A free virtual three day weekend program to give music industry hopefuls & industry career changers a crash course (and a finished project!) in music & data.
Some of the most influencial people and companies driving the democratization of music data around the world.
Founder & Publisher | Water & Music
Cherie Hu is the founder and publisher of Water & Music, a newsletter tracking innovation and tech trends in the music business. She has also written hundreds of articles on music, tech and finance for the likes of Billboard, Forbes, NPR Music, Music Business Worldwide and Pitchfork. She teaches a course on music and gaming as an adjunct professor at NYU's Clive David Institute of Recorded Music, and has spoken as an expert commentator for CNBC, CGTN America and SiriusXM Volume. She is currently working on a book for Bloomsbury about the parallels between independent music careers and tech entrepreneurship.
Sr. Product Manager | Last.fm
Sarah Ransome is Senior Product Manager at Last.fm. In this role, Sarah is the main point of contact for all API enquiries and works with partners located globally on commercial licensing of the Last.fm API. Sarah started her career as a Frontend Web Developer before moving into Product Management in industries such as publishing, advertising and music.
EVP | Chocolate City
Ibukun Abidoye, Esq. is a Nigerian Music Business Executive. Trained as an attorney in New York, “Aibee” as she is professionally known has logged several years of transactional experience, with particular focus on the music business in Nigeria. She is a recognized expert in the licensing, distribution and publishing of indigenous music content for film and television. In her current capacity, she sits as the first female Executive Vice President of Music at Chocolate City, as well as the only female on the Board, following her involvement in the ground-breaking partnership between Warner Music Group and Chocolate City in 2019.
Content & Insights Manager | Chartmetric
Jason is Chartmetric's Manager for Content and Insights. A former US Navy cryptologic intelligence officer, he now helps create actionable insights via special client projects, deep-dive articles, podcast episodes and product development. He has worked on data teams within Warner Music Group, Live Nation, and Songtrust. He earned two Master of Arts degrees at New York University (Music Analytics & Social Sciences Analytics) and a Bachelor degree at University of Illinois (Marketing). Jason has a weakness for the Joe Rogan podcast, Marvel movies, and electric scooters.
Digital Strategy Lead | Chartmetric
Rutger helps turn numbers to narratives at Chartmetric. He studied English Literature and Cognitive Neuroscience at Stanford and Music Business & Music Technology at NYU. Along the way, he interned at two indie labels and a publishing company, wrote about some of his favorite bands as a music journalist for NBC, taught at a music school, helped grow a micro-VC investing in creative technologies, and recovered from six years on the road as a professional indie musician. When he’s not immersed in music, he reads, watches movies, and hones his pool skills.
CEO & Founder | Tangy Market
Linda Portnoff holds a Ph.D. in accounting and finance and has done research on the changes in the music industry landscape since the beginning of the 21st century. She is the founder and CEO of Riteband that has developed Tangy Market – a marketplace for music that unlocks the hidden world of music investments and makes it accessible to everyone.
Full Stack Software Engineer | Chartmetric
Victor is a full-stack software engineer with a couple of products and companies under his belt. He received his Computer Science degree from UC Irvine where he got the first taste of entrepreneurship when he helped co-found a mobile app startup. He has since worked with companies from early stage to Unicorn, shipping code that's touched hundreds of thousands of people. In a perfect world, Victor would partner with product leaders and bring to life ideas that can help people and solve problems. He dabbles in AR/VR tech, goes to multiple hackathons and tech conferences each year, and enjoys talking culinary travels with team mates.
Data Scientist | Chartmetric
Umang is a Data Scientist at Chartmetric and has experience as a Software Engineer and in researching traffic optimization with Reinforcement Learning. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 2016 and moved to the Bay Area in 2018 for the Master of Engineering degree at the University of California, Berkeley. In his spare time, he enjoys listening to podcasts about new technology developments and going on long runs while listening to movie soundtracks.
