesting mingling of music and science/technology, all the way back to his science teacher who got him interested (who he still connected with monthly over Costco pizza).  Guest: Jack Conte, CEO and Co-Founder of Patreon; band member of Pomplamoose and Stray Pockets Jack Conte is a musician, filmmaker, half of band Pomplamoose and Scary Pockets, and a co-founder at Patreon, a membership platform that makes it easy for creators to earn salaries directly from their biggest fans. Patreon was founded in 2013, and is on track to pay out more than $500 million to creators in 2019 alone. As a musician and filmmaker, Jack spent his days in a converted dog kennel-turned-recording studio in Sonoma County, making YouTube videos that have amassed over 120 million views. Now, he’s in full-time CEO mode at Patreon HQ in San Francisco where the company is paying millions of dollars to creators every month around the world. Jack also loves working with robots. Mentioned Links: Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/creator-home Patreon Twitter: https://twitter.com/Patreon Pomplamoose: https://www.pomplamoose.com/ YouTube - Pomplamoose - https://www.youtube.com/user/PomplamooseMusic Scary Pockets: https://www.facebook.com/scarypockets/ Personal: http://www.jackcontemusic.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jackcontemusic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JackConteMusic IG: https://www.instagram.com/jackconte/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackconte

This week on the Innovating Music Podcast, we are joined by Ted Cohen, who shared tales of doing things for the right reasons and seeing decades ago the dimensions of our current music streaming playlists and challenges.  He talks about genuineness of artists vs. overproduction in livestreaming and concerts, pricing the risks of new markets, scarcity, negotiations, how business challenges repeat, and how some people don’t see or know the past launches in their very own businesses.  He shares his search and joy for things that are “effing amazing” as a whole with elegant execution.  And he shares the joy of paying it forward from those who got him started as mentors. Guest: Ted Cohen, Head of Development, Mediatech Ventures; Managing Partner, TAG Strategic Known as “part connector/part evangelist/always a futurist,” Ted Cohen is Managing Partner of TAG Strategic, an LA-based digital entertainment consultancy. Additionally, Ted is Head of Corporate Development for Mediatech.Ventures, the Austin-based VC/incubator/accelerator. Previously, as SVP-Digital for EMI Music, Cohen led global digital business development. Prior to EMI, Ted led Consulting Adults, clients included Universal Studios, Amazon, Microsoft, and Napster. Cohen also held senior positions at both Warner Bros Records & Philips Electronics. A 40+ year digital entertainment industry veteran, Cohen created & chaired MidemNet and served on the Grammy National Trustee Board. Ted continually looks for the next innovative technology & his next challenge, he really loves his life.

A year ago, Dmitri Vietze launched a new thought leadership conference on music technology in Los Angeles, and had to move it with one day's notice.  This year, he has moved his whole thought leadership with Music Tectonics online with virtual conferences and community gatherings.  He shares his thoughts on crisis-driven shifts to music livestreaming, expanding new releases, and digital access, along with tidbits on intriguing companies in this current listen-from-home era.    Guest: Dmitri Vietze, CEO and Founder, rock paper scissors Dmitri Vietze is the Founder and CEO of rock paper scissors, inc. It was his crazy idea to transform a global music PR firm into what has become a predominant music tech PR firm. Dmitri is a regular presenter at SXSW Music, SF MusicTech, Music Biz, APAP, and WOMEX. He is also the founder and CEO of StoryAmp.com. He has a jaw harp collection, can juggle five balls, and has a titanium leg. Mentioned Links: Rock paper scissors website: http://hello.rockpaperscissors.biz/ Music Tectonics Website: https://www.musictectonics.com/ Podcast: https://www.musictectonics.com/podcast Blog: https://www.musictectonics.com/blog Community App: https://www.musictectonics.com/community Conference: Oct. 27-28, 2020 - https://www.musictectonics.com/conference LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitrivietze/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dmitri.vietze IG: https://www.instagram.com/dmitrivietze/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmitrivietze Topeka: https://topeka.live/ YouNow: https://www.younow.com Bandsintown: https://www.bandsintown.com/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ CD Baby:  https://cdbaby.com/

This week on the Innovating Music Podcast, we talk with Music Business Association President, Portia Sabin about the ways in which the music business is connected as a community. We discuss her journey through the music industry from performing as an artist to running a record label. We also look at other aspects of the music business and how they have been affected in light of the pandemic. This includes trade associations and their advantages for independent labels especially during the pandemic, and other ways in which cities can centralize their local music businesses to connect the music community at large.   Guest: Portia Sabin, President of Music Business Association Dr. Portia Sabin is the President of the Music Business Association.  While working on her Ph.D. at Columbia University, she played drums, recorded, and toured with NYC band The Hissyfits. She founded Shotclock Management in 2004 and took over running the legendary independent label, Kill Rock Stars, in 2006. She is the host of a radio show and podcast about the music business called The Future of What. Sabin is a former board member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of The Recording Academy, the RIAA, and the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM).     Mentioned Links: Website: https://musicbiz.org/ Facebook: @MusicBizAssoc IG: @MusicBizAssoc Twitter:@MusicBizAssoc

Innovation often answers the call to action made by changing environments. In this week’s podcast, we talk with Jay Gilbert, photographer and co-founder of Label Logic, about the new challenges artists in the music industry face in light of social-distancing and what their “new normal” will be as the world regains its rhythm. We look at new models for artist-fan engagement such as blended venues of live-streaming and live shows, as well as tools such as Bandsintown, Stageit, Bandzoogle, and Patreon. We also discuss the advantages of utilizing such platforms in terms of building new engagement metrics based on individuals rather than aggregate data and how this aids artists in strengthening and expanding their fanbases. Guest: Jay Gilbert, Co-Founder, Label Logic; Photographer As a teenager in the Pacific Northwest, Jay smuggled his Canon F-1 into rock concerts to get the perfect shot of the likes of Queen, Van Halen and Cheap Trick. After college, he toured as a musician gaining invaluable experience in what it takes to create and promote an album. He later translated that knowledge as an executive with Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music Groups.  Jay moved to San Francisco and finally to Los Angeles for Universal where he worked for 18 years, most recently as VP New Media and Online Marketing for Universal Music Enterprises [UMe]. Jay has been on the cutting edge of Digital Sales & Marketing with Universal Music, Starbucks Entertainment, Fox Home Entertainment (International), and Warner Music Group. It is this unique perspective as a musician, music executive, and fan that makes his approach to Digital Strategy and Online Marketing so artist-friendly. While at Universal, Jay launched the first digital-only label, responsible for all aspects of the operations. The groundbreaking label was featured on NPR, Billboard Magazine, Nights With Alice Cooper, and in the NY Times.  Jay also created the industry's first sheet music + album download (for the Grammy award-winning “Fingerprints” album by Peter Frampton).  He created and executed unique online marketing plans for Nirvana, The Police, KISS, Motley Crue, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Styx, Rob Zombie, Johnny Cash, Guns ‘N Roses, Smokey Robinson, Tears For Fears, Rick Springfield, Lisa Loeb, Ringo Starr, Ron White, Peter Frampton, The Temptations, Amy Grant, Melissa Etheridge, and many, many others. Returning to his roots, photography remains Jay's creative outlet. He has photographed hundreds of artists in the studio and on tour. Mentioned Links: Website: www.label-logic.net  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/labellogic.net Twitter:  @jaygilbert Your Morning Coffee: https://www.jaygilbertconsulting.com/your-morning-coffee Jay Gilbert Consulting: https://www.jaygilbertconsulting.com/ Music Biz Weekly Podcast:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzDMG2H31uya2F8Bv3zp6Di2pPzRnOKZb

