The Wall Street Journal calls Gerd one of the leading Media Futurists in the World. He is the Co-Author of the influential book The Future of Music (2005, Berklee Press), as well as the Author of Music2.0 (January 2008 www.music20thebook.com), and The End of Control (see the preview chapters at www.endofcontrol.com, publication date: early 2009).

Gerd's background is in Music (he won the Quincy Jones Award in 1986 and is a graduate of Boston's Berklee College of Music) and in Technology, Internet and Media. His work focuses on the Future of Media, Content, Technology, Business, Marketing, Advertising, Branding, Communications and Culture, and he is considered a leading expert on topics such as social media, Web/Media 2.0, UGC and peer production, social networking, cultural changes due to disruption by new technologies, copyright issues, digital content commerce models, media convergence, mobile entertainment, entrepreneurship, the future of advertising and branding, general future planning, digital content strategies and the development of next-generation business models.

Gerd's keynotes, speeches, presentations and think-tank appearances are renowned for his hard-hitting and provocative yet inspiring and motivational style. With over 70 engagements in 15 countries during the past 3 years Gerd, has addressed executives and professionals in the sectors of communications and telecom / wireless, recorded music & music publishing, radio, TV, film/video and broadcasting, online gaming and virtual worlds, and advertising, marketing and branding.

His diverse client list includes Nokia, Sony/BMG, RTL, ITV, the BBC, France Telecom / Orange, Deutsche Telekom, The Financial Times, TribalDDB, DDB, Omnicom, the European Commission, Nokia-Siemens-Networks, and many others. Gerd is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (London), and resides in Basel, Switzerland.

• Global media trends: what, where, when - and why all of it will happen in parallel
• Mobility and the Future of Media - why mobile media will rule
• Telecom2.0: networked content, new roles, new revenue streams
• The rise of social networking and the Usator (user-creator)
• MediaX.0: Friction is Fiction?
• The so-called 'Digital Natives" and how they are changing media, culture, law, and business
• The next generation media company: from The Network to 'Networked'
• The Blogosphere / Understanding the world of blogging: how it works and what it can do for you
• Commercial versus Shared Culture: what's business, and what's culture?
• Music Like Water / Media Like Water (the flat rate debate)
• Social networking: the new Radio and TV?
• The Attention Economy in Media: why attention is the new distribution
• A Change of Control: how technology is transforming media, and how losing control creates new revenues
• Copyright versus Technology - if merely seeing or hearing becomes 'getting', how will content be monetized?
• Globalization and Media: what will work where, when, why?
• The impact of technology on culture
• The Future of Creators: new models for the monetization of content creation (is technology empowering the creators or simply making them a commodity?)
• Benefits and challenges of the so-called democratization of production
• MusicX.0 and the Future of the Music Industry
• Fueling the fire: Investment opportunities in next-generation media
• Future scenarios in media (and related technology): 3, 5, 10 years out
• Generating income in a world of ubiquitous (and often, free) content
• The future of education in a world of ubiquitous media and endless resources