Our Board Members
Our board is made up of a range of well respected industry peers who are experts in their fields. They give us a great representation of the industry in addition to providing a powerhouse of knowledge and experience to develop the organisation in the interests of our members and friends.
Samantha Schilling
IAFAR – Chair
Songtradr Inc
Samantha Schilling Robinson has years of solid experience in international audiovisual IP, including licensing, registration, and claims emphasizing on rights management, artist development, negotiation, and execution. For the last several years, her focus has been working alongside ancillary CMOs with a focus on Neighbouring Rights in Latin America with proven collection success throughout the territory
Abby North
IAFAR – Vice Chair
North Music Group LLC
Abby North is principal of North Music Group LLC and a founder of Unchained Melody Publishing LLC.
Abby has experience in all areas of music rights administration, from creative to administrative. She has vast experience in works registration, a strong knowledge of music data and databases, and a background developing royalty processing and rights administration software tools.
Abby is involved in several tech-forward, cutting-edge working groups and initiatives in the music licensing and metadata areas. She consults and advises companies in the financial sector and music industries regarding these issues. Abby is a board member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the AIMP, and a member of the ISNI Music Consultation Group, CISAC’s CWR Working Group, NMPA’s Team 100, the Television Academy, and SONA’s Steering Committee.
Ann Tausis
IAFAR – Treasurer/Secretary
CEO Kollective Neighbouring Rights
Ann Tausis is CEO of Kollective Neighbouring Rights, the largest Neighbouring Rights agent in the world. Ann has over 30 years experience in rights management, in both the neighbouring rights and music publishing sectors.
Starting her music career at STIM (Swedish Composer & Author society) in 1989, she went on to work for Sweden Music/PolyGram Publishing in her native Sweden before moving to London in 1996 and joining the international office of PolyGram Publishing, which later became Universal Music Publishing.
Ann joined Kobalt Neighbouring Rights as Managing Director in 2013 and built the company both organically and through the acquisition of Fintage House/Rights Agency Ltd. in 2016, to become the largest neighbouring rights agent in the world. She was subsequently promoted to CEO in 2019 and now holds the same position at Kollective Neighbouring Rights following Sony Music Entertainment/ The Orchard’s acquisition of the company in 2021. Ann appeared on the Billboard International Power Player list in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Ann is also co-founder of IAFAR .
Stacey Haber
IAFAR – Business and Legal Head
Inside Baseball – Owner
Once tagged by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the music industry’s leading experts, Stacey has 30 years’ experience as a music industry executive in London and New York. Currently the Founder of InsideBaseball Music Publishing, FoxPin Artist Management and The Music Firm, Stacey advises multiplatinum superstars to emerging artists. She has previously advised billion pound brands in the use of music in their marketing and advertising and global icons in their contract negotiations as part of the music team of a well known (but no longer existing) City firm. Favorite negotiation at that firm was for a music client’s appearance on The Simpsons. Stacey is Co-Author of: Sports vs Music – Sponsorship Showdown or Perfect Combination; her training began as the protégé of Mark Stephens CBE at Stephens Innocent and her work continued in-house at labels and publishers. She is a member of the National Union of Journalists and The Society of Authors, co-founded the Caribbean Brewing Authority microbrewery and created the original slate of programming for the African Caribbean Network cable network.
Shari Hoffman
IAFAR – Board Member
Transparence Entertainment Group – CEO
Shari Hoffman is Co-founder and CEO of Transparence Entertainment Group, a music rights organization that collects and distributes worldwide performance royalties on behalf of recording artists, master rights holders, producers, and DIY music creators. Prioritizing high-touch personal service, TEG identifies unclaimed royalties, streamlines registration & claiming processes, provides accurate and transparent evaluation of earnings, and eliminates needless fees by acquiring royalties directly from the source.
A professional vocalist and seasoned industry professional, Shari’s background includes record label promotion for multi-platinum recording artists, managing tour settlements for top grossing concerts worldwide, and representing above and below the line personnel for two major entertainment unions. Prior to launching TEG, she served as Chief Operating Officer for the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund, a collective management organization responsible for the collection and distribution of neighboring rights from various foreign territories and royalties established by government statute under U.S. Copyright Law.