In this week’s podcast, Stefan Schulz, CEO and co-founder of Bitfury Surround, joins us to discuss the potential of blockchain technology for connecting not just content, but data and new value chains for content. Coming from a rich background at the intersection of music, business and evolving technology, Stefan explains why now is the time to decentralize the way we track ownership data and the countless opportunities to be unlocked. Guest: Stefan Shulz, Co-founder and CEO of Bitfury Surround Stefan Schulz is the CEO and co-founder of Bitfury Surround. He has been working in the music industry for more than 20 years, pioneering the use of technology for the benefit of artists. In 2001, Stefan became a founding member of Universal Mobile, a Vivendi business unit that went on to dominate the mobile music market. Later, while working in Universal Music’s Digital Business in Central and Eastern Europe, he was in charge of milestone deals with large players such as Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Nokia, Verisign, Apple, NTT DoCoMo, Deezer, Spotify and more. For both Universal Music and Vivendi, Stefan actively designed and developed new business models around audio and video content as well as licenses for equity programs and consumer platforms. In 2016, Stefan joined forces with Simon Fuller (XIX Entertainment) to create the first global pop group based entirely on social media and audience engagement. Most recently, he has led the design of digital live entertainment rights (including social media, AR/VR and streaming content) for artists, promoters and music labels. He has worked with globally known artists like Nelly Furtado, Eminem, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, Snow Patrol, U2, Florence and the Machine, Gwen Stefani, Bon Jovi, Sting, and Andrea Bocelli. Mentioned Links: Website: https://surround.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bitfurysurround LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanconvert/

Technology transforms the way in which we view opportunities and often creates new ones. This week on the Innovating Music Podcast, we rethink learning and education in music with UCLA alumnus Akira Nakano, the President and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Inception Orchestra. We look through the lens of applying virtual reality technology paired with original composition to the creation of educational programs that engage with local artist communities, and that bring music to underrepresented areas. Guest: Akira Nakano, President and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Inception Orchestra Akira Nakano grew up at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in both piano and percussion, soloing with numerous orchestras throughout Southern California as a youngster. He studied with Dr. Heewon Kwon with master classes from Jeffrey Kahane, Leon Fleischer, Ilana Vered, John Perry and Daniel Pollack. He was the winner of the 1st Annual Herbert Zipper Award in Music Composition amongst other piano competitions. Entering UCLA on a full ride piano performance scholarship, he won the UCLA Concerto Competition and graduated with a B.A. in Film & Television production. Mr. Nakano spent over twelve years working as a video editor, writer, producer and live event director at TRW Space & Electronics, and went on to have 20+ years of video marketing/communications and film producing experience which will dovetail into the LA Inception Orchestra's Virtual Reality/360 music education program.    Mentioned Links: Facebook: https://www.inceptionorchestra.org/ Twitter: @LAInceptionOrch Asia American Symphony Association: http://aasymphony.org Classical Saxophone Project: http://www.classicalsaxproject.org/ Gensler: nsler.com  Heart of Los Angeles: heartofla.org Young Musicians Foundation: ymf.org American Composers Forum: composersforum.org  

Adaptation is key when it comes to technology and innovation. In this week’s podcast, we discuss how technology evolves to fit the ever-changing dynamic between artists and their fan-bases with Fabrice Sergent, the co-founder and CEO of Bandsintown. We look at new ways in which Bandsintown supports its artists with new features such as WatchLive and a recent partnership with Twitch. We also discuss the shift in livestream viewing trends which have increased dramatically and what this means for artists and digital platforms. Guest: Fabrice Sergent, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Bandsintown Group Based in New York, Fabrice is an entrepreneur with experiences in the music and tech industries. He has spent 10 years in Europe and 13 years in the US, leading 2 start-ups from inception to over $100m in revenue. Fabrice is also a director of the Mobile Giving Foundation since 2009, serving 800 charities in the US and Canada. Fabrice launched his first start-up as Founder and CEO of Club-Internet in 1995, one of the very first and leading French consumer Internet Service Provider (ISP). Club-Internet was sold to Deutsche Telekom’s T-Online for €1.2 billion in 2000 with close to one million subscribers when he left the company.   Fabrice then co-founded Cellfish Media, a leading App publisher, and Bandsintown Group through organic growth and acquisitions. Fabrice served as a board member of several prominent media and internet companies in Europe such as the supervisory board of the publicly traded T-Online (largest German ISP), was a director of media/tech companies such as Le Monde Interactif (groupe Le Monde), Hachette Multimedia (Lagardere), Lagardere Active (TV and Radio).   He is regularly featured as a speaker or expert at key music and tech events including SXSW, DLD, Billboard Conference, Pollstar Conference, Midem, Mobile World Congress, MusicBiz. Fabrice has been selected as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company in 2018.    Mentioned Links: Website: https://news.bandsintown.com/  https://www.twitch.tv/bandsintown/ Facebook: @bandsintown @bitforartists IG: @bandsintown @bandsintownforartists Twitter: @bandsintown @bitforartists    

Circumstances can spark innovation when changing work environments require new solutions. This week on the Innovating Music Podcast, we talk with Michael Gitig of G-Technology about the transformation of digital workflows and how his operation has transformed to connect "create from home" film, TV, and music creators. During the state orders to work from home, they had to close up their Hollywood community studio location and totally rethink their delivery of tech workflow services. They really have become the bridge to connect disparate technologies in this work-from-home era for digital creators.  Michael shared many changes being made by creators and companies and the lasting effects these innovations may have on future workflows and work environments. Guest: Michael Gitig, Commander of Intergalactic Business Development, G-Technology Michael Gitig is a former music + entertainment industry worker turned tech intra- and entrepreneur.  He has worked in business & strategic development, marketing, product management, and strategy for a variety of companies including Disney, Microsoft, and American Express, and was the co-founder of a music supervision company.  His obsession with the convergence of media, technology, and commerce led him to pursue an MBA at the University of Michigan, where he graduated with distinction.  While at the Ross School of Business, Mike led the consumer technology team of the Frankel Fund, a pre-seed student-run venture fund. Mentioned Links: Website: g-technology.com and gobbler.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GTechnology/ Instagram:  @gtechnology LinkedIn:  linkedin.com/in/gitig Twitter: @foodforpods

This week on the Innovating Music Podcast, we discuss innovation in public policy with Shain Shapiro. He is the founder and CEO of Sound Diplomacy, an organization that works together with a wide range of clientele from city councils to property developers and more, in order to help music in cities thrive. We discuss music communities in cities as ecosystems and how public policy can support and protect them. We also look at the effects the COVID-19 crisis has had on the music industry and what they mean for the future.

Sometimes you have the right guest at the right time. Andrew Mason is founder and CEO of Descript, an AI-driven transcription software that promises to make audio editing as simple as using a word processor. In this week's Innovating Music podcast, we discuss the role of Descript in the current work-from-home experiment, as well as the features the company is rolling out to make podcasting more accessible to everyone. Along the way, we delve into Andrew’s entrepreneurial career, and how he turns lemons into lemonade as he transforms companies.

