The Ultimate List: Must-Follow Music Industry Professionals for Aspiring Artists & Creatives

Krystle Delgado

Founder and CEO of Delgado Entertainment Law, PLLC, Ms. Delgado is no newbie to business or entertainment. Starting her first business at age 16, Ms. Delgado quickly found success within the entertainment field competing in Miss America pageants, modeling, as well as creating and releasing music under her stage name, Miss Krystle. Now with over 20 years experience in business and entertainment fields, Ms. Delgado has applied her innovative approaches to her client brand strategies, negotiates high-stake deals, and confidently defends her clients in Court. As an entertainment and music business attorney, Ms. Delgado combines her knowledge of business and branding, with the essentials of intellectual property, including copyright and trademark law.
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Contact: krystle@delgadoentertainmentlaw.com
Website: https://www.delgadoentertainmentlaw.com/
Socials: https://linktr.ee/topmusicattorney LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krystle-delgado-16405573/ Website 2: https://www.topmusicattorney.com/

Adam Ivy

Named one of the 150 Great Marketers to Follow in 2015 by Dave Kerpen of Likeable.com for planning, developing, and implementing highly successful Marketing, Public Relations, and Communications campaigns. Proven ability to work with Executives, Managers, and Staff to deliver high quality projects for key constituents and the media.
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@adamivy
Website: https://adamivy.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamivy/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamivy/

Wendy Day

I love helping people make money with their music, and along the way I've helped build a star or two. Or thirty. I prefer working with new artists to build their buzz--it's not as fun for me once they are stars because the job switches from building awareness and converting fans, to answering the phone and choosing opportunities! I don't mind the hard work in the early stages, and although there's more money at the star level, there's a magic and authenticity that exists with a hungry artist grinding their way to stardom. There's nothing like it. Did I mention that I love what I do??

I'm fortunate to be able to detect a need and fill it. I believe good business can be done ethically and legitimately with determination and dedication. And while I've helped build some of the biggest superstars in music today, I did so by treating stars like regular people and regular people like stars. I set goals and achieve them. I have a gift of being able to read people and, with fame, I can differentiate between hype and real popularity. I give consumers what they want (and need), in the form they want, at a fair price point. I also have the gift of being able to share and teach what I do with others. I believe success and money are infinite and they demand to be shared!

Some of the artists I've worked with: Cash Money Records (Juvenile, Hot Boyz, BG, Lil Wayne, Big Tymers), No Limit Records (C-Murder, TRU, Mia X, Beats By The Pound, Master P, Fiend, Mac), Eminem, David Banner, Ruff Ryders, Twista, Do Or Die, Slick Rick, Ras Kass, MGK, Joyner Lucas, Young Buck, Hurricane Chris, Trouble, Lil Donald, Foolio...and many others. My clients have sold over a billion records (singles, downloads, and streams) during the past 27 years of my career.

I am most thankful to still be relevant. Most of the folks who started in music when I did are long gone. And the truth is if you had told me that I’d still be working with rappers in my 50s, I’d have said you were nuts!
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisiswendyday Contact: thisiswendyday@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rapcoalition/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyday/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/rapcoalition

Sean "Brandman" Taylor

Better known as "Brandman Sean", I'm a music marketing strategist, entrepreneur and brand builder. I've worked with artists like Macy Gray, 24KGoldn, Trap Beckham, and many more.

I'm Cofounder of ContraBrand Agency, a marketing firm that helps new artists get their first hit song and established artists to get their next one.

Marketer & Consultant for labels and indie artists
Branding | Growth | Monetization
Cofounder of @contrabrand.agency
@nolabelsnecessary
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandmanNetwork
Website: https://www.brandmansean.com/home28989694 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandmansean/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-taylor-26896323/ Website 2: https://brandmannetwork.com/ Interview: https://www.modern-musician.com/podcast-episode-62-sean-taylor

Damian Keyes

In summary, Music… Education …Business

1997 - Career started at 19 as a bass tutor at The Academy of Contemporary Music and over the next few years I become head of sales and built the evening p/t school before becoming part of the core management team.

2001 - Founder of BIMM (The Brighton Institute Of Modern Music now British Institute of modern Music) which started in Brighton with 180 students and has expanded to 5000 students in Bristol, Manchester, Dublin & Berlin.

In 2008- Launched DK Music Management - A commercial band management company building covers bands and helping musicians develop their career. DKMM was spearheaded by a 3 piece band The Indie Killers. During the next few years we performed over 800 gigs in 8 countries inc 20 stadiums and many adventures!

2013 - Invested & rebranded DK Guitars and DK Music Academy, a music school in Surrey with plans to expand to 3 new areas by 2018.

2015 - Invested in Warble Entertainment Agency

2016 - Started a social media campaign to develop a music industry education brand to help musicians develop their career via daily content on several social platforms.

2017 - Started Black Rock Media, a brand building social media company focusing on content creation, distribution and PPC. Seem to be getting lots of Keynotes.

