Project Management Case Studies
Background
Case studies which outline the projects I created or managed at FME, that crossed marketing, A&R, legal, finance, logistics, and external partners simultaneously — Budget tracking, SOW coordination, vendor management, release pipelines, and route planning were all in scope.
Case 1: Multi-City Tour Project
Project Management · Operations · Cross-functional · Time Zone Variation
Summary
I owned a multi-city tour end-to-end — budget, routing, legal, logistics, personnel, digital media pipeline, and the full marketing timeline running in parallel.
What I did
I owned the full project lifecycle: route planning and date selection, venue coordination and rental agreements, artist and personnel logistics including hotel tracking, booking, SOW development and legal sign-off coordination with label partners, budget tracking against approved allocations, and merchandise activation setup at each market. I also managed the marketing timeline — pre-sale communications by market, day-of digital creative assets, post-event recap — all in coordination with a five week tour calendar.
The outcome
The tour ran on schedule across all markets. Budget stayed within scope. Every venue, personnel, and legal agreement was confirmed before departure. The marketing team hit all planned touchpoints. It ran like a machine because every workstream had an owner and a deadline, visible through Trello, Jira and G-Suite— and that owner was usually me.
Extra: Risk Mitigation in real time
Problem: Midway through a West and Southwest run with 14 dates remaining, the team discovered the tour vehicle had shipped out of Philadelphia with bald tires — a sign-off miss at pickup that didn't surface until the onsite team was 3,000 miles from the rental origin.
Solution: I contacted SIXT operations team directly and negotiated a formal agreement authorizing a third-party tire replacement in Oregon with reimbursement tied back to the original invoice — keeping the team road-legal, the route intact, and within budget scope. All parties resolved of risk before the next date.
Case 2: SOW & Vendor Documentation — Major Label Partnership Coordination
Vendor Documentation · Contract Coordination · Budget Tracking · Stakeholder Reporting · Process Standardization
Summary
I owned the full SOW process for all major label activations at FME — drafting, revision cycles, approval tracking, and execution sequencing across partnerships with UMG and Sony Music. Nothing started until the paperwork was signed and the scope was confirmed on both sides.
What I did
Every activation tied to a major label partnership required a Statement of Work defining scope, deliverables, timelines, and compensation terms. I managed that process end-to-end — drafting the initial document based on agreed campaign parameters, coordinating revision cycles with label legal contacts, and tracking approval status against the project timeline. I built a standard SOW template for recurring activation types to reduce drafting time on repeat engagements. I also maintained a centralized tracker covering every active agreement so leadership always had a real-time view of what was signed, what was in legal review, and what was still pending — without having to ask
The outcome
Legal review cycles completed before project kick-off consistently, which eliminated mid-project scope disputes. The template reduced drafting time significantly on repeat activation types. Leadership had full contract visibility across all active projects at any given time — fewer check-in meetings, faster decisions, no surprises.
Extra: Translating Ariba
Universal-MG and Sony MG instead of OEM hardware partners — but the workflow is identical. Scope defined, terms agreed, approval tracked, execution sequenced. The system I'd bring to Ariba is the same one — centralized tracker, template for recurring engagement types, and nothing initiating until sign-off is confirmed on both sides.
Case 3: Cross-Department Asset Pipeline — Milestone Ownership Across Creative, A&R, and Distribution
Cross-functional Coordination · Milestone Management · Handoff Design · Escalation Management · Program Execution
Summary
I designed and ran the release pipeline connecting three internal departments — creative, A&R, and distribution — each with their own milestone, deadline, and confirmation requirement. When one slipped, everything downstream slipped. My job was to make sure that didn't happen.
What I did
Each release required three departments to deliver in sequence. Creative produced artwork, video assets, and promotional content. A&R finalized audio masters, metadata, and credit documentation. Distribution handled DSP submission, label delivery, and physical vendor coordination. There was no handoff system in place — I built one. Creative had a confirmed delivery date two weeks before drop. A&R had masters and metadata locked three weeks out. Distribution had submission confirmed one week before, with a receipt required before I closed the milestone. I held weekly check-ins, tracked slippage against the master calendar, and escalated early when a department was falling behind what they had committed to. I wasn't the creative director, the A&R lead, or the distribution manager — I was the coordination layer that kept all three moving in the same direction at the same time.
The outcome
On-time release rates improved significantly once the pipeline was formalized. Cross-departmental disputes about missed handoffs stopped because everyone was working from the same visible schedule with their own milestone clearly marked. The pipeline became the standard operating structure for all releases going forward.