In this special episode, we share the WebCall last week to hear what was happening on the ground in Seattle, WA and King County, WA, in the face of the COVID-19 closure of music venues and live experiences.  Kate Becker talks about how King County is responding to the virus, what they are telling their music venues, businesses, artists and community, and generally shared her moving perspective on lessons learned throughout this process of pandemic and public health. Guest: Kate Becker, King County WA Public Health for Mass Gatherings, Creative Economy Strategist Before the current crisis, Kate Becker had been the Creative Economy Strategist for the Office of King County Executive Dow Constantine in Seattle, WA.  For 5 years, she had been the Director of the Office of Film + Music in the City of Seattle, and had been a Commissioner for the Seattle Music Commission.  Her prior background includes being Director of Development and Exec. Producer for the Seattle Theatre Group, as well as being heavily involved in arts and non-profit work for many years. This virtual event was co-hosted by the Music Policy Forum, Music Cities Together, the Center for Creative Futures at the Maremel Institute, King County Creative, and Innovating Music @ UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Mentioned Links: Music Policy Forum King County Creative on Facebook and their new website COVID-19 Handbook for Creative Industries Kate Becker on LinkedIn

Karen Allen helps decode and make simpler streaming music for artists on Twitch.  Twitch is a live streaming service, bought by Amazon in 2014, and has 2.2 million daily broadcasters and 15 million daily average viewers.  It is mostly gamers, but also has creative and music channels for its highly creative audience.  Karen shares her own explorations in learning to use YouNow and now Twitch.  She shares what fan bases are there and how this type of engagement is different than what artists might have from other platforms.  She shares how you can learn further with her book and online class, Twitch for Musicians. Guest: Karen Allen, Author, Twitch for Musicians Karen Allen created Twitch for Musicians, a book and an online course now in its second edition that demystifies the process of producing and growing a channel on Twitch. She features artists on the InRotation channel on Twitch, produces the MarinaVMusic channel, and manages Megan Lenius, a top music streamer. She is also a strategy and business development consultant to tech startups in music and entertainment and has held executive positions at the RIAA, Mobile Ecosystem Forum, and TAG Strategic. Mentioned Links: Website: https://www.twitchformusicians.com Facebook: @twitchformusicians IG: @twitchformusic Twitter: @twitchformusic MarinaV on Twitch StageIt EmmaMcGann on Twitch YouNow MonsterCat Audible Magic rights management Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) Mixer Caffeine.tv Stream Labs Tablo Publishing

Matt Black has been intrigued by computers since reading "The Shockwave Rider" from a bookmobile in his small English village of his youth. Since then, he has created scratch mixes from a set of decks across London warehouse parties in the late 1980s, pirate radio, become the band Coldcut, created major hits, launched the label Ninja Tune, and developed mad programming skills. He builds what he calls "software instruments" for the iPad and (when he can) Android, expanding this year from Ninja Jam to JammPro, letting artists make their own tracks.   Guest: Matt Black, Co-Founder, Ninja Tune; Member of the band Coldcut Matt Black is half of legendary DJ duo and multimedia pop group Coldcut, formed in 1987, and founders of Ninja Tune, the UK  label. In 2020, Ninja Tune celebrates 30 years as one of the world’s leading electronic music labels and a beacon for the independent music spirit. In 2017 Coldcut celebrated 30 years in electronic music with a string of gigs releases and special projects. A new album is coming in 2020.   For over 28 years as part of Coldcut he has combined cutting edge artistic expression with positive activist themes in such pieces as Journeys by DJ, The Only Way is Up, People Hold On, Stop This Crazy Thing, Timber, Panopticon, Re:volution, Energy Union, Walk a Mile, True Skool, and many more. Coldcut have worked with a wild range of artists, activists and other groups and luminaries eg Steve Reich, James Brown, Mark  E Smith, Queen Latifah, Jello Biafra, Saul Williams, Robert Owens, Lisa Stansfield, Crass, Roots Manuva, Lee Scratch Perry, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Greenpeace, and Avaaz. In 2011 Matt designed the iOS app Ninja Jamm, Ninjatune's first music app which has had over 600,000 downloads; in 2020 the new advanced version Jamm Pro has been released. In 2017 2 more apps he designed were released: Pixi a visual synth, and Robbery a satirical video game. Midivolve, a music software collaboration with Ableton was released July 2017. The Zen Delay hardware unit released 2019 was also his co-creation. At Splice festival 2017 Matt showcased his experiments with Style Transfer, a cutting edge new style of visual processing using AI techniques. For his AV show, done in conjunction with his wife filmmaker Dinaz Stafford, Jamm triggers visual clips so every sound has a matching visual.  Matt collaborated with artist Wolfgang Buttress (the Hive, Kew) for BEAM AV installation Glastonbury 2019. Links: Jamm Pro Website: http://jammpro.net/   Jamm Pro for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1148499320 Jamm Pro Competition - Win £1000: http://jammpro.net/jp1000/ Twitter: @NinjaJamm Coldcut Twitter: @Coldcut The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner, 1975 The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins, 1940 Tonto synth and Malcolm Cecil Ableton Link Kevin Kelly, The Next 5,000 Days on the Web, 2007, TED Roger Hallam, Common Sense for the 21st Century; Extinction Rebellion 

Kwende Kefentse, both DJ Memetic and Music Lead for the City of Ottawa, and our host dig into the urban terrain, urban fabric, and politics of the city and music.  He speaks deeply about urban terrain, urban fabric, and music, with the lens of "urban morphology" from his architecture studies in London and work with the city.  He talks about topics as wide-ranging as the origins of hip hop in the South Bronx, trends in music cities where industry and community connect, distribution of music assets in neighborhoods, the music industry as intermediator, city metabolisms for music, missing dynamic models, and the role of media in a city.  He brings the conversation back to his work with TIMEKODE, one of Canada’s most established independent dance parties, and the documentary in progress about its community impact.  Guest: Kwende Kefentse, Cultural Industries Development Officer and Music Lead, City of Ottawa; DJ Memetic; Host and Creative Director, TIMEKODE Kwende Kefentse is the Cultural Industries Development Officer and Music Lead for the City of Ottawa. His work at the intersection of culture, space, public policy and the economy has been featured in outlets like CityLab, Spacing Magazine and Monocle Radio to name a few. Prior to completing a Masters of Research from UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture in Space Syntax Architecture and Cities (2017 - 2018), focussed on the spatial configuration of music industry value chains, Kwende played a leading role developing the council-approved Renewed Action Plan for Arts, Heritage, and Culture (2013 - 2018). Following from that, he led the development of the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition - a not-for-profit organization focussed on industry development, and the Ottawa Music Strategy (2018 - 2020) - a council-approved strategy for investing in, and developing the music industry. He now works on day-to-day implementation of the strategy while developing other cultural industry initiatives. Kwende serves on the boards of the Carleton University Art Gallery and FACTOR (Diversity and Inclusion observer) respectively. He is also the locally and internationally renowned producer and performer DJ Memetic, and the host + creative director of TIMEKODE, one of Canada’s most established independent dance parties. Over nearly 15 years of monthly events TIMEKODE has become a beacon of progressive pluralism in Ottawa. His solo + TIMEKODE original productions and remixes have received critical acclaim from international outlets like Vice Thump, Radio Nov and Wax Poetics. Links Mentioned: LinkedIn Twitter @kwendeismemetic City of Ottawa Ottawa Music Industry Coalition Space Syntax: Architecture and Cities @ UCL's Bartlett School of Architecture TIMEKODE: http://timekode.com / http://timekode.tv Richard Florida - Rise of the Creative Class  (on  Amazon) Creative Index Music Policy Forum website and Facebook Santa Fe Institute Urban Morphology NOW Institute Full transcripts can be found at innovatingmusic.org

We're just sharing quick news that we are now 4 years into the Innovating Music podcast adventures and thank you for your friendship and community.  We're shifting to Wednesday releases and planning upcoming live events/recordings.  Let us know of suggested events, places, and guests you would like to see in this continuing exploration of tech and social change around music. 

