Gerd Leonhard

The Wall Street Journal calls Gerd "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 'Music2.0' (January 2008 www.music20book.com), and 'The End of Control' (preview chapters at www.endofcontrol.com, book to be published in early 2009).

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) and in Technology, Internet and Media. His 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, UGC and peer production, social networking and social media, cultural changes due to disruption by new technologies, copyright issues, digital content commerce models, media convergence, mobile entertainment, entrepreneurship, the future of advertising and branding, general future planning, digital content strategies and next-generation business models.

Gerd's keynotes, speeches, and think-tank appearances are renowned for his hard-hitting and provocative yet inspiring and motivational style. With over 70 engagements in 15 countries during the past two years Gerd has addressed global executives in the sectors of communications and telecom / wireless, recorded music & music publishing, radio, TV, film/video and broadcasting, online gaming and virtual worlds, and advertising, marketing and branding.

His client list includes SonyBMG, RTL, ITV, the BBC, France Telecom / Orange, Deutsche Telekom, The Financial Times, TribalDDB, DDB, Omnicom, the European Commission, Nokia-Siemens, and many others.

Gerd is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (London), and resides in Basel, Switzerland.