How to Break Through to Digital Services & Tech Platforms

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      "company": "THE·TEAM",
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      "name": "Angel Reyes",
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      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "Angel J. Reyes is an Associate Director at Wasserman, where he leads music initiatives for brands in financial services and telecommunications. Since joining the agency in 2021, he has worked with artists such as Megan Thee Stallion, Karol G, Jack Harlow, Doechii, Latto, The Kid Laroi, Zedd, Omar Apollo, Ravyn Lenae, and many more, helping shape major cultural moments at events including NBA All-Star Weekend, the College Football Playoffs, NCAA Men’s & Women’s March Madness and Essence Festival. His work centers on creating authentic connections between music, culture, and brands that resonate with fans. Angel began his career in artist and tour management, an experience that gave him a deep understanding of the creativity and challenges behind live entertainment. That perspective continues to guide his approach to brand partnerships and cultural storytelling. Along the way, he has collaborated with global companies including Mondelez, PepsiCo, and Pernod Ricard, building campaigns that merge strategy with cultural impact. A proud Afro Latino and lifelong New Yorker, Angel draws inspiration from the city’s energy and diversity. He hopes to encourage the next generation of music business leaders to embrace curiosity, collaboration, and courage as they chart their own paths.",
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      "company": "Tidal",
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      "name": "Sarah Janiszewski",
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      "details": "Sarah Janiszewski's expertise is in cultivating label partnerships and artist relations for music services, managing and developing artists, guiding artists in brand storytelling and media strategies, spearheading music marketing initiatives, and creating artist campaigns and brand experiences.\r",
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    {
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      "company": "Duetti",
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      "name": "William Gruger",
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      "speaker_type": "Speaker",
      "details": "William Gruger currently works as the DSP + Partner Marketing lead at Duetti, responsible for driving music discovery and streaming growth of the catalog through native, partner-led marketing campaigns. Previously, he completed a six year stint at TikTok, building the North American Music Editorial and Programming team from the ground up overseeing in-app programming, playlisting, and creative live productions for everything related to music and TikTok before moving on to focus on building strategies and cultural campaigns scaled across all territories and across the wider family of Bytedance Products as a lead on the Global Music Programming and Partnerships team. Before TikTok he worked as the Director of Programming at TIDAL, leading playlist curation and promotion strategy. With foundations in the startup world, Gruger’s decade-spanning career in the music industry began at Billboard as the Associate Director of Streaming Charts where he reported on the early ways in which digital platforms impacted artist’s careers. This eventually led to him getting hired by Twitter to lead music content strategy for the true OG in the short form video space, Vine. His expertise as a music and video culture authority has been featured in the New York Times, LA Times, WSJ, New York Post, and Billboard.",
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      "company": "Blurred Lines",
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      "details": "Melanie McClain is a cultural strategist, music programming executive, and founder of Blurred Lines, a platform that tracks real-world participation across music, nightlife, and emerging cultural scenes.\n\nOver the past 15 years, she has worked across A&R, editorial, digital strategy, and community building, translating early cultural signals into programming and strategy for artists, brands, and music streaming services. Her work focuses on how moments move from physical spaces into digital platforms and how cultural participation, context, and taste become measurable signals.\n\nMelanie has held roles across the music and technology ecosystem including Secretly Group, P00LS, Sean Parker’s Cantina, Budweiser, and Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron. In 2021, she was recognized as a Billboard Change Agent. She has spoken at SXSW, New York Fashion Week, Permissionless, Amsterdam Dance Event, Reeperbahn Festival,, Music Biz, A2IM Indie Week, MONDO NYC, and universities including Princeton’s DeCenter.",
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  "description": "Music’s digital evolution has unlocked unprecedented access for artists and teams—putting key decision-makers, pitch opportunities, and powerful connections within reach. But greater access brings new layers of complexity. In this panel, we’ll bring together the humans who have played on both sides of the digital music spaces you love. They’ll give a glimpse into the tech intricacies and communication behind closed doors leading to proper partnerships. More importantly, we’ll give tangible systems to how artists and teams can win through patience and persistence.",
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  "long_description": "Music’s digital evolution has unlocked unprecedented access for artists and teams—putting key decision-makers, pitch opportunities, and powerful connections within reach. But greater access brings new layers of complexity. In this panel, we’ll bring together the humans who have played on both sides of the digital music spaces you love. They’ll give a glimpse into the tech intricacies and communication behind closed doors leading to proper partnerships. More importantly, we’ll give tangible systems to how artists and teams can win through patience and persistence.",
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