Meet the directors recently elected to the PRS Board

Last week, PRS made the most significant changes to its governance structure in 20 years at its  Annual General Meeting. 
Held virtually due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, it was also the first AGM to be led by Andrea C. Martin since joining the organisation as chief executive in 2019, a year that saw record results achieved. 

In addition to the historic changes, PRS also welcomed some new and some familiar faces to its Board. 

Renowned legal and business affairs executive, Alex Kassner, was newly appointed as a Publisher Director, alongside Roberto Neri and Jo Smith, who have been re-appointed as Publisher Directors, and John Truelove, who has been re-appointed as a Writer Director. 

Alex Kassner has been responsible for business affairs at the Kassner Music group since 2009. A strong believer in the importance of an independent voice in the music publishing community, Alex is Chairman of the MPA Pop Music Publishers Committee, has served as part of the MPA Public Affairs and Governance Committee and MPA Legal Issues and Anti-Piracy Group since 2016 and also joined the PRS Operational Working Group at the start of 2018.

Roberto Neri is the Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development for Europe at Downtown Music. In addition, he is also Chair of the MPA and sits on the Board of UK Music. Roberto joined Downtown in 2015 as part of the acquisition of Eagle-i Music, the music publishing company he founded in 2011. Prior to this, Roberto was Vice President of International at Bug Music and his music industry career started with PRS in 1999.

Jo Smith is the International Director of Society and Industry Affairs at Warner Chappell Music, having previously worked at Sony/ATV, EMI Music Publishing and as a lawyer for private and corporate music clients. With over two decades of experience in the music business, Jo has served on the Board of the PRS since 2017, alongside being a member of the Distribution and Licensing Committees at PRS.

John Truelove is a record producer, DJ, and music entrepreneur, founding his own companies including Truelove Music Publishing. A stalwart of the dance music community and PRS Board member since 2017, Truelove has long campaigned for the sector within both PRS and further afield with the Association For Electronic Music (AFEM).

M caught up with them all to get to know them a little better. 

John Truelove

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to be a PRS Board Director? 

I started out in 1990 releasing one of the first ever legal mashups (You Got The Love), and progressed on to owning and running a series of dance labels to release my own music and that of my mates. I got involved in the politics of music in the mid-90s, when it became clear that, despite 1988’s dance music revolution having affected every corner of the country, literally not a penny of the income that PRS was collecting from nightclubs (which had by then morphed into superclubs) was coming back to the actual music that was being performed.

It turned out that, with the best of intentions, they were using analogies collated from things such as the Radio 1 playlist Radio 2 playlist, and the UK Top 20 album chart!

I and some colleagues successfully agitated for actual researchers to go out into the field to document what was being played. That still happens to this day, but I am hopeful it will be mostly replaced by Music Recognition Technology over the next years.

As a result of that agitation back in the 90s I became interested in other mechanisms within PRS and got involved with various committees, including founding the PRS Dance Group, which I still chair. That engagement naturally led on to an interest in being able to feed into and influence PRS policy, and so, now, here I am!

What will you bring to the Board?

I’ll continue as I started, with my usual plain talking, challenging anyone who comes to the table with a fixed assumption, and always driving for evidence-based decisions that are fair, equitable, and that benefit the whole of the membership. I’m also looking forward to mentoring potential future board members, and am currently looking for candidates

Describe the music industry in 2020 in three words…

Black.Lives.Matter

What’s your favourite musical memory?

Being on the dancefloor at Turnmills in London when the DJ unexpectedly dropped a track I had produced only the previous day. I had given it to him on dub-plate barely thirty minutes earlier expecting, as was customary, for him to take it home to listen to before hopefully playing at future gigs, but he dropped it there and then and the entire place went berserk. Goosebumps moment!

Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to learn…  

I (still!) can’t play any musical instrument, so composition takes me a loooooong time, and I sing firmly in the key of FLAT (a source of continued bafflement to the singers I work with)!

Roberto Neri

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to be a PRS Board Director? 

I started my music industry career in Music Publishing and indeed at PRS. I was fortunate to have been voted on the PRS board in 2017 and even more fortunate to have been voted on again this year. One should never take it for granted and I am always aware of that, so I would like to thank the electorate for having faith in me.

What will you bring to the Board? 

My day job is working at Downtown Music Holdings, which includes Downtown Music Publishing and Songtrust. We represent incredibly inspiring and talented songwriters and composers across the world. I am also the current Chairman of the Music Publishers Association and am aware of the needs of the publishing community. It the combination of above that I bring to the PRS board at this time where I will ensure PRS continues to best serve Songwriters and Publishers.

Describe the music industry in 2020 in three words…

Adapting, Homespun and Resilient. 

If your life had a theme song, what would it be? 

The Show Must Go On.

Alex Kassner

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to be a PRS Board Director? 

I took a slightly tortuous path to my career in publishing. I was originally an English graduate who became a banking lawyer and it was not until shortly after my 30th birthday that I realised my passion lay in music and I joined the family business. Our company was founded by my grandfather in 1944 and we have its initial account book from that year, which shows that a royalty from PRS was its first ever receipt and that payments from the society kept it afloat in its nascency. This exemplified to me the importance of the society and encouraged in me an ambition to contribute to its running. I started to become involved in the industry side of things in 2015 when I joined the MPA Pop Music Publisher’s Committee, of which I am now the Chairman, and since then have also become a member of the MPA Public Affairs and Governance Committee and Legal Issues and Anti-Piracy Group and the PRS for Music Publisher Operational Group. Hopefully my work in these forums helped me to show people how deeply I care about our industry and that I am willing to commit time and energy to its improvement and so gave them the confidence to vote for me in the election.

What will you bring to the Board? 

A fiercely independent mindset and over fifteen years of legal and commercial negotiating experience. A fervent desire to achieve the very best results for songwriters and publishers, both through ensuring the optimal functioning of PRS as a collection society and also by developing wider initiatives that will encourage talent, diversity and innovation and provide support in times of hardship.

Describe the music industry in 2020 in three words…

Black Lives Matter

You’re playing the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury with a superband made up of any musician dead or alive. Who makes the cut?

Dave Gahan as frontman. Prince on lead guitar. Tina Weymouth on bass. Dave Grohl on drums. I’d be the band’s Bez.

What’s your favourite musical memory?

Going to see Coldplay at Wembley Stadium with my wife Leila a few hours after we had found out that we were going to have our first child (my son, Isaac).

Jo Smith

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to be a PRS Board Director?        

I started as a lawyer at Russells, which meant I gained experience in all areas of the music business.  However, the area which interested me most was songwriting, I’m in awe of people who can write an amazing song, which has never been written before.  It made sense for me to move into publishing and I have been a lawyer in music publishing companies for nearly 2 decades!

What will you bring to the Board?      

I am not afraid to speak out if I feel that a conversation is going the wrong way, some members of the Board probably wish I didn’t speak so plainly but I can’t help it, I feel a strong sense of fairness and justice and try to ensure all decisions made at Board level fit the criteria.

Describe the music industry in 2020 in three words…

Complicated, fluctuating and exciting.

You’re playing the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury with a superband made up of any musician dead or alive. Who makes the cut? 

How many am I allowed? I will put them in order of importance to me (I’d love to have them all) Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman and Lil Simz.

What’s your favourite musical memory?

Having dinner with Dave Grohl and his mum in Brighton after an amazing Foo Fighters gig.

Who’s your most played band or artist? 

It changes monthly, I guess it’s a tossup between Gorillaz, Buena Vista Social Club and NWA!

Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to learn… 

I believe in angels!