2009 Speakers:

As VP of Content, Jay wears many hats. He oversees the content in DMW's publications as well as for conferences and other events. Jay furthermore runs the day-to-day operations for the popular DMW news and community site, where he also serves as a Senior Writer. Last, but not least, he works with marketing, public relations and business development across the board for DMW.

Jay got into journalism after high school when he served a year of military service in the Swedish Armed Forces and was selected to join its highly regarded conscript writing staff. He has been hooked on working with media and communication ever since.

Jay now has over 10 years of experience in the media industry serving in a wide range of capacities - from a technology writer and editor at several newspapers and magazines (Reuters, Dagens Industri, Aftonbladet etc.) to working in television (ABC Good Morning America, TV4 Ekonominyheterna), both behind and in front of the camera.

Jay has a Masters Degree in Media, Entertainment and Technology Management from New York University and a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Goteborg University in Sweden.

He is a recipient of the Wallenberg Scholarship 2004 and 2006 (Academic Scholarship), The Sweden-America Foundation Fellowship 2005 (Academic Scholarship) as well as awarded a scholarship for being "A Promising New Media Manager" by Swedish Newspaper Publishers' Association 2005 and 2001.

Joakim has a keen personal interest in digital media, music and pop-culture. On his desk, you will find a video iPod, the latest issue of US Weekly and a pair of Cutler and Gross shades.

He claims to listen to music by Paris Hilton only because he "has to be familiar with mainstream music" while heavily promoting new bands from his native Scandinavia like "Peter, Bjorn & John."

Dederer stepped back from touring in early 2005 but continues his active role as the band’s in-house business manager.  In addition to his ongoing duties with The Presidents, since January 2007 Dederer has worked full-time as Vice President, Business Development at Melodeo, where he is a key member of the team that created the nuTsie product line, a fast-growing suite of digital music services for Web and mobile. 

Barry comes to Artist Direct after 5 years as the head of National Lampoon's media and entertainment division, spearheading the National Lampoon Online Comedy network and full-time channel on XM Radio. ARTISTdirect Internet Group owns and operates consumer-facing digital media properties reaching over 12 million (comScore) unique users per month, including the flagship ARTISTdirect.com, UBL.com and the ARTISTdirect Network of sites. Prior to National Lampoon, Barry has held senior level roles at a range of leading media companies, including About.com (now part of the New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT)), for which he was senior vice president; ASG Entertainment, where he was interim COO; internet video pioneer FasTV, where he was a co-founder and headed content and marketing; Ketchum Communications (now part of Omnicom (NYSE: OMC)), where he established the multi-divisional Ketchum Interactive; Compendia Media Group, the bankruptcy-court reorganized Platinum Records, for which he headed marketing and business development; and TV syndication innovator LBS Communications.

Lawrence Kenswil's practice focuses on media and entertainment matters with special emphasis on transactions in the music and emerging media space. He has formulated business strategy for emerging products, technology and distribution methods for Universal Music, as well as founded and ran the label's internal unit dedicated to exploring, developing and evolving global business and new technology strategies. Mr. Kenswil has supervised industry-wide negotiations, including compulsory license arbitrations for webcasting, satellite radio and mechanical licensing. He also has experience negotiating and drafting agreements including artist deals, label deals, publishing agreements, live venue agreements, merchandising and sales agreements and corporate acquisitions and mergers. Mr. Kenswil has been interviewed and quoted in many publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and Reuters.

James joined the Topspin executive team as Vice President of Marketing and Artist Services in January 2009.  As an 18-year veteran of research, analytics, and digital marketing, James helps define Topspin’s world-class direct-to-fan music marketing, management, and distribution platform through feedback gathered directly from artists and music industry partners.  James also oversees an artist services team that helps Topspin users maximize direct-to-fan revenue, educate the industry, and build best practices that drive the 21st century music industry. 

Before joining Topspin, James honed his professional skills with comScore, Tickets.com, The Clorox Company, and Information Resources learning all facets of marketing research, marketing, product development, and database management.  In his most recent position as Senior Vice President with comScore, James spent 8 years leading the development of the firm’s qSearch™, Video Metrix™ and Ad Effectiveness capabilities into industry-leading data and analytics tools widely used by hundreds of clients around the globe. 

