June 9, 2026 – GMPS – AI for Good

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how music publishers work. This panel explores three ways AI is being put to work in publishing today: detecting streaming fraud and protecting rightsholder revenue, streamlining day-to-day operations and data verification, and building rights-based licensing frameworks between AI platforms and publishers. A grounded, practical conversation about the tools and frameworks that are changing the business right now.

Edward Ginis, OpenPlay (Moderator)

Liz Moody, Granderson Des Rochers
Larry Mills, Vobile
Ben Bailer, Bailer Music
Ali Lieberman, Symphonic Distribution

Legendary songwriter and producer Glen Ballard sits down with Concord’s Tom DeSavia for an intimate, candid conversation about a career that has shaped popular music for decades. From the stories behind iconic songs to the craft of songwriting and the business of publishing, this is a rare opportunity to hear one of music’s most influential voices speak openly about the work that defines his legacy.

Tom DeSavia
Glen Ballard

An unfiltered look at the state of sync today, driven entirely by the audience. From pitching and pricing to creative trends and deal realities, this session invites real-time questions via live submission, creating an open and honest conversation between music supervisors and the people pitching to them.

Brooke Primont, Concord Music Publishing (Moderator)

Amanda Levine, Platinum Rye Entertainment
Kara Foley, PULSE Music Group
Melissa Somosky, Independent Music Consultant

The center of gravity in music publishing is shifting. Latin, MENA, Africa, and South Asia are no longer emerging markets waiting their turn. They are power centers generating global hits, reshaping deal structures, and forcing the entire industry to rethink what international publishing looks like. This panel brings together publishing executives and industry leaders with deep roots in these markets for a candid conversation about regional growth, cross-border opportunity, and what every publisher needs to understand about where the business is heading.

Adam Parness, Music Consulting (Moderator)

Elizabeth Rodda, peermusic
Jashima Wadehra, ODE Consulting
Spek, PopArabia
Thando Makhunga, Downtown Music Publishing Africa

What does it actually take to run an independent publishing operation today? The answers are more interesting than you might think. This conversation brings together indie publishing leaders for a candid, global look at the wins, the challenges, and the shifts defining the independent landscape today. From deal structures and international growth to sync opportunities and creator development, this is the session where the indie community speaks for itself.ad.

Amber Charania, YouTube (Moderator)

Danny Abowd, The Royalty Network
Delphine Dalquie-Dickson, 22D Music Group
Heather Johnson, Sub Pop
Jennifer Newman Sharpe, Exceleration Music

The U.S. Copyright Office is navigating one of the most consequential moments in the history of music publishing. From AI and training data to streaming fraud, termination rights, and a sweeping modernization effort, the questions facing rights holders have never been more complex or more urgent. Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter and General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights Emily L. Chapuis join us for a candid fireside conversation about where copyright law stands today, what the Office is doing to modernize for the digital age, and what independent publishers need to understand about the road ahead.

Art Levy, Songtradr (Moderator)

Shira Perlmutter, U.S. Copyright Office
Emily L. Chapuis, U.S. Copyright Office

The policy landscape shaping music publishing has never been more consequential. From Capitol Hill to industry boardrooms, the rules are being tested, challenged, and in some cases rewritten. This annual conversation brings together leading legal and policy voices to break down the Washington developments that matter most right now and what they mean for your catalog, your rights, and your business going forward.

Michael Simon, HFA (Moderator)

Chris Barkley, NMPA
Graham Davies, DIMA
Linda Bloss-Baum, SONA
Morna Willens, RIAA

AIMP NY brings together four of New York’s leading indie publishing A&R executives for a candid conversation about what’s shaping the field — what catches their attention in emerging writers, how they develop and support their rosters, and what they’re seeing across the NYC songwriter community right now. A grounded look at how A&R is evolving in independent publishing and what it means for the creative ecosystem here in New York.

