Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based CEO’ operating in the Music space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Roland Lamb
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of ROLI
After leaving school in the UK, Roland moved to Japan to practise Zen Buddhism. He then moved on to Harvard University, and a degree in Classical Chinese and Sanskrit Philosophy. This – naturally – led to an interest in technology and industrial design, so he won a scholarship to pursue an MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art. While at RCA, he invented an award-winning new approach to building pressure-sensing interfaces and ROLI was born. Roland is joined on ROLI’s board of Directors by Salahdin Imam, Sarah Chalfant and Tahmima Anam.
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About ROLI: ROLI is a London-based music technology company that produces musical instruments and software products.
Nico Perez
Co-founder & CEO of Mixcloud
Nico Perez is a co-founder of Mixcloud.com He graduated from Cambridge University with a Masters in Engineering and has worked for multinational companies in both the green tech and travel sectors before setting up Mixcloud in the summer of 2008. With a background in freelance webdesign, he has a wide range of client experience working with various small and medium size organisations. He has a passion for great design and a strong understanding of information architecture and user experience.
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About Mixcloud: Mixcloud is an online long-form audio platform providing content such as radio shows, podcasts and DJ mixes.
Alex Klein
Co-Founder and CEO of Kano
Alex Kleinis Co-Founder and CEO at Kano Computing.
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About Kano: Kano provides a system of kits and coding platform that enables users to develop apps, games, and music.
Ivan Gazidis
CEO of Arsenal Football Club
Ivan Gazidis was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Arsenal Football Club in January 2009. He was previously deputy commissioner of Major League Soccer in the United States. Ivan, an Oxford-educated lawyer, was a member of the founding management team of MLS and central to developing the stature and reputation of the league. Ivan has developed Arsenal Football Club within the football community and international commercial markets. He sits on the European Club Association (ECA) Executive Board, which represents the interests of Europe’s leading 207 teams. He is chairman of the Legal Advisory Panel for the ECA, and is a member of FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber. Ivan contributes to the domestic game’s development as a member of the Professional Game Board (PGB), FA Council and the Premier League Working Group for Elite Player Performance. He also serves as the Chairman of the FA’s International Committee.
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About Arsenal Football Club: Arsenal Football Club is a multi media production company representing a diverse & exciting international talent roster including Director.
Nick Sabine
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Resident Advisor
Nick Sabine is the co-founder of Resident Advisor (RA). Established in 2001, RA enables the discovery of new music and events through a unique combination of original content and listings. By providing a platform for artists, promoters and fans RA connects the global dance music community and plays an indispensable role in supporting the electronic music industry worldwide.
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About Resident Advisor: RA is an online music magazine and community platform that’s dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe.
Yoel Kenan
CEO of AFRICORI
Yoel is the founder and CEO of AFRICORI, bringing over 20 years of experience in the music industry. Yoel started his career in France organising concerts and launching an independent record label before joining Universal Music. He then moved to London to work at Universal Music International where he served in various positions in the areas of Marketing, A&R and new technology. In 2001 he was appointed CEO of MP3.com Europe, the continent leading music portal with over 3 million users. Yoel was later appointed as SonyBMG Senior Vice President International Marketing and Business Development where he was responsible for the international marketing strategies for artists such as Dido, Avril Lavigne & Christina Aguilera. In 2005, Yoel launched Keevision, a music agency specialised in the emerging markets focus on developing music solutions and consultation services to record labels, telecom companies and ad agencies.
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About AFRICORI: AFRICORI is the leading pan-African digital music distributor
Hans-Holger Albrecht
CEO of Deezer
Hans-Holger Albrecht is the chief executive officer of Deezer, a global on-demand audio provider that offers a digital music streaming service in more than 180 countries. Prior to Deezer, he served Modern Times Group for 12 years as the president and chief executive officer of the company. Previously, he served the same company holding different positions such as head of pay-TV operations, business area manager, and chief operating officer. Albrecht holds a PhD in law from Ruhr Universitaet Bochum and a Master of Law degree from Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau.
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About Deezer, Veon: Deezer is the world’s most diverse, dynamic and personal global music streaming company and includes a unique personalisation model, Flow.
Laurent Cordonnier
Chief Financial, Legal & Human Capital Officer & Deputy CEO of Deezer
Laurent Cordonnier is the deputy CEO/chief financial, legal and human capital officer at Deezer.
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About Deezer: Deezer is the world’s most diverse, dynamic and personal global music streaming company and includes a unique personalisation model, Flow.
