Thursday, March 31 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM Track II: Music Industry Innovates into Future - From Digital Downloads and Subscriptions to Mobile Music & Digital and Internet Radio This is the year of the continued rollout of new music services as well as the arrival of broadband, mobile and wireless. Music is available to the consumer, all over, all the time. Digital radio and Internet radio are emerging. Technology and music seem to have taken that relationship to the next level and the consumer seems to understand and embrace it. In this session, rather than looking at the file-sharing past, we will look to the new technology future. After the lawsuits, after the consolidation, after the first attempts at music subscription and download, we will in this session, try to evaluate what the new music industry is going to look like. The era of digital music delivery is here, but the details of how the industry will be structured are still confusing. What will digital radio mean? What about all those music channels on satellite and cable? What are the different ways that the consumer will access music in the future? And will they be willing to pay for it at acceptable levels to sustain the industry? David Ring, V.P. Business Development & Business Affairs, Universal Music Group, eLabs Jack Isquith, Executive Director of Music Industry Relations, AOL Music and AOL Radio Network, America Online, Inc. Greg Harper, Senior Strategic Advisor to the Chairman, TransWorld Entertainment Laura Hess, Director of Label Relations/Business Development, MP3.com, CNET Networks. Gary Cohen, co-founder & President, MusicNow Paul Zullo, CEO, Muze Ted Cohen, Senior Vice President, D3 – Digital Development & Distribution, EMI Recorded Music, Moderator Jack Isquith is the executive director of Music Industry Relations for AOL Music and the AOL Radio Network, managing AOL’s relationships with more than 100 labels, managers and artists. In this capacity, he and his team are responsible for securing and developing exclusive music programming for AOL's network of leading music properties available on the AOL service and on the Web on properties including aolmusic.com, Winamp, Netscape Music, CompuServe Music and AIM Music. Mr. Isquith is also executive producer for AOL Music’s popular original music programs AOL Music Sessions, intimate in-studio performances and interviews, and AOL Music LIVE! events, exclusive live concerts. In a year since taking on the executive production of AOL Music’s events, Mr. Isquith has helped secure such A-list artists Usher, Rod Stewart, Avril Lavigne, and Toby Keith and execute productions that are played in excess of one million times in one week following each show. For the Sessions program, Mr. Isquith has focused the team on bringing in top level talent and capturing performances that showcase unique takes on artists’ strengths in an intimate setting. Prior to joining AOL Music, Mr. Isquith served as the first head of Talent & Label Relations for CDNOW, an e-commerce music website where he directed the companies efforts to acquire exclusive content and develop programming. Mr. Isquith had transitioned to the online space building upon a career spanning more than 15 years in the music industry where he was a recognized leader in artist management and marketing for leading artists and labels. As an artist manager at Rebel Waltz, Mr. Isquith worked with artists including No Doubt, Offspring and Social Distortion. Through the 1990s, he held various senior-level positions in Promotion & Marketing at A&M Records and Epic Records, developing and leading radio and marketing campaigns for such platinum-selling acts as Sheryl Crow, Sting, Living Colour, Soundgarden, Blues Traveler and more. Mr. Isquith attended the London School of Business and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York, Albany. Laura Hess, Director of Label Relations/Business Development, MP3.com, CNET Networks Inc.: Laura Hess has been involved with the online music industry since 1999, working with digital music pioneer, Liquid Audio. As Senior Manager of Content Marketing at Liquid Audio, Hess chose all the music featured on the site (and emails), and also Liquid’s affiliate sites including Tower Records, Best Buy, FYE building key relationships with major and independent record labels across the United States. After the company was acquired by Anderson Merchandising in 2003, Hess developed innovative online marketing strategies for record labels and retailers, cumulating with her work with Wal-Mart’s online music store, where she chose all of the music for one of the most popular and influential digital music outlets on the Web. Currently at MP3.com, Hess handles all content aggregation for the site including the creation of the popular MP3.com Listening Parties and music videos. She also continues to build strong relationships with major and independent record labels as well as digital music partners such as iTunes, Napster, Real, and MusicMatch. Ted Cohen, Vice President, Digital Development & Distribution, EMI Recorded Music: As Vice President of Digital Development & Distribution for EMI Recorded Music, Ted Cohen oversees worldwide digital business development for this "big five" record company, which includes labels such as Capitol, Virgin, Angel/Blue Note, Parlophone and Chrysalis. Under Cohen’s guidance, EMI has led the industry with its initiatives in new technologies and business models such as digital downloads, online music subscriptions, custom compilations, wireless services, high-definition audio and Internet radio. In addition to seeking out, evaluating and executing business opportunities for the company, Cohen serves as both a strategist and key