Songtrust Summit Speakers

Alex Gershwin is the Manager of Business Development for Songtrust, the world's largest technology solution for global music publishing royalty collection and administration. He has worked in the music industry for more than 12 years. Prior to Songtrust, Gershwin was a Publisher Services Specialist at ASCAP on its Global Services team. He started his career in music at RightsFlow, a mechanical licensing agency in NYC, and has also held roles at MusicBox, and Red Bull Records. He is based in Los Angeles, California.

Anna Bond is the Head of Creative and Partnerships for Songtrust, the world’s largest global royalty collection service and publishing administrator. She leads the company’s creative strategy, branding, messaging, and client-focused business partnerships. Bond has been in the music industry for more than 15 years, and prior to Songtrust, she was US label head for storied indie powerhouse Rough Trade Records. She has also spent time at independent distributor Secretly Distribution, digital music service eMusic, and in label management for Brighton, UK based rock/experimental label FatCat.

Byron Pascoe is a music lawyer with Edwards Creative Law - Canada’s Entertainment Law BoutiqueTM . Byron works with recording artists, composers, producers, managers, music service businesses and festivals. Before law school, he was a television and new media producer. Based in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa, Byron works with clients across Canada and people outside of Canada who have questions about working with Canadian creators and companies. He organizes music professional development programming, sits on the board of directors of multiple music festivals, and is involved with organizing a national network of legal clinics for the arts in Canada.

Dewayne Ector serves as Chief Revenue Officer, where he oversees the successful negotiation and maximization of revenue from digital licenses covering all rights types represented across Downtown’s business units. With more than 20 years of experience in the music industry, Dewayne is recognized as an expert on the dynamic and complex global music royalties’ landscape. He previously led partner relations and income tracking for Downtown subsidiary Songtrust®, the world's largest technology solution for global music publishing royalty collection and administration, as well as leadership roles for the digital mechanical and performing rights society AMRA, and PRS for Music in the U.K. Dewayne began his career working as a producer and studio engineer across the U.S. and the Caribbean.

Filip has worked within Neighbouring Rights for over 15 years in various guises, for the collection society PPL, for the record label Ministry of Sound and now at Downtown Music in London representing Recording Artists and Rights Holders and administering their rights with collection societies worldwide.

Known for their work on video games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, League of Legends, and Rocket League, Hyper Potions - the duo of Kevin Villecco and Ian Tsuchiura - joins the world of the nostalgic retro video game era with modern day bass and beats. Catching the ears of Cartoon Network with their signature sound, the boys have made their way into TVs around the globe. HP lives up to their name through their ecstatic and hyper active live DJ sets, attracting EDM, anime, and gaming fans alike.

Jeremy Gruber is the Head of Artist Marketing & Digital Strategy at Friends At Work, representing artists including John Legend, Lindsey Stirling, Charlie Puth, and Raphael Saadiq. Jeremy has spent more than a decade working with artists at all levels helping them grow their brand and businesses by bringing together traditional marketing with the latest technology. Growing up the child of classical musicians and music teachers, he picked up electric bass at age 14, igniting his passion for all forms of music. After graduating with a Music Industry degree from USC, Jeremy started his career in artist management and marketing helping to manage the wine label, public speaking and corporate career of legendary drummer Mick Fleetwood at the boutique firm Sabre Entertainment. He went on to run digital for 10th Street Entertainment and Eleven Seven Music working with marquee rock bands including Mötley Crüe, Papa Roach, JET and Blondie. In 2010, he joined the leading independent label Concord Music Group helping to establish the direct to consumer team and later building the digital marketing & strategy department where he worked closely with established legends like Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Gregg Allman and James Taylor as well as up-and-coming stars including the launch of Nathaniel Ratliff & the Night Sweats. Jeremy was also a partner in the music marketing technology start-up found.ee which sold to Downtown Music in February of 2021. In addition to his artist marketing work, Jeremy is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California's music industry program.

Chris "Kato On The Tack" Ju is a #1 Billboard-Charting Korean-American Music Producer, Socia Media Influencer, Artist, Music Educator, and Entrepreneur out of Atlanta, GA. Kato has worked with Multi-Platinum, Grammy-Nominated Artists like Tyga, Jack Harlow, Joyner Lucas, Snoop Dogg, B.o.B, Tory Lanez, E-40, and many more. Known for creating some of the most popular internet moments, Kato is considered one fo the most viral Producers in the music industry.

