Texas Business of Music Symposium (Rowling Hall: TEE Suite, Guadalupe Room – RRH 4.208)
9:30 am – 9:50 am Welcome & Keynote Introduction with Wofford Denius
9:50 am – 10:30 am Representation with Kevin Shivers + Sascha Stone Guttfreund
10:40 am – 11:20 am Distribution with Rob Gordon + Amy Lombardi
11:20 am – 11:40 am Break
11:40 am – 12:20 pm Publishing with Richard Perna + Mitch Ballard
12:30 pm – 1:10 pm Data & Finance with Scott Robinson & Vincent Leoni
1:10 pm – 1:15 pm Wrap
The McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin is hosting the Texas Business of Music Symposium — an event for those interested in business pathways into the music industry.
- Through a series of discussions with music industry professionals, the focus of the symposium will be to introduce and expose business students to different career paths and successes in the various aspects that compose the music industry.
- We will explore how artists become brands, household names, and multinational sensations and the business support required behind the scenes to keep them there.
- Interact and network directly with a keynote speaker and panelists, including executives who represent artists, music venues, record labels, and music events.
The Texas Business of Music Symposium is brought to you by the McCombs School of Business in partnership with Wofford Denius via The Cain Foundation.
In 2017, The Cain Foundation made a historic investment to create the Wofford Denius UTLA Center for Entertainment and Media Studies. The expanded center enables more students from across The University of Texas at Austin to live, work, and learn in Los Angeles, and it creates a strong link between Austin and the media and entertainment industries in Hollywood.
Wofford Denius is an entertainment industry attorney specializing in music law. He lives and works in Los Angeles and has been Of Counsel with the dynamic and prestigious law firm Eisner, LLP since 2015. Wofford grew up in Austin, Texas. Early in his music career, he drew upon his Texas roots, making numerous trips from Los Angeles to Texas to become integrally involved in the Austin and Dallas music communities. Wofford continues to have close ties to Texas and the Texas music industry. His current practice consists of representing recording artists, songwriters, record producers, managers, and record and publishing companies in all facets of the music business. Wofford’s past and present clients include Pushmonkey, The Nixons, The Old 97s, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Tish Hinojosa, The Flatlanders, Dillon O’Brian, Bob Schneider/The Ugly Americans/The Scabs, Ben Taylor, Maia Sharp, Pam Rose, Blue October, Alissa Moreno, Sara Hickman, Carey Ott, Rob Gordon/W.A.R. Records/United Interests, Erv Karwelis/Idol Records, Reckless Kelly, Rob Baird, Kevin Wommack d/b/a Loophole Management/Traffic Music, The Texas Gentlemen, iD4 Events, Rainmaker Records and Artist Management, and The Strange Boys. As a director of The Cain Foundation, Wofford founded the Wofford Denius Music Industry Internship Program through the University of Texas Moody College of Communication and established a scholarship for the University of Texas Moody College of Communication UTLA Program in Los Angeles.
Mitch Ballard moved to Nashville in 1992 and spent the next 16 years in the music business as a tour manager for major national acts, and he wrote songs with some of Nashville's finest singers and songwriters. In 1997, while working with hit country artist Kevin Sharp, Mitch saw the value and need to be on the internet. With an off-the-shelf web development program, he launched KevinSharp.com. A large number of music-based websites soon followed. With a long background in the music business, Mitch developed web-based applications for music booking agencies and a system to manage concert tours for Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean and Clay Walker. Some of Mitch's past projects are The Home Depot, Glow Motion Technologies, Superbowl XLIX (Katy Perry), Superbowl LI (Lady Gaga), Superbowl LII (Justin Timberlake), Superbowl LIII (Maroon 5), Ariana Grande, Twenty One Pilots, Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards, Drake, Keith Urban, Tupperware, and all digital assets of the historical World Famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge. In February 2019, Mitch returned home to Texas to open the new BMI Austin office, where he serves as senior director and creative director. BMI is the largest music rights organization in the U.S. Mitch is a lifetime member of the Country Music Association, Grammy voting member and Texas Grammy Chapter Board adviser.
Rob Gordon is a renaissance entrepreneur who fell in love with music at the age of 6, becoming the first member of his family to own a stereo. By the time he was 12, Rob was playing guitar and joined his first band. Rob’s official start in the music business happened the summer of 1986 at Manhattan/Blue Note Records as an intern in the A&R department. He was promoted to A&R representative and later director of A&R. Rob’s biggest career success at this time was making “Mother’s Milk” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, their first gold album, which set them up to make “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” and propel the band on a path to become the icons they are today. Rob finished his tenure as director of A&R and left EMI in late 1990. Upon leaving EMI, Rob consulted various artists and programmed the sales system for the mail order division of Thirsty Ear/Beggars Banquet Records. In late 1991, Rob started W.A.R.?- What Are Records? and signed The Samples, shipping their first album in April 1992. In 1994, Rob managed Lisa Loeb during her unprecedented No. 1 single “Stay (I missed you).” In 2008, Rob officially started the Management division, United Interests, signing Elephant Revival and The Lil Smokies, among others.