Data Analyst | Paperchain
A lifelong lover of music and engineering, Valerie Angulo completed her Masters in Computer Science at NYU, where she developed a passion for the endless possibility and impact of data science. Combining her two passions, she completed a Data Analyst internship at Downtown Music Group, building data applications to track music rights uses and royalty payments. Having now been officially introduced to the world of data and music, Valerie now leads the data team at Paperchain, using data driven technology and predictive modeling that allows creators to get paid instantly for their streaming media revenue.
Head of People Analytics | Mozilla
Teneika is an engineer by nature, specializing in big data. She helps clients make the most of their data – both technically and strategically. Her mission is to improve access to big data and allow visualizations to serve as the voice of the business. Adept at delivering detailed analytical reports, she leverages her tech savviness to create a pipeline to opportunities and alleviate the technical assistance gap in entrepreneurship communities by driving growth for women and small businesses.
CEO | Snafu Records
Ankit Desai is the founder and CEO at Snafu Records, a 21st century music company that uses algorithms to find and develop tomorrow's superstar artists. Started in 2018, Snafu Records counts Grammy-winner hit-boy and multi-platinum artists Kosine and Nevada among its roster; as well as up and coming starlets such as Costa Rica's Mishcatt and teenage sensation Maro. Before starting Snafu, Ankit ran digital strategy at Universal Music in the Nordics, and then worked for Universal Music/Capitol Records in Los Angeles. In 2020 Ankit was chosen to Europe's Forbes 30 under 30 in Entertainment.
Head of Music | Tone Den
Henry Parker Reyes is Head of Music at the industry leading advertising technology company ToneDen by Eventbrite. A digital marketing professional & artist manager with over 10 years of experience across multiple entertainment industrys. He led the marketing initiatives for a popular electronic music promoter in Atlanta, GA in the mid 2010's, throwing hundreds of successful events in the city. After relocating to LA in 2016, Crafthaus, an artist management & digital marketing agency for artists was created. Within this time, he began managing a roster of electronic artists of whom have toured the world and released through various electronic focused record labels. In 2019, he joined the team at ToneDen, helping labels, managers, artists and distributors properly market their music through the use of the ToneDen platform. With his direction, the product offering of ToneDen has grown immensely with the hyper popular & successful Growth Playbooks impacting thousands of artists and hundreds of companies within the music industry.
Audience Development Manager | AWAL
Born in South Korea and raised in Germany, Lisa has been living in London for over seven years. After graduating with a M.A. in Music Business from Uni Westminster, Lisa started her career as an Account Manager for digital marketing agency Influence Digital where she worked on award-winning social campaigns for renowned music and film clients. In 2016 she decided to focus on her long-standing passion for live music, joining music events company Sofar Sounds as Social Media Manager. One of the highlights included working on a global digital strategy for a partnership with Amnesty International that peaked in 300+ gigs in aid of refugees. In March 2019, Lisa joined AWAL's digital marketing / audience development team and has since been successfully working on extensive global campaigns for artists such as Lauv, You Me At Six, Nick Cave, Kim Petras, and Jordan Mackampa.
Creator Partnerships Manager | Patreon
Tom is a music omnivore with a decade of experience working with cultural, digital and creative organizations. His first non-bar job was in web analytics before moving on to manage communications and digital strategy for an orchestra, a promoter and the London Jazz Festival. Prior to joining Patreon, he was a music manager and represented projects for artists including Jess Gillam, Stewart Copeland and Quincy Jones. Tom is a Fellow of the RSA and the founder of one rugby club, five music ensembles and The Prickle arts review. He lives in New York with his partner Anna who is —among other things— a rock climber, cellist and volcano expert.
Consumer & Audience Insights Partner | TikTok
Nadia Morozova is an award-winning analytics & insights expert, thought leader and a key-note speaker with 10+ years of international experience that comes from TikTok, Nestlé Group, Boston Consulting Group and Procter&Gamble. Currently Nadia is Consumer & Audience Insights Partner at TikTok in London. Nadia is strongly inspired by Insights capabilities building, actively sharing her expertise in various innovative areas of Consumer Insights – from Consumer Neuroscience to Mobile & Crowdsourcing research. Also, Nadia is a trusted expert in Digital and eCommerce. She is also very passionate about building bridges between academic and applied consumer research.