George Meek
CEO of InPlayer
CEO at InPlayer
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About InPlayer: InPlayer is a video and digital asset monetization platform.
Philip Sheppard
CEO and Co-Founder of LifeScore
Philip is an award-winning film, television and video game composer, producer, virtuoso cellist, inventor, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences member, and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. Philip has produced several large scale and high stakes projects including the 2008 Olympics Closing Ceremonies, all of the world’s national anthems for the 2012 Olympics, the Rugby World Cup, the Tour de France and the Montreal Grand Prix. Philip has composed more than 60 film, television, gaming and theatrical scores and has had 11 films premiere at The Sundance Film Festival in the last 10 years. Philip regularly performs with Odesza, Pretty Lights and Unkle and was a guest artist for music legends, such as, Scott Walker, Grace Jones, Jimmy Page, Jeff Buckley, David Bowie, Sia, Suzanne Vega and Jarvis Cocker. He regularly works as a creative consultant for large enterprises including, Google, EY, Deloitte, Kering, Kyu Collective, IDEO, and TTi Vanguard, specialising in innovative thinking and communication. Philip also invented and created, Compose Yourself, a game featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
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About LifeScore: LifeScore is a radically innovative platform for musical composition that generates original, bespoke, adaptive music in real time.
Monica Hyerim Lee
Founder & CEO / Managing Director of FrontRow Global
Monica Hyerim Lee is the founder and CEO at FrontRow Global.
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About FrontRow Global, Royal College of Art: Music Data Intelligence for Music Industry
Zack Sabban
Co-Founder and CEO of Festicket
While he was a student and later a banker in NYC and London, Zacharie traveled the world to fulfill his passion for live music. He attended countless festivals and concerts around the world where he realized the need for better access to information. His creativity, social network, and his amazing experience of music festivals are a competitive advantage for the growth of Festicket. Zacharie supervises all the operations and development of the company.
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About Festicket: Festicket is a marketplace to discover and book music festival tickets, accommodation, transfers and extras.
Kevin Brown
CEO & Founder of FanCircles
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About Brandaisy, FanCircles: Reach followers and fans through your own fan club platform built for music artists, YouTubers, television shows and celebrities
Blaise Bellville
Founder & CEO of Boiler Room
Boiler Room founder Blaise Bellville created a new underground music network quite literally from a utility room. Blaise left school at 18 and founded many businesses before starting the worldwide phenomenon that is Boiler Room, which reaches over 72 million music fans every month worldwide. Beginning as a club promoter and DJ, Blaise’s first business to gain national recognition was All Age Concerts. Founded when he was 25, it kicked off an under-age gig movement across the country, even creating a festival for 10,000 in Victoria Park at the movement’s peak in 2010. In the same era, he created online magazine Read Platform, which was written by and run for teenagers. It was while running his, surrounded by other London music obsessives that Boiler Room was born. Bellville enlisted Thristian Richards, who worked for Soul Jazz and Gilles Peterson and Femi Adeyemi, founder of online radio station NTS and organised a weekly hang out/ session – broadcast from a webcam and Ustream to the world from the utility room in the warehouse it was run out of. The session run by the electronic music scene, for the electronic scene quickly drew big name guests. Jamie XX, SBKRT and Hudson Mohawke all turned up for early session to DJ and hang out. Though Read Platform was drawing 300,000 unique users, Boiler Room soon mushroomed passed it in popularity. Since 2010 it has gone global, with a growing and significant fan base in Latin America, partnership with Japan’s biggest streaming provider, key broadcast hubs in Berlin, New York and Los Angeles and the dedication of the most hard core, committed music fans on the planet.
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About Boiler Room: Boiler Room is an online platform that enables its users to live stream and archive musical shows.
Siavash Mahdavi
CEO of AI Music
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About AI Music, University College London (UCL): Exploring the relationship between music and AI to enable a new age of music consumption
William Truman
Chief Executive Officer of Imagesound
William Truman is the chief executive officer at Imagesound. Prior to becoming the chief executive officer, William served as finance director of the company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of East Anglia.
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About Imagesound: Imagesound develops in-store music curation and media solutions for global retail, fashion, hospitality, luxury, and restaurant brands.
Michael Breidenbruecker
Founder and CEO of Last.fm
Michael is the founder of RjDj, a London – and New York – based startup. RjDj is an app that generates a dynamic soundtrack using the Phone’s external audio input. He is a musician who used to play saxophone, changed to laptop and now plays mobile phone and iPad. In the past, Michael was one of the original founders and CEO of Last.fm.
