Jay Ahern (DE)

Jay Ahern is Chief Strategy Officer at the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM), the global trade body representing the electronic music industry. He leads AFEM's strategic work across rights and royalties, metadata, music technology and AI, bringing together music creators, collecting societies and industry partners to address shared challenges.

His work focuses on creator education, responsible AI and strengthening the systems that support creativity and fair remuneration. He serves on the WIPO for Creators Advisory Board and developed and curated the public TRACK ID programme at Alte Liebe for Reeperbahn Festival 2026, exploring the cultural, commercial and technological infrastructure of electronic music.

Jay's career spans PIAS Recordings, Domino Records, Beatport and Hard Wax, followed by roles in music technology at Native Instruments, LANDR and Cyanite. In business and strategic roles, he has worked with artists including Four Tet, Arctic Monkeys, Richie Hawtin and Moby.

A former RTÉ 2fm radio presenter, Jay is also an electronic music producer and recording artist who has released numerous records, bringing firsthand creative experience to his work across the international music industry.