Bill Murphy

Music Network Manager

Bill Murphy has worked on both sides of the music business—as manager for internationally distributed record labels and as freelance contributor to a wide range of music magazines. He ran Bill Laswell’s Axiom imprint (distributed through Island/PolyGram and eventually Chris Blackwell’s Palm Pictures) for nearly ten years, overseeing an eclectic catalog of more than 30 releases and coordinating live performances and studio recordings with Tony Williams, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Hancock, Zakir Hussain, Ustad Sultan Khan, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, N’Dea Davenport, Sly & Robbie and many more.

Since 2003, Murphy has written for The Wire, Remix, Guitar World, EQ, XLR8R, Future Music, Electronic Musician, Bass Player and Global Rhythm magazines. He was also managing editor at Global Rhythm and freelance associate editor at Guitar World’s Bass Guitar for the duration of the title’s four-year run, and has created online content for music software developers such as Avid/Digidesign (makers of Pro Tools) and Ableton (makers of Ableton Live). He oversees all day-to-day operations of LiveWired Music while actively seeking out new opportunities for expansion of the label and its artist roster.

Darrell Bridges

Artist Relations Manager

Darrell Bridges has been a highly committed music business professional for more than 20 years. Through his artist management and music production company Darrell Bridges Entertainment, Inc., he provides management services to world-renowned jazz composer Craig Harris and the outstanding blues author and artist Dave Rubin, as well as consultation and booking services to various clubs, festivals and venues. Bridges also serves as Executive Director of the non-profit corporation Arts and Education Continuum, Inc., which focuses on social, cultural and educational activities in the New York metropolitan area. He is currently on the boards of Nation of Imagination, Inc., Sojourner Arts Collective, Inc., and Nassau Performing Arts, Inc., and manages all artist relations for the LiveWired Music Network.

Yoko Yamabe

LiveWired Japan

Yoko Yamabe has built a 20-year career as a respected and well-connected music business and arts professional in Japan. Beginning in 1992 with Blues Interactions, Inc., she managed the company’s international business, where she negotiated production, publishing and licensing deals with more than 200 record labels and their artists. In 2002, she founded her own label Dogtail Productions, distributed through Sony in Japan, and the following year accepted a position as a producer on the Entertainment Team for Yahoo! Inc. In 2005, she joined Columbia Music Entertainment, Inc. as A&R (artist & repertoire) producer and license manager. Fluent in English and Japanese, Yamabe is overseeing all business and cultural affairs for LiveWired in Japan, and is acting liaison for LiveWired Music with the label’s Japanese distributor, BounDEE, Inc.

Ron Croudy

Art Director

Smartbomb Creative Studio is a New York-based boutique design house and collective of like-minded artists, designers and programmers who collaborate on creative projects. Clients include Själ Skincare, Warp Records, Zomba Recording Corporation, MKG Productions, Sony Music, Moët, APT, Universal Music Group, Urban NYC and Restaurant Associates.

Jacob Wildschiødtz

Branding & Identity

NR2154 is a multidisciplinary design network based in Copenhagen and New York established by Troels Faber and Jacob Wildschiødtz. NR2154 create visual identities, logos, typography, exhibitions, books, magazines, websites, films and campaign material. NR2154 is a project number emphasizing that the project always comes first. The collaboration was initiated in 1996 with the launch of several magazines and the design studio that later became NR2154 was founded in 1999. Today Jacob and Troels are based in New York and Copenhagen respectively. They work independently and together on various projects in the framework of NR2154.