Paul Brindley – Co-founder – Music Ally

Paul Brindley is the co-founder of Music Ally. Paul has a background as amusician, having played bass guitar with The Sundays, an indie band who sold over 2 million albums worldwide. He then went on to work as a researcher in Tony Blair’s private office atthe House of Commons, before picking up again with music by writing New Musical Entrepreneurs, a report into the impact of new technologies on the UK music industry. This influential textbook on the early days of the digital music business was published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank in March 2000. He was also called in to advise the UK Government on the policy implications of technology and new media. After co-founding Music Ally in 2002, the company has gone on to become a leading digital music research and strategycompany with clients including the likes of Universal, EMI, Tesco, Orange and BBC. Paul is a respected authority and regular commentator and publicspeaker at various music and media events worldwide.

For more information see www.MusicAlly.com Contact Paul.Brindley@MusicAlly.com.

 

Stuart Dredge – Editor in Chief - Music Ally/The Appside 

Stuart Dredge is Music Ally’s editor, writing our Daily Bulletin and editing our fortnightly report. He also edits our Appside newsletter, and writes about apps for The Guardian and The Sunday Times. His background is as a technology journalist, with previous posts at T3, Tech Digest and Informa Telecoms & Media.

 

 


Dave Addey - Managing Director – Agant Ltd

Dave is the founder and Managing Director of Agant Ltd., one of the UK’s top app development agencies. Agant created the BAFTA-nominated Malcolm Tucker app – the first app ever to be nominated for a TV BAFTA – and the Timeline World War 2, QI and Arsenal FC apps. Agant are also the people behind UK Train Times, one of the highest-grossing UK apps of all time. Agant’s expertise is in adapting content for mobile applications – including published book content, real-time data and live event information. Dave’s own background in content management and interface design gives him particular experience in creating beautiful, content-driven apps. He is on Twitter as @daveaddey.

 

Alex Gatrell – Digital Publisher – HaperCollins

Alex is digital publisher for Collins, the knowledge-based non-fiction imprint of HarperCollins. He is the publisher of over 20 apps including Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe, SAS Survival Guide, Inside Nature’s Giants, Yo! Sushi and Hummingbird Bakery. Alex has also set up sponsored website communities and ecommerce sites and oversees ebook growth strategies. Before joining HarperCollins Alex was for ten years a TV and multimedia producer at ITN and News International.

 

 

Barry O’Neill – CEO – StoryToys

Barry O’Neill is the CEO of StoryToys, a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content for children. The company’s products combine a unique blend of storytelling, learning and game components and are presented in a simulation of a traditional pop up book. Popular products include Grimm’s Rapunzel, and Grimm’s Hansel & Gretel. Barry’s background is the games industry, having formerly headed up Namco Bandai’s European Mobile business, and co-founded Upstart Games, which he sold in 2006. Barry also the Chairman of Industry Association, Games Ireland, and is a partner in Other Ventures, a consulting and investment advisory business focused on the interactive entertainment industry.

 

Matt Walton – Product Manager – the OTHER media

Matt Walton is the OTHER media’s Product Manager, responsible for apps such as Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe, the forthcoming Times Atlas of the World and the Glide Publisher platform. He’s previously worked for bbc.co.uk and BBC Worldwide, product managing websites and mobile apps including bbc.co.uk/music, Radio Times and the international iPhone app, BBC Listener.

 

 

 

Michael Bhaskar – Digital Publishing Director – Profile Books 

Michael Bhaskar is Digital Publishing Director at leading independent publisher Profile Books. He is responsible for spearheading their digital strategy, their ebook program and digital business development in creating new products and platforms. Over the past few years Michael has written and talked extensively on the topic of digital publishing.  He has worked as Digital Editor at Pan Macmillan, at the literary agency Rogers, Coleridge and White, reviewed books for The Daily Telegraph, worked for an economics research firm, and builds websites like quikqr.com, a barcode generator. Michael has a degree in English Literature from the University of Oxford and was British Council Young Creative Entrepreneur 2011. He is on Twitter as @ajaxlogos.

 

James Huggins - Managing Director /co-founder – Made in Me

Made in Me is a children’s digital publishing company founded in 2009 to inspire young children to learn by exploring their creativity and imagination. The company partnered with Ladybird to launch the award-winning and BAFTA nominated The Land of Me, an interactive picture book world where young children and adults can play together across a variety of activities including music composition, dance choreography and storytelling. In late 2011, Made in Me launched Me Books, a picture book reader app that allows children to create their own interactive versions of classic stories. The company has fostered relationships with major publishers including Penguin to introduce more titles to this exciting new publishing platform. Prior to Made in Me, James was the Managing Director of Escape Studios, which became one of the foremost visual effects academies in the world.