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About Last.fm, Reality Jockey: Last.fm is an online music catalogue providing users with personalized recommendations based on their taste in music.
Tejen Barbezat
Founder & CEO of Gignify
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About FIT.live, Gignify: Gignify aims to become the largest centralised talent marketplace in the world
Phil Hutcheon
Founder & CEO of DICE
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About DICE: DICE is a curated platform that connects fans to live shows.
Ant Ganjou
Founder & CEO of CÜR Media
Ant Ganjou a creative entrepreneur with a proven track record of building businesses and generating long term value for clients across a wide range of industry vertices. Currently in my role as CEO at CURB we have helped over 300 clients win hundreds of awards and generate hundreds of millions of pounds in exposure as well as direct business.
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About Airhead, Brand Advance, CÜR Media, DOOH, Gravity Industries, Handi, Hydra, Lifesaver, move.ai: CUR Media is a mobile application that enables its users to create online profiles to share music with their photos and videos.
Jason Iley
Chairman and CEO of Sony Music U.K
Jason Iley is the Chairman and CEO of Sony Music UK and Ireland. He has secured joint ventures with labels including Black Butter, Insanity records, Ministry of Sound Recordings and since 93; he also launched 4th Floor Creative – a division compiling the company’s creative disciplines [Brands, Sync, Insight, Creative and Digital]. He was Chairman of the BRIT Awards from 2017-2019 and responsible for the overall look and feel of the ITV show.
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About Sony Music U.K: Sony Music U.K is a record label with a varied lineup of artists.
Ben Drury
Co-Founder and CEO of Yoto
Ben began his career in 1996 as a founder of dotmusic.com, an internal venture at United News and Media which attracted over 1.8m unique users per month (in 1999). In 2000 Ben was recruited by BT Group to head up the broadband music efforts at their ISP BT Openworld where he successfully launched a major music channel. Following the partnership between BT and Yahoo! to form BT Yahoo! in 2003, Ben engineered the sale of dotmusic to Yahoo! for approx. £3.3m. Ben then founded 7digital with James Kane in 2004 with the vision of creating a digital media marketplace. 7digital operates services that bring together suppliers and consumers of digital media. In September 2008 7digital.com was the first company in Europe to launch DRM-free MP3 downloads with all four major record labels. In September 2009 HMV Group acquired a 50% equity stake in 7digital with an investment of £7.7m. Ben was named by Growing Business magazine as a Young Gun 2006 – the award for leading entrepreneurs under 35. In 2007, 7digital was awarded the prestigious Red Herring Top 100 Europe Award as one of the most promising technology companies in Europe.
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About Pimoroni, Yoto: Yoto – The screen-free audio platform for kids.
James Fabricant
CEO & Founder of Emoticast
James is CEO at Emoticast where we are on a mission to bring the universe of popular culture (music, sounds, interactive content, you name it) into your chat stream making the communication more engaging and emotive. Formerly James was the Founder of IdeaPlane and served as its CEO. Prior to founding IdeaPlane, he was one of four founders of MySpace International and played an integral part in its global expansion, which included launching MySpace sites in 17 languages across 30 countries. He qualified as a corporate finance and private equity attorney at leading international law firm Linklaters which included a secondment at Merrill Lynch. Mr. Fabricant holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Law from Cambridge University.
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About Emoticast: Emoticast is a platform to share music GIFs with sound across all platforms.
Steve Timmins
Chief Executive Officer of THE GROOVY GROUP
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About SHOPWITHUSNOW.COM, SOUNDS-MIXES.COM, THE GROOVY GROUP, THE GROOVY GROUP, THEGROOVYGROUP.COM: THE GROOVY GROUP is an online company providing users with the tools to publish multimedia.