Jesse Elliott helped create The Music District to support and work with music ecosystems in Ft. Collins, CO. He shares his earlier work with Richard Florida, his journey as a musician and a creative community organizer. Jesse shares the challenges and unique pilots that have worked locally, and his work with other communities globally. Guest: Jesse Elliott, Director, The Music District Jesse Elliott, Director of the Music District, is a lifelong champion of collaborative creative efforts, social entrepreneurship, and the power of music and storytelling. He is the founder and songwriter of two rock and roll bands, These United States and Ark Life, who have released 6 albums and performed live 1,200 times in the last decade, from SXSW and Glastonbury to Lollapalooza and your favorite local dive. Before music recaptured his heart, Elliott wrote books and speeches with economist Richard Florida, co-founded a community nonprofit at the University of Iowa, helped shoot a documentary on water rights in southern Mexico and Guatemala, and ran an Italian deli on the Jersey Shore. With his company Range Music Ecosystems, Elliott and his co-founder Dr. Bryce Merrill researched and wrote the music strategies for the City of Denver and the State of Colorado, and brought together international thinkers on music and community for the City of Austin, the Biennial of the Americas, and more. Photo: Ty Hyten The Music District brings together the art, business, technology, and community of one of humanity’s longest-standing sources of inspiration, communication, and collaboration. Equal parts creative laboratory, industry incubator, and town hall, the 57,000 square foot campus serves as a bridge between city and university, mountains and plains, in the free-wheeling innovation cauldron of Fort Collins, Colorado. Touring artists, scrappy start-ups, experienced technicians, global scholars, forward-thinking investors, and the hungriest music fans in the country will all find a home at the Music District. Seeded by Bohemian Foundation, which also puts its love, people, and money into other community, civic, and global causes, they will then bring that home to the wider world. Great songs, companies who care, and a commitment to the social fabric that makes life worth living are all at the heart of the District’s ambitious mission. LinkedIn Email: jesse@themusicdistrict.org Twitter @musicdistrctfc Instagram @themusicdistrict YouTube The Music District Website Richard Florida - Rise of the Creative Class (on Amazon) The World is Spiky, The Atlantic, Oct. 2005 These United States (band) (Wikipedia) and band site Bohemian Foundation Ground Waves with Murs;  YouTube video Storm Gloor, Univ. of Colorado, Denver Michael Seman, CSU LEAP Institute for the Arts Backline Music, Milwaukee, WI Denver Music Strategy Report, 2018 Zoo Labs, Oakland, CA Mercer Music Music Cities Colorado 2020 -- September 23-26, 2020 Jesse TEDxCSU, 2017, "Music Ecosystems: Remixing Community KRFC Radio Sound Diplomacy Surround Sound Bash

Roman Rappak is forging ahead on two parallel tracks -- creating recorded music for traditional channels and creating new systems to create mixed reality experience with the same music in live environments.  Enjoy this episode where he talks about what drives him on these parallel and interwoven journeys with his new band, Miro Shot, and how they are building their own systems and processes to create a new type of live/virtual engagement for audiences. Guest: Roman Rappak, Lead Singer, Miro Shot; Founder, Mirocolabs Roman Rappak is the lead singer of the band Miro Shot, releasing their debut album on AllPoints Records and Warp Publishing in 2020. CEO and Founder of Mirocolabs, a VR/AR content creation studio, and live events company.  He has toured internationally, released two full-length albums with his last band Breton, appearing at festivals, on live TV and radio. He has won awards for short films and produced a live cinema/music show called Surrounded that toured from the UK to Australia, as well as directing music videos for artists such as Sinead O'Connor and music for brands such as Dior, Hermes, and Givenchy. Band Website Mirocolabs LinkedIn Twitter @romanrappak and @miro_shot Instagram @miro_shot All Points Music Warp Publishing Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson (2003) Ready Player One  (book) by Ernest Cline (2011) Beat Saber (VR game) Cannes XR YouTube for Music Videos Miro Shot live immersive concert demo video Articles: Forbes, BBC Art & Culture, Clash Magazine, Spindle Magazine, Vox pop (Audience Reactions) Voices Of VR Podcast

Andrew Goren at 20 has built Harmony Helper, a newly launched app, from his own experiences and observations in the live stage rehearsal and audition environment. He has built his undergraduate program around this work, and brought together a team of professionals to see it launched. Andrew shares some of that journey as well as his experiences in building and launching a product based on drawings from when he was 13. Enjoy this perspective on building needed tools and think about your own journey . . . what could you have built by the age of 20? Guest: Andrew Goren, Founder & CEO, Harmony Helper Andrew Goren is the founder and CEO of Harmony Helper. As a passionate and young musical theatre actor, Andrew has been on a quest since the age of 12 to develop the perfect way to learn and sharpen singing and harmonizing abilities. From early work as a working performer, including time at the Paper Mill Playhouse Summer Conservatory, he has accumulated unique insights and vision have led to the creation of the newly launched Harmony Helper app. With his leadership of recruited professionals, Harmony Helper is designed to help singers effectively practice and improve singing performance anywhere, anytime... Andrew is on leave to launch the product from being an undergraduate in a custom-designed major in theatre, tech, business, and entrepreneurship at Drexel University. LinkedIn: Andrew Goren and Harmony Helper Harmony Helper Website BroadwayCon Paper Mill Playhouse Twitter: @harmony_helper Instagram: @harmonyhelper Facebook: @HarmonyHelperApp

Kristen Agee has made her way from classical violin in Oklahoma to touring and studio bass to . . . CEO of a production music, publishing, and custom music company. She has built a one-stop shop and has learned a lot along the way. She shares the power of Asking, including her story about asking for bass guitar lessons from Darryl Jones. She launched 411 Music Group in 2014 as a way to find longevity in the music business beyond studio gigs and performing by aggregating music copyrights. Kristen tells us about technologies and tools that help her run and understand this IP-driven business. However, the core focus is how to create opportunities and step forward with persistence, great teams, and stepping forward to learn. Guest: Kristen Agee, Songwriter, Composer, and Founder/CEO, 411 Music Group Kristen Agee is a songwriter, composer, and Founder of 411 Music Group. 411 provides synchronization licensing, custom score, publishing, administration and digital distribution for music rights holders. Kristen secures global partnerships for 411 and oversees creative and strategic business development. She has spoken on panels and hosted workshops across the world. She grew up as a Classical violinist and started playing multiple instruments at the age of 7 before getting into sound engineering. In 2007, she built and opened a studio in Silver Lake, recorded LA Punk bands and wrote music for various artists. From 2008-2011, she toured with indie acts as a violinist and bassist before transitioning to full-time writing. After writing for various publishers, Kristen started 411 Music Group in September 2012 and launched an indie song catalog in January 2014. In March 2017, she was called to run the music department at All3Media America where she was the Executive In Charge of Music from April 2017 to August 2018. She curates writing teams and composes music for television shows, trailers, advertisements, video games, and promos. Website: 411 Music Group LinkedIn IMDB Twitter: 411 Music Group Darryl Jones, bassist Donald Passman, All You Need to Know About the Music Business, 2019: home site and on Amazon WhatsApp Music Maestro publishing accounting software The Light & Dark London: listening links MusicTech article on the concept album

