Gerd Leonhard

Gerd Leonhard is a media futurist, blogger, writer, keynote speaker and strategist with twenty-five years of activities in the technology and entertainment industries in all major markets. Leonhard's focus is on new technologies in content and media and technological convergence.
Background
Gerd Leonhard was born in 1961 in Bonn, Germany. He attended Gymnasium in Koenigswinter, followed by studies in Lutheran Theology at the University of Bonn. During his study years, Leonhard performed as a rock musician and became a songwriter. In 1982, Leonhard moved to San Francisco to check out the Californian music scene. Shortly afterwards he moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music, where he received the ‘Quincy Jones Award & Scholarship in 1985. After graduating in 1987, Leonhard returned to California and began his career as a professional musician, arranger and composer. From 1987 to 1992, Leonhard toured and recorded in the U.S. and in Europe.
While actively involved in the creative processes of the music industry, Leonhard also experienced the rise and the fall of the .com years first hand. In 1996 Leonhard founded LicenseMusic.com, Inc. in San Francisco, a business to business music licensing company that connected songwriters, music producers and publishers with advertisers, film companies and other clients that needed to license music. LicenseMusic.com was the first service of its kind to license music content over its Internet platform. In 2002, the company shut down operations.
Music and Media Futurist
Futurist Gerd Leonhard advises individuals, companies and organizations on future business opportunities, immediate market scenarios and trends since 2001. Leonhard's expertise includes social media, mobile content and m-commerce, innovation and entrepreneurship, UGC and peer production, copyright, licensing and IPR issues, next-generation advertising, marketing and branding, digital content strategies and the development of next-generation business models in the content, communications & technology industries.
Speaker
Leonhard's keynotes and presentations address issues such as the advent of the prosumer and user-creator, the attention and linking economy in media, the so-called ‘wisdom of the masses’ and user-generated content, content syndication and the rise of the pull-not-push paradigm in marketing, new business models for digital content, the culture of participation in media, copyrights versus usage rights, and the consequences of mass media becoming personal media.
Entrepreneur
Leonhard's work focusses on digital content, media, the cultural and creative industries, telecom, marketing and communications. From 2007 to 2009 he served as Co-Founder and CEO of SONIFIC, an angel investor-funded company in San Francisco that provided music widgets and streaming applications for blogs, social networks and online communities. The company seized operations in April 2009 due to licensing issues with the major record companies.
In 2010, as an extension of his work as a futurist, Leonhard established The Futures Agency which offers think-tank and training events, workshops and executive seminars, presentations, keynote speeches and various advisory services to leading companies in the telecom, media, advertising and technology industries. Leonhard also serves as an advisory board member for various start-ups.
Publications
* Berklee Press, Boston 2005, ISBN 0-87639-059-9
* Music like Water 2005
* End of Control 2008
* Music 2.0 - Essays by Gerd Leonhard (Lulu.com) 2009
* Friction is Fiction: The Future of Content, Media & Business (Lulu.com) 2009

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