Bios

David Israelite

President & CEO, National Music Publishers' Association

David M. Israelite is President and CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), a position he has held since February 2005.

Israelite is responsible for overseeing all aspects of NMPA’s operations, from legal strategy and implementation to government affairs and advocacy. His leadership has produced revolutionary successes on behalf of publishers including the largest CRB rate increase in history, groundbreaking industry collaboration in royalty rate agreements, landmark settlements and model licenses with streaming platforms, and ultimately raising the profile of the publishing community. Additionally, Israelite was instrumental in guiding the effort to modernize copyright laws culminating in the Music Modernization Act (MMA) and the subsequent creation of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC).

He has been named to Billboard’s Power 100 multiple times and serves on the boards of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Association and Special Olympics DC. He also serves as the President of the NMPA S.O.N.G.S. Foundation (Supporting Our Next Generation of Songwriters) which supports songwriters through funding scholarships and direct services, among other assistance.

Prior to leading NMPA, Israelite held senior positions in various capacities for the U.S. government including at the Department of Justice where he served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Attorney General of the United States and was appointed Chairman of the Department’s Task Force on Intellectual Property. He also worked in the U.S. Senate where he was Administrative Assistant (Chief of Staff) for Missouri Senator Kit Bond. Previously, Israelite also practiced law in the Commercial Litigation Department at the firm of Bryan Cave, LLP in Kansas City, Missouri.

Israelite earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri and his undergraduate degree from William Jewell College.

ken abdo

Partner, Fox Rothschild

Ken Abdo is a partner at the law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP. Spanning 40 years, he has extensive experience serving as legal counsel to artists, creators and businesses in the music and entertainment industries. He is a prolific author and lecturer on music and entertainment law matters. Harnessing his earlier years of experience as a musician, entertainer, and adjunct professor of entertainment law, Ken’s career has been a storied ride working with developing, established, legacy, and estates of music artists. He now represents both buyers and sellers of music artist recording and publishing catalogs. His commitment to advocacy has vaulted him to national and international leadership positions with The Recording Academy, the American Bar Association, The International Association of Entertainment lawyers, and other organizations.

Lisa Alter

Partner, Alter, Kendrick & Baron

Lisa Alter is a founding partner of Alter, Kendrick & Baron, LLP in New York City. Ms. Alter’s practice is focused primarily in the area of mergers and acquisitions in the music and related industries, including representing clients in transactions involving the acquisition, sale, and financing of significant music assets. As part of her practice, she negotiates and closes complex stock and asset purchase agreements and conducts in-depth due diligence and copyright analyses. Her clients include a number of prominent major and independent music publishing companies and record labels, as well as equity investors, lenders, and financing partners in the music space.

Ms. Alter’s clients also include a large number of bespoke songwriters, recording artists, and producers as well as musical estates comprising the successors to many of the great American songbook composers and lyricists. Among her clients are numerous inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and recipients of Grammy and Ivor Novello Awards.

Ms. Alter lectures frequently on copyright issues at professional and music industry meetings in both the US and the UK. She has served as a Visiting Professor at Yale Law School where she taught a course on the Law and Business of Music, and has written numerous articles addressing music publishing and copyright matters. She is the author of “Protecting Your Musical Copyrights” which is widely relied upon in the music publishing industry. Ms. Alter is perennially recognized in Billboard’s “Top Music Lawyers” and “Power” lists, as well as Variety’s “Legal Impact Report,” “Dealmakers Impact Report," “New York Women’s Impact Report,” and

“New York Dealmakers Elite.” She has also been named as one of Billboard’s “Women in Music: Executives of the Year,” The Hollywood Reporter’s “New York Power Lawyers,” and U.S. News & World Report’s New York City “Best Lawyer of the Year” in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Entertainment Law – Music.

Glen Barros

Managing Partner, Exceleration Music

Since founding Exceleration Music at the beginning of 2020 for the purpose of investing in independent music, Glen has assembled a world-class team, raised significant capital, formed several strategic partnerships, and successfully invested more than $120 million across 11 major transactions involving both music rights and music distribution.     

While Glen has spent his entire career in the music industry, the majority of his time prior to Exceleration – 25 years – was devoted to building the small but respected traditional jazz label, Concord Records, into one of the most successful and respected independent music companies in the world. 

Glen became CEO of Concord Records in early 1995 after managing its acquisition. He quickly expanded the company’s profile and musical scope by organic growth, strategic partnerships and follow-on acquisitions. Despite a few ownership changes and a tumultuous market that was transitioning from physical to digital, Glen helped Concord grow from $4 million of revenue and fewer than 25 employees to more than $400 million of revenue with over 500 employees when he left at the end of 2019.  During this time, Concord engaged in over 35 major acquisitions collectively worth more than $1 billion.   Glen also presided over the expansion of the company’s new recording program from its jazz roots to one with over 200 artists across many labels in multiple genres.  Artists who released new recordings under Concord labels while Glen was at the helm include Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Ray Charles and Alison Krauss, to name a few.  

Glen has also provided many years of service to several music industry trade organizations, presently serving or having served on the boards of A2IM, Merlin, the RIAA, and the IFPI.  Via these prominent organizations, Glen has represented the music industry in proceedings at the White House, the U.S. Senate, the California Senate, and other governmental forums.

jeff bazoian

Managing Director, Fifth Third Bank

Prior to joining Fifth Third Bank as the Head of Media and Entertainment, Mr. Bazoian spent seven years at JP Morgan as a Managing Director in the Entertainment Industries Group in Los Angeles.  Mr. Bazoian managed a portfolio of media and entertainment clients focused on independent film and television companies, music, video games and digital media companies.  During Mr. Bazoian’s time at JP Morgan he built out a music financing platform positioning JP Morgan as the prominent market leader.

Mr. Bazoian joined JP Morgan following 11 years at Rabobank International where from 2010 he was the Head of Capital Markets and from 2013 the CEO of Rabobank Securities USA.  He led the bank’s Capital Markets Americas business focused on loan syndication, securitization products, USPP, Euro bonds and European equities as well as developing new markets in Latin America.

Mr. Bazoian joined Rabobank International’s Securitization business in 2004 from CIBC World Markets where he was an Executive Director in the investment bank’s New York Asset Securitization Group, focused on originating and transacting middle market loan warehouse facilities and CLOs, wholesale dealer floor plans, trade receivables, equipment leases as well as future flow sports and entertainment transactions.  Starting with CIBC in 1996, Mr. Bazoian worked in several of the investment bank’s businesses including Credit Risk Management and Corporate Finance (with a focus on middle market mezzanine debt financing and corporate restructuring).

 

lynne best

Managing Partner, Fourth Pillar

Lynne is an experienced strategic and corporate communications professional, having spent 15 years in the music business and wider creative industries.

Prior to Fourth Pillar, she was Head of Communications for the music licensing company PPL and Director at Well Red Music and Media, supporting a range of global media and music companies with strategic communications. She was also Head of PR at the BPI, the UK’s representative body for record labels and music technology companies and organiser of The BRIT Awards and Mercury Prize.

Lynne’s primary focus is on strategic and corporate communications, including media relations, copywriting and speechwriting, profile raising and positioning, ESG, stakeholder engagement, and public affairs.

Prior to working in music, Lynne started her career at the European Parliament in Brussels and is a Board Member of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Lynne was inducted into the Music Week Women in Music Roll of Honour in 2020 and was the Northern Ireland representative on the Expert Panel for selecting Bradford as the UK City of Culture 2025. 

 

guy blake

Managing Partner, Granderson Des Rochers

Guy Blake, a founding member and managing partner at Granderson Des Rochers, LLP, is widely considered to be one of the preeminent attorneys in the music industry. As chair of the firm’s Music Publishing Practice, he has handled numerous publishing deals and catalog acquisitions for both individual talent and independent music companies.

Guy has been recognized in Billboard’s list of “Top Music Lawyers,” which annually profiles the best legal minds in the industry.

Prior to launching GDR, Guy served as a partner at Davis Shapiro Lewit Grabel Leven Granderson & Blake, LLP and as Senior Vice President of Legal & Business Affairs at Warner Chappell Music. He has been a course instructor and speaker at the University of California, Los Angeles Extension, Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, and Southwestern School of Law, and has been a panelist and guest lecturer for various organizations such as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), the California Copyright Conference, and Pepperdine School of Law. He has also served on the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA) Entertainment Law Executive Committee. Guy received his J.D. from Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon.

 

peter brodsky

EVP Business & Music Affairs, Sony Music Publishing

Peter Brodsky is the Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and General Counsel of Sony Music Publishing (“SMP”). He has held that position since April 2020. Prior to that he was Executive Vice President Business and Legal Affairs from the time he joined. the company in 2007. Peter leads a department of 21 that is responsible for all of Sony Music Publishing’s business and legal activities in the United States. Peter also plays a key role regarding these matters on a global basis.

As a member of SMP’s senior management team Peter also plays an integral role in SMP’s Worldwide digital initiatives which include creating and executing the company’s strategy in connection with the licensing of SMP’s catalog to digital music services and other platforms. Peter has been a leader in the industry since the inception of the digital music business and has successfully negotiated with virtually every type of digital music service and platform.

Peter also plays a lead role in SMP’s major catalog acquisitions including the 2012 deal for EMI Music Publishing. Part of Peter’s responsibilities in that transaction was to make several appearances in front of the Federal Trade Commission and European Commission which ultimately resulted in antitrust approval for the deal. Peter also appeared in front of the European Commission in connection with Sony Corp’s acquisition of the Michael Jackson Estate’s share of Sony/ATV in 2016. Among others, Peter has also overseen and negotiated SMP’s purchases of the Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and MIJAC catalogs.

In addition to the above responsibilities, Peter actively participates in music publishing industry and legislative matters, such as copyright reform and artificial intelligence and works closely with the National Music Publishers Association on many issues including the 2019 passing of the Music Modernization Act and the Copyright Royalty Board’s rate setting proceedings.

Peter’s department is responsible for negotiating, drafting and maintaining all of the company’s songwriter, copublishing, subpublishing, joint venture and other agreements with talent and catalog owners as well as protecting and enforcing SMP’s and its songwriters’ intellectual property rights around the World.

Since 2015 Peter has been recognized by Billboard Magazine as one of the top 25 “Digital Power Players” in the music business. He has also been included in Billboard’s “Top Music Lawyers” since 2016.