2018 - Purchased Warble Entertainment Ltd and became an Amazon best seller after releasing my debut book 'The Rule Breakers Guide To Social Media'. Getting asked to do a lot of keynote talks around the world... which are fun!
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DamianKeyes
Website: https://www.damiankeyes.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/damiankeyes1/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-keyes-6579b089/ Website 2: https://www.dk-mba.com/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/damiankeyes

Elliot Tousley

Whether it be walking around my neighborhood asking strangers to mow their lawn when I was 12 years old, or having CEO's of eight figure businesses ask me for advice in my 30's, I have always been an entrepreneur one way or another.

Before I became an agency owner, before I ever knew what a Facebook Pixel was, I was a musician.

Similarly to most entrepreneurs, as a musician I had no clue what I was doing and I didn't really have anyone I could turn to to ask for help. I had to figure it out on my own (with the help of my friends along the way).

Through trial and countless errors I was able to create somewhat of a successful music business for myself when I was 18-25. I learned how to use social media, I learned how to build basic ads, I learned how to sell tickets, and I learned how to negotiate with people when I had absolutely zero leverage.

I was blind to it then, but looking back it's clear to see how chasing a music career in my teens and twenties inadvertently helped me build skills that help me crush it for the clients I work for today in the world of digital advertising.

I have tried a handful of different 'side hustle' businesses in my life, but the first one to actually stick was De Novo Agency. This was a marketing agency aimed exclusively at other musicians. Essentially a 'hey let me show you how to do what I did' kinda thing.

De Novo Agency picked up speed in 2018 and has since worked on marketing campaigns with over 3,000 different musicians while driving home over $2 million in revenue.

This lead to my second 'hey let me show you how to do what I did' moment with my second agency, SparkLaunch Media. While De Novo Agency was aimed specifically at musicians, SparkLaunch is designed to work with small and medium sized business owners looking to increase their visibility online.

I love working with clients, musicians or business owners, who are passionate and energetic about solving their marketing problems.

There is no one 'right way' to grow any business, what is important is going through an initial experiment to find what works best for YOU.

If you want my take on how I can help your business, please send me an email at Contact@WorkWithElliot.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elliot.tousley/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottousley/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/workwithelliot

Andrew Southworth

I've built a cross-platform audience of over 100,000 followers in the music marketing niche. My main platform is my YouTube channel with 60k subscribers and over 7 million views. What started as a way for me to share my own journey marketing my own music, turned into a platform where i've helped thousands of artists, managers and record labels.

As of writing this I have over 3k course students, i've done over 2k 1-on-1 consulting calls and i've driven over 150 million streams on Spotify alone using digital ads.

I founded Genera Studios which houses my courses, consulting and content creation. In addition to my YouTube and social media content this includes my Music Growth Machine blog, Music Marketing Monday newsletter and Modern Music Marketing podcast.

I founded MusicFunnels - an all-in-one website, online store, email marketing and funnel building software platform designed for music artists.

I co-founded Forbid Media - a digital ad agency for music artists and labels.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/andrewsouthworth Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.southworth/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/southwortha/ Links: https://linkin.bio/generastudios/ Links 2: https://linkin.bio/andrewsouthworth/ Website: https://generastudios.com/ Website 2: https://andrewsouthworth.com/

Rick Barker

I am the former Manager of Taylor Swift. I have over 25 years experience in the Music Industry. I co-wrote The $150,000 Music Degree. I am the host of The Music Industry Blueprint Podcast. I was the Social Media Mentor for the American Idol Contestants. I over-see and manage Social Accounts with a reach of over 10 Million. I speak all over the world on the Power of Fan Engagement.

Website: https://rickbarker.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickbarkermusic/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rickbarkermusic/?hl=en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RickBarkerMusic

Tory "Flossy" Harrelson

Media Mogul / Record Label Exec

What’s Good Entertainment

@mami.izaliaa @fatboy @prodigy.wge @hellkattt_501 @lilmaru619 @peysoh @therealjamore

What’s Good Entertainment (WGE) is the leading free on-demand video streaming service with thousands of hours of original movies, tv shows, documentaries, music videos, podcasts and more. Available in over 200 million households. What's Good Entertainment was founded in 2020 by the owner CEO Tory “Flossy” Harrelson (@FlossyTheBoss).

Watch amazing movies and TV shows for free. No subscription fees, and no credit card needed. Just thousands of hours of streaming video content from the most talented creators in the world

What's Good Entertainment (WGE) is a network of podcasts that the company distributes, markets and promotes. THE PRODCAST WITH PRODIGY: The show is hosted by "Prodigy". It is a lighthearted chat with todays distantly social youth with discussions on technology, social media, gaming, music, fashion, current events and entertainment. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1221281/episodes PRESS PLAY Hosts give an honest review and react to the latest music videos. WGE TV NEWS Host Flossy The Boss gives a detailed breakdown of the current trending news from the streets. For information: Email: Flossy007@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flossytheboss/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005105084154&ref=xav_ig_profile_web Connect: https://app.minnect.com/expert/ToryHarrelson Music2deal: https://www.music2deal.com/us/uJAgpWsyxJ1AAf0_5voirreDJJQ?locale=it YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatsGoodEntertainment/ Website: https://whatsgoodent.com/about-us/

Amber Horsburgh

I am an artist coach, marketer and founder of Deep Cuts, an education platform for musicians.

