Continuing Legal Education Seminar & Professional Education Series

Ken Anderson, Esq.

Ken Anderson recently Sheppard Mullin Richter &Hampton, LLP as a special counsel in the firm's entertainment, media, and technology practice group. Anderson joins from Loeb & Loeb, where he spent 17 years handling business and legal affairs and supervising litigation for recording artists, composers, producers, independent record companies, and others within the music industry.

Ted Baldwin
CEO and Chief Creative Officer of 3rd Coast Digital Films

Ted Badwin is an active producer who did his first film 30 years ago. He has written and completed more than 1500 documentary and training programs in the last 15 years, and was head of Science TV at LSU for 11 years. Ted wrote film reviews for five years, has hundreds of radio commercials to his credit, and helped hundreds of young people enter careers in broadcasting.

Todd Brabec

Todd Brabec is co-author of Music, Money and Success: The Insider’s Guide to Making Money In the Music Business (6th Edition/Schirmer Books/505 pages) and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the USC Thornton School of Music where he teaches the course on music publishing, licensing of music and film, television and videogame song contracts.  Formerly Executive Vice President for the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) where he was in charge of all of the Society’s membership operations throughout the world, Brabec is the current Budget Chair as well as former Division Chair for the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries.  A graduate of New York University School of Law, he lectures extensively on all aspects of the business, legal and money side of music at universities, conventions, conferences, seminars, law firms, management firms, songwriter associations, business and law schools, and ad agencies, both in the U.S. as well as in foreign countries.

Terri Bjorkland, Esq.
AFTRA

Terrie Bjorklund is Associate General Counsel/Copyright and Intellectual Property. Ms. Bjorklund is based in Washington, DC, and is responsible for AFTRA’s domestic and international legislative and public policy work in sound recordings and copyright matters. Before joining the staff of the union’s Washington/Baltimore Local in 2002, Ms. Bjorklund was an attorney in private practice representing recording artists, producers and record labels in licensing, publishing, recording and copyright infringement issues. She also represented unions and union members in labor, EO and immigration law.

Suzette Toledano Becker

Suzette Toledano Becker maintains an international arts, entertainment and Internet legal practice with emphasis on copyright, music licensing, recording contracts, music publishing contracts and business entities.  Her client list proudly includes artists, composers, producers, record labels, music publishers, webcasters, wireless providers and motion picture production companies, with a couple of Grammy nominees/winners among them!   

Chris Castle, Esq.

Christian L. Castle Attorneys Chris Castle is Managing Partner of Christian L. Castle, Attorneys, with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The firm represents artists, producers, songwriters, record labels, music publishers, film studios and technology companies. He is also Managing Member of the Digital Media Policy Group, a private consulting company.

Chris serves on the boards of several academic and industry organizations, and lectures at business schools and law schools from time to time. He is a regular speaker at professional meetings, industry conferences and public policy meetings. Chris has spoken on public policy matters at the UK Parliament, seminars at the U.S. Congress and at conferences of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Chris is an MBA/JD of the Anderson Graduate School of Management and the UCLA School of Law where he was an Olin Fellow in Law and Economics, a member of the UCLA Law Review and National Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Chris is a magna cum laude graduate of UCLA with a B.A. in Political Science. Before founding the firm, he was of counsel to Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs and General Counsel of SNOCAP, Inc. in San Francisco and held senior business affairs positions in the music industry. Before college he attended Gordonstoun School, Admiral Farragut Academy (South) and Palo Alto Military Academy.

Chris is a Fellow of the World Technology Network, is a contributing editor of Entertainment Law & Finance and publishes an occasional column in The Register.

Before law school, Chris was a professional musician working with artists such as Long John Baldry, Yvonne Elliman and Jesse Winchester, and has played with many notable musicians from Jack Bruce, Paul Kossoff and Rick Derringer to John Mayall and Johnny and Edgar Winter.