Peter is a 27-year veteran of the music publishing industry and previously worked at BMG Music Publishing where he was in charge of BMG’s business and legal affairs. While at BMG, Peter played an integral role in the acquisition and integration of Zomba Music Publishing, as well as Bertelsmann’s divestiture of BMG Music Publishing to Universal in 2007. Peter began his career as an associate at the law firm of White & Case in New York. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

 

rio caraeff

Chief Business Officer, Musixmatch

Rio Caraeff is Chief Business Officer with Musixmatch, the world’s largest music data company. Rio manages growth, commercial development, and industry partnerships for the company. He is an award-winning executive with nearly 30 years of experience at the intersection of music, media, and technology. Most recently, he was Chief Operating & Commercial Officer for spatial audio start-up Syng and Chief Content Officer for spatial computing company Magic Leap. He served as the Founder, President, and CEO of Vevo, the world’s largest all-premium music video platform he founded in 2010. Before founding Vevo, Rio was Executive Vice President at the world’s largest music company, Universal Music Group. He has held senior leadership positions at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, and Capital Records Group. He has been featured in Billboard’s “The Power 100” and “40 Under 40”, Vanity Fair's

“The Next Establishment, The Hollywood Reporter's “Digital Power 50”, Fortune’s “40 Under 40”, Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” and Evening Standard's “London's Most Influential”. Passionately supporting creators, artists and developers on their journey is his life focus and mission.

 

thomas coesfeld

CEO, BMG

Thomas Coesfeld is CEO of BMG, the world’s fourth-largest music company and Bertelsmann subsidiary. After studying business administration in Vallendar, Washington and Atlanta, he began his professional career in 2014 as a management consultant at McKinsey. He joined Bertelsmann at the beginning of 2016. After several positions in Bertelsmann printing business, concluding as its Chief Strategy Officer, Coesfeld joined BMG in 2020 as its Chief Financial Officer. He has been a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees since 2021.

Thomas Coesfeld is Chief Executive Officer of BMG and a member of Bertelsmann’s Group Management Commitee.

 

Denise Colletta

Senior VP/Head of Music, City National Bank

With over 30 years of banking experience, DENISE COLLETTA, Senior Vice President at City National Bank, has been recognized on Billboard Magazine's 2023 Power List, which honors the top executives shaping the music business today. This includes Billboard Magazine's 2022 and 2024 recognition of Colletta as a Top Women in Music Executive. In 2013 and 2016 Denise was recognized by Variety as a Top Dealmaker in the Entertainment Industry. In 2016 Billboard recognized Denise as one of the Top Women in Music and among the 100 Most Powerful Executives in the industry. In 2017 Denise was honored by Variety as one of the honorees on the Power of Women L.A. list and was the only banker to make the list.

Denise oversees a large portfolio and consistently provides new financing to the various genres of the media and music industries.

Among Denise's many accomplishments include the launch of the music vertical and the syndications desk within the Entertainment Division at City National.

Denise is a frequent guest speaker having participated on many music industry panels as well as sought out by journalists and the music industry for insight, knowledge and collaboration.

doug colton

Principal, Sukin Colton Law Association

Sukin Colton Law Association is an entertainment and intellectual property law firm representing various parties - buyers, sellers, banks, funds, investor groups - in catalog acquisitions, company sales, and financing. We have closed many transactions involving the world’s most popular music, including ones conducted in Spanish and French languages. Additionally, our firm has done groundbreaking work in statutory and contractual copyright terminations and rights reversions, on a worldwide basis. The firm has long been known for its innovative thinking in developing the now-famous Bowie Bond in asset securitization using music catalogs.

Founded by its two principals Michael Sukin and Doug Colton, the firm has a global practice based in New York, Nashville, and London and has represented top level artists, songwriters, publishers, record companies, estates, trusts, and managers, domestically and internationally.

Sukin Colton led the initiation, promotion, and enhancement of global, music-related copyright legislation in the European Union, the United States, and Japan. As such, our firm has worked with music publishers and collecting societies in Eastern and Western Europe, the United States and the Far East, having represented many of these societies: ASCAP (representation), BMI (representation), SESAC (representation), Global Music Rights, the Performing Rights Society (UK), PPL-UK, British Music Rights, SACEM (France-representation), GEMA (Germany), SGAE (Spain-representation), STIM (Sweden), National Music Publishers Associations (Japan, UK, Germany), GESAC (Brussels), The International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP, Brussels), IFPI (London-Brussels), JASRAC (Japan), SAMRO (South Africa), ZAIKS (Poland), and SAZAS (Slovenia).

Colton was previously President of Murrah Music Corporation, a highly successful music publishing company in Nashville, TN. Colton's accolades include authoring the Amicus Brief of the Nashville Songwriters Association International to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the 1998 U.S. copyright extension. He was written and lectured on issues within the firm’s expertise domestically and internationally. Mr. Colton is a graduate of the University of Washington and Vanderbilt University Law School. Prior to attending law school, Colton was a touring artist and songwriter.

derek crownover

Partner, Loeb & Loeb

Derek Crownover is a recognized leader in the music, entertainment, sports and media industries, counseling publishing companies, independent record labels, singers and songwriters who own their copyrights, and music publishing administration companies on licensing, liability matters and related litigation. He also counsels clients on recording agreements, employment agreements, LLC funding deals, real estate deals, asset purchase agreements and trusts and estates matters. In addition to his work as a metaphorical “primary care physician” for his music, corporate and tech clients, Derek also advises several sports-related businesses and athletes.

With strong ties to the local Nashville community, Derek is national counsel for the T.J. Martell Foundation, pro bono counsel for the New Children First Montessori Community School and a former adjunct professor of entertainment law at the Curb Music Business School at Belmont University.

aaron davis

CEO & Co-Founder, Exploration

Aaron Davis is the CEO and Co-Founder of Exploration, a leading global copyright administration company overseeing music publishing and master rights for 500+ clients generating 15 billion+ streams per month, where he leads finance, business development, and software development, along with guiding overall strategy. Under Aaron's leadership, Exploration has advised on rights transactions exceeding $1 billion. Aaron is also the Founder and CEO of Business Frame, a boutique music catalog valuation and analysis firm that provides music catalog valuation, legal due diligence, and data analysis for funds, banks, and rights holders. He is also Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Tuesday Music, responsible for deal sourcing, catalog underwriting, and Fund management. Aaron co-authored the widely used industry textbook, How the Music Business Works.

Fred davis

Partner, The Raine Group

Fred is a Partner at The Raine Group. Since joining the firm in July 2014, Fred has focused on both advising and investing across the global digital media/technology sector for high growth and earlier stage companies, including SoundCloud, Firebird, Quality Control, Gamma Music and Moonbug. Fred divides his time between Raine’s London and New York offices.

Prior to Raine, Fred was one of the three Founding Partners of CODE Advisors. Before founding CODE in 2010, Fred was the founding Partner of the leading Entertainment/New Media Law Firm of Davis Shapiro & Lewit. Fred is on the board of directors of Firebird, SoundCloud, and MusicInfra, all Raine portfolio companies.

 

catrin drabble

CFO, Kobalt Music Group

As CFO, Ms. Drabble manages the Company’s corporate development activity, accounting, investment/ underwriting processes and royalty processing. Since joining Kobalt in 2017 from EY, Ms. Drabble has overseen two debt raises (over $1bn), two corporate transactions of AWAL to Sony & Kobalt to Francisco partners on addition to the underwriting of signings and acquisition of over $1.5 billion. Most recently Catrin led the joint venture with Morgan Stanley to acquire IP utilising an ICAV structure and completed Kobalt’s inaugural ABS. Catrin holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Oxford and is a registered CA. 

 

David Dunn

Managing Partner, Shot Tower Capital

David is a founder and the Managing Partner of Shot Tower Capital, an investment banking boutique providing advisory and capital raising* services in the media sector with a specific focus on the music industry where it has completed more transactions globally than any other investment banking firm. In addition to representing major and independent music companies and private equity and fund investors focused on the sector, Shot Tower has extensive experience working with significant artist estates on matters relating to music and image rights including, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Prince, Mac Miller, Elizabeth Taylor, and Robin Williams.

Over his career, David has advised on over 125 transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $70 billion, including $16+ billion since founding Shot Tower in 2012.  Specific sector expertise and dedication to long-term client relationships has resulted in a close rate on engaged transactions of over 95% with nearly all assignments resulting from referrals from prior clients.  

David was named to the 2024, 2023 and 2022 Billboard Power 100 list comprised of the 100 most influential people in the music industry and Shot Tower topped Billboard’s 2021 list of leading financial advisors to the music industry.

*Securities transactions executed through Shot Tower Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.

joshua empson

Chairman & CEO, Tempo Music Investments

Joshua Empson is Chairman and CEO of Tempo Music Investments. Prior to Tempo, Josh was a Managing Director at Providence Equity Partners, where he is a Senior Advisor today. At Providence, he led the formation of Tempo, as well as investments in Real Madrid (active), Learfield Sports, Major League Soccer/SUM, and the NFL/PEP Partnership. Earlier in his career, Josh co-founded NantCapital and served as a Managing Director at Forstmann Little & Co., focusing on media investing in both roles. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of New York Public Radio and the classical music station, WQXR. Josh graduated from Princeton University, began his career at NBC, and lives in New York City with his family.

christopher fazzolari

Managing Director, Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman

Christopher is a Managing Director in the Los Angeles office of Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, LLC and is co-head of its Royalty Group.  During his 20+ year career, Christopher has conducted successful royalty, profit participation and joint venture examinations throughout the world. The companies that he has examined include record labels, merchandising companies, digital media companies, music publishing companies, film/television studios and other companies. He also specializes in providing royalty administration services and consulting services for catalog sales, valuations and financial due diligence.

ben fischberg

Portfolio Manager, PIMCO

Ben Fischberg is a portfolio manager on the special situations team at PIMCO. He focuses on media, financial services and technology investing for private credit, structured equity and structured products strategies. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2018, he was with Guidepost Growth Equity where he invested in technology and tech-enabled services companies. Previously, he worked in the M&A and capital markets groups at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He holds an undergraduate degree in economics and political science from Williams College.

hank forsyth

Co-Founder & CEO, Litmus Music

Forsyth is the Co-Founder & CEO of Litmus Music, a music rights management business he and Dan McCarroll co-founded in 2022. With offices in Los Angeles and New York, Litmus was launched in partnership with Carlyle’s (NASDAQ: CG) Global Credit platform. He has been in the music business for over 20 years, including executive roles with EMI Group, EMI Music Publishing, Blue Note Records and Warner Chappell Music. Forsyth began his career as an equity analyst at Salomon Brothers and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in New York and London. He holds an MBA degree from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from Trinity College. He resides in Rye, NY, with his wife, Kristine, and their two sons.

john frankenheimer

Partner, Loeb & Loeb

John T. Frankenheimer's practice is centered in the entertainment and media industries, with emphasis on both institutional and talent clients. This includes advising on the acquisition, sale and restructuring of companies, including financing, valuation, securitization and due diligence issues, as well as representing companies, artists and executives in all aspects of the music industry, including all forms of talent contracts, distribution, licensing, branding, technology-related issues, publishing, sub-publishing, touring and live events, and experiential and production activities. He also represents writers, producers and directors in both film and television, as well as various technology and media companies.

