Man Vs. Machine: The Curation Dilemma
Music discovery used to be simple. Tastemakers, usually DJs, introduced us to new artists. Times have changed. Some argue that the advent of collaborative filtering and data mining has made it easier to find and discover artists, while others argue that the removal of the human element has made it harder to find new music to love. No one quite has the perfect formula. Explore how man and machine crawl and curate the world’s music to deliver your music.
Presenters
Stephen White
Pres
Gracenote
Rising through the ranks at Gracenote, Stephen has played a critical role in shaping the company into a digital entertainment leader. He spearheaded the development of Gracenote technologies for top entertainment platforms and brands, including Apple, Ford and Sony. Today, he oversees all company strategy and operations, and is responsible for growing Gracenote’s core business and vision.
Marc Ruxin
CEO & Founder
TastemakerX
Marc is the founder and CEO of TastemakerX, a social game for music discovery. The platform allows users to express tastes and preferences by building virtual collections of the artists they love, and connect with like-minded music fans. TastemakerX launched in June 2012 and has become the one of the first platforms to leverage a game mechanic to surface real time musical trends. Available on iOS and the web, TastemakerX is free to join, and will be rolling out new platforms like Spotify, Android and Facebook in 2013.
Prior to founding TastemakerX, Marc was the Chief Innovation Officer at UniversalMcCann and McCannErikson. Prior to this Marc was chief operating officer of The Mill Group and Beam.tv, VP of business development at iVast, and Eveo, inc. Marc also worked for WPP Group, as an MBA Marketing Fellow and started his career in A&R at EMI Records.
Marc sits on the Boards and Advisory Boards of numerous internet and technology start-ups and is on the BoD of the San Francisco Film Society. Marc has a BA from Hamilton College and an MBA from Columbia Business School, and lives in San Francisco with his wife and three children. Marc blogs about music and film at www.snoozebutton.com and the Huffington Post.
Ian Rogers
CEO
Beats Music
Eric Bieschke
Chief Scientist & VP of Playlists
Pandora
Tim Quirk
Head of Global Content Programming
Quirk is currently Head of Global Content Programming for Google Play, where he leads the team responsible for music, books, apps, and video merchandising. Prior to Google, he was vp of music programming for Rhapsody. He spent much of the '80s and '90s as the singer and lyricist for the punk-pop band Too Much Joy, before easing his way into music journalism and the digital music business. He's been a regular contributor to popular publications ranging from Ray Gun magazine to The San Francisco Chronicle, and his critical essays have been published in anthologies such as This is Pop and Best Music Writing 2010.
Chris Becherer
VP Prod
Rdio
Chris is the Head of Product at Rdio, where he oversees the design and management of Rdio’s entire suite of products. Chris has over 12 years of experience in the tech/internet/mobile space. Before joining Rdio, he spent 7 years in Apple’s product group working on iPhone and iOS. Chris holds an undergraduate engineering degree from Northwestern University and an MBA from UC Berkeley. Chris has long had a passion for music, beginning his career as a college rep for Virgin Records. He is also the founder and producer of the Afghan Music Project, a mixed-media social venture seeking to raise awareness of Afghan culture through music. He lives and surfs in Pacifica, California.
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