Doug Colton

Doug Colton is the President of Murrah Music Corporation under the direction of Chief Executive Officer and company owner, Roger Murrah.  In that position, Colton directs the overall business of the company with an emphasis on vision, growth and copyright protection. His responsibilities include the development of commerce strategies, all legal and business affairs, major negotiations, financing structures, and he represents the company in its dealings with investors and bankers. Colton's duties also include the analysis and securing of potential catalog acquisitions, international relations, as well as A&R and development responsibilities with respect to the Pop/Rock, Latin and Urban music markets.

Prior to being appointed President, Colton acted as Murrah Music's General Counsel and Director of International Relations. Colton is an attorney specialized in music publishing, copyright and intellectual property law. Before joining Murrah Music, he was in private practice working with the highly respected, international entertainment firm of Sukin Law Group, P.C. headquartered in New York. He has represented a diverse array of clients such as Warner Chappell Music, the Estate of Elvis Presley, the Gershwin's, along with songwriters, artists and an extensive list of international music publishers.

Colton is a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, and holds a B.A in Communications from the University of Washington. Prior to attending law school, he was a songwriter and performer himself. This experience has given Colton a unique perspective, combining the legal and business aspects of the company with the creative fields of songwriting, recording, music publishing and entertainment. A major supporter of songwriter and publisher rights, 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.

Judith DeFratis, Esq.
New Orleans, LA

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Charles Driebe, Esq.
Blind Ambition Management Ltd.

Charles Driebe, Esq., entertainment attorney and manager, is the founder and CEO of Blind Ambition Management Ltd. in Atlanta.  Blind Ambition manages the Blind Boys of Alabama who, during Charles' tenure, have won four consecutive Grammy Awards, appeared on the Grammy Awards television show, performed at the White House, toured internationally with Peter Gabriel, collaborated on a CD with Ben Harper, and appeared on numerous national TV shows including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (four times) and the "Late Show with David Letterman" (twice). Blind Ambition also manages blues harmonica icon Charlie Musselwhite, and rising singer/songwriters Pieta Brown and Steve Poltz.  Actively involved in community and professional organizations, Charles serves as a board member of the Georgia Lawyers of the Arts and is the former chairman of the Board of its predecessor the Southern Entertainment & Art Law (SEAL) Center, nonprofit corporations dedicated to educating artists and art organizations about legal and business issues.

Mike Huppe , Esq
General Counsel, SoundExchange

As General Counsel, Mr. Huppe is responsible for overseeing all legal, regulatory, legislative and corporate issues for SoundExchange.  In recent years, he has directed SoundExchange’s strategy for various rate-setting proceedings, including those which set new rates and terms for webcasting and satellite radio services.  With more than ten years experience working on intellectual property matters, he has helped develop industry reaction and strategy (both political and legal) to the fastest growing sector of the music industry. 
                                   
Mr. Huppe is responsible for implementing regulations that apply to SoundExchange, the sole Collective designated by the U.S. Copyright Office for the collection of performance royalties in digital media.  His department also interacts with international performance rights organizations to obtain foreign performance royalties for SoundExchange members, and addresses enforcement issues for domestic services that fail to comply with their legal obligations.  He is a spokesman for SoundExchange in the courts, on Capitol Hill and in the press and thus represents an extremely broad coalition of music industry participants, including featured artists, musicians, managers, unions, “major” and independent record labels, and sound recording owners of all sizes.

Prior to joining SoundExchange, Mr. Huppe was Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs and Deputy General Counsel with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) where he was involved in protecting the rights of the RIAA's member recording labels and their artists, in both digital and physical media.  He had primary responsibility for industry licensing issues, including assessment of new digital products and services, and helping to determine industry responses to new services.  He also assisted with legislative and international issues facing the recording industry, including work with the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and other federal agencies, as well as state attorneys general.  He participated in various copyright litigations undertaken by the RIAA, including several cases of first impression regarding digital copyrights.  Earlier in his tenure at RIAA, Mr. Huppe assisted in oversight and management of the RIAA’s premier anti-piracy unit, developing policy and programmatic enforcement plans to address the growing challenges presented by an increasingly digital economy. 

