CIMA Business Mission to NYC: US Speakers
Cake Shop Speaker: Nick Bodor, Co-owner
Since 1995, Nick has been creating small independent cafes and bars in New York City. In 1995, he opened one of the first cyber cafes in NYC: "alt.coffee." 1998 brought The Library Bar; a beer-and-shot dive bar with an indie-rock oriented jukebox. He opened Cake Shop in 2006, a cafe/bar/record store/venue that helped break bands like MGMT, Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors in their early days. He is currently looking to build Cake-Shop.com into more of a media presence featuring original content, comedy and band interviews, original programming in addition to other style pieces.
Tamizdat Speaker: Matthew Covey, Executive Director
Matthew Covey has worked in music and arts immigration since 1996. As a member of the critically acclaimed US/Slovak indie-rock bandSkulpey, as Knitting Factory Records’ Amsterdam booking agent, and as the manager of Grammy Award winning band, the Klezmatics, Covey’s varied career has afforded him a comprehensive understanding of the entertainment industries. Covey is a founding director of Tamizdat, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that promotes international cultural exchange. He has presented and chaired panels on artist mobility issues at numerous conferences, including SXSW, CMJ, WOMEX, Folk Alliance, APAP, and Eurosonic. He holds a J.D. from New York Law, an M.A. from University College Dublin, and a B.A. from Oberlin College, and is admitted to the New York Bar.
The Windish Agency Speaker: Doug Croy, Agent
Doug Croy is an agent at The Windish Agency representing artists including Tove Lo, MØ, Broods, Jon Hopkins, King Krule, Hundred Waters, Big Boi, Ghostface Killah, Madlib and more throughout North America, South America, Australia and Asia. He joined The Windish Agency in 2012 after spending the previous five years at The Agency Group. Prior to this, Doug spent 2005-2006 touring internationally as a Production Assistant. He got his start as a college rep for labels such as Universal Republic and Artemis.
Songs Publishing Speaker: Keith D'Arcy, Creative Licensing and Catalog Acquisition
With 18 years of professional experience as a music producer and supervisor for EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and ad agency Bates Worldwide, Keith D'Arcy has placed hundreds of songs and master recordings in campaigns for global brands like Nike, Mercedes, BMW, Intel, Fidelity, American Express, Pepsi, Fisher Price, Northwest Airlines, Heineken, and Viagra.
While at EMI Publishing as Senior Vice President of Music Strategy, Keith led the company’s Music Resources division, set up to help EMIMP grow its strategic outreach, increase synchronization of copyrights and improve creative access to the song catalogs for both internal sales staff and external licensing clients. In April 2008, Keith founded, developed and managed CORE, EMI’s Global Product & Content division. He oversaw programs designed to provide EMI’s global sales and licensing staff unparalleled creative access to approx. 1.3 Million copyrights. The division is comprised of six main service components: Asset management (including management of EMI’s global digital library and search engine), creative support for Sales, master representation and easy-clear programs, internal song marketing & promotion, catalog writer relationship management and label crossover management.
Drom Speaker: Mehmet Dede, Art Presenter/Tour Director
Mehmet Dede is an art presenter, tour producer and educator. Throughout a career spanning 20 years, he has produced hundreds of concerts and event series, including collaborations with Lincoln Center, Central Park SummerStage, the Town Hall and the Kennedy Center in DC. Since 2010 Dede has served as Director of Programming at Drom, a 300 people-capacity club in downtown Manhattan and is co-founder and curator of the NY Gypsy Festival, now in its 12the year. Mehmet has worked on concerts and marketing campaigns for Jamiroquai, Amy Winehouse, The Roots, Norah Jones, Jill Scott, Nelly Furtado, Mark Ronson, and collaborated with high-profile label partners Atlantic, Warner Bros, Epic and EMI. He started his career at Universal Music Group and a Top 40 radio station based in Istanbul. He serves as Assistant Professor at the Hartt School’s Music & Performing Arts Management program at the University of Hartford and as Adjunct Faculty at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where he teaches courses in concert management, curating and touring. He regularly conducts workshops for artists and managers abroad.
