By: Isabelle Speerin
Alisa’s deep connection to music is woven into her very being, paving the way for her numerous triumphs in the music business. After forty years as a trailblazer in the music industry, Alisa Coleman of ABKCO is still making waves and inspiring a new generation of changemakers.
Coleman, a true New Yorker, was born into a musical family. Her grandfather played violin in a high society orchestra – the Emil Coleman Orchestra – led by her uncle. The popular orchestra played their music at U.S. President Eisenhower’s inaugural ball, the last birthday party of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and saw success on the Billboard charts.
A graduate of The Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, Coleman was recognized with the Anchor Award, the university’s highest alumni honor. “In my final year, I got lucky with an internship at Famous Music (now Sony) and found an affinity for music publishing,” she said, “As most musicians do, I gravitated towards the numbers, the explanation of shares, and the business of the industry.”
Her first job out of college was at The Harry Fox Agency, where she co-directed the sync licensing department working with publishers to negotiate music rights for television programs, commercials and the nascent video industry. “It was the early years of the prolific sync industry,” she noted. “We were licensing songs for television shows at minimal rates and navigating new waters with music being placed in home video.”
In 1985, Coleman joined ABKCO Music and Records, a small family-owned independent record label, publisher, and production company founded by Allen Klein. Klein was known in the industry for his sharp negotiation skills and ability to track down royalties.
Initially supporting two seasoned executives in different sides of the business, record production, royalties, and music publishing, Coleman later went on to work in every aspect of the company. “I was able to interact with everyone in the organization and had the privilege to learn directly from Klein, who I considered to be a genius in the music business,” she said. “His innovative thinking helped to foster my out-of-the-box deal making in my career.”
ABKCO is home to compositions, recordings, and films by Sam Cooke, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Marianne Faithfull, and The Kinks. Songwriters on the roster also include Bobby Womack, Pete Townshend, Ray Davies, Rudy Martinez, Norman Luboff, and Morton Craft.
“We’re not generally looked at as a company for emerging artists, but we have had great success in helping these artists and songwriters get sync placements,” Coleman notes. Coleman was named ABKCO’s first chief operating officer in 2016.
Her work today centers on growing the value of ABKCO’s catalog, crafting innovative deal structuring and licensing methods, and leveraging new entertainment technologies. “I’m a strong advocate for songwriter and artist rights, which means we don’t make every deal,” she explained. “We make the right deals.”
“Being in the right place at the right time, having the right conversations and pitching to the right people,” she said. “It all matters. Fostering these relationships are key.
In addition to her day-to-day activities at ABKCO, Coleman is deeply involved and passionate about advocating for the rights of publishers and songwriters. Five years ago, she was appointed as the inaugural board chair of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) in the U.S. In 2023, she was elected to a second term.
“The affirmation of being elected board chair by my industry peers is absolutely one of the high points in my long journey,” she shared. “ABKCO’s management team understands the importance of supporting songwriters and publishers and has given me the opportunity to advocate, which has led to positive interaction between the songwriter and publishing community focusing on education of shared goals – increasing and collection of revenue.”
After four-decades in music, Coleman says some things never change, including the challenges songwriters and publishers face for fair and equitable payment. Protection of intellectual property is also a continuing story, the latest iteration being the way AI companies are exploiting copyrighted song lyrics to train their platforms. Coleman notes that ABKCO continues to support the protection of all intellectual property as evidenced in its part of the lawsuit against the AI company Anthropic.
“CMRRA helped us navigate our rights as publishers licensing in Canada and ensured that we were able to maintain control over the licensing of our songs to DSPs, securing autonomy along with strong rates and terms of licensing”.
Her advice to those starting a new career in music is to be open and not have your heart set on working in only one area of the industry. “Don’t pigeonhole yourself,” she cautions. “Take as many experiences in as many different parts of a music publishing company or label as you can.”
“You should keep yourself open to new challenges and opportunities and find something that you love and gravitate to within the industry.”
Continual learning is the key to success, says Coleman, who advocates for the importance of regularly attending industry events and conferences. In fact, Coleman herself was behind the creation of what is now known as the Global Music Publishing Summit, held each June in New York City.
In addition to her role at the MLC, Coleman is currently on the board of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). So how does Coleman balance her many roles in the music industry? “Fortunately, I have a type A personality,” she laughs. “But the truth is, it’s taken me a lot of years and unfortunately a major health issue to understand balance.”
Coleman lives in New York with her husband. In their spare time, they own and manage an award-winning villa hotel in St. Lucia.
To learn more about ABKCO, click here. To learn more about The MLC, click here.
