ABOUT US
Awarded Indie Music Publisher of the Year (2019) by the AIMP (L.A. Chapter), PEN Music Group, Inc. has operated as a full-service independent music publishing company since 1994, when Michael Eames co-founded it as an alternative to large multinational publishers. That independent spirit infuses everything we do. We provide one-on-one attention to our clients and leverage our worldwide network of administrative and creative relationships to maximize the value of the copyrights we represent.
We are honored to work with the catalogs of writers and artists, including Oscar®- and Golden Globe®-winning songwriters Franke Previte and John DeNicola [“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes” from Dirty Dancing]; legendary rock vocalist and songwriter Lou Gramm (recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Foreigner); four-time Oscar®-winning lyricist Johnny Mercer's catalog; Grammy®-nominated singer-songwriter Wendy Waldman; groundbreaking R&B producer Keith Crouch; Lizz Wright; Gina Schock (The Go-Go's); and Jessica Childress, among many others. We are also proud to represent writer-producers such as Ivor Novello Award winner Pam Sheyne, Emmy®-nominated lyricist Amy Powers, Sam Barsh & Dan Seeff, and Todd Wright, among others.
Our songs have been released on albums by artists such as Doja Cat, Brandy, The Black Eyed Peas, Kendrick Lamar, Aloe Blacc, Jason Mraz, Logic, the GLEE cast, Selena Gomez, Seal, A$AP Ferg, Miley Cyrus, Tom Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae, k.d. lang, Santana, Christina Aguilera, Faith Hill, Paulina Rubio, Macy Gray, Kenny Rogers, Kenny Loggins, Bonnie Raitt, and Luther Vandross, among countless others.
PEN also proudly represents a growing roster of independent and up-and-coming bands and artists, including ShyBoy, Mikey Wax, Gregory Dillon, KaiL Baxley, Kimberly Cole, Oshima Brothers, and Sam Morrow, among numerous others. We are also strategic partners with fellow independent companies such as Secret Road, Mother West, Echoette, Forty Below Records, and others. Our catalog spans every musical genre, from jazz standards, pop, rock, R&B, and hip-hop to folk, Latin, world music, and film and video game scores.
PEN is a member of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA).
OUR TEAM
MICHAEL EAMES • President & Co-Founder
Michael Eames is a trained composer, songwriter, and pianist who majored in music at Cornell University and completed the Certificate Program in Film Scoring at UCLA Extension; he also secured a minor in Business Management from Cornell.
As President of PEN since its inception in 1994, Michael oversees all aspects of the operation. He was chosen to serve (along with 4 other music publishers and 5 songwriters) on the Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee (UROC) of The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and is the current UROC chair. He also proudly serves on the Independent Publishers Advisory Council (IPAC) of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), and the Advisory Boards of Songwriters Of North America (SONA) and the Hawaii Songwriting Festival. He also previously served as the National President of the Association Of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) from 2015-2018 and served as its National Vice President from 2013-2014.
Michael wrote the music publishing section of the Hal Leonard/Rowman & Littlefield-published book entitled Five Star Music Makeover: The Independent Artist’s Guide for Singers, Songwriters, Bands, Producers and Self Publishers (2016) and is co-author (with Bobby Borg) of the book Introduction To Music Publishing For Musicians whose second edition is scheduled for release in Spring 2025 and is already used in many curriculums across the country. He is a frequent guest speaker in both real and virtual classrooms, festivals and panel discussions worldwide.
Neil Gillis • Co-Founder
Neil Gillis has dedicated his entire career to music publishing and previously served as President of Round Hill Music. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in New York with additional offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, and London, Round Hill Music is a full-service music publisher and creative rights management company. The company, known for its seasoned team of music publishing and investment professionals, manages or administers iconic recordings by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Bon Jovi, and many others. Its catalog includes classics like “All of Me,” “Living in America,” “Bye, Bye, Bye,” “She Loves You,” “Grenade,” and thousands more.
Prior to his role at Round Hill, Neil was President, North America, and Global Head of Creative for S1 Songs America, beginning in July 2007. Before that, he was President and COO of Dimensional Music Publishing (DMP), overseeing all aspects of the company and expanding upon the DreamWorks Music Publishing platform acquired by DMP. As General Manager (East Coast) for Concord Music Group (CMG) before that, Neil helped establish CMG's New York presence and was instrumental in strengthening strategic partnerships and handling creative aspects of international licensing.
