Starting a Business in the Music Industry
Building upon our "Entrepreneurship in Music" panel discussion, the second session in the series continued to explore the intersection of music and entrepreneurship. We were joined by four highly successful music industry professionals who discussed topics such as artistic creativity in business and the factors that allowed them to succeed in the competitive music industry.
Previous Sessions
Entrepreneurial Skills in the Music Industry Panel Discussion
Zach Havens
Zach Havens is a London-based entrepreneur and musician. He is the founder and CEO of Miistro.com, an online platform that connects music students and music teachers, and also runs an online business with his wife specializing in influencer marketing and digital sales. Before starting Miistro, Zach studied classical piano, achieving the highest marks in Ontario on multiple occasions. He also released music and toured Canada several times over in the band To Tell, sharing the stage with artists such as Mariana's Trench, Said the Whale, and more. When Zach isn't building multiple businesses or playing music, he and his wife homeschool their three children and are expecting their fourth in the fall.
Ryan McCaul, BMus’17
Ryan McCaul is a music Educator and Entrepreneur. He completed his Undergrad in Music Education at the University of Western Ontario, then his Masters in Music education at Northwestern University where he focused on creativity, social justice, technology and entrepreneurship. At Northwestern he got involved with The Garage, an entrepreneurship incubator on campus and developed a non profit organization "Inclusive Instruments" where he turned mobile devices and tablets into adaptive musical instruments for students with disabilities, and worked with local students and music programs to develop these instruments. Ryan McCaul has been a Music and Visual Arts teacher in Chicago Public schools and recently moved back to Toronto. He is currently continuing Inclusive Instruments in Ontario, and developing software that allows musicians to rehearse with each other remotely without audio latency.
Lesley McKay Hunter, BMus’94
With her unconventional background in music, the performing arts and sound, Lesley has been using those skills to help her storytelling techniques as a tv and film picture editor. For almost twenty years she has worked almost exclusively in animation - a medium that she loves!
An animatic and off-line picture editor of many award winning shows including Johnny Test, Justin Time, Busytown Mysteries and Total Dramarama.
Known for her comedic and musical timing, Lesley has recently been working feature films "The Nut Job 2 - Nutty by Nature”. A film that won the 2018 best editing in animation award from the Canadian Cinema Editors association, and is currently nominated for the same award for another feature film called "Arctic Dogs”.
Justin Bisaillon, BA’10
Justin Bisaillon is a Music industry professional with over ten years of experience in finance, copyright, royalties, and technology. He is the Senior Manager of Product Development at Anthem Entertainment, where he supports key business functions and manages a portfolio of proprietary and licensed software products.
Anthem is one of the world’s leading independent music and entertainment companies, representing a diverse roster of creators including Grammy Award-winning producer Timbaland, iconic Canadian rock band RUSH, emerging Country Music star Jordan Davis, and many more.
Prior to joining Anthem, Justin worked for True North Records, Canada’s oldest independent record company, where he was responsible for securing $3M in funding for label and artist-related activities annually.
Having led several enterprise-level projects to date, one of his greatest achievements has been the launch of Anthem’s proprietary music rights platform Conductor in 2018. This project required oversight of $9M in capital and operational expenditures.
He graduated from Western University, with a BA specialization in Music Administration in 2010. His education and experience provide him with a diverse perspective and understanding of the music landscape and emerging technologies.
Entrepreneurship in Music Panel Discussion
Friday, September 25, 2020
Jeff MacDonald, BA'98
Founder and Chief Composer, Louder Productions
Jeff MacDonald is the Founder and Chief Composer of Louder Productions, one of the leading creators of music for film and television advertising, as well as innovators of music for prime-time television productions and commercials. With credits on over 600 film and television advertising campaigns, he and Executive Producer, Marcela MacDonald, lead the Louder Productions’ team in creating the signature music and sonic elements that market some of the world’s most successful productions, including: Black Widow, Greyhound, Stranger Things, Westworld, Bad Boys For Life, 1917, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Frozen II, Hobbs & Shaw, Game Of Thrones, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Jack Ryan, Black Panther, The Handmaid’s Tale, Terminator: Dark Fate, Arrival, Avengers: Endgame, Deadpool 2, Mary Poppins Returns, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Fate of the Furious, Venom, Godzilla, Wonder Woman, Bumblebee, The Amazing Spider-Man, Thor: The Dark World, World War Z, Mad Max: Fury Road, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Star Trek Into Darkness and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Louder Productions’ work has been featured in every Super Bowl broadcast since 2009 and is heard daily in more than 200 global television markets.
Jeff earned his Bachelor of Arts (Music) degree from Western University and his Master of Music (Composition) degree from the University of Miami, Fl.
Harrison Lee, HBA'17
Harrison Lee has dual degrees in Kinesiology and Business from Western. His career includes working at Bell for more than four years; raising and managing $20M across retail capital projects, building data-based tools to drive digital growth to Bell Media, and creating (from scratch) the online growth strategy for SaaS-based start-up Lucky Mobile (driving $3.6M in net revenue over 18 months). Through his work and educational experience, Harrison realized that entertainment is a highly effective medium for education. So, with his keen interest to build technology to support and inspire a high volume of people, Harrison started his own company, Riff, in 2020. Riff serves musicians as a virtual business manager, where users can access tailored growth plans, connect with industry services, and manage it all in one-place. Outside of work, Harrison’s hobbies include diving, skiing, squash, spikeball, singing, and baseball.
Joel Ivany, BMusA'04
He is perhaps best known as "Canadian opera's enfant not-so-terrible" through his company, Against the Grain Theatre (AtG). As its founder and artistic director, Ivany is leading the chamber opera movement by producing industry-changing productions. They have produced La bohème in a bar, Pelléas et Mélisande in an outdoor courtyard, Figaro's Wedding in an actual wedding venue (Dora Mavor Moore winner), a staged/choreographed Handel's AtG’s Messiah (Dora Mavor Moore winner), Britten's The Turn of the Screw in a converted attic and broke the rules by successfully mashing up Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin with Messiaen's Harawi in a Queen West art gallery. These productions caused NOW Magazine to say, "Against the Grain Theatre proves itself one of the city's most inventive young companies.” AtG has renewed opera by presenting newly translated and adapted librettos by Joel Ivany using "his characteristic bawdy wit.”
Stephanie Ciccarelli, BMusA'06
Stephanie Ciccarelli is a founder of Voices.com, the largest online marketplace for voice over products and services in the world. A respected mentor, industry speaker, and branding expert, Stephanie is considered one of the most connected people in the industry. Her podcasts, Mission Audition and Sound Stories, delve into the world of voice over. Stephanie has been listed on the PROFIT Magazine 2013, 2015, and 2016 W100 lists, a ranking of Canada’s top female entrepreneurs. She is also the author of Voice Acting for Dummies®️
Event contact
Nicole Haney
Business Advisor, Propel
Western University
nhaney@uwo.ca
