B.S. in Music and Physics, St. Lawrence University
MIND 2261 - Music Industry Principles
MIND 2262 - Distribution, Streaming, and Digital Royalties
MIND 3364 - Music Publishing
MIND 3365 - Artist Management
MIND 3375 - Record Label
Voting Member, The Recording Academy
Mark Tavern is an educator, artist manager, consultant, administrator, and arts advocate. He has more than 25 years of entertainment industry experience, having worked for both commercial and not-for-profit entities in artist management, music licensing, the record business, and in performing arts administration.
Before joining the University of New Haven, Tavern taught music business at LaGuardia Community College/The City University of New York, and at the Institute of Audio Research. In addition to teaching, he operates a boutique company providing management, consulting, and licensing services to performers, composers, and record companies.
See MorePrior to 2012, Tavern worked for several major record companies including Universal Music Group, SONY Music Entertainment, and BMG Entertainment. As an A&R Administrator with labels Island Records, Def Jam Recordings, and RCA Records, he worked on more than 200 recordings acro ss many genres, including projects with such important artists as Justin Bieber, The Roots, Mariah Carey, Big K.R.I.T., Melissa Etheridge, India.Arie, Ariana Grande, Chrisette Michele, The Killers, D’Angelo, Sarah McLachlan, Mario, Monica, Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston, Adam Lambert, Kelly Clarkson, Angie Stone, Rhymefest, Maroon 5, Cassidy, Clay Aiken, Tyrese, Carrie Underwood, Heather Headley, Ziggy Marley, Rachael Yamagata, The Chieftains, Etta James, George Winston, Jim Brickman, Evgeny Kissin, Andy Summers, Dave Douglas, Eliane Elias, Tom Harrell, Fourplay, Denyce Graves, and Leontyne Price. While at RCA Victor he took part in a dozen Broadway cast album recordings including Urinetown, Avenue Q, Cabaret, and Ragtime, and numerous reissue projects, including the GRAMMY®-winning 24-disc reissue The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition.
Tavern’s first job was as an intern at Glimmerglass Opera (now the Glimmerglass Festival) in Cooperstown, NY where he later became Company Manager.
Tavern is a cum laude graduate of St. Lawrence University, where he earned a B.S. degree and completed two majors: Music and Physics. He remains an active SLU alumnus, mentoring current students and recent graduates, and advising the University on their innovative New York City Semester for students in finance and the arts.
In addition to a blog, a newsletter, and several ebooks, Tavern writes about the music business for Audiomack, DJBooth, and Synchblog, and has contributed to several books including Work Hard, Playlist Hard; Don’t Forget About The Music; and The 360 Deal.
"Spotify Fan Engagement" in Work Hard Playlist Hard: Actionable Advice to Help Artists Grow Their Audience on Music Streaming Platforms, written by Mike Warner. Second Edition. Self-published, 2021.
The Audiomack Artist Guide, written with Anna Bond, Samuel Cohen, Sonny Digital, Liz Eason, Seth Faber, Adam Freedman, Esq., Karl Fricker, Benjy Grinberg, MeLisa Heath, Ryan Hobbs, Michael Kolar, Greg Norman, Esq., and Adam Small. Audiomack, 2022. http://guide.audiomack.com.
"What Does an Artist Manager Do?" Audiomack, December 9, 2021. https://audiomack.com/world/post/what-does-an-artist-manager-do
"Song Copyrights Explained: ‘Musical Work’ vs. ‘Sound Recording’". Audiomack, March 31, 2021. https://audiomack.com/world/post/song-copyrightsexplained
"An Artist’s Guide to Royalties, Recoupment & Cross-Collateralization." DJBooth, July 20, 2020. https://djbooth.net/features/2020-07-30-kreayshawn-contracts-recoupments-record-labels
"13 Music Industry Scams: Everything You Need to Know." DJBooth, September 26, 2019; Updated February 6, 2020. https://djbooth.net/features/2019-09-26-everything-you-need-to-know-music-industryscams
"For The (Re-)Record: Here’s What You Need To Know About Re-Recording Restrictions." Synchblog, August 6, 2019. https://www.synchtank.com/blog/for-the-re-record-heres-what-you-need-to-knowabout-re-recording-restrictions/
"Blueface Doesn't Understand His Record Deal. Do You?" DJBooth, February 5, 2019. https://djbooth.net/features/2019-02-05-bluefaceunderstanding-record-deals
In the Media
Mark Tavern, a lecturer and coordinator of the Nashville Study Away Program, discusses the new Taylor Swift album and how she kept the fact that it was a double album a surprise until it was released.
In the Media
Mark Tavern, a lecturer and coordinator of the Nashville Study Away Program, discusses how Taylor Swift is re-recording her music as the original masters were sold by her record company.
In the Media
Mark Tavern, a lecturer and coordinator of the Nashville Study Away Program, talks about streaming in the music industry. He is a former Def Jam executive.
In the Media
Mark Tavern, lecturer and coordinator of the Nashville Study Away Program, says the fact that Rihanna regularly uses YouTube to showcase her music, it was no surprise that her Super Bowl Halftime show had surpassed 38 million views.
In the Media
Mark Tavern and Bruce Barber discuss the trend of upcoming artists using social media channels to generate attention. Tavern is a lecturer and coordinator of the Nashville Study Away program, and Barber is the general manager of WNHU.
In the Media
Mark Tavern, lecturer and coordinator of the Nashville Study Away Program, comments that one song may have several co- writers, each having a different publisher, which may impact copyrights and licensing.
In the Media
Mark Tavern, lecturer and coordinator of the Nashville Study Away Program, and students in the music industry and music and sound recording programs talk about their involvement with Rein Records, a student-run record label that is preparing to release music from five artists. The students are gaining extensive hands-on experience by running all aspects of the label.
In the Media
Mark Tavern spoke with NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas about Bob Dylan selling his song copyrights to UMPG.
In the Media
Mark Tavern was interviewed by Joe Coscarelli about Taylor Swift's plan to re-record and release her old albums.
In the Media
Mark Tavern, adjunct faculty in music, wrote a guest editorial on why songwriters and artists are selling their music catalogs.