Neil spent the prior 16 years at Warner Chappell Music (WCM), rising to Senior Vice President, Creative Music Solutions. In this role, he introduced the WCM catalog to Madison Avenue, video game publishers, and East Coast-based film and TV projects, while also signing artists and cultivating relationships with top catalogs. His earlier tenure at WCM, as Vice President, Copyright/Licensing, involved overseeing operations such as mechanical licensing, performance rights, international administration, and creative licensing for sampling and syncs.
Prior to WCM, Neil worked at Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), where he managed performance rights for BMI’s international assets and vice versa. His career began with an internship at Cherry Lane Music in the early 1980s.
Neil has also been an educator, teaching at UCLA Extension, and as an adjunct professor at Nassau Community College. He has lectured at various institutions including UCLA, USC, NYU, Berklee College of Music, and Hofstra University, and contributed to industry books, including Bobby Borg’s The Musicians Handbook (Billboard Books). A classically trained French horn player and jazz guitarist, Neil has also composed for television and cartoons.
He served on the NMPA Board for 13 years, the AIMP Board for many years, and is currently a board member of the BMI Foundation and the Johnny Mercer Foundation. He is a member of BMI, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Musicians Union Local 802. Neil resides on Long Island with his wife Donna and their three children, Jonathan, Mari Catherine, and Emma.
Creative
MALLORY ZUMBACH • SYNCH CREATIVE
Mallory Zumbach, founder of Maximal Music Sync, brings almost twenty years of diverse music and business affairs experience to the company, including time spent at One Little Independent Records, Warner Chappell, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Round Hill Music, and Hitcher Music/Pulse Music Group. She has landed many syncs across a variety of media, highlights of which include ads for Maybelline, Transitions Lenses, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Victoria’s Secret, Hershey's, TORRID, Revlon, and Nordstrom; film and TV projects including Big Time Adolescence, The Mend, Fallen Angels Murder Club, The Cleaning Lady, Grey’s Anatomy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Rebel, Charmed, Batwoman, Halt & Catch Fire, and Lucifer; video games, including a promo for Forza Horizon 4 and in-game uses in franchises like Guitar Hero, Rocksmith, and Grand Theft Auto; the theme song for Vaping Bad (Wondery Podcast), and many more.
AMY ROBERTS • SYNCH CREATIVE
Amy Roberts has over two decades of diversified experience in the worlds of synch, creative marketing, licensing, admin, and operations. A professional songwriter, singer, and voice coach, Amy holds a BFA in Fine Arts from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and has been part of the PEN Music Group synch team since 2021. Early in her career, she worked in licensing & admin for Touch Tunes Music Corporation and, for fifteen years, acted as synch & licensing manager for Bosshouse Music. From 2015 – 2020, Amy worked for Round Hill Music as Senior Director Creative Marketing. In 2014, Amy founded Broadest Spectrum Music representing artists and music catalogs in the US and abroad for synch. Since 2017, Amy has managed synch and licensing for the Sottophonic Music Catalog. Amy has helped secure hundreds of synch placements over the years, with a stand-out achievement of 350 artist song placements in the Shameless series on Showtime.
PATRICK CONSEIL • A&R
Patrick Conseil, a creative consultant for PEN, began his career in the music industry in London as an A&R manager for A&M Records. After relocating to the US, he served as Warner/Chappell Music’s Vice President of Creative & International (based in NYC) from 1990 to 2003. Subsequently, he held creative positions at Eman Publishing in Miami, consulted for Reservoir Media in its early days, and brought Reverb Music UK to Reservoir, which the company acquired in 2012. From 2014 to 2017, he served as Sr. VP of Creative for Round Hill Music. In 2018, he began consulting for PEN Music Group and Angry Mob Music.