James is regarded as one of the industries authorities on digital marketing frequently quoted by leading news organizations such as the LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, NPR, BBC, and Wall Street Journal to name a few. 

James is also an avid music fan who spent nearly a decade as a rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist with the San Francisco rock quintet Blueland, which signed to indie label Popmafia Records run by Arne Frager out of the famous Plant Recording Studios in Sausalito, California.  Combining his love of music, personal perspective as a signed artist, and professional background creates the perfect match for both Topspin and James. 

Short and Sweet:

3 Axioms of 21^st Century Music Biz:  Data is my A&R agent, Viral Marketing is my radio promotion, Direct-to-fan is my retail store.

Having started in the mail room of a talent agency, Alf LaMont slogged his way through the Hollywood machine finding his career in talent representation begin to take a back seat to his love of the internet. He started a personal blog in 2004 while working on the desk of a particularly awful Agent and after working in management for three years and achieving the heights of Jr. Manager at a prestigious firm, Alf found himself leaning more and more towards digital media as a primary source of income. In 2007 he began consulting on online trends and memes to production companies and studios, but returned to full time management of talent where he went directly to streamlining and perfecting the firm's online capabilities. In 2008 he was approached by Pauly shore (Yes, THAT Pauly shore) to head up the marketing and development for the family business. Since then he has created one of the the most robust social networks of any comedy club in the U.S., as well as garnering national attention for his creative use of social media to revitalize his company and brand. His work has been featured on Comedy.com, Comedy Central Insider, and Fifteen Minutes Media where he was referred to as a "Rising star of Social Media". He has happily drunk the Kool-Aid and is currently exploring the ethics of Social Media marketing on his blog. He has found kindred spirits along the Social Networks of the Sunset Strip and is proud to be a part of such a sucessful and progressive partnership. Alf also hates writing in third person.

Tim Quirk is the Vice President of Programming & Creative for Rhapsody America. He spent more than 10 years as the singer and lyricist for the punk-pop band Too Much Joy, then politely eased his way into music journalism. Tim is also one half of an electro-pop outfit called Wonderlick.

Jaclyn Ranere is Director of Interactive Marketing & Corporate Communications for The Orchard.  Jaclyn oversees marketing and promotional activities for The Orchard’s artists and labels globally, as well as worldwide corporate marketing and communications.  When Jaclyn joined The Orchard in 2004 she was responsible for North American online and mobile retail.  Prior to The Orchard, Jaclyn ran a music marketing and video production company that created and used digital media as the central piece of independent artists’ marketing plans.  She has also served as Brand Marketing Manager at eMusic.  Jaclyn holds a Bachelor of Science in Film/TV from Boston University and is a reformed jam band groupie

Kyra Reed possesses more than 15 years of experience in Marketing and Social Media. Prior to forming MarKyr Media, Kyra was a New Media Consultant working with clients such as Little Radio, The Monterey Pop Festival, Unsigned Artists, MoPo Productions, The Upsidedown and many other Los Angeles-based independent bands.

Kyra has held Director of Marketing positions at Playback Systems, Norde-Oust, and Turn Events. She was also the Director of Business Development at Amp Studios. Kyra is an avid film lover. She was co-founder of the Ground Floor Cinema, a monthly film festival dedicated to honoring local Pacific Northwest filmmakers.

Kyra is the author of Blog 101, a beginners guide to blogging. Her passionate writings on Social Media PR and Marketing can be found both on her personal blog,

Acclaimed “Rock Band Couturier” (Details Magazine) turned "Marketing Diva" (LA Weekly), Heidi Richman has impacted what you wear, the music you listen to, & how & where you do both, for 25+ years. Thrilled when lifestyle marketing became a recognized discipline, this Smith alum's taste-making track record has made her the go-to gal for innovative experiential & cultural branding. With a spot-on read of the paradigm shift within the music industry, she launched HRMP six years ago as a way to provide a 360-degree brand / band / retail / technology interface. She is a frequent speaker/guest lecturer, a practice she plans to further ramp up after her upcoming E! special, & publication of her book, Rock & Roll Graduate School.

