Ted Cohen - Ted Cohen is the Managing Partner of TAG Strategic.
Starting his career on the road with Alice Cooper and Van Halen, he is known throughout the technology and music industries as being "part ambassador and part evangelist," Cohen was instrumental in crafting the licensing agreements upon which the Rhapsody subscription service and the iTunes Music Store were built.
In his previous role as Senior Vice President of Digital Development and Distribution for EMI Music (home of artists including Coldplay and the Rolling Stones), Cohen led next-generation digital business development worldwide for this "big four" record company, which includes labels such as Capitol, Virgin, Angel/Blue Note, Parlophone and Chrysalis.
During that time, EMI led the industry by embracing and exploiting new technologies and business models such as digital downloads and online music subscriptions, custom compilations, wireless services, high-definition audio and Internet radio.
Richard French - Richard French combines technical expertise with business savvy. Through varied experience working with large multinational companies and startups he is able to bring both an entrepreneurial spirit and the knowledge of how to run large organizations.
Mr. French built his career at a series of companies. He is currently CEO at Avvenu, Inc. a venture backed company which provides a free service that lets consumers and business users securely access their home and office computers directly from their web-enabled mobile device or computer.
Most recently he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Open Source Development Network at VA Software Corporation/OSDN, Inc. of Fremont, CA. At OSDN, now renamed to OSTG, he brought together 11 disparate Internet properties, including such notables as Slashdot, Sourceforge.net and Thinkgeek, into a cohesive whole with the result that it became the de facto network for open source news and downloads.
Gerd Leonhard - Gerd Leonhard is a digital music and media expert, futurist and often-quoted visionary and thought-leader. He is well-known both as a music and media industry entrepreneur and innovator as well as a sought-after strategic advisor.
Originally from Germany, Gerd has spent almost twenty years in the music and entertainment-technology industries, and is equally at home in the U.S. as well as in Europe, and is now expanding his activities into Asia. He currently lives in Basel, Switzerland and, quite literally 'on the road.'
Gerd is the co-author of the best-selling book The Future of Music, his new book The End of Control is scheduled for a 2007 release.
Lee Shupp - Lee Shupp is a Partner and resident futurist at Cheskin, a consulting and market research firm that guides successful market innovation based on a fresh perspective and genuine understanding of cultures and customers. Lee is an ethnofuturist who combines the futures perspective and ethnographic insights to help companies develop new products and new markets. His clients include Fortune 500 companies like Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Motorola and PepsiCo.
Lee is a dynamic speaker who has presented to audiences interested in futures, design, and ethnography, including the World Future Society, the Design Management Institute, and Institute for International Research conferences on Trend Tracking and Ethnographic Research Techniques. He has been interviewed for American Demographics FutureSpeak, CNN's Future Watch and NPR's Market Place.
Future of music: "Digital Rights or Wrongs?" is the theme of this program examining what music rights and creative license will mean in the world of new technologies.
What will music rights and creative license mean in the world of new technologies? From the music industry and claims of rampant piracy to online sharing and fierce advocates of fair-use, how will we access and enjoy music? Representatives from all sides wrestle with the future of music and digital rights for creators, consumers and corporations.
I produced this program at the Commonwealth Club - where I'm Vice-Chairman of the Business and Leadership Forum. We did a Part Two in this series at the Club which is also on FORA TV. I would appreciate any comments, insights or links to these programs, as I'm hoping to do more in this series. Please contact me at kevin@techtalkstudio.com Thanks -- and looking forward to hearing from you. -- Kevin O'Malley
