PANEL: Know Your Rights
Featured Speakers:
Darryl Ballantyne - Founder & CEO, LyricFind
Darryl Ballantyne founded LyricFind in 2004 with Mohamed Moutadayne and Chris Book. The company pioneered the licensed digital lyrics space, signing the first mass lyrics licensing deal with EMI Music Publishing in 2005. Darryl has overseen LyricFind’s growth into the world’s largest lyrics provider. LyricFind’s clients include the biggest names in the music and tech space such as Google, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Xperi, and Pandora, and music publishers like, The Harry Fox Agency, APRA/AMCOS, CSDEM, MCPS, CAPASSO and many more.
Chris Dampler - Head of North America, Sentric
Chris Dampier is a British-born music executive specializing in music publishing and rights management. His career includes senior positions at Sentric, TuneCore, and BMI, as well as early experience at Universal Music Publishing and CMH. Across roles in A&R, sync, copyright, and operations, he has developed a broad and practical perspective on the global publishing business.
He currently serves as Head of Publishing, North America at Sentric, overseeing A&R and business development. Sentric, part of Believe since 2023, represents over 500,000 songwriters and 5.5 million works, with offices across six continents, including key hubs in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, South America, and Oceania.
Based in New York City, Chris serves on the Independent Publisher Advisory Council to the NMPA and A2IM’s Publishing Committee, advocating for fair representation of independent songwriters in a rapidly evolving industry.
Maurice Russell- Head of Rights Management, The MLC
Maurice Russell is the Head of Rights Management for the Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC). In this role, Russell oversees The MLC’s publisher services team and leverages his operational and administrative expertise to support The MLC’s processing of billions of dollars in digital music royalty payments to music publishers and songwriters globally.
A senior executive in the music and entertainment industry with over 20 years of experience and a deep passion for intellectual property (IP) rights management, licensing, business development, strategy, client service and operations management, Russell was previously the founder of music industry rights management consultancy firm Media Rights Management (MRM). At MRM, Russell helped his clients navigate the music industry’s growing licensing and data challenges.
Prior to launching MRM, Russell held senior roles in operations and strategy at the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), where he directed the development and launch of numerous licensing and royalty solutions to transition the company to the high-volume digital music market.
Russell has served on advisory groups for the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, and he is a long-time participant in Digital Data Exchange (DDEX), the primary data standards body serving the global digital music industry. He is a recognized subject matter expert who is frequently asked to speak at key industry events, including Digital Music Forum, Music Biz and SXSW.
Russell holds a B.A. in American History from Columbia University and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business. He resides in New York City.
Moderated by: Neeta Ragoowansi - President of MMF-US
and IMMF, and Women in Music, Global Co-Chair
Neeta Ragoowansi has been a music business professional and entertainment attorney for 30+ years, serving as a strategic advisor, business development resource, and legal counsel to entertainment and tech industry clients. She is President of Music Managers Forum – US (MMF-US), Co-Founder of NPREX (National Performing Rights Exchange), a Global Co-Chair for Women in Music and Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment & Sports Industries. Neeta serves on the advisory boards of IMMF (International Music Managers Forum), Gritty in Pink, and All About Music Conference (India).
Her past roles include Executive Director of Folk Alliance International; Senior Counsel, Legal & Business Affairs for Global Citizen; founding head of artist-label relations and legal counsel for SoundExchange; Vice President of Business Development & Legal Affairs at Tunesat; and Assistant General Counsel for The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra Association. Neeta has also served as a board governor of The Recording Academy (New York and DC Chapters) for over a decade, and as Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force and Sponsorship Chair of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment & Sports Industries.
A sought-after speaker, Neeta has presented at more than 400 music industry conferences on topics including the global music business, artist management, licensing models, legal and copyright issues, as well as diversity, women’s leadership and empowerment.