 

Fiona Barclay - Editor and Senior Producer – Touch Press 

Fiona Barclay is Editor and Senior Producer (and chief pedant, marketer and evangelist) for Touch Press, the company behind The Elements, The Waste Land and a host of other successful iPad titles. She is also Managing Director of BirdGuides.com, a natural history subscription website with a suite of field-guide apps.

 

 

 

Simon Podd – Director of Sales – Flurry

Flurry is a leading data-driven mobile app advertising platform and analytics provider, used by over 65,000 companies across more than 180,000 apps. At Flurry, Simon is the commercial director for the EMEA region. Prior to Flurry, Simon was most recently head of sales at Zodiak Active, the branded content division of Zodiak Media, a multi-national independent television production company. Prior to Zodiak, Simon was head of sales for Bebo UK & Ireland, working as part of the team that pioneered and developed new social media advertising revenue models in which products and services are offered in a sophisticated blend of plot integration, traditional product placement and on-network online advertising. Bebo was acquired by AOL in 2008. Prior to Bebo, Simon spent 10 years in advertising sales within the publishing sector at Associated Media and the London Evening Standard.

 

Nathan Hull – Digital Publisher – Penguin

As Penguin’s digital publisher across both adult and children’s division, Nathan is responsible for Penguin’s award-winning and innovative digital portfolio including apps, audio, AV and all variations of ebooks – working with such high-profile authors and brands as Jamie Oliver, Stephen Fry, Moshi Monsters and Roald Dahl. He also leads digital strategy on new routes to market, new business models and anti-piracy initiatives. He joined Penguin from Universal Music where he oversaw digital strategy for major artists including U2, The Rolling Stones, The Killers and Take That and handled Universal’s relationships with key digital partners including iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, BT and Sky. He was instrumental in shaping the company’s strategy for streaming, subscriptions, apps, virtual merchandise and anti-piracy and launched Spotify as well as negotiating deals with Shazam, eBay, Xbox and PS3.

 

Kate Wilson – Founder – Nosy Crow

Kate Wilson has been involved in publishing (and mainly publishing for children) for 25 years. After running Macmillan Children’s Books and Scholastic UK, she had a brief fling with adult books, before returning to children’s print and digital publishing as the founder and Managing Director of Nosy Crow in February 2010. Nosy Crow publishes print books and straight ebooks for children between the ages of 0 and 14, and highly interactive, multi-media and multi-award-winning apps for children of 2 – 7. In its first year of publishing, Nosy Crow won the Independent Publishers Guild Children’s Publisher of the Year award, its Newcomer of the Year Award and (for the apps) its Innovation of the Year Award. Kate won Mumpreneur’s Inspirational Business Mum of the Year award. Now part-way through its second year of publishing, Nosy Crow is known for the quality and family-focus of its books and apps.

Jon Salt – Head of Digital Development – Random House

Jon is responsible for apps such as The Doctor Who Encyplopedia, Primrose Bakery, Princess Poppy Picture Books and the forthcoming Great British Bake Off at the Random House. He also leads the company’s digital development across new and emerging platforms. Before joining Random House, he worked for Channel 4 managing the Film4 website and producing award-winning digital programmes, including Movie Rush.

 

 

 

John Ozimek – Director – dimoso

John is co-founder and director of dimoso is a brand new integrated marketing and PR agency agency that’s specialises in digital,mobile and social. John is also a co-founder of a new business called appromoter: it’s designed to meet the needs of app developers who want a cost-effective way to get their apps in front of the media. John has been involved in technology PR and marketing the mobile industry since its black and white infancy and is a passionate advocate for mobile technology, with 12 years of experience in technology PR and marketing, both in-agency and in-house. He was also was part of an incredible team that successfully took a UK mobile gaming start-up and in less than 3 years helped it become the largest privately-held mobile entertainment specialist, Glu Mobile.


Howard Davies – Partner/Consultant – Deloitte

Howard is a Partner in Deloitte’s consulting practice where he leads the Telecoms, Media and Technology Strategy team. During his seventeen years in consultancy, Howard has undertaken a wide range of assignments, both in the UK and in across the world, specialising in corporate and business unit strategy development, business planning, and M&A support mainly for clients in the Publishing, Broadcasting and Music sectors.  In recent years, Howard has focussed on helping his clients to understand the digital media environment and, in particular, how to make money in it. He leads Deloitte’s relationship with the Association of Online Publishers and is a member of Warwick University’s Digital Advisory Board