The Social Media Research Initiative at the Centre for Law, Economics and Society at UCL Laws (SMRI @ CLES) has pleasure in inviting you to

Regulating Social Media: More Harm than Good?

A debate on how social media challenges the traditional views about regulation and its aims

on 31 January 2013, 6 - 7.30pm

Panellists include:

• Ian Hogarth (Co-Founder and CEO, Songkick)
• Prof. Andrew Murray (London School of Economics)
• Tom Frederikse (Clintons LLP)
• Mark Adams (UK Director, The Audience)
• Martin Adams (SNRI @ CLES)
• Steven Braines (Artist Manager)
• Mark Williamson (Spotify)
• Ioannis Lianos (Director, UCL CLES)

About this event

The effect of the spread of social media has been dramatic; altering the power dynamic between consumers and providers of goods and services, disrupting traditional business models, undermining intellectual property rights, and allowing a more direct engagement between consumers, fans, businesses and artists.

On January 31, 2013 UCL will play host to a fascinating exchange between leading thinkers involved in the industry and policy surrounding social media.

The panel will answer important questions about the uses and values of social media and the possible impact of attempts to protect intellectual property, individual privacy and other public interests across these platforms. How do businesses actually use social media? Has the disruption of traditional business models come at the price of real respect for individual privacy or intellectual property rights? Does social media improve the richness of our cultural and social lives? Why are governments increasingly likely to regulate social media and would strict legal standards stifle the continued development of these innovative technologies? This event will be of interest to industry leaders in this important area, and a range of students and faculty from diverse departments including law, public policy, and computer science.

About the speakers:

Professor Andrew Murray is Professor of Law at London School of Economics, where he specializes in Cyber-regulation Law, and particularly the promotion of proprietary interests and protection of human rights in the digital sphere. Professor Murray has written numerous books and is a frequent commentator on the digital environment and its regulation.

Tom Frederikse is a Partner at Clintons law firm in London where he specialises in Digital Media and technology-related issues. Tom is a regular commentator across various national media on issues concerning law and technology, and joins us as chairperson of the event.

Ian Hogarth is the Co-Founder and CEO of Songkick; a hugely popular social media platform that revolutionises the way users discover live music, and with roots in both the Silicon Valley and the Silicon Roundabout. Ian studied a Masters in 'Machine Learning' at Cambridge University and worked at Bain Capital before starting Songkick. He is a global expert on the role of social media and crowdfunding.

Mark Adams is a well recognised thought leader in the field of social media. At the age of 21 he founded the very first social media company in the UK and is now UK Director at The Audience; the worlds largest publisher across all social media platforms, representing over 300 of the biggest entertainment clients in the world. Mark regularly speaks at conferences and summits about the role of social media and the transformative power of the direct-to-fan relationship for traditional business models. He holds a Masters in Law from UCL.

Steven Braines works at Crown Talent/The Weird & the Wonderful and manages some of the world's most esteemed music artists, including Maya Janes Coles, Tricky, and Magda. A pioneer in the role of digital strategy, Steven champions the role of technology to bring artist and fan together in an industry that has had to confront the proliferation of social media and the challenges of ‘freely sharable’ content.

Martin Adams is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he obtained a Masters in intellectual property law and the law of the Internet, UCL Laws and the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has conducted research through the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University and worked on behalf of the artist Shepard Fairey in his copyright infringement case concerning the famous Obama ‘Hope’ poster. As a digital entrepreneur, Martin Adams was involved with rapidly growing companies in the digital media sector, and currently works as a lawyer for Kirkland and Ellis, LLP in New York where his practice focuses on domestic and international technology and intellectual property transactions. Martin was recently invited to speak at the International Legal Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia on the subject of regulating social networks.

Mark Williamson is the Director of Artist Services at Spotify; one of the world’s most popular social platforms. Spotify allows users to stream and share music with friends online, and has over 20 million global users to date. Mark is a Politics graduate and has run numerous innovative businesses in the digital space.

Ioannis Lianos is the Founding Director of the Centre for Law, Economics and Society at UCL, a Reader in Competition Law and Economics at UCL Laws and the Gutenberg Research chair at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration in France (ENA). He has written extensively on regulation and competition law and has specific expertise in the competition and network neutrality regulatory implications of social media platforms..