MPA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Adviser
- Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Officer
Job Titles:
- Marketing and Communications Manager
Bella comes from a magazine and graphic novel print publishing background with an MA in Publishing and Creative Writing. She has worked on marketing for licensed titles such as Star Wars Insider Magazine, Tank Girl and various Marvel specials. This work also included creating content and strategies for top brands like Citizen watches and DK Publishing. Additionally, Bella was previously a Project Coordinator at the disability charity and social enterprise, Enhance the UK managing a variety of large scale, far-reaching projects designed to give physically disabled people a voice. A love of all things music drew her to the MPA and she is incredibly excited to bring her skills to the industry.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- AMLOR Music Publishing
Blair is a founding partner of AMLOR Music Publishing.
His career in the industry started over 30 years ago in the mail room of Virgin Records. Talent scouting for the Virgin label soon led to a creative role for Virgin Music Publishing, where Blair signed artists and worked with the roster of songwriters. In 1992 Virgin Music Group was sold to EMI and Blair moved to Sony Music Publishing as Director of A&R before becoming Managing Director three years later overseeing the integration of the Northern Songs/TV catalogue
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Music Sales
Chris Butler has worked in the music publishing industry since leaving Durham University with a music degree in 1984. He held a succession of positions at Chappell Music (later Warner Chappell), before joining Novello in 1989. Four years at the classical independent ended when Novello was acquired by the Music Sales Group in 1993. Over the past 25 years the Music Sales Group has become one of the world's largest independent music publishers with offices in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Berlin, Copenhagen, Sydney and Tokyo.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- General Manager of Mute Song
David McGinnis is a broadly experienced music publisher with a specialist background in synchronisation and A&R.
McGinnis is the General Manager of Mute Song, a leading independent music publishing company attached to the eminent Mute record label.
Following a decade learning the legal and technical foundations of music rights management and licensing at PPL and MCPS, McGinnis joined Mute Song in 1999 in the creative and marketing role of Licensing Manager. Over time McGinnis' role with the publisher developed and expanded to cover all areas of operation. He was appointed General Manager of the Company in 2014.
As General Manager of Mute Song David McGinnis manages all of the company's A&R, creative and business affairs activity, supervises the copyright, royalty and sync teams and directs the company's future development and growth.
Mute Song publishes many internationally renowned recording artists and a very successful roster of composers working in film, television, opera, theatre and ballet. McGinnis was personally responsible for bringing the artists Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Gabriel Prokofiev, Ben Frost and Public Service Broadcasting to Mute Song.
David McGinnis is a regular public speaker, moderator and interviewer on music publishing and other music matters at events and conferences around the globe. In 2015 McGinnis was elected to the UK Music Publishers Association Board of Directors.
David was born and raised in Canada and has lived in London for thirty years.
Eddie began his role as a Data Admin Assistant for PMLL in June 2019, having previously worked as a Content Manager for WhoSampled.
With a background in Sound Engineering and music production, he studied Sound Engineering at Birmingham City University and graduated in 2016. This led to him working as a freelance engineer and producer, which he still does around his role at the MPA.
Working within PMLL as an admin assistant, Eddie handles various tasks across the PMLL business, including dealing with data input and queries for distributions and administration for current and newly launched licences.
Job Titles:
- MCPS Project Delivery Manager
Emily is the MCPS Project Delivery Manager at the MPA. Emily has eight years of experience in the music industry and holds a Master's degree in Musicology from the University of Oxford. Previously, Emily was Editor at Faber Music responsible for managing the company's educational publications. She has also worked as an Executive in the BBC's Music Copyright team.
Her experience within the publishing and broadcasting arenas inspired her move to the MPA, where she is motivated in her role to champion the rights of the composers, songwriters and publishers who underpin the music industry.
Job Titles:
- Policy & Public Affairs Special Advisor
Florian Koempel is a qualified German lawyer. He obtained a Law Degree from the University of Regensburg in Bavaria; in 1998, he passed the bar exam in Munich and has worked for the Regional Court and in private practice. He holds an LLM in Intellectual Property from Queen Mary and Westfield and a Competition Law Diploma from Kings College.
He advises a variety of clients in the creative sector including UK Music, the Music Publishers Association and the British Copyright Council; he also convenes post-graduate courses on international copyright law and music industry contracts at Queen Mary, University of London.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Board
Gary started his career at the PRS in the late 1980s where he worked in Repertoire Research, Licensing and Membership. In mid-1997 he moved to the then Sony Music Publishing as an Income Tracker and in 1998 he had his first taste of corporate expansion when further to the Joint Venture with Michael Jackson, Sony Music Publishing became Sony/ATV Music Publishing. In 2004, Gary was promoted to run the UK Administration Department, in which time he has seen the 2013 merging of the EMI catalogue.