John’s principal clients include record companies and distributors; multinational and independent music publishers; internationally recognized recording and touring artists; new media and technology companies; financial institutions and both institutional and private investors; television writers, producers and directors; and motion picture writers and producers. He also represents both major and emerging companies in structuring, financing, licensing and M&A activities with regard to a wide array of new media platforms and projects.

John speaks frequently on entertainment law and related topics and has given presentations at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law; the University of Southern California School of Law; the University of Miami School of Law; Tulane University School of Law; the California Copyright Society; and the New York State C.P.A./Entertainment Forum as well as numerous industry-sponsored events and seminars with particular focus on the acquisition, sale and valuation of music industry assets and related IP.

damien granderson

Partner, Granderson Des Rochers

Damien Granderson, a founding partner and chair of Granderson Des Rochers, LLP’s Music Practice, has been at the forefront of the entertainment industry for his dynamic and strategic approach to advising individual and corporate clients for long-term success. He has negotiated and structured some of the most innovative and cutting-edge transactions in entertainment and media on behalf of his clients, who include acclaimed recording artists, songwriters, producers, executives, independent labels, production and distribution companies.

Damien is consistently recognized as one of the industry’s most prominent attorneys, and has been named toBillboard’s “Top Music Lawyers” and “Change Agents” lists, The Hollywood Reporter ’s “Top Music Lawyers” list, andVariety’s “Dealmakers Impact Report” and “Legal Impact Report.”

Beyond his legal practice, Damien is committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in his community as a Trustee at The Center for Early Education and an active board member of Albany Law School's Board of Trustees.

Prior to launching the firm, Damien was a partner at Davis Shapiro Lewit Grabel Leven Granderson & Blake, LLP and began his career in Business & Legal Affairs at Entertainment One, LP (formerly, Koch Entertainment). He received his B.S. in Business Management from Stony Brook University and J.D. from Albany Law School. He is licensed in both NY and CA.

jihane hassad

Director, Crayhill Capital Management

Ms. Hassad is a Director at Crayhill Capital Management focused on origination, underwriting and execution of investments.

Among her responsibilities at the firm, she is focused on the TMT investment programs. Prior to joining Crayhill, Ms. Hassad was a Vice President in the Credit Markets Division at Macquarie Group where she was focused on credit underwriting and financing solutions for FinTech companies and credit funds. Ms. Hassad joined Macquarie in 2011 and spent 4 years on the Securitized Debt trading desk where she played a key role in implementing trading strategies for residential and esoteric asset backed securities.

Ms. Hassad has a Master’s degree in Financial Engineering from Columbia University. Ms. Hassad also received a Master’s degree in Engineering and Applied Science from École Centrale Paris, France’s leading engineering school.”

 

jacqui hawwa

Partner, TPG

Jacqui Hawwa is a Partner with TPG, based in San Francisco, where she co-leads TPG Growth’s investment opportunities in the Internet, Digital Media, and Communications sector. She has been a private equity investor in the technology, media, and telecom space for over 15 years. She currently serves as a director on the boards of Musixmatch, Pray.com, Prodigy Education, and SmartSweets. Prior to joining TPG in 2019, Jacqui was a senior member of the investment team at GTCR, LLC. She previously held roles at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers. Jacqui received a BS in Economics from Duke University and an M.B.A. from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

lynn hazan

Co-Managing Partner, Influence Media Partners

Lynn Hazan joined Influence in 2019 to secure additional capital and operationalize the underwriting, management and optimization of Influence’s portfolio.

Previously, Hazan spent 20+ years in the C-Suite at Sony Music Entertainment. With roles across the frontline music business and distribution, her efforts were critical to the development of some of today’s most renowned artists, including Future, Camila Cabello, DJ Khaled, and Travis Scott. 

As General Manager & Chief Financial Officer of Sony’s Epic Records, working alongside iconic executives L.A. Reid and Sylvia Rhone, Hazan successfully drove continuous increased revenue, profitability, and market share.

An industry veteran, Hazan has forged relationships with some of the most powerful names in music. Her many achievements at Sony also earned her recognition on Billboard’s prestigious Women In Music list on six separate occasions. 

sam hendel

Managing Partner, Dundee Partners

Sam Hendel is the Managing Principal of Dundee Partners, a family office specializing in cultural investments.  Sam co-founded Chord Music Partners, a large music rights catalogue featuring work from iconic artists such as The Weeknd, David Guetta, Stevie Nicks, OneRepublic, Diplo, John Legend, ZZ Top, and more. In March 2024, Chord entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Universal Music Group, pairing a best-in-class music investment platform with the world’s leading music company.

In addition to Chord, Sam and Dundee are active investors across the media landscape, with investments in companies such as Knitting Factory Entertainment, Partisan Records, Kino Lorber, JKBX, Boomy, and Colors Studios.  Prior to his focus on music, Sam spent 20 years in the investment management business, most recently as President and Portfolio Manager of Easterly Investment Partners.  Sam's journey as an entrepreneur began in 2009, when he and two former Yale University classmates founded Dataminr, the world's leader in real-time AI for event and risk detection.

carletta higginson

EVP & Chief Digital Officer, Warner Music Group

Carletta Higginson is the EVP, Chief Digital Officer for Warner Music Group. In this post, she uses her multifaceted expertise and creative approach to oversee the full spectrum of WMG’s global digital partnerships across recorded music and music publishing, from deal-making through account management. She also leads a team exploring commercial innovation and forging new digital partnerships.

Prior to joining WMG in 2023, Carletta spent a decade at Google, most recently serving as Global Head of Music Publishing at YouTube, where she spearheaded the platform’s licensing strategy, building and maintaining relationships with publishers, collection societies, and PROs. Her role included negotiating digital licensing and partnership agreements, managing existing partnerships, launching new relationships, and driving new business opportunities. In addition, she oversaw the development of various initiatives to help creatively support artists, songwriters, and producers on the platform.

Carletta’s extensive background also includes 10 years in the legal arena. She began her career as a securities litigator before transitioning to specialize in the content, media, and entertainment space. In 2011, Carletta became a partner at Jenner & Block LLP, where she focused her practice on litigating copyright, contractual, and other disputes in the recorded music and music publishing industries. Her work resulted in precedent-setting decisions in copyright law, and the successful defense of copyright owners in a variety of copyright infringement actions.

Carletta holds a JD from Columbia Law School and a BA from NYU. She has been repeatedly recognized by Billboard as one of the most powerful Women in Music and has appeared on its Power 100 List, in addition to being named one of Variety’s New York Women of Impact. A member of the Whitman Circle of the Brooklyn Public Library, she is also on the Advisory Board for Sound Thinking NYC, was a 2012 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and is a 2018 Leadership Music alumna.

 

 

 

 

Laurent Hubert

CEO, Kobalt Music Group

Appointed as Kobalt CEO in January 2020, Hubert oversees arguably one of the most relevant and exciting rosters in music. As CEO, he has facilitated the sale of AWAL and Neighbouring Rights, led the company to profitability, and paved the way for the growth of the company’s unique digital global collection society, AMRA. To date, AMRA has collected almost $500 million of digital royalties on behalf of songwriters and rights holders. 

Since Hubert joined in 2016, Kobalt’s publishing revenue has grown by over $350m. Before becoming CEO, Hubert oversaw Kobalt’s global publishing and neighbouring rights divisions as Kobalt's President and Chief Revenue Officer. Kobalt has won many prestigious industry awards, including ASCAP’s Pop Publisher of the Year, Clio’s Music Publisher of the Year, BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Publisher of the Year, and ASCAP’s Latin Indie Publisher of the Year. 

Before Kobalt, he was at BMG from 2008-2016, where he played a central role in reestablishing BMG as a global powerhouse. Under Hubert’s leadership at BMG, the company soared from a small independent music publisher to one of the largest music publishers in the world and the first new global player in the recordings business in decades.

From 1999-2007, Hubert was at BMG Music Publishing, where he played a critical role as Worldwide COO, driving a 50% revenue growth to become the world's third largest music publishing company before its acquisition by Vivendi's music arm, Universal Music Group, in 2007. In addition to his operational role, Hubert led all strategic planning, business development, digital strategy and corporate development activities for the company. 

A native of France, Hubert, has thirty years of international general management experience including over 20 years in senior management roles within the music publishing industry. He holds a management degree from the Ecole des Dirigeants & Createurs d’Entreprises in Paris, and a Master of International Affairs with a concentration in International Business and Finance from Columbia University in New York.  Hubert is also a private pilot with over 1,500 hours of flying time.

carlos jimenez

Managing Director, Moelis & Company

Carlos Jimenez is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he focuses on media & entertainment. Carlos’ clients include film & television studios, production companies and streaming platforms; record labels, music publishers and other music-affiliated entities; live events; video gaming companies; sports leagues and teams; sports betting & igaming companies; and the ecosystems around each of these various verticals. Carlos has over 20 years of investment banking experience and has completed numerous high profile M&A transactions, debt and equity financings, IPOs, leveraged buyouts and restructurings.

Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Carlos worked in the Leveraged Finance Group at Lehman Brothers. Carlos holds a B.A. in Economics with distinction from Yale University.

Charles Johnson

Managing Director, Truist Securities

Charles Johnson (“CJ”) is member of Truist Securities’ Telecom, Media and Entertainment Group, and leads the firm’s Investment Banking focus on the Entertainment sector. CJ has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry via prior affiliations with firms such as Bank of America and Credit Suisse. In addition to the entertainment industry, CJ has assisted clients focused on food manufacturing, food and beverage distribution and restaurants. He has completed several complicated financial transactions focused on public and private capital raising and merger & acquisition advisory services.


CJ is a recognized leader in the entertainment industry and has represented the United States of America as a Delegate for Department of State to meet with Federal, State, Local and business executives in Brazil as the country prepared for the World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Olympic Games. He is a frequent panelist at conferences presented by Billboard, Music Business Association, MIDEM and other industry publications and trade organizations, as well as speaker at the Harvard Business School’s Media Conference.


CJ’s current Board affiliations include Smart City Expo Atlanta, the Southern Region of the Anti-Defamation League, the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Invest in Southwest Atlanta Task Force. CJ has also served on the Board of Trustees for The Children’s School, where he was Chairman of the Finance Committee and Treasurer for 7 years, The Atlanta Metropolitan College Foundation, Georgians for Public Rail, the Piedmont Park Conservancy and The Southview Cemetery Preservation Foundation. Other current and former non-profit affiliations include The 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and March of Dimes of Georgia. Charles received his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College in 1982.

justin kalifowitz

Founder & Chairman, Downtown Music Holdings

Justin Kalifowitz is a lifelong advocate for empowering creators and the Founder and Executive Chairman of Downtown Music Holdings. Since its start in 2007, Downtown has become the leading service provider to the global music business by driving equity and innovation across the industry. As Executive Chairman, Kalifowitz leads Downtown’s Board of Directors, drives strategic development and works with the executive team on transformational growth opportunities for the organization.

