Deborah Mannis-Gardner

Chairwoman & Co-Founder

Deborah Mannis-Gardner — the “Queen of Sample Clearance” according to Billboard, Forbes, Midem, Music Week, Okayplayer, Variety, and more — is the go-to expert for global music rights clearances. After starting DMG Clearances, Inc. in 1996, Deborah’s sample clearance skills quickly became legendary, and she has cleared releases for artists including Drake, Tyler the Creator, DJ Khaled, Eminem, Pop Smoke, Logic, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, John Legend, Megan Thee Stallion, Big K.R.I.T., Brockhampton, French Montana, Big Sean, J. Cole, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and more. In 2023, she worked with Reservoir to clear samples and prepare the De La Soul catalog for its long-awaited release on streaming services.

Deborah has also handled music clearances for video games such as Rockstar Games franchises “Grand Theft Auto” and “Red Dead Redemption,” as well as Turtle Rock Studios’ “Back 4 Blood”; metaverse platforms such as Meta and Roblox, including a live concert from Post Malone; films by Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers, and Richard Linklater; TV series on networks such as HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and Paramount+; ad campaigns for Google, Ciroc, and Kmart; and podcasts such as Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell’s “Broken Record” and Dave Chappelle, Talib Kweli, and yasiin bey’s “The Midnight Miracle.” In addition, Deborah has handled Grand Rights clearance for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway sensation “Hamilton” and music clearances for its release on Disney+, as well as political campaign music clearances for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign.

Deborah was the award-winning music supervisor of HBO’s Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine docu-series “The Defiant Ones,” and recently expanded her music supervision credits with the Neil Bogart biopic “Spinning Gold” and U2 Sarajevo documentary “Kiss the Future.” In 2023, she was selected for the Forbes 50 Over 50 and Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players lists, for which she has continued to earn her status by clearing samples for the Drake album “For All the Dogs” and its single “Slime You Out” featuring SZA, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Deborah has spoken at SXSW, Midem, Music Biz, the A3C Festival & Conference, CMJ, the Nashville Film Festival, and SyncSummit Nashville, as well as at New York University (NYU), Temple University, and Widener College. She currently sits on York College of Pennsylvania’s Music Industry Advisory Board.

Pär Almqvist

CEO, Co-Founder

Pär Almqvist is an internationally established innovator, entrepreneur, and leader. With a dual background from both the agency and corporate worlds, he builds pioneering products, services, and brands such as Tracklib, which he co-founded in 2014 and served as CEO. The platform was the world’s first music service to enable music creators to discover, sample, and license original recordings, bringing together hundreds of music catalogs with 10,000s of music creators. Almqvist is passionate about building, establishing, and scaling companies, products, and services that matter. He has established new markets and created brands for both large multinationals and new ventures. His first VoIP venture, a company called Spokn, was acquired in 2006. This was followed by two ventures in telecom and renewable energy — VNL and OMC, respectively — both World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers. His current obsessions include music and music rights, and technology as a tool for access and democratization.