2026 Recap

2026 Speakers

More than a safe, off-the-record space where the most innovative share their experiences, D+E facilitated strategic dialogue about entertainment’s data-driven future. Speakers included label, publisher, production, representation, technology and studio executives who embrace technology to advance the information age while remaining true to the art that inspires us all.

Aaron Siegel headshot

Aaron Siegel

Partner
GOLDMAN SACHS
Headshot of Andrew Harding

Andrew Harding

Co-Founder, CEO
SOURCEAUDIO
Andrew Wallenstein

Andrew Wallenstein

Chief Insights Officer
LUMINATE
Baris Gultekin headshot

Baris Gultekin

VP of AI
SNOWFLAKE
Headshot of Barry Massarsky

Barry Massarsky

Partner, Practice Leader, Music and Entertainment Valuation Services
CITRIN COOPERMAN
Brian Richards Headshot

Brian Richards

Founder, Managing Partner
ARTISAN
Bryn Mooser

Bryn Mooser

CEO, Founder
ASTERIA
Cindy James Headshot

Cindy James

General Manager, North America
VIRGIN MUSIC GROUP
Headshot of colin campbell

Colin Campbell

Head of Development
OMAHA PRODUCTIONS
Collin Williams headshot

Collin Williams

Co-Head of Entertainment Investment Banking
MORGAN STANLEY
Connie Siu headshot

Connie Wailan Siu

Head of Production
PROMISE ADVANCED IMAGINATION
Cynthia Littleton headshot

Cynthia Littleton

Co-Editor-in-Chief
VARIETY
Dan Runcie headshot

Dan Runcie

Founder
TRAPITAL
Dave Davis headshot

Dave Davis

Chief Content Officer
PROTEGE
Headshot of David Freeman

David Freeman

CEO, Founder
KYNETIC MEDIA VENTURES
Headshot of David Taghioff

David Taghioff

Chief Executive Officer
LIBRARY PICTURES INTERNATIONAL
Derek Davies Headshot

Derek Davies

Co-Founder, Co-CEO
FUTURES MUSIC GROUP
Doug Shapiro headshot

Doug Shapiro

Founder
THE MEDIATOR
Dustin Blank headshot

Dustin Blank

Head of Partnerships
ELEVEN LABS
Erik Hodge Headshot

Erik Hodge

Partner
THE RAINE GROUP
Evan Winiker headshot

Evan Winiker

Managing Partner
RANGE MEDIA
Gino the Ghost headshot

Gino The Ghost

Songwriter, Producer, Artist, Podcast Host
GOOD LUCK! WITH GINO PODCAST
Jamal Salmon

Jamal Salmon

EVP, Global Data Analytics
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Jason Feuerstein Headshot

Jason Feuerstein

Managing Director
INNER CIRCLE SPORTS
Joanna Poppper headshot. Woman smiling.

Joanna Popper

CEO
LAUREL BEACH
Joe Flint Headshot

Joe Flint

Staff Reporter
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
John Attanasio headshot

John Attanasio

Founder, CEO
TOONSTAR
karre eriksen headshot

Kaare Eriksen

Media Analyst
LUMINATE INTELLIGENCE
Kate Coke Headshot

Kate Coke

Head of Data Insights
CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY (CAA)
Kiki Wolfkill headshot

Kiki Wolfkill

Head of Film & TV
XBOX
Killian Kerwin headshot

Kilian Kerwin

Partner
JAYA ENTERTAINMENT
Image of Kristin Robinson

Kristin Robinson

Senior Correspondent, Host
BILLBOARD
Larry Miller headshot

Larry Miller

Professor, Executive Director
NYU SONY AUDIO INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC BUSINESS + TECHNOLOGY MUSONOMICS
Headshot of Mack

Mack Sovereign

Chief Content Officer
WAVE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Mark Headshot