Today, Downtown manages more than 23 million music assets on behalf of over one million artists and enterprise clients hailing from 145 countries from a catalog that spans 100 years of popular music, including music for film and television, and the single largest independent sound recording catalog in the industry. The company’s diverse client base features some of the biggest brands in music and entertainment, including iconic songwriters, composers and recording artists, major film and television production studios, gaming companies, the world’s largest music companies, music asset owners and other music service providers.

Over the course of his career, Justin has received numerous esteemed recognitions, including Variety’s New Leaders, Billboard’s Power 100, Crain’s New York “40 Under 40,” and is a recipient of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) Indie Award. He serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), and is co-founder of NY is Music, a non-profit coalition dedicated to advancing the importance of the role of music in economic development, culture, and education in New York State.

cynthia katz

Partner, Fox Rothschild

Cynthia Katz is a partner at the law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP. She is a seasoned corporate and entertainment attorney who applies more than a decade of experience in the music industry to provide her clients with pro-active advice.  She advises the full spectrum of industry players and routinely serves as lead counsel in buy-side and sell-side M&A deals. She also handles a wide variety of corporate, investment and intellectual property transactions for her clients.  Cynthia is the co-founder of AngelRoot and is an active member of Women in Music.

Golnar Khosrowshahi

Founder & CEO, Reservoir

Golnar Khosrowshahi is the Founder and CEO of Reservoir, an award-winning independent music company headquartered in New York City and with operations in Los Angeles, Nashville, Toronto, London, and Abu Dhabi. Established in 2007, Reservoir is the first female founded and led publicly traded independent music company in the U.S. Under Golnar’s leadership, Reservoir has grown to own and administer over 150,000 copyrights and 36,000 master recordings, with titles dating as far back as 1900. Golnar continues to lead the team in building a well-attended roster and an established catalog, and regularly appears as one of Billboard’s Most Powerful Female Executives, as well as a Billboard Power Player. She notably earned a spot in Billboard’s Women In Music Hall of Fame in 2023, following her recognition as Executive of the Year for 2022. Golnar has been named Music Week’s International Woman of the Year in 2023, one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People In Business, Forbes’ 50 Over 50, and to Variety’s New Power of New York, and Power of Women lists. Furthermore, Reservoir has twice been awarded both Publisher of the Year at Music Business Worldwide’s The A&R Awards and Independent Publisher of the Year at the Music Week Awards.

In addition to her role as CEO of Reservoir, Golnar serves as a Director on the board of the National Music Publishers’ Association, working to ensure fair compensation for songwriters and their representatives. She also sits on NMPA’s S.O.N.G.S. Foundation Board of Directors, an organization that raises funds to support career songwriters. Working alongside Artist Director and cellist Yo-Yo Ma for over a decade, Golnar served as Board Chair of the musical collective, Silkroad. In 2022, she was elected to the Board of Directors for the New York Philharmonic. Golnar also previously served on the Board of Directors for RBI (Restaurant Brands International) and the Board of Directors of Nomad Foods.

Golnar is a classically trained pianist through the Royal Academy of Music in London, England and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada. Golnar holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York City and a BA in Political Science from Bryn Mawr College.

robert law

Partner, Shot Tower Capital

Robert Law is a Partner of Shot Tower Capital. Mr. Law devotes the majority of his efforts to assisting and advising clients within the media, entertainment and consumer sectors focusing on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raises and structuring, leveraged buyouts and restructuring transactions.

Having worked on more than 45 completed transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $12 billion, Mr. Law has advised clients, including financial sponsors, on both buy side and sell side M&A transactions as well equity and debt capital raising activities.

Mr. Law’s notable engagements have included: financial advisor to Michael Jackson & The Estate of Michael Jackson in connection with ownership stakes in various assets, including The Beatles Catalog, Mijac Music, and EMI; the acquisitions of Famous Music and EMI Music Publishing by Sony/ATV Music Publishing; the sale of majority interest in Mavin Records to UMG; the sales of Imagem BV, Fania Records, Hitco, and Mojo Music to Concord Music; the purchase of the music publishing and recorded music catalogs of Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford including Genesis, Phil Collins and Mike+Mechanics by Concord Music; the sale of the James Brown catalog by the Estate of James Brown to Primary Wave; the sale of Big Deal Music and the Al Jackson Jr. catalog to Hipgnosis, the catalog sale and JV partnership of Pulse Music Group; the restructuring of mattress retailer, Select Comfort; the sale of the Crosstown Song to BMG Rights Management, a joint venture partnership between Bertelsmann AG and KKR; the sale of a Sea Island Corporation’s majority equity stake in Luxury Apparel designer, Peter Millar, to Winona Capital; the sale of Midwest Wireless to Alltel; and the sale of certain music publishing assets by Sony and Mubadala Development Company, among others.

Mr. Law graduated from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce. Mr. Law is a General Securities Registered Representative with FINRA (Series 7, 24, 63, and 79).

Mr. Law serves on the investment committee of the Calvert School Alumni Board.

 

Lisa licht

CMO Advisor, Influence Media Partners

Lisa Licht is a CMO Advisor at Influence Media Partners. She is an expert in brand optimization, and works with clients on  branding and marketing, digital marketing, strategic planning and brand partnerships.  Lisa has over 30 years of branding and marketing experience, particularly in marketing strategy, consumer products, customer insight, partnerships and business development. She has a strong history of transforming businesses, creative innovation, and driving people culture. 

Lisa brings a deep knowledge of branding, experiential marketing, digital strategy, content marketing, research, partnerships, growth and business planning, business development, early-stage funding strategy, organizational structure, recruiting, and executive coaching to the day-to-day business. 

Lisa has worked as the CMO of Live Nation Concerts, Executive VP of the Global Partnerships team for 20th Century Fox Film, Senior VP of Platforms and Partnerships for Yahoo, and  the COO of Hasbro Studios. She has served on the boards of various industry leaders and as a consultant to several non-profits.

josh love

Partner, Reed Smith

Josh Love is a partner in Reed Smith’s Entertainment & Media Industry Group. Josh has extensive experience representing buyers and sellers of recorded music and music publishing assets, having closed well over $2B in music catalog transactions on behalf of artists, songwriters, institutional investors, and major and independent music companies. Josh is widely recognized for his significant expertise in copyright law and his deep understanding of the complex music rights and royalty landscape. He also regularly advises clients on domestic and international music rights issues related to digital content distribution and new technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), NFTs and Web3 applications, as well as talent, music companies, entrepreneurs, investors, and brands on a wide array of music and entertainment-related agreements.

tim mandelbaum

Partner, Fox Rothschild

Tim Mandelbaum is a partner at the law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP. He provides legal, career and business guidance to a wide variety of talent and corporate clients in music, film, television, new media, literature and sports. Utilizing his 30-plus years of experience, Tim often serves as “general counsel” for his clients, providing oversight of all their legal needs and is recognized as a pro-active deal broker. Tim previously served as Head of Business and Legal Affairs for EMI Records.

jon mandle

Co-Managing Partner, Corrum Capital Management

Jonathan Mandle is Co-Managing Partner of Corrum Capital Management LLC and is a voting member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Jonathan leads the firm’s sports, music, and entertainment strategy.  Prior to founding Corrum Capital, Jonathan was a Managing Director and the Head of Credit and Absolute Return at an affiliate of Bank of America, where he worked with the Corrum Capital team. Previously, he was a Director at the University of California, Office of the Treasurer of the Regents, where he built and managed a multibillion dollar absolute return, credit and opportunistic portfolio. Jonathan began his career as a Research Associate focused on domestic and international equity, credit and fixed income investments at Fidelity Investments.

Jonathan is currently a member of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Peace First and was formerly an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco.

Jonathan received a BS and an MBA from Boston College and is a CFA Charterholder.

pete masucci

Managing Director, New Mountain Capital

Pete Masucci is a Managing Director at New Mountain Capital.  He joined New Mountain in 2004.  He was previously associated with KKR, where he focused on private equity investments across a number of industries. From 1997 to 2000, he was an analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions and Corporate Finance Departments of Goldman Sachs, where he evaluated and executed a number of strategic transactions. He is Chairman of the Board or Director of 3E, BMI, Circana, Homrich Berg and Lincoln Investment. He previously served as the Chairman of the Board of SNL Financial and ACA Compliance Group, and was the lead director or director of Blue Yonder, Deltek, DRB Systems, InComm, Inmar, Legends Hospitality, OneDigital, Sparta Systems and Valet Waste.

Mr. Masucci received his B.A. with highest distinction in Finance with an Accounting emphasis from the University of Iowa in 1997 where he was an Academic All-American. Mr. Masucci received his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2004. 

 

barry Massarsky

Partner, Citrin Cooperman

Barry Massarsky is a partner and co-leader of the firm's Music Economics and Valuation Services Practice. He has over 30 years of experience acting as a key advisor in the music industry serving the valuation interests of music publishing and recording label firms. He provides strategic counsel to owners of music copyrights, as well as valuation, litigation economics, and performance income review. Barry is known for his high value relationships with performance rights organizations, music publishers, record companies, music industry trade organizations, and music litigation firms.


Barry has pioneered the field of music copyright economics serving revenue-related interests within the U.S. music industry, facilitating strategic opportunities for advancing royalty income, and inspiring new license regimes. His experience also extends to the music production library marketplace where he has led many performing rights initiatives on behalf of both its trade organization and individual market leaders. Barry has worked with commercial lenders, private equity, and other financial investors who are acquiring music asset rights. Previously, Barry was the founder of Massarsky Consulting, a leading copyright economics consultancy, which joined Citrin Cooperman in 2022. Prior to founding Massarsky Consulting, Barry was a Senior Economist at American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Barry earned his BA from Boston University and MBA from Cornell University.

beth matthews

CEO, ASCAP

Elizabeth Matthews is Chief Executive Officer of ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP), a membership association of more than 980,000 US composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP licenses the public performance of its members' music, collects license fees, tracks performances and distributes to its members royalties based on their performances. Matthews has led ASCAP to record-breaking revenues and distributions for the past nine years. In 2023, ASCAP delivered $1.737 billion in revenue and $1.592 billion in distributions, up 14% and 10%, respectively, over the previous year. It was the seventh year that ASCAP distributions exceeded $1 billion. Since her tenure as CEO in 2015, ASCAP has generated a 7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for total revenues, and an 8% CAGR for total royalty distributions to members. ASCAP is the only U.S. performing rights organization that operates on a not-for-profit basis and delivers nearly 90 cents on every dollar collected back to its members as royalties with a 10% operating ratio.

