Mondo.NYC Speaker
John Funge
CEO & Co-Founder, The Music Fund
John Funge is CEO and Co-Founder of The Music Fund that aims to democratize human creativity by applying machine learning and statistical techniques to develop a broader and fairer market for music royalties. Prior to The Music Fund, John led a team of data scientists, machine learning experts and data engineers in Winton’s SF office. John developed several new data sets that led to the creation of a successful new fund. Previously, John was Co-founder and CTO at Knack. Knack analyzes gameplay data from mobile games to let people find their talent, broadcast their potential, and connect them with educational opportunities and jobs. Prior to Knack, John was Director of Engineering at Netflix where his roles included leading the Streaming Insights group, leading development of Netflix Instant Streaming for key platforms like the Nintendo Wii, and member of the patent committee. Before Netflix, John was Co-founder and AI Researcher at AiLive. AiLive provided entertainment to 100M+ households with Wii and PlayStation motion control and created the Nintendo Wii MotionPlus which went on to become the best-selling after-market game peripheral or all time. John is also the author of 3 books on Game AI, holds 17 patents, has a PhD from the University of Toronto, an MSc from Oxford University and was an Adjunct Professor at the University of California Santa Cruz for 6 years.
The Future of Financial Rights: Alternative Funding in the Creator Economy
10/14/21, 3:00 PM
The “Creator Economy” has fast become one of the buzziest sectors for both the industry press and investors in the VC world. Individual artists have more avenues than ever to connect with their fans, creating numerous new revenue streams in turn. Whether via subscription platforms, NFTs/tokenization or tapping into new working capital options, the music industry has seen revolutionary change in the way artists do business through the COVID-era. These industry leaders will unpack why the “Creator Economy” matters and what specific pitfalls and opportunities exist in music specifically.