Mr. Huppe received his B.A. from the University of Virginia, and his JD from Harvard Law School.  He clerked for The Hon. Leonie M. Brinkema in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  While there, he was involved in numerous intellectual property cases, including a watershed case relating to copyrights on the Internet (Religious Technology Center v. Lerma).  Following the clerkship he was a litigation attorney at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Huppe  is admitted to the bars of Virginia and the District of Columbia, and is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Copyright Society, the Recording Academy, and the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference.  He is also a past member of the Board of Governors for the Intellectual Property Section of the Virginia bar.

He has guest lectured on a variety of issues at Georgetown Law School, George Washington School of Law, and George Mason Law School.  In the past he has also been a certified instructor with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, teaching a course on Intellectual Property Crimes. 

David Israelite

David Israelite is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Music Publishers Association.  Founded in 1917, The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) is the premiere trade association representing American music publishers and their songwriter partners. The NMPA's mandate is to protect and advance the interests of music publishers and their songwriter partners in matters relating to the domestic and global protection of music copyrights. Music publishers control the copyrights for the underlying compositions of songs on behalf of the songwriters they represent. The Harry Fox Agency, Inc., the leading U.S. mechanical rights organization, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the NMPA.
From 2001 through early 2005 Israelite served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Attorney General of the United States.  In this capacity he helped manage the United States Department of Justices 112,000 employees and $22 billion annual budget.  In addition to his general management responsibilities, Israelite served as the Attorney General's personal advisor on all legal, strategic and public affairs issues.  In March of 2004, the Attorney General appointed Israelite Chairman of the Department's Task Force on Intellectual Property.  As Chairman Israelite lead a team of high-ranking officials in examining all aspects of how the Department of Justice handled intellectual property issues and implemented proposals developed by the Task Force.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Israelite served as the Director of Political and Governmental Affairs for the Republican National Committee.  In that role he was the senior advisor to the Chairman of the National Republican Party, and was responsible for the Republican Party's Campaign Operations, Government Affairs, Research, and Presidential Liaison Divisions.
From 1997 through 1998, Israelite served as Missouri Senator Kit Bond's Administrative Assistant, making him the youngest AA in the United States Senate.  Israelite also served as Campaign Manager for Senator Bond's successful 1998 re-election campaign.  From 1994 through 1997, Israelite 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 in 1994 and received a B.A. in a double major of Political Science and Communications from William Jewell College in 1990.  While in college, Israelite was named Top Speaker by the National Cross Examination Debate Association, recognizing him as the nation's top collegiate debater.

Jim Griffin, Esq.

Jim Griffin is Managing Director of OneHouse LLC, dedicated to the future of music and entertainment delivery, and works as a consultant to absorb uncertainty about the digital delivery of art.
In addition to serving as an agent for constructive change in media and technology, he is an author, serving as a columnist for magazines, and is on the boards of companies and associations. He started and ran for five years the technology department at Geffen Records. Prior to Geffen he was an International Representative for The Newspaper Guild in Washington, D.C.
While at Geffen, Jim led a team that in June of 1994 distributed the first full-length commercial song on-line, by Aerosmith. Geffen was the first entertainment company to install a web server, and Geffen World was one of the first corporate intranet sites. Geffen was named by Network World in 1996 as one of the world's top 25 technology companies, and one of only seven in the United States.
Jim is co-founder of the Pho group. Named after a bowl of Vietnamese soup, Pho is an organization that meets for discussion-oriented meals in cities around the world, electronically linked by the Pho mailing list. Pho's many thousands of readers enjoy dialogue on the digital delivery of art and the new economy in music, movies, books and all media.
Jim testified in July 2000 before the Senate Judiciary Committee at its oversight hearing on file sharing and music licensing. He regularly moderates video and television shows on digital entertainment. He is often a keynote speaker or moderator at conferences (Internet Summit, Giga Conference, Comdex, CES, Webnoize, and many others) and lectures annually at business schools (Harvard, USC, UCLA, Berkeley). He also serves as an expert witness in digital entertainment, and has presented many Continuing Legal Education courses.
In addition to work with music, his expertise includes wireless work in Europe, including at Nokia's Research Center in Helsinki, Finland, and with numerous companies in Finland and throughout Europe. He's moderated numerous panels on wireless and given speeches on wireless issues around the world, ranging from music conferences to parliament meetings in Europe. He is a regular speaker at entertainment industry events and corporate and association meetings.
"One of the sharpest minds in digital music." - CNN Money (Eric Hellweg, Thursday 23 January 2003)
"Entertainment Technology Visionary." - Los Angeles Times (Paul Karon, Monday 8 April 1996)

Scott Keniley, Esq.
Keniley Kumar LLC

Scott Keniley is the senior partner of the Atlanta based entertainment business law firm, Keniley Kumar, LLC.  www.k5law.com.

