Cool Music Network Founding Partners

Joe Comparato - CEO

With over 25 years in the entertainment industry, Joe has toured, recorded and promoted regional and national artists from across the country. He worked at the Financial News Network (FNN) in production on the nationally syndicated television program Investment World Television Magazine, as wells as produced corporate sales and training programs for local municipalities, manufacturers and various sales organizations. He then later spent four years as both a studio and monitor engineer, for artists like The Neville Brothers, Diamond Rio, Kathy Mattea and Vince Gill while employed by Stage Pro, Inc.

His last twelve years have been spent in the distribution segment of the entertainment industry managing sales and operations of prerecorded media to regional and national retailers. His efforts are what created and laid the foundation for Harvest Media Group and its independent music distribution program, Allindies.com which was written up in Billboard magazine as the ideal independent music distribution system. He helped build and develop one of the first regional independent music distributors that specialized in local and regional independent recording artists in partnership with Best Buy, Musicland and Blockbuster and was responsible for 300% growth in less than three years. Joe has contributed in almost every aspect of the music industry in his career. He is dedicated to providing means for independent artists to have the opportunity to succeed in an industry that needs them. He contributes to creating an independent community that thrives on cooperation, passion and success. In addition to more than 25 years of music business experience, Joe is a proficient operations, trained computer programmer, producer/engineer and data management specialist.

David Hampe - COO

David W. Hampe is an entrepreneur and philanthropist with special expertise in global partnerships and relationship-driven business development. Over the course of his 25 year career, Mr. Hampe’s ability to consistently identify growth  opportunities, drive profitability and enable people and ideas through leadership, have made him an asset to some of the largest organizations in the world.

Most recently, as one of the Partners of Accenture in Chicago, Mr. Hampe was directly responsible for increasing revenue of his business unit by over 1,200%, from $16M to over $220M during his tenure. Under his leadership at Accenture he created a proactive teaming / partnership strategy with the entire technology community. This initiative earned Mr. Hampe multiple recognitions from the technology community as Systems Integrator Partner of the Year and yielded a 4% increase in his business unit’s operating margin [to a $2B organization].

Bobby Tarantino - SVP Artist and label Relations

 Awarded over 50 Gold and Platinum Records as a key member of A&M, Arista and Interscope Records, Mr. Tarantino Marketed and Promoted International Recording artists: Sting, The Grateful Dead, Styx, Supertramp, .38 Special, The Police, Diane Warwick, Janet Jackson, Jeffrey Osborne, Melissa Manchester, The Go-Go's, Suzanne Vega, Joe Jackson, The Human League, Simple Minds, Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman, Barry Manilow, The Carpenters, Alan Parsons Project, Billy Crystal, David Cassidy, Quincy Jones, Bryan Adams and dozens of independent artists who collectively sold over onebillion dollars worth of music. In 2003, Robert co-founded and developed The Tube Music Network with entertainment legend and MTV co-founder Les Garland. At The Tube Music Network Mr. Tarantino was the direct liaison to all major and independent record labels, artists and artist management firms, and countless content providers procuring thousands of live and conceptual music video performances for The Tube broadcast into more than 22 Million Cable Homes featuring legendary artists; The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, David Bowie ,Elton John, Elvis Presley, Billy Joel, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac, Prince, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and new and current stars Nora Jones, The Killers, Alicia Keys, Fall Out Boy, Death Cab For Cutie, John Mayer, Coldplay, Finger Eleven, Jack Johnson, Jamie Cullum, Diana Krull, Ben Harper, Lenny Kravitz, Red Hot Chili Peppers among many more!

John "Digger" Peláez - SVP ON DEMAND! / CMO

After a successful career in International Sales, John retired at age 30 and set his sights on the entertainment industry. In 2000 he founded DigsREX Presents, LLC in Boulder, CO. DigsREX Presents is a world-class mobile

recording, archival and distribution company specializing in live music and audio for video post-production. Mr. Peláez is the mastermind behind CD ON DEMAND! - the distribution of digital media immediately after a live performance on- location and on the Internet. Mr. Peláez has worked directly with all the major record labels including SONY, Universal and Warner Brothers, many independent record labels, and hundreds of artists that include Linkin’ Park, David Gray, Son Volt, The Black Crowes, and Widespread Panic. Mr. Peláez deals daily in every aspect of content capture, management and distribution. Mr. Peláez is the former Tour Manager for the international artists, North Mississippi Allstars and has toured with Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer and Steve Winwood, to name a few.