Something About the Candidates

SOMETHING ABOUT THE CANDIDATES

CAROLINE BIENSTOCK

Caroline holds both law and business degrees which she uses in her capacity as President and Chief Executive Officer of her family's music publishing interests. The Bienstock Organization is one of the last remaining truly independent publishers in the world with offices in New York, London, Nashville and Paris. Caroline's functions range from business affairs to professional work and include financial matters. She is currently the Executive Director of the AIMP. She is a Board Member of the NMPA (National Music Publishers’ Association), the Harry Fox Agency, and ASCAP. She also a board member of the BMI Foundation, the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and a member of NARAS.

HELENE BLUE

Helene is President of Helene Blue Musique Ltd., an independent music publishing company which she began 18 years ago after years in other companies, including MPL Publishing, Arc Music Group, and Belwin Mills Publishing. Helene is active on the Boards of Directors of the National Music Publishers' Association, The Harry Fox Agency, Merkin Concert Hall and the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., where she is Past President and Honorary Trustee. She served on the Board of the NY Chapter of AIMP for its first five years and is the recipient of AIMP’s first INDY AWARD presented in 1998.

ALISA COLEMAN

Alisa is Senior Executive Vice President at ABKCO Music & Records, Inc., where she has been for over twenty years and is in the unique position of overseeing the global business development including the licensing of the companies' vast music publishing and record catalogs. ABKCO's catalogs include The Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack, The Kinks, The Animals, and Marianne Faithfull compositions and recordings. Alisa received her Music Business Management Degree from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford and previously worked at The Harry Fox Agency and Famous Music Publishing. She is currently a director of AIMP.

WALLACE COLLINS, ESQ.

Wallace is a lawyer in private practice in New York specializing in entertainment and intellectual property law handling both transactional and litigation matters. Transactional work focuses primarily on structuring and negotiating music, film, television and internet business deals. Wallace handles many digital media matters including copyright and licensing issues related to new "apps", streaming and download clearance. He also advises clients on entertainment branding and marketing strategy. His litigation matters encompass representation of both plaintiffs and defendants in copyright and trademark infringement cases as well as general entertainment contract disputes.

Wallace was a teenage recording artist for Epic Records and then United Artists before attending FordhamLawSchool.

He has been affiliated with law firms that represented artists such as LADY GAGA, JOHN MAYER, MAROON 5, MOBY, CREED, BRYAN ADAMS, and The B-52s. In addition, he has represented many music publishers in their day-to-day transactional matters including Push Music Jamaica, Ltd (Eddy Grant's publishing entity), Verse Music Group LLC, Spirit Music Group, Inc., Camex Music USA, and Randy Bachman's publishing entity Ranbach Music. He has also bought and sold several catalogs for his clients over the years.

Wallace has won several high-profile litigations, including a copyright infringement case with the largest monetary judgment ever awarded for the use of a single "sample" in the song "Whoomp! There It Is." Wallace has also authored numerous articles for legal and trade publications and is a regular contributor to Billboard, Entertainment Law and Finance and The New York Law Journal. He is a frequent speaker on panels, at lectures and at seminars throughout the country on current entertainment business issues as they relate the new technology and the internet.

MARC JACOBSON, ESQ.

Selected by Chambers USA every year since 2005 and by Super Lawyers since 2008 as one of the top Entertainment Lawyers in NYC, Jacobson built his unique practice by focusing on his two passions: music and film. He represented the estates of George & Ira Gershwin, Elvis Presley and Duke Ellington and important songwriters such as Jimmy Webb, Shakira and Annie Roboff. He handled films like “Conviction” with Hilary Swank & Sam Rockwell, represented Oscar Nominee Rip Torn and is now Executive Producer of Dennis Hopper’s final film. He also held senior executive positions at several major internet companies. Jacobson is the Founding Chairman of the NYS Bar Association Section on Entertainment Arts & Sports Law, testified before Congress and WIPO regarding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and was Adjunct Professor of Entertainment Law at FordhamUniversityLawSchool, CUNYLawSchool and The New School. He licensed to practice law in New York, California (inactive) and Florida (inactive).

JUSTIN KALIFOWITZ

Justin Kalifowitz is President of Downtown Music Publishing, a leading New York-based rights management business. Established in 2007, the Company¹s copyright portfolio now includes over 40,000 titles spanning seventy years of popular song, film score and theatre music.

In the past five years, Kalifowitz has developed a diverse client roster of over 200 songwriters, artists and producers. The Company also serves as US sub-publisher for some of the world's foremost independent companies including Budde Music, Kassner Associated Publishers and Perfect Songs.

Songwriter/producers signed to Downtown have recently composed hit singles for artists such as Beyonce, FrankOcean, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Selena Gomez and Zac Brown Band. In just four years of operations, Billboard Magazine named Downtown as one of the top ten publishers in the United States.

