Global Industry Spotlight

Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

Tx-Watt Amps was conceived and founded by Jack Kay of Buda, Texas (just outside of Austin). As a touring musician in the 60’s and 70’s, Jack played primarily on Marshalls and kept several of them in the truck so he always had one available. Whenever one broke, he would cannibalize one of the Marshall carcasses for parts to keep others running. The lack of quality in commercially made amplifiers always surprised him. Marshall rigs were by no means cheap.

This led to the dream of someday building a “guitar player’s” amp. Sound and tone would be the only focus. Cost of the build would not be a factor. As a Texas boy, the first name that came up was Texas Watt. He realized that was too long and shortened it to Tx-Watt. When his record label folded around 1980, he came home and did nothing with the idea for more than 30 years. (NOTE: the original/legacy 70’s logo and the story behind it, is still available by request)

Many years later, he revived the Tx-Watt idea, contacted old friends whose life works were in analog amplification, transformers, speakers, and cabinets. After Several more years of R&D and road testing, Tx-Watt was born.

Tx-Watt received patents on the designs that make their amplifiers. The patent applies to the Tx-Watt Flagship/signature Series, the Tx-Watt Tube Hybrid Guitar Amp and the Tx-Watt Tube Hybrid Bass Amp. Apparently, there really “Ain’t Nothin’ Else Like It !

Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

Pablo J. Boczkowski is Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. He is Founder and Director of the Center for Latinx Digital Media, and Faculty Director of the Master of Science in Leadership for Creative Enterprises program, both at Northwestern, and Co-Founder and Co- Director of the Center for the Study of Media and Society in Argentina, a joint initiative between Northwestern and Universidad de San Andrés, in Buenos Aires. In 2020 he was named Fellow of the International Communication Association.

His research program examines the dynamics of digital culture from a comparative perspective. He is the author of six books, four edited volumes, and over fifty journal articles. Three of his books are being published in 2021: Abundance: On the Experience of Living in a World of Information Plenty (Oxford University Press), The Digital Environment: How We Live, Learn, Work, and Play Now (with Eugenia Mitchelstein, MIT Press) and The Journalism Manifesto (with Barbie Zelizer and Chris Anderson, Polity).

His current book projects include Social Media Studies: Comparative Perspectives (with Mora Matassi, under contract with MIT Press) and The Patina of Distrust: Misinformation in a Context of Generalized Skepticism (with Eugenia Mitchelstein, Facundo Suenzo, and María Celeste Wagner, in progress).. He writes regularly for Infobae América, and is an unfailing —and often heartbroken—supporter of San Lorenzo de Almagro.

Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

Bio: Rob was fortunate enough to discover his passion for music at an early age. He gravitated towards the power and emotions that music can bring about when listening. This passion lead him into the world of music licensing as the third employee of a music licensing start up where he developed his “get it done” working style. Among multiple hats worn at an early start-up, his main objective was focusing on building an artist community that appeals to some of the world’s largest brands and networks. During the 8+ years at that licensing agency, Rob continuously used the power of independent artists to amplify global and national campaigns for Coca-Cola, Hasbro, Fanta, Airbnb, Dasani & more. This not only proved his ability to connect the dots between artists and brands but it strengthened the love for what music can do emotionally to consumers.

Seeing first-hand the power brands have on millions of people with one song and campaign helped lead to the creation of Songfinch in 2016. Rob helps independent artists get paid doing what they love while giving the average person the ability to experience the emotions music gives on a more intimate, one-on-one level. Rob continues to dedicate his life to building connections through music while always having musician’s best interests in mind.

Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

About this event

Bio: Turo is a music innovation specialist, creative technologist & community builder based in Helsinki, Finland. He currently leads innovation, international operations, and insights at Music Finland and runs an accelerator program for music tech companies. Turo is also co-founder of the European music innovation network Music Tech Europe. Being specialized in rights tech, metadata and decentralization and having previously worked at Finnish Performing Rights Society TEOSTO, Turo has recently acted in expert roles for the Finnish Govt and European Union on copyright infrastructure development work. Turo contributes as a mentor and advisor in various international startup accelerator programs and speaks regularly at leading tech and music events including Slush, MWC, Sonar+d, MusicBiz, NyLon, SXSW, Eurosonic, Reeperbahn and many others.

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Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

Covana Washington is the new Summer Workforce Coordinator assisting with creative workforce development initiatives at Free Spirit Media. With a degree in Fashion Merchandising, and extensive knowledge on Digital Marketing and Branding she hopes to use her new position as an outlet to learn more about film, media, and television. Upon graduating, Covana had the opportunity work as the social media manager for a fashion design company which inspired her to learn more about media. Her mission is to strive hard to reach her personal and professional goals while inspiring others to do the same.

Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

Prerana Dhawan is the cofounder and CMO of Streo, a two-sided platform for artists to live stream and archive their performances for a global audience to watch unlimited events on-demand for a monthly subscription. 

Prerana has over nine years of experience at multinational media company Group M where she led consumer engagement campaigns for Pepsi. She won two PepsiCo Star Awards for leading a campaign that was declared as one of the top two consumer activation programs in the Cricket World Cup 2011.

Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

Bio:
At Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft Claudia Wondratschke is responsible for the Music WorX Accelerator, the management of the EU Interreg project "Creative Ports" as well as for the conception and implementation of events with different thematic orientations.
Claudia studied Regional Studies Latin America at the University of Cologne and web design at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Mexico City. She lived in Mexico City for around ten years and worked besides different freelance jobs in the fields of  editorial and web design, translation and photography within the NGO and cultural sector.  Here many years for the German Foundation “Heinrich Böll Stiftung” and the Goethe- Institute, among others. In 2015 she returned to Germany and lives since then in Hamburg. Before joining the Kreativ Gesellschaft team, Claudia Wondratschke worked as a freelance web and graphic designer in the Hanseatic city. 

Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

Darryl Hurs has a 25+ year history in the music business including launching and running one of Canada’s largest indie music festivals and conference, Indie Week. Recently hired as the director of market development for CD Baby in Canada. Past positions include design and branding/marketing for Live Nation as a freelancer (projects included a corporate rebrand and logo design, launching VIPNATION.com, work for U2, Nickelback, Madonna, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Dave Matthews) retail buyer at HMV, and booker for one of Toronto’s top live music venues (The Rivoli).

Global Industry Spotlight is a conversational series focused on providing resources and insight for the creative entrepreneur.

Harrison Jones is a Michigan native and current Londoner. He has spent his career in international economic development with a specific focus on supporting businesses that make our world more creative and sustainable. He studied Comparative Cultures and Arabic at Michigan State University with a focus on improving the lives of people around the world via culturally informed economic policies. He has applied these principles to ecosystems large and small working with groups from across the US, Europe, and Asia on economic growth.