Since 1999, Lauren Synger has lent her talents to both Voice Over and Music. Her acting skills and years of experience in the world of Voice Over are interchangeable with her musical capabilities. Known for her creativity, intuition, and versatility in voice, Lauren can sing anything from classical and opera to musical theater, pop, rock, blues, jazz, and everything in between. Her emotionally charged performances, wide range of ages and accents, and plethora of characters enable her to find the right spoken or sung “voice”. In 2018, Lauren wrote, produced, directed, and performed the character song "Lonely Angel/ I'll Be Your Angel" as her character Alice Angel in Bendy and the Ink Machine by theMeatly Games/Joey Drew Studios. She has lent her vocals, song-writing skills, and voice over talent to video games and their soundtracks such as Heroes of Newerth by S2 Games/Frostburn Studios, and the award-winning Skyrim conversion Enderal. Lauren recorded a tribute cover of "For Good" From Wicked, the musical, for a livestream tribute and fundraiser she co-coordinated to honor her best friend, Miguel "Mike" Vasquez, who tragically passed at the end of Oct 2020. Her most recent work includes both the spoken and sung voices for Alice Angel/Allison/Mila in Bendy and the Dark Revival (in Production), Bendy and the Ink Machine, and Boris and the Dark Surviva by theMeatly Games/ Joey Drew Studios, Inc. She is voice director for Boris and Dark Survival, and for Bendy and the Dark Revival. Lauren is the voice of Genlock’s Yaz in HI-Rez Studio’s Paladins. She also voiced The female PC Aerev in Spellforce 3 by THQ Nordic/Grimlore Games. She voiced ADAH in Starpoint Gemini. She's the voice of Bu The Nimble in Sonic Picnic's Blightbound. Her voice can also be heard as a multitude of video game characters in Star Trek Online, Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter, Heroes of Newerth, Magic: The Gathering, and Ironhide Game Studio’s Kingdom Rush and Junkworld. Lauren assumes the multiple roles of creative developer, song/lyric writer, performer, producer, composer, director, and arranger. Her most recent endeavor is currently in production. Once complete, Lauren’s goal is to develop a catalog of original music, which will be made available for the public, and for licensing opportunities in other forms of entertainment such as Film, TV, and Video Games

I head up the Marketing Strategy vertical for digital distributor FUGA and am based in LA. Riot Games Music are one of our clients and through that I have been quite involved in the rollout of their musical content to DSPs over the past 3 years including: K/DA, Pentakill, and TRUE DAMAGE. Previously I worked at a record label called Ghostly International where we released the Minecraft Volume Alpha soundtrack by C418 as well as Hohokum for Playstation. I'm an avid gamer and currently enjoying Eastward for the Switch

Noah is a life-long drummer who studied Jazz at Manhattan School of Music Precollege and later New York University. He graduated with a Music Business degree from the Steinhardt School and a Film Producing minor from Tisch at NYU. He has recorded and performed with countless songwriters and artists over the years. His work has been featured by the Recording Academy//GRAMMYs, Bloomberg Radio, Variety, BrooklynVegan, and American Songwriter Magazine.

Nothing is more important than building your audience. Rebecca is the Director of Operations at found.ee - a web platform that enables users to build sophisticated remarketing campaigns, simply, from any digital touchpoints. Rebecca has worked in various capacities in the music industry, from client services to digital operations. She comes from a remote island in Alaska, but could not see Russia from her house. She loves spreadsheets, metadata, and underground hip hop.

Sydney "Squid" Jacobs grew up outside LA in Orange, California. When not playing basketball or dabbling in her short-lived child acting career, she was going to any and every show her parents would take her to - all thanks to a Playstation karaoke game that introduced her to the scene bands of the time (My Chemical Romance ,Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco). Since that young age, Sydney dreamt of pursuing a career on the business side of the industry. In 2016, while still in college, Sydney became the first employee at nascent T∆G Music, founded by Gabe Saporta (Midtown, Cobra Starship). Under Gabe’s mentorship, she has worked on every aspect of a start-up music company. She is currently the Marketing Director for the T∆G Music label, as well as the day-to-day for clients Tessa Violet (T∆G), Against the Current (Elektra), and courtship. (T∆G).