Gary has been a designated Director on the MPA Board since 2013.
Job Titles:
- MCPS International Project Delivery Manager
Gavin first studied Music Business Management at Stow College before graduating from Paisley University with a BA in Commercial Music in 2006. It was during his studies he gained his first experience in mechanical licensing through a work placement with Duncan McCrone at the MCPS Scottish Office. He gained a real interest in licensing from this placement which led him to apply for a role at PRS in London, firstly working in the member admissions team before quickly moving back to mechanical licensing in the Recorded Media department. In his initial role as licensing agent he gained experience licensing mechanical and synchronisation rights to a wide variety of music users across every conceivable media, the ideal role to learn the trade for many in the UK industry. He went on to become a Key Accounts Consultant and was later promoted to a management position in the licensing team where he built on his licensing expertise and developed his skills in negotiation and business development. Gavin joined the Music Publishers Association Group of Companies towards the end of 2019 as MCPS Project Delivery Manager.
Job Titles:
- Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Universal Music Publishing 's SVP International Legal
Jackie Alway is Universal Music Publishing's SVP International Legal and Industry Affairs. Jackie joined UMP in 2007 following the acquisition of BMG Music Publishing, where she was Director of Commercial Affairs. Jackie's current role includes multi-territorial digital licensing and society, industry and public policy issues for the world ex-North America. She has 25 years' experience as a music publisher and is a Solicitor having graduated in Law from Cambridge University.
Jackie replaced Paul Connelly as Universal's Designated Director on the MPA Board in 2013 and was elected by the board as the Chair of the MPA board in 2015, taking over from Chris Butler. Jackie is also a Board member of PRS, MCPS, PMLL, IMPA and UK Music.
Jackie was awarded an OBE for her services to the Music Industry in the Queen's Birthdays Honours in June 2019.
Having worked across the wide-ranging backbone of the music business over a couple of decades, Jackie Davidson MBE is a multifaceted entrepreneur. Her early beginnings saw Davidson interning at Bunny Wailer's record company Solomonic. Following this, Davidson made a leap into marketing, where she founded the award-winning firm Hardzone Marketing & PR. Through Hardzone, Davidson consulted for reggae stars Buju Banton, Shabba Ranks and Patra, as well as labels including Columbia, Def Jam, Epic, BMG, Universal and Sony Music, across artist campaigns that were orientated within black music, for the likes of (but not limited to) Jay Z, Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Destiny's Child, Groove Theory and Brownstone. Despite these inimitable milestones, it is through her role as a manager that Davidson has made a perennial mark on the industry. Through her company JD Management, she has managed songwriters Wayne Hector and Ali Tennant amongst a range of incredible talent. Davidson continues to represent Wayne Hector today, who remains one of the world's most coveted songwriters, having amassed over 30 International Number One singles, and earning awards at the Grammys, BRITs and Ivor Novello Awards. Together, Davidson and Hector have formed publishing firm Art Music, where they develop and nurture young writers and composers. Beyond her day-to-day, Davidson has remained a constant in the development of young people within the business, serving as a mentor and lobbyist. Her passion and drive for a fairer, more diverse and transparent industry is evident in her position in the Custodians Council for Music Managers Forum (MMF), in addition to being recently elected to the Music Publishers Association (MPA) board in 2020. As recognition for Davidson's revered work, she has attained multiple awards, including Urban Music Seminar's Respect Due Award, MMF's 2015 Writer/Producer Manager Of The Year, and The Ivors Academy's Gold Badge Award in 2018. A year later, she was honoured with the prestigious MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) on the Queen's Birthday List for her services to the music industry - an acknowledgement that Jackie Davidson undeniably deserves.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Vice President, Publishing at Boosey & Hawkes
James Eggleston is Vice President, Publishing at Boosey & Hawkes. Elected to the MPA Board as a Publisher Director in 2018 he now represents the parent company Concord as a Designated Director and also chairs the Printed Music Publishers Committee.
With over twenty years' extensive experience in predominantly contemporary classical music publishing, James joined Music Sales (now Wise Music) to work with the renowned Chester and Novello catalogues and their composers. A move to Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers (Concord) followed in 2010 to head the Publishing Department with an international remit for the development and management of the catalogue working with some of the leading composers of our time.
James completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies in music at Royal Holloway, University of London and remains a practising musician. He is a passionate advocate for the value of music copyright and that wider value of music in society - particularly its often fragile place in education. James is a Council member of the Association of British Choral Directors, Trustee of the Sir George Dyson Trust and Honorary Patron of the Herbert Howells Society.
