We’ve done this for decades. And we’re just getting started.
Our global team contains some of the world’s leading experts on music licensing, copyright and technology. We’re passionate about copy-righting copy-wrongs and cutting through complex red tape. With team AYO in your corner, your music rights are both protected and performing optimally.
Deborah Mannis-Gardner
Chairwoman & Co-Founder
Deborah has championed music rights, licensing and value creation for decades and is universally praised by the music industry. Her stellar reputation, relationships and global network accrued over 30 years – along with unrivaled knowledge and expertise – underpins the quality of AYO’s offering.
Globally known as the "Queen of Sample Clearance," and on lists such as “2023 Forbes 50 over 50”, Deborah Mannis-Gardner is the owner and president of DMG Clearances, which she founded in 1996 to clear difficult music copyrights for use in movies, television, radio, ad campaigns and video games.
Pär Almqvist
Chief executive officer & Co-Founder
Internationally established innovator, entrepreneur and leader, twice World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer (renewable energy infrastructure in India), and Tracklib Founder and ex CEO (democratizing music sampling by bringing together hundreds of music catalogs with 10,000s of music creators within one platform – today used by both beginners and A-list artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Nas and many others).
He is passionate about building, establishing and scaling companies, products and services that matter. Obsessions include music and music rights, and technology as a tool for access and democratization.
Stacey Haber
Chief Legal Officer & Co-Founder
Tagged by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the music industry’s leading experts, Stacey is a music executive, lawyer, producer, in London and NYC. Stacey joined DMG as a consultant in 2022. She lectures on AI, music rights and the business of music. She works with SyncLodge, SHHH Media, Inside Baseball Publishing, FoxPin Management, The Music Firm, and Come Play With Me CIC. Co-Founder of IAFAR Ltd., Web3 Music Rights Group, and Register 1. Having designed the Creating Income module for Water Bear’s MA degree (Falmouth University) she now teaches it at their Brighton campus.
Favorite legal negotiation - music client’s appearance on The Simpsons.
Favorite client communication - Christmas card from David Bowie.
Thomas Mathieson
head of operations
His prowess on the operational side of copyright management comes from over a decade's worth of experience working at leading independents Songtrust, Downtown Music, and Reservoir, where he's looked after the catalogs of Benny Blanco, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Joni Mitchell, Billy Strayhorn, Evanescence, and 2 Chainz, just to name a few.
As Director, Licensing & Copyright at Reservoir, he led a department overseeing all copyright & contract admin, sample clearances, and full catalog digital licensing for the firm's 150k+ song catalog. He spearheaded license negotiations and has fought to secure better rates for songwriters with some of the world's largest tech companies.
Bryson Nobles
Head of Data & Technology
His nearly two decades worth of experience in music technology and licensing have made Bryson into one of the world’s premier experts on music copyrights – and the data that binds them all together. Previously co-founder and CTO of Music Tech Works, CEO and Co-founder of Songsplits, CTO of the Dream Bigger Media Group, Entrepreneur in Residence at Bonaventure Equity LLC and Entrepreneur Select LLC, he grew up near Chicago and is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University.
Beyond work, Nobles provides resources and mentorship to black high school juniors and seniors applying to college.
Kat MacLean-Daley
A&R
Kat MacLean-Daley graduated Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music with a double major in Music Business Management and Professional Music with concentrations in marketing and performance. Upon graduation, she was hired as the executive assistant to Chief Counsel at Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). She was quickly promoted to coordinator of Sampling and was responsible for creating processes, data tracking standards, clearing samples for over 2,000 songs including releases by Drake, Baby Tate, Gunna, 21 Savage, Beyonce, and more, and increasing the department’s revenue by over 500%. Kat cleared the samples for Old Town Road by Lil Nas X, Kings & Queens by Ava Max, Break My Heart by Dua Lipa, Go Crazy by Chris Brown, Young Thug, and many more chart topping hits.
Kat was most recently the VP & Head of Publishing at Death Row Records where she reported directly to Snoop Dogg and was responsible for the company’s day to day operations in music with her primary focus being on licensing and their newly established publishing business.
Melissa White
Business Development & Operations Specialist
Melissa, a native of the Bronx, New York, has always been deeply passionate about music. This passion led her to pursue a Bachelor's in Music at the City College of New York. Initially, she aspired to delve into musicology. However, after completing several internships, she discovered a greater affinity towards the music business. Her first professional job was as an Executive Assistant at the prestigious Hip-hop record label Tommy Boy, followed by a role as Executive Assistant at Tracklib – the pioneering online marketplace for sample clearance. As she progressed at Tracklib, she was promoted to Music Catalog Director. Her primary responsibility was identifying record labels and publishers interested in offering their music for sampling and developing relationships with them.
She gained valuable experience and expertise while working in a startup and learning about the intricacies of independent record labels and publishers, as well as the global music business overall – from music production all the way to copyrights and licensing.
Naomi Asher
Neighboring Rights Advisor
Naomi Asher spent nearly five years as Vice President of International Neighbouring Rights and subsequently VP of Songwriter Services at Sony Music Publishing where was responsible for a roster of over 500 ‘catalogue’ writers and led Sony’s transition from passive Neighbouring Rights representative to world leading authority with the acquisition and merger of the Neighbouring Rights business into Kollective Neighbouring rights. Naomi previously co founded Wixen Music UK Ltd, serving as Director and President from 2010 to January 2020.
She co-founded IAFAR, the only Neighbouring Rights Trade Association in the world, in 2018, after being frustrated by the lack of transparency in the neighbouring rights income stream. She is co author of the UK edition of The Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing. She has been a panelist for many Neighbouring Rights education events, webinars, and workshops. She also acts as an Ambassador for the F-List (the first female-focused music database).
Billy Toulson
Client Relations Manager
Billy’s journey to become a music copyright, licensing and sampling professional began with DMG Clearances in 2014. After graduating from the University of Delaware in 2013, he stumbled into Deborah’s house for an unlikely internship opportunity that would change his life. Since receiving that crash course in music copyright, Billy moved to Nashville in 2017 to pursue his music aspirations. Billy appeared briefly at BMI and then with Warner for 3 years. After 4 years in Nashville full of gigging, recording, and continuing to learn the ins and outs of the music business, Billy returned to DMG and relocated to Asheville, NC.
Kimberly Fisher
Marketing Manager & Project Coordinator
After working in the non-profit sector for over 15 years, Kim joined DMG Clearances – and the music industry – in 2022. A graduate of Bucks County Community College, she has managed a non-profit movie theater in the Poconos, wrote and managed grants for numerous community organizations, organized out-of-school-time activities for students, and worked with community partners, school staff and families to overcome barriers to education as a community school coordinator.
All these experiences have honed Kim’s communication and marketing skills and given her a love for constantly learning and growing.