In 2011, Kalifowitz launched two new businesses: Songtrust, a music technology company that develops enterprise rights management software andMAS: Music & Strategy, a music consultancy with brand clients including Apple, Kate Spade, Nikon and Zynga.

Prior to joining Downtown, Kalifowitz was an executive with Spirit Music Group from 2001 to 2007 where he managed the copyrights of such legendary artists as Bob Marley, Lou Reed and Chaka Khan. He also previously held positions with RCA and Virgin Records.

Born and raised in New York, Kalifowitz is a graduate of the City University of New York--BaruchCollege and frequently lectures on copyright and the music business at conferences and universities around the world. In 2003, Billboard named Kalifowitz as one of the “30 Under 30” top executives in the music industry and in 2011 he was recognized as one of Crain’s “40 Under 40” Rising Stars of New York Business.

Arthur Levy, Partner, The Levy Firm.

The Levy Firm has been providing the music publishing industry with legal counsel for over 40 years. Art joined the firm in 2003.

Art specializes in music publishing. He counsels clients with respect to all aspects of the industry, including acquisition of catalogs, business affairs (including drafting and negotiating administration and co-publishing agreements), subpublishing, licensing, and copyright matters (including terminations, renewals and complex ownership issues). Art also presents in-house seminars to publishers on copyright in the music publishing business.

In addition to music publishers, Art’s clients include musicians, songwriters, independent music labels, television producers, and new media companies, among others. He also advises his clients in general corporate matters, including trademark, commercial law, financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, employment, and risk management.

Art is the Secretary of the New York chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers, and is a trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Copyright Society of the USA. Prior to joining the Levy Firm, Art practiced law at Thacher Proffitt & Wood, LLP and Proskauer Rose LLP. Art is a graduate of GeorgetownUniversityLawCenter and MiddleburyCollege.

JULIE LIPSIUS

Julie is the President of Lipservices, an independent music publishing administration business established in 1978. Among the artists and writers represented by Lipservices are Oscar the Grouch and Ernie (I Love Trash and Rubber Duckie), Soulfege, Reggie Rockstone and songs by Phil Collins, Frank Musker, Charles Aznavour, Charles Trenet, Edith Piaf, Bobby Darin, Dengue Fever, Rachelle van Zanten, and many more. Active in many genres, world music is now the centerpiece of Lipservices’ repertoire. Julie has part of the NY indie music publishing community since the late 70s. She was President of Hit & Run Music for 10 years, representing Genesis, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Shelley Peiken and many others. Before moving to NY she was General Manager of (then) Warner Bros. Music in Paris. She is a founding director of NY AIMP, a former Director of ASCAP, and has served on various other industry committees. As a “hands on” executive, she deals with all aspects of music publishing and licensing. She is currently a director of AIMP.

She grew up in the music business in Philadelphia, where her father owned and operated an independent distributor for about 50 years. The family also owns independent labels and publishing (Duane Eddy, Love Can Make You Happy, The Horse, You’ll Lose a Good Thing and Some Kind of Wonderful being examples).

MARY BETH ROBERTS

Mary Beth Roberts has been a senior licensing executive in music publishing for several years at Famous Music and Sony/ATV where she was VP of Catalogue Development at those firms. She was responsible for international and domestic licensing protocol and negotiations for Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV and CBS for copyrights placed in commercials, greeting cards, ringtones, mobile media, karaoke, video games, toys, apparel, jewelry, and wine and spirits.

During her tenure at Famous Music, she was instrumental in launching Syncsite, one of the first extensive music publishing marketing and licensing websites. She also produced company-owned master recordings of Famous Music’s copyrights with The London Symphony Orchestra that were successfully used in advertising, film and television projects, wireless entertainment, consumer products, compilation albums and karoake.

Mary Beth is currently the founder of High Standards Unlimited, a company she started in 1987. Her consultancy specializes in domestic and international music licensing and music placement. Some of her clients have included Universal Music, PolyGram International, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Irving Berlin, Hal David & Burt Bachrach, and Shapiro Bernstein .

Mary Beth is on the Board of Directors for the AIMP where she has served since 1997.

DEBBIE ROSE

An active publisher and advocate of songwriters rights for over 20 years, Debbie Rose is Vice President of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. Shapiro Bernstein is the oldest American independent publishing company, whose catalogue contains some of the world’s most enduring standards including: In The Mood, The Way You Look Tonight and Ring Of Fire. Aside from the vast collection of classics, Shapiro also represents contemporary songwriters from around the world including renowned DJ, David Guetta. At Shapiro Bernstein, Debbie oversees all aspects of the company including; creative, royalty, copyright, licensing, business affairs and international. Prior to joining Shapiro Bernstein, Debbie was a music supervisor, independent publisher and spent many years as Director of Member Relations at ASCAP. She currently sits on a committee at MCPS/PRS and is a longtime Board of Director of the Association of Independent Music Publishers in New York.