      His entertainment business practice represents internationally recognized, platinum, gold, Grammy awarded and emerging artists, producers, writers, managers, studios, merchandise companies, booking agents and independent music companies in all aspects of their business development and copyright and trademark needs. Scott also represents gaming and gambling enterprises world-wide in compliance and regulatory issues.

      Scott formerly served as Vice President & General Counsel for the $60 million dollar gross revenue/13000 title record company Platinum Entertainment and Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs for Compendia Music Group where he has negotiated various agreements with esteemed artists and industry icons such as Sir George Martin (Producer for the Beatles), Joan Osborne, Pete Townshend, Rick Springfield, Kansas, The Oak Ridge Boys, Donny Osmond, Vicki Winans, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Jim Belushi, The Blues Brothers, Taylor Dayne, Killer Beaz, House of Blues and many others in addition to the corporate and SEC responsibilities and catalog acquisitions.

In addition to his entertainment practice, Scott has been the eleven (11) year Chairman and Panelist for the Southern Regional Entertainment & Sports Law Conference held annually in exotic locations in the Caribbean and Central America and regularly lectures at various music conferences and showcases, universities, continuing legal education courses and both publicly and privately funded music industry and arts associations. Scott is currently on the Executive Committee for the Southern Regional Entertainment & Sports Law Conference, member of the State Bar of Georgia Entertainment & Sports Law Section, NARAS and formerly served as a General Counsel for the Louisville Music Industry Alliance and as board member for the Southern Entertainment & Arts Lawyers Center and the Georgia Lawyers for the Arts.
He additionally served nearly five years as a judge in metropolitan Atlanta while continuing his law practice.

Lee Knife, Esq.
General Counsel, DIMA

Lee Knife is The General Counsel and Director, Legal and Business Affairs for the Digital Media Association (“DiMA”) in Washington, D.C.  He has been with DiMA since 2005.  DiMA is the trade organization in Washington that represents digital media companies.  DiMA members include Apple’s iTunes, YouTube, Microsoft, Pandora, Live 365 and many others.  Lee focuses at DiMA on the negotiations and arbitrations associated with sound recording and musical composition royalty rates in the United States and internationally.  He is also involved in lobbying and public relations efforts.

Prior to joining DiMA, Lee practiced entertainment law in New York, predominantly in the music business for over 15 years. Over the last ten years of that time, he served as a Business & Legal Affairs Executive at several major record companies including EMI, BMG and Polygram – and most recently was Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs at Sanctuary Records.  He has also worked at and provided consulting services to several internet-based, new-media companies.

Before going “in house” with record companies, his early legal career included associate attorney positions representing musical instrument manufacturers, individual artists, and small record and production companies, drafting agreements, handling copyright and trademark matters, and also handling all aspects of civil litigation. 

As a musician and “tech-head,” Lee has written equipment reviews for several publications, including Guitar and Guitar World Magazines and the Guitar.com website. A graduate of St. John’s University and Brooklyn Law School, he is admitted to practice law in both the State of New York and New Jersey.

Tom Leavens, Esq

.Tom’s career as an attorney has involved transactions, counseling, and litigation in all areas of performing, visual, and literary expression, intellectual property, and technology. Prior to joining LRSmedia in August 2005, Tom was General Counsel for MusicNow LLC, a pioneer digital music company that commercially launched a subscription music service, webcasting, and the sale of music downloads in 2002. Tom earlier was General Counsel and Senior Executive Vice President of Platinum Entertainment, Inc., a public company that grew from its formation in 1992 to become at one point the largest US-based independent record company. While there he also served as executive producer of various recording and television projects, and compiled and produced 16 House of Blues Essential Blues recordings released by the company under its joint venture with HOB Entertainment. Prior to Platinum Tom was a partner with the law firm McBride, Baker & Coles in Chicago, where he chaired the firm’s intellectual property department.

