The Holiday break brought the news that Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer had been awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II. But there was another prominent industry-side name also honored too – from the independent sector of the business.
Dr. Richard James Burgess, the recently renewed President and CEO of The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), enters 2022 as an MBE honoree for his services to music, having been announced on Queen Elizabeth’s New Year’s Honours List.
Before joining A2IM in 2016, Dr. Burgess was previously head of business at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, where he was a producer of Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology and The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap.
His career path includes studio musician, author, touring musician, recording artist, producer, manager, and label owner.
In the seventies, Dr. Burgess was an early adopter of synthesizers and samplers, later going on to co-found the synthpop band Landscape.
Landscape were largely best known for the hit Einstein a G-Go, but Dr. Burgess went on to become a figurehead in the then-burgeoning New Romantics movement, producing records such as Spandau Ballet’s debut UK hit To Cut a Long Story Short.
As an author, Dr. Burgess has published books including The Art of Music Production: The Theory and Practice, 4th Edition and The History of Music Production (Oxford University Press).
Dr. Burgess has also been listed as a ‘Power Player’ and an ‘Independent Power Player’ by Billboard.
Today, Dr. Burgess is President and CEO of The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) and co-chair of WIN (Worldwide Independent Network).
A2IM is a trade association representing equal opportunity for all independents through collaboration and advocacy initiatives, while Dr. Burgess has worked to further gender-balance and diversity for A2IM’s events, board, and team.Music Business Worldwide
