Seeker Music, the new music rights and publishing company headed up by hit songwriter Evan Bogart, has hired Jennifer Blakeman as Chief Rights & Royalties Officer.
At Seeker, she will lead and oversee the expansion of their rights management, administration, and royalty platforms.
According to Seeker, Blakeman’s career began in the 80s “as a college student aiming for a career as a session keyboardist”. After coming to the attention of Eddie Van Halen who enlisted her to “create a signature keyboard sound” for him, she spent several years working with him on multiple projects.
After her recording career (which also included time on the road performing with artists like Billy Idol), she served as an executive at companies including Atlantic Records and Universal Music Publishing, where she was responsible for the publishing of artists including Justin Timberlake, T-Pain, and Linkin Park.
She joins Seeker from her previous role as President and CCO of the boutique music publisher one77 Music.
Blakeman is also currently an adjunct professor of music publishing at NYU, and serves as a member on the Board of Trustees of the Recording Academy, alongside Seeker Music CEO, and chart-topping songwriter, Evan Bogart.
Along with Bogart, Blakeman joins an executive team composed of Seeker CFO Jennifer Scher, COO Rob Guthrie, Head of Creative Steven Melrose, and Board Chairman, John Smith (representing key investors M&G).
Her appointment comes two weeks after Seeker acquired the full masters and publishing catalog of Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross.
In January, Seeker Music acquired of the catalogs of pop songwriters John Ryan and Jon Bellion.
“As a musician and songwriter myself, I’ve always advocated for the creators within the industry. That sense of ‘songwriters come first’ is what drew me to Seeker.”
Jennifer Blakeman
Blakeman said: “As a musician and songwriter myself, I’ve always advocated for the creators within the industry.
“That sense of ‘songwriters come first’ is what drew me to Seeker, and I’m excited to continue advocating for and making sure that songwriters get their fair share in this new role.”
“Jennifer is a rockstar in the music publishing world.”
Evan Bogart
Bogart added: “Jennifer is a rockstar in the music publishing world. She really cares about, and advocates for, songwriters, artists and their music in a way that I think you can only truly understand if you’ve been a songwriter or artist yourself. Her vast experience working on both the creative and administrative side of the business aligns with the creator-first, creator-led vision that we’ve built Seeker on since day one. I’ve wanted to work with her for a long time so I’m thrilled that time has come.”