Omid Rahmat came into the music business from the tech and app world in order to solve music creation workflow problems with Joyner Lucas and Dhruv Joshi -- and now solves them for more than 350,000 creators through the Tully App. He talks in this podcast episode about ways to limit tech and financial overhead costs for entrepreneurial song creators. Omid brings us along on his journey in his team creating the toolset and how he sees the changing music business. Guest: Omid Rahmat, COO, Tully Omid Rahmat started his career working in computer graphics subsystems, visualization, and multimedia systems. His work in these technologies lead to his involvement in the earlier days of media streaming on the web and subsequently into media-based application development. He has worked as an executive in both hardware and software companies. Presently, he is COO of Tully App. Tully App was created by recording artist Joyner Lucas and music entrepreneur Dhruv Joshi. Tully is a total workflow solution for artists to go from ideation to distribution and career management. It is designed by artists for artists. Tully gives an artist the power to be entrepreneurial as well as creative, putting the artist in control of all aspects of their music and business.

Ed Goldfarb sees and hears differently. Where you and I might be just talking, he is hearing background music and seeing the notes in a manuscript. Ed shares with us his journey from professionally accompanying performances as a youth to creating live music for years for Beach Blanket Babylon in the Bay Area in California . . . to creating hundreds of motifs and a multi-location production team around hundreds of Pokémon episodes and films. He uses different senses and experiences along with collaborative music tech to build series music in his own unique way. Guest: Ed Goldfarb, Madcap Labs Composer/Musician/Producer/Educator Ed Goldfarb has scored more than 300 episodes of television and four feature films for the internationally beloved Pokémon anime and movies. He’s also collaborated with legendary film director Francis Ford Coppola on numerous projects including Apocalypse Now Redux. In the previous century, Ed was Music Director of San Francisco’s Beach Blanket Babylon, tried to produce hits (most successfully for Boyz II Men) and, before that, received a degree in Music Composition from the University of California, Berkeley. Ed lives in Marin County, CA, with his family, where, in addition to operating his studio Madcap Labs, he plays piano at an Italian restaurant on Wednesdays for dinner and tips. Website: Ed Goldfarb Music LinkedIn Twitter @edgoldfarbmusic

Matthew Ché Kowal is innovative in looking at a very specific set of overlaps in music. He has parlayed his experience in running festivals focusing on sustainability into work focused on mass gatherings. What can emergency workers learn from music festivals? What can festivals do to help heal from disasters? Matthew will talk about how he is bringing these two questions and other challenges together in Denver and beyond with his various projects and roles. Guest: Matthew Ché Kowal, Founder, Majestic Collaborations; Denver Arts & Venues Music Strategy; Emergency Preparedness Consultant for Performing Arts Readiness Majestic Collaborations consults with businesses, organizations and government agencies, and creatives to advance best design practices to enhance the preparedness, safety, and sustainability of gatherings. As the creative director of 100+ festivals for New Belgium (2005-2016), Matthew coordinated partnerships between brands, artists, and non-profit organizations to present highly participatory gatherings which raised over $5 million for community organizations, advanced the awareness of one million attendees about people-powered transportation advocacy, bicycle culture, art, and music causes while striving to address gender and diversity equity in talent booking and leadership. Currently, Majestic Collaborations works with Denver Arts & Venues on their Denver Music Strategy implementation, which has recently garnered a partnership grant from Performing Arts Readiness (funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation) to be a regional circuit host in emergency preparedness planning practices for cultural entities. Through this partnership, he developed the Arts & Cultural Network for Emergency Preparedness survey and study to help develop new models for hands-on skill-sharing between event and festival production personnel and local agencies through power, waste, water, food and infrastructure systems, FEMA ICS integration, audience communications and community empowerment. By nature, performing arts and cultural entities are community hubs and often serve vital roles in disaster response and recovery; advanced planning, networking and resourcing within these groups enhances resilience for entire communities. Website: Majestic Collaborations - with Co-Founder and VP Molly North LinkedIn Twitter @mateoche The Reals Band Facebook page Email: matthew@majesticcollaborations.com Create Denver (Denver Arts & Venues) FEMA National Public Infrastructure Pre-Disaster Hazard Mitigation (Section 1234)

Hazel Savage and her co-founder Aron Pettersson have built Musiio in Singapore to bring artificial intelligence to the messy large data sets of the music industry. She shares her own past in retail and streaming music in the UK and Australia, then shares how and why they formed Musiio. It already has a unique and distinctive role in tagging mass music data sets. She shares how that is different than generative artificial intelligence and how AI is a broader definition than machine learning and algorithms. She'll share opportunities across Asia and especially China, and will share thoughts on couple of other leading companies bringing new tech solutions to music. Guest: Hazel Savage, CEO and Co-Founder, Musiio Hazel Savage is a music-tech lifer, guitarist, and one half of the co-founding team at Musiio. Originally from the UK and having spent the first 6 years of her career working in London, she spent the 5 years immediately following that working in Sydney, Australia and has spent the past 3 years living and working in Singapore. With 14 years experience in the music industry, the majority of it specifically working for music-tech companies, she is proud to list Shazam, Universal, Pandora and HMV as previous experience. Website: Musiio LinkedIn Twitter @hazelsavage Entrepreneur First (UK) on Medium

Don and Peter shared their experience performing music ecosystem audits for four cities. The 2015 Austin Music Census and their continuing studies of Charlotte, Pittsburgh, and Washington DC are more than doing a venue count. They gather the personal, qualitative stories of local life as an artist and musician in a community. They also began to take a look at what really then happens post-study with a community, including what happens with local community groups. Folks can end up swimming in different directions. They are beginning to have enough information to look across cities to compare and contrast the lives of artists. And in some cases, they have gathered up to 12 different ways that a single musician makes a living through music in this live and digitally connected age. They have great insights to share about how local makes a tremendous difference in what the superpowers are for a city. They also share how some smaller organizations and some smaller cities are making a difference and how it's more than the city -- it also is the ecosystem of the region. Guests: Don Pitts and Peter Schwarz, Co-Founders, Sound Music Cities About Sound Music Cities: Based in Austin, Texas, Sound Music Cities was born from direct experience in music-related policy, music development program implementations, and leadership of sound management initiatives. Founded by Don Pitts and Peter Schwarz in 2017, the team has extensive experience in music strategy that balances the needs of the music and nightlife industry with the needs of the community. Their growing list of clients includes WYEP Pittsburgh, The City of Pittsburgh Office of Nighttime Economy, The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, The City of Seattle Office of Film and Music, and the Government of the District of Columbia Office of Cable TV, Film, Music and Entertainment. Don Pitts: After 30 years in the music and entertainment industry, Don Pitts launched Sound Music Cities to help emerging and established music and entertainment cities find practical solutions to sound issues, and grow their music economy. Having garnered the nickname “The Sound Whisperer” from his tenure as the head of the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department’s Music and Entertainment Division where he reduced sound complaints by 70%, Don brings his experience and passion for creating vibrant music cities to Sound Music Cities and its clients. Originally from Nashville, Don has gone far and wide in the music industry, doing everything from managing bands and venues, to handling entertainment relations for Gibson Guitar, to co-founding the North American Music Cities Summit, to working in the public sector. His strategic perspective lies at the cross-section of these experiences – lending him the ability to navigate and bring together the political and industry landscapes. While with the City of Austin, Don’s leadership fueled programs to increase prosperity for musicians, music businesses and music venues – all important when building a sustainable economic engine. Don values political know-how, street-smarts and active listening skills – three things that help when beginning to connect the dots over the course of a large music ecosystem project.  Peter Schwarz:  Peter Schwarz brings almost four decades of experience as a musician and a business leader to the team. He recently completed a long-term commercial music industry plan for the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department, Music and Entertainment Division, as well as authored research studies for “The Pittsburgh Music Ecosystem Study” and the City of Seattle’s 2018 Music Industry Survey. He was previously for 14 years the executive-in-charge of all of Ray Benson’s holdings, including Asleep at the Wheel and Bismeaux Records. He oversaw album releases and artist management for Carolyn Wonderland, Willie and the Wheel, Raul Malo, A Ride With Bob, Texas Tornados, Wheeler Brothers, Aaron Behrens, and the 2015 GRAMMY-winner Still The King. Earlier experience includes festival coordination, arts programming, album producing, touring musician and composer (as a member and manager of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys), protégé of master Cajun fiddler Dewey Balfa, and longtime musical collaborator with his father, Tracy Schwarz, of The New Lost City Ramblers. Schwarz is a graduate of Harvard College (BA) and the McCombs School of Business (MBA). Website: Sound Music Cities ATX Music Census and Needs Assessment Survey (2015) Pittsburgh Music Ecosystem Study (2018) Charlotte Music Ecosystem Study (2019) LinkedIn: Don and Peter Twitter @schwarzy

