Michael Cassidy

Michael Cassidy is the Chief Innovation Officer for FUGA, the industry leading music technology and services company for international rightsholders. Michael works with a team of 20 + engineers and product owners, developing new platform services for FUGA clients and is at the forefront of advancing FUGA’s best-in-breed technology. He is particularly interested how new technologies including artificial intelligence, speech recognition, blockchain and VR are changing the way we connect creators with listeners in the music industry.

Michael joined FUGA in January of 2016 following two decades of work in a range of UX and developer projects, including time with the United Nations and eBay, which initially brought him to Amsterdam in 2011. His work prior to taking the role at eBay included developing and releasing one of the first online D2C downloads platforms, ‘I Think Music’, offering over 1500 independent label clients bespoke ‘storefront’ pages to sell music downloads online. This followed his initial retail software development, ‘Just Shop’, a virtual record store for independent retailers to sell records and CDs.

Throughout his time working on technology projects, Michael had led a double life as a music and arts promoter, creating and curating club nights across Europe including ‘Phathead’ in Birmingham, ‘VURT’ in Copenhagen and ‘Club Softly’ in Barcelona. He was also active in the fine art world, showcasing his own collaborative installation artworks and the work of others via exhibitions.