Industry Update: Music in Web3, NFTs, and the Metaverse

Dan Smith is the US General Manager of Armada Music, the Amsterdam-based dance music label home to world-renowned artists and producers including Armin van Buuren, Loud Luxury, D.O.D, and Audien. He started his career as a record producer and engineer across New York City studios for artists, including Jennifer Lopez and David Guetta, before joining Ultra Records on the digital team. As VP, Global Head of Digital at Ultra, Dan led campaigns for artists such as SOFI TUKKER, Kygo, deadmau5, and Steve Aoki, which led to 26 Gold and Platinum releases, as well as the Grammy Award-winning album ‘SBCNSCLY’ by Black Coffee.

Tom Wheeley has extensive experience in business development and account management. Tom started their career at IODA in 2010, initially serving as the Sr. Manager EMEA for business development before transitioning into a role as the Sr. Director of Account Management. In 2012, they joined The Orchard as the Sr. Director of Global Business Development, a position they held until 2015 when they were promoted to Vice President of Global Business Development. In 2019, Wheeley further advanced in their career, becoming the Vice President of New Business at The Orchard.

Vickie Nauman specializes in the intersection between technology and music, focused on music licensing, rights and relationships; helping grow companies; and global strategy. She is Founder/CEO of boutique consulting and advisory firm CrossBorderWorks and has an ambitious portfolio of companies in gaming, Web3, platforms, consumer electronics, and music since 2014. A digital music pioneer, Nauman worked on product for one of the first legal digital services MusicNet (RealNetworks JV), led strategic partnerships for connected device company Sonos, started and ran the US business for global music platform 7digital, and did digital music business in Europe and China. She built one of the first DMCA-compliant services at taste-making Seattle station KEXP and has an executive TRIUM MBA through the London School of Economics, NYU-Stern, and HEC-Paris. She works with some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Beat Saber/Oculus, Ubisoft, Niantic, Pixelynx, Downtown, Spotify, WMG, and more listed on LinkedIn.

W. Joseph Anderson is a Manatt Entertainment partner in the Firm’s Los Angeles office. His practice focuses on corporate transactional matters affecting the entertainment industry—with broad experience across music, film, television, gaming, podcasting, XR/metaverse and other digital media—as well as potential issues arising from intellectual property, copyright and corporate law. He has deep experience drafting and negotiating a variety of leading-edge agreements, including those involving publishing, distribution, financing, licensing and development for all manner of entertainment and IP-based projects. Joe is putting this diverse skillset to use actively advising and representing clients leveraging opportunities in the metaverse and Web3 era.

After spending four years working as a musician, with musicians, and for music companies in various facets including song pitching, A&R, film and TV licensing, recording, producing, songwriting, and performing in musical groups around the greater Los Angeles area, Michael Peters went to law school to pursue his passion for advocating for artists and the arts. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southwestern Law School’s SCALE Accelerated 2-year program in 2018. While at Southwestern, Michael furthered his knowledge of and passion for the entertainment industry by concentrating in entertainment and media law. He was a Dean’s Fellow, a member of the Southwestern Negotiations Honors Program, and awarded the Biederman Scholarship.

Michael has experience in a wide variety of entertainment law matters including the litigation and negotiation of copyright, contract, and privacy disputes, as well as transactional work such as music production agreements, film and TV production counsel, distribution counsel, film finance, copyright clearance, corporate creation and maintenance, and copyright and trademark management.