Where: SonarPro / Ideas Debate
When:  Thursday, 14th June, 2012, 13.30-15.00 (CET)

Briefing:

MIRES is an EU funded project that aims at defining the challenges awaiting the Music Information Research in the next years. The Sonar Panel intends to look into the future of the Music Industry from three perspectives: Search & Discovery, Creativity and Rights Management and gather first-hand feedback from relevant industry players.

Panelists:

• Michela Magas, founder Stromatolite Design Lab
• Alex Loscos, co-founder & CEO BMAT
• Scott Cohen, founder and VP International The Orchard
• Michael Breidenbrücker, CEO RjDj
• Matthew Hawn, Vice President of Product Last.fm
• Robert Kaye, founder and lead developer MusicBrainz, President and Executive Director MetaBrainz Foundation   

Moderator: Jamillah Knowles, The Next Web and BBC

Michela Magas is co-founder of Stromatolite, a design research lab focusing on visual communication, music tech and Open Product concepts, and co-author of Sonaris - an innovative technology for matching songs in real time and discovering music. She is currently directing seven EU music tech centres to create the roadmap for the future of music tech in Europe. The Stromatolite team has recently collaborated with Ed Averdieck and Peter Gabriel on the launch of CUE - a new way to discover and licence music.
Stromatolite has been awarded the UK Technology Strategy Board: Collaboration in Digital Industries, the EU FP7 award for MIReS: the future of music tech, the UK Technology Strategy Board award for Open Product Licenses and the NEMart award for art meets science.

Alex Loscos received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Signal Processing Engineering in 1997. In 1998 he joined the Music Technology Group (MTG) for nine years, during which he published in most relevant proceedings and journals, co-published a couple of books and featured as author in more than 15 patents. After a few years as a researcher, lecturer, developer and manager he co-founded Barcelona Music & Audio Technologies (BMAT) in 2006, the spin-off company of the MTG. In 2007 he became Ph.D. in Computer Science and right after started as the Chief Strategy Officer at BMAT. A year and a half later he took over the position of BMAT's Chief Executive Officer. He is also a music passionate, an accomplished composer, and former member of international distribution bands. In 2004 he cofounded Safari Music, a record label through which he released his own music.

Scott Cohen is the co-founder of digital distribution pioneer The Orchard, the largest digital distributor in the world with offices in 25 countries.  As a well-recognized public speaker and lecturer, Scott travels the world evangelizing new business models for the digital age.  He is a visiting professor at London Metropolitan University and sits on the BPI Council.
Scott’s music career started in the late 80’s in independent and major label artist management.  In addition to his responsibilities at The Orchard, he manages the Raveonettes, the Dum Dum Girls, the Deer Tracks, Queen Kwong and advises a host of other established and emerging artists.
Scott is a minimalist and strict vegan. No meat, fish, cheese, milk, honey, leather, wool or anything else derived from an animal.

Michael Breidenbrücker is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Last.fm Ltd. and managed the company as CEO from 2002 until 2005. His approach in combining music discovery, online radio and social software was awarded in Europe and the USA and brought the company to the attention of millions of consumers, global media and global players. Michael's latest venture is Reality Jockey Ltd. which is the publisher of the RjDj mobile music applications and the online music portal www.rjdj.me. The company is producing some of the most innovative iPhone applications such as "Dimensions, adventures in the multiverse" and “Inception The App”.
Michael is regularly booked as speaker in international events and you will find interviews in magazines from Wired to Business Week. He is enjoying life with his family in a little village, in the Austrian Alps where you can also find him skiing and snowboarding on the local mountains.

Matthew Hawn recently joined Last.fm as their VP of Product, setting the roadmap for the music service in 2011. He has been working professionally in digital media since for more than 17 years, starting as a journalist in San Francisco in the early 90s for Macworld Magazine, MSNBC, Entertainment Weekly. In 1998, he moved over to the music industry working for Universal Music Group in international roles as they built out their digital product marketing and distribution strategy.

Robert Kaye is the founder and lead developer for MusicBrainz, and President and Executive Director of the MetaBrainz Foundation, the non-profit organization that pays the bills for MusicBrainz. Robert is a die hard music fan dedicated to improving the digital audio experience. After studying Computer Engineering at Cal Poly he joined Xing Technology where he was part of the MP3 team and served as the development manager for the AudioCatalyst project. While at EMusic, Robert worked on the Zinf (formerly FreeAmp) and Obsequeiuem projects, in addition to working on MusicBrainz. Robert is currently the Executive Director of the MetaBrainz Foundation and has MusicBrainz on the brain full time now.

Jamillah Knowles has been with the BBC for over ten years, a journalist for seventeen. During that time she’s managed and monitored the development of news in a social arena, staying closely atune to the impact technology has had on news reporting and delivery. In short, she ‘gets it’ in ways many seasoned journalists don’t. She’s a veteran in her own right, previously reporting for BBC News, Radio 5Live and the BBC World Service on her show Outriders dedicated to exploring the frontiers of the web. She is also the UK Editor for The Next Web. You can hear her on BBC Radio 5Live's Outriders and the Global Voices podcast.