Beth has been instrumental in leading ASCAP’s advocacy efforts to modernize music licensing. She has spearheaded a transformative six-year strategic plan to meet the future needs of ASCAP’s members and licensing partners, and has closed major deals with key licensees, including top streaming, broadcast, audio and audio-visual licensees that are yielding higher royalties for ASCAP songwriters, composers and music publishers.

Under Beth’s leadership, ASCAP has launched pioneering transparency initiatives and technology innovations and has annually processed trillions of performances of the more than 19 million works in the ASCAP repertory. Beth has become an industry leader on Artificial Intelligence (AI), with ASCAP as the only PRO to formally adopt principles that will protect songwriters and guide the organization’s decisions on the technology. Other AI-related initiatives she has implemented include creator education sessions, start-up incubation and policy advocacy on Capitol Hill.

She has earned a spot on Billboard’s Power 100 list eight times since 2016 and has been named as one of Billboard’s Most Powerful Executives in its Women in Music issue. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) as well as on the Board of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, among other Board seats.

Beth joined ASCAP in 2013 as Executive Vice President and General Counsel, overseeing the ASCAP Business & Legal Affairs department. In that role, she oversaw business affairs, litigation, strategic alliances, and legislative and copyright policy matters. Previously, she worked at Viacom Media Networks (formerly MTV Networks), where she held the position of Executive Vice President & Deputy General Counsel. She managed and oversaw the VMN Business and Legal Affairs teams covering Advertising, Content Distribution and Marketing, New Business Development, Global Digital and New Media and the VMN Mergers and Acquisitions Pipeline, Research and various Ancillary Businesses. Beth was also responsible for drafting, structuring, reviewing and negotiation of strategic and complex commercial transactions across Viacom Media Networks’ programming services, including MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT, Spike and Nickelodeon, among others. Prior to Viacom Media Networks, Matthews worked in the Intellectual Property and Corporate Groups for Chadbourne & Parke and the Business Technology Group for Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Beth received her B.A. from Purdue University and her J.D. from Emory School of Law.

dan mccarroll

Co-Founder & CCO, Litmus Music

McCarroll is the Co-Founder & CCO of Litmus Music, a music rights management business he and Hank Forsyth co-founded in 2022. With offices in Los Angeles and New York, Litmus was launched in partnership with Carlyle’s (NASDAQ: CG) Global Credit platform. He has been in the music business for over 30 years, holding executive roles such as President of Capital Records, President of Warner Records, EVP at EMI Music Publishing, and Global Head of Originals and Artist Relations at Amazon Music. McCarroll began his career as a musician, playing drums professionally starting at age 18. He toured the world and recorded in studios with a wide variety of artists. He lives in Los Angeles, CA, with his wife, Jane, and their dog, Birdie.

lylette pizarro-mclean

Founder & Co-Managing Partner, Influence Media Partners

Lylette Pizarro-McLean founded Influence Media in 2018. She secured bridge financing from Morgan Stanley to partner with and acquire the works of some of today’s leading songwriters, including Jeff Bhasker, Shane McAnally, and Ben Rector. In 2019, she successfully exited the bridge, delivering expected returns to investors. Pizarro McLean has since secured hundreds of millions in new funding and inked major partnerships with Warner Music Group and BlackRock.

Prior to founding Influence, Pizarro was a Partner at RPM GRP, leading music and entertainment strategy, music licensing, content and talent acquisition, and rights management for Fortune 50 companies like Apple, Verizon, and LVMH. Working with these companies’ top executives, Pizarro McLean brokered multi-faceted talent partnerships with Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Kevin Hart, DJ Khaled, the Michael Jackson Estate, and David Bowie.

Pizarro-McLean began her career in artist management and film marketing. Her work has garnered awards from organizations like the NAACP, AdColor, and Clios, and she was recognized in Variety’s 2022 New York Women’s Impact report as well as Billboard’s 2022, 2023 and 2024 Women In Music features.

rene mclean

Founding Advisor and Partner, Influence Media Partners

Rene McLean is an established music industry executive and innovator with over 25 years of experience. In 2018, he founded SLANG to build his vision of a creative, cross-functional music company. He developed and managed artists while also advising Influence Media Partners at its genesis to acquire music IP at scale, partnering with artists and creators with a keen focus on hip-hop and R&B. He went on to help lead the acquisition of Influence’s charter catalog, Jeff Bhasker. McLean successfully sold SLANG in 2021 and joined Influence Media Partners as a Founding Advisor, Investor & Partner. At Influence, he continues his dedication to supporting Black and Latin artists and creators, partnering with them to invest in and protect their legacies and works—earning him recognition as one of Billboard’s 2022 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players.

Prior to that, Rene founded RPM GRP, establishing himself as an independent visionary by creating the acclaimed live event platform: The MixshowPower Summit while advising leading brands on music strategy. He revolutionized the marketing strategies of the music industry and played an instrumental role in the development of some of pop music’s most vital and trendsetting artists such as Eminem, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, and Missy Elliott, among many others. Before tapping into his entrepreneurial spirit, he held various key executive roles at major labels including Interscope, Elecktra, RCA, and Virgin Records. 

McLean is also dedicated to philanthropy, often tapping into his deep entertainment and brand relationships to support and amplify important causes and organizations like Civic Nation, Global Citizen, Red Hot, and Rap Roast.

kelly mellecker

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Kelly is a managing director in the Structured Finance Group within Investment Banking. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2021 as a vice president in the Structured Finance Group and was named managing director in 2023. Prior to joining the firm, Kelly was a director in the Structured Finance Group at RBC Capital Markets, and prior to that served as counsel in the Financing Group at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Kelly earned a JD from Cornell Law School and a BA from the University of Iowa.

john menneci

Managing Director, Gelfand, Rennert, & Feldman

John is a Royalty Examination and Valuation Specialist who has been working in the field for nearly 30 Years. As Managing Director, he currently has joint oversight of Gelfand Rennert & Feldman's Royalty Group that specializes in conducting royalty examinations of various types of IP (most notably music, merchandising and film/tv), preparing valuations and conducting financial due diligence in connection with music catalogs for purposes of sales/purchases and Estate Tax and administering music catalogs for labels and holders of music publishing rights.

Larry Mestel

Founder & CEO, Primary Wave Music

Lawrence Mestel, Founder & CEO of Primary Wave Music, has been working in the music and entertainment industry for over 30 years. In 2006, Mestel took his extensive experience working at multiple record labels and founded Primary Wave Music, one of the largest independent music publishing, marketing and talent management companies in the United States. Primary Wave has controlled over 50,000 songs from the catalogs of legendary artists such as Bob Marley, Prince, Stevie Nicks, James Brown, Sun Records, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek (The Doors), Smokey Robinson, Whitney Houston, Burt Bacharach, Bing Crosby, Luther Vandross, Olivia Newton-John, Ray Charles, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, America, War, Gerry Goffin, Robbie Robertson, Traveling Wilburys (Bob Dylan), Teddy Pendergrass, Count Basie, Sly & The Family Stone, Boston, Alice Cooper, Paul Anka, Boy George and Culture Club, Allee Willis, Leon Russell, Paul Rodgers, Free, Toots & The Maytals, Steve Cropper, Glenn Gould, Air Supply, Huey Lewis and the News, Alice In Chains, Devo, Donny Hathaway, Dan Wilson, Chris Isaak, KT Tunstall, Sturken & Rogers, and many more. Originally founded on music publishing, Mestel has strategically and successfully built the company into a full-service music and entertainment powerhouse offering in-house branding, digital marketing, publicity, TV & Film development and a talent management company, whose roster of artists includes CeeLo Green, Cypress Hill, Melissa Etheridge, Eric Benet, Fantasia, Bell Biv DeVoe, Salt-N-Pepa, Jefferson Starship and others.

Mestel was one of the producers behind the critically acclaimed Kurt Cobain documentary film, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and he was part of the team who produced the Whitney Houston biopic, I Wanna Dance With Somebody distributed by Sony Pictures.

In 2019 Goldman Sachs honored Larry Mestel as one of the “100 most intriguing entrepreneurs” at the annual Goldman Sachs Builders & Inventors summit.  In 2020, and then again in 2022 & 2023, Mestel landed on Billboard Magazine’s “Power List” being recognized for his leadership in the music industry. In 2024, Mestel was once again featured on the Billboard Power 100, making the magazine’s “Leaderboard” which recognized the top 40 leaders across the music industry He also appeared on the Variety 500 twice and has been featured in top press outlets such as New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, New York Post, Forbes, Billboard Magazine, and HITS Magazine.

Prior to founding Primary Wave Music, Larry Mestel was Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Virgin Records. From 2000 – 2004, Mestel was Executive Vice President and General Manager at Arista Records. Mestel also held the position of Chief Operating Officer for Island Entertainment Group, which included Island Records, Island Music Publishing and Island Pictures.

elizabeth moody

Equity Partner, Granderson Des Rochers

Elizabeth Moody, chair of the New Media Group, is a pioneer in the digital media world. Moody has spearheaded digital music and video initiatives since the post-Napster era – both as outside counsel and in-house at companies like YouTube and Pandora. With over 20 years of dealmaking and content strategy experience in the music, video, television, film, and podcast industries, Elizabeth represents numerous live-streaming platforms, gaming companies, fitness companies, an NFT platform, and social media companies. She has particular expertise in developing new business models and licensing structures for digital media businesses and content owners to optimize business strength and revenue growth. 

Moody is at the forefront of the developing issues and possibilities that AI presents to the music and entertainment industries, including, among others, through her work with Boomy, which allows anyone to easily create music, Covers AI, which allows fans to create their own fan cover videos using Mayk's voice AI technology, and Audioshake, an AI based stem separation tool in use by record labels, movie studies and entertainment companies today to ease production and marketing.

Prior to joining GDR, Liz held senior positions at household music and technology companies such as Pandora, YouTube, and Google. She began her legal career at Paul, Weiss LLP and Davis Shapiro Lewit & Grabel, LLP. Liz earned her B.A. from Colby College and her J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.

Liz has been recognized in Billboard’s “Top Music Lawyers” and "Women in Music" lists, as well as in Variety’s “Legal Impact Report” and “Dealmakers Impact Report.”

