Music Industry Alumni

Kent Lindsey, M.M. ’17, studied economics and entrepreneurship as an undergraduate student and was looking for a way to use his degree in an industry that he felt passionate about.  He knew he felt strongly about music and researched several graduate music business programs. He decided that the Frost School Music Business and Entertainment Industries Program was right for him because of the reputation of the program, and the opportunity to be a part of ‘Cane Records and Cat 5 Music. As a student, he was very active in a number of ways.  He served as the Vice President of Cat 5 Music, interned at CAA in Nashville, and interned with the Miami Music Festival. He also partnered with Kern to create a communal mural, “BEING,” for the Overtown Music Festival, to celebrate the city of Overtown and its rich historical culture. He was also selected to serve as a Teaching Assistant.

Since graduating, he has been working as a Global Analyst in the global royalty tracking department of Universal Music Publishing Group. He has also helped in the construction of two additional murals for the Overtown Music Festival and is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Finance. Among the things he enjoyed the most while at Frost, he loved supporting the student musicians, attending their shows, and following them on digital music services and social media platforms. 

Taylor Aretz, M.M. in Music Business and Entertainment Industries, 2016, studied classical piano as an undergraduate student at Ithaca College, but knew she wanted to pursue a career in the music business.  She figured that the best way to make that happen was to pursue a master’s degree in the field, and found the Frost School of Music to be the best fit for her.  While she was a student at Frost, she took advantage of the many opportunities to gain hands-on experience, serving as Managing Director of student-run Cat 5 Music, interning at Warner/Chappell, one of the world’s top music publishers, and working as part of the stage crew in the on-campus concert halls.  Taylor was also given the honor of being selected as a Teaching Assistant, which involved working closely with the program director and faculty on a variety of program-related activities inside and outside of the classroom.

Since graduating in 2016, Taylor has worked for Warner Music Nashville as a Coordinator focused on Radio and Streaming.  She is involved in many different activities, such as planning promotional events and coordinating interviews, all aimed at helping artists’ reach their audiences through radio airplay. What she loves most about her current role is seeing how her work has a real and lasting impact on an artist’s career, and the appreciation that artists’ give back helps to fuel her enthusiasm.  She considers the connections she made to be the best thing about her experience at Frost.  Says Taylor, “I truly would not be where I am today without my professors and peers. I still stay in touch with many of the friends I made, and since the music world is so small, we run into each other all the time.” She feels the fact that her professors had such extensive real-world industry experience played a huge part in her education.  “I learned how the music industry works in a very real way, rather than solely reading about it in a textbook.”

Heather Ellis, B.M. in Music Business and Entertainment Industries, 2013, was bitten by the music business bug while still in high school in Virginia.  She loved both singing in a rock band, and handling the band’s business activities, like booking shows. She knew she wanted to be involved in artist development, and was drawn to the Frost School of Music because of the reputation of the music business program. While she was a student at Frost, she kick-started her career by serving as the President of student-run ‘Cane Records, interning at Crush Management and in the prestigious Big Red program at Columbia Records, and working as a college marketing representative for Sony Music. 

After graduating in 2013, she went on to work at The Orchard, a leading music distributor and label services company, and started her own artist management company called Red Dust Music. Three years ago, she joined Pandora, one of the top music streaming services, where she now manages the Pandora Artist Marketing Platform (AMP), a suite of free, self-serve marketing tools to help artists promote their music and careers both on and off Pandora’s platform. What she loves most about her current role is that she gets to have one foot in the world of music technology, and one foot in the trenches with the artist community, helping them help themselves to reach their goals.  As she looks back at her years at Frost, she credits the Music Business and Entertainment Industries program with giving her a holistic understanding of the entire industry, which helped provide an advantage when it came to moving up the ladder from an entry-level position.

John Farrey, B.S. in Music Business and Entertainment Industries, 2012, developed a passion for playing the oboe at a young age. However, when it came time to consider what to study in college, he knew he did not want to pursue a career as a performer.  He was seeking a strong music school, at a top university, in a major city, and he wanted to pursue a career that involved music in some way.  He found that the Frost School of Music was the perfect fit, because he could both continue to play the oboe as well as prepare for a career in the music business. While at Frost, John started his music business career by serving as a Production Director and DJ at WVUM, the university’s radio station, as well as interning with Onto Entertainment (the management company of The Lumineers), and The Cleveland Orchestra. 

After graduating in 2012, he went on to hold positions at Onto Entertainment as an Administrative Assistant, at The Recording Academy as a Membership and Project Manager, and at Amazon Music as an Associate Label Relations Manager.  In his current role, he works to partner with record labels to create marketing plans that excite fans and support an artist’s music on Amazon.  One of the things that excites him the most is that he is working in one of the fastest growing sectors of the music industry, where there are plenty of opportunities to be creative and think big.  When asked to look back on his time at Frost and how it prepared him for his career, John says, “I gained a comprehensive understanding of the music industry – which is crucial to my role at Amazon Music.  And my music school education gives me an edge on how I understand and talk about music.”

