PANEL - The Business Behind the Artist: Infrastructure and the Modern Team
Behind every successful artist is a strong business foundation. Panelists will share practical insights on how managers can scale efficiently and build sustainable, growth-focused operations around their artists, covering topics including operational infrastructure, day-to-day workflow management, and strategies for unlocking new revenue streams.
Featured Speakers:
Sammy Kaufman, Head of Music Partnerships, Linktree
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 Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo 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.
Matt Urmy, CEO & Founder, Artist Growth
Victoria Yip, Senior Manager, Marketing & Partnerships, SET
Victoria Yip works at the intersection of live music, brand partnerships, and fan engagement technology, helping artists and brands create authentic, data-driven connections with audiences. She began her career in the live music space before moving into artist partnerships, curating brand campaigns with artists including Jon Batiste, Luke Combs, AJR, and Musiq Soulchild, and brands such as Ford, Dr Pepper, McDonald’s, Canon, and Honda.
She now helps lead SET, a technology division of Music Audience Exchange, where she focuses on capturing and activating fan data to inform smarter marketing, stronger partnerships, and more meaningful audience engagement across both live and digital environments.
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.
Tatiana is Vice President of Music Strategy at research firm MIDiA, where she identifies the risks and opportunities in the rapidly-changing music market for a client base of leading global entertainment and tech companies. Prior to this, she served as a music business reporter for Billboard, where she wrote award-winning industry analysis as well as cover stories on artists like Tame Impala and Alicia Keys. Throughout her work she is dedicated to publishing fresh perspectives that drive the music industry forward, with an emphasis on fandom and consumer behaviour.
Ryan Star, CEO & Co-Founder, Stationhead
Ryan Star is a musician, entrepreneur, and Founder of Stationhead, one of the music industry's leading fan engagement platforms. Built from the belief that artists and fans should be able to connect in real time around the music they love, Stationhead has powered hundreds of official listening parties and generated billions of streams across some of the world's most passionate fan communities.
Over the past decade, Ryan has worked closely with artists, managers, labels, and digital platforms to help pioneer new forms of fan participation, community building, and artist-to-fan engagement. Under his leadership, Stationhead became a trusted platform for major global releases and fan activations, helping shape the modern superfan economy.
Today, Ryan serves as Founder & Creative Lead of Stationhead, focusing on the future of fandom, artist communities, and the evolving relationship between music, technology, and culture. Following Stationhead's merger with Mellomanic, the company received strategic investment from Universal Music Group and Sterling Partners as it expands its vision for the next generation of artist and fan experiences.
Moderator:
Tatiana Cirisano, VP of Music Strategy, MIDiA Research