In addition to the IAFAR, Shari serves on various boards and committees in the entertainment industry including the Los Angeles Jazz Society, the Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominating Committee and the Environment of People Foundation. She has participated as an educator, moderator & panelist on numerous panels & workshops and has been actively involved with the Recording Academy in legislative initiatives, including the passage of the Music Modernization Act.
Gina Deacon
IAFAR – Board Member
Bucks
Absolute Rights Management
Gina heads up Absolute Rights Management and has worked with Absolute Label Services for 19 years. Absolute Rights management is a joint venture between Absolute and Bucks Music Publishers and Absolute were the first label services business in the World. Currently working with acts and labels such as Jack Savoretti, Steps, The Overtones, Jake Shears, Bananarama, UB40, Howard Jones, Alesha Dixon Status Quo, Dappy, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Deacon Blue, Mel C and many new developing acts across all genres, as well as the worlds’ biggest independent Christian label – Integrity Music. Bucks Music Group is a leading UK independent music publisher with a reputable catalogue dating back to the 50’s. Roster includes many pioneer artists and musical innovators. The company’s principal business music publishing, but also includes licensing, music supervision and the operation of record labels Cube Soundtracks and Fly Records. Gina entered the music industry in 2000 and through hard work and dedication created an expanding department within Absolute committed to registering and sourcing royalties due to both Performers and Rights Holders. Having been fast tracked to promotion throughout her previous careers in sales and training, she is now dedicated to the role of educating artists on their royalty claims and how best we can work with them to collect what is rightfully due, in conjunction with PPL and the international collection societies. Neighbouring Rights are one of the few potentially major income areas for performers that are due whenever eligible recordings they have featured on audibly, are played in public or broadcast. Absolute Rights Management team understand the importance of this for our clients and offer a bespoke service dedicated to ensuring we claim the maximum royalties due to them.
Chris Sheehan
IAFAR – Board Member
Karousel Music – Co Founder, CEO
Help Musicians UK
Liquid Management
50:50 Studios
Chris is the co founder and CEO of Karousel Music, a London based CIC made up of musicians, songwriters and music industry professionals. Karousel are a boutique music publisher and around the publishing family, Karousel run a series of industry showcases with partners such as SESAC, Help Musicians UK, Leaf Grow and Ticketmaster, where the acts keep 100% of the ticket money giving artists the chance to be seen by the leading lights of the independent industry in London, as well as committed music lovers. These nights have provided over 460 showcase opportunities for artists both from inside and outside of London over the last 7 years, including showcases at The Great Escape and Reeperbahn Festival. In addition, Karousel run a series of industry networking events: from Industry Speed Dating to the now near legendary Music Biz Speed Quiz. Chris acts as the Music Industry Liaison for Help Musicians UK and is a passionate believer in the work the charity does to help musicians in crisis, early stage dunding and help in retirement. He also consults to Big Group on events around the Brit Awards, Champions League Final and Mercury Music prize sourcing and booking artists for large corporate sponsors including MasterCard and Hyundai and Management wise Chris co manages Pat Dam Smyth and Ren Harvieu with Liquid Management, and manages The Magic Lantern via Karousel. He was an artist and songwriter for 17 years and has recorded 2 solo albums and 2 collaborative albums with Mark E Brydon (Moloko) and Matt Deighton (Mother Earth, Oasis, Paul Weller, solo) as well as a wealth of co-writes. Chris has run 50:50 Studios in North London since 2005, and now finally, of course, he is a board member for the newly founded IAFAR (International Association for Artist Rights) which seeks to educate and advocate for musicians neighbouring rights.
Steve McMellon
IAFAR – Board Member
Southern Crossroads Music – CEO
Founding director and shareholder of Southern Crossroads Music (SCM), a London and Nashville production/publishing operation focusing mainly on Americana and Alt Country singer-songwriters and also specialising in the production, supervision and placement of music for motion pictures, TV and other audio-visual works. SCM’s other shareholder is the long-established “indie” film and TV music company, Silva Screen.
