August 21, 2010 – Billboard’s Power Players special feature 30 Under 30 recognizes rising young executives who are driving our business forward with their artistic and business vision. In five previous annual features, 30 Under 30 has spotlighted numerous 20-something executive stars to watch. (Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, then 23, was featured in 2007.)

This year, once again, you helped create this list. Our readers submitted nearly 200 nominations at Billboard.biz. Then a team of Billboard editors reviewed every eligible nomination and numerically ranked the nominees according to their achievements in the past 12 months and the nominees’ leadership within the broader industry, as described in their nomination. The alphabetical 30 Under 30 list here represents the collective wisdom of Billboard’s editors.

As in previous years, it’s notable that many of this year’s honorees are heading their own companies, often in the digital or branding space. Many others are in the touring business, which has proved to be one of the more resilient music industry sectors.

While certainly many outstanding young executives did not make our list, the nominations we received affirmed the wealth of talent rising through the music business, a strong sign of promise for the years ahead.

This year’s 30 Under 30 list:

Ben Cockerham
CFO/chief strategy officer, RightsFlow
Music licensing and royalty payment service provider RightsFlow is a company on the move, led by co-founders Ben Cockerham, who acts as CFO/chief strategy officer, and Patrick Sullivan, who is president. It reported revenue that was up 405% in first-quarter 2010, compared with the same period of 2009, while the number of clients has grown from 1,500 to 10,000. Cockerham, 29, has guided the company into background music, international rights clearance and reporting, master clearance, mobile clearance and user-generated content clearance. As RightsFlow has grown, Cockerham has helped shape industry discussions of copyright in the digital age. A graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business, Cockerham met Sullivan at eMusic, where they conceived RightsFlow. “We thought there had to be a simpler way to license music and pay royalties,” he says. “And, lo and behold, there was.”
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