John is a composer/producer and a passionate advocate for music rights and the equitable distribution of royalties. As well as his position on the board of the MPA, John is a (writer) board member at PRS and also serves on the boards of the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM) and IMPEL.
John founded Truelove Music in 1992 to represent his own output as composer following his successful first release, The Source's "You Got The Love".
Throughout the 1990's he built up the company signing single songs which were mostly released on his own underground dance labels or through the labels comprised in his own ground-breaking label management company, Truelove Label Collective.
Since that time Truelove Music has developed into one of the world's leading independent boutique publishers of electronic music with a catalogue (as of Sept 2020) of 50,000+ compositions. With direct membership of more than 25 collection societies and agencies worldwide, Truelove Music now boasts significant bargaining power across the globe. It is able to maximise returns for its composers and its administered publishers without the need for sub-publishers or other intermediaries.
Through his hands-on approach John has gained many years' experience in all aspects of the publishing industry, from A&R to data management and copyright through to sync licensing.
Accordingly, he is personally well-versed in the manifold issues facing songwriters and publishers, and leverages that experience to provide support and guidance both to his own clients and the wider industry.
John is fervent in his belief that we need a more diverse industry with significantly more representation from minority backgrounds and gender equality in all fields of the music business.
A keen proponent of the use of technology to benefit publishers and composers, John has successfully campaigned for PRS to implement Music Recognition Technology (MRT) in festivals and clubs. He continues to campaign for technological solutions across the global community.
Laura May founded independent music publishing company May Music in 2017 after many years working in different roles around the industry. Beginning her career at Eaton Music after being chosen from the MPA job seekers list, Laura moved into auditing, forensic royalty tracking and royalty accounting at an accountancy firm five years later. After a break due to illness Laura returned to work part time as a finance manager at Rewind Festival while simultaneously starting her own business providing royalty analysis services for auditors and royalty accounting for producers, small labels and publishers including Turnfirst Artists. Laura joined Turnfirst Artists full time in 2015 to work in the finance team, also joining new venture First Access Entertainment when it launched at the end of that year.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Music Services
Natalie Kassner has led the promotional and operational development of the Kassner Music Group, one of the UK's longest established independent music companies, since 2017, having joined from Estée Lauder UK where she ran multi-channel marketing programmes as well as headed up the Asian consumer task force. Prior to her time at Estee Lauder, Natalie created and pitched advertising campaigns to brief for Condé Nast and spent several years on the marketing and media team at Harrods, where she worked with some of the world's foremost luxury brands and was selected for the company's leadership programme.
Having forged a career outside of the family business, Natalie is now responsible for sync and the international promotion of the Kassner Music songwriter roster, working closely with recent signings such as Charlotte Haining, Chuks Chiejine, Reef, Charlie Simpson and Robin Taylor-Firth, while also contributing significantly to the day-to-day running of the overall business.
Natalie has served on the MPA Futures Group since 2018 and is currently Co-Chair of the Committee. She is also a member of the newly formed MPA Sync Action Group.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- 235 Music Publishing
- Music Industry
Job Titles:
- Partnerships & Events Coordinator
Nicky began her role for the MPA in January 2022. Having previously interned with trade body PRS for Music as Marketing Assistant within their PR and Comms department.
Prior to this Nicky spent the last 2 years working as a Project Assistant at music charity, Small Green Shoots, co-managing various far-reaching projects designed to expose unsigned UK artists to industry professionals, as well as writing bids to support up and coming creatives.
Nicky has a love for music and all things creative.
Job Titles:
- Chief Policy & Public Affairs Officer
Ornella is a seasoned Policy and Public Affairs professional with a decade's worth of experience lobbying government on behalf of global brands, public sector agencies and organisations in the private and voluntary sectors.
Prior to joining the MPA, Ornella was a Senior Public Affairs Manager at a multinational government outsourcer and spent several years leading the government relations team of a business trade body. Ornella has a proven track record of delivering impactful public affairs strategies, developing credible policy proposals and achieving legislative change on behalf of organisations.
Ornella's role at the MPA focuses on lobbying the government for stronger regulatory policies to protect songwriters, composers and rightsholders. The work also involves raising the profile of music publishing and promoting the cultural and economic value of the industry.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Board
- CEO & DEI Sponsor Statement
Paulette Long OBE has 38 years experience within music publishing and the wider music industry working as a publisher, consultant and Director. She has served as a Board director of the MPA, PRS for Music and has been included in Music Week's Women in Music Roll of Honour amongst many other accolades.
Peter has over 35 years' experience in the music industry, most of which was in the employment of Carlin Music. Having started out in 1986 as Office Junior, he learned the industry through various departments and positions, eventually taking the helm as Managing Director in 2014.
