Alan Wallis

Alan Wallis, Founder and COO of Mojo Music & Media has worked alongside the music industry for more than twenty years, building and running the Music Transactions practice in the London flagship office for the world’s leading professional services company, Ernst & Young LLP.

Alan began his career in 1974 at HM Revenue & Customs, transferring to their specialist valuation group in 1982.  Believing that valuation work played to his strengths and wanting to pursue a career in the discipline, he joined EY in 1986 as a charter member of the firm’s Business Valuation Group.

While he conducted valuations across all types of business, Alan – a deep fan of popular music – naturally gravitated toward the media and entertainment clients in his portfolio.  Through the ’90s, he helped build a blue chip roster that included members of Pink Floyd and George Harrison.  At the same time, Alan worked closely with record companies and publishers, individual artists, music lawyers, banks and financial institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, offering a suite of custom services tailored to clients’ needs and getting a bird’s eye view of the entire playing field.

When financial players entered the music market in the early 2000s, Alan’s experience working with music icons proved invaluable.  In a few short years, Alan and his team valued some 30-plus catalogs for lenders including those of Bob Marley, Sting, T.Rex, Motown’s Brian and Eddie Holland, Pete Townshend and Michael Jackson.

Following Terra Firma’s acquisition of EMI in 2007, Alan was engaged to undertake bi-annual accounting valuations of the company’s entire publishing and masters catalogs and served as industry advisor to the EY team supporting Citigroup on the sale process in 2011.

Alan’s reputation as the ‘go-to’ valuation man in music IP led to roles as an expert in litigation matters for such artists as Sir Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Mike Oldfield and Snow Patrol.  In 2017, Alan was hired by John Branca to testify in US Tax Court on the value of Michael Jackson’s 50% interest in Sony-ATV.

Convinced the timing was right for a next generation rights management company focused on brand development and legacy marketing, Alan joined up with co-founders Mark Fried and Pete Shane to bring Mojo Music & Media to the world.  His decades of nuanced finance, accounting, tax and valuation expertise has already greatly benefited Mojo and its songwriters and artists.