(Former Head of Rock, Spotify & Host/Executive Producer, Spotify Original Series)
Booking Agent, Sound Talent Group
Charley Londoño
Counsel Plus, Co.
Chris Foitle
Head of A&R, Epitaph Records
Founder & CEO, Velvet Hammer Music & Management Group (Alice In Chains, Deftones, Korn, System Of A Down & More)
Director, Buma ROCKS! (The Netherlands)
Garrett Capone
VP of Promotion & GM Rock Music, Crush Music
Executive Sr. VP / Talent & Curation, Danny Wimmer Presents
Sr. Business Affairs Manager, FCB NY
Sr. Vice President A&R, Warner Chappell Music
Chairman of APRKA (Czech Republic)
CEO, Eventim Live Asia
Founder, Blue Lemon Management (Sweden)
Managing Director, RBK Fusion (Germany)
Executive Manager, YMU
Program Director, 95/5 KLOS Meruelo Media, Los Angeles
Rock Editor, AllAccess.com
Sr. VP/Head of A&R, Red Bull Records
Head of Artist Relations, IndieFlow
Lisa Worden
Vice President Rock & Alternative, Program Director ALT 98.7 - LA's New Alternative, iHeartMedia National Programming Group
Music & Media Journalist (U.K.)
Founder, Endless Music (The Netherlands)
Matt Pinfield
Host "New & Approved" KLOS, Los Angeles / Westwood One & Benztown Radio Networks Syndicated Host
Co-Founder, Artist For Artist
Michael Faley
President, Metal Blade Records
Owner & Founder, Ranka Kustannus
Publisher, The Music Registry
President & Founder, Mad Mac Entertainment
Founder, Infinite Dreams / Bangalore Open Air Festival (India)
Sat Bisla
President & Founder, A&R Worldwide / Global Rock Summit
Sean Heydorn
Vice President, Rise Records
Artist & Producer Manager, Creative Consultant, SOS Management
Founder & Managing Director of Third Culture Ent't (India)
Thomas Scherer
President, Repertoire & Marketing, Los Angeles & New York, BMG
Award Winning Producer (Alice In Chains, KISS, Korn, Ozzy Osbourne, Primus & More)
Sr. Programming Director/Music Strategies, Trafalgar Releasing
Ritch Esra
Publisher, The Music Registry
For over 28 Ritch Esra have been running the Music Business Registry which includes The A&R Registry, The Publisher Registry, The Music Business Attorney Registry, Artist Manager Registry and The Film and Television Music Guide.
"Our various publications and databases give everyone vital, accurate and the most up to date information they need to contact the entire A&R, music publishing, artist management, legal and the film and Television music communities," says Ritch. "Each publication contains contact information consisting of address, E-mail (including web sites), direct dial telephone.
Additionally, we provide the exact title, street address, the name of their assistant and the style of music that each executive deals with. Due to the volatile nature of A&R, the A&R Registry is completely updated and reprinted every eight weeks and often has over 20-30 changes in a single issue. There are no other publications of this kind anywhere in the world."
Among the subscribers are record company executives, music publishers, managers, agents, attorneys, studios and other various music business professionals in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, London, Dublin, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Stockholm, Sydney, and Munich.
Ritch started out as a promotion coordinator for A&M Records in Los Angeles in 1980-81.
From 1981-1987, Ritch was director of West Coast A&R for Arista Records. He signed The Thompson Twins to their US Deal as well as Mara Getz. He worked extensively with the publishing and songwriting communities for material for Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Melissa Manchester, Tanya Tucker, Jennifer Warnes and Jermaine Jackson. He also coordinated music for the "Ghostbusters" and "Perfect" soundtracks.
From 1987-1992, Ritch worked on various independent projects. He produced the award-winning educational video for artists and musicians, "How to Get a Record Deal." "At the time, it was the only video of its kind examining the frequently misunderstood process from five different perspectives: record company executives, A&R VPs, artist managers, record producers and 16 major artists including Los Lobos, Mark Knopfler, Phil Collins, Jody Watley, Karla Bonoff, Michael Bolton, Fleetwood Mac, Chick Corea and Kenny Loggins," says Ritch. Producers Phil Ramone and Jeff Baxter are also interviewed in the video.
In 2012, he was one of the founders of MUBUTV, an educational channel for artists on Youtube. Ina addition, he has taught Music Business classes at the Musicians Institute as well as SAE (School for Audio Engineering) and has also taught at UCLA Extension.