Jamal Edwards
Founder & CEO of SBTV
Jamal Edwards founded SB.TV which he still runs as CEO. What started as a UK online urban music channel has quickly grown into an innovative and exciting music and lifestyle media platform with global reach. SB.TV now has over 200 million youtube views and has featured interviews with a varied list of guests from politicians such as David Cameron and Ed Milliband to globally recognized artists such as Nicki Minaj and Jessie J as well as urban stars like Giggs & Drake. In 2011 Edwards was the face of the Google Chrome ad which was the second most popular YouTube ad that year. In 2012 he was named one of Richard Branson’s ‘Young Pioneers’ and has since been described as ‘The Branson of the Urban Scene’. Later that year Edwards was named on the Sunday Times Rich List and gave a talk at a TEDx Talk hosted at the houses of parliament where he put forward a case for why the next Prime Minister could be found on YouTube. 2013 saw the release of Edwards’ groundbreaking innovative business book Self Belief: The Vision which was a number 1 bestseller in its first week! Edwards is a patron for The Prince’s Trust and Access to Music and committed to using his success to shine light on other young entrepreneurs and help spread Self Belief amongst all people.
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About SBTV: SBTV is an online platform that provides its users with news on media.
Elomida Visviki
CEO & Co-Founder of Weav
Elomida Visviki is CEO and Co-founder at Weav and Cute Little Apps Ltd. She used to work at TEDxAthens ad Ambassador and Vice President at NGO Aniksi.
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About Weav: Weav Music has created a new format that relies on two pieces of software.
James McAulay
Co-Founder & CEO of Encore Technologies
Our resident Cellist and CEO, James dreams of a future where live music is everywhere.
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About Encore Technologies: Encore is an online network of musicians that enables them to access many performance opportunities in the music community around them.
Didier Metelo
Founder – CEO of Kauris Ltd
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About Kauris Ltd: Kauris Ltd. develops LAMOOVA promoting clubbing trough App, Animation Film and Series, Comics and Website, AR / VR.
Jake Cossington
Founder & CEO of Terrabyte Studios Limited
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About Terrabyte Studios Limited: Terrabyte Studios Limited is a Media Company powering online services.
Timothy Armoo
Co-Founder and CEO of Fanbytes
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About Fanbytes: Creating unforgettable experiences with the stars you love.
Matus Maar
CEO & Co-Founder of Pirate Studios
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About Pirate Studios: Pirate Studios is the music technology company.
Alena Golden
Co-Founder and CEO of BattleMe – Hip Hop Community and Rap Studio
Alena Golden is a Co-Founder and CEO of BattleMe – Hip Hop Community and Rap Studio.
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About BattleMe – Hip Hop Community and Rap Studio: Mobile app creating a community where freestylers and rappers can record tracks and grow their talent through winning contests.
Yiorgos Nikoletakis
CEO & Founder of 100mentors
Yiorgos enjoys surrounding himself with his role models: educators & entrepreneurs. After having worked in 4 US states, Spain, Greece & China, “arguing like I am right, listening like I am wrong” is his favorite motto.
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About 100mentors: We empower today’s youth to consciously take their once in a lifetime decisions & prepare them for the workplace of the future.
Imogen Heap
AIR (Artist In Residence) CEO of Featured Artist Coalition
Imogen Jennifer Heap is an English singer-songwriter and composer. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes. She has produced four solo albums. Her 2009 album, Ellipse, was a North American chart success that earned Heap two Grammy nominations, winning Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical in recognition of her technical and engineering work on the record. In 2010 she received the British Academy’s Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement.
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About Featured Artist Coalition: Featured Artist Coalition is a voice industry that support in building artist business and dvicea on the rights.
Andy Agar
Co-Founder and CEO of Music TCHR
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About Music TCHR: Music TCHR is a platform that focuses on music, teaching, songwriting, live events, and the marketplace.
James Eddleston
CEO and Founder of GigList
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About : GigList is a music discovery site that brings fans closer to their next favourite artists and a world of live music.
Alex Braga
CEO and Founder of Visionalia ltd
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About Visionalia ltd: A NEW KIND OF A.I. TO START A MUSIC REVOLUTION
Flore Wang
CEO of Jellynote
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About Jellynote: Jellynote is an EdTech startup offering an innovative way to learn music through its proprietary AI-technology
Chris Meehan
Founder & CEO of Sentric Music
Chris Meehan joined Sentric Music as Founder & CEO in 2005.
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About Sentric Music: Sentric Music is an independent music publisher home to thousands of bands/artists/writers.
Peter Leathem
Chief Executive Officer of PPL
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About PPL: PPL licenses recorded music played in public or broadcast on the radio or TV.
Stuart Logan
Founder & CEO of Twine
As the Big Boss, Stuart spends his days in a large leather armchair, staring out over the Manchester skyline while smoking a cigar and plotting world domination. (He doesn’t really). Originally from Salisbury, he studied computer science at Manchester University but was always keen to break into the exciting world of start-ups, and was involved in a number of ventures before finalising his plans for Clowdy. When not wearing his chief executive hat (metaphorically speaking) he enjoys harbouring unrealistic expectations for Manchester United’s future success and live music.