Jeremy Gruber enjoys connecting artists, creators, and social impact forces directly with fans. He shared his adventures with Friends at Work, working with not only John Legend and Lindsey Stirling, but also emerging artists. We discussed the current state of streaming, playlists, and algorithms.  He also shared his adventures in launching the music ad platform Found.ee. Guest: Jeremy Gruber, Head of Digital Marketing & Strategy, Friends at Work; Partner, found.ee; Adjunct Professor, USC Thornton Jeremy Gruber is the head of Digital Marketing & Strategy at Friends at Work, representing artists including John Legend, Lindsey Stirling and Raphael Saadiq. Jeremy has spent over a decade working with artists at all levels helping them grow their brand and businesses by bringing together traditional marketing with the latest technology. Both of his parents are classical musicians and music teachers and he picked up electric bass at 14 launching him into his passion for all forms of music. After graduating with a degree in Music Industry from USC, Jeremy started his career in artist management and marketing helping to manage the wine label, public speaking and corporate career of legendary drummer Mick Fleetwood at the boutique firm Sabre Entertainment. Jeremy went on to run digital for 10th Street Entertainment and Eleven Seven Music working with marquis rock bands including Mötley Crüe, Papa Roach, JET and Blondie. In 2010, he joined the leading independent label Concord Music Group helping to establish the direct to consumer team and later building the digital marketing & strategy department - there he worked closely with established legends like Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Gregg Allman and James Taylor as well as up-and-coming stars including the launch of Nathaniel Ratliff & the Night Sweats. In addition to his artist marketing work Jeremy is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California's music industry program and is a partner at the marketing tech startup found.ee. Website: Friends at Work Found.ee USC Thornton faculty page LinkedIn Twitter @jrgruber Instagram @jrgruber01

Shelita joins the podcast to share how as an artist she uses data and emotions to connect with fans and create community -- and to create music itself.  Most of us think about data and music about marketing -- which she has done well to attract more than 175,000 fans on a variety of platforms.  Shelita also uses behavioral data, with fan permission, to design tracks to appeal to targeted emotions and life stories.  In her recent album, she tells us of putting that process away and creating around emotion separate from data.  She talks about using artificial intelligence to predict human behavior with an aim of benefiting humanity, and tech as a vehicle to enhance music as a creator.  She discussed starting to learn to code at 8 and at first using computers to improve her community -- and then bringing that superpower to community through music. Guest: Shelita, Pop Artist & Tech Innovator Guest: Shelita, independent artist/writer/producer and tech innovation strategist Shelita is a pop singer/writer/producer, data scientist and tech innovation strategist. Having amassed 20+ million streams with her EP, "Special" and reaching #24 on Billboard, Shelita has been a trailblazer in adapting new technologies such as blockchain to show the world a new artist model that puts artists first. Raised in Seattle, she left for Europe to pursue a music career and tour the world playing over 150 shows as a recording artist. She made her first appearance in the pop music scene going viral on social media. Shelita has just released her highly anticipated self-titled debut album, SHELITA. SHELITA album link: https://shelita.lnk.to/SHELITA Website:  Shelitaburke.com Twitter @ShelitaBurke Instagram @ShelitaBurke Facebook YouTube Soundcloud Spotify Shelita in Forbes in 2017 on blockchain

Storm Gloor has been tracking how songs succeed since he was a young teen . . . and now explores anything from how music cities can succeed and how one-hit wonders thrive (or don't). We enjoyed talking about how cities create and sustain music scenes with help from civic organizations, which may come from government or from the community. We discussed Richard Florida's revised creative economy studies on the impact of creative communities on the rest of the city, and returned to how streaming may be impacting both local cities and how songs are constructed. Guest: Storm Gloor, Associate Professor, Music and Entertainment Industry Studies, University of Colorado, Denver Storm Gloor is an associate professor in the Music and Entertainment Industry Studies department of the College of Arts and Media at the University of Colorado Denver. He is the recipient of the university’s 2018 Excellence In Teaching award. In 2014, he developed and instructed what is thought to be the first Music Cities higher education course. Along with that course, Storm teaches Music Marketing and oversees the internships for the College of Arts & Media. As part of the First Year Experience program at CU Denver, he teaches a course on the Beatles. Professor Gloor is also a Faculty Fellow in the Center for Faculty Development, is the immediate past president of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association, and serves as a city councilman for Glendale, Colorado. He has presented at numerous events and programs, including SXSW.edu, South By Southwest Music, the Music Cities Convention, the MEIEA Music Educators Summit, the Future of Music Summit, the Underground Music Showcase, the Denver Music Summit, and the EdMedia world conference. Storm at CU Denver LinkedIn Twitter @stormsignal and @cudenver UC Denver Music & Entertainment Industry Studies MusicinLA.org Denver Arts & Venues Denver Music Summit (2015) Youth on Record Balanced Breakfast San Diego Music Foundation Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class Revisited (2014) Richard Florida's New Urban Crisis (2017) Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA)

Rehan Choudhry joined our podcast to discuss the upcoming second year of Emerge LV -- and to share his journey on how he re-melds social justice and music in this Facebook-embedded era. He walked us down his path through college, Homeland Security, Atlantic City, the Cosmopolitan, and Life is Beautiful. He then shared the challenges and importance of reconnecting social justice and heartfelt artists in this politically laden and fractured time. Guest: Rehan Choudhry, Founder & CEO, A Beautiful Perspective; Founder, Emerge LV After working for years in emergency management IT at the Department of Homeland Security, Rehan ran entertainment initiatives for an Atlantic City casino hungry to bring younger crowds to the city. After working with the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Rehan took the plunge into the festival world and became the founder and driving force behind Life is Beautiful. Rehan realized that the emotional tie, that sense of personal relevance, was missing at many events. This epiphany brought him to create Emerge LV, a thoughtfully curated annual event for emerging thoughts and voices in music and social impact spaces. This year’s festival revolves around four themes--Self, Protest, Fear, Sex--meant to drive conversations and discovery. For two days (May 31-June 1, 2019), festival goers will get a chance for a second year to focus on these themes at the Hard Rock Hotel. Emerge LV A Beautiful Perspective LinkedIn Twitter @rehanc Instagram @rehanc Taleb Kweli Laura Jane Grace Emma Gonzalez Brandon Flowers David Hogg Weldon Angelos

