Al Risi

Al Risi is a music supervisor and the founder of Groove Guild, the New York creative music agency he launched in 2013. Having worked on the label, artist management, publishing and advertising sides of the business, he brings a rare 360 view of how music gets made, marketed and matched to picture.

Risi began his career at Universal Music Group, where he helped develop the careers of artists like Beck, Eminem, Counting Crows, Blink 182 and Weezer. His twelve years on the label side also included two years as a product manager at Higher Octave Music (EMI), where he led marketing strategy for the label's roster. He then moved into music for picture, working with several music houses and an independent publisher focused on advertising before forming his own company.

Groove Guild's services include music supervision, licensing, original music and sonic strategy. Risi's clients have included Volkswagen, Google, Coca Cola and Instagram. Recent work includes music supervision for Johannes Leonardo's Eataly short film starring Alessandro Del Piero. His supervision work for Volkswagen has earned multiple AMP Awards and Clio Music Awards, along with honors from the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards and the AICP. His Instagram campaign won the AMP Award for Most Effective Use of Music in a Campaign.

Risi has served on the East Coast board of the Guild of Music Supervisors and the national board of the Association of Music Producers. Today, he plays a leading role on the committee that produces the AMP Awards, the only U.S. nonprofit awards competition dedicated to music and sound in advertising.