Alexander Wolf – Advances in the Global Music Industry
Guest Speaker: Alexander Wolf, President, SESAC International
When: Tuesday, 21st February 2017
Time: Registration starts 1830; meeting starts at 1900, dinner buffet around 2030.
Where: Marriott Hotel, Berlinerstrasse 93, 80805 Munich
Cost: EUR 25.00 for members, Eur 35.00 for guests (incl. Dinner buffet)
Sign-Up: Events tab on the new AGBC Munich Community Platform at www.agbc-munich.com
Alexander Wolf will address the recent evolutionary advances in the global music industry and SESAC’s role in accelerating these changes.
SESAC is one of the world’s most ambitious music companies with financial backing from Blackstone, a leading global private equity company. SESAC has invested heavily in the technology and data infrastructure designed to maximize the identification of copyrights used across multiple platforms on a real time basis and with a high degree of transparency.
SESAC’s global game plan is two-fold: (i) expand its active presence as a multi-rights licensing group across Europe and the rest of the world; and (ii) pull together mechanical, sync and performance rights in a manner beyond that of its US competitors. Part (i) got a big boost last year when SESAC joined forced with Swiss collecting society SUISA to create Mint – a JV to administer and license rights across Europe. And part (ii) became a reality in 2015 when SESAC acquired US mechanical rights clearing house The Harry Fox Agency, one of the most significant deals in recent music publishing history. Such impressive moves have helped attract 30,000 clients (‘affiliates’) to SESAC’s books, including Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Green Day, Kings Of Leon, Zac Brown and Neil Diamond.
At the start of 2016, Alexander Wolf joined SESAC to head up its international team. As President of SESAC International, he is responsible for identifying and implementing a portfolio of new multi-territory licensing and service offerings. He also represents SESAC Performing Rights in its reciprocal relationships with societies around the world as well as exploitation of the Rumblefish and HFA (Harry Fox Agency) catalogs outside the U.S. With a deep background in the global music business, Alexander previously worked as Executive Managing Director for Solar Music rights management, a joint venture of PRS and GEMA which administers the Sony and EMI publishing catalogs. Prior to that, he was Managing Director of CELAS, a company set up to represent EMI’s music publishing repertoire for online and mobile use across Europe. With his Master’s degree in International Law degree at the Université, Aix en Provence in France, he earlier worked for GEMA as counsel of international legal rights while serving as head of the multimedia and online division.