Dima Productions Speaker: Stephen Dima, Owner
As owner of Dima Productions, Stephen Dima has created and produced some of the largest music, comedy and family festivals in New York City. From the Seaport Music Festival to the NY Comedy Festival, Dima has worked with some of the biggest artists as well as some of the biggest brands in the country and has produced hundreds of major events in venues from Central Park to Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall. From working with top indie acts like Animal Collective, Hot Chip, Grimes and The National, to working with legendary artists like Jerry Seinfeld, Roger Waters and Bruce Springsteen, Dima Productions has earned the respect of agents, artists and managers throughout the world. Working together with Chinese entertainment company Modern Sky, Dima Productions has helped spearhead the company's entrance into the U.S. and other international cities as well as build a highly successful and powerful international team.
Kobalt Music Speaker: Melissa Emert-Hutner, Vice-President
Melissa Emert-Hutner is an industry veteran of almost 19 years, and is currently VP of Creative Catalogue at Kobalt Music Publishing in New York City. Prior to this, she was Senior Director of Publishing at Nettwerk Music Group. She also worked in management for 11 years, running her own company (Hoseb Management) where she represented songwriters, record producers and mixers. She was also a partner of Mean It! Management representing bands, and has worked in the fields of online marketing, product management, radio promotion and booking in the past.
Moondog Music Speaker: Matthew Evertsen, Creative Director
Matthew Evertsen is a passionate advocate for the arts. A lifelong devotion to multimedia expression inspired the founding of RONIN, a premier music styling and brand strategy boutique. As creative director and music marketing consultant, Matthew recognizes and studies the cultural power of the universal language of music. His expertise combines over a decade of industry experience with an eclectic, open-minded and refined taste.
Matthew's portfolio of previous work includes nightclub management, live bookings, artist representation and development as well as music sync strategy and supervision. Matthew strives to bring to life ideas and experiences that maximize artist and audience satisfaction while promoting positive philosophies to design a better future of harmony today.
Matthew's most recent music supervision and strategy credits include Viceland, Victoria's Secret, Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Playboy, Pepsi, Nokia and Visionaire World with placements from Nat King Cole, Bryan Ferry, M83, Rhye, Charli XCX, Nicki Minaj, Blood Orange, Ellie Goulding, St. Lucia, Kito & Reija Lee, CharlieRED, Dynasty Electric, Holy Ghost!, BANKS, Leikeli47, Liam Bailey and executive produced original compositions for Propel, Remy Martin, Bath & Body Works, Lord & Taylor, Sylvania and Maine Medical Center.
Mondo NYC. Speaker: Gary Fortune, Founding Partner, Director
Gary is currently a Founding Partner and Director at Mondo.NYC, an annual gathering of music and tech industry insiders and innovators. The daytime conference addresses issues of content creation and ownership, college, public and internet radio, policy, management, sales, marketing, distribution, rights, consumption and monetization, all the while bridging the gap between artists and their art, commerce and the technological opportunities and challenges driving today’s music business. Simultaneously, Mondo presents new and emerging artist showcases at night.
Before relocating to New York City, Gary developed and managed the Outward Sound music export program for his home country of New Zealand. The program consisted of 4 contestable funding rounds per year where NZ musicians, producers and music businesses could apply for up to 50% of approved costs for their overseas projects. As a part of Outward Sound’s international program, Gary also project managed international trade events every year that aimed at connecting music and music businesses from New Zealand to international markets, They included South by Southwest, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Midem, BIGSOUND, CMJ, WOMEX, and Australian World Music Expo.
Downtown Music Publishing Speaker: Jedd Katrancha, EVP
As EVP at Downtown Music Publishing, Jedd Katrancha oversees the company's creative department, including efforts as they relate to placement of catalog in film, television, video games, online, product placement, advertising, and more. Jedd has personally worked on licenses with dozens of brands, including Anheuser Busch, Kia, Yahoo, Chevy, Vitamin Water, Mountain Dew, Sprint, and Cadillac.