Moderator: 
David Hoffman, Reservoir

Speakers:  
Cabrea Casey, Downtown Music Publishing
Lau Frías, Secretly Group
Carlos Lopez Jr., Domino Records & Publishing
Zack Weinstein, Sunset Songs

Laura “Lau” Frías is an A&R Director at Secretly Group (Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Saddest Factory Records and Secretly Canadian), bringing her experience championing artists and paving new paths for underrepresented sounds, spaces and music scenes around the world. Having moved from Lima, Perú to Los Angeles in 2012, she’s been a fundamental voice for the Latinx music community (Omar Apollo, Cuco and more). Frías first worked at Kobalt Music Group for six years, where she worked on global initiatives across Synch Licensing, Publishing A&R, and Records A&R at then-sister company AWAL. Lau has a natural gift for world building and creative direction, which landed her a job at Secretly Group. Now in New York and at Secretly, she’s amplifying some of the most exciting new voices in the indie space, including Chanel Beads, Wednesday, Cassandra Jenkins and more.

Cabrea Casey is an established A&R Director based in New York, with over a decade of experience working in Music Publishing. Cabrea has proudly signed publishing deals with Ani DiFranco, Momma, Annie DiRusso, Pom Pom Squad, Nation of Language, and Phony Ppl to name a few. In parallel to her career in Publishing, Cabrea regularly DJ’s around New York City and Brooklyn; as a DJ, she has performed at Soho House, National Sawdust, Baby’s All Right, Nicky’s Unisex, Knitting Factory and more.

Join industry leaders for a discussion on the importance of music in sports and how it all comes together to create a memorable product for sports and music fans alike.

Moderator: 
Antonella DiSaverio, BMI

Speakers:  
Claude Mitchell, ESPN
John Sands, IMG Media
Stephanie Scarpulla, Major League Baseball

John Sands is head of IMG Music – the preferred vendor production music resource at IMG. Nominated for two Sports Emmy Awards, John is a music producer, composer, and music supervisor whose music has been featured in hundreds of shows. IMG Music’s award-winning composer team has written the title music / original scores for top sports broadcasts, documentary films, and television programs. Recent bespoke scores include ALLEN IV3RSON (Prime Video), UFC JOURNEY (ESPN+), SUPER BOWL GREATEST COMMERCIALS: HALL OF FAME COUNTDOWN (CBS / PARAMOUNT+), DP WORLD TOUR (GOLF CHANNEL), and ANDREW YOUNG: THE DIRTY WORK (MS NOW). 


Claude Mitchell leads the ESPN Music Department as Coordinating Director, Music, overseeing the network’s end‑to‑end music strategy and creative vision. He directs all music operations, including original composition, scoring initiatives, and high‑value licensing partnerships with artists such as Kendrick Lamar, H.E.R., Chris Stapleton, Snoop Dogg, Imagine Dragons, J. Cole, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and U2. Mitchell also drives strategic music placement across ESPN’s broad portfolio of programming and live events, delivering impactful exposure and cultural reach for artists and rights holders.


Stephanie Scarpulla is the VP of Global Music Partnerships & Music and Media Clearances for Major League Baseball and MLB Network. A three-time Emmy award-winner, Stephanie has been with the organization for 17 years.  She works to create innovative ways to engage with artists and fans on and off the Major League Baseball platform and helps to develop the MLB music marketing strategy – spanning live events, brand campaigns, social and digital media, original content scores, gaming franchises and platforms, music supervision, licensing & clearances for studio programming.

The Vetter v. Resnik ruling is already reshaping conversations around U.S. termination rights, with significant implications for independent publishers, songwriters, and rights professionals.

Join our panel of leading legal experts as they break down what the decision actually says, why it matters, and how it could influence everything from catalog valuation and deal structuring to long-term rights strategy.

We’ll unpack the court’s reasoning in clear, practical terms and outline the key considerations every stakeholder should understand as the termination landscape continues to evolve. If you work with songs, rights, or contracts, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Moderator: 
Consuelo Sayago, Cribnote Entertainment
Speakers:  
Lisa Alter, Alter, Kendrick & Baron, LLP
Frank Scibilia, Pryor Cashman LLP

Since she was in high school Consuleo Sayago knew she wanted to work with songwriters and copyright, and this was the road she undertook.

Consuelo is currently the CEO/Founder at CribNote Entertainment which offers music publishing and rights management consulting services. and music business solutions for artists and songwriters at various stages of their careers and a music publishing model that is tailored to the needs of the client.
Most recently, she was the VP of Global Administration at Spirit Music Group where she oversaw the administration of the Spirit Catalog, which contains such greats as the Pete Townshend, Billy Squier, T-Rex, and Dropkick Murphys catalogs.

