Music industry leaders Scott Sellwood, Johan Ahlström, Oana Ruxandra, Jeremy Sirota, and Adam Parness join to help shape beatBread's strategy and innovation
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- beatBread, the leading music funding platform for independent artists, labels and songwriters, today announced the formation of an advisory board of senior leaders from across the music, technology and finance industries. The board will advise CEO Andreea Gleeson and the executive leadership team on beatBread's long-term strategy, product development, market positioning and go-to-market priorities as the company enters its next phase of growth.
The formation of the advisory board comes as beatBread advances its vision to build the next generation of financial infrastructure for the independent music economy, expanding access to flexible funding and giving artists, songwriters and music companies greater choice and control over how they fund their businesses.
The advisory board's members are Scott Sellwood, Director of Music Business Development at Meta; Johan Ahlström, co-founder of Kobalt Capital and a strategic advisor to growth companies; Oana Ruxandra, Founder and CEO of PopHatch; and former Chief Digital Officer and EVP of Business Development at Warner Music Group; Jeremy Sirota, Chief Commercial Officer at Suno and former CEO of Merlin; and Adam Parness, former Global Head of Music Publishing at Spotify and an advisor to a range of music rightsholders, investors, and technology companies.
Collectively, the five bring deep expertise spanning independent music, publishing, streaming, technology, AI, music rights investment and institutional finance.
"Independent artists, songwriters and music companies are building increasingly sophisticated businesses, but the financial tools available to them haven't always kept pace," said Andreea Gleeson, CEO of beatBread. "We're focused on changing that. Scott, Johan, Oana, Jeremy and Adam collectively bring a wealth of expertise spanning music, technology and finance. They've each played an important role in shaping the industry we know today, and I'm excited to have their experience and perspectives to help us think through what's next for beatBread and the independent music economy."
The advisory board will meet regularly with Gleeson and beatBread's executive leadership team, including an annual strategy summit focused on the longer-term industry trends, growth opportunities, product investment and go-to-market strategy.
Scott Sellwood is Director of Music Business Development at Meta. He was previously General Counsel and SVP of Business Affairs at RightsFlow, the licensing and royalty services company acquired by Google, and later worked in partner development at YouTube. He co-founded content rights management platform Source3, which was ultimately sold to Meta. A lawyer by training, Sellwood is also a musician who previously played and toured with several critically acclaimed indie bands.
Johan Ahlström co-founded Kobalt Capital in 2010, establishing the world's first regulated investment fund business dedicated to music rights. As CEO, he helped pioneer institutional investment in music rights, overseeing more than 300 investments across two funds and leading their sales for a combined $1.5 billion. Before moving into music, Ahlström built a hedge fund business for Allianz and worked in alternative investments at Citigroup. He is now a strategic advisor to growth companies.
Oana Ruxandra is Founder and CEO of PopHatch, the artist business partner for musicians. She spent fifteen years in music at Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, most recently as Chief Digital Officer and EVP of Business Development at Warner. There she helped grow digital revenue by $2 billion and led platform deals with Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, Meta and TikTok. She also served as SVP of Strategy and Business Development at Universal Music Group. Before entering the music business, she was a quantitative portfolio manager at BlackRock. Billboard and Variety have named her to their power lists of the most influential business leaders. She serves on the boards of Revolve (NYSE: RVLV) and The Metropolitan Opera.
Jeremy Sirota is Chief Commercial Officer at Suno, the leading AI music platform, where he oversees commercial strategy and partnerships with the music industry. He was previously CEO of Merlin, the digital licensing partner for independent labels and distributors, where he more than doubled the organization's revenue and negotiated agreements with platforms including Apple, Spotify, Twitch and YouTube. Before Merlin he licensed recorded music from independent labels and distributors for Meta's music team, and spent nine years at Warner Music Group, becoming SVP and head of business and legal affairs for WEA and ADA.
Adam Parness was Global Head of Music Publishing at Spotify from 2017 to 2019, where he led the company's music publishing licensing, operations, and creative teams. Through Adam Parness Music Consulting he now advises a range of fast-growing music technology platforms, as well as music rightsholders, publishers and investors. He previously ran publisher licensing at Pandora, led Amazon's global music publishing work during the launch of Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited, and was Vice President of Music Licensing at Rhapsody. He has been named to Billboard's 40 Under 40.
About beatBread
beatBread is a leading music funding platform providing artists, songwriters, independent labels, distributors and music companies with greater choice and access to flexible growth capital. Since launching in 2020, beatBread has funded more than 2,000 clients across six continents, with funding ranging from $1,000 to more than $10 million for existing catalogs as well as new and unreleased music. Powered by proprietary underwriting technology chordCashAI, beatBread offers flexible funding solutions designed to give clients greater control over ownership, deal terms, distribution and marketing. Through its Funding Network and Comparison Tool™, qualifying clients can also access and compare offers from multiple funding partners to find the solution that best fits their needs. beatBread is backed by leading institutional investors and capital partners including Citi, Deciens Capital, Mucker Capital, Advantage Capital and GMO.
For more information on beatBread, visit www.beatbread.com
Media Contact
Dylan Jones, Boldsquare, 1 7186878994, [email protected], www.beatbread.com
SOURCE beatBread
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