Mark Hoebich

EVP, Head of Strategic Accounts
LUMINATE
Headshot of Matt Adell

Matthew Adell

Co-Founder, COO
MUSICAL AI
Melanie Fletcher headshot

Melanie Fletcher

CEO North America
DONE+DUSTED
Merck Mercuriadis headshot

Merck Mercuriadis

Executive Chairman
HIPGNOSIS ARTIST PARTNERSHIPS
Mike Goldberg Headshot

Mike Goldberg

Co-Founder, Producer
STORY KITCHEN
Natalie Jarvey headshot

Natalie Jarvey

Editor
LIKE & SUBSCRIBE
Image of Natasha Hritzuk

Natasha Hritzuk

VP Head of Corporate Research
WARNER BROS DISCOVERY
Headshot of Neil Jacobson

Neil Jacobson

Founder, CEO
HALLWOOD MEDIA
Nic Hill Headshot

Nic Hill

Co-Founder, CINO
SAWHORSE
Paul Sinclair Headshot

Paul Sinclair

Chief Music Officer
SUNO
Philip Byron Headshot

Philip Byron

Head of Original Content
SHADOW LION
Pouya Shahbazian

Pouya Shahbazian

CEO, Founder
STAIRCASE STUDIOS AI

Priyanka Khimani

Founder
KHIMANI & ASSOCIATES, WOMEN OF MUSIC INDIA, BILLBOARD INDIA
Ron Friedman Headshot

Ron Friedman

Vice President
MATTEL FUTURE LAB
Sherrese Headshot

Sherrese Clarke

Founder, CEO
HARBOUR VIEW EQUITY PARTNERS
Tim Headshot black & white

Tim Ingham

Founder, Publisher
MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE
Tony Vassiliadis Headshot

Tony Vassiliadis

Executive Vice President, Strategy & Operations
FOX ENTERTAINMENT
Warner Bailey headshot

Warner Bailey

Founder
ASSISTANTS VS AGENTS (AVA)
Image of Woochange Lee

Woochang Lee

CEO
HYBE INDIA
Zach Katz headshot

Zach Katz

Co-Founder, CEO
FIXATED

2026 Event Schedule

8:00am

9:00am

Registration & Breakfast

2nd Floor Registration & 1st Floor Garden and Restaurant
Join us starting at 8am for registration and breakfast to fuel you for the day.
9:00am

9:10am

Welcome

The E Room
9:10am

9:50am

Presentation: Data as the Foundation of Entertainment Intelligence

The E Room
Baris Gultekin
Baris Gultekin
9:50am

10:20am

Coffee & Networking

The Foyer
10:20am

11:00am

M&A in Entertainment: The Hunger Games — Buying Growth & Selling Legacy in a Post-Peak Streamer World

The E Room
Joe Flint
Joe Flint
Aaron Siegel
Aaron Siegel
Collin Williams
Collin Williams
Erik Hodge
Erik Hodge
Jason Feuerstein
Jason Feuerstein
After the “Megadeals” of 2025, 2026 is about “De-conglomeration.” Leaders discuss portfolio optimization and the return of the “Buy and Build” strategy.
11:00am

11:40am

The AI Training Data Economy

The E Room
Doug Shapiro
Doug Shapiro
Andrew Harding
Andrew Harding
Dave Davis
Dave Davis
Dustin Blank
Dustin Blank
Matthew Adell
Matthew Adell
Exploring the fast-evolving licensing market for AI training data, particularly how rights holders from music labels to publishers and production companies are starting to participate, and emerging methods to enable fair remuneration, including attribution.
11:40am

12:20pm

Global Markets: India — The Next Streaming Frontier

The E Room
Priyanka Khimani
Priyanka Khimani
David Taghioff
David Taghioff
Kilian Kerwin
Kilian Kerwin
Woochang Lee
Woochang Lee
India is now the world’s third-fastest-growing gaming and music market. We look at the 8.8% CAGR driving the region toward a $50B entertainment economy by year-end.
12:20pm

1:20pm

Lunch

1st Floor Garden and Restaurant
1:30pm

2:10pm

Fireside Chat: Music as IP & the New Investment Landscape

The E Room
Merck Mercuriadis
Merck Mercuriadis
Tim Ingham
Tim Ingham
2:10pm

2:50pm

Cashing In on Catalogs

The E Room
Larry Miller
Larry Miller
Barry Massarsky
Barry Massarsky
Brian Richards
Brian Richards
Sherrese Clarke
Sherrese Clarke
As interest rates stabilize and billion-dollar catalogs become high-yield assets, we discuss the shift from speculative buying to data-driven portfolio management.
2:50pm

3:20pm

Break

Foyer of The E Room
3:20pm

4:00pm

Human at the Center: AI’s Next Chapter in Music

The E Room
Kristin Robinson
Kristin Robinson
Neil Jacobson
Neil Jacobson
Paul Sinclair
Paul Sinclair
Gino The Ghost
Gino The Ghost
As AI begins to take shape across the music business, the most compelling opportunities are not about replacing people, but empowering them. This session explores how AI is unlocking new creative opportunities, revenue streams, and studio workflows – expanding what is possible across the music ecosystem, with human creativity at the center.
4:00pm

