Alex Goatcher
Alex is an award-winning product visionary and tech entrepreneur.
He began his career at CERN, the birthplace of the World Wide Web, joining the Distributed Computing Infrastructure Group in 1992. After leaving CERN, Alex became a pioneer in the very early days of massively multiplayer gaming on mobile and handheld console platforms.
Alex co-founded Mikoishi with Amy Chang in 2001. Mikoishi developed numerous games and applications around film, video-game and book franchises including Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Super Puzzle Fighter II, 300, Watchman, Harry Potter, and Starwars. Mikoishi won awards at the highest level, such E3 Best of Show (2007, 2008, 2009) and IGN Game of the year (2009).
After exiting Mikoishi, Alex pursued his love of music tech and spent several years consulting to international music companies and publishing organisations in APAC, providing advice on handling the explosion in music meta-data that the streaming age had brought.
It was during this time that the core idea of RAD/AR® first came to Alex, an online solution to the discovery of music and artists which would continuously surface artists before they break.
Mark Knight
Mark Knight is a visionary tech entrepreneur with a track-record of developing first to market tech and software. Whilst reading Computer Science with Economics at Brunel University, Mark created Jotter, the world's first commercial word processor for a portable device, and which was incorporated into the Psion Organizer. In 1994, Mark created BladeRunner, the world's first enterprise-application internet platform, and which was used to develop Silicon.com (sold to CBS Interactive in 2002).
In 2003, Mark co-founded Omnifone and created MusicStation, an award-winning digital music platform used by industry giants Vodafone, Samsung and Sony. He created the first mobile music subscription service on a mobile phone in 2007, and, in 2014, Mark built the first high-resolution music streaming service, partnering with Neil Young. Mark’s tech has won awards at the highest level, such as GMA Best Mobile Music Service (2008).
Mark joined forces with Alex and Amy, architecting a radical new approach to A&R in the streaming age: Robotic Automated Discovery for Artists & Repertoire (RAD/AR).
Amy Chang
Amy Chang is a corporate finance expert and tech entrepreneur. Amy has been nurturing tech startups for the past 20 years and has vast experience in diverse market sectors.
Amy co-founded Mikoishi with Alex Goatcher in 2001. Mikoishi quickly became an internationally recognised game development studio and publisher, concentrated in the film sector. Amy was instrumental in Mikoishi’s expansion through Singapore, Japan, and South Korea and for developing its customer base in the Americas and Europe. Mikoishi won many awards, such E3 Best of Show (2007, 2008, 2009) and IGF Technical innovation (2010).
Amy has served on various industry committees to promote the Media, Entertainment and Animation industries. Just like Alex and Mark, Amy is a passionate music fan and aims to reward artistry and enable authentic online music discovery.
Fred Bolza
Fred is a strategist who works at the intersection of culture, technology and people. His core skill is acting as the connective tissue between adjacent worlds to define and answer key strategic questions.
He has over 20 years of experience in strategy having worked initially as a management consultant then as strategy director at PRS for Music and finally as VP Strategy at Sony Music where he played a key role in developing and delivering insight and analytics approaches into the business.
Since he left Sony 3 years ago he has launched his own music company New Soil focusing on emerging UK jazz talent and continues to provide advisory services across music, digital and technology to a range of clients. He is Chair and Trustee of the Abram Wilson Foundation, on the advisory board of One Question and a scale partner at Multiple.
