Berkman Luncheon Series >

dec
21
2010

Application Developers and the Future of Music

Jim Lucchese, CEO of The Echo Nest

Tuesday, December 21, 12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor
RSVP required for those attending in person (rsvp@cyber.law.harvard.edu)
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after.

In the same way that music's format shift from analog to digital democratized music distribution for artists, the next digital format shift is leveling the playing field for the creation of music applications. Any developer with talent and vision can now build an app that re-shapes the way we experience music.  Some of these apps do so on a large scale by including the totality of recorded music, or, on a smaller scale with specialized functions, like that T-Pain autotuner app everyone was talking about last year. In a few short years, app developers have already changed music's role in our lives with new solutions for music discovery and recommendation, blog and news aggregators, music games, location-based listening, interactive remix apps, social music sharing, and countless other new music experiences.

However, most music application developers are locked out of the commercial music industry, unable to navigate the licensing maze, or to hire one of a few very well-connected deal makers necessary to launch a licensed service comprised of the same popular music available to larger players. In virtually every other market segment -- gaming, social networking, news, photography, etc. -- a developer just needs to build a great app. In the music space, that same developer also needs an army of lawyers and dealmakers.

In this talk, The Echo Nest CEO Jim Lucchese will discuss the specific needs and vast potential of this growing music app development community, citing plenty of examples of new and innovative music applications. His presentation will illuminate the licensing challenges holding back innovation in music and offer a new way forward: the use of open developer APIs to forge a stronger digital music industry.

About Jim

Jim is the CEO of The Echo Nest. Jim has worked in digital music strategy and corporate development for about 10 years. Before The Echo Nest, Jim was a music lawyer at Greenberg Traurig, specializing in music and digital media deals. Clients included multi-platinum and independent artists, music publishers, digital entertainment companies and branded entertainment. Prior to GT, Jim held sales and corporate development positions at Hughes, where he managed market development and sales with annual revenues exceeding $20 Million. Jim was also Chief Strategy Officer of Webnoize/DMN, a digital entertainment research and advisory company serving over 500 clients. Jim holds a B.A. from Boston College and a J.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center. When he’s not at the Nest, Jim plays drums and still represents a few indie artists pro bono for fun. Right now, his favorite clients are Game Rebellion and Kemp Harris.

Links

• The Echo Nest
• Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic blogged about the talk
• David Weinberger liveblogged the talk