Susie Dantzig, M.M. ’11, maintained her passion as a violinist after completing her undergraduate degree, but yearned to expand her musical career by delving into the business side of things. She knew what she wanted to do, but did not know where to begin. When she came across the Music Business and Entertainment Industries Program at the Frost School, she knew it could answer her questions about how the industry works and how to get her foot in the door.  Susie was a very active student in the program.  She served as a member of the Cat 5 Music team where she helped produce the Songwriter’s Showcase. She was awarded the Alba Rosa Vietor Fellowship, which involved her creating and producing a four-part concert series to record live performances of the works of 20th century composer Alba Rosa Vietor. She also interned with both IMG Artists and the production department of MTV Latin America. Since graduation, Susie has worked at SoundExchange as a Senior Manager, License Management and is currently working as the Manager of Royalties at Lionsgate. Susie says the best thing about her experience at Frost was the friends that she made while receiving a comprehensive, top-notch education. She credits the program with opening her eyes to the variety of careers possible within the music industry, and says that her education helped her to distinguish herself from her colleagues once she entered the profession, enabling her to move into leadership roles more quickly. 

Antonio Dell’Aglio, B.M. ’08, is a native of Miami who studied music from a young age. The decision for him to pursue music at the Frost School was a natural progression from his experiences at the New World School of the Arts high school in Miami, where he studied under numerous Frost School alumni, and often performed with Frost students. Once at UM, Antonio found a passion for the business of music which led him to pursuing the Music Business and Entertainment Industries major.

While a student, he worked for the distribution division of Warner Music Group as a college marketing representative, and worked at the UM radio station, WVUM, hosting multiple shows and holding various executive board positions. After graduating, Antonio worked with the co-founder of MTV, Les Garland, and then began promoting/producing his own events in South Florida. In 2013, he moved to New York and began working at AM Only, the premier agency specializing in electronic music, which is now part of the Paradigm Talent Agency, where he books well-respected electronic producers and DJs. Looking back at his time at the Frost School, he credits the introductory music business course with helping him discover new things and becoming inspired.

Nick D’Angiolillo, B.M. ‘08, received his bachelor’s of music degree in Music Business and Entertainment Industries from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, where he was awarded a Stamps Endowed Music Scholarship. D’Angiolillo is the Director of Licensing & Library Services at the Grammy Award-Winning Naxos of America, Inc., the world's leading classical music group with over 2.1M recorded music tracks that are licensed and streamed around the world.

He's been a part of countless international advertisements (including spots for Verizon, Crayola, Nike, Oreo, GoPro, Samsung, Hyundai, Perrier, Hulu, & Netflix to name a few) - music textbook accompaniments, video game productions, and television/film synchronizations which include the Netflix Original Series' Daredevil, Chef's Table, Hulu Original Series "The Handmaids Tale", House of Cards, ABC's Modern Family, Bob's Burgers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Boardwalk Empire, James Bond: Skyfall & Spectre, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, and most recently Call Me By Your Name!

Nick is an active member of the International Association of Music Libraries, the Billboard Film & Television Music Creative community, SOLID, and is involved locally with several Nashville, TN service organizations, including Nashville Cares.  Nick is also an active alumnus from the Beta Tau chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the Men’s Music Fraternity of America. While a student at Frost, he was radio and video coordinator at student-run ’Canes Records.

Michael Kovins, B.M. ‘70, recipient of the Frost School of Music’s 2006 Distinguished Alumnus award, is a University of Miami Frost School of Music graduate with a degree in business and music. He went on to become one of the leading and most impassioned voices in music retailing and music education.

Kovins is best known as founding member and President/CEO of Korg USA. During his 26 year tenure, Kovins grew Korg to become one of the country’s largest suppliers of electronic musical instruments to retailers and major artists, introducing the industry’s largest selling music workstation, the Korg M1. Additionally, he oversaw the successful introduction of such products as the Korg TRITON, Marshall MG series, Vox Valvetronix and the Korg OASYS.
Kovins’ early career began in music products until he joined the supply side of the industry at Tolchin Instruments and M. Hohner. He went on to work at Unicord as product marketing manager and later Vice President of Marketing, helping to develop the Kog Polysix Mono/Poly, GT-6 tuner, and Marshall JCM800 Series.

Committed to music education, Kovins created Korg USA’s SoundTree educational division, was founder and executive committee member of the Technology Institute for Music Educators, and served as President of the International Association of Electronic Keyboard Manufacturers. He was a board member of Five Towns College, the American Music Conference, and NAMM. In addition, he was recipient of the Berklee College of Music’s Golden Clef Award for a lifetime commitment to music education, and the Julia E. Crane International Medallion for lifetime achievement in the music products industry.

Kovins lost his battle with leukemia in 2006 at the age of 57.