PANEL -  Creator Tools: Empowering Artists to Build, Monetize & Engage

From career management to audience connection, today’s creators have more tools than ever to shape their own success. This panel brings together leaders from Bootleg, Artist Growth, Linktree, and Bandsintown to explore how innovative platforms are helping artists take control—building sustainable businesses, monetizing their work, and engaging fans in new and meaningful ways.

Featured Speakers:

Rod Yancy, CEO & Founder, Bootleg

Rod Yancy is an entrepreneur, attorney, writer and founder of Bootleg: a music platform that delivers hi-fi concert audio, exclusive photos and premium content, deepening the connection between artists and their fans while unlocking new value from the live experience. He is also the founder and CEO of Oath, a family of ventures designed to help people live fully and plan intentionally, including Oath Law, Oath Planning and Oath Studio. A husband and father, Rod is driven by the belief that life is short and we are here to live with purpose. 
 

Matt Urmy, CEO & Founder, Artist Growth

Matt Urmy is a multi-faceted entrepreneur, musician, poet, and healer whose journey spans diverse creative and business landscapes. Born in New York City, Matt moved to Nashville at age 4, where his early immersion in the music industry sparked a lifelong passion for songwriting and performance. His artistic development continued through high school, expanding to include poetry alongside his musical pursuits.

After initially majoring in poetry at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Matt took time away from formal education to travel and focus on music before returning to complete his degree in creative writing. His quest for knowledge and spiritual growth led him to New Zealand, where he lived among and studied with indigenous Maori healers—an experience he describes as deeply transformative. Upon returning to Knoxville, which served as his home base while touring as a musician, Matt furthered his formal education by earning an MFA from Spalding University.

Matt's entrepreneurial spirit emerged prominently with the founding of Artist Growth, a platform created to help artists and creators manage their careers. Under his leadership, the company evolved into a leading enterprise roster management system serving the music and media industries.

Fabrice Sergent, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Bandsintown

Ryan Fletcher, Sales Lead, 237 Global

Sammy is a seasoned music and entertainment professional based in Los Angeles, CA. Currently running music partnerships for Linktree, she leads the company’s music strategy, fostering relationships with 300+ industry partners and collaborating with top artists such as Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish, and Sabrina Carpenter during their most recent album releases. With a background spanning roles at Scooter Braun’s music tech investment fund, Raised In Space, Soho House, and CAA’s music touring department she brings a unique perspective and expertise to drive impactful results for both the Linktree brand and artists she partners with.

Sammy Kaufman, Head of Music Partnerships, Linktree

Fabrice Sergent and his partner Julien Mitelberg have grown Bandsintown into the top live music discovery platform in the world with more than 100 million registered users and 700,000 registered artists. 

Through its platform and partnerships with YouTube, YouTube Music, Spotify, Apple, Shazam, Google, and more, Bandsintown delivers 400 million concert recommendations and 20 million clicks to buy tickets every month. Thousands of venues, festivals and promoters rely on Bandsintown PRO and its automated marketing solutions to sell more tickets and grow their audience.

The new Bandsintown for Artists Marketplace connects artists with an unprecedented group of major partners to empower them to reach more than 4 billion fans, own their audience, and drive revenue by amplifying tour dates, collecting fan opt-ins, boost merch sales, distribute and market thier music and more.

Ryan Fletcher, who graduated from Purdue University, began his career in artist relations and A&R, working with iconic labels like Def Jam and Downtown Records, where he developed a keen eye for talent and a deep understanding of the music industry’s creative and business sides. With over 10 years of experience spanning music, entertainment, and consumer goods, Ryan has built a reputation for crafting strategic partnerships and unforgettable experiences that connect artists, brands, and fans.

Currently, Ryan is driving innovation at 237 Global, where he spearheaded the launch of JID’s official app and oversees the VIP experience for both JID’s and Leon Thomas’ tours, delivering elevated fan engagement and premium experiential moments.

Moderator:

Emily White is the CEO of Impact Concerts & Data, Founder and CEO of #iVoted Concerts and a Founding Partner at Collective Entertainment in New York City. #iVoted produces data-driven concerts on election nights and during early voting periods that the public enters with a selfie from outside their polling place. White is a Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute with the mission of strengthening global democracy. Through this work White and SNF Agora Institute have analyzed the data on the top trending artists in key locations, whose electoral margins are often decided by the size of a concert venue, to determine which artists increase civic impact the most by comparing fan demographic data with local voter files. #iVoted and SNF Agora are currently developing a tool that shows where any artist increases civic impact the most. White is also an Amazon #1 best-selling author of How to Build a Sustainable Music Career & Collect All Revenue Streams and hosts the #1 Music Business podcast globally of the same name. She’s a 2020 Billboard Woman of the Year, has been on the covers of both Pollstar Magazine and Billboard and has proudly served on the boards of Well-Dunn, Future of Music, CASH Music, SXSW, The David Lynch Foundation Live while additionally serving on The Recording Academy’s Education Committee and Pandora’s Artist Advisory Council.