Paul Bradley joined the podcast to talk about his adventures creating the tour management software system, Eventric. He shared how he started in band management and tour operations, along with being a drummer on tour, and created databases on a Compaq computer on Filemaker software. After years of developing databases and sharing them with other tours, he began to sell databases as a system and created Eventric. Paul shared his experiences with data security, possibilities of predictive data, environmental management trends, and other adventures happening in touring complexity for music and other experiential events. He ended with advise on how to enter the touring business for young people passionate about the live event space. Guest: Paul Bradley, CEO and Founder, Eventric Paul Bradley began his career promoting concert events in the early 1990s. His company HW Productions contracted and promoted national touring acts such as the Dave Matthews Band, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, the Samples, as well as dozens of local events and bands. In 1995, he began touring in a management and advisory capacity with various nationally recognized artists including the Dave Matthews Band and The Drovers. He developed multiple touring technologies that began to revolutionize the antiquated and fragmented business of live event touring, and formed Eventric in 2009. Eventric’s core products, Master Tour and Live Access, have powered over 1,000,000 live events and helps over 4,000 artists, bands, and corporations execute their events more efficiently and profitably. With offices in Chicago and Los Angeles, Eventric employs 15 people and is considered the “industry standard” for touring and live event technologies. Major clients include Red Bull, Marvel, The Black Keys, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Metallica, Wilco, Zac Brown Band, and The Who. Paul is a board advisor for Foundations of Music in Chicago and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. Twitter: @eventric  @pbradley303 Website LinkedIn

In this week's podcast, we enjoy Laura Escudé taking us on a tour of live performance music . . . and touring . . . and breaking negative beliefs about performance and ability through tech tools. She mixes Ableton Live, her own violin skills, tools like the Unreal game engine, and major tours and artists. She looks at how beliefs and technology change change the sense of what is possible and what creative limits we do and don't have as live performers. She also shares her personal shifts into training others and being a mentor in terms of both skills and thoughtful living. Guest: Laura Escudé, Artist/Entrepreneur/Live Show Designer; CEO and Founder, Electronic Creatives Based in Los Angeles, Laura Escudé is an artist, innovator, entrepreneur and live show designer with a deep understanding of complex technology, a profound passion for music and art and a unique talent for fusing the two. Career highlights include designing shows for Kanye West and Jay Z, opening for Miguel on his 2015 Wild heart tour and building a thriving international business populated by top-tier professionals. She’s released myriad albums, singles and EPs under the name Alluxe, synthesizing her skills as a classically trained violinist and her prowess as anavant-garde electronic producer. Escudé’s live performances are known for their sleek futuristic style and the raw emotion she elicits from her musical machines. She’s done official remixes for artists including M83 and Polica, with her violin playing featured on albums by Big Grams, Kanye West and Jay Z and many more. Technology is a second language for Escudé, who in 2008 became the world’s first Ableton Certified Trainer. In 2012, she founded Electronic Creatives, using her skills to hire and train programmers and playback engineers for artists including Logic, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Big Sean, Charli XCX and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She’s brought massive productions to life for artists including Kanye West, Jay Z, Bon Iver, Missy Elliot, Herbie Hancock, and television megabrand American Idol. Escudé toured extensively with these shows, collaborating with artists to create fresh, thrilling experiences for audiences worldwide. In 2017, she launched the Transmute Retreat, a week-long workshop incorporating yoga, meditation, nature, live performance workshops and community performances. Website, Lauraescude.com Website, ElectronicCreatives.com LinkedIn Instagram @ElectronicCreatives  @lauraescude Transmute Elevate Ableton Live Unreal Engine Byron Katie's The Work

This brief episode features our host and Center director, Gigi Johnson, sharing an invitation to join us in person at UCLA (while supplies last) or via Zoom online for our May 15 Conference on Amplifying Music in Our Los Angeles.  Gigi shares the questions that other Music Cities are asking -- how to amplify local music scenes in the face of (a) gentrification and (b) this streaming era.  She outlines what the day will bring and how questions such as mapping and gentrification bring out other questions of whose LA and formal and informal LA. Tickets are available for free at musicinla.eventbrite.com and the past Feb. 6 event recordings and information can be found -- along with a city map of formal venues -- at musicinla.org.  

In this week's podcast, Amadea Choplin, the COO from Pex, takes us down the online music data rabbit hole. She shares how official music distribution is just the beginning of the adventures of distributed songs, and how on average 99% of top artists' music use has moved beyond the original uploaded accounts to be reloaded into other spaces and purposes across the viral web. Pex tracks copies of fragments of songs across 30 online platforms across the global web. Amadea talks about her own journey from strategy and IPOs to Daily Motion to joining Rasty in this still new data company. Guest: Amadea Choplin, Chief Operating Officer, Pex Amadea Choplin is the COO of Pex, an LA-based video and music search engine with a fingerprinting technology that can identify re-used content, as short as a sample or a gif, across the web. This enables rights holders to understand the virality of their content, and claim copyrighted material at scale. Pex.com Pex on Twitter: @Pex Amadea on LinkedIn Amadea on Twitter: @amadeachoplin

Marivi is connecting digital marketing to a more traditional, low-tech, multilingual art form. She shares practical ideas for building local audience while learning from other cities and building tourism tools for our local opera scene. She also shares ways to work with cultural and lifestyle influencers with opera and ways to engage with multiple audiences in this increasingly digital age. Guest: Marivi Valcourt, Associate Director of Marketing, Advertising and Content, LA Opera Marivi Valcourt is a lifelong concertgoer and advocate for music. Currently she is the Associate Director of Marketing at LA Opera, in charge of traditional and digital advertising as well as video content. A graduate of NYU's Music Business program, she spent over 10 years in the music industry working at the late Gary Kurfirst's Overland Management with artists including The Ramones, Talking Heads, Big Audio Dynamite, Jane's Addiction, Deborah Harry (Blondie), Thompson Twins and Dee-Lite. At Radioactive Records/MCA, she was instrumental in developing Angelfish (Shirley Manson/Garbage) and the platinum-selling artists Live. From there, she was part of the marketing/sales team at Capitol Records and then worked as the General Manager of Nettwerk America Records. When the music industry imploded around 2000, she moved to non-profit work, heading up marketing for the City of Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade for seven years. During that time she received her MBA from Loyola Marymount University. Marivi found a balance between live performance and non-profit, working in the performing arts with over five years at UCLA's Royce Hall and now at LA Opera. LinkedIn LA Opera

