Mondo Industry Vanguard:
Recognizing trailblazers shaping the future

As we celebrate a decade of Mondo.NYC we’re reflecting on our industry’s past, analyzing its present and envisioning its future.

What comes next???? We don’t know.

What we do know is that the artists, innovators and music industry leaders that we’re proud to call the Mondo family are among those most likely to guide its future direction.

As such, we’re proud to launch Mondo Industry Vanguard, a weekly feature introducing you to executives, creatives and culture shapers -- new people with new perspectives from around the world making things happen in music and tech.

Every Friday you’ll meet someone new. And we hope you'll help us out and introduce us to people in your orbit who all of us need to know.

So here we go!

Don Francis

Founder & CEO, IP Deal LLC

Don’s music catalog experience spans the length of his career, and includes buy-side and sell-side catalog transactions across nearly every deal size, rights type, and genre in the marketplace, and involves clients including major and independent labels, private-equity backed buyers, top industry executives, hit-making songwriters, and key sources of debt and equity financing.

1) You’ve spent years educating artists on how to build sustainable careers, from your bestselling book to your top-ranked podcast. What’s one fundamental piece of advice about digital tools and streaming that artists still struggle to grasp today?

2) With streaming services and platforms constantly evolving, what’s one major shift in how artists should approach audience-building and revenue generation compared to five or ten years ago?

3) Looking ahead, what’s one emerging trend in the artist-to-fan relationship that you believe will have the biggest impact on how musicians sustain their careers in the next decade?