SCM songs have been placed in US TV franchises such as “True Detective”, “Justified”, “The Wire”, “The Affair”, “True Blood”, “Nashville” and more. SCM has 2 recent RIAA awards for songs performed by Tim McGraw and Brett Eldredge also has a cut featured on a successful new Kip Moore release.
Steve was a Music Producer on Tennessee Government’s film “Born In Bristol – the Big Bang of Country Music” and he is currently working on several Nashville-based music dramas and documentaries.
Prior to co-founding SCM, Steve was a joint-owner/MD of S1 Songs /S1Songs (America) that part-owned and managed:
- the Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen “SKG DreamWorks “ catalog (John Denver, Byrds, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Eat World, Papa Roach, Trammps);
- the “Wind Up” rock catalog (Creed, Evanescence, Seether);
- and the entire Sheryl Crow catalog amongst others.
The “S1” Catalog picked up 2 Grammy’s and100 plus RIAA Awards. Steve sold the Group to Chrysalis Music in 2010 and the iconic songs that formed the catalog are now part of the Reservoir Music portfolio.
Recent music production/supervision credits include the Oscar nominated animation “Bombay Rose” (Cinestaan Film).
Steve is a law and business graduate, has a PgD (with Merit) in UK, US and European Laws of Copyright and Related Rights from King’s College School of Law (London) and is a full member of the UK Music Producers Guild.
Joshua Graubart
IAFAR – Board Member
Graubart Law
Joshua Graubart is a copyright and entertainment attorney based in New York City. Josh regularly represents filmmakers, performers, recording artists, composers and songwriters (and their heirs), music publishers, and record labels in resolving copyright infringement and royalty disputes, and in protecting, exploiting, and licensing their copyrights and neighboring rights in order to maximize royalty and other income, and to protect their reputations and the reputations of their works in the United States and around the world. Josh has successfully represented three classes of American and foreign songwriters, music publishers, record companies, and recording artists in federal court in the United States, achieving settlements totaling almost US$10 million. He is a recent past chair of the Information Technology and Cyberlaw Committee at the New York City Bar Association, and is currently co-chair of special events for the New York chapter of the Copyright Society of the USA, and is also a long time member of the US section of the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale (ALAI). Josh holds an LL.M. (with merit) in international intellectual property law from the University of London, and received his J.D. from Duke University School of Law, where he was Chief Executive Editor of the Duke Law and Technology Review. He also holds degrees in history from and Dartmouth College and Duke University. Josh is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey, and California. He is conversant in Japanese.
Tania Oliveira
IAFAR – Board Member
Transparence Entertainment Group
Based in the United Kingdom, Tania Oliveira is the Director of Society Relations for Transparence Entertainment Group (TEG), a music rights organization that identifies, recovers and administers royalty and licensing income from various sources for music creators. TEG maximizes payments by administering rights around the world effectively, rapidly and with complete transparency. As former Co-Manager for Wixen UK LTD and her current involvement as a Board member of IAFAR (the International Association for Artists & Rightsholders), Tania has a comprehensive understanding of the various nuances of the UK and European publishing and worldwide neighboring rights. Prolific in both German and Russian, Tania is also a professional musician and songwriter who was signed to a pop-punk girl band in her teens and is now an active session guitarist and bassist. Her first-hand experience witnessing poor management and misinformation inspired Tania to protect the rights of music creators through education and activism.
Peggy Dold
IAFAR – Board Member
Navigation Partners LLC
Peggy Dold is CEO of Navigation Partners LLC, a company that provides business development advisory services to Talent, Rights Holders, Technology, Entertainment, and Media clients. Peggy has 20+ years of experience as a music executive in the General and Hispanic music markets. She has worked in multiple global markets and has lived in all of the major U.S. music markets – NY, Miami, LA, and Nashville.
Prior to reactivating Navigation Partners LLC, Peggy was Senior Vice President and Director of Music & Entertainment for IBERIABANK/First Horizon’s Sports & Entertainment division until IBERIABANK’s merger with First Horizon Bank in 2021.
