Veteran manager, music publisher, speaker and consultant, Barry Bergman is the founder and president of the Music Managers Forum in the United States. An outspoken advocate on artist rights, he has testified on Capitol Hill serving the interests of artists.
My humble appreciation to Rob Quicke for acknowledging my contributions to the
College Radio Foundation.
"Don't Shed a Tear" written by Rob Friedman.
My first top ten Wood Monkey Music song that paved the way to sub-publishing deals throughout the world.
My client Canadian recording artist
Keven Jordan fulfilling his dream of winning a "Juno Award" (Equivalent to a US Grammy).
The Meat Loaf single
"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" that propelled
"Bat Out of Hell" into one of the best selling albums in the history of recorded music.
The Sixties
As a young man, Barry Bergman was hanging out at Greenwich Village coffeehouses, listening to music while attending New York University where he acquired a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Management. After graduation, unsuccessful attempts to be employed within the music business on a full-time basis sent Barry further downtown where he became a stockbroker with Steiner, Rouse & Company. While employed on Wall Street, Barry created Free Enterprise Music Company, a record production and publishing company, signing recording artists and songwriters.
The Seventies
Several minor successes and networking landed Barry his first full-time job in the music business for the well-established publishing company, The Edward B. Marks Music Corporation. He signed several big artists and played a key role in the launching of the careers of Meat Loaf, AC/DC, John Paul Young and Flash and the Pan. Barry was made vice president, Professional Manager.
Barry joined United Artists Music in the capacity of vice president, Creative Affairs, where he was responsible for professional department direction and promotion of the recording careers of writer/artists and self-contained groups signed to United Artists.
The Eighties
Barry left corporate life to become a music business entrepreneur, forming Barry Bergman Management, representing recording and performing artists, Ellymax Music Company and Wood Monkey Music, representing songwriters.
Barry has published more than 250 songs recorded by various artists including Michael Bolton, Cher, Kiss, Joan Jett and others. Three of his biggest hit singles were Don't Shed A Tear‚ recorded by Paul Carrack on Chrysalis, Don't Close Your Eyes‚ by Kix on Atlantic and Kathy Mattea's‚ Love Travels on Mercury.
The Nineties
Barry founded and became president of the International Managers Forum in the United States. The IMF was formed to further the interests of managers and their artists in all fields of the music industry, to provide a forum to discuss the issues and problems facing the music industry manager and to educate and disseminate information regarding areas of interest to managers.
Barry was retained as an expert witness in the well-publicized music industry trial of‚ The Cameron Organisation vs. Marie Dixon.
On June 28, 1995, representing the International Managers Forum, Barry testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property in a hearing on H.R. 1506: "Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995." Through his efforts and other industry leaders, President Bill Clinton signed this bill into law on Nov. 1, 1995.
Barry became a business consultant to the entertainment industry. His artist clients included Dan Zanes of the Del Fuegos, Donnie Purnell of Kix and the Christian rock band MXPX. Barry began corporate consulting Sony Music of Canada and entered into the new economy with EMusic.com, where he advises the content department and also licenses and purchases catalogs for them.
In addition to consulting and publishing activities, Barry started public speaking engagements with the Seminar Center in New York City, where he lectured on the ‚"Art Of Music Publishing: What Every Artist, Band & Songwriter Should Know."
The IMF changed it's name to the Music Managers Forum, and Barry headed back to Washington D.C. in an effort to roll back a provision inserted by the Recording Industry Association of America into the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 whereby SoundRecordings were made works-for-hire and artists lost their rights to reclaim ownership of their master recordings beginning in 2013.
The MMF along with several other artist rights groups convinced Congress and the RIAA of the need to repeal the controversial change to U.S. copyright law, and Bergman claimed another victory.
The Millennium
May 25, 2000 - Barry Bergman submitted written testimony to Congress in connection with the Hearing on Public Law 106.13 re: “Works Made For Hire” Bergman along with the MMF-US worked feverishly with a coalition of other industry groups and succeeded in our efforts to rescind without prejudice the 1999 “Work For Hire” amendment to the copyright law.
May 17th 2001 - Barry entered into a long term consulting agreement with Toronto based InDimensions Entertainment Group Inc. now known as officialCOMMUNITY Corp. officialCOMMUNITY is an online event-driven brand management agency representing Elton John, James Taylor, Mark Knopfler, George Michael, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon among many other high profile brands.
November 2001 - six years of work came to fruition when Barry signed on behalf of the MMF, a landmark agreement whereby SoundExchange, the collection and distribution agency for Artists digital sound recording performance license fees, along with the major labels and artist groups, agreed to pay artist performance royalties directly to performers. This landmark agreement would also place SoundExchange under the joint control of recording artists and record companies.
October 24, 2003 - Barry is honored at the United Nations for his leadership as president and founder of the Music Managers Forum-US. Over 150 people from around the world attended the gala.
2004 - President of the MMF-US Barry joins a group of leading industry leaders dubbed the CEO Retreat. The group meets a few times a year to discuss industry issues and find common ground to work together to accomplish even bigger industry goals.
May 2006 - Barry makes his feature film debut in the Hip Hop documentary “ The Art Of 16 Bars” Film was directed by Academy Award Nominee Peter Spirer.
Since 2007 Barry represents the MMF-US as a founding member of musicFirst. The organization works to ensure music creators get fair pay for their work on AM/FM wherever and however their music is played.
2012 - Barry makes his acting debut in the feature film “Altered States of Plaine”. Also credited as an Executive Producer.
October of 2014 - Bergman receives an award from the College Radio Foundation for Outstanding Support Of The Medium Of College Radio.
2015 - Bergman is hired as the Music Supervisor for the Documentary “Queen Mimi” which is theatrically released on May 13, 2016 to rave reviews.