Exploring the Impact of the Blockchain on Music and the Arts

CTW/LISA panel about the blockchain – 6:30 THURSDAY, NOV. 16 at the Abrons Center

Blockchain is not just a crazy-hot buzzword right now.  It’s a super-interesting tamper-proof distributed record keeping methodology used by lots of different new companies.  We wanted to learn more about how it will impact the arts and figured you would too.

Accordingly, the next Leaders in Software and Art gathering is a panel at the 300-seat Abrons Arts Center, with ample food and drink upstairs afterwards sponsored by our host, the Open Source Music Festival. Our panel topic is Tracking Creative Digital Rights: Exploring the Impact of the Blockchain on Music and the Arts.

Join us at the Abrons at 466 Grand St. (at Pitt St. on the Lower East Side) to learn about new ways artists and collectors can manage an artwork’s ownership throughout its life-cycle.

We’ll hear from Ken Umezaki, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, Dot Blockchain Music; Daniel Doubrovkine, Chief Technology Officer, Artsy; Jennie Rose Halperin, Communications Manager at Creative Commons; and Steven Masur, Partner and intellectual property expert at MG+.  The panel is moderated by Isabel Walcott Draves, Founder of LISA and President of Creative Tech Week.  (See bios below).

Tickets are $15; they are required to be reserved in advance from the Abrons Ovationtix website or at the Abrons box office on the day of the event.

Timing:
6:30 – 7:00 — Arrive and Mingle
7:00 – 8:00 — Panel Discussion
8:00 – 8:30 — Audience Participation
8:30 – 9:30 — Beer, Wine and Food Upstairs

 

Daniel Doubrovkine

Daniel Doubrovkine (aka dB.) is a seasoned entrepreneur, technologist, CTO at Artsy.net in New York, the largest online fine art marketplace and publication. Daniel graduated from University of Geneva in late 90s with a degree in Computer Science, and founded and sold Vestris Inc., an early stage technology start-up right after college. He joined Microsoft as Development Lead, was Director at Visible Path, then Architect and Development Manager at Application Security. Daniel is the creator and maintainer of many popular open-source projects and a lifetime artist. Twitter: @dblockdotorg

 

Jennie Rose Halperin 

Jennie Rose Halperin is the Communications Manager at Creative Commons. She makes the CC communications and brand sparkle and works with communities to tell their stories through a variety of media. As a freelance writer and editor, Jennie is currently working with MIT’s CoLab, where she is assisting in the creation of a book and multimedia series on social justice for SAGE Publishing and the SEIU.  Before joining Creative Commons, Jennie worked for Safari Books Online/O’Reilly Media as the Product Engagement Manager where she managed community marketing and test-driven product growth with a mighty team of technologists dedicated to innovation in online learning. She was previously at Mozilla on the Community Building Team and earned her masters degree in Library Science.

 

Steven Masur

Steven Masur has over two decades of experience advising emerging and established businesses on new opportunities and business challenges. He focuses his practice on corporate finance, M&A, intellectual property, entertainment, emerging businesses and strategic guidance. Steve brings a unique mix of legal, business, and strategic experience to bear on client matters. He has counseled enterprise level clients including Shazam, Virgin Mobile, Liberty Media, Yamaha, Nielsen Buzzmetrics, Bob Vila and Conde Nast Publications in corporate, digital media, and new business matters. He has also helped emerging businesses in a wide variety of sectors, and is especially knowledgeable in media, entertainment, advertising, consumer products, food and technology, including mobile, games, digital music, social media, augmented and virtual reality, software and hardware.

 

Ken Umezaki

Ken Umezaki is an independent investor and business advisor for music startups and artists, through his company Digital Daruma, with a specific focus on artist facing music and media service companies. Digital Daruma has made select direct investments in music artists and songs, and has also co-founded Dot Blockchain Media, a public benefit corporation that has introduced a new music file technology architecture to modernize copyright management and the music supply chain fit for the digital music age. Ken currently is the Chief Business Officer of dotBC. His past experience includes 25 years in financial services trading, asset management and senior management positions. He is also an experienced musician, and currently plays bass in the band Fifth of Bourbon. Lastly, he is involved in a number of music foundations and academic organizations, including serving on the boards of Little Kids Rock, and Future of Music Coalition, as well as advisory board position for programs at New York University and Berklee College of Music.

 

Isabel Walcott Draves

Isabel Walcott Draves (moderator) is the founder of Leaders in Software and Art (LISA) and President of Creative Tech Week. She is an Internet entrepreneur with over two decades of experience organizing technology communities, conducting research and managing large projects.  In 2015, she started Creative Tech Week to create a network of creative and business professionals originating new technology-driven content in media, entertainment, advertising, music and the arts.  Since 2009, Draves has convened Leaders in Software and Art, bringing together cutting-edge software and electronic artists, curators, collectors, and coders to share their work in conferences, shows and salons.  Draves founded the first website for teen girls, SmartGirl.com, from 1995-2001; managed content publishing systems at Bertelsmann and directed an elite think tank for cybersecurity executives at Gartner in the 00’s; and has provided expert consulting to dozens of startups and Fortune 100 companies nationwide. Twitter: @creativetechwk @softwareandart

 

Our Host

The Open Source Music Festival, held Nov 16-18 2017 in NYC, explores groundbreaking creativity and collaboration in today’s contemporary music. The Festival features Artistic Director, pianist Joel Fan, premiering new works from composers Augusta Read Thomas, Bernard Rands, Evan Ziporyn, Christine Southworth, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon and others. Also performing are the NYC band Cellar and Point, electronic luminaries Teengirl Fantasy and ADR, the JACK Quartet, jazz guitarist Ben Monder, and cellist Jeffrey Ziegler. The Festival also provides for thought-provoking discussions on technology and musical innovation.

One thought on “Exploring the Impact of the Blockchain on Music and the Arts

  1. Ah… this would have been interesting. We just announced our partnership with BigchainDB to create what you are going to talk about on this panel. https://medium.com/@don_gossen/data-blockchain-toolkits-music-to-ais-ears-50f55b2ebfd6

    Have an awesome CTW!

    Matthias

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