Peggy also served as Vice President, International for the Univision Music Group; Talent and Artist Relations Consultant for MTV Networks Latin America; Head of Artist Relations for Crescent Moon Records (a joint venture between Emilio Estefan and Sony Music International); and Vice President of Marketing, Island Independent Label Group where she oversaw U.S. domestic marketing.
Peggy is active in the music and entertainment industries and currently serves on the boards of the Abbey Road Institute U.S. in Miami, of the New Dialect Contemporary Dance Company in Nashville, and of IAFAR UK (International Association for Artists & Rightsholders]. She is also a proud member of the Music Business Association, NARAS (the Grammy organization), LARAS (the Latin Grammy organization), AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists), META (Media, Entertainment and Technology Alliance), A2iM (The American Association of Independent Music), AIMP (Association of Independent Music Publishers), and the CMA (Country Music Association.)
Lionel Lodge
IAFAR – Board Member
Founder and CEO of SyncLodge
With over 40 years in the entertainment industry, I have been involved with a diverse spectrum of the industry. The key, in my view, is enthusiasm paired with detailed focus. Through this, I have been very fortunate to be a part of many team-focused and creative experiences.” Lionel has worked in the entertainment industry for all his adult life, as a creative as well as a business manager. He founded and managed a live music venue while in his early 20’s, founded and managed a live music booking agency with a team of 10 agents booking hundreds of artists all over the UK in the early 1990’s, held the position of Senior Editor and Co-Publisher of a UK based entertainment magazine with a circulation of 40,000 per month and a team of over 50 people, in the mid 1990’s and until recently (until the realization that SyncLodge was needed to be built) was the founder and managing director of a sync licensing agency. Lionel is currently the Founder and CEO of SyncLodge, the sync licensing project management system. On the creative side Lionel has written hundreds of songs and co-written many more. He has produced albums, engineered recordings, arranged music, performed 1000’s of live shows, and has 12 albums released under his name.
Lee-Ann Wielonda
IAFAR – Board Member
Absolute Rights Management
For over twenty years, Lee-Anne has been putting her love for music and dedication to performers’ rights to work. She is instrumental in the administrative procedures that put rights in place in Canada to compensate recording artists for work done on sound recordings in international territories.
Dennis Dreith
IAFAR – Board Member
Transparence Entertainment Group
Dennis Dreith is the Co-founder and Chairman of Transparence Entertainment Group (TEG), a music rights organization that collects and distributes worldwide digital performance, audio-visual, private copy, and exclusive license royalties on behalf of recording artists, master right holders, producers, publishers, and DIY music creators. Prioritizing high-touch personal service, TEG provides transparent, accurate and expedited evaluation of earnings, identifies unclaimed royalties, streamlines registration & claiming processes, and eliminate superfluous fees by acquiring royalties directly from the source.
Prior to forming TEG, Dennis was the Executive Director for the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund, overseeing its growth from its inception in 1999 with a mere $187,000 in assets to over $100M today, as well as concurrently serving as the Administrator of the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund. Dennis also served as the International President of the Recording Musicians Association for 15 years and he addressed the House Sub-committee on Intellectual Properties in support of Digital Performers Rights legislation in Washington, D.C. that was signed into law in 1995. Dennis’ early career included touring and recording as a musician and arranger for The Beach Boys, The Osmond’s, Leon Russell, Barbara Streisand; producing artists that include the O’Jays and The Tokens; composing music for Scooby Doo, The Punisher, Columbo, The Flash, and The Shadow; and orchestrating and conducting for award winning composers Lalo Schifrin, Marc Shaiman, John Williams and James Horner.
Andrew Mitchley
IAFAR – Board Member
SAMPRA
Andrew Mitchley is a South African music executive, entrepreneur & tech investor, with over 20 years of industry experience. Based in Johannesburg, Andrew is currently serving on the board of the South African Music Performance Rights Association (SAMPRA), and has previously held the position as a non-executive director of the Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA) & RISA Audio Visual (RAV). Andrew is the Chief Operations Officer & head of A&R at David Gresham Records & has recently become the co-founder and Managing Director at Gresham Rights Management, a direct licensing company representing SESAC & The Harry Fox Agency in Sub-Saharan Africa. Andrew co-founded MAUSTRACK.com a website designed to assist artists and songwriters with understanding & unlocking value for their performing and neighboring rights from radio & television airplay.