Established in 2007, Downtown Music Publishing is one of the leading rights-management firms in North America, with offices in New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, London, and Amsterdam. The company's catalog spans over seven decades of popular music, including the works of such diverse writer/artists as The Beatles, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Cy Coleman, The Kinks, Randy Newman, Hans Zimmer, Mötley Crüe, Jewel, Neon Trees and One Direction.
PledgeMusic Speaker: Leigh Lust, Vice President A&R North America
Leigh started his career as music director at the infamous WNYU Radio Station, where he helped break bands from all over the world spinning records on the acclaimed New Afternoon show. It was here that Leigh conducted the 1st ever US Radio Interview with The Sugarcubes in 1988.
Moving into A&R, he worked at Capitol Records with Skinny Puppy, The Butthole Surfers and Blind Melon. Following his stint at Capitol Leigh moved onto TAG/Atlantic Recordings, Virgin Records and then ultimately landed at Elektra Records where he assumed A&R duties for The Breeders, Stereolab and Bjork. At Elektra Leigh signed The Avalanches, Remy Zero, Sixpence None the Richer, and Jet . In 2004 the Warner Music Group was sold and the new owners merged Elektra into Atlantic where Leigh found himself. Here he signed Tally Hall and Halestorm.
His passion for music and knowledge of the music business, has brought him to his newest post as VP of A&R for the Direct to Fan Digital Platform, PledgeMusic where Leigh has worked with the likes of Lindsey Stirling, Failure, The Flaming Lips, The Juan Maclean, Bang Gang, Keren Ann, Soko, Def Leppard, Dragonette, amongst others.
Mischa Pearlman Freelance Journalist
Mischa Pearlman is a British-born music journalist moved who turned down his dream job at Kerrang! magazine to move to New York in 2012. He now writes for a variety of publications (Rock Sound, Noisey, Record Collector, Alternative Press & more) both in the UK and the US and has interviewed a whole bunch of his musical heroes, including E from Eels, Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Ryan Adams, Thurston Moore and Marilyn Manson. His ultimate goal, however, is to one day interview Bruce Springsteen. He is also slowly working on his first novel.
McGarryBowen Speaker: Jean Scofield, Executive Music Producer
Born on the day MTV made its debut, Jean Scofield grew up in New York City's West Village surrounded by musicians and artists. With a world-renowned musician for a father and an industrious manager and producer for a mother, she's always had an aptitude for balancing the creative and the administrative. As a music producer Jean has worked on campaigns for United Airlines, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Verizon, Crayola, AT&T, and DPSG, amongst others.
Today you can find Jean at McGarryBowen in the music department. She is a performing artist and audiophile as well. That passion enhances her professional experiences. Her knowledge and industry relationships are diverse, defining her as a current, authentic resource.
Vicious Kid PR Speaker: Perry Serpa, Owner
Perry Serpa is (reluctantly) a 28 year veteran of the Music Industry. After a 4 year stint as a junior publicist in the late eighties, Serpa cut his teeth for a decade with premiere indie firm, Nasty Little Man where he ran press campaigns for such artists as David Byrne, Sonic Youth and the Tibetan Freedom Concert, alongside Beastie Boys.
In 2002, he hung out his own shingle, Good Cop Public Relations where he worked with, among others, All Tomorrow's Parties, The Divine Comedy, Ron Sexsmith, Evan Dando and Sonic Youth, whom he commuted over from NLM. Serpa has recently re-branded, casting his rep for civil behavior to the wind and opening Vicious Kid PR a mere 2 weeks ago. He remains the publicist for, among others, Record Store Day, Railroad Earth and the Polyphonic Spree.
Serpa is also a critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter/pianist having fronted the Sharp Things, an NYC-based symphonic pop collective for the past 17 years. He stands firm to his claim that he's never met a Canadian he didn't like.