Throughout his career, Patrick has made notable signings, including Falco, who achieved global success with singles like “Der Kommissar” and “Rock Me Amadeus,” and Moby, whose album Play was certified platinum in twenty countries, garnering unprecedented licensing in television, films, and commercials. He has achieved top 40 hits with numerous artists, including Billie Ray Martin, Amber, La Bouche, Captain Hollywood, Roger Sanchez, Republica, Jennifer Paige, and Kylie Minogue. Additionally, he has secured hundreds of cuts with international artists across genres, such as Ricky Martin, Reik, Florent Pagny, Sam Fisher, Nissy, Axelle Red, Luis Fonsi, Matt Simons, Maël & Jonas, and Deepend.
Patrick is actively building his own publishing catalogue. For more information, visit Pure Pop Music and follow him on @purepopmusicllc.
MARK NUBAR • MARKETING
Mark Nubar is a songwriter, music producer, artist manager, and partner in the indie label The Spaceman Agency. His songs have been placed in a multitude of TV shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race, Dynasty, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, America’s Next Top Model, Halloween, and more. Nubar has worked on projects for a diverse group of artists and performers, including Donna Summer; RuPaul; Eden's Crush (feat. Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls); Kat Robichaud (The Voice); Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse); Howard Hewett (Shalamar); Smokey Robinson; Ralph Johnson (Earth, Wind & Fire); Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies); Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Allee Willis; multiplatinum singer-songwriter Wendy Waldman; and award-winning vocalist ShyBoy, with whom Nubar composed the score for the Emmy-nominated Shudder/AMC series Queer For Fear: The History of Queer Horror, co-founded the band Hypnogaja, and created the legendary dance party, MaDonna Summer.
Admin
IRIS CASTRO • COPYRIGHT & LICENSING
Iris Castro was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She comes to PEN Music Group from peermusic where she wore various hats during her 6-year tenure. She started in the Royalty department focusing on client management and latin accounts, then Copyright as Mechanical Licensing Manager and ended as Sync Licensing Manager in issuing licenses for the U.S, Canada, and Puerto Rico. While at peer, Iris also translated and recorded Spanish version videos for peermusic Minute, a weekly news segment posted on social media.
She began her music industry career at Universal Music Group in Copyright and Royalties prior to joining peermusic. She was a part of the Universal Music Women’s Network and was an active member of Toastmasters International. But her true passion for music started in her early childhood learning piano and Performing Arts. Fun fact, Iris was a childhood actress and was in the indie film “Wassup Rockers” by director Larry Clark when she was 15 years old. She enjoys salsa dancing and is an avid concert-goer but above all, she adores her family and is a mother of two.
Iris was fortunate to have been mentored by Lee Reed and Kathy Botich-Alatan who have shared their knowledge and wisdom. Iris brings this influence and experience to PEN with great enthusiasm. She earned her BA in Journalism and Communications at California State University Northridge.
NIKKI DISCOLA • COPYRIGHT & ROYALTIES
Nikki Discola is PEN’s Royalties Manager. Born and raised in Southern California, Nikki Discola has been involved in various facets of the entertainment industry since childhood. As a professional dancer, roller skater, and singer, Nikki built a formidable work resumé for stage as well as television. As an assistant agent for the Bobby Ball Talent Agency, she worked in the dance department, which included aiding in the print and music departments when needed, as well as also co-developed a special skating division which grew into a lucrative sports department for the agency. She also spent time interning at Fidelity Studios learning dialogue, foley, special effects, background, and music editing. As her love for music grew she pursued it to Nashville where she worked for startup record label Sterling Entertainment as an administrative assistant and then for Ingle Land Music Publishing, as well as doing some demo singing at FunHouse Studios. Eventually finding her way back to the west coast, Nikki became part of the Academy of Country Music team in the events and membership departments before branching out on her own as a freelance voice-over artist. In addition to her position at PEN, Nikki also administers and manages Stuntphone.com, the leading directory for stunt professionals.
KAREN FALZONE • LICENSING & BUSINESS AFFAIRS
Karen Falzone spent 15 years working as a studio in-house paralegal, most recently acting as Director of Business Affairs - Production at Starz Entertainment, where she oversaw rights and clearances for all original productions, including talent and music. Through her company Mostly Music Agency, Karen has consulted with many varied clients in the areas of music business affairs and licensing for all forms of film, television and video-game production. Karen is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Production Music Association (PMA), the California Copyright Conference (CCC), and the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP).