Entrepreneur, Digital Media Expert, Advisor, Coach, Author

Gerd Leonhard is the Founder www.licensemusic.com, now a division of Charly Licensing APS. LicenseMusic.com is a Business-to-Business (b2b) music services company that provides innovative music licensing services to professionals in the film, television, advertising, interactive, new media and related audio-visual industries worldwide. Licensemusic offers both blankets and subscriptions to music content to be used in audio-visual productions as well as online licensing of hit songs and well-known artists.

Prior to founding LicenseMusic.com in 1997, Gerd founded and managed Music Workz, an event production and music business consulting company based near Freiburg, Germany, working with clients such as MTV / VH-1, MIDEM, London Music Week, Canadian Music Week, MY-CD, Audiosoft, MCY Music and various directorates of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. Gerd also served as Executive Director of the critically acclaimed European talent-search event "EuroPopDays 1995", which showcased over 200 selected unsigned bands from 20 European countries. Prior to EuroPopDays, Gerd was New Business Director of Europe's first Contemporary Music Institution in Freiburg, Germany and served as an expert advisor to the European Commission on employment, socio-economic and technological issues in the arts.

In 1987, Gerd earned a diploma in Performance from Boston's Berklee College of Music (www.berklee.edu) after winning Berklee's prestigious Quincy Jones Award for arranging and composing, which granted him a full scholarship.

A guitarist, composer, producer and music business entrepreneur with deep know-how and hands-on expertise in Internet music ventures, digital media copyright issues, and next-generation business models, Gerd is a visionary and pioneer in exploring and defining the business perspectives of the digital content economy. A sought-after panelist, contributor and moderator at conventions, educational institutions, trade shows and conferences, Gerd has spoken at countless events including Webnoize, MIDEM, MILIA, MB-5, Content Summit Zuerich, Internet Content, Streaming Media Europe, the Indie Music Forum, DDMI / Digital Distribution of Music Conference, EADP, AFIM and Gartner Conferences; and has lectured at leading educational institutions around the globe including UC Berkeley, the University of Colorado at Bolder, City University London, Berklee College of Music, Musikhochschule Hamburg, and the University of Miami. Gerd‚s commentaries on the status of the music industry have appeared in many national and international publications, including Wired.com, Cnet.com, Billboard, Variety Magazin, the Hollywood Reporter, and the SF Chronicle.

My podcasts and various audio interviews
Live on NBC
Future of Music Book Podcasts

Buy the audio book
Flickr Slideshow on Music Industry

My presentations
Need more Music Industry Resources?

www.gerdleonhard.com
www.thefutureof.net
www.startupcoach.ch