PANEL - Know Your Rights: Managing Your Music Licensing Portfolio

With streaming being the dominant way in which music is consumed globally, artists and their managers need to capture every micro-payment, every cent to aggregate the value of the intellectual property portfolios they create and manage. Every year tens of millions of dollars are left unclaimed in the U.S. by artists and songwriters, combine this with incorrect data - are you leaving money on the table? 

Featured Speakers:

Debbie Rose, Vice President of the New York Chapter of Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP)

A dedicated music publisher and long-term advocate of songwriters’ rights, Debbie Rose conjoins a unique global experience with a deep understanding of historical music publishing and rights that is paired with her vision, understanding and passion for the future of music.

Building on her treasured, worldwide, relationships - Debbie partnered with Joshua Fisher to build a new publishing company, Sundae Songs. Maintaining that the fundamental role of the music publisher is to protect the songwriter while promoting their music in the global marketplace, Sundae Songs is committed to supporting writers' creative needs while up-turning every stone in search of their well-deserved income.

An active industry voice, Debbie is a publisher representative at CISAC, the governing body of international performing right societies, serving as the Publisher Chairman of the Music In Commercials Roll-Out Team, and as a member of numerous working groups including; Translated Titles, Cue Sheet Harmonization and Cable Re-Transmission as well as a member of CISAC’s IPI taskforce. With an eye of the future of music, Debbie serves on an inaugural committee of the new American digital initiative, the MLC, creating policy and protocols. An impartial advocate for songwriters and publishers, Debbie was elected to the ASCAP Board of Review. She also sits on the Board of the American Mechanical Rights Association (AMRA) and has been a member of the Media Committee at PRS (UK). Debbie is a longtime Board of Director for the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) and is currently serving as Vice President of the New York chapter.

With a focus on educating songwriters worldwide, Debbie has lectured at over 50 universities and at conferences worldwide.

Debbie was at the helm of the historic Shapiro, Bernstein for over 20 years. Prior to becoming a music publisher Debbie Rose spent many years as Director of Member Relations at ASCAP. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado - School of Journalism.

Kevin Casini, Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for RME

Kevin is an attorney and consultant in New Haven where he’s been recognized by New England SuperLawyers™ for his work in civil litigation.

Kevin serves as VP of Business and Legal Affairs for RME, a cutting-edge digital rights organization dedicated to ensuring fair and accurate payments for creators and rightsholders. 

In practice, Kevin has boasted a client roster of Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar-winning performers and writers, as well as gold and platinum certified artists, writers, producers, & DJs.

Kevin also teaches entertainment, copyright, and music law at Quinnipiac University School of Law, and in 2022 authored the white paper “Addressing the Use of Rap Lyrics as Criminal Evidence, presented to Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) who then used it to introduce The Restoring Artists Protection Act, the RAP Act, as a proposal to limit the use of lyrics in federal criminal proceedings.

Kevin is a member of the Recording Academy, Songwriters of North America (SONA), the Music Business Association, the Copyright Alliance, and the Americana Music Association. Since 2017 he has served on the nominating committee of the Boston Music Awards and is a voting member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Raleigh Berschback:  Member Services Specialist, Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) 

Raleigh Berschback serves as the Member Services Specialist at the Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC), where she plays a pivotal role in delivering exceptional support, assistance and information to MLC Members and prospective members, including self-administered songwriters, publishers, composers and lyricists. As a key member of The MLC's world-class support team, Raleigh provides personalized guidance, having engaged in over 21,000 interactions with more than 60,000 individuals in the past year alone. 

In her role, Raleigh has been instrumental in driving The MLC's membership growth, which has now exceeded 30,000 members in 2023. Since beginning full operations in 2021, The MLC has distributed over $1 billion to rightsholders. Raleigh's expertise has proven invaluable in assisting these rightsholders by helping them in setting up Member accounts, facilitating song registration and ensuring access to royalty statements. 

Raleigh's approach to her role is marked by her implementation of initiatives grounded in Lean Six Sigma principles, in which she holds a Yellow Belt certification. This commitment to excellence underscores her contributions to The MLC's mission and success. 

Raleigh is actively involved in various organizations, including the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) and its Young Professional Committee, Women in Music, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Troubadour Society and serves as both a member and advisor to Lucky Money Entertainment. 

Raleigh graduated from the University of Tennessee and resides in Nashville, TN.  

Moderator: Sharon Tapper, Executive Director of MMF-US

Sharon Tapper is the Executive Director of the Music Managers Forum-US, the leading trade association for artist managers and self-managed artists in the United States. Serving the music community by providing educational resources, networking opportunities and advocacy efforts on behalf of managers, self-managed artists, and the music community at large that supports them. The MMF-US is part of a larger global network, the International Music Managers Forum (IMMF) – an organization that connects more than sixty-five Music Manager Forums around the world (inc. Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand).

Prior to joining the MMF-US Tapper worked in London as the Assistant Manager at Sarm West Studios, before relocating to the U.S. where in Los Angeles she worked at both Left Bank Management and Gallin Morey Management. Shortly after moving to New York she transitioned into music publishing becoming the third U.S. employee at Kobalt Music Publishing and their VP Creative for eight years. Following that she was hired to be the SVP Music Publishing at Razor & Tie Music Publishing. Tapper was elected to serve multiple terms totaling fourteen years as Governor & Secretary of the NY Chapter of the GRAMMY’s, serving six consecutive terms as Co-Chair of their Advocacy Committee, on which she continues to diligently serve. She also served four years on the NY Chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP). For ten years she Co-Funded and ran the New York City Creative Community (NYC3).