Decades of media and music industry experience
Trying to navigate the labyrinthine system of music rights to license or purchase copyrights? Need advice on industry structure and relationship building? Avance works with on array of complex projects within the entertainment, technology, media, and music industries. We believe problems are best solved collaboratively, and our expertise can help you navigate disruption and build a strategy for tomorrow's business and creative ecosystems.
Allen BARGFREDE, Managing Director US AND EUROPE
I am a Managing Director of Avance and lead our European and US Initiatives from Biarritz, France. Trained as an American music and tech lawyer, I focus my work on advising investors in music assets and operators on innovation at the intersection of art and technology.
"Innovative thinking helps to create a path for where artists, companies, and businesses should go. Strategy and expert knowledge inform how to get there. Together I believe they help our clients become some of the leading owners in music, media, and technology."
I was also a co-founder of Verifi Media, a founder of Rethink Music at Berklee College of Music, a thinktank which focuses on the future of music and the industries surrounding it, and an advisor to the Open Music Initiative. I teach copyright and policy at Berklee. From 2013 to 2014, I researched new business models for music as a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
Kirk Cornelius, Managing Director US
I am a co-founder of Avance and lead our US initiatives from Whitefish, Montana. I most recently served as the Managing Director of Strategy & Innovation for Ziba Design, an award winning multi-disciplinary design consultancy based in Portland and now work in strategy for ZaneRay Group. While at Ziba, I led early stage discussions with innovation teams and incubator groups for some of the most innovative brands in the world, helping them identify, design and validate potential future products and/or service offerings. As the Managing Director for Avance's US initiatives, I am focused on design innovation for the arts, specifically as it pertains to the music and media industries.
“New technology has re-calibrated the spectrum for new music and media experiences, enabling artists and content creators to connect with their audience in a more personal and meaningful way. Our mission is to help artists and organizations identify new opportunities that will transform their art, products and service offerings in the wake of perpetual disruption.”
Damien Laurency, SENIOR Design LEAD
As a designer with experience working in English and French, I work on Avance's client visual and product design needs. My focus is on understanding the direction and the client strategy, and then delivering a unique experience which connects with the client's market and brand.
I have a decade of international design experience and in 2017, I finished advanced design courses at Pacific Northwest College of Art, following a year in extensive graduate design study at the School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA. Prior work has included deliverables for Rethink Music, Berklee College of Music, Flipboard, Verifi Media, Societé Generale, and Jellybean Group in Ireland.
Lucas Carbonneau, Project Manager
I manage Avance's' project pipeline from Los Angeles. I graduated from Berklee College of Music where I studied Music Business and Professional Music, trying to blend a focus of entrepreneurship and artist development. I was selected for an exclusive course to work with global design company IDEO and began my venture into design and systems thinking.
“Design innovators are tinkers and testers, optimists and makers, experimenters and creators. Similar to our artists and the companies we provide for we think big and often our approach pushes creativity to its full-potential and it leads us to solutions we never dreamed of when we started."