Guy Moot

Co-Chair & CEO, Warner Chappell Music

Guy Moot serves as Co-Chair and CEO of Warner Chappell Music (WCM), the publishing arm of Warner Music Group. Alongside the company’s Co-Chair and COO, Carianne Marshall, Guy has built a global organization where curiosity, collaboration, and commitment drive a forward-thinking culture focused on super-serving its roster of top talent. Since joining WCM in 2019, the company has signed and retained both established and emerging artists, songwriters and producers, such as Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, Coco Jones, Laufey, Teddy Swims, Anderson .Paak, Lizzo, Celeste, Stromae, Raye, and Saweetie as well as some of music’s most iconic legends and their catalogs, including David Bowie, Quincy Jones, George Michael, and Madonna, among many others.

During Guy’s distinguished career of 30+ years, he’s held senior roles at some of the world’s largest publishing companies, signing many of music’s most influential songwriters such as Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey, Mark Ronson, and Salaam Remi. Prior to Warner Chappell, Guy was President of Worldwide Creative at Sony Music Publishing and EMI Music Publishing. In 2005, he became EMI’s UK MD and President of European Creative and played a key role in ensuring that EMI was named Music Week Publisher of the Year for 14 years running. While at the helm of EMI, Guy signed top songwriters, such as Arctic Monkeys, Jamiroquai, Deadmau5, Sia, Paul Epworth, Sean Paul, Calvin Harris, Anne-Marie, and Jorja Smith, and in 2012, he helped to lead the Sony and EMI merger in Europe. When Sony fully acquired EMI in 2018, Guy continued in his role as President of Worldwide Creative, where he oversaw the signings of chart-toppers such as Ed Sheeran, Drake, Charli XCX, Sam Smith, Arcade Fire, and StarGate.

As one of the highest-ranked executives in the music industry, Guy was featured in Billboard’s “Power 100” list in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. He also made the Variety500 list in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

katrina niehaus

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Katrina is co-head of the Corporate Structured Finance Group within the Financing Group in Investment Banking. The team covers a range of asset backed finance sectors such as Digital Infrastructure, Intellectual Property, Utility Finance, Solar and Renewables, and Small Business Lending. Previously, she worked in the Mortgage Department for five years. Katrina joined Goldman Sachs in 2005 as an analyst and was named managing director in 2015.

Prior to joining the firm, Katrina worked at Lehman Brothers in the Securitized Products group.

Katrina serves as a trustee for Seabury Hall.

Katrina received a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPA from Columbia University.

Mike O'Neill

President & CEO, BMI

Mike O’Neill is President and Chief Executive Officer of BMI® (Broadcast Music, Inc.®). In this role, Mr. O’Neill oversees all of BMI’s business operations, both domestically and globally, and directs the Company’s strategic growth to benefit BMI’s songwriters, composers, music publishers and licensees. He is also a member of BMI’s Board of Directors. Under Mr. O’Neill’s leadership, BMI has reported its highest-ever revenue and distributions to its affiliated songwriters, composers and publishers. Notably, BMI became the first music rights organization in the world to deliver more than $1 billion in public performance royalties to its affiliates. Additionally, Mr. O’Neill spearheaded BMI’s historic victory over the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure the continued practice of fractional licensing. He has also overseen exponential growth year-over-year in both signing up tens of thousands of new affiliates to the Company and processing trillions of performances, adapting to the seismic digital shift in how music is consumed. Mr. O’Neill has served BMI for 27 years. Prior to his current role, he oversaw all aspects of BMI’s Creative team, as well as Domestic Licensing and revenue generation, including radio, television, cable, satellite, and the general licensing division, while managing royalty distributions and administrative services groups. He has led licensing negotiations, developed new licenses and sales policies and spearheaded a new customer relations campaign. He was also instrumental in developing the groundbreaking BMI Live program, which pays performing songwriters for live performances in small venues. Mr. O’Neill joined BMI in 1994 as Director, Group and National Accounts, from CBS-TV Network, where he was Director, CBS Affiliate Relations. Within two years, he was appointed Assistant Vice President, Media Licensing, and two years later, Vice President, Sales and Administration, Media Licensing. In 2006, he was appointed Senior Vice President, Licensing, and in 2010, Senior Vice President, Repertoire and Licensing. In September of 2013, he received his appointment as Chief Executive Officer and assumed the additional title of President in July of 2014. Mr. O’Neill holds an MBA from Rutgers University in Marketing and Finance and received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Montclair University. He is Chairman of the Board of FastTrack and sits on the Board of Directors for the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Broadcasters Foundation of America, National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation and Monmouth Medical Center Foundation. He also serves as Honorary Chair of the BMI Foundation. In 2019, O’Neill was honored with the T.J. Martell Legacy Award and was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.

Mary megan Peer

CEO, peermusic

As Chief Executive Officer of peermusic, Mary Megan Peer directs the largest privately owned company of its kind, operating in 39 offices from 32 countries with well over a million titles owned or administered and over 200+ employees worldwide. Peer is a third-generation music publishing executive with a Wall Street background.

In 2023, peermusic opened in its 32nd country with the acquisition of Arctic Rights Management, the largest indie music publisher in Norway. The deal, led by Mary Megan Peer, gave peermusic the publishing rights to Arctic Rights Management’s 5,000+ recordings and compositions. The deal also encompasses a publishing interest in many international hits, including Dua Lipa’s “Don't Start Now” (via Caroline Ailin) which garnered three nominations at the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2020 for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Pop Solo Performance. Also included is Dua Lipa’s “New Rules” which was nominated for British Single of the Year at the Brit Awards and earned Dua Lipa her first #1 on UK Singles Chart. The peermusic Artic Rights acquisition includes over 40 active writers who have joined the peermusic worldwide roster.

In 2022, Mary Megan led a sub-publishing deal with Hipgnosis including the catalogs of Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Chrissie Hynde.

Mary Megan Peer spearheaded a blockbuster deal in 2020 that helped establish peermusic neighboring rights, an international partnership comprised of peermusic, Global Master Rights, Premier Muzik, and All Right Music. This deal instantly vaulted the newly formed Peermusic Neighbouring Rights into one of the leading independent neighbouring rights companies in the world. Its client roster encompasses 300+ record labels and 3,000+ performers, including Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons, DJ Snake, Metallica, Jacques Brel, Jean-Michel Jarre, Leonard Bernstein, Megan Thee Stallion, Finneas, Lady A, Lang Lang, Lizzo, Panic! At The Disco, Migos, and David Guetta. Recent signings to Peermusic Neighbouring Rights include: Joan Baez, The Strokes, Malcolm McLaren, Armin Van Buren, Carl Cox, Luis Enrique, Stromae, Charles Azanavour, and Sofi Tukker, while label signings include Shanachie Records, Ninja Tune, Malaco Records, Red Bullet Productions, Cutting Edge, amongst others.

Peer is setting the standard for international publishing administration, and other global music publishers have flocked to peermusic for sub-publishing (including Hipgnosis, Big Machine, Concord and Sugar Music). Peer also led the licensing of peermusic’s proprietary copyright/royalties system to Synchtank, which in turn is licensing it to other music publishers. Thanks to its origins in peermusic, IRIS is fully integrated with over 60 global CMOs and has processed hundreds of millions of royalties.

Mary Megan Peer led the acquisition of the largest independent K-pop publisher in Korea in 2016, adding Korea to the company’s global network, along with 40,000 Korean copyrights and works by K-pop groups BTS, EXO, and Monsta X. Since then, peermusic writers have garnered #1s in Korea by NCT Deam, ITZY and Apink, among others. Peer previously led the opening of peermusic’s first office in mainland China, becoming the first global independent in mainland China. She had previously established a successful joint-venture partnership in China, which made peermusic the first Western independent publishing company to directly sign Chinese writers.

Mary Megan holds a BA with honors from Stanford University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Peer has been named to Billboard’s “Power 100”, “Women in Music” and “International Power Players” lists and featured in Music Business Worldwide’s “Inspiring Women.”

Brad Peterson

SVP Music & Entertainment, Regions Bank

Brad has been in music and entertainment-related banking for more than 27 years, and is currently Senior Vice President of Music & Entertainment for Regions Bank in Nashville. He has a particular concentration in music publishing, copyright and royalty lending, along with various banking representations over the years for songwriters, artists, business management firms, film companies, booking agencies, record labels, live events, media companies, and other businesses that contribute into the entertainment industry. Member and sponsor of the Nashville chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), has been involved as an advisor and sponsor with the Music Business Pipeline Project at Belmont University, the Entertainment Business program at SAE Institute in Nashville, the Nashville Film Festival, and was a board member of the Nashville Filmmakers Guild. Member of the Leadership Music class of 2016. Brad has spoken on music banking in various seminars, conferences, panels and podcasts, as well as been a guest lecturer at both Belmont University and NYU.

Originally from the Midwest, he is a graduate of Washington & Lee University in Virginia, and has lived in Nashville for 27 years. Brad now shares a home in Nashville with Amanda, stepdaughter Lydia, and also has a 23-year old son, Brady. He enjoys all things entertainment, family, Formula 1, classic cars, travel and college football.

matt pincus

Co-Founder and CEO, MUSIC

Matt Pincus is the Co-Founder and CEO of MUSIC, the first diversified investment vehicle dedicated to the business of music. A long-term holding company, MUSIC was capitalized with $200m in May 2022 by Pincus and his partners: LionTree, Schusterman Family Investments and One Madison Group. 

Since its capitalization, MUSIC has invested $105M of equity capital in some of the strongest companies in music across music technology, independent music, copyright management and acquisition, and music provision to enterprise.  MUSIC holds significant minority stakes in leading music tech platform Splice,  Atlanta-based music company LVRN (Love Renaissance), Dice, a global platform for concertgoers that is currently the third largest ticketing provider in the United States, and Soundtrack, a leading provider of rights inclusive on demand music to enterprise.  Alongside Francisco Partners, MUSIC also holds a controlling stake in Kobalt, the leading global music publishing administration platform.

Matt serves on the boards of directors of Splice, LVRN, Kobalt, Soundtrack and Dice.

Before founding MUSIC with LionTree in 2019, Matt was the Founder and CEO of SONGS Music Publishing, a company he established in 2004. At the time of its sale to Kobalt Capital, Ltd in 2017, SONGS was the leading independent music publisher of contemporary music in the United States, peaking at 5.41% market share in the US according to Billboard.  SONGS was the first company to sign The Weeknd, Lorde, Diplo, DJ Mustard, and many other global hitmakers to their first music publishing deals. With its exit to Kobalt, SONGS became one of the highest-returning investments in a startup music publishing company.

During his time at SONGS, Matt was a longtime member of the Board of Directors of ASCAP, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF).

In a nod to his roots as the bass player for the seminal New York hardcore band Judge, Matt created TRUST Records, a not-for-profit music label dedicated to preserving the master recordings of classic American punk and hardcore music.  

Before SONGS, Matt was a Strategy Associate at EMI Group, plc, one of the four major global music companies. Prior to that, he founded Some Records, an independent record label, and Ultra14, an Internet marketing firm.  Matt started his career as a writer and Assistant Editor at New York Magazine.  In 2002, he earned an MBA from Columbia Business School.

 

 

 

Michael Poster

Partner, Michelman & Robinson

Michael Poster is Music Acquisitions and Financing Chair and Partner-in-Charge of Michelman & Robinson LLP’s New York Office, where he specializes in catalog acquisitions, corporate M&A, debt and equity financing transactions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, and other deals where the music industry and corporate dealmaking converge.

As a transactional attorney with over 25 years’ experience, Michael has successfully structured, negotiated, and closed a broad range of corporate deals with an emphasis on the music industry. Michael’s music catalog experience spans the length of his career, and includes buy-side and sell-side catalog transactions across nearly every deal size, rights type, and genre in the marketplace, and involves clients including major and independent labels, private-equity backed buyers, top industry executives, hit-making songwriters, and key sources of debt and equity financing. He has been named in Billboard’s annual list of Top Music Lawyers each year from 2018 through 2024 and has been included among its listing of top legal dealmakers in music catalog transactions. Michael was also recognized as a “Power Lawyer in Music” by The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, included in Variety’s “Legal Impact Report” in 2023, and recognized by his peers in both “Best Lawyers” and “Super Lawyers.”

Michael is honored to have served as chairman of the Mondo.NYC annual CLE event, and has previously been chair of other NY-based entertainment and media law programs for more than 10 years. In addition, he has spoken and published articles on copyright, corporate finance, entertainment, and licensing issues and is frequently quoted on music and copyright law issues in Billboard, the Wall Street Journal, Axios, Law360, Forbes, Bloomberg, World IP Review, and other publications.

joe Puthenveetil

Partner, The Raine Group

Joe is a Partner at Raine. Joe joined the firm in 2010 and has worked on principal and advisory transactions across the media, entertainment and technology sectors, helping lead Raine’s global music and live entertainment efforts and broader EMEA strategy. While at Raine, Joe has worked on a variety of transactions across music including the sale of Chord Music Partners to Dundee Partners and UMG, the sale of Quality Control to HYBE, the capital raise for music company gamma, the sale of the Downtown Music’s publishing catalogue to Concord, the sale of Alamo Records to Sony, and the sale of vertical SaaS company FUGA to Downtown Music. Other transactions across TMT have included the sale of Tonic Games to Epic, the equity capital raise for children’s entertainment company Moonbug, and various SoftBank transactions (including the acquisition of Sprint and Clearwire, investment in Ola, and sale of Drama Fever).

Joe has also helped lead a number of Raine’s investments, including Firebird Music, Soundcloud, Blackbird Presents and C3 Presents (sold to Live Nation). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Firebird, Soundcloud and Blackbird Presents.

Joe has a B.S. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

 

Michael Reinert

Partner, Fox Rothschild

Michael Reinert is a partner at the law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP. He is a seasoned entertainment executive that has worked with many platinum-selling artists and served as legal counsel to some of the world’s largest and most legendary recording companies. His clients benefit from his in-depth experience in drafting and negotiating contracts and his deep knowledge of the entertainment business. Michael previously served as Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for the Universal Motown Republic Group and Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs for PolyGram Records.

leron rogers

Partner, Fox Rothschild

Leron Rogers is a partner at the law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP.  He is a well-known and respected entertainment attorney who works with the full spectrum of industry professional including actors, recording artists, producers, songwriters, record labels, publishing and management companies, music industry trade organizations, film and television companies as well as new media companies. Leron serves as Chairman of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association and is also Co-Chair of the Music Industry Relations Collective for the National Museum of African American Music.

jon Rotolo

Co-Founder, Great Mountain Partners

Jon Rotolo is a Founder of Great Mountain Partners. Prior to this, he was the head of the Private Equity and Real Asset group at Barings, a $300+ Billion institutional asset manager, and chaired the group’s Investment Committee. Before joining Barings, Jon was a co-founder of Wood Creek Capital Management where he served in various roles spanning a decade including CEO & Chief
Investment Officer, President, and Chief Operating Officer. Wood Creek was acquired by MassMutual in 2014 and merged into Barings in 2016. Mr. Rotolo serves on the Board of Managers of the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research and is an officer of LSJ
Charitable Corporation. Mr. Rotolo is a graduate of Hamilton College, Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

frank scibilia

Partner, Pryor Cashman

Partner Frank Scibilia co-chairs Pryor Cashman’s Copyright and Music practices and is a member of the Litigation and Intellectual Property Groups. 

A highly accomplished intellectual property and entertainment lawyer and litigator, Frank has for over 25 years handled and litigated complex copyright and related issues—especially those concerning the exploitation of music on emerging digital platforms—for clients including major and independent music publishers and record labels, music industry trade organizations, licensing  collectives, content aggregators, and individual songwriters and recording artists. 

Frank’s work has had a direct financial impact on his music industry clients, their songwriters and recording artists, and the industry as a whole.  His deep knowledge of copyright law as it applies to the music industry—including the intricacies of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Music Modernization Act, and the statutory licenses in Sections 114 and 115 and termination provisions in Sections 203 and 304 of the U.S. Copyright Act—helps his clients anticipate legal issues and trends, navigate obstacles, and achieve success in litigation and business transactions.  Frank is engaged at the forefront of the firm’s practices in litigation, transactions and regulatory work precisely because his clients often have common interests across all three.

Frank has repeatedly been named one of a handful of leading copyright lawyers in the country by The Legal 500, a “Top Music Lawyer” by Billboard Magazine, a music “Trailblazer” by New York Law Journal, and a top attorney in copyright by Best Lawyers in America.  He has been recognized repeatedly in Variety’s Legal Impact Report, and named to the Super Lawyers list for intellectual property litigation over 16 years running.  Frank also co-authored the New York State Bar Association’s nationally distributed treatise, Entertainment Law, and is a Trustee of and frequent speaker at the Copyright Society of the USA.

Stephen Sessa

Co-Chair, Reed Smith

Steve is co-chair of the Entertainment and Media Industry Group at Reed Smith. While Steve has a full-service music practice, he is considered one of the leading authorities in the music business on catalog acquisitions and copyright law.

Steve advises major and independent music publishing and record companies in the purchase of copyrights, music-related assets, and revenue streams. As Concord Music’s outside counsel since 2005 (along with its affiliates and predecessors), Steve has led all of Concord’s major acquisitions, including, Phil Collins and Genesis, Round Hill, Downtown Music, Imagem, and Pulse, amongst hundreds of other transactions for Concord. In addition, Steve has represented many other significant buyers in the space including, but not limited to, Lyric/Spirit Music, Kobalt, Iconic Artist Group (Irving Azoff), Shamrock Capital Advisors, Seeker, Flexpoint Ford, and all three major music publishers. Not limited to the buy-side, Steve has represented legendary songwriters in some of the biggest catalog sales in the last few years, including, representing Stargate, Will Jennings, The Estate of Thelonious Monk, Ali Tamposi, and Phil Lawrence in the sale of their evergreen musical compositions. Whether it’s been selling the Taylor Swift catalog or buying The Beach Boys rights, clients have sought out Steve for his knowledge of copyright law and the music business, his practical problem-solving approach to navigating issues, and his unparalleled experience in both size and volume of deals closed in the billions.

Steve has been a top talent lawyer for 25 years working with superstar artists such as Beyoncé, Bon Jovi, The Smashing Pumpkins, Cardi B, Lil Uzi Vert, Korn, Megadeth, Kesha, Blackpink, and Jay Z.

brad sharp

Senior Managing Partner, Virtu Global Advisors

Brad Sharp is a co-founder and Senior Managing Partner at Virtu Global Advisors.  Brad has over 20 years of experience in Media and Entertainment having overseen a broad range of engagements, covering all Media and Entertainment sub-sectors:  film and television content production & distribution, music, video games, sports, podcasting and publishing. Brad works closely with management teams, commercial lenders, private equity funds and private capital, sovereign wealth funds and family offices looking to invest into the Media & Entertainment industry, helping them to shape their strategy, diligence and execute transactions, and understand the value of intellectual property in a constantly evolving industry.

Brad started his career in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications audit practice at Deloitte.  After receiving his CPA license, he left Deloitte to transition to a career in finance and started with The Salter Group in 2005.  At The Salter Group, Brad discovered his passion for the Media & Entertainment industry, working with his colleagues to execute challenging assignments at the cross section of finance, data analytics and entertainment.  In 2012, Brad joined FTI Consulting with their acquisition of The Salter Group and worked closely with his team to broaden the services, industry and geographical focus of the practice.  Brad was a Senior Managing Director and co-leader of the global Valuation and Financial Advisory Services practice at FTI until the formation of Virtu Global Advisors in 2023. 

Brad received a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a minor in Accounting and Computer Science.  Brad is a former CPA and is a CFA charter holder.

Outside of Virtu Global Brad enjoys spending time with family, hiking, mountain bike riding, skiing, playing board games, reading sci-fi and fantasy books and going to as many Dodger games as possible.

chris sheaffer

Global Vice Chair, Reed Smith

Chris Sheaffer is the Global Vice-Chair of Reed Smith’s Private Equity Group. Chris’ private equity background uniquely positions him to handle some of the largest and most complex transactions in the music space, including for institutional investors such as Flexpoint Ford, Crestline and Lyric Capital. Working with Reed Smith’s music team, Chris has led billions of dollars of transactions for Concord Music Group, including their acquisition of Imagem, Downtown Music Publishing’s owned music copyright catalog, Samuel French, Fania Records and a joint venture with Pulse Music.

robert sherman

Partner, DLA Piper

Robert J. Sherman is the Co-Chair of the Entertainment Finance Practice at DLA Piper and a prominent music, media and entertainment finance attorney. Rob's practice focuses on complex domestic and cross-border financings, securitizations, acquisitions and strategic transactions for clients in the global music and media industries. His clients include some of the most active music rights acquirors in the marketplace (including Concord and HarbourView), as well as banks and other debt and equity financiers active in the music rights arena. Rob and his team are among the most experienced specialists in the burgeoning music rights securitization sector.

Rob has represented a marquee list of clients in closing some of the most notable deals completed in the last years, including Concord, HarbourView Equity Partners, Multimedia Music, Bella Figura Music, GoldState Music, Secretly Group Inc., City National Bank and many other participants in multiple 9- and 10-figure music rights financings and related M&A transactions.

Rob has generated significant press regarding his leading of the DLA Piper team responsible for bringing multiple music rights securitizations by Concord, HarbourView and others to market. He has also garnered recognition in the press and honors from Billboard (which recently named him as one of the top music industry lawyers), Variety and the Hollywood Reporter for his representations of Concord, HarbourView Equity Partners, Multimedia Music.

aaron siegel

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Aaron is a managing director in the Technology, Media and Telecom Group in Investment Banking, where he leads the Entertainment Investment Banking team. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2003 as an analyst and was named managing director in 2015.

