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:
Marc Rucker, Associate Director of Brand Marketing and Industry Relations at SoundExchange
Marc Rucker serves as Associate Director within the Brand Marketing and Industry Relations group at SoundExchange. Marc is responsible for establishing and building key artist, management, and content owner relationships. He helps raise the profile of SoundExchange in the music industry and deepen creator engagement in Nashville and beyond.
Marc is a passionate ally to the creative community who has been embedded in the music industry for 14 years, with experience in artist management, business management, publishing, and innovation.
Before joining SoundExchange, he managed the careers of multiple successful recording artists. He helped co-found Young Entertainment Professionals and to improve the bridge between sports and music, he has consulted on live entertainment in major sports venues. He also participated in Rumble on The Row, a charity boxing match and is active learner & participant in the web3 and Music NFT ecosystems.
Raleigh Berschback, Member Services Specialist at 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: Lawrence Waks, Partner of Reed Smith
Larry Waks is a partner in the firm's Austin, New York and Dallas offices. He also routinely spends time in the Miami and Century City offices. He is a member of the firm's Entertainment and Media Practice Group within the Business and Finance Department. Larry represents many clients in the food & beverage, distilled spirits, wine and beer, as well as celebrity, media and entertainment businesses, on a scale that takes him across the country and around the world. His practice experience is broad based, with particular emphasis on business creation, growth, sales and distribution agreements, product/manufacturing and supply agreements and “happy” liquidity transactions. Larry has represented numerous celebrities, music groups, sports figures, labels, publishing companies, distributors, production companies and merchandise companies on a day-to-day basis.