4:40pm

Emerging Short Form Strategies on Long Form Platforms

The E Room
Mark Hoebich
Mark Hoebich
Jamal Salmon
Jamal Salmon
Kate Coke
Kate Coke
Neela Sakaria
Neela Sakaria
Tony Vassiliadis
Tony Vassiliadis
Dig into the data behind short-to-long conversion, what viewership numbers actually say about Gen Z / Gen Alpha behavior, and how the scroll-to-couch journey is being engineered (or not) across the industry.
4:40pm

5:10pm

The Future of the Creator & Talent Economy

The E Room
Natalie Jarvey
Natalie Jarvey
David Freeman
David Freeman
Warner Bailey
Warner Bailey
Zach Katz
Zach Katz
Data-Driven <A&R> and Talent Discovery and Identification. How data science is being used to identify breakout talent (musicians, actors, screenwriters) earlier than ever before, using metrics from social media, UGC platforms, and micro-communities. The role of data in negotiating talent deals, including setting benchmarks for success and calculating residual value in non-traditional distribution windows.
5:10pm

5:20pm

Closing Comments

The E Room
5:20pm

Cocktail Hour & Networking

First Floor Garden and Restaurant
Join us for cocktails and networking.
8:00am

9:00am

Registration & Breakfast

2nd Floor Registration & 1st Floor Garden and Restaurant
Join us starting at 8am for registration and breakfast to fuel you for the day.
9:00am

9:10am

Welcome

The E Room
9:50am

10:20am

Coffee & Networking

The Foyer

Transmedia: The Art of Cross-Platform Success

The D Room
Kaare Eriksen
Kaare Eriksen
Ron Friedman
Ron Friedman
Mike Goldberg
Mike Goldberg
Nic Hill
Nic Hill
Kiki Wolfkill
Kiki Wolfkill
From “Kpop Demon Hunters” to “Fallout,” entertainment is awash in content making its mark across multiple media. Hear from experts on best practices regarding IP development, franchise building, and where the real value gets captured.
10:30am

11:10am

The 24/7 Sports Season: How Content Wins Beyond the Game

The D Room
Cynthia Littleton
Cynthia Littleton
Colin Campbell
Colin Campbell
Mack Sovereign
Mack Sovereign
Melanie Fletcher
Melanie Fletcher
Philip Byron
Philip Byron
Live sports may be the anchor, but the rapid growth of “shoulder content” (documentaries, podcasts, social video, etc.) is transforming storytelling about teams and athletes across all platforms.
11:10am

11:50am
12:20pm

1:20pm

Lunch

1st Floor Garden and Restaurant

AI as a Creative Partner: From Script to Screen/Song

The D Room
Joanna Popper
Joanna Popper
Bryn Mooser
Bryn Mooser
Pouya Shahbazian
Pouya Shahbazian
Connie Wailan Siu
Connie Wailan Siu
John Attanasio
John Attanasio
Pioneers in utilizing AI for content development share tricks of this new trade, from generating localized marketing assets to real-time feedback on edits.
1:30pm

2:00pm

The Great Unbundling: When Labels Become Services (and Vice Versa)

The D Room
Dan Runcie
Dan Runcie
Cindy James
Cindy James
Derek Davies
Derek Davies
Evan Winiker
Evan Winiker
An exploration of the “middle-out” restructuring of the music business. As major labels pivot to services and distributors act like labels, this session defines who actually owns the artist relationship.
2:25pm

3:10pm

Break

Foyer of The D Room
3:10pm

3:30pm

Presentation & Fireside Chat: Entertainment’s Political Divide — Understanding Differences Between Liberal & Conservative Content Consumers

The D Room
Natasha Hritzuk
Natasha Hritzuk
Andrew Wallenstein
Andrew Wallenstein
An exclusive survey and study from Warner Bros. Research that explores right vs. left wing TV/film viewing preferences and what they can tell Hollywood about how to attract alienated Republican consumers.
3:30pm

4:00pm
5:10pm

5:20pm

Closing Comments

The E Room
5:20pm

Cocktail Hour & Networking

First Floor Garden and Restaurant
Join us for cocktails and networking.