Josh Norek
IAFAR – Board Member
Regalías Digitals LLC
Josh Arón Norek is the president of Regalías Digitales LLC, a firm that helps hundreds of artists, record labels, songwriters and music publishers to collect their royalties worldwide and to license their songs for film & television. Among the firm’s clients are Daddy Yankee, Los Tigres del Norte, Primus, Flatbush Zombies and the estate of Astor Piazzolla. Norek is a co-founder of the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC), and served as VP of Nacional Records for ten years. Norek also co-hosts the nationally syndicated public radio show ‘The Latin Alternative’ and serves on the board of voter rights organization Voto Latino. He is a graduate of Cornell University and Southwestern Law School.
Reggie Calloway
IAFAR – Board Member
The five-time Grammy-nominated Reggie Calloway has always displayed a unique ear for music and trends. It is no surprise that the music pioneer received a Grammy nomination for R&B Songwriter of the Year for the hit song “Casanova” in 1987.
Best known as the founder and leader of one of the most popular Techno-funk bands, “Midnight Star”, Calloway led the group to international success writing, producing and arranging a string of top mega #1 hits which include, ” Operator”, “No Parking On The Dance Floor” and “Freak-a-zoid”. Not to forget the #2 Pop anthem, “I Wanna Be Rich”, performed with brother, Vincent, as the duo Calloway. This song is still being used today as a motivational tool for corporations, businesses and by financial wizards like Suze Orman’s Money Class.
One of Calloway’s original compositions entitled, “I’ll Be Good For You”, was featured on N’Sync’s 10X’s-platinum CD, “No Strings Attached” (most selling Album of last decade), proving his ability to break age barriers by working with current artists and legends. He has penned songs for the chart topping group, Levert, (“Casanova”), the sultry Teddy Pendergrass (“Joy”), the Grammy winning Gladys Knight, (“Love Overboard”) and “Jump Start My Heart” for Natalie Cole.
His songs have been featured in films including “Deep Cover”, “Wood”, “How To Be A Player” and “The Pickup Artist”. Some of Calloway’s television credits: “American Idol”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, “The Simpson’s”, “Ellen Degeneress”, “Soul Food”, “Beverly Hills 90210” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. Now enjoy his latest solo releases, ”Bring Back The Love” and “Throw Your Hands Up” (And Praise Him) on Spiral Galaxy Entertainment distributed Universal Music Group/Bungalo.
For representation contact: David Lombard Management 213-448-6402
George Schwindt
IAFAR – Board Member
26F Music Publishing
George is a longtime advocate for artists and creators. He is the founder & managing director of 26F Music Publishing; providing (or having had provided) publishing administration services and music industry navigation tools for many indie and mainstream artists. George was also a member/drummer/songsmith of Flogging Molly from 1995-2015, a globally recognized triple platinum band. He remains active in the recording/touring community and is endorsed by Yamaha Drums, Vic Firth Sticks, Remo Heads, and Paiste Cymbals. He teaches the introductory Music Publishing course at UCLA Extension and holds a B.A. in Music and an Executive M.B.A. In addition, George serves on the advisory board of Quantic Entrepreneurs for entertainment business start-ups and the advisory board of Kelp Digital, a content platform on the Anagolay blockchain for the digital photography market.
Naomi Asher
IAFAR – Advisor (former chair)
VP, Songwriter Services and Neighbouring Rights
Naomi Asher is Vice President of Neighbouring Rights and Songwriter Services at Sony Music Publishing. Naomi previously co-founded Wixen Music UK Ltd, serving as Director and President from 2010 to January 2020. She co-founded IAFAR in 2018, after being frustrated by the lack of transparency in the neighbouring rights income stream. She is co-author of the UK edition of The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing. In addition, she has also published the novels, Shakespeare’s Ripper and By Page. As a publisher, she has served on many PRS committees. She has been a panellist for many Neighbouring Rights education events, webinars, and workshops. She also acts as an Ambassador for the F-List (the first female focused music database).
