Meet Our Team

Jon Singer joined Spirit in 2011. He successfully executed the company’s largest transactions, including Pete Townshend (The Who), B‐Unique, Sea Gayle, and the catalog of Gregg Wattenberg. Singer transformed Spirit into a leading independent music publisher opening offices in LA, Nashville, and London, and executing over $120M in acquisitions. Prior to joining Spirit, Singer spent 15 years on the recording side of the music business in different senior capacities at Island Records, Island Def Jam and Decca Label Group. Singer got his professional start as a Senior Accountant in the firm of David Berdon & Company. Singer received his B.S. in Accounting from Rowan University where he currently serves on the Executive Advisory Counsel for the business school. He also currently serves on the board of the Association of Independent Music Publishers in NYC.

Frank Rogers is currently the Chief Creative Officer of Spirit Music Group and CEO of Spirit Music Nashville
and President/Founder of Fluid Music Revolution as well as a hit songwriter and record producer. After a stint as Vice President at EMI Music Publishing, Rogers formed Sea Gayle Music in 1999 along with Brad Paisley and Chris DuBois. The company has had over 45 #1 singles including the 2003 Grammy Best Country Song, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” and 2009 CMA Song Of The Year, “In Color”. Rogers has been responsible for signing many artists including Paisley and Chris Stapleton. In 2010 and 2011, Sea Gayle Music was named ASCAP Country Publisher of the Year. In 2009, the three partners formed Sea Gayle Records, whose roster has included the likes of Sheryl Crow and Jerrod Niemann. In 2016, Frank opened Fluid Music Revolution in conjunction with Spirit Music Group and was named CEO of Spirit Music Nashville in 2019.

Rogers has written the #1 singles “Alright” and “This” by Darius Rucker, “Five More Minutes” and “This Is It” by Scotty McCreery , “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)” by Brad Paisley and “Backroad Song” by Granger Smith. He has written multiple hit singles and had songs recorded by artists including Darius Rucker, Brad Paisley, Scotty McCreery, Granger Smith, Hootie and The Blowfish, Trace Adkins, Josh Turner, Kenny Rogers, Darryl Worley, Thompson Square, Maddie and Tae, Julie Roberts, Montgomery Gentry, Steve Holy, Gin Wigmore, Parmalee and many others.

Rogers has produced over 40 #1 singles and 75 additional Top 20 singles by artists including Darius Rucker, Brad Paisley, Scotty McCreery, Granger Smith, Josh Turner, Trace Adkins, Darryl Worley, Phil Vassar, Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood. He was named Billboard magazine’s No. 1 Hot Country Producer Award five times (2006–2010) and MusicRow Magazine Producer of the Year four times (2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009). He has received 27 Academy of Country Music (ACM) award nominations (with five wins), 18 Country Music Association (CMA) award nominations (with one win) and has produced 17 Grammy nominated songs or albums including 4 Grammy winners. He has recorded artists including Allison Krauss, Sheryl Crow, BB King, Vince Gill, Lady Antebellum, Don Henley, Dolly Parton, Snoop Dogg, Billy Gibbons, George Jones, Buck Owens, Colbie Caillat, Clint Black, Matthew West, and Chris Stapleton

Rogers has also written and recorded songs for movies and TV including songs for Disney Pixar’s Cars, Cars 2, Monte Carlo, Kit Kittredge An American Girl and the theme song for the TruTV series “Black Gold”.

Bernard Cruz has been Vice President of Finance since joining Spirit in July 2020. In this newly created role, he is responsible for overseeing the budgeting and forecasting process, providing financial analysis and guidance on new deals, and directing the income tracking efforts of the department to increase income for Spirit’s clients.

Bernard has over a decade of experience in various sectors within the entertainment industry. Prior to Spirit, he was most recently the Head of Finance for Mass Appeal (Film, TV, Creative Agency, Record Label) where he oversaw corporate finance, production finance, day-to-day operations, human resources, and royalty reporting. Prior to that, he spent 5 years at Roc Nation (Artist/Athlete Management, Marketing, Event Production, Record Label, Publishing) where he began as an Accounting Manager and ended his tenure as Vice President of Finance. During his time at Roc Nation, he helped to grow the finance function by integrating several acquisitions and new business segments including various artist management companies, Roc Nation Sports, Boxing, the Made in America Festival, and TIDAL (music streaming service).

Bernard started his career as an auditor for Deloitte where his clients included BMG Rights Management and the National Football League. He received his B.B.A. in accounting with honors from Baruch College.

Amy Hartman joined Spirit Music Group in 2020 as the Senior Vice President of Creative Services. In her role, Amy oversees the Creative Synchronization department for Film, Television and Advertising. Amy works closely with music supervisors across all medias to procure sync placements and spearhead media campaigns, including all major film & TV studios, video game companies and ad agencies.