Prior to founding Deep Cuts I spend a decade as an executive in the music business in New York and Los Angeles. My clients included Interscope, Atlantic, Downtown Records, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube Music, and Google Play.

In working so closely with artists, I observed how quickly people overlook the process of getting people to hear your music.

Artists with an audience are those with power.

That’s what I do now.

I make online courses (Fanbase Accelerator), group coaching programs and free resources for musicians to get their music heard by millions.

Deep Cuts is now used by 15,000+ global music industry professionals.

DM me if you want my help growing your music career.

Here’s my highlights:

🤓 Creator of Fanbase Accelerator - online course teaching independent musicians how to get their music heard by millions

🏆 Work awarded by Cannes, Webbys, SXSW Innovation, Clio’s, One Club, Shorty’s

📈 Taught emerging artists how to build fans for Spotify

✉️ Launched Deep Cuts, a music marketing newsletter used by more than 15,000 industry pros. Featured in Billboard and Hypebot

📚 Taught 1,200 students how to build an audience like Macklemore through Skillshare

📲 Wrote Content Strategy 101 for Google’s education app, Google Primer which has 90K downloads

🎤 Interviewed by Spotify, SoundCloud, Water & Music, Music Business Podcast, Your Morning Coffee, Hypebot, Beatstars and Music Entrepreneur Club

✈️ Worked in NYC, LA, Seoul, Melbourne

Website: https://amberhorsburgh.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberhorsburgh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberhorsburgh__/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/aehorsburgh Contact: amber@deepcuts.co

Natasha Brito

“Do to your content what you wish the internet would do to it”

Here's the deal: If you want to scale a brand online it's not going to happen just through ads, marketing or social alone. You need foundational branding and solid consistent content to drive everything else upwards.

If you have a business that struggles to identify exactly what you represent, visually, then my agency will help you develop a completely unique and subliminally intoxicating brand that fully represents your products, services and culture.

From there we'll turn up our highly targeted and virally proven strategies to help you build massive authority online with the audience you seek.

Everything that we do is focused on results.. which is why we're responsible for over 40 million followers, 1 billion video views and millions in sales for our clients.

Here's what you do next: If you're interested in learning more, just use one of the methods below to connect with yours truly to discuss a custom strategy for you business today.

No rege/r/ts. 🤪

Website: www.byaustere.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-brito/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natashaustere/?hl=en Linktree: https://linktr.ee/aehorsburgh Contact: natasha@byaustere.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Natashacbrito/

Ari Herstand

"The poster child of DIY Music" - Forbes

Ari Herstand is the CEO and founder of the music business education and artist advocacy company, Ari’s Take. Started in 2012 as a blog, Ari's Take has become the go-to resource for independent musicians on how to run a successful music career in the NEW music business. He is also the author of the best-selling book, How To Make It in the New Music Business which is a #1 Amazon best-seller in 3 categories and has been adopted by over 300 universities and translated into Russian and Spanish. Herstand's well-researched, relatable, no BS approach is why so many musicians continue to trust him for advice. He offers encouragement without condescension and maintains a "we're all in it together" attitude not found elsewhere in the space.

In 2018, Herstand launched the online school Ari’s Take Academy which brings in experts in the field to teach courses on running successful careers in the new music business. ATA currently has over 3,000 students enrolled.

He is also the host of the popular music business podcast, the New Music Business where he interviews innovators and experts in the music industry. Since its launch in March of 2020, over 350,000 people have listened to the show.

An independent musician who has played over 1,000 shows around the country, he has performed on Ellen, and has had his music featured in countless TV shows, commercials and films. He currently leads the funk project Brassroots District.

Herstand has written for many of the top musician trade magazines and websites including Music Connection Magazine, American Songwriter, Digital Music News, Playback Magazine, CD Baby, Tunecore, Reverbnation, Roland, Discmakers, ASCAP, Hypebot and others. He has been a featured speaker at SXSW, BBC One's Amplify, ASCAP Music Expo, SF MusicTech, CD Baby's DIY Musician Conference and Berklee College of Music.

He was one of the co-founders of the UnCancelled Music Festival, a live-stream festival launched mere weeks after the COVID live music shutdown. The festival presented over 150 shows and raised $100,000 in 10 days for musicians and venues.

Website: https://ariherstand.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ari-herstand-7991a1149/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ariherstand Linktree: https://linktr.ee/ariherstand