Sascha Stone Guttfreund started producing concerts in 2009 and founded ScoreMore Shows at age 20, which was acquired by LiveNation in 2018, and now serves as the President of the new joint venture. Stone Guttfreund was celebrated by Billboard Magazine as a "40 under 40" honoree at the age of 30, alongside his "30 under 30" accolade from Forbes that was awarded to him at the age of 26. ScoreMore has launched 2 festivals with artist partners J. Cole (Dreamville in Raleigh, North Carolina) as well as with Travis Scott (Astroworld in Houston, Texas). In addition to the artist curated festivals, ScoreMore owns other festivals like JMBLYA and Neon Desert, and produces 250+ concerts annually, including nationwide tours. Most recently, he was also invited to serve as a guest lecturer at his alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin, beginning in Spring 2020.
Vincent Leoni is the partner-in-charge of Miller Kaplan’s licensing and royalty department in Los Angeles. Vincent has more than 30 years of experience performing entertainment consulting, royalty/contract compliance, and profit participation examinations on behalf of internationally renowned recording artists, songwriters, music publishers, independent record companies, major film studios and Fortune 500 companies engaged in worldwide licensing to recover underreported revenue and add value to their IP. Vincent understands the complexities and nuances of a range of business contracts. He is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and a board member of Licensing International and has lectured and participated in webinars discussing the complexity of license arrangements and self reporting by licensees. Before joining Miller Kaplan, Vincent co-founded the royalty/licensing compliance practice at another CPA firm, Moss Adams, which grew to have an international presence with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London.
Amy Lombardi is the director of artist and partner relations for leading independent digital music distributor TuneCore, owned by Paris-based Believe, a global digital music company. In her role, Amy manages TuneCore’s relationships with top-tier independent artists and labels, and she runs the company’s artist education and mentor programming. She works closely with TuneCore’s partner digital store providers such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and others. Amy has worked in the music industry for more than 20 years, beginning at A&M Records, and then in publicity for Warner Bros. Records and Nasty Little Man before starting her own agency, Call Girl PR. In this capacity she has represented global superstars such as Foo Fighters, Radiohead, R.E.M., and Van Halen. Amy also founded Beekeeper Corp. Artist Management, where she managed the career of three-time Grammy nominee Neko Case, among others.
Richard Perna, is a veteran journeyman, well-travelled in the world of music. In a career that has spanned four decades. Richard has achieved both notoriety and success. From administrator, to song plugger, to licensing agent, to auditor, to aggregator to CEO, Richard has traversed every aspect of music publishing, and master recording rights. During his career as a Music Publisher he has negotiated, signed or acquired, the ownership, or administration rights, to copyrights written and/or recorded by numerous artist, who include: The Oak Ridge Boys, The Statler Brothers, Leon Russell, The Bellamy Brothers, ZZ Top, Roy Orbison, Warren Zevon, The Ramones, Taylor Swift, and many more. As VP/COO of Bill Ham’s Hamstein Music Group (1987-2002), Richard negotiated numerous exclusive songwriter contracts with ZZ Top, Clint Black, Little Texas, Tom Shapiro (BMI Country Songwriter of the decade 90’s), Jerry Lynn Williams, Tony Martin, Stephen Allen Davis, and many more successful songwriters. He has a keen understanding of the financial aspects related to developing and signing a writer, especially in this evolving digital age. As Co-CEO, and co-owner, of Evergreen Copyrights (2005 -2010), Richard negotiated and acquired the rights from 24 pre-existing companies and became one of the top independent music publishers in the world. Rights acquired by Evergreen during this period included the works of: Bill Monroe, JJ Cale, Nick Drake, Todd Rundgren, Teddy Riley, MC Hammer, Tupac Shakur, Richard Thompson, John Martyn, BB Winans, Bunny Siegler, Bruce Fischer (“You Are So Beautiful”) Sidney Cox (Allison Krauss), Michael Bradford (Uncle Kracker), Stephen Jenkins (Third Eye Blind), and Mark Leonard (“Missing You”). Richard is considered an expert on copyright, copyright administration, song marketing, copyright acquisition, the negotiation of songwriter contracts, sub-publishing agreements, music licensing agreements, and all facets of music publishing and master recording rights.
Scott Robinson is CEO and co-founder of Dualtone, an Entertainment One/SESAC company. Dualtone is a Nashville-based boutique label, whose current accomplishments include the multiplatinum artist The Lumineers, Shakey Graves, Amos Lee, Robert Earl Keen, Shovels & Rope, Langhorne Slim, Wild Child, and up-and-coming L.A. group Mt. Joy. Dualtone’s diverse roster consists of a mix of eclectic to mainstream artists, from singer-songwriter and indie rock to roots music. During the past 20 years, Dualtone has been a part of 17 Grammy-nominated projects and has celebrated Grammy wins for four Dualtone projects. Scott was previously employed by Arista Nashville. Prior to working on the label side, he was a partner in Robinson-Wood Management in Dallas.
Kevin Shivers is a partner in WME’s Music division, representing leading artists, including Grammy winners Tyler, the Creator; Kid Cudi; Solange; Nicki Minaj; Grammy nominee Kali Uchis; Brockhampton; and R&B singer Summer Walker. His extensive roster also includes NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler and hit podcasts such as “Pod Save America.” Kevin remains at the forefront of industry changes. As one of Tyler, the Creator’s agents, Kevin has played an integral role in growing the artist’s annual carnival Camp Flog Gnaw since its 2012 inception to a top festival that welcomed about 100,000 attendees over two days at Dodger Stadium in November 2019. In his position at WME, Kevin focuses on positively influencing the next generation of emerging leaders. Last year, Kevin was named to Pollstar’s Impact 50 list, recognizing executives who change the way others operate and challenge the status quo. He was also named to Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players List in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
