With thanks to support from Creative Victoria, AIR presents our Neighbouring Rights webinar featuring Gerry McKenna, Jake Mason, Jon Payne, Lee Barlow, Sohail Hassan, and Susan Cotchin, you can watch our esteemed panel discuss the ways artists and labels can get on top of their international revenue streams, in this unmissable webinar.

On Wednesday 28th October at 9:00am AIR is hosting a Neighbouring Rights webinar via zoom which will discuss the ways artists and labels can get on top of their international revenue streams.

The panel will feature:
Gerry McKenna 
White Sky

Gerry’s career commenced in 1977 at Charisma Records UK as the Accounts Assistant. The office was situated above the famous Marque Club in London.

In 1981 after being head hunted by Mute Records joined the company as the fourth employee stating as the Accounts department and later becoming a Director of the company.

In 1988 travelled to Australia and fell in love with the country and later emigrated to work at Mushroom Records. Whilst awaiting her Australian visa she returned to the UK and worked as a royalty consultant at Polygram Music Video.

In 1991 started at Mushroom Group initially in the royalty department and later became the International and Australian Mushroom Group Royalty Manager travelling to the London and Amsterdam on a regular basis. 

In 1998 she identified a need in Australia for an independent royalty auditing and statement production service and was quickly recognized as Australia’s number one music royalties’” expert. Royalty Accounting Services clients included numerous leading Australian artists.

In 2012 Gerry formed a new alliance with the White Sky group, building their royalties division from the ground up and mentoring a new team of royalty analysts to provide expertise and royalty accounting services to an extensive list of clients in Australia and abroad.

Jake Mason
Soul Messin’ Records

A twice ARIA nominated and APRA awarded songwriter, member of the Resolution Pathways Stakeholder Group and Governance Committee (an ACCC authorised body that resolves issues and disputes for music creators, music users, APRA-AMCOS and OneMusic Australia) and a member of the Music Victoria Artist Advisory Panel, Jake Mason is a 25-year quiet achiever of the Australian music industry.

Jake’s co-write ‘This Girl’ (Kungs Vs Cookin’ On 3 Burners) which charted at number 1 in over 10 countries also hit the top 10 in 35 countries. The song has had over 1 billion streams, earning its creators an APRA Award and was the most shazamed dance track worldwide in 2016. The Jake Mason Trio debut album ‘Stranger in the Mirror’ was ARIA nominated as Best Jazz Album in 2018.

Bridging jazz/soul and pop, Jake has released 15 albums and established his own label and studio – Soul Messin’ Records. He manages the business affairs of Cookin’ On 3 Burners and Jake Mason Trio.

Jake’s multi-genre success has been achieved through deep engagement with traditional musical technique and cutting edge technology in composition, performance and business savvy. This combination of skills has allowed Jake’s work to establish local, national and international reach.

Screen work includes TV as diverse as Love Island, A Million Little Things, MacGyver and My Life Is Murder. In advertising/sync, Jake’s music has featured in campaigns for Just Jeans, Westpac (Australia), Peugeot (Europe), Samsung (USA, played at the Superbowl), Vogue, Victoria’s Secret and the Ellen Degeneres Show.

Jake has featured with artists including Tex Perkins, Richard Clapton, Josh Teskey, Mark Seymour, Clare Bowditch and Hugh Jackman. He has co-written in recent times with Eric McCusker (Mondo Rock), Kate Ceberano, Tania Doko (Bachelor Girl), Paulini, and Melinda Schneider

Alongside his own musical pursuits, Jake is committed to the development of the next generation of songwriters through mentoring initiatives including APRA’s ‘Melbourne Sessions’ and his long-term association with Caulfield Grammar.

Jake is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, is deeply engaged with the Victorian music scene and is excited to contribute to the dynamic momentum of Australian music.

Jon Payne 
David Weise & Associates – US

Jon Payne began his career in Nashville at Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). He spent five years with BMI, working with the TV Data and International Departments while assisting the Information Technology Department with enhancing and improving data management. In 2001, Jon accepted a position at Famous Music Publishing in Los Angeles. He spent more than four years gaining extensive knowledge about songwriter agreements, publishing, sub-publishing, auditing, income-tracking and administration. Jon left Famous Music in 2005 for a Senior Analyst position at Warner Music Group and was soon promoted to Manager of the Rhino artist and publishing statement groups, ensuring accuracy in artist and publisher accountings. He assisted with the implementation of the Sarbanes Oxley initiative soon after Warner Music Group’s IPO, identifying and mitigating areas of potential exposure within the royalty accounting process. Jon joined David Weise & Associates, Inc., in 2008 as Manager of Royalties and Publishing, eventually promoting to the title of Director of Royalties. He brings over twenty-five years of experience in various areas of recording industry administration. He provides royalty administration, expert witness testimony and auditing expertise to the firm. In January 2015, Jon became a Partner at DWA. DWA merged with NKSFB, LLC in 2019.



Lee Barlow 
Mushroom Records

Lee Barlow heads up the Royalty & Analytics department for Mushroom Labels and Good Neighbour; Mushroom Group’s Record Label and Neighbouring Rights divisions, working with artists such as Vance Joy, Childish Gambino, Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Barnes. Prior to Mushroom, Lee held senior positions at the PIAS Entertainment Group, Europe’s leading independent music company, working with labels like Beggars Group, Domino Recordings, BMG and Secretly Canadian. He has extensive experience in data extraction, royalty processing and analysis, and spends large parts of his day looking for the next piece of innovative tech to help empower his team and the independent label and artist community he has worked with for almost 15 years.

Sohail Hasan
Xelon Digital

Sohail’s role at Xelon Digital involves working with our in-house labels, label partners and individual artists to educate and monetize income related to neighbouring rights collection societies worldwide 

 

Susan Cotchin 
Good Neighbour

Susan Cotchin is a “walking encyclopedia” of neighbouring rights. Starting in the music industry as a child performer & later as a signed singer/songwriter, Susan has a BA (With distinction – Music Industry) and is currently undertaking a Juris Dr.

Susan ventured into her neighbouring rights career in the U.K. as Royalty Accounts Manager with the Performing Artists’ Media Right Association (PAMRA, now merged with PPL and AURA), and 3 years later founded her own company in London, International Royalties Rescue (IRR), one of the first neighbouring rights agencies in the world.

Susan has recently teamed up with Michael Gudinski’s iconic Mushroom Group to launch Good Neighbour, bringing a marriage of specialist neighbouring rights knowledge to a longstanding trusted & reliable brand.

Susan has managed rights for artists including Beyoncé, Rihanna, Radiohead, Amy Shark, The Temper Trap and many more.

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