Recording - June 2015 - 55

JUNE 2015
TAXI Road Rally 2014 Panel

Understanding and Profiting from the
Music Library Business
PANELISTS:
Matt Hirt, Steve Winogradsky, Jeff Gray,
Tanvi Patel
Moderator: Michael Laskow
Introduction:
Matt Hirt is a highly versatile and prolific composer
with about 17,000 unique published songs and
instrumentals in nearly every musical style imaginable to his credit. Matt's songs have been featured
four #1 box office motion pictures, including Limitless, Tropic Thunder, Rush Hour 3, and Mr. and Mrs.
Smith starring Brangelina. His music is heard daily
on broadcast network and cable TV shows such as
Hawaii Five-O, How I Met Your Mother, CSI, Parenthood... basically every TV show on television has
used this man's music at one point or another,
including The Olympics in Beijing, Vancouver, and
London on NBC, and many, many others. Ladies
and gentlemen, Mr. Matt Hirt. [applause]
Steve Winogradsky has over 30 years experience as
an attorney in the music industry. He is a partner in
Winogradsky, Sobel in Studio City, California, providing global media and music business affairs and
legal support for composers, songwriters, music
publishers, recording artists and television, film
and video multi-media producers. He was twice
elected President of the California Copyright Conference. After spending nine years on the board of
directors, he has served for four years as the President of the Association of Independent Music
Publishers, and was named as one of the outstanding instructors in Entertainment Studies in
Performing Arts at UCLA Extension, where he's
taught since 1997. He is the author of Music Publishing: The Complete Guide. Please welcome, Mr.
Steven Winogradsky. [applause]
Jeff Gray, aka Pesci, he's a Composer, Performer,
Music Supervisor, Music Licensor/Licensee, Music
Consultant, Mechanical Royalties Specialist, Manager of Creative Services and Contracting,
A&R/Talent Relations, Copywriter, Booking Agent,

Tanvi Patel (right) got a hearty laugh from her fellow panelists, (R to L) Jeff Gray, Steve Winogradsky, and Matt Hirt during the
Understanding and Profiting from the Music Library Business panel at TAXI's Road Rally 2014. (Photo by Ryan Taalbi)

Talent Scout, Manager, Music Researcher, and
more. Jeff has worked for MTV, Bug Music Publishing, Warner Music, Cleopatra Records, Fox Sports
Music, Future Content LLC, Amoeba Music, Swinghouse Productions, Guitar Center, and more. He
also plays an active role in the music community as
a performer, songwriter, arranger, and collaborator. He is a nine-year ambassador and on-air talent
for the Hunnypot Unlimited radio show and live
events, and he's an active member of The Guild Of
Music Supervisors. Ladies and gents, Mr. Jeff Gray!
[applause]

ments include Nebraska, Gravity, Captain Phillips,
Scandal, Homeland, Boardwalk Empire, Orange Is
the New Black, The Good Wife, and countless others.
Tanvi and her partner Jim Long called TAXI when
they first started Crucial and they said, "We need to
find 3,000 high quality songs in a year to launch
this catalog." And they have been running listings
with us and getting placements for our members
ever since on network TV, feature films, and TV
commercials. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for
Ms. Tanvi Patel. [applause]
Welcome all, and thank you for joining us today!

Tanvi Patel is the CEO and 50% partner in Crucial
Music Corporation. She moved to L.A. in 2005 to
manage the Point Classics Catalog of over 2,500
classical compositions, securing ringtone deals, CD
licenses, distribution, and film and TV placements
that have included Oscar winner Brokeback Mountain, Oceans Twelve, Land of the Dead, HBO's
Classical Baby, Wildfire, Judging Amy, Malcolm in the
Middle, and The Simpsons. Her Crucial music place-

I got an email from a TAXI member that I know
pretty well, and he's got a wide-open door to pitch
music to the executive producer of a broadcast network, primetime TV show. I was comfortable
running a listing for him, and I suggested that he
start out slowly and offer non-exclusive deals. This
was the first sentence of the listing that we ran:
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