Kelli is a veteran in the traditional music industry as an A&R exec (EMI), and is an early pioneer & veteran in digital music and entertainment as well. She is also a sought after talent producer, having produced a wide range of concerts, award shows, and celebrity fundraiser events over the past two decades. She led music and entertainment initiatives at Apple for over a decade before launching her own company, The All Access Group, a digital music and media consultancy. Her company advises some of the most influential, cutting edge companies in technology and entertainment today.

Kelli is highly artist-centric with a large network of artists, producers, and industry influencers in her extensive rolodex. She has a special passion for enabling established artists to connect more directly with their fans, and to monetize their brands more broadly across the full spectrum of the digital landscape. Kelli is the co-author of two books, including the acclaimed "The Art of Digital Music", and is renowned globally as an expert and speaker on digital media and music convergence.

John Rubey, President of AEG Network LIVE, has been a pioneer in bringing digital and electronic media to the forefront of entertainment marketing for more than 25 years.  Rubey has created an innovative approach to the production, promotion and distribution of live niche events around the world, with a successful track record that has consistently and creatively expanded the marketing potential of live events.

As President of AEG Network LIVE,   Rubey initiates and oversees powerfully integrated promotional campaigns that target specific audiences across numerous media platforms. In addition to utilizing proprietary brand-building strategies, Mr. Rubey incorporates broadband, digital cinema and new technological advancements in High-Definition TV into his campaigns, while also employing traditional radio, print and cable television applications, among others.

Under  Rubey's direction, AEG Network LIVE is the industry leader in client-supplied concerts and special events for digital cinema, broadband, television, HDTV, Video-On-Demand (VOD) and Pay-Per-View
(PPV) exhibitions. AEGNL is the leader in client supplied events with more than 125 programs have generated more than $1 billion in measured promotional media and $19.7 million in media value, as well as 813.5 million online impressions and 567 local market radio promotions.

At AEG Network Live, Rubey has worked with clients in the production and promotion of live concert events including Live 8, Operation MySpace - LIVE from Kuwait, Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, Bon Jovi, Beyoncé, John Mayer, The Beatles & Cirque du Soleil, Destiny's Child, Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, Nelly, Avril Lavigne, Jimmy Buffet, KORN, Kenney Chesney, Gloria Estefan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Prince. Rubey has also been the top provider of music events in cinemas, with more than 75 events since 2000. In addition,  he has worked in the world of sports with marketing of "3D Cinema" events that include the BCS Bowl and NBA All Star Cinema Event. He was also involved in the first endeavors to bring Pay-Per-View to the professional boxing arena with the likes of Mohammad Ali, George Foreman, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya.

Rubey earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston, and his Bachelor of Science from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. His productions have won numerous awards, including twenty-one Telly Awards, and he is a member of the Telly Award Silver Council. As a television event pioneer, he has spoken throughout the U.S. as well as in London and Tokyo on the subjects of electronic distribution and media, and the sponsorship of live events.

John Rudolph is the CEO of Bug Music, Inc., a leading global independent music publisher and innovator in music business services for over 30 years, headquartered in Los Angeles with offices across the US and Europe. Handpicked by Bug’s founders Dan and Fred Bourgoise for his knowledge of music and writers and his proven, diverse business acumen, John carries on the legacy of one of the world’s most significant independent publishers. With a deep understanding of music publishing, copyright statute, technology and global finance, he is a future focused proponent of publishers and creators rights across the world. Since his tenure at Bug began, John has welcomed many significant publishers and writers, including Jamie Foxx, Evanescence, the Fred Alhert estate, the Woody Guthrie estate, and the Thomas J Valentino production music library.

Born in Chicago and raised in Hendersonville just outside of Nashville, John was first exposed to music through his father, who toured with Woody Herman and Stan Kenton’s bands, among others, in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He began his music career carrying his father’s trombone case to union gigs in the 1970s after his father left the road. From there his knowledge and love of music grew through his father’s work in promotions and radio in Nashville in the 1970s and 1980s, attending over 100 concerts by the age 12, and later working in a Nashville record store for five years throughout high school and college.

In 1989, John began his professional career in corporate finance with IBM and was a member of the LBO team that spun out the Lexmark printer company in a $1.6bn transaction in 1990. In 1991, after experiencing the entrepreneurial latitude within a large, global technology based organization at IBM, he continued to an international accounting and consulting firm, BDO, and was based in Atlanta. At BDO, his clients included a Fortune 500 client as well as middle market service and technology companies and he received awards for productivity and client service.