Amy is a well-respected music executive with over 20 years of experience in creative sync licensing. She was most recently the SVP, Creative Sync Licensing at Roc Nation, successfully securing placements for their label group, publishing division and management clients. Prior to Roc Nation, Amy served as VP of Film & TV Creative Sync for Island, Def Jam and Republic Records at Universal Music Group. There, Amy specialized in numerous strategic sync placements in film, soundtracks and television, as well as the creation of original songs for the film and TV world. With a background in media relations, she is a versatile executive with deep relationships in the Film/TV community.

Prior to Joining Spirit Music Group, Nancy held the position of VP Creative at Reach Music Publishing working with legendary acts such as Public Enemy, Zac Brown Band & John Mayer.

Having started her career at Sony Music, Nancy has built a reputation helping to develop projects for some of the biggest artists in the industry, including Fergie, Jennifer Lopez, and Michael Jackson. After a decade on the Record side of the business, she branched into music publishing. She also held a role as Head of US in tech music co Auddly (co-founded by Max Martin and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA).

As Vice President of Licensing, David Fedon oversees one of Spirit’s most active departments. He’s responsible for all aspects of synchronization licensing – from structuring deals and negotiating terms to drafting licenses for uses of Spirit songs in films, film trailers, network and cable television programs, global, national and regional advertising campaigns, video games and stage productions. David and his team are also actively involved in tracking payments, aggressively chasing outstanding fees and maintaining and upgrading the licensing database. He has also played a critical role in license language negotiations with major media producers.

Before joining Spirit, David worked in sync licensing for over eleven years at EMI Music Publishing.

Brian Bradford is a veteran music publishing administrator with over 25 years of experience in copyright management and administration, music licensing, royalty accounting and client services.  A self-described “jack-of-all-trades,” Bradford has worn many hats throughout his career, including administrator, licensing agent, royalty accountant, graphic designer, IT and systems manager, multi-tasker and the ultimate team player.  With a deep love of music and a tremendous respect for the creative process, working with songwriters on a day-to-day basis is right in his wheelhouse.

In 1995, Bradford began his career in music publishing, after graduating with a BBA from Belmont University, as catalog manager for Leslie Salzillo-Schmidt’s company, To The Moon Music – a joint venture with Sony/ATV.  Working with talented writers Billy Kirsch (“Is It Over Yet” by Wynonna Judd, “Holes In The Floor of Heaven” by Steve Wariner), Grammy Award winner Don Henry (“Where’ve You Been” by Kathy Mattea), Greg Trooper and Ariel Caten (“A Man’s Home Is His Castle” by Faith Hill), he managed the song catalog, made tape copies and handled administration.

He made the move to Murrah Rich Baierle International (MRBI), a worldwide administrator and sub-publisher formed by Roger Murrah, Ellis Rich and Rolf Baierle, in 1997.  There, he worked under the guidance of industry vet Carol Lindsey Vincent, managing client accounts and accounting royalties for various clients, including Major Bob Music (Garth Brooks, Neil Thrasher), HoriPro Entertainment (REO Speedwagon), Emerald Forest Entertainment (Marilyn Manson, Sophie B. Hawkins), N2D Publishing/Old Desperados (David Lee Murphy) and many more.

After a couple years of service with MRBI, Bradford joined the team at Cal IV Entertainment in November 1998 to handle royalty accounting, with eventual promotion to Director of Licensing and Royalties.  In 2003, he was promoted to Director of Administration, assuming additional copyright administration responsibilities and other duties, including IT management and graphic design.  After Spirit Music Group acquired Cal IV in 2014, Bradford was a key cog in the transition from Cal IV to Spirit Music Nashville as Sr. Director of Administration.  Currently, he leads Spirit Music Nashville’s administration team as the GM/VP of Administration, creates marketing and promotional materials and remains a big supporter of Spirit’s songwriters, past and present.

Bradford resides in Spring Hill, TN, with his wife and two daughters, and is a member of the ACM and CMA.

Lauren Padron has been the Global Controller since joining Spirit in 2016. In her role at Spirit, she is responsible for budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and human resource functions. Prior to Spirit, she began her accounting career in the music industry by joining SFX Entertainment as the Manager of Consolidations and shortly after became Assistant Controller. During her time at SFX Entertainment, Lauren oversaw the global consolidation and reporting process for numerous entities that produced EDM music festivals such as TomorrowLand, TomorrowWorld, Life in Color, Electric Zoo and Mysteryland.

Lauren started her career as an auditor for Grant Thornton. She received her B.B.A in marketing and accounting from Hofstra University and obtained an M.S. in accounting from St. John’s University.

Since November 2001, Colin Jones has been one of the Administration department’s most valuable players, researching and troubleshooting department issues and client questions across copyright, licensing and royalties. At the same time, he has contributed his considerable information technology expertise, managing the company’s computer database, developing data entry procedures and liaising with both in-house and off-site IT staff.

Before coming to Spirit, he served in similar areas during a six-year tenure at Cherry Lane Music.