Pipeline, the $200 million-backed indie music financing platform launched by Matt Spetzler’s investment firm Jamen Capital, has appointed three senior executives across finance, legal, and data, as the London-headquartered company builds out its leadership team less than four months after its public launch.
Jennifer Scher has joined Pipeline as Chief Financial Officer; Jason Munro as General Counsel & Head of Business Affairs; and Jay Srivastav as Head of Data & Product.
The appointments were announced on Friday (April 24).
Pipelinelaunched publicly in January, emerging from stealth after more than a year of development. The company said it aims to address an “imbalance” between the independent music sector and major music corporations.
Photo Credit: Brett Winter Lemon
“Jennifer, Jason and Jay each bring a unique and highly relevant skill set that strengthens our ability to support independent music businesses globally with the capital and infrastructure they need to thrive.”
Matt Spetzler
Following its public launch, Pipeline struck a partnership with indie licensing agency Merlin in January to give its members access to advances against digital royalties.
Pipeline’s new Head of Data & Product, Jay Srivastav, will lead the development of the firm’s royalty infrastructure and data systems to ensure efficiency and scalability as the business grows across labels, publishers, and distributors, according to the company.
“Most independent music companies are dealing with more data than they know what to do with.”
Jay Srivastav
Srivastav was previously a co-founder of Syncopate, a royalty management platform for music-rights investors, which Pipeline says scaled to over $1 million in ARR within 12 months. He began his career at FTI Consulting, focused on music catalog transactions and collateral valuations, before joining Royal to help build analytics and forecasting systems.
“Most independent music companies are dealing with more data than they know what to do with including royalties, streaming performance, metadata, deal terms and reporting,” said Srivastav.
“It’s scattered across systems that are often old and don’t talk to each other. The opportunity to bring all of that together and turn it into something Pipeline’s users can actually make decisions with is what brought me here.”
Jennifer Scher, who joins as CFO, brings more than 25 years of experience across private equity, corporate finance and strategic planning within both startup and multinational music companies.
Over the course of her career, she has raised over $750 million in acquisition funding, executed over $1 billion in music acquisitions — including Round Hill Music‘s acquisition of Carlin Music — and raised more than $250 million in debt financing focused on music assets.
“The opportunity to combine disciplined financial strategy with a deep understanding of music assets is incredibly compelling.”
Jennifer Scher
At Pipeline, Scher will oversee finance, including ERP implementation, forecasting, budgeting and policy development. She previously sat on the Board of Directors and Investment Committee of Seeker, according to the company.
“Pipeline is building something highly differentiated at the intersection of capital and music, and I’m excited to bring my experience to a platform that is focused on long-term value creation for independent rights holders,” said Scher. “The opportunity to combine disciplined financial strategy with a deep understanding of music assets is incredibly compelling.”
Jason Munro, General Counsel & Head of Business Affairs, joins Pipeline after a decade at BMG, most recently serving as Head of Business & Legal Affairs for Recorded Music, North America. He relocated from London to New York in 2018 and was a member of BMG’s US deal team, focused on global music agreements and catalog acquisitions.
Earlier in his career, he worked at law firm SJ Berwin, where he advised on Universal Music Group‘s acquisition of EMI and the subsequent Parlophone Label Group carve-out, before roles at Russells Solicitors and Island Records.
Commenting on the appointment, Munro said: “Independent music businesses are the backbone of this industry, built by passionate, creator-driven entrepreneurs who live and breathe the music but are often underserved when it comes to capital and resources. Pipeline is changing that, and being part of that mission is something I am genuinely excited to be a part of.”
“Independent music businesses are the backbone of this industry, built by passionate, creator-driven entrepreneurs who live and breathe the music but are often underserved when it comes to capital and resources.”
Jason Munro
Matt Spetzler added: “These appointments reflect our commitment to building a world-class team with deep expertise across finance, legal and data.
“Jennifer, Jason and Jay each bring a unique and highly relevant skill set that strengthens our ability to support independent music businesses globally with the capital and infrastructure they need to thrive.”Music Business Worldwide