Paul LiCalsi
Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP, New York

Paul LiCalsi handles disputes for top names in media, publishing and the recording industry, among them rappers Jay-Z and Timbaland, The Beatles, Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne, Elton John and Billy Joel. He represented the heir of E.H. Shepherd, the original illustrator for "Winnie the Pooh" in the long-running legal battle over the rights to the character involving termination of grants of copyright. He currently represents Billy Joel and Tayor Swift in litigations in New York City. For the last two years he has been recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the 100 Top Outside Counsel in the Entertainment Industry.

Kevin Mills, Esq.

Kevin Mills has held senior business affairs positions with several studios, including Republic Pictures Corporation, Independent Artists Company, Hal Roach Studios and what is now Hallmark Entertainment. Over the past 12 years, Mr. Mills' practice has encompassed all aspects of talent representation and also the financing, production and distribution of entertainment product in the areas of both television and feature films.  He has extensive experience in international television and film distribution and has studied international business transactions in London, England. Mr. Mills is a member of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. He also serves on the Copyright Protection Committee of the American Film Marketing Association, the trade association for independent producers and distributors.  

Kris Muñoz
Director of Business & Legal Affairs, Bug Music

Kris Muñoz is the Director of Business and Legal Affairs at leading independent music publisher, Bug Music.  Ms. Muñoz joined the Los Angeles office just over 4 years ago and immediately surged ahead in full force quickly making herself a vital part of Bug Music’s executive team.  Ms. Muñoz handles various aspects of Bug’s music publishing, legal and business development needs, including contract drafting and negotiation, talent acquisition and developing business in an A&R capacity for all three of Bug’s U.S. offices in Los Angeles, Nashville and New York.  

Since joining Bug Music she has signed notable artists, writers & publishers with hits such as Evanescence, Daughtry, Meshell Ndegeocello, Natasha Bedingfield, Vanessa Hudgens the star of Disney’s High School Musical, As I Lay Dying, Macy Gray, Morningwood, Lyrics Born, Jane’s Addiction, Project 86 and many others. With a deep knowledge, love and respect of music since early childhood, it seems fitting that she would end up working in this capacity in the entertainment industry.

A graduate of UCLA and Chapman University School of Law, Ms. Muñoz worked at such notable entertainment law firms as Davis Shapiro Lewit & Hayes, LLP and Myman Abell Fineman Greenspan & Light, LLP prior to joining Bug. Prior to that, she worked at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office alongside one of her mentors, Deputy City Attorney, Bob Ferber, focusing on the creation of the 1st animal cruelty laws in California.

Focused on Bug Music and her goal to become a City Councilmember and eventually Mayor, keeps Kris Muñoz very busy indeed. She works closely with City of West Hollywood and the City Council and is the Co-Chair of the LVC Committee serving as a consultant and Chair of entertainment for several of the City’s annual high profile events.  Ms. Muñoz is also directly involved with the City’s efforts for the National Task Force on Health Care Reform and works with the Mayor directly to identify underserved populations and create feasible short and long term solutions for presentation to local and State officials.

In 2008, she testified at the State Capitol for 1st Lady Maria Shriver’s California Commission on the Status of Women and has been asked back to report and update the members of the Commission on various matters affecting the livelihood, education and advancement of women and children in California.

Among other organizations and memberships, Ms. Muñoz has been a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Association of Independent Music Publishers and the California Copyright Conference. She annually attends and has been a panelist, mentor and speaker at music industry conferences and events throughout the country.

Mike Olsen, Esq

Mike Olsen, Esq., is Chief Operating Officer of the New York/Nashville based entertainment holding company IndieBlu Music Holding formerly Sheridan Square.   Sheridan Square was y the fourth largest independently distributed music company in the United States before it was forced into foreclosure.  Sheridan Square had completed or been actively involved in more than 10 acquisitions of small to medium sized music companies.  Its holdings include Artemis Records, Musicrama Distribution, Light Records, Intersound Records, Triloka Records, Vanguard Classics and Tone-Cool Records.   Sheridan Square is scheduled to complete a merger that will take the company public by the 4th quarter of this year.  Mr. Olsen is also an attorney who is licensed to practice in the state of Georgia.

