City of Music
Today Mayor Mike McGinn introduced the Seattle Music Commission, a diverse group of community, business and industry leaders, who will guide the city’s efforts to support, promote, expand and encourage Seattle’s vibrant culture of music. The 21-member Music Commission will serve as an ongoing city body representing a cross section of the music sector with the goal of advancing the City of Music vision throughout the larger community and providing guidance and direction regarding the city’s support of music. “Music is such a part of the fabric of our city, and is one of the reasons why it’s so great to live here,” said Mayor McGinn. “I’m pleased that this group of individuals has agreed to serve together and leverage their collective efforts to continue to make sure that Seattle is the City of Music.” The installation of the Music Commission with such a diverse group of engaged community members is a major step toward the goal of bringing musicians, audiences, business leaders, educators and politicians together in enthusiastic support of the creative, economic and culture value of music. “As an original advisor to the efforts that built the City of Music vision, I’m proud to be a member of this new Commission,” said Holly Hinton, Content & Online Product Manager for Starbucks Coffee Company. “It’s an amazing group of people coming together for the same purpose – to support the growth of the thriving music community in Seattle.”

The inaugural members of Seattle’s Music Commission who will help shape and define Seattle as the City of Music are:

Mayoral Appointments:
– Jason Finn – Musician, Presidents of The United States of America
– K. Wyking Garrett – Director, Seattle Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council/UmojaFest P.E.A.C.E. Center
– Kyle Hopkins – Head of Music Acquisitions, Microsoft X-Box/ On-Air DJ, KEXP.org
– Megan Jasper – Executive Vice President, Sub Pop Records
– Alex Kochan – Vice President, AEG Live (Showbox Venues)
– Marcus Lalario – Entrepreneur / Nightclub Owner
– Tom Mara – Executive Director, KEXP 90.3 FM/KEXP.org
– David Meinert – Owner, Fuzed Inc./National Trustee: The Recording Academy (Grammys)
– Larry Mizell, Jr. – Writer, Musician, On-Air DJ at KEXP.org
– Griff Morris – Principal, Content Licensing and Vendor Management, Amazon MP3
– Marcus Womack – Product Management, iLike Inc./iLike.com

Council Appointments:
– Kate Becker – Co-Founder, Vera Project/Director of Development, Seattle Theatre Group
– Elena Dubinets – Vice President of Artistic Planning, Seattle Symphony
– Holly Hinton – Content & Online Product Manager, Starbucks Entertainment
– Jason Hughes – Co-owner, Sonic Boom Records/Owner, Sonic Boom Recordings
– Ben London – Executive Director, The Recording Academy Pacific Northwest Chapter
– DeVon Manier – CEO, Sportn’ Life Records
– Mike Meckling – President, SNMA/Co-Owner, Neumo’s and Moe Bar
– Jon Stone – Executive Director of Festivals, One Reel
– Annette Taborn – Executive Director, Pacific NW Blues in Schools
– Vacant

The Music Commission’s first meeting will be Wednesday, June 16, 2010.