Wilkins joined Audiomack in August 2018 as Director of Data & Revenue Strategy based out of the company’s NYC office and was promoted in June 2021 to VP, Music & Data Partnerships. Under Wilkins’ leadership, Audiomack has inked licensing deals with all three major labels, launched its flagship A&R research tools, and expanded its direct licenses to incorporate over 250 rightsholders, including the world’s largest distribution and label services companies and leading independent labels across the globe. A graduate of Wellesley College, Wilkins began her career in investment banking and, prior to joining Audiomack, held a role in Global Business Development & Digital Strategy at Sony Music Entertainment.

Woot Johnson is an A&R and Publishing Specialist for Songtrust, the world’s largest global royalty collection service and publishing administrator. At Songtrust, Johnson works closely with producers, songwriters, and artists around the world to ensure that they are collecting all of the music publishing royalties owed to them. Johnson started in the music industry in 2008 as a part of RPG, a rap group that opened for Waka Flocka, Travis Porter, and Gucci Mane. Outside of his work at Songtrust, Johnson manages producers, singers, and songwriters, having secured placements on songs performed by Beyonce, Trey Songz, Wale, and more. Woot is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and strives to educate generations of musical creators on the intricate details of the creative and business aspects of the music industry. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Johnson C. Smith University in 2012.

Cristina Cano is an experienced music professional with a passion for helping independent musicians create success pathways for their craft. Cristina has spent the last decade aiming to support the evolution of the industry from the inside, and to create more opportunities for the growth of independent artists. As a digital marketing guru for CD Baby, she is a primary planner for the DIY Musician Conference, and is a featured speaker on the subject of releasing music at multiple music conferences and events around the globe. Cristina is also an internationally touring multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and performer under the alias Siren and the Sea.

Quinn Wasson is a five year Spotify veteran with experience in Artist Relations, Marketing, and Brand Strategy. His current team is responsible for building and maintaining Spotify's relationships with artists and managers, fostering artist engagement and discovering new ways to partner together. Prior to Spotify, he worked at Nickelodeon and began his career with an internship at MTV. A Kansas native, he first moved to New York with the hope of doing something in entertainment and maybe - just maybe - meeting some rock stars.

Alex Nossa is a music industry veteran with over 15 years of experience, and a strong background in music publishing administration. He has worked with all levels of clients at companies like EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, and now as Director, Client Accounts at Songtrust. Also, as an independent musician, his bass playing and production skills have brought his previous projects to perform at events around the U.S., like the Bamboozle Festival, SXSW, and CMJ.

Antonella Di Saverio is Senior Director, Administration & Publisher Relations at Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). In this role, she works with songwriters, composers and publishers on royalty/administration issues; and provides guidance in the same capacity to BMI’s Creative staff. Di Saverio joined BMI in 1994 and holds a BBA in Finance from Hofstra University and a Masters degree in Mass Communications from Hunter College. She was also elected to the NY chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) Board for 2021-2022.

CJ Olivieri is the Senior Director of Client Acquisition for Songtrust, the world’s largest global royalty collection service and publishing administrator. He identifies creators and businesses in need of global publishing administrative services, and works with them to address how Songtrust can help maximize the returns of their music catalog. He is also heavily involved in Songtrust’s rights education program where he aids rights owners in understanding the fundamentals of music publishing. Olivieri has worked directly with Grammy-nominated producers, songwriters, and artists to help them navigate the publishing landscape and increase their revenue streams in today’s digital era.

Geoff Halliday is a music marketing specialist whose work is focused on helping artists improve content strategy and maximizing engagement across digital platforms. His prior experiences as Director of Digital Marketing at Red Light Management as well as Head of Promotions at CD Baby have provided a wide range of experiences that he brings to his current role at DMS.

George Clark is a Publishing Specialist for the Inbound Client Acquisition Team at Songtrust, the world’s largest global royalty collection service and publishing administrator. George joined Songtrust in 2019 as an Associate on the Client Acquisition team after he graduated from Chicago’s Columbia College with a focus in Business Management and Audio Arts & Acoustics. Following a year in tech sales after college, he returned to the music industry in a new position with Songtrust, adding depth to its fast-growing Client Relations team that helps songwriters, artists, managers, music companies, and music rights holders set up their publishing correctly and ensuring they maintain their rights. He is based in New York City.

American songwriter and producer, Jeremy “Backpack” Miller, is an emerging young talent with a distinctive sound. Born in the suburbs of College Park, Georgia, his surrounding environment inspired his bass heavy, melodic sound. His sphere of influence spans across multiple genres and contains high energy yet rich rhythms that bear similarity to Zaytoven and Mike Will Made It. With production that bring words to life, Backpack uses catchy melodies to take listeners on a journey.

