Richard Burgess is the President and CEO for the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), an organization whose mission is to promote growth, awareness and opportunities for independent music. Burgess has been a major label recording artist, composer, studio musician, and artist manager. He also served as producer for many gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums. Known for his pioneering work with synthesizers, computers and sampling, he is credited as an inventor of the SDSV drum synthesizer, as well as coining the music genre terms EDM and New Romantic. Burgess also authored “The Art of Music Production: The Theory and Practice” and “The History of Music Production.”