Songwriting & Music Publishing

New Music Industry Executives To Watch In 2010

This inaugural list of Hypebot's New Music Industry Executives To Watch In 2010 covers a wide variety of movers, shakers and trend setters. Many have either recently launched potentially game changing companies or products or are scheduled to in the coming months. For all of them, 2010 will be a year that reveals if the bets they are placing now are winners both for themselves and for the broader music industry. In no particular order:

Please share the names of industry figures that you think deserve recognition below and view some great suggestions from Hypebot readers in the comment section of yesterday's call for nominees.

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28 Comments

  1. I’m surprised that ArtistData’s Brenden Mulligan wasn’t on this list… it sounds like they have some new and exciting things going on with the ArtistData API… either way I’m excited for what they have in store in 2010.

  2. This list is good, a few others I’d suggest:
    Spencer Richardson – FanBridge
    Noah Dinkin – FanBridge
    Brenden Mulligan – ArtistData
    Mattias Stanghed – Jango
    Jeff Price – Tunecore

  3. You have Steve Purdham from we7 but Clive Gardiner is the one there who makes the music side work. He’s done some really interesting music promotions this year. Suggest you have them both like the Myspace duo.

  4. 90% of these dudes are great PR dudes. Zero revenue. Peace sells, but who is buying? Be prepared to sit shiva for the digital hype machine. Their funders know this too. Hence the sell offs.

  5. People…..listen to yourselves……not one artist/executive…..not one…..get it right….if the truly “independent” artist community does not view itself as much an executive along its career path….the diy world has lost its mantra. Who this might be….think about it and get back to me/us/them.

  6. What about the ReverbNation guys – Mike, Jed, and Lou? They have helped more indie Artists than anyone else on the list in 2009.
    -Paul V.

  7. I think the woman are missing here, what about Juliana Farha from Dilettante Music? Truly innovative site for the industry they are in.

  8. Michael Rapino? Why not put down Lucian Grainge as a ‘name to watch’!
    And Daniel Ek? He should have been in the 2009 list.
    Sorry, but this list is about as much use as yesterday’s copy of the Racing Post.

  9. The guys at Indabamusic.com have been doing some really cool stuff lately, with lots of big artist-linked promotions.

  10. Here’s my thoughts on who on your list, and their companies, may still be around at the end of 2010:
    Ian Rogers, Bart Decrem, Alexander Ljung, Denzyl Feigelson, Emily White, Michael Rapino

  11. There are certainly challenges with a list like this. It’s almost impossible to know if and when the moves of these companies will pay off. If recent history is any indicator, the big breakthrough of the year will probably be something that is under the radar, led by people more obsessed with delivering a great product to users and fans than with self-promotion.
    Publicity for the digital music sector has grown stale. The rapid nosedive of the ad-supported and mixed model streaming sites has taken some of the wind out. But it’s also because the hype has centered around a pretty small club with the same few names turning up repeatedly, even when they have achieved, at best, lukewarm results. Before the release is dropped, one can just about predict who is going to keynote conferences, who is going to be announced as the new CEO, who is going to be acquired. It’s boring.
    I’m with Mitchell Fox. I’m more curious to see what comes from artists in 2010. What will be the next use of technology by an artist that is innovative and dynamic? Who will be their generation’s David Bowie?

  12. I’m hoping it’ll be me =) Wish me luck!
    Everything I’ve learned about SEO from blogging I am applying to my online music marketing. My goal is to saturate search engines with music and other media and editorial content by me and my songwriting/business partners.
    I’m targeting what I believe are the most significant social networks for music and launching an ongoing content marketing campaign.
    IMHO digital mixtapes and playlists are the future. With that in mind I’ll be releasing at least one mixtape every 1-2 months and plugging them into torrent sites, P2P networks, social networks, and more for maximum distribution.
    I’m not worried about making $$ from selling to consumers, my business model is built on B2B sales (licensing, composing original soundtrack music, jingles, etc). I have a few other tricks up my sleeve, too 😉
    My picks for execs to watch in 2010:
    Bandcamp – Ethan Diamond
    Label 2.0 – Eric Herbert and Greg Rollett
    Music Power Network (MPN) – ??

  13. truth being spoken here.
    anyone here about The Orchard’s new “Access” program? Supposed to blow Tunecore out of the water.

  14. It is too easy to rip this list apart for including people who may have a few good ideas but are hardly making a difference. Ian Rogers and his Topspin crew at least are doing as much as they can to help artists with strong fan bases to monetize themselve. Alex Ljung and SoundCloud are constantly innovating to service the market they are trying to own. Terry McBride et. al.’s. Polyphonic is providing a funding source for artists who have their business straight and need money to grow. To these three companies who are very focused on their business model, I take my hat off to them. However none of them or anybody else on the list are doing anything to develop a successful business model for emerging artists to make money or are creating a place for new artists to gain real traction and have a chance at being discovered. The future of the music business will depend on the creation of these things. True believes in the future of music especially those that have money need to start investing in new companies that think outside the box and which have a real chance at changing the way we do music business.
    David Sherbow, CEO
    http://www.LiveMusicMachine.com
    @MusicBizGuy on Twitter.

  15. Stu Pflaum – Element 9 – He’s under 30, discovered Soulja Boy & worked his online campaigns, runs a label through Fontana and writes cutting edge material about technology in the music industry.

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