The true purpose within Backpack’s music is to create a space for listeners to connect. It allows for acceptance, vulnerability and stereotypes to be broken. Nowhere is that more evident than on his new songs on Atlanta’s Backpack Music Label.

Julia Pernicone has been at Songtrust for over 5 years, serving now as the Director of Copyright where she oversees the global registration of our catalog. Outside of Songtrust she also works as an artist and songwriter for her own project, BAD, as well as with artists like Cannon, Luxtides, and Jessie Chambers. Julia is obsessed with NYC, coffee, and in advocating for and empowering songwriters at every level of their careers.

Kamila first studied the Music Business at City University London before graduating with a BA in Creative Industries in 2010. It was during her studies she gained her experience in music publishing, writing a dissertation on the subject. Shortly after, Kamila joined PRS for Music, where during her 10 years of service, she worked in various roles, mainly managing relationships with international rights management organisations. Kamila joined Songtrust towards the end of 2020 as Income Tracking Manager. In this role, Kamila uses her expertise and international contacts to recover unpaid royalties from the wide network of Songtrust’s partners. Having an in depth knowledge of the internal processes CMOs use has contributed to the team’s successes.

Mandy Aubry is Director of Business Development for EMEA and APAC at Songtrust, the world's largest technology solution for global music publishing royalty collection and administration. Aubry is based in the Netherlands and leads Songtrust’s expansion across EMEA and APAC. Leveraging her unique talent for demystifying the complexities surrounding music publishing, and committed to its democratization, Aubry’s mission is to provide music creators in established and emerging music markets alike with global music publishing administration and collection infrastructure. Her tireless effort to achieve this goal was recognised by Billboard and she appears on their 2021 International Power Players list. She has 25 years of experience in the music industry, previously working for music publishing administrator Fintage House, and the renowned hard rock and heavy metal record label, Roadrunner Records. Aubry also holds the Rightsholder position on the Executive Board of the Association for Electronic Music.

Molly Neuman is the President of Songtrust, the world’s largest global royalty collection service and music publishing administrator. As President, Neuman leads the company’s day-to-day operations, global expansion, and royalty collection innovations. Under Neuman’s leadership, the platform has grown to represent more than 350,000 songwriters, 3,000,000 songs and thousands of music companies including publishers, distributors, and record labels. Prior to joining Songtrust, Molly was Head of Music at Kickstarter, Interim President and Vice President of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), and held senior roles in label relations at Rhapsody International and eMusic. She is on the Advisory Boards of Music Business Association, Women in Music and previously served on the boards of SoundExchange and A2IM. She was recognized on Billboard’s 2020 and 2019 Women In Music List, and 2018 Digital Power Players List. Her career in music began as the drummer in Riot Grrrl band, Bratmobile.

Peiré Wilson is a music industry expert with a wide-ranging professional background in entertainment and corporate law, business affairs, digital rights management, operations, and brand marketing. He is the Legal and Business Affairs Associate at Downtown Music Holdings (Downtown℠), the leading global music services company, where he assists with corporate legal matters, corporate acquisitions & mergers, investments, corporate compliance, contract management, corporate contract drafting, and supporting the Songtrust® team in drafting and negotiating a wide range of enterprise deals.

Prior to joining Downtown Music Holdings' corporate legal team, Peiré was a Client Services Associate at Songtrust (A subsidiary of Downtown Music Holdings), where he assisted emerging and legacy music creators with publishing rights administration across their catalog. He collaborated with various departments to ensure compliance with Songtrust’s Terms of Services while maximizing royalty collection potential. He began his career in entertainment law as an intellectual property paralegal at a boutique law firm in NYC, where he focused on right of publicity, publishing, and copyright infringement issues for Grammy award-winning American jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal; American poet and jazz musician Gil Scott-Heron (posthumous); and American poet and author Nayyirah Waheed.

Steve Osagie popularly known as Steve Spotlight is the CEO of Spotlight MGT & Consultancy and founder of Spotlight Digital Marketing. He is an International Talent Manager & Music Consultant & Digital promotion with over 15yrs of experience in the music industry. 

Steve also has over 5yrs experience in Music Conference Production working with music organisations including MIDEM both in France and Nigeria. He is a leading advocate for Afrobeats and continues to lend his expertise to grow the industry in Nigeria and internationally by connecting both worlds through his companies.

