Ilie Ardelean
Chief Product Officer, Exactuals
Ilie Ardelean is the Chief Product Officer for Exactuals, responsible for the company’s market offerings. Exactuals serves the music industry with SaaS and advanced technology products to solve global payments problems end to end. Ardelean has spent over 20 years in payments, banking, SaaS and FinTech companies. Before Exactuals, he led the core product area at Spireon, an enterprise SaaS company, and was VP of Product at Green Dot, a high-growth payments company serving customers such as Walmart, Intuit and Amazon.
Robert Barbiere
SVP of Digital Rights, Pex
Robert Barbiere is SVP of Digital Rights for Pex. In this role, he leads the company’s digital rights strategy, business, and client relations. An experienced digital media executive, he previously served as Chief Strategy Officer and SVP of Licensing for Dubset Media prior to joining Pex. Before that, Barbiere was COO of Broad Street Digital, where he established RightsRouter as music’s first fully integrated digital distribution and rights management platform.
Jake Beaumont-Nesbitt
VP of Innovation and Education, IMMF
Jake Beaumont-Nesbitt serves as the VP of Innovation and Education for The International Music Managers Forum (IMMF). The organization brings together artist and artist representative associations from 50 countries, for networking, sharing, and discussion of trading terms and opportunities for artists. Beaumont-Nesbitt focuses on industry structural concerns including metadata issues, usage data opportunities, and B2B innovation. He has a background in financial markets, and has managed chart topping Dutch artists and signed a UK band to a US indie label.
Amadea Choplin
COO, Pex
Amadea Choplin is the Chief Operating Officer at Pex, the market leader in digital rights technology. As COO, she has guided Pex through multiple strategic transitions, funding rounds, exponential growth, and the acquisition of Dubset. Before Pex, Choplin directed Dailymotion’s corporate development and communications, based in Paris & San Francisco.
Scott Farrant
Global Head of Operations, Kobalt Music
Scott Farrant is currently Global Head of Operations at Kobalt Music. He is a music industry professional with more than 30 years experience working for major & indie music publishers, CMOs and artist management in a broad range of areas including international relations, copyright, licensing, creative and business development. Prior to his role with Kobalt, Farrant served as COO of AMRA; Managing Director of KSTAR; Head of New Business, Head of Media Licensing, and International Director for STIM, and SVP Creative & International at Palan Music. He has also held positions with BMG Music, EMI Music and PRS. Farrant currently sits on the boards of ICMP, IMPA and MPA, and on committees of TOWGE and the MLC.
Cesar Fishman
Head of Business & Government Affairs, Pex
Cesar Fishman is the Director of Business and Government Affairs for Pex, the market leader in digital rights technology. Fishman is a business & government affairs executive with over a decade of experience in the policy and copyright space. Throughout his career, he has worked on Capitol Hill and with important stakeholders in the realm of intellectual property.
Martin Hapl
General Manager, Europe; Pex
Martin Hapl is responsible for Pex’s relationships with Article 17 stakeholders in Europe. Hapl has an extensive background in technology, specifically around digital transformation and big data. After joining Pex, he combined that knowledge with extensive research of Article 17 and its impact to all its stakeholders on both the European and national levels.
Wilson Hays
Head of Business Development, Pex
Wilson Hays is the Head of Business Development at Pex, where he leads strategic and operational revenue activities, focusing on sales growth and partnerships. Prior to Pex, Hays held senior roles across digital advertising in technology companies building solutions for leading advertisers and media agencies at the intersection of media, music and social.
Jeff Liebenson
President, International Association of Entertainment Lawyers
Jeff Liebenson is President of the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers, and serves as the editor of the organization’s “User-Generated Content: New Business Models and Legal Issues.” He concentrates his practice in music, digital entertainment and intellectual property law at Liebenson Law in New York City, where he negotiates complex rights agreements, acquisitions, international joint ventures and distribution agreements. He also consults on copyright and trademark issues, including those relating to digital entertainment. Earlier in his career, Liebenson represented EMI in the first iTunes negotiations with Apple; Sony in establishing its Pressplay online service with Universal; and Gracenote in obtaining digital lyric licensing rights from the music publishing industry. He also previously served as chief legal & business affairs executive for the international division of BMG Entertainment, overseeing music, video, video game and digital activities in 53 countries.
