Matt Waters (GB)

Matt Waters is co-founder and CEO of Unchained Music, an independent distribution and artist services company based in the UK with a global team. Unchained's platform has distributed music for more than 70,000 artists, alongside artist and label services designed to help artists and labels grow on their own terms.

Unchained's policy requires genuine human creative input on every release and rejects tracks generated substantially by AI, with the aim of supporting the process rather than replacing the artists making music.

Matt also runs The Second Floor, Unchained's marketing arm for creative businesses and the labels and artists it backs, covering SEO, paid media, branding and launch strategy.

Matt is a classically trained trombonist with a Master of Music from UCLA. He has performed and taught across four continents, playing with Plácido Domingo, the San Diego Symphony and Delfeayo Marsalis, and opened for the Rolling Stones on their 50th Anniversary Tour with the UCLA Marching Band. In Los Angeles he worked with music manager Ken Kragen and appeared on Glee. He previously served as Professor of Low Brass and Co-Director of Bands at the Nanhai Conservatory of Music in China.

Matt is currently developing tools for royalty transparency and artist growth outside major label structures.