Ellis Jay Pailet, Esq

Ellis Jay Pailet, Esq. has been in private practice in New Orleans for over thirty years.  Mr. Pailet is recognized as one of the most prominent entertainment lawyers in the city of New Orleans. His concentration is Sports and Entertainment Law.

Jay Rosenthal

Jay Rosenthal is Senior Vice-President & General Counsel National Music Publishers' Association. He had been a partner with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe, LLP and is a Professorial Lecturer in Law at the George Washington University Law School, teaching Entertainment Law.   He is a Board Member of SoundExchange, a former Copyright Examiner with the U.S. Copyright Office, a vice‑president of the Washington Area Music Association, and an Advisory Board Member of the Songwriter Association of Washington and THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REPORT.     Mr. Rosenthal has authored numerous articles on entertainment law and intellectual property, and is a periodic contributor to Billboard and other industry newsletters and journals.  He has lectured extensively across the country on entertainment industry topics.    Mr. Rosenthal’s former and present clients include Thievery Corporation, ESL Music, The Recording Artists' Coalition, Mya, Salt N Pepa, DJ Kool, VGR Entertainment, SEV, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Toshi Reagan, Jimmies Chicken Shack, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Rare Essence, Bill Kirchen, Butch Cassidy, Lloyd Dobbler Effect, radio personalities Albie Dee, Mark Kaye, Kristian Gamble, and Bill Curry, comedian Robert Schimmel and monument maker/sculptor Robert Berks.

Panelists

John Rudolph
CEO, Bug Music

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.

John Snyder, Esq.
Grammy-Winning Producer,
Loyola University Music Chair

As an independent record producer, John Snyder, Esq. has produced nearly 300 “new” recordings since 1977 of which 34 were nominated for Grammy Awards and of those five won Grammy Awards. His record label clients have included A&M, Atlantic, Fantasy, Musicmasters, Concord, RCA, Sony, Antilles, Verve, Private Music, Telarc, GRP, Elektra, Rounder, Columbia, Evidence, and Justin Time.

Snyder is the founder and president of the Artists House Foundation, a nonprofit music company dedicated to creating educational presentations in several areas, including instruction for instruments, master classes, careers in the arts, and legendary performers.

In addition to his producing career, Snyder has held positions at the upper levels of many major recording companies. As the assistant to the president of CTI Records, Creed Taylor, Snyder oversaw legal and business affairs, publishing, manufacturing, distribution, and artists and repertoire operations. Under the tutelage of Herb Alpert, he served as director of Horizon Jazz Series for A&M Records. Snyder later served as director of jazz production for Atlantic Records, where his responsibilities included production and packaging, promotion, publicity, and marketing.

Snyder is currently a member of the New York Bar. As a former member of the New York Chapter of the Recording Academy, he served on the Board of Governors, Education Committee, and Grammy in the Schools Committee. He has been with the College of Music faculty since 2004.

Ann Sweeney, Esq

Ann Sweeney, Esq. Warner Chappell Executive Vice President Sweeney brings more than 18 years of experience in the music publishing industry, including legal and business affairs, digital strategies and identifying and acquiring major music catalogs. At Warner/Chappell Music, her primary responsibilities include overseeing worldwide digital revenue, working closely with other senior management executives in identifying and executing U.S.-based catalog acquisitions as well as legislative and other music publishing industry issues. In addition, Sweeney will also work with WMG's Digital Strategy and Business Development team and recorded music labels in expanding Warner/Chappell's efforts in new media and digital music.

Vernon P. Thomas, Esq.
New Orleans, LA

Vernon P. Thomas, Esq., Directors of the Music Business Institute, Inc., the organization that produces the Cutting Edge Conference and INDIE magazine. Thomas is an independent attorney for entertainment and sports law with litigation experience in copyright and intellectual property. He has a major practice in class action suits.

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Scott Zebrak
Legal Counsel, RIAA