Music Biz 2017

Robert Levine is the author of Free Ride, which the New York Times Book Review called “a book that should change the debate about the future of culture.” He has been the executive editor of Billboard and a features editor at Wired and New York, and he has contributed to Vanity Fa... Read More →

As Sr. VP of Global Product Leadership and Industry Insights at Nielsen Music, Dave Bakula is responsible for developing products and insights for Nielsen clients and the music industry. He has 20 years of analytical experience and his core expertise includes strategic planning, business development, business strategy and analysis. Bakula began his career with Musicland Group, Inc. as a Merchandise Planner and Inventory Management Analyst. Following his time at Musicland, he spent eight years with Universal Music Group... Read More →

Terry Currier got his start in the music business at the age of 17, when he was hired as a Clerk at DJ’s Sound City in Portland, OR. Over the next 12 years, he worked his way up the ladder to Company New Release Buyer before joining Music Millennium as General Manager in 1984. After becoming Co-Owner in 1987, he and his then-partner Don McLeod decided to celebrate the... Read More →

Doyle Davis has over 25 years experience in music retailing and is co-owner of Grimey’s New & Preloved Music, Nashville’s premier independent record store. Doyle is a founding board member of national retail coalition AIMS (Alliance of Independent Media Stores) , has served on the board of the Americana Music Association, and is a graduate of the Leadership Music Program, class of 2007. In addition, Doyle co-founded an independent record label called Outta Sight, which has released 2 albums and several singles by Nashville-based soul outfit The Dynamites featuring Charles... Read More →

Glenn Dicker started in music business with Rounder Distribution/Records in 1988. In 1994, he started Upstart Records. In 1997, Dicker partnered with Tor Hansen in Redeye, now the exclusive physical/digital distributor in North America for many leading indie labels including Bars... Read More →

Mike Gillespie, Concord Music Group’s Sr. VP of Commercial Sales, is one of the industry’s most experienced and successful music marketers.  The industry veteran currently oversees Concord’s vast and varied new release and catalog sales programs for labels such as Concord, Fantasy, Razor... Read More →

Stephen Judge began his career in 1990 as a part-time clerk at Raleigh, NC’s Schoolkids Records, his childhood record store, quickly working his way up to full-time status and becoming a buyer for several of the store’s locations while attending NC State University (where he received two degrees in Business Management and Accounting... Read More →

Kunz got his start in 1973 as a part-time sales clerk at Disc Records, eventually working his way up to store manager in 1975, where his location was the first in the 45-store Disc chain to reach $1 million in sales for the year. In 1976, he was named manager of the chain’s first Zebra Records store and became a regional manager in 1980, assuming responsibility for 13 Texas-based stores. | | He left the chain in 1982 with dreams to start his own business. Kunz teamed with Louis Karp for the first five years at Waterloo Records, the first record store in Texas to import and stock CDs... Read More →

Jim Lidestri is Founder and CEO of Border City Media, a New York-based music technology company that has developed an innovative service, BuzzAngle Music, that has radically changed the way businesses analyze entertainment consumption and related trends.  BuzzAngle Music provides... Read More →