decision-maker for EMI’s global new media and anti-piracy efforts. He has worked to establish company-wide policies, which have allowed EMI’s artists and labels a substantial advantage in the digital music arena. Cohen served previously as the Executive Vice President of Digital Music Network Inc., where he co-founded and served as Chairman of the Webnoize ’98 & ’99 conferences. He currently chairs MidemNet, an international music/technology conference convened in Cannes each year. Cohen also held senior management positions at both Warner Bros. Records and Philips Media. Additionally, Cohen lead two highly successful new media consulting operations, DMN Consulting and Consulting Adults, attracting clients such as Amazon.com, Microsoft, Universal Studios New Media, DreamWorks Records, Liquid Audio, Wherehouse Records/Checkout.com and several other entertainment, computer and new media organizations. A 25-year industry veteran, Cohen serves on the NARAS (Grammy) Los Angeles chapter Board of Governors, the Board of Directors for the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund, Co-chairs the new media arm of the T.J. Martell Foundation, and lends his time and talents to the Grammy In The Schools Program. Paul Zullo, the CEO of Muze, is an entertainment industry expert who started at the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio show. Later, recognizing that CDs were going to be the next big thing, Zullo launched the CD Hotline in the 80s -- a resource for people wanting to know when the latest albums would be published on CD. Since then, Muze has been on the cutting edge of providing entertainment information to consumers: first via consumer-friendly kiosks installed in record stores such as Tower Records, then via the Internet by providing the information about literally hundreds of thousands of albums, artists and songs to online stores such as Amazon.com and iTunes. Zullo has been "paddling in front of the wave" of the entertainment business for more than 30 years, and is a sought-after speaker about both the traditional and the online music and entertainment industry. He enjoys discussing constantly changing music formats, the challenges retailers face today because of the Internet and megastores and where he sees the industry moving over the next decade, among other industry topics. Gregory W. Harper is the Senior Strategic Advisor to the Chairman of Trans World Entertainment (TWE), the largest mall-based retailer of music and video in the United States. Mr. Harper is a key player in the development of digital media strategies for TWE including developing systems and strategies for digital media downloading. Mr. Harper was instrumental in the development and deployment of the Listening and Viewing System (LVS) that allows shoppers in FYE stores to sample both audio and video content as well as purchase and download tracks.. Mr. Harper is also President of Cerberus Corp. a New York based technology consultancy firm. Mr. Harper serves on the board of IEC, the International Education Corporation, and on the advisory boards of a number of other corporations. Previously Mr. Harper served as president of MyPublisher the leading publisher of custom photo books As designer of software systems ranging from distance learning systems to digital media production systems, Mr. Harper has been awarded eight U.S. patents in the area of interactive digital video, and has seven other patents currently pending. As the designer of software systems ranging from distance learning systems to digital media production systems, Mr. Harper has been awarded eight U.S. patents in the area of interactive digital video and has seven other patents currently pending. Mr. Harper is a recognized futurist who is currently focusing on digital distribution of media, home control and media servers, RFID, wireless personal information devices, and rich media. In August, 2000, Mr. Harper sold Next Venue, a company he co-founded, to IBeam Broadcasting. Next Venue, a leader in the streaming media industry, was a spin-off of CNBC Dow Jones Business Video, a joint venture of NBC, Dow Jones and Microsoft. Prior to the spin-off, Mr. Harper served as Chief Technologist to the NBC Microsoft joint venture and was responsible for designing its innovative website. Mr. Harper has been a long time advisor to leading Wall Street investment banks helping them deploy worldwide rich media systems as well as providing research information on new technologies. He has presented numerous papers at industry conferences and has been a guest speaker at many academic and business organizations. Mr. Harper’s prior endeavors include: President of Technology for ACTV, a leader in interactive television; President and Founder of Com/Tech Communication Technologies, Inc., a video production and technology firm, which he sold in 1995; extensive work as a producer of television shows, both in the US and abroad; development and deployment of technology in such areas as interactive cable, data broadcasting, in-store advertising (NBC Onsite) and judicial video arraignment systems; US representative to various ITU standards committees (CCITT and CCIR) as well as various EIA and ISO committees focusing on data broadcasting; active involvement in the creation of the US NABTS teletext standard; assistance in the development of the world’s first interactive cable TV system, Warner’s Qube System; work for various television networks and stations including WGBY TV, Springfield, CBS (news division and technology), PBS (technology and program production), France Telecom – TDF (President of its US subsidiary, Antiope and Telematics) and NBC (long range planning and data broadcasting). Mr. Harper is a graduate of Amherst College.