After registration closes, participant bios will be circulated and participants will be given the option to put in a request for team mates.
Optional18:00 PARIS
12:00 NYC
11:00 NASHVILLE
09:00 LA
We'll get day one started by announcing teams, introducing mentors, talking through project ideas, and setting the ground rules for the weekend!
18:30 PARIS
12:30 NYC
11:30 NASHVILLE
09:30 LA
Hear directly from developers & users of the most used music tech APIs and platforms. Your chance to get tips/tricks & ask any questions about these tools.
Confirmed Companies: Genius, Last.fm & Chartmetric
21:00 PARIS
15:00 NYC
14:00 NASHVILLE
12:00 LA
Some of those involved in Chartmetric's report will talk about how they bring together data, design and journalism to create a comprehensive, insightful & beautiful must-read report for the music industry twice a year.
22:00 PARIS
16:00 NYC
15:00 NASHVILLE
13:00 LA
For the European nightowls and those in the states, this is the time to get introduced to your partners for the weekend. If you need to head off to bed, that's alright! You will have time throughout day one to connect & schedule time with your team & mentors for the morning but make sure you have a plan to meet before signing off!
Optional22:15 PARIS
16:15 NYC
15:15 NASHVILLE
13:15 LA
The night is still young for those in the US, so now it's time to get to work on your projects to prepare for Sunday's presentations. You'll have the mentors & Measure of Music Slack channel around for guidance & support. Work as late as you want but don't burn yourself out, this is supposed to be fun!
US Participants You have a full day to work on your projects, so take advantage & start early. Make sure you connect with the mentors and use the MoM Slack channel for help. Work as late as you want but don't burn yourself out, this is supposed to be fun!
18:00 PARIS
12:00 NYC
11:00 NASHVILLE
09:00 LA
You've got a lot of work to do so we won't keep you long, but this will be an opportunity to regroup and ask questions, share resources, and talk through problems with the larger group.
18:30 PARIS
12:30 NYC
11:30 NASHVILLE
09:30 LA
We hope Saturday's keynote speaker will bring you inspiration & motivation. Cherie Hu, well-known and incredibly well-respected music business writer & researcher, will discuss what the future holds for music, data & tech.
19:30 PARIS
13:30 NYC
12:30 NASHVILLE
10:30 LA
We know you'll be hard at work but didn't want to pass up the opportunity for you to hear some amazing people talk about the future of the music industry!
Those in the US won't have much time (that's why you got started on Friday!) but for Europe, take advantage of your half day & start early. Make sure you connect with the mentors and use the MoM Slack channel for help!
Euro Participants18:00 PARIS
12:00 NYC
11:00 NASHVILLE
09:00 LA
We'll use this time to start wrapping things up. Participants, sponsors, mentors & speakers will be given time to share what they need & what they can offer after the event is over (mentorships, jobs, opportunities, etc.)
18:30 PARIS
12:30 NYC
11:30 NASHVILLE
09:30 LA
We'll bring someone in to help you reflect on what will likely be an intense weekend and keep you motivated for the future!
19:30 PARIS
13:30 NYC
12:30 NASHVILLE
10:30 LA
Now it's time to show everyone what you put together. We'll ask everyone involved from participants to speakers to invite their colleagues and network come watch the presentations. You'll get 5 minutes to present followed by 3 minutes for questions from the judges.
Judging criteria TBD21:30 PARIS
15:30 NYC
14:30 NASHVILLE
12:30 LA
While the judges deliberate, we'll deliver some closing remarks. Once that's all done, we'll announce the winners and wrap up the weekend on a high note!
Prizes TBD
Due to overwhelming demand, we've filled all our participant spots and the waitlist has grown quite large. At this point, any waitlist sign-ups are unlikely to be able to participate in the event. Signing up as a waitlist participant now will prioritize you for future events, keep you informed of this event and automatically register you as a presentation spectator.
