Keynotes

Molly is Chief Marketing Officer of Downtown Music Holdings, the world’s leading music services provider. As CMO, Neuman is leading brand alignment and marketing efforts for DMH and its subsidiary companies. Neuman was previously President of Songtrust, which grew under her leadership to manage more than 3 million copyrights for more than 350,000 writers in 145 countries, as well as for tens of thousands of business clients. Within a career that has been focused on empowering musicians at all career stages, Neuman has been Head of Music at Kickstarter, Interim President and Vice President of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), and has held senior roles in label relations at Rhapsody and eMusic, as well as label and artist management. She currently serves on the Advisory Boards of the Music Business Association and A2IM, and Women in Music, and has previously served on the boards of SoundExchange and A2IM. Neuman has been recognized by Billboard in its 2018 Digital Power Players List, as well as its Women in Music Lists for 2019, 2020, and 2021. Her musical career began as drummer in Bratmobile, a punk band who were in the first wave of the riot grrrl movement.

As one of the most renowned multi-platinum selling songwriters and producers in the game, Sam Hollander has written and produced for the likes of Panic! At The Disco, One Direction, Katy Perry, Weezer, Def Leppard, blink-182, Fitz and the Tantrums, Train, Ringo Starr, Carole King, Tyga, The O’Jays, Gym Class Heroes, and many others.

As one of the most renowned multi-platinum selling songwriters and producers in the game, SAM HOLLANDER has written and produced for the likes of Panic! At The Disco, One Direction, Katy Perry, Weezer, Def Leppard, blink-182, Fitz and the Tantrums, Train, Ringo Starr, Carole King, Tyga, The O’Jays, Gym Class Heroes, and many others.

To date, he has achieved 22 US Top 40 Hits, as well as 10 Number 1’s, 10 top fives, and 87 Top 10 chart positions globally. His songs have been streamed over 5 billion times, and in 2019, he held the #1 position on the Billboard Rock Songwriters chart for nine weeks, a year-end record. Sam has also been chosen to be on Variety’s Hitmakers list, as well as being named Rolling Stone’s Hot List Producer of the Year in 2008.

Hollander’s career has recently hit new heights from collaborations with Fitz and the Tantrums’ multi- platinum worldwide hit, “HandClap” (one-billion-streams) and eight songs he co-penned on Panic! At The Disco’s Billboard 200 No. 1 album Pray For The Wicked, including the 5x platinum, billion streamed record-breaking global hit “High Hopes” and “Hey Look Ma, I Made It!” which replaced “High Hopes” at No. 1 on the Hot Rock Songs chart. Other notable recent successes include writing Banners’ platinum hit, “Someone To You,” Blink-182’s Alternative Top 10 single “Blame It On My Youth”, James TW’s worldwide platinum hit “When You Love Someone” and writing and producing two songs on the legendary Ringo Starr’s recent release “What’s My Name.” He’s currently writing and producing the music for NBC’S fall 2021 new drama series Ordinary Joe.

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‍Book information:‍

Title: 21-Hit Wonder - Flopping My Way to the top of the Charts
Author: Sam Hollander
Publisher: Matt Holt Books, an imprint of BenBella Books, Inc.
Distributed by Penguin Random House
Publication Date: November 1, 2022
ISBN: 9781637741863
eBook ISBN: 9781637741870
Price: $ 28 US / $37 CAN
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 272

Ryan Dusick is an Associate Marriage & Family Therapist with an MA in Clinical Psychology and the founding drummer of the world’s most popular band, Maroon 5. As a boy, he dreamt of pitching for the Dodgers and writing adventure novels. Arm injuries sidelined his burgeoning baseball career, just as rock music became his new passion and purpose. Founding the band Kara’s Flowers in 1994 with fellow Brentwood High School students Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden, and Adam Levine, Ryan worked tirelessly through his college years at UCLA before the band changed its name to Maroon 5 and finally had its first hit record, Songs About Jane. Multiple hit songs, two Grammy Awards, and 20 million albums sold later, Ryan found himself suffering and without direction as his career as a performer came to an end, just as it was taking off. Struggling with physical and mental health challenges, Ryan finally overcame his struggles in 2016, when he began his journey of recovery, culminating in a new life path full of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. Now working as a mental health professional at The Missing Peace Center for Anxiety in Agoura Hills, CA, Ryan is spreading the message that recovery is possible, and some astounding things can come with it.

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‍Book information:‍

Title: Harder to Breathe

Subtitle: A Memoir of Making Maroon 5, Losing It All, and Finding Recovery
Author: Ryan Dusick
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Distributed by Penguin Random House
Publication Date: November 15, 2022
ISBN: 9781637742334
eBook ISBN: 9781637742341
Price: $ 26.95 US / $ 35.95 CAN
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 352

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In the nineties, Ryan Dusick and his friends Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael dreamed about making it big . . . and against all odds, they did. This inside story recounts Maroon 5’s founding and their road to becoming Grammy-winning megastars, told through the eyes of former drummer Ryan Dusick. He takes readers behind the scenes of the band’s meteoric rise to success—and the grueling demands that came with it—as well as his personal struggles with anxiety and alcoholism after his departure from the band. For Maroon 5, fame came with a platinum debut record, jam sessions with Prince in his own living room, and encounters with celebrities such as Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, and Bono. For Dusick, stardom came to an abrupt halt with the devastating loss of his ability to play drums due to chronic nerve damage. Alongside Maroon 5’s story of camaraderie and pressure, Dusick interweaves his own narrative: a decade lost to liquor and antianxiety medication, his ferocious commitment to recovery, and his current perspective as a professional counselor. With a candor that will speak to anyone who has struggled with mental health, Harder to Breathe moves beyond celebrity to examine the nature of human heartbreak and resilience, and to buoy anyone currently facing similar challenges. Ultimately, Harder to Breathe is a roller-coaster memoir about how making it to the top sent Dusick to the bottom—and how he let go of the past and embraced a new future, one breath at a time.

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