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About Twine: Twine connects companies to diverse creative and digital freelancers
Sandra Schembri
Chief Executive Officer of Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy
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About Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy: Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy is a non-profit organization that offers music therapy services for free to reduce anxiety and comfort.
Yaw Asamani
Founder and CEO of DooWapp
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About DooWapp: An API and App to add playable lyrics to any part of your message to express yourself with music you love
Hugh Evans
CEO of Primordial Radio
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About Primordial Radio: A rock and metal entertainment service.
Alex Hunter
Founder & CEO of Rushmore.fm
Alex Hunter is an angel investor and company incubator.
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About Ignite Accelerator, Rushmore.fm: We want to bring artists and music fans closer together.
Neil Hadfield
Director, CEO of Ricall Ltd
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About Ricall Ltd: Crowdsourced exchange for (1) licensing music for use in videos and (2) selling and distributing digital downloads.
Paul Custance
Founder and CEO of Lirica
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About Lirica: Lirica harnesses the power of music to make learning both memorable and fun.
Rob Lewis
Founder & CEO of Electric Jukebox
Rob Lewis is an English businessman and serial entrepreneur. Lewis has established several successful publishing and technology ventures including Business & Technology magazine, Cromwell Media, Silicon Media Group, Omnifone, rara.com, and most recently The Electric Jukebox Company. Lewis is a 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Lewis was educated at Latymer Upper School, London. He gained a MA degree in Economics from Jesus College, Cambridge.
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About Electric Jukebox: Electric Jukebox: Taking on music streaming services, home entertainment systems
Peter Stephenson
Founder/CEO of Musitude
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About Musitude: A web & app music learning/playing solution for non-musicians
Andrew Fisher
Co-Founder & CEO of Cute Media Corporation
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About Cute Media Corporation, Tabl: Cute Media Corporation is a company that specializes in interactive digital entertainment.
David Courtier-Dutton
CEO of SoundOut
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About Slicethepie, SoundOut: SoundOut is a research and audience insight tool for new music content that guarantees accurate and objective insight into music.
Howard Scott
CEO & Co-Founder of PopWorld
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About PopWorld: Live streaming and on demand video pop music news and views.
Richard Tolley
CEO of Gigbloc
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About Gigbloc: Local live music discovery apps, building a platform to reinvent how live music events are organised
Mark Moriarty
CEO and Founder of Awesound
Mark Moriarty is Founder and CEO at Awesound. Previously, he was consultant at McKinsey and Company. He also used to work at UC Berkeley as an open educational resources researcher, and at Claritics as predictive analytics software developer.
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About Awesound: Awesound is a platform for personalized and interactive audio.
Miles Galliford
CEO of Beatroot Music
Miles Galliford is the Founder /CEO at Beatroot Music Ltd.
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About Beatroot Music: Empowering record labels and music publishers to prosper in the digital world by aggregating music catalogues, metadata and rights data
Tersha Willis
Co-Founder & CEO of terrible*
Tersha is a Goldsmiths College graduate with a background in Financial Services, Private Equity, and Fashion. She’s been named on the AIM AltPower 100 Music List and has talked at BBC introducing Live, MIL and AIM Connected. She has been featured on the BBC and C4 as well as in Wallpaper Magazine, Vox and MusicAlly for her progressive views on Merchandise and her uniquely artist-focused work. She is also a finalist in the Creative Industries Entrepreneur of Year in The Great British Entrepreneur Awards, 2019.
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About terrible*: Music Merchandise, Tech, Analytics, Marketplace, Supply Chain
Kathryn Knight
CEO of Tido Music
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About Tido Music: Creator of the Tido Music app, an inspirational resource and learning tool for pianists and singers of all abilities.
Kathryn Knight
CEO of Tido Music
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About Tido Music: Creator of the Tido Music app, an inspirational resource and learning tool for pianists and singers of all abilities.
Henry David Firth
CEO & Founder of PingTune – Music Messenger
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About PingTune – Music Messenger: PingTune is the Messaging App for Music Fans. This mobile-first experience brings fans closer to the music and artists they love, on mobile.
Tommy Darker
CEO of Whiise
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About Darker Music Talks, Whiise: Credible knowledge, crowdsourced by top industry experts
