News release

For immediate release
April 21, 2009

CreativeReef.org seeks 1,000 voices from music community worldwide

(CALGARY – April 21, 2009) Stephen Kenny, entrepreneur in residence at Mount Royal’s Bissett School of Business, is pleased to announce the launch of the website CreativeReef.org, an online collaborative endeavour to tackle problems facing the music industry.

The CreativeReef.org website will facilitate an ongoing online dialogue around the problems the music business is facing, and refine solutions that can be implemented by artists and the other individuals involved in every aspect of the professional music eco-system.

To help facilitate this process, Mount Royal is pleased to announce the appointment of Shelley Stein-Sacks and Tom Williams who as co-directors, will jointly manage and oversee the website and champion the products and solutions that emerge from the collaborative process.

Mr. Stein-Sacks brings a vast knowledge of in-depth understanding and expertise in the music industry, having held numerous executive positions including Vice-President (Quebec) for Sam the Record Man, and Vice-President, Development for Groupe Archambault Inc., Quebec’s leading music retailer and independent distributor. Mr. Williams brings a wealth of online expertise, having started his career at Apple Computer in 1995 where he helped pioneer their early online music strategies and has subsequently built and advised numerous internet and new media companies, most recently GiveMeaning.com, an early pioneer in online microphilanthropy.

Commenting on CreativeReef.org, Kenny said, “This initiative is a result of a year-long project that we’ve called ‘Perfect Pitch’ which has brought together faculty, students, community and outside advisors from a multitude of different disciplines to focus on what it means to be a creative entrepreneur in the rapidly changing music industry. Supported by the John Dobson Foundation, CreativeReef.org emerges as a result of this year-long process. The collaborative and open nature of CreativeReef.org is a perfect extension of the process that has led to its creation.”

Just as a reef plays a safe host to a diverse and interdependent community to the benefit of all against the constant assault from ocean waves, the founders of CreativeReef.org intend to create a vibrant and supportive community by which to discuss and ultimately identify the solutions and skill-sets required to grow and maintain sustainable careers in the ever-changing tides of the music industry.

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For further information contact:
Patty Derbyshire
Instructor, Bissett School of Business
Mount Royal College
Office: 403.440.6397
patti@creativereef.org