Date/Time
Date(s) -

06/21/2022

Location
Zoom

Questions? Email is at questions@theccc.org

Biographies

Christina Rust | Partner & Managing Director, Hailstorm

Christina is Partner & Managing Director at Hailstorm, an Advertising Business Affairs consultancy, which handles the music needs for brands, ad agencies and production companies, among many other things. The first ten years of her career were spent in the music industry working for a publisher and an entertainment company with a record label, handling all aspects of licensing. Christina is fascinated with how the business of music will transition as Web 3 becomes more of our reality.

Kristina Guerra Benson | Founder, Sweet On Top, LLC

Kristina began her career with a degree in opera from University of California at Irvine and took piano lessons in her spare time under Miles Davis’s sideman Kei Akagi. After stints as a promoter and DJ, she segued into a role as a branding specialist for DoStuffMedia, where she spearheaded engagement initiatives for brands such as Goose Island, Grey Goose and Pabst Blue Ribbon, working closely with local influencers to produce interactive brand experiences. She went from there to acting as Music Director for Lip Sync, and after many successful placements and two wonderful years at Lip Sync, she decided the time had come to start her own agency. In the short time since it has opened its doors, Sweet On Top has landed placements with high-quality brands such as Apple, Michael Kors, Macy’s, Vogue, and St. Regis; promotions for the Olympics and “Songland”; and in television shows including “Station 19,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “All Rise,” “Firefly Lane,” “High Fidelity,” “Ray Donovan” and “The Blacklist.” Additionally, her writers have secured cuts with Dim Mak and Warner Records’ artists. Kristina also worked closely with the Guild of Music Supervisors’ education committee and is a member of the California Copyright Conference and the Association of Independent Music Publishers.

Evan Parness | AVP, Digital Licensing, BMI

Evan Parness is the Assistant Vice President of Digital Licensing for BMI. He is responsible for overseeing BMI’s Digital Licensing groups in Nashville and New York.  Together with his New York and Nashville based teams, he is responsible for the growth and diversification of BMI’s digital licensing revenues, addressing the needs of both major and emerging digital markets. He was elevated to this position in 2019.

Parness joined BMI in 2016 as Executive Director, Business Development – Digital Licensing. During that time, he helped the Company’s annual digital revenues grow from $159M to $262M. Prior to BMI, he spent 11 years at eMusic.com, where he first oversaw royalty accounting and systems for the music and audiobook services, working closely with both indie and major labels, and then expanding into managing the service’s global PRO and publisher agreements. Parness ended his tenure as Sr. Director of Finance & Administration, overseeing worldwide operations, which included significant internal restructuring and the 2015 sale of eMusic to Triplay, Inc. He began his career at Eagle Rock Entertainment, where he had a diverse set of responsibilities, including US royalties and mechanical licensing.

Parness holds a BM from New York University and is an active musician, producer, and songwriter. His music has been used for a variety of television and web series, advertising, professional sports teams, and featured on independent artist releases.

Jonathan Larr | Attorney, Icarus Law

Jonathan Larr began his career by founding a management company, managing artists in the US, the UK, Europe and Australia. He coordinated all their releases, press, touring and day to day management of more than 20 artists. He also served as their attorney, drafting and negotiating assorted agreements on their behalf.

After that, he closed his management company and started Icarus Law. As a founding partner of Icarus Law, he regularly negotiates major label record deals and publishing deals. His experience saved an artist 10% of their yearly income by aggressively excluding royalty streams from recoupment. He also represents significant composers in negotiations for remixes and licensing of their work and has extensive experience organizing legacy artist’s publishing in preparation for catalogue sales.

He gives back by actively participating in numerous boards, including City of Hope Future Hope, LACBA ELIPS and Musicians At Play. He also teaches music business at UCLA and USC Gould School of Law.

Paula Savastano | Senior Director, Copyright and Royalties, Angry Mob Music

Specializing in Copyright, Licensing, Royalties, and Publishing, Paula Savastano has worked in the music business for more than 25 years.  As a classically trained musician, she began her career in Opera Management, but quickly made the switch to the popular music realm.  She has worked in administrative management, intellectual property, and royalty departments for several notable companies including Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), Spirit Music Group, RykoMusic, Cherry Lane Music, Musical Heritage Society, and Turn Up The Music.

For many years, Paula’s knowledge and experience has been sought after by publishers, record companies, and music creators to assist them with audits, royalty collection and processing, licensing, and copyright issues.  After significant and continued demand, she started her own company, SSA Music, which provided licensing, copyright, financial, auditing, and royalty consulting services to a diverse clientele ranging from independent musician to major music publishers and record companies.  In 2012, SSA Music expanded to a full-service publishing entity, providing full administration, royalty collections, catalog pitching and song placements.  In 2018, SSA Music was disbanded, and Paula went back to her roots as a freelance service provider and worked with several notable clients including Angry Mob Music Group, PEN Music Group, Reach Music Group, and McJames Music.  In July 2019, she was hired full-time by Angry Mob Music LLC, as the Senior Director of Copyright and Royalties, where she oversees all of the Copyright and Royalty duties for the company.

Paula has been an active speaker at educational conferences and universities around the country for more than 15 years.  She has held the position of Adjunct Professor in the Music Industry Departments at Drexel University and William Paterson University.  She currently serves on the board of the California Copyright Conference (CCC), and is an active member in Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), Woman In Music (WIM), and Sigma Alpha Iota (Professional Music Fraternity).  She is also an active musician who currently performs in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area as a freelance flautist.

Attention Attorneys: This virtual activity has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education Credit by the State Bar of California in the amount of one (1) hour. The CCC certifies that this activity confirms to the standards for approved education activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California governing minimum continuing legal education. Attorneys who wish to register for MCLE Credit must include their State Bar number with their reservation. Following this virtual webinar, we will verify your attendance via Zoom reporting and email your certificate of attendance to the email provided at registration.

Booking Tips:

• Please note, mid-level business members have up to 5 webinar registrations per webinar and corporate members have up to 10 webinar registrations per webinar. Both mid-level business and corporate membership account owners must login to their CCC membership account and register their employees for each webinar.
• The PayPal button labeled, “Submit Payment Now,” should link you to a PayPal Checkout form in a new tab to complete your webinar registration. If this button is not working for you, try disabling pop-up blockers in your web browser. Refresh the page and complete the registration process.
• Please note, Zoom webinar links for this webinar will be emailed to you separately after registration.

Bookings