Money: Cashflow & Access to Finance

How do artists and their teams access funding and the cashflow needed to develop the artist’s career? Signing rights to labels and publishers? Maxing out credit, crowdfunding? With an increasing range of financing options available, competition, digital metrics, and the growth of cultural asset classes, is creating opportunity for artists.

New services offer artist’s funding  without asking for rights ownership in return, and can also disconnect service provision (i.e. A&R, distribution, marketing, etc), from the financing ‘deal’, placing more responsibility on the artists team to run the business, but providing greater flexibility in deploying finance to build an audience and revenues.  The better you run your business, the better you can take risks with your art. If you raise finance using new services, do you also need to raise your game as a business? What are your backers offering you, and what are you offering them? 

Featured Speakers:

Jamie Dominguez, Regional Director of Business Development & Artist Relations Sound Royalties

Jamie Dominguez is a seasoned

music industry professional with

25 years of experience, specializing

in music publishing, rights

management, artist relations, artist development, talent acquisition, public relations, strategic partnerships and education. She is currently Regional Director of Business Development & Artist Relations Sound Royalties, providing music creatives with funding options that allow them access to capital without sacrificing ownership of their copyrights or their independence. Her professional experience includes 19 years at SESAC, the only U.S.-based Music Rights Organization that administers public performance, mechanical, micro-synch and other rights, where she was Senior Director of Creative Services. She previously served on the Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board, the Education Special Projects Committee for the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and currently serves as Secretary of the The Recording Academy’s (GRAMMY Awards) New York Chapter Board of Governors. She recently joined the faculty at Berklee College of Music’s NYC campus at the legendary Power Station studios, teaching Business and Entrepreneurship in the Creative Space as part of their Master of Arts in Creative and Media and Technology program. Jamie Holds a Bachelors Degree in Journalism, Mass Communication and Media Studies from The University of Texas, Austin.

Matthew Tilley, Head of Artist and Industry Development at beatBread

Matthew Tilley is an experienced

music industry veteran who has

spent almost twenty- five years developing compelling and innovative marketing and development campaigns for some of the best-known artists in the world. He has worked at the crossroads of technology and music to create global initiatives that drive successful artist outcomes, and has a proven track record in building effective relationships between artists, labels and the wider music industry ecosystem. 

Matthew is Head of Artist and Industry Development at beatBread, with a remit to help more artists gain access to funding, empowering them with enhanced choice and control. Since launch in 2020, beatBread has helped almost [xxx] artists with advances against streaming revenues from new and catalog tracks, giving them the financial freedom to build the team and partnerships that work best for them.  

Prior to taking his current role, Matthew worked alongside beatBread founder Peter Sinclair at Universal Music Group as Vice President of Consumer Engagement. In that role he ran a team of ten, working across all of the company’s labels to create innovative direct-to-consumer campaigns that significantly enhance an artist’s direct relationship with fans. The division scaled revenue from less than $10 million to more than $160 million within four years, and built meaningful revenue streams for artists including Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd.  

He spent two years as Senior Vice President of Business Development at Disciple Media, leading the start-up’s relationship advancement with key music and entertainment artists, managers and partners. Through Matthew’s work, the subscription-based app service built deep relationships with a series of artists, including Luke Bryan, Rufus Wainwright and ODESZA.  

Matthew was previously Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at EMI Music, developing worldwide campaigns for a series of international artists including Pharrell Williams, Beastie Boys and Norah Jones. Standout successes for Matthew and his team included the global success of Katy Perry, 30 Seconds To Mars and Lady Antebellum (now Lady A). 

Before joining EMI in 2006, Matthew held a number of roles in both London and New York with Universal Music Group labels Island Def Jam and PolyGram International. Matthew has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Studies with a marketing specialism from Thames Valley University in the United Kingdom. Matthew is married with one son, and lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Brian Rosenblatt, Downey & Lenkov LLC

Brian joined Downey & Lenkov in

2016 after, leaving one of Illinois’

top 25 largest law firms after nearly

15 years. Brian has previously

developed and co-chaired both an “Entertainment, Media and Privacy Practice Group”, and an “Intellectual Property Group” at his past firms. Brian brings his entire platform to Bryce Downey & Lenkov, where he continues to expand his local, regional, and national practice.

Brian’s practice is focused in three main areas: entertainment (including media and advertising), intellectual property, and litigation. His entertainment practice concentrates on transactions, media clearance and liability, advertising injury, defamation, 1st Amendment issues, and corporate matters. He also handles intellectual property transactions and litigation, specifically copyright, trademark matters and unfair/deceptive trade practice litigation. Brian represents, and has represented, high-profile individuals and entities, including a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, a U.S. Presidential candidate, high-ranking officials and clergy within the Arch-Diocese, NBA All-Stars, NFL Players, international athletics gear manufacturers, award-winning songwriters, multi-platinum selling recording

artists, national recording artists, social media celebrities, producers, record labels, managers and national platform festivals. Brian has also represented concert promoters in contract negotiations and class action litigation. He has locally and nationally worked on numerous film, television and literary projects. He counsels start-ups, media and internet companies. He serves as general counsel for online magazines, record labels, concert promoters and tech companies.

Brian also handles commercial litigation, catastrophic losses, construction litigation, products liability, commercial trucking/transportation claims, employer liability, premises liability, false arrest/malicious prosecution, personal injury data security/breach, privacy, cyber liability and e-commerce matters. Brian’s litigation experience extends to workers’ compensation, where he handles slip and falls, construction accidents, toxic tort, subrogation and other complex matters for employers.

He has served as lead counsel in nine jury trials and over eighty bench trials. He has conducted over three hundred arbitrations and mediations and prevailed on countless motions for summary judgment relating to intellectual property, commercial claims, construction cases and personal injury matters (including trucking claims, premises liability and automobile accidents.) Brian also regularly serves as an Arbitrator for the Circuit Court of Cook County. Brian handles transactional and litigated matters across the country and has been admitted pro hac vice to several jurisdictions nationwide.

In 2006, Brian was named one of the top 40 Under 40 attorneys to watch in Illinois by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and the Law Bulletin Publishing Company. He also was named to the Illinois Super Lawyers® list (a peer-review designation published by Thomson Reuters) 2010-2019, as well as the Leading Lawyers list. Brian has received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell for his legal ability and ethics. Brian works with the Lawyers for the Creative Arts, handling pro bono entertainment related matters.

Brian has been an active member of the National Academy of Arts & Sciences for 22 years. He is on the governing committee of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries and serves as editor in chief of the Forum’s Law Journal, Entertainment and Sports Lawyer.