He is passionate about educating the African Artists where they can sustain a successful long career. He provides a highly popular podcast series on Music Business Success.

Growing up an only child in a small town in Oregon, Tessa Violet always had a deep desire to create authentic connections with people. YouTube was the first platform which allowed her to foster those connections; as she grew up, and the platform evolved, it became a place for many budding musicians to flock. Now based in L.A.,Tessa, an independent artist blazing a path of her own, released her debut album Bad Ideas fall 2019, rounding out a breakout year for the rising artist. The sole songwriter on all but one of the album's tracks, the project received Spotify's Times Square billboard with hit single "Crush" amassing 200 million+ aggregate streams alone and seeing support from the likes of Billboard, MTV News, and The FADER. On the live side, Tessa spent 2019 cutting her teeth on the road and establishing herself as a captivating, fearless frontwoman. Catapulting her otherwise spunky, eclectic recordings to an intoxicating new level of raw, unabashed rock, Tessa and her shredding live band sold out headline tours in the U.S. and Europe, joined AJR, COIN, and Misterwives on direct support tours, and played her festival debut at Lollapalooza. She recently broke 500K followers on Spotify, and her livestream show 'Bad Ideas: The Experience' out May 2021 increased ticket capacities due to demand. Her last few releases were “Smoke Signals” with Cavetown, fan-favorite off the album “Bored” featuring MisterWives, “Words Ain’t Enough” with Chloe Moriondo, and her latest collaboration "Games" released with lovelytheband. In addition to her recent releases, Tessa’s album track “Wishful Drinking” has exploded on Tik Tok. Since then, she has gained over 600k followers and her trend has been repeated by the likes of Jessica Alba, among others.

Vincent Diamante is a music composer and sound designer for video games based in Southern California. Over a fifteen year career, he has contributed to video game soundtracks both as an internal game developer as well as in freelance capacities, on games targeting mobile phones, web browsers, consoles, PCs, and even Japanese arcade cabinets. He received a BAFTA nomination alongside other awards for his work on the PS3 title Flower, developed by thatgamecompany. His latest work sees him continuing partnering with the storied game developer on Sky (2019 iPhone Game of the Year) along with music contract work in other media, including film and VR.

Xylo Aria is an artist, producer and the founder of online learning platform, Music Production for Women (MPW). Through MPW, she is determined to break down the barriers she faced in approaching music tech, while making the space more inviting for women. Since launch in 2019, MPW has partnered with global brands, been featured in numerous podcasts and articles on the topic around the world and earned Xylo a Top 50 East London Innovator of 2020 award and a place on the SheSaidSo top 100 Alt Power list.

Greg Sieme is a member of the Songwriter & Publishing Relations Team at Spotify, based in Los Angeles. A native of upstate New York, Greg spent a majority of his 18-year career in music at independent rock/alternative labels Equal Vision and Dangerbird Records, where his passion for creative marketing, digital strategy, and artist development was firmly established. Prior to Spotify he was developing the digital marketing department at Sony Music Publishing, working directly with songwriters, producers, and artists to navigate the streaming music ecosystem.

Atlanta based singer, songwriter, music producer J.O.N has been playing instruments and crafting songs from an early age. Born in Denmark, a small town in West Tennessee, J.O.N grew up surrounded by the sights and sounds of Gospel, Southern Soul & Rock, Country, and the underground Rap music migrating from Memphis & Texas. After winning a Grammy award for production & engineering on Jonny Lang’s “Turn Around” album, & graduating from Middle Tennessee State University, J.O.N moved to Atlanta. Since the move he has worked with Missy Elliot, Kodie Shane, NEYO, and many more of your favorite artists, songwriters & producers. Currently J.O.N has been releasing music through his label imprint DENMARKTIGERS, and working heavely in the micro sync & synchronization space. J.O.N also works as the musical director for the 85 South Show, a podcast that airs every Friday on Youtube, and home to 1.9M subscribers.

Wendy joined Songtrust’s Marketing Team earlier this year. She loves navigating and trying to simplify the complex world of music royalties. Prior to joining Songtrust, Wendy worked with renowned speakers, authors and music managers.

Emily White is a Partner at Collective Entertainment and the Founder of #iVoted Festival. She is the author of the #1 Amazon best-selling How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams and the Host of the book’s accompanying podcast of the same name. The podcast is the #1 Music Business podcast in America and has charted on six continents with listeners in 115+ countries.