Extra: The Connective Tissue
multiple contributors, sequential dependencies, and someone in the middle making sure nothing falls through between handoffs.
Case 4: Square POS Failure — Cross-Border Compliance Crisis, Canadian Tour Dates
Crisis Management · Problem Diagnosis · Vendor Coordination · Revenue Protection · Process Improvement
Summary
Five hours before a live event on the Canadian leg of a tour, our point-of-sale system went offline — not a technical failure, a cross-border regulatory compliance block. I diagnosed the root cause, built a track-able digital workaround that protected revenue and tax reporting integrity, and documented the fix so it never happened again.
What I did
Square's U.S.-registered accounts do not process transactions under Canadian merchant regulations. Rebooting wouldn't fix it — this was a compliance issue, not a connectivity one. I assessed the available options quickly and ruled out cash-only as a reporting risk given the international tax implications of undocumented cross-border revenue. Instead I accessed our label's existing Shopify account and configured a live order capture workflow with an in-person pickup selection — effectively turning the merch table into a mobile order fulfillment point. Customers placed orders through Shopify on-site, showed ID at the table, and picked up immediately — the same flow as a mobile order collected in store. Every transaction was logged, timestamped, and tied to a real order record. I communicated the new process to the on-site team before doors opened, and we ran the activation on that system for the remainder of the Canadian dates.
After the tour, I documented the root cause, the workaround, and the compliance gap, and added a cross-border POS compliance review to the pre-tour checklist for all future Canada-market activations.
The outcome
Zero revenue loss. Every transaction was properly captured, trackable, and reportable — protecting the label from international tax reporting exposure. The Shopify workaround preserved the full audit trail that a cash fallback would have compromised. The checklist addition ensured the compliance gap was identified and resolved before departure on all subsequent Canada-market dates.
How this translates
Operational failures at the intersection of technology and cross-border compliance don't announce themselves in advance. What matters is how quickly you diagnose the real problem, whether your workaround protects the business beyond just keeping things running, and whether you close the loop so the same gap doesn't resurface. The Shopify solution wasn't just a fix — it maintained revenue tracking and tax reporting integrity under pressure, which is the standard any global operation holds itself to.
Case 5: Release Pipeline & Demand-Driven Launch Strategy
Pipeline Governance · Demand Forecasting · Resource Allocation · Market Prioritization · Cross-functional Delivery
Summary
I managed the full release pipeline for both internally produced and externally sourced assets — from intake and quality verification, through distributor submission,to public launch — and used pre-release demand signals to make real-time decisions about where to concentrate marketing spend before the release date.
What I did
FME operated two distinct release pipelines.
The first covered music assets created internally — assets I had visibility into from day one.
The second covered releases from managed artists who produced assets externally, then handed finished assets to FME for distribution coordination, requiring a separate system entirely.
I built and maintained an intake checklist that every external asset had to clear before entering the distribution pipeline (listed below.) Assets that arrived incomplete were returned to the artist's team with a documented correction request before any submission was initiated. Nothing entered the pipeline unverified. After clearing intake, I coordinated the submission release process — tracked ingestion windows, confirmed delivery to the distributor, and monitored platform indexing across DSPs.
I ran pre-save campaigns: a mechanism that allowed us to track interest in a release before it's publicly available, generating engagement data by market in the weeks leading up to launch. I monitored that data as it came in and used regional interest concentration to inform senior management where we can re-adjust marketing resources for the final push — paid ad amplification, playlist outreach, press coordination — rather than distributing spend evenly across all markets and hoping.
The outcome
The intake checklist became a hard gate for all external submissions — assets arrived with errors, none shipped that way.
The pre-save demand framework replaced assumption-based spend allocation with a repeatable, data-backed decision process that leadership could act on quickly. Together, the two systems meant releases shipped cleaner, budget landed in the right markets, and every distribution and spend decision had documentation behind it.
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Audio master format and quality confirmed
Primary artist name and spelling verified against DSP profile
Featured artist tags present and accurate
Songwriter and producer credits complete
Ownership splits documented and matched to PRO registration
Distributor format requirements met per platform
Release date confirmed against submission window lead time
Pre-save campaign assets aligned to confirmed release date
Extra: Risk Aversion - Market Budget Spend
Problem:
Three weeks before a scheduled release — with a public release date confirmed and partner commitments already in place — pre-save engagement data came back significantly stronger in two regional markets than the others. The existing media and paid spend plan was built on even distribution across all markets. If we stayed the course, the majority of the budget would land in markets that were showing weak demand signals while the two strongest markets were under-leveraged at the moment they were most receptive.