Take part in the weekend-long program.
Watch the project presentations of aspiring music data professionals.
Become a Sponsor, Speaker, Mentor or Judge
We were blown away by the response to the event. We got the amount of sign ups in 48 hours that we were expecting over 3 months and have subsequently amassed a large waitlist. Logistically, we've doubled our capacity but unfortunately, we still cannot accommodate everyone. Because of that, those that join/joined the waitlist after Dec 20, 2020 are unlikely to be able to participate in the event. For those people, signing up as a waitlist participant prioritizes you for future events, keeps you informed of this event and automatically registers you as a presentation spectator. Those that joined the waitlist prior to Dec 20, 2020 will also be automatically added as a presentation spectator and will be informed via email of spot openings are they arise. More details to follow.
It's a free event to help you upskill--we hope that's motivation enough but on top of that, you'll hear how to use key music tech APIs directly from those developing and using the platforms every day. You'll be able to expand your network and meet people involved and interested in music, tech & data from all over the world. You'll also have a great new portfolio piece that you can show off to future employers.
The goal of this program is to increase the visibility of data in music, increase the accessibility of tech for minorities, and help build confidence and exposure for those looking to get into this space. If you're as passionate about these things as we are, then we hope that's enough!
But on top of that, we hope that it will also give you fresh talent to consider, more usage of your API to continue to grow & improve your platform, the potential to have a business question looked at with a fresh set of eyes, and of course, just the ability to help people that I'm are as passionate about music & tech as you!
There will be people with casual interest in music & data as well as people looking to make it their full time job. There are recent grads & career changers. Those that have already signed up are from cities all over the US, Canada and Europe, with varying skillsets and include a high percentage of women and people of color. All are welcome!
Of course! Everyone is welcome regardless of previous experience. Your ability to write, design present or most importantly, your passion for music and eagerness to learn new things are more than enough!
We will encourage participants to be creative in the projects they hope to complete but we will provide inspiration and some business use cases to help with that. More details TBA.
You'll have the opportunity to share that with us in the weeks leading up to the event. We'll do our best to acommodate all requests but we also want to ensure the event is fun and fair, so should we need to redistribute participants to ensure everyone has a diverse array of talent we may. If you request to not be on someone's team, that request with absolutely be adhered to.
We will work to get approval to record as many of the speakers as we can but we cannot guarantee all speakers will authorize us to do so, so it's best to try to attend live. All project presentations will be recorded & also will be opened for those that sign up to be a spectator to watch.
We will work to get approval to record as many of the speakers as we can but we cannot guarantee all speakers will authorize us to do so. We will try to make some of the talks & panels we are authorized to record available to the public after the live sessions. The live sessions will be reserved for participants (not on the waitlist) in order for them to have virtual face time to ask questions & interact with the presenters in a more intimate setting.
We completely understand that 3 days is a big commitment especially a Friday. Because of that, we're going to be flexible for Friday attendance. If you let us know by the time registrations close that you'll be unable to make part of the event, we'll see what we can do. For example, some of the speakers may be recorded to be played back on your own time. Unfortunately, this means you may not be able to ask questions that could help you with your project.
That being said, you'll be working with other people and you don't want to let them down so be sure that you're willing to commit to this! At the conclusion of the 3 days, we're expected that you've spent a around 24 hours working & watching (about 8 hours each day!). If that seems like too much, perhaps you should get involved by being a spectator on Sunday instead.
We will cut off registration so we don't watch too many hours of presentations. Groups will have between 4-5 people. The max amount of participants will be under 125 people.
All talks will be on a virtual conferencing tool TBD. Throughout the weekend there will be a Slack channel for everyone to be able to talk with one another easily. Teams will also be able to use any platform of their choosing to communicate with one another, such as Google Hangouts (free).
No! Any pre-work is optional. We'll give people the option to check out the other participants to make team member requests prior to the start of the event. In addition, of course, getting familiar with the music industry and the data available will definitely helpful but certainly not required!
Happy to answer them! Email us at hey@measureofmusic.com