Jay Ahern

Jay Ahern is Chief Strategy Officer at the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM), the global trade body representing the electronic music ecosystem across culture, commerce and technology. He leads AFEM’s strategic initiatives across music technology, AI, metadata and rights management, aligning creators, businesses and collecting societies around practical, future-facing solutions.

His work centres on identifying key industry challenges and shaping collaborative frameworks that support innovation while protecting creators and rightsholders. This includes advancing dialogue around generative AI, consent, attribution and fair compensation in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Jay’s career spans PIAS Recordings, Domino Records, Beatport and Hard Wax, before moving into creator tool development with Native Instruments and LANDR. There, he worked closely with generative AI teams developing music creation tools, as well as analytical AI systems for recommendation, tagging and search.

Throughout his career, Jay has worked on the business and strategic side with artists including Four Tet, Arctic Monkeys, Richie Hawtin and Moby. As a music producer, he has released numerous records and performed internationally at venues including Fabric and Berghain, as well as clubs across Europe, Japan and North America.