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Roneil Rumburg and the question hiding inside the play button
A drummer turned software engineer, Roneil Rumburg built Audius around a stubborn question: how much control should artists keep when their music goes online? His answer has taken him from Stanford experiments to an open music network, direct fan payments, and tools for a new generation of builders.
Johannes Naylor Is Building the Backstage Map Music Forgot
He left a lucrative software job, kept the unfashionable infrastructure problems, and turned a musician's touring headache into a live-music data company. His edge is less rock-star mythology than patient systems thinking, fast experiments and an unusually public operating manual.
Shamal Ranasinghe
Shamal Ranasinghe is the Chief Business Officer at Audius, the decentralized blockchain-based music streaming platform. A 25-year music-tech veteran, he co-founded Topspin Media in 2007 - one of the first direct-to-fan platforms for musicians - before spending eight years as VP of Product at Pandora/SiriusXM building creator tools. At Audius, he leads major label and publishing deals, including a landmark global licensing agreement with Kobalt Music in 2024, while championing a world where artists own their music, keep 90% of revenue, and connect directly with fans without gatekeepers.