MICHAEL SIMON

Michael S. Simon is the President and CEO of the Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), a premier American music rights management organization. Previously, Simon was HFA’s Senior Vice President of Business Affairs, General Counsel and Chief Strategic Officer.

Since joining HFA in 2001, Simon has focused his efforts on creating new opportunities for the company and the over 46,000 publishers it represents while also improving HFA’s traditional mechanical licensing business. He has led the company’s expansion beyond its traditional mechanical licensing business and created its Slingshot rights management service, which provides customized, outsourced solutions for music distributors. His team has developed groundbreaking licensing arrangements for online music and music video services, ringtones, Express Live recordings, lyrics, guitar tablature, background music, digital jukeboxes, and other new media opportunities.

Before joining HFA, Simon was the Executive Vice President of Business Affairs and General Counsel for Razorfish, Inc. where he guided the company’s impressive growth from a small private company of 18 people to a public company of over 2,000 employees in five years. Prior to Razorfish, he founded Simon Ventures, an artist management and consulting company, whose roster included such major label acts as the Honeydogs and the Gigolo Aunts. Before that, Simon was Senior Director of Legal Affairs at Polygram Records. He also served as an associate in the entertainment and intellectual property law practice of Levine Thall Plotkin & Menin and the corporate, litigation and entertainment practice of Rubin Baum Levin Constant & Friedman.

Simon received his Juris Doctor from the Columbia University School of Law, and he graduated magna cum laude from AmherstCollege. He lives with his wife and three children in New York and owns independent record label Simon Recordings.

MARK SPIER

Mark Spier is the President of Memory Lane Music Group. The company, founded by his grandfather, has remained family owned and independent since its inception in 1923. After graduating from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science, and receiving an MBA from Columbia University, he went on to become a VP at Credit Suisse before beginning his tenure at Memory Lane. Mark has expertise in all areas of music publishing, including catalogue acquisition, administration and management, license negotiation, royalty collection, and the US and UK copyright laws. Most recently, Memory Lane has been included on the NMPA’s “Top 100” music publishers list. The company and its subsidiaries maintain a world-wide presence with offices in New York, London, and Los Angeles. He is a die-hard Giants fan, and spends most of his “spare” time shuttling his two boys between various sports practices. Mark has been a proud and active member of the AIMP since taking over the family business in 2003.

RICHARD STUMPF

Richard Stumpf is currently the President of Imagem Music, US. Imagem is a Dutch owned company controlling publishing from renowned brands such as Rodgers & Hammerstein, Boosey & Hawkes, Zomba, and Rondor. Richard oversees the growth and management of the Imagem Music US publishing division. Included in the Imagem repertoire are classics ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Irving Berlin, as well as legendary pop acts such as Genesis and hot contemporary stars like Vampire Weekend and Temper Trap.

Prior to taking the reigns at Imagem this year, Richard was the SVP of Creative Services and Marketing for legendary music publisher Cherry Lane Music. Richard oversaw writer signings and content acquisitions. He also collaborated with fellow senior management on business development strategy, including the implementation of strategic joint ventures. He managed the Marketing team, who were responsible for identifying and negotiating song placement opportunities for film & television, advertisements, records, and new media outlets.

Before joining Cherry Lane in 2001, Richard held management positions with numerous entertainment-related companies including EMI - Capitol Records, new media pioneer, MCY Music, PC Artist Management, and Musicland. Creatively, Richard also has experience as a live sound engineer and performing musician.

In addition, Richard sits on Boards for American Association of Independent Music and Association of Independent Music Publishers. He is a voting member of the RecordingAcademy.

JOHN TITTA

John Titta has spent the majority of his music career as a music publisher but, he started his life in music as a musician and music teacher. As a session musician, he has played on many recording sessions for nationwide TV and radio advertisements and has performed live with many groups.

John began his publishing career with Screen Gems/EMI Music as Professional Manager, signing such acts as Surface and The Smithereens. He worked with legendary songwriters Carole King and Lou Reed, and had songs covered by Tina Turner, Grover Washington Jr., Alice Cooper, Joan Jett and Dave Edmunds.

Titta then moved to PolyGram Music Publishing as Vice President of A & R, signing artists Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Pearl Jam, Brian McKnight, k.d. lang, Billy Ray Cyrus and songwriter Jimmy Webb. He was also responsible for individual hit songs including "Save The Best For Last" by Vanessa Williams and "The Folks That Live On The Hill" by Tony Bennett. Titta was credited for his A&R work on the compilation album "Two Rooms, A Tribute To Elton John and Bernie Taupin" and multiple movie soundtracks, such as "Young Guns II: Blaze of Glory", "Days Of Thunder","Scream" and more.