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. If you aren’t signed to SoundExchange, The MLC and a PRO, you are leaving money on the table. If you are signed, but your data isn't correct, they cannot connect your money to you. If making money whilst you sleep is the dream, is the nightmare of your music rights portfolio leaking revenue whilst you only have half an eye on it?
Featured Speakers:
Sean Glover, Director of Industry Engagement at SoundExchange
As Director of Industry Engagement, Sean Glover is responsible for educating and supporting the music industry on SoundExchange’s creator-facing systems and services, making the business of music more simple, more efficient, and more fair. His work ensures that artists and rights owners are compensated when their work is streamed on digital radio. Sean leads DEI initiatives for SoundExchange in the Washington, D.C. area and is an honoree on the Billboard’s 2021 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Player List. SoundExchange collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of nearly 260,000 recording artists and master rights owners accounts and administers direct agreements on behalf of rights owners and licensees. To date, SoundExchange has paid out nearly $9 billion in royalties.
Maurice Russell, Head of Rights Management at The MLC
Maurice Russell is the Head of Rights Management for The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC). In this role, Russell supports The MLC’s work to implement the first statutory blanket licensing system for mechanical rights in the United States. Russell also leverages his operational and administrative expertise in order to help The MLC prepare to process digital music royalty payments to music publishers and songwriters globally.
A senior executive in the music and entertainment industry with over 20 years of experience and a deep passion for intellectual property (IP) rights management, licensing, business development, strategy, client service and operations management, Russell was previously the founder of music industry rights management consultancy firm Media Rights Management (MRM). At MRM, Russell helped his clients navigate the music industry’s growing licensing and data challenges.
Prior to launching MRM, Russell held senior roles in operations and strategy at the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), where he directed the development and launch of numerous licensing and royalty solutions to transition the company to the high-volume digital music market.
Russell has served on advisory groups for the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, and he is a long-time participant in Digital Data Exchange (DDEX), the primary data standards body serving the global digital music industry. He is a recognized subject matter expert who is frequently asked to speak at key industry events, including Digital Music Forum, Music Biz and SXSW.
Russell holds a B.A. in American History from Columbia University and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business. He resides in New York City.
Alex Grout, SVP of Membership and Business & Legal Affairs at ASCAP
Alex Grout is Senior Vice President of Membership and Business & Legal Affairs at ASCAP, providing strategic and legal guidance supporting the organization’s membership objectives. In his current role, he is ASCAP’s lead negotiator with members regarding affiliation and distribution issues, and also advises the organization on complex issues dealing with licensing, resignation, copyright, and other high-profile litigation and transactional issues. Alex also counsels internal stakeholders on all day-to-day strategic issues relating to performance rights and music publishing. He has lectured at numerous engagements with major law firms, publishing companies, universities, and Grammy events. Alex is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta and of William & Mary Law School where he was also the Senior Articles Editor of the Business Law Review.
Moderator: Ken Abdo, Partner at Fox Rothschild
Ken Abdo is a partner at the national law firm of Fox Rothschild. With a start in music as a performing singer-songwriter, Ken now has almost 40 years of experience serving as legal counsel to artists, creators and businesses in music and the entertainment industry. Ken has extensive experience working with developing, established and legacy music artists and their estates. Ken’s commitment to artist advocacy and the legal profession have led him to national leadership positions with The Recording Academy, The American Bar Association, SXSW CLE, among others. Ken is a multiple published author, frequent lecturer, and a regular local and national media commentator on entertainment law issues. Among many recognitions, Ken has been selected as one of Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers each year for the past 6 years. Ken now works from Minneapolis, MN, and Nashville. He is the Advisory Sounding Board Chair to the non-profit organization Free Guitars 4 Kids, which places guitars in the hands of children in underserved communities and access to lessons.