Larry Mills
CEO/Founder of We Are The Hits
Larry Mills is the Founder and CEO We Are The Hits, an online music video network predominantly on YouTube which allows the aspiring artists of the world to legally share in the advertising revenue from their cover song. WATH generates billions of views on YouTube annually, and has paid out more than $10 million to both songwriters and independent artists. He is also currently on the board of directors of YEA!, a non-profit music organization that focuses on school based music programs, which has created opportunities for tens of thousands of music students across the country. Prior to founding WATH, Mills served as VP of Strategic Marketing for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, co-President of Tresona Music, and also ran the music division of Getty Images. Mills also ran independent label Autonomous Records, which spawned the careers of Sister Hazel and Creed, and served a brief stint at Roadrunner Records after it acquired Autonomous. He began his industry career founding Steam Records, which put out early releases by Rusted Root, Lisa Loeb, Shawn Mullins, Kristian Bush (of Sugarland) and others.
Vickie Nauman
Principal and Owner of CrossBorderWorks
Vickie Nauman is the founder and owner of CrossBorderWorks, a consulting and advisory firm specializing in music tech. Her focus is the intersection between technology and music, particularly regarding licensing and music data/rights, product/device integration, and international strategic development. As a digital music pioneer, Nauman worked on licensing and product for MusicNet, one of the first legal digital services (RealNetworks JV), led strategic partnerships for connected device company Sonos, started and ran the US business for global music platform 7digital, and did digital music business in Europe and China as a consultant. She built one of the first DMCA-compliant services at taste-making Seattle station KEXP and is an advisor to UCLA’s Music Innovation Program and SXSW as well as a collection of early stage companies in music/tech.
Abby North
President, North Music Group LLC
Abby North is a music business professional with 25 years of experience. She is President of North Music Group and a founding member of Unchained Melody Publishing. North Music Group controls approximately 90,000 copyrights, ranging from evergreen classics like “Unchained Melody” to current commercial and film/TV works. North is involved with industry organizations including the AIMP (as a Board Member of the Los Angeles Chapter), ISNI’s Music Consultation Group, NMPA’s Team 100, Women in Music, SCL, Television Academy and Guild of Music Supervisors.
Carlos Pacheco
Founder, Pachwork Strategy
Carlos Pacheco is the Founder of Pachwork Strategy, which offers clients digital audience strategy specializing on YouTube, channel management, video distribution, content management and monetization strategies. Pacheo is a consultant and YouTube Audience Strategist that has advised creators, producers, content owners and distributors on channel growth, content optimization, piracy protection and monetization strategies since 2012. Prior to sounding Pachwork, Pacheo served as VP of Audience Development for Boat Rocker Media, where he established the groundwork for the company’s digital rights management; and ranGags YouTube channel for Just For Laughs, helping it reach 4 million organic subscribers in less than 18 months.
Ted Shapiro
Partner; Wiggin LLP, Brussels
Ted Shapiro is a Partner with Wiggin LLP, and serves as the head of the firm’s Brussels office. He is known for assisting clients on issues related to policy, litigation, compliance and commercial transactions. Shapiro joined Wiggin in January 2013 from the Motion Picture Association in Brussels, where he was the General Counsel for Europe. With over 25 years’ experience, he is recognized as a leading expert in international and European copyright law. Following the recent overhaul by the Department for International Trade of the Expert Trade Advisory Group structure and the creation of The Trade Advisory Groups, Shapiro was invited to join the Cultural Industries TAG. He has also been appointed as a member of The Law Society’s EU Committee.
Helen Smith
Executive Chair, IMPALA
Helen Smith is Executive Chair of IMPALA, the Independent Music Companies Association. In this role, she drives the organization’s key strategies with the board on a political, commercial and promotional level. Helping put thousands of independent companies and artists on the map of Europe by leveraging collective strength, IMPALA’s milestones is an impressive read, from Europe’s first ever class action court case on a merger and its tough stance on digital platforms who don’t play ball, to its various action plans and awards schemes.
Rasty Turek
Founder and CEO, Pex
Rasty Turek is the Founder and CEO at Pex. Turek has brought Pex to the forefront of digital rights management and positioned its technology as the future of copyright management worldwide, allowing for the unabated, legal and compensated transmission of copyrighted content online. He has been featured in Billboard, TechCrunch, A2IM’s Indie Week, the Music Tectonics Conference, Digital Entertainment World, and many others. Before founding Pex in 2014, Turek was a security engineer and a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.
Zena White
Managing Director, Partisan Records
Zena White serves as Managing Director for independent label group Partisan Records — known for helping to break indie artists including Deer Tick, Sylvan Esso and Cigarettes After Sex — as well as for sister company, Knitting Factory Records. Prior to joining Partisan, White spent five years at boutique label services specialists The Other Hand, where she worked on successful campaigns for the likes of Run The Jewels, Stones Throw, Innovative Leisure (BADBADNOTGOOD), Daptone Records (Sharon jones & the Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley), Mass Appeal (DJ Shadow), and Ghostly International.