While at BDO in Atlanta in the early 1990s, John provided consulting and business strategy services to a small, upstart record label, LaFace Records (a joint venture of LA Reid, Babyface Edmonds, and BMG/Arista), that was recognized as a company that revolutionized Urban and Pop music, nurtured creative as well as executive talent, and put Atlanta on the map as the center of Urban music.

After a secondment with BDO in Sydney Australia in 1994, John returned to Atlanta to work as business manager to LA Reid, LaFace Records, Reid’s Stiff Shirt Music/Hitco, and other prominent Atlanta writer, producers and artists. During this time, John managed Stiff Shirt Music Publishing with Grammy winning and chart topping hits as TLC’s "Waterfalls" and Tony Rich’s "Nobody Knows". In 1996, due to the success of Stiff Shirt, he helped Reid’s Stiff Shirt create a joint venture with Windswept Pacific called Hitco Music Publishing, a premier urban music publisher.

From his experience with Windswept in the Stiff Shirt venture, John was recruited by Evan Medow, CEO of Windswept Pacific, and in 1998 was hired as Windswept’s Chief Financial Officer at the age of 30. Beyond the financial affairs, his responsibilities included strategic planning, international consolidation, technology and online markets, and the occasional creative signing. In 1999, John, with his fellow executives, engineered the sale of Windswept to EMI for a reported $200mm in what was one of the largest music publishing transactions at the time.

In 2000 John founded Sherpa Ears, LLC, a technology company based on "Influence Technology" he developed involving social networks and an early predecessor to social networking firms like MySpace and FaceBook. Managing all aspects of the business from technology development to marketing to key partnerships, he assembled the thought leaders in sociology/social networks and music from across North America as advisors.

Out of the ashes of the Internet boom in 2001, John founded and served as the CEO of Music Analytics, the leading strategic advisor to music publishers and record companies. Rudolph developed the firm into a recognized leader in the music and money space with experience in over $3.1 billion in recorded music and music publishing music transactions. Clients included Warner Music Group, Ryko, Leiber & Stoller, Saban Music Group, Dreamworks Music Publishing, Windswept Holdings/Hitco Music, Bug Music, Savoy Label Group/ZelnickMedia, Six Degrees Records, Dominion Capital/Compendia, Carlin America, and various estates, artists, private equity and legal firms, among others.

John assumed the reins of Bug Music as its CEO in July, 2006 committed to Bug’s core ethics of advancing publishers and creators’ rights and the melding of music and technology for the promotion of arts and commerce.

John received his Bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and passed the Tennessee Certified Public Accountants examination in 1992. He has spoken at such important events as the Billboard Music & Money symposium (02, 03, 05, and 06), the American Bar Association Entertainment Conference (06) and numerous other music conferences. He is an avid snowboarder and mountain climber, having climbed the highest mountain on five different continents.

Maurice A. Russell is the Vice President of Licensing, Collections and Business Affairs for the Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA). In this role, Russell oversees the Licensing and Collections Departments, which together work with licensees such as record labels and digital music services to provide fast and accurate licensing and the collection of royalties on behalf of HFA’s nearly 36,000 affiliate publishers. At the close of 2007, HFA administered nearly 14 million license and almost 1.9 million songs. As part of the Business Affairs team, he works closely with Business Development to implement new licensing opportunities, such as those for ringtones, lyrics, and tablature. He reports directly to Michael Simon, Senior Vice President of Business Affairs, General Counsel and Chief Strategic Officer.   

Russell has directed the development and launch systems to handle the intake, processing and execution of the over 200,000 physical product license requests received and over 1.5 million digital licenses issued by HFA per year, including eMechanical, HFA’s main online licensing system; eSignature, the electronic approval system; and the enhanced Songfile® application, HFA’s online mechanical licensing tool for smaller quantities of licenses.  Russell has also supervised bulk licensing enhancements, licensing reports and other licensing related technical projects. 

Russell is a sought-after expert on licensing issues. He is the co-chair of the Musical Works Licensing Working Group of Digital Data Exchange (DDEX), which defines and implements solutions for the standardization and exchange of digital data between trading partners. He has also spoken at numerous industry events, including SXSW, Digital Music Forum East and West and the ASCAP Expo.

