Recap: Jaybird Clients at Music Biz 2025
The Music Business Association held their annual Music Biz 2025 conference this week from May 12-15 at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel, its first in Atlanta.
Jaybird Communications client DDEX was recognized with the prestigious Impact Award for Technological Excellence at the Bizzy Awards Dinner last night (May 14), and Mark Isherwood (DDEX Secretariat) also spoke during the annual Metadata Summit. In addition, fellow Jaybird clients AYO Music Group, Deborah Mannis-Gardner, SourceAudio, and Symphonic Distribution were all featured on panels, and LyricFind hosted an invite-only welcome party at the Park Bench Battery.
Jaybird President Laurie Jakobsen and Director Bill Greenwood were on hand for the conference and captured the below photos, which are available here in full-size versions.
If you were there and didn’t get a chance to connect with us, or just want to catch up or share stories, please reach out to laurie@jaybirdcom.com or bill@jaybirdcom.com.
Here are some more details about and photos of what our Jaybird clients were up to throughout the week:
The Jaybird flock helped kick off the Music Biz 2025 Publishing Summit on Tuesday (May 13), with AYO Music Group members Deborah Mannis-Gardner and Kat MacLean Daley leading the panel “Your Client’s Music Is F*cking Amazing! So Now What?” Deborah (President, DMG Clearances Inc. / Chairwoman & Co-Founder, AYO) and Kat (Founder & CEO, KatClearedIt / A&R, AYO / Consultant, Sample Clearances, DMG) were joined by Wendy Day (Founder, CEO, Rap Coalition) and Liz Garner (Publishing Acquisition and Copyright Law Specialist, Garner Group Music) for a riveting discussion on how to ensure artists are set up for success in the music industry. They walked through everything from neighboring rights, to revisionary rights, to the need to find trusted partners who will share information and tell you the truth. They also stressed the need for paper contracts despite today’s digital world, and encouraged artists and managers to go ahead and kill the vibe in the studio by asking collaborators to agree to split contracts during sessions.
Later that day, Symphonic Distribution’s Greg Viñas (VP of A&R & Business Dev LATAM) joined the Publishing Summit panel “Music Publishing in Latin America: What You Need to Know” with moderator Cris Falcão (MD Artist & Label Strategy GM Latin, Virgin Music Group) and fellow panelists Daniel Campello (CEO, ORB Music) and Emilio Morales (Managing Director, Rimas Publishing). Greg provided the distributor’s perspective, including the necessity of complete and accurate metadata. He also discussed the importance of data transparency on the distribution end, with dashboards that allow clients to view and export their data. Other topics covered included the unique challenges for music publishers in Brazil, the need for music companies working in Latin America to have boots on the ground, and how AI can serve as a business tool.
On Wednesday (May 14), DDEX Secretariat Mark Isherwood moderated the Metadata, Technology & Rights Summit panel “Party-Goers — Who Do You Think You Are?” along with panelists Kim Beauchamp (SVP of Process Innovation & Advanced Operations, Universal Music Group), Chloé Dagenais (Founder & President, MusicTeam), and Doron Fagelson (SVP of Media & Entertainment, DataArt). Mark guided the discussion on how to create, manage, and communicate data and identifiers about people (or “parties”) including the surprisingly complicated of distinguishing a “natural person” (for example, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) and their public identity (Lady Gaga).
Later during the Metadata Summit, Weston McGowen (VP, Music Label Partnerships, SourceAudio) spoke on the panel “Metadata Mastery: Best Practices for Enriching, Processing & Managing Music Revenues” along with moderator Jacob Varghese (Director, Noctil) and fellow panelists Andrew Mitchell (Chief Analytics & Automation Officer, The MLC), and Stephen White (Chief Product Officer, EMPIRE). Weston focused on the importance of metadata to sync platforms like SourceAudio, which rely on descriptive tags to help music supervisors find the best tracks for their projects easily. Other topics included technological advancements such as intelligent enrichment tools, automated processing workflows, quality assurance systems, and advanced matching technologies.
Wednesday evening marked the 4th Annual Bizzy Awards Dinner, honoring companies and individuals who are advancing commerce in the music industry and making it a better place to work. During the event, DDEX received the prestigious Impact Award for Technological Excellence in recognition of the company’s core contributions to the field of metadata. Kim Beauchamp (DDEX Chairperson of the Board), Mark Isherwood (DDEX Secretariat), and Niels Rump (DDEX Secretariat) accepted the award, with Kim and Mark each giving speeches.
Also at the Bizzy Awards Dinner, Cindy Charles, a dear friend of Jaybird, was recognized posthumously with the Presidential Award for Outstanding Executive Achievement. Prior to the presentation, several of the people who knew Cindy best gave moving speeches about her legacy, including Aileen Atkins (Head of Partnerships, MusicInfra), Jacqueline Charlesworth (Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz), Dan Clancy (CEO, Twitch), Vickie Nauman (Founder & CEO, CrossBorderWorks), Ken Steinthal (Partner, King & Spalding), and Monika Tashman (Partner, Loeb & Loeb LLP). Cindy’s husband Ricky Fishman and their sons Ben Charles and Sam Fishman then accepted the award on her behalf.
Jorge Brea (Founder & CEO, Symphonic Distribution) closed things out for the Jaybird flock during the Indie Label Summit on Thursday (May 15), moderating the panel “Indies and Majors: Building Bridges in a Changing Music Ecosystem.” Joined by panelists Cat Kreidich (President, ADA Worldwide) and Simon Mortimer-Lamb (President & COO, Nettwerk Music Group), Jorge led a discussion covering everything from when/if an indie artist should consider signing with a major, the definition of label services and who they are best suited for, sharing data with managers and artists, how majors can better partner and collaborate with indies, the importance of embracing structure and technology to deal with large artist rosters, the impact of AI, and the trends and developments that keep them up at night.
Make sure to follow Jaybird on Instagram and LinkedIn for even more photos and coverage from the week!