Aaron serves on the Board of Directors of the Arthur Miller Foundation, a nonprofit that provides access and equity to theater education in public schools. He also serves on the Board of Directors of SeaChange, a nonprofit providing grants, loans, analysis and advice to help nonprofits work through complex financial and organizational challenges.

Aaron earned an AB in Computer Science from Harvard University in 2003.

jon singer

Chairman, Spirit Music Group

As Chairman of Spirit Music Group, Jon Singer oversees all global activities and champions some of the world’s best-known songwriters for one of the world’s leading independent publishers. Singer currently serves on the board of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA); the board of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP); and previously served on the board of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP). Singer also served fifteen years on the recording side of the music business in senior positions at Island Records, Island Def Jam and Decca Label Group. 

Singer led a US$350 million recapitalization of Spirit Music Group, forming Lyric Capital Group along with executive Ross Cameron to take ownership of Spirit in 2019. In 2021, in strategic alliance with Northleaf Capital Partners, Lyric Capital Group completed a US$500 million recapitalization of Spirit Music Group.  In 2023, Lyric Capital Group successfully closed its second fund, with total commitments of approximately $410 million . The firm also raised senior debt financing to bring Lyric’s new deployable capital to over $800 million  to develop outstanding catalogs of music, in partnership with artists and songwriters. 

Singer got his start as a Senior Accountant in the firm of David Berdon & Company and received his B.S. from Rowan University where he serves on the Executive Advisory Counsel for the business school.

Sherrese Clarke Soares

Founder and CEO, Harbourview Equity Partners

Sherrese Clarke Soares is a visionary two-time Founder & CEO having spent over 20 years in corporate finance, capital markets, investment banking, and private equity. In 2021, Sherrese founded Harbourview Equity Partners with a vision to create a next generation private equity firm focused on the entertainment and media space to help shape, impact, and influence culture. Sherrese leads a team of 30+ business and entertainment professionals and oversees a diverse portfolio of  premium content across the entertainment and media sectors.  Prior to starting HarbourView, Sherrese Clarke Soares founded Tempo Music where she served as CEO and Board Director.

emily stephenson

President, Downtown Music Publishing

Nashville-based Stephenson, serves as Downtown Music’s President of Publishing. Stephenson oversees all of Downtown’s publishing administration and client acquisition efforts, leading a team of 100+. Prior to her current role, Stephenson served as the division’s Vice President of Business Operations and during her 12+ year tenure at the company has been responsible for various aspects of publishing administration and client services. Downtown’s roster includes songwriter and publishing clients, including Spirit Music Group, Jason Isbell, Big Yellow Dog, and the John Lennon Estate.

michael sukin

Principal, Sukin Colton Law Association

Sukin Colton Law Association is an entertainment and intellectual property law firm representing various parties - buyers, sellers, banks, funds, investor groups - in catalog acquisitions, company sales, and financing. We have closed many transactions involving the world’s most popular music, including ones conducted in Spanish and French languages. Additionally, our firm has done groundbreaking work in statutory and contractual copyright terminations and rights reversions, on a worldwide basis. The firm has long been known for its innovative thinking in developing the now-famous Bowie Bond in asset securitization using music catalogs.

Founded by its two principals Michael Sukin and Doug Colton, the firm has a global practice based in New York, Nashville, and London and has represented top level artists, songwriters, publishers, record companies, estates, trusts, and managers, domestically and internationally.

Sukin Colton led the initiation, promotion, and enhancement of global, music-related copyright legislation in the European Union, the United States, and Japan. As such, our firm has worked with music publishers and collecting societies in Eastern and Western Europe, the United States and the Far East, having represented many of these societies: ASCAP (representation), BMI (representation), SESAC (representation), Global Music Rights, the Performing Rights Society (UK), PPL-UK, British Music Rights, SACEM (France-representation), GEMA (Germany), SGAE (Spain-representation), STIM (Sweden), National Music Publishers Associations (Japan, UK, Germany), GESAC (Brussels), The International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP, Brussels), IFPI (London-Brussels), JASRAC (Japan), SAMRO (South Africa), ZAIKS (Poland), and SAZAS (Slovenia).

Chambers U.S.A. (the leading rating reference for attorneys) refers to Michael Sukin as a “gifted lawyer of rare experience in music issues.” Chambers ranks Mr. Sukin amongst the top attorneys in media entertainment in New York and Billboard considers him among the top music attorneys.

Mr. Sukin was raised in a music publishing family and has devoted his career to music publishing, the record industry (for the legendary Clive Davis), and musical theater.

Mr. Sukin is a graduate of Cornell University with high honors in economics and the Stanford University Law School, where he has also served on the Board of Visitors. He is fluent in French and holds a Certificate from the prestigious Parisian Insitut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po).

Mr. Sukin was awarded the President’s Medal from the Country Music Association and is a founding Director of the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers. Sukin has written and lectured on issues within their expertise domestically and internationally. He has been cited and quoted as an expert in the media including BBC World, Billboard, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, Music Week and The New York Times.

alex thomson

Co-Founder, Great Mountain Partners

Alex Thomson is a Founder of Great Mountain Partners. Prior to this, he oversaw the Media & Entertainment, Pharma & Healthcare and Financial Services portfolios of the Private Equity and Real Asset group at Barings, a $300+ Billion institutional asset manager, and was a member of the group’s Investment Committee. Before joining Barings, Alex was a co-founder of Wood CreekCapital Management where he served in various roles spanning a decade including overseeing the firm’s media and entertainment investments, and heading up business development and investor relations. Wood Creek was acquired by MassMutual in 2014 and merged into Barings in 2016. Mr. Thomson is the Vice-Chairman of Concord, a leading independent music company. Mr. Thomson is a graduate of Durham University in the UK.

seth traxler

Partner, Kirkland & Ellis

Seth Traxler is a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis, a premier global law firm that delivers exceptional client service and results.  Kirkland has ~3500 lawyers in 19 offices on three continents, with core focus areas of corporate transactions, litigation, restructurings, white collar and government disputes, and intellectual property matters.  Building upon his early career in the music industry, Seth leads a key practice group within Kirkland who lead and/or support transactions where the business value derives from intangible assets such as music rights.  Seth has over 25 years of experience negotiating oftentimes transformative M&A deals, joint ventures, financings, and other strategic commercial agreements across many industries including the music industry.

david trujillo

Partner & Principal, TPG

David Trujillo is a TPG Board and Executive Committee member. David joined TPG in January 2006. He is the Co-Managing Partner of TPG Growth, Co-Managing Partner of TPG Tech Adjacencies, and Managing Partner of TPG Digital Media. David leads TPG’s Internet, Digital
Media, and Communications investing efforts across the firm. He currently serves as a director on the public boards of TPG, Inc and Uber Technologies, Inc. and on the private boards of Beauty for All Industries (fka Ipsy), Calm, DirecTV, Entertainment Partners, Global Music Rights (GMR), Musixmatch and Prodigy Education. David led TPG’s historic investments in Airbnb, Astound Broadband, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Lynda.com and Spotify. He has been a private equity investor in the technology, media, and telecom sector for over 25 years, including working at Golder, Thoma, Cressey, Rauner (now known as GTCR, LLC) prior to joining TPG. Mr. Trujillo received a Bachelor of Art in Economics from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

claire turvey

Managing Partner, Fourth Pillar

Claire has 20 years’ experience in strategic communications and reputation management, including 10 years working in the City of London.

Prior to joining Fourth Pillar, she was a managing director in the strategic communications practice of global management consultancy firm FTI Consulting, where she spent eight years advising on high profile international mandates.

Claire’s primary focus is on financial and corporate PR, including investor communications, financial calendar, analyst relations, capital markets, M&A, IPOs, fundraises, restructurings, profile raising, brand building/positioning, issues/crisis management, ESG and stakeholder engagement.

She has spent the majority of her career advising quoted and non-quoted companies, from global organisations and FTSE 100/250 companies to small private businesses and start-ups, asset / fund managers and private equity. Formerly a ministerial advisor with the Irish Government, Claire began her career as a journalist and producer with The Times, Sky TV and the BBC and is a former board member of Irish Film London.

Bob Valentine

CEO, Concord

Mr. Valentine joined Norman Lear’s Act III Communications in 1999 when it acquired Concord Records. In 2001, Valentine left Act III to join Fox Entertainment’s television business development group, focusing on corporate M&A and business development initiatives at Fox and its parent company News Corp. In 2005, he returned to Concord to become CFO and served in that capacity at the company until 2021, when he was named President. He became CEO of Concord on July 1, 2023. Valentine started his career as a financial analyst in Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division. He received his M.B.A. from U.C.L.A.’s Anderson School of Management and his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame.

heidy vaquerano

Partner, Fox Rothschild

Heidy Vaquerano is a partner at the law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP. She is an experienced entertainment attorney who represents clients on a broad range of intellectual property and transactional matters. Music industry clients rely on Heidy to negotiate music publishing and recording agreements, master use and synchronization licenses, marketing and promotion agreements, as well as work for hire agreements, merchandising agreements and production agreements. She negotiates music catalog sale and acquisition deals, and she is skilled at advising clients in matters related to NFTs and Web 3.0. Additionally, Heidy handles copyright, trademark and name and likeness licensing.

donald zakarin

Partner, Pryor Cashman

Donald Zakarin co-chairs Pryor Cashman’s Litigation and Music Groups and the M+E Litigation Practice. Over the course of more than 46 years at Pryor Cashman, Don has successfully tried dozens of cases to both juries and judges around the country, including, most recently, the Ed Sheeran copyright infringement suit brought by heirs of Ed Townsend. For decades, Don has represented most of the major music companies, including Universal, Sony, Warner, and BMG, in litigations as well as providing guidance to many of their senior-most executives.  

His clients in litigations have included:
•    Ed Sheeran
•    Ariana Grande
•    Ryan Tedder
•    H.E.R.
•    Karol G
•    System Of A Down
•    Universal Music Group and Universal Music Publishing Group
•    Sony Music Publishing and Sony Music Entertainment
•    Warner Music Group and Warner Chappel
•    ABKCO Music and Records
•    BMG
•    Kobalt
•    Concord

In both 2017 and again in 2022, Don, along with partners Frank Scibilia and Ben Semel, led a team of Pryor Cashman lawyers successfully representing the National Music Publishers Association and the Nashville Songwriters’ Association International, on behalf of the United States music publishing industry and songwriters, in Copyright Royalty Board proceedings to fix the mechanical royalty rate for interactive streaming, obtaining in 2017, and ultimately upholding on remand, an increase of some 44% in the mechanical rates required be paid by interactive DSPs to songwriters and publishers.