Other previously held positions include Head of Society relations at the UAE based collective rights organization, ESMAA, the General Manager at Mojo Music & Media in their start up year, and AVP of International at BMI.

She was elected and is currently a member of the MLC’s Dispute Resolution Committee and she frequently speaks on panels at music conferences and universities.

Consuelo holds a Bachelor of Science in Music from Hofstra University and a certificate from Columbia Graduate School of Business in Emerging Leadership.

Lisa Alter is a founding partner of Alter, Kendrick & Baron, LLP in New York City. Ms. Alter’s practice is focused primarily on transactions relating to the acquisition and sale of significant music assets. As part of her practice, she conducts in-depth due diligence and copyright analyses and negotiates and closes complex stock and asset purchase agreements. Her clients include a number of prominent major and independent music publishing companies and record labels, as well as equity investors, lenders, and financing partners in the music space.

Ms. Alter’s clients also include a large number of bespoke songwriters, recording artists, and producers as well as musical estates comprising the successors to many of the great American songbook composer and lyricists. Among her clients are numerous inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and recipients of Grammy and Ivor Novello Awards.

Ms. Alter lectures frequently on copyright issues at professional and music industry meetings in both the US and the UK. She has served as a Visiting Professor at Yale Law School where she taught a course on the Law and Business of Music, and has written numerous articles addressing music publishing and copyright matters. She is the author of “Protecting Your Musical Copyrights” which is widely relied upon in the music publishing industry.

Ms. Alter is perennially recognized in Billboard’s “Top Music Lawyers” and “Power” lists, as well as Variety’s “Legal Impact Report,” “Dealmakers Impact Report,” “New York Women’s Impact Report,” and “New York Dealmakers Elite.” She has also been named as one of Billboard’s “Women in Music: Executives of the Year,” The Hollywood Reporter’s “New York Power Lawyers,” and U.S. News & World Report’s New York City “Best Lawyer of the Year” in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Entertainment Law – Music.


Partner Frank Scibilia is co-chair of Pryor Cashman’s Music Group, and is a member of the Litigation, Intellectual Property, Media + Entertainment, and Digital Media Groups; he is also co-chair of the firm’s Copyright, M+E Litigation, Music Litigation, and Music Transactions Practices. In the fast-moving entertainment field where new technology is constantly reshaping both the business and legal landscapes, Frank stays in front of the key issues affecting his clients.

A highly accomplished intellectual property and entertainment lawyer, Frank represents content owners on all aspects of copyright law – including litigation, licensing, enforcement, rights clearance and due diligence – with a strong focus on digital music issues. His work has a direct financial impact on his major music industry clients, their songwriters and recording artists, and the industry as a whole.

NMPA President & CEO David Israelite will give his forecast for the major battles ahead including the Copyright Royalty Board proceedings which will determine streaming rates for 2028-2032, the fight to end Spotify’s flawed bundling scheme, and the challenge of ensuring songwriters are fairly compensated in the Age of AI. 

Israelite is the President and CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). Since taking the helm of the NMPA in 2005, he has overseen groundbreaking victories on behalf of publishers and songwriters, including the largest Copyright Royalty Board rate increase in history, landmark royalty agreements with streaming platforms, and the passage of the Music Modernization Act, which created the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). Named multiple times to Billboard’s Power 100, Israelite also serves on the boards of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Special Olympics DC, and previously served on the board of the Country Music Association (CMA). In addition, he is President of the NMPA S.O.N.G.S. Foundation, which supports emerging songwriters through scholarships and direct services.

Follow the life of a song from creation to full registration in this practical, step-by-step session. We’ll walk through the real-world process of registering songs for publishing, performance, and mechanical royalties, covering both manual and electronic methods (including CWR). Topics include split sheets, metadata collection, title matching, and the role of key organizations involved in the registration process.

Learn how to avoid common errors (misspellings, missing writers, duplicate registrations), and gain insights into metadata management, song exploitation, and royalty tracking. Whether you are a publisher, administrator, or songwriter, this is your practical guide to getting registrations right and getting paid.