Seth Schachner returned to discuss the changes afoot in music and tech deal-making. Enjoy this continuing conversation of how deals are being made between artists and new technologies, and how artists and managers can think about connecting with new technologies in their marketing. Guest: Seth Schachner, Managing Director of Strat Americas Seth Schachner is Managing Director of Strat Americas, a Los Angeles and Miami-based consultancy that provides strategic guidance and helps clients with media and technology partnerships. Strat Americas has worked with clients in digital and social music, virtual reality, live entertainment, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software. Seth is an experienced business development executive who spent eleven years with Sony Music, where he held senior digital leadership roles in Latin America and for Sony’s Jive Records label in North America. At Sony Music Latin America, Seth created multi-million selling mobile handset partnerships for the artists Shakira and Ricky Martin. Previously, Schachner held business development roles with Microsoft, Liberty Media, Viacom, and Universal Music. Seth was one of AOL’s first business development executives, where he ran AOL’s very first music channel and oversaw AOL’s partnerships with the American music industry—including AOL’s first “official” digital music download. A graduate of Columbia University in New York, Seth has also served as Chairman of Florida's Film & Entertainment Advisory Council, which helped guide Florida on state film and entertainment growth strategies. Seth’s articles and posts have appeared in publications like Venture Beat and The Guardian, and he is a frequent public speaker. Site: Strat Americas LinkedIn Twitter: @SethASchachner

Mike Casey mixes jazz sax with marketing savvy.   He shares in this podcast how he uses digital tech and music . . . and understanding his audiences . . . to spread the word on his music as an independent artist.  Enjoy this discussion with Mike about how he has questioned everything about creating jazz in this modern, streaming world. Guest: Mike Casey, Jazz Saxophonist and Digital Manager/Marketer An award-winning, songwriter, saxophonist, and teaching artist with over 2 million streams worldwide (without a record label or team), Mike is bringing the joy of “jazz” across genre lines to a diverse audience around the world. Mike has performed with artists as diverse as DJ Logic, Nat Reeves, Benito Gonzalez, Brandee Younger, Zaccai Curtis, Tarus Mateen, Duane Eubanks, Justin Faulkner, and Marc Cary, through his project “The Harlem Sessions”. Through his apprenticeship with Marc Cary, he has performed at the NYC Winter Jazz Fest, Lincoln Center, NYC SummerStage, Ginny’s Supper Club, and Cape May’s Exit Zero Jazz Festival. Website: mikecaseyjazz.com Spotify Remix Remix on all platforms

Iris Wu and Pei-Lun Hsieh from Ambidio were inspired to understand and create new ways for creative artists to design immersive sound for "regular" playback on computers, laptops, and phones. In this podcast, they share their journey in experimenting, connecting with Skywalker sound, and getting to their current jumping off point in connecting a new dimension of creative sound with video, music, and game creators. Guests: Iris Wu and Pei-Lun Hsieh, Ambidio Iris Wu is the idea generator and founder of Ambidio. She has a Master’s Degree in Music Technology from New York University. Iris is recognized as one of the Young Entertainment Professionals selected by Hollywood Professional Association and was listed on 40 Under 40 by Prestige as well as Asia’s Top 50 Rising Tech Stars by Tatler. Pei-Lun Hsieh is the co-founder of Ambidio. He graduated from Columbia University with a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and has worked at Weta Digital, Disney Research Zurich, and the University of Southern California. He wants to bridge creativity and technology to help artists tell and deliver better stories. Site and Video Examples: Ambidio.co Facebook Page: Ambidio LinkedIn: Iris  Twitter: @ambidioCo

Jay LeBoeuf created Real Industry when he was guest lecturing and realized that his students did not really see what jobs and careers were out there in music in technology. After four years of growth, Real Industry now brings together 40 colleges and universities, mentors from around music and technology, and brands and sponsors to mission-driven challenges that change lives. Guest: Jay LeBoeuf, Founder and Executive Director, Real Industry Jay LeBoeuf is an executive, entrepreneur, and educator in the music and creative technology industries. Jay is the Executive Director of Real Industry, a nonprofit that educates, empowers, and inspires university students to thrive in industry. Real Industry is supported by a network of hundreds of industry mentors, leading companies, generous donors, and forward-thinking universities. As an entrepreneur, Jay founded Imagine Research, a music technology and artificial intelligence startup that built a search engine for sound. In 2012, iZotope acquired Imagine Research and Jay joined the iZotope executive team leading research & development, technology strategy, and intellectual property. Prior to creating Imagine Research, Jay was an engineer and researcher in the Advanced Technology Group at Avid Technology. There he led research that expanded the power of Pro Tools, the industry standard for digital audio workstations. Jay has been recognized as a Bloomberg Businessweek Innovator and awarded $1.1M in Small Business Innovation Research grants by the U.S. National Science Foundation. As an educator, Jay is a lecturer on media technology and business at Stanford University, University of Michigan, and Carnegie Mellon University. He leads the Stanford | Warner Music Group leadership initiative. As entrepreneur, Jay advises digital media startups including LANDR, SUBPAC, Humtap, and Kadenze. Site: Real Industry Facebook Page: Real Industry YouTube LinkedIn Twitter: @Real_Industry

Ross Gardiner is co-launching the Los Angeles Nightlife Alliance, convening a group to bring together a love of LA's nightlife, government savvy, and community organizing. He shares his stories of how efforts in Berlin, Amsterdam, and London led to efforts in New York, which has led to this grassroots effort growing for the past year in Los Angeles. Guest: Ross Gardiner, Co-Founder, LA Nightlife Alliance Ross Gardiner is a founding member of the Los Angeles Nightlife Alliance, an advocacy and organizing coalition which represents the interests of the city’s nightlife community.   Originally hailing from the Highlands of Scotland, Ross spent several years as music journalist and editor (Billboard, Mixmag, Vice), and a festival consultant with his boutique agency Black Circle Media. His clients include EDC, Tomorrowland, Electric Zoo, Oasis Festival, Red Bull, and Metro.  Prior to founding LANA, Ross spent two years “apprenticing” with nightlife organizing thought-leaders Lutz Leichsenring (executive director, Berlin Clubcommission) and Mirik Milan (former Amsterdam Night Mayor). He served as the communications and creative director for their project the Creative Footprint, and helped launch their international consultancy VibeLab. Site: Black Circle Media Facebook Page: LA Nightlife Alliance LinkedIn Twitter: @RossGardinerman

Seth Schachner shared a great history of how he has been able to be a long-time deal guy, helping with diverse deals in changing industries. He is now working across sectors to bring together deals across virtual reality, social music, spatial audio, and other arenas with skills he gained working at AOL, Microsoft, Sony, and Universal. Join us to think about early digital music deals and how they have parallels in new digital challenges. Guest: Seth Schachner, Managing Director, Strat Americas Seth Schachner is Managing Director of Strat Americas, a Los Angeles and Miami-based consultancy that provides strategic guidance and helps clients with media and technology partnerships. Strat Americas has worked with clients in digital and social music, virtual reality, live entertainment, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software. Seth is an experienced business development executive who spent eleven years with Sony Music, where he held senior digital leadership roles in Latin America and for Sony’s Jive Records label in North America. At Sony Music Latin America, Seth created multi-million selling mobile handset partnerships for the artists Shakira and Ricky Martin. Previously, Seth held business development roles with Microsoft, Liberty Media, Viacom, and Universal Music. Seth was one of AOL’s first business development executives, where he ran AOL’s very first music channel and oversaw AOL’s partnerships with the American music industry—including AOL’s first “official” digital music download. A graduate of Columbia University in New York, Seth has also served as Chairman of Florida's Film & Entertainment Advisory Council, which helped guide Florida on state film and entertainment growth strategies. Seth’s articles and posts have appeared in publications like Venture Beat and The Guardian, and he is a frequent public speaker. Site: Strat Americas LinkedIn Twitter: @SethASchachner