Michael Pelczynski is a strategist, economist and music rights expert that has been a pioneering force in evolving the streaming business. As Vice President of Strategy at SoundCloud, Michael had architected, licensed and launched an award winning new economic model and fan-powered business. Continually working on improving the economics of music, Michael had delivered multiyear first-to-market licensing deals with major record labels while conceiving and developing artist-to-fan product tools that enhance the commercial value proposition. Focused on the future state of the industry, Michael has led cross-functional teams to identify and evaluate new strategic business opportunities, including new initiatives, partnerships and operational improvements. Through his industry newsletter and consulting agency Forms + Shapes, Michael advises on political and regulatory risk policy, content and technology licensing, corporate and commercial transactions as well as artist development services. Prior to joining SoundCloud, Michael directed rights administration at Warner Music Group, overseeing royalties and reporting across six label divisions. In addition to formal economics background, career in music began as a songwriter, composing for BMG Rights Management and several film productions, notably garnering 2014 A2IM Libera Awards semi-finalist nominations for Album of the Year and Up & Comer.

Jason Della Rocca is a game business consultant, investor, funding advisor, and ecosystem strategist. He currently spends the bulk of his time advising game studio founders on funding and product strategy, and advising governments around the world how to better grow/support the success of their regional game development ecosystem. As the co-founder of Execution Labs, he was a hands-on early stage investor to 25 independent game studios from North America and Europe. In parallel Jason helped launch GamePlay Space, a non-profit hub to support indies and guide them toward business success, whose alumni have generated over $300m in game sales and funding. Between 2000-09 he served as the executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), and was honored for his industry building efforts with the inaugural Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Conference. In 2009, Jason was named to Game Developer Magazine’s “Power50,” a list which profiles 50 of the most important contributors to the state of the game industry. As a sought after expert on the game industry, Jason has lectured at conferences and universities worldwide.

Russell is a game developer and a XR enthusiast whose goal is to create immersive and innovative experiences in the virtual space. He has recently joined Inworld AI as a Developer Relations Manager, and was previously a Developer Advocate at Unity for two years. At Inworld AI, he helps other developers leverage the power of artificial intelligence to create realistic and dynamic characters, environments, and interactions in their projects. He also showcases the capabilities of Inworld AI’s platform, which enables developers to easily build and deploy their custom characters across multiple devices and platforms. Russell has a diverse portfolio of VR projects, ranging from healthcare and education, to games and serious simulations. Some of his projects include implementing rehabilitation tasks in VR for stroke patients, creating eye-tracking experiences and non-traditional control schemes for VR, and also integrating external hardware like the Myo armband into a gesture-based wizard spellcasting game.