Gerd Leonhard
- Name
- Gerd Leonhard
- Company
- Media Futurist
- Function
- Author & Futurist
- Description
The Wall Street Journal calls Gerd Leonhard 'one of the leading media futurists in the world'. He is the Co-Author of the influential book ‘The Future of Music’ (2005, Berklee Press), as well as the author of ‘Music 2.0’ (published in January 2008), ‘The End of Control’ essays (online here) and of ‘Open is King- Stories from the Future of Media’ (late 2008, some previews are here).
Gerd's background is in music (he won the Quincy Jones Award in 1986 and is a graduate of Boston's Berklee College of Music) as well in technology and the Internet (LicenseMusic, Inc. and Sonific LLC).
Gerd’s work focuses on the Future of Media, Content, Technology, Business, Communications and Culture, and he is considered a leading expert on topics such as Web/Media 2.0, social networking and social media, cultural changes due to disruption by new technologies, copyright vs. technology issues, online content commerce models, media convergence, mobile entertainment, entrepreneurship, the future of advertising and branding, future planning, digital content strategies and next-generation business models.
Gerd's keynotes, speeches, and think-tanks are renowned for his hard-hitting and provocative yet inspiring and motivational style. With over 50 engagements in 15 countries during the past two years Gerd has addressed global audiences in the sectors of recorded music & music publishing, radio, TV, film/video and broadcasting, online gaming and virtual worlds, telecom & wireless, and advertising and branding.
Leonhard lives in Basel / Switzerland and blogs on MediaFuturist.com.