Before joining HFA in 2002, Russell was the founder and CEO of Machine Enterprises Inc., where he provided commercial artist management and business consulting services to creative enterprises in the media, entertainment and design fields. In this capacity, he also advised firms on structuring operations and new business development strategies.

Prior to that, Russell was Vice President and General Manager of Razorfish Studios, Inc., where he oversaw the fast-growing start-up’s daily operations. In this role, Russell implemented corporate operations, including finance and accounting, business affairs, human resources and facilities and integrated the acquisitions of three entertainment companies.

Russell came to Razorfish Studios from Red Ant Entertainment, where he was the Senior Director, Business Development and Licensing, heading up the special products and licensing department.  His responsibilities included marketing recording artists and music to film and television productions, negotiating and drafting recording agreements and licensing of music for online, film, television, compilation albums and all other secondary market exploitations. Before that, he was a Senior Director, Contract Administration at Polygram Records, responsible for supervising the administration of over 250 recording, license and video agreements, as well as tracking options, product delivery and financial obligations.

Russell holds a M.B.A. degree from New York University’s Stern School of Business Administration and a B.A. from Columbia College, Columbia University.  In his spare time, Russell enjoys composing music.

Mark Shedletsky is a successful entrepreneur with extensive operating experience in the digital, media and entertainment industries. Currently, he is the Founder & CEO of BlueHaze, a San Francisco based start-up providing online and mobile technology solutions for the music industry. Prior to founding BlueHaze, Mark was Head of Consumer Marketing for BitTorrent Inc, the dominant P2P network with over 160 million users worldwide.

Before joining BitTorrent, Mark co-founded and served as Head of Marketing & Brand Partnerships at MTV in Canada, overseeing all consumer marketing and integrated sales activities. In his role, Mark was instrumental in spearheading the most successful channel launch in MTV’s global history. Prior to MTV Canada, he co-founded and was
Head of Marketing at Dose, a multi-platform media company spanning print, web and mobile. Mr. Shedletsky has also held strategic marketing and business development roles at MTV (U.S.), Rogers Media and Universal Pictures. Throughout his career, Mark has fused creativity with strong business acumen to launch successful companies and brands. In 2005, he was profiled as Marketing Magazine's Top 12 Under 30 and has won over 35 creative and marketing awards. Mark earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University.

Having experienced much success with Nelly Furtado’s debut “Whoa Nelly,” she went on to work with Furtado’s management company for three years handling the day-to-day activities for several artists including Furtado, k-os , Tamia, Divine Brown, and Fefe Dobson.

Today, as GM of Roadrunner Records Canada, she runs a small office based in Toronto Canada and handles all marketing, sales, digital marketing and distribution, forecasting, budgets, and more for the label.

Roadrunner Records, formed in 1980, and has seven offices around the world, and is the home of some of the best metal, hard rock, and rock bands the world has to offer.  Internationally Nickelback is their most successful signing (currently on EMI in Canada).  Roadrunner Records Canada’s most successful artists are Slipknot, Stone Sour, and Australia’s Airbourne!

No stranger to a major label deal, with previous bands signed to Island and Dreamworks, Ten is most well-known musically for co-founding the band West Indian Girl. After a stint on Virgin/Astralwerks, WIG now prefers to embrace the freedom and possibilities that come with multiple indie and remix projects. In 2009 they have released both digital and vinyl on the indie labels Smash Hit, Rong, and Origami. Ten plans to extend this approach with new LA-based side project I Will Never Be The Same. 

Ten hopes that other artists can learn from his example. He believes musicians aren't staying educated enough and are constantly one step behind technology. Anointing himself The Robin Hood for the independent musician, he encourages artists to look beyond the rock star playbook and tech giant sermons, to go forth and create an empowered business model with all the tools at their disposal.

It's no surprise that Ten is comfortable wearing so many hats. Armed with an MS in clinical psych, he left his doctoral program to pursue music. Rounding out his background are stints as a booking agent, tour manager, business manager and web designer. He also co-owns Lusso Lab, one of the country's top boutique photo retouching labs, and can be found in front of the camera pimping Bacardi and Howe Denim. In 2008, he founded The Indie Rock Chess Federation (IRCF), whose ultimate goal is a face-off with The Hip-Hop Chess Federation.