Having left Carlin as a result of their sale to Round Hill Music at the end of 2017, Peter started his own Music Rights Management company, Sentient Music Limited. Sentient currently administers approaching 15,000 songs, including songs written and performed by Prince, Dean Martin, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Mike d'Abo, Faith No More, Fiction Factory, Warren Zevon and many other well-known acts. Sentient also owns a small record label comprising around 1,000 masters and re-mastered recordings. In addition to running Sentient, Peter also consults on a regular basis for a wide variety of companies including publishers, labels, and industry accounting specialists.
As well as serving on the boards of MPA and IMPEL, Peter has worked on many key Publisher/Society committees, sub-committees and working groups including the PPC (now PMPC), the PRS/MPA Ops Group and the MPA legal & Business Affairs and Anti-Piracy committee.
Job Titles:
- COO
- Director of Operations for the Music Publishers Association Group of Companies
Steve Burton is Director Of Operations for the Music Publishers Association Group of Companies. He graduated with a degree in Business Studies in 1992 and went on to study accountancy. After a four year stint working in an accountancy practice Steve realised he wasn't suited to the life of an auditor and in 1996 promptly moved to Belfast where he worked for Ortus, a cross community enterprise board on the peace line in West Belfast. He began first as assistant accountant and finally as financial controller.
In 2002 he moved back to Dublin and worked for Crunch Fitness, a high end leisure group, as financial controller and general manager. In 2007 he made the ill-advised move to work for himself designing and building health centres and leisure clubs around Ireland; Ill- advised because he began this part of his career in the lead up to the greatest financial crisis Ireland has ever suffered. Faced with an unsurprising lack of opportunities for new health clubs in a newly bankrupt Ireland Steve finally found an industry where he was completely at home, music.
In 2008 Steve started working for MCPS Ireland as financial controller. After a couple of years harassing Irish record labels and publishers Steve took on the role of Director of Compliance and Corporate Governance in IMRO where he stayed until 2014. In August 2014 Steve left IMRO and made the jump across the channel to work with Jane in MCPS, IMPEL and PMLL, along the way he picked up an MSc in Corporate Governance and Management at the University of Ulster. As Director of Operations Steve is responsible for all operational and financial aspects of the Music Publishers Association Group of Companies, he also sits on the MCPS Ireland board.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Round Hill Music
Steve graduated from Liverpool University in 1987 with a music degree before joining the printed music company, IMP, as a music editor - many of his published arrangements are still in print today. During his 10 years in print, Steve rose through the ranks to head up all production, copyright and licensing, before joining Warner Chappell Music as Head of Copyright.
Steve's responsibilities at WCM were extended to oversee all copyright and royalty administration across Europe before being appointed EVP, Global Operations (taking in IT), during which time he led the build and rollout of the Company's new global contracts, copyright and royalty system, which allows writers to view statements and other metrics online and via their mobile phones. After spending over two decades at WCM, Steve joined Round Hill Music as their Global Chief Operating Officer in the summer of 2020.
Steve is passionate about metadata standardisation in the global music industry, along with constantly raising the bar on operational efficiencies to better serve the writer community. He is often called to speak about these challenges internationally and share thoughts on how the industry can move forward together, with particular focus on digital music consumption.
Steve has been influential on many industry committees, having sat on the UK's MPA Board, the ICMP and IMPA Boards. In December 2019, he was awarded the MPA's Tony Pool Award for his outstanding contribution to administration within the music industry.
Aside from work, Steve loves spending time with his family outdoors, has a private pilot's licence, continues to play trombone and piano while serving as a Director of a local charity.
Job Titles:
- Finance Manager
- Finance Manager for the Music Publishers Association Group
Urszula Nowik is the Finance Manager for the Music Publishers Association Group. She is responsible for transactional and management accounting for the company. She has nearly 15 years of experience of working in various finance roles in London-based businesses across many sectors like property maintenance, advertising and technology. She is very passionate about music and is excited to be working in the music industry.
Viki began her role as General Manager at Printed Music Licensing Ltd (PMLL) in April 2017. She is responsible for managing all aspects of the PMLL business including areas such as membership, governance, licence management and development.
After graduating from the University of Northampton in 2000 with a degree in Law & Business, she started her career at the Educational Recording Agency. ERA licences the use of broadcast materials (from television and radio), on behalf of its members, to educational establishments such as schools, universities and colleges. During her time there she worked her way up from Licensing Officer to the Head of Operations.
Since Viki's background is in educational copyright in broadcast media, she sees a great opportunity in the role at PMLL. Not only so can she use her experience and skill set for the benefit of PMLL, but also to expand her copyright knowledge in a sector she is passionate about.