Solution:
I brought the regional data to leadership with a clear side-by-side comparison — projected return on even distribution versus concentrated spend in the two markets signaling strongest demand. Leadership approved the reallocation within 48 hours. I renegotiated placement timing with two partners, redirected paid budget to the priority markets, and documented the decision and rationale so the approach could be replicated on future releases. The two priority markets outperformed all others at launch. The framework became the standard for how we approached spend allocation on every subsequent release.
Extra: Risk Mitigation - Flagging
Problem: An externally produced asset came through intake four weeks before its launch date — with a pre-save campaign already live and the artist's audience actively engaged — carrying a wrong featured artist tag and a missing songwriter credit. The date was publicly announced already, the promotional window had begun, and a post-submission correction would have required a distributor recall and re-delivery with no guaranteed turnaround time.
Solution: The intake checklist caught both errors before any submission was initiated. I documented the corrections and sent a formal request back to the artist's production team with a 24-hour turnaround tied to the submission window. Corrected files came back within the window, cleared intake on re-submission, and were delivered to the distributor on schedule. The release date held, the pre-save campaign ran uninterrupted, and the error never reached a public platform.
Case 6: Agile catalog production — writing camps to licensed assets
Agile Delivery · ScrumMaster · Sprint Management · Distributed Teams · Compliance Hand-off · Pipeline Governance · internal assets
Summary
I ran distributed creative production sprints — coordinating writers, producers, engineers, graphics, external stakeholders, and legal across a full delivery pipeline from planning to licensed, revenue-generating asset.
What I did
I managed each project as a tracked deliverable moving through five defined stages:
Concept and session assignment (Sprint Planning) → Active writing and recording (Sprint) → Mix and internal review → Legal clearance and rights registration → Review Final indexing for pitch. (Sprint Review)
During COVID, I moved the entire operation into Jira to coordinate distributed contributors remotely — Trello handled the catalog-level view across all active projects.
I was the translation layer. After each session I checked in directly with the session lead, logged what was completed, and moved the ticket. This way, creatives stayed in their creative environment — sessions, files, messages. The board was my tool for visibility, hand-off and stakeholder reporting, not a system I imposed on creatives. Google Sheets held equity split records and session budgets. Ownership percentages and PRO registration (the industry equivalent of IP documentation) were confirmed before any asset left the pipeline — not after a deal came in.
The outcome
Songs moved from concept to pitch-ready asset on a repeatable, documented timeline. No licensing deal was delayed by a missing ownership agreement or unregistered work. When payouts came in, the financial pipeline ran cleanly because the governance happened upstream. Leadership had full visibility into where every asset sat at any point — and the team had a clear, shared definition of "done.”
Extra: Risk Mitigation in real time
Problem: A lead producer confirmed for a two-day recording session went dark the morning of day one — no communication, no stems delivered, with a recording artist already booked, a studio clock running, and no backup in place.
Solution: I implemented a confirmation check-in protocol after the first occurrence — every confirmed contributor received a direct touch-point 24 hours before their session date. I also maintained a short bench of backup talent segmented by genre with confirmed on-call availability for active project cycles. When the next no-show happened, the session continued with a backup producer already briefed on the project. No studio time or budget was lost, no artist was left waiting, and the song hit its pipeline stage on schedule.
Inside Jira
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One per song, named and tagged by project/artist
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Backlog → In Progress → In Review → Legal & Registration → Done
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Session dates,
Assigned contributors,
File delivery notes.
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my post-session check-in logs,
blocker flags
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Reference Docs
Split Sheets
Registration Confirmations
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Genre
Priority
Label Partner (If applicable)
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Sprint Velocity Equivalent
(how many assets are moved to “done” per cycle)
Case 7: Digital Asset Library — Segmented + Indexed for Partner & Internal Use
Content Operations · Asset Taxonomy · Access Control · Partner Enablement · Self-Serve Systems
Summary
I built and maintained a centralized asset library for a multi-contributor music catalog — organized, segmented, tagged, and access-controlled so label partners and internal team members could find and use the right content without submitting a request or waiting on someone to source.
What I did
FME's catalog was consistently being requested by domestic and foreign label partners, as well as internal team members for pitches, placements, and campaign use — but there was no organized system behind it. Assets were scattered across folders, tagging was inconsistent, and sourcing the right track for a brief wasted time on both sides.
I built a centralized library in Discio.io — a catalog and metadata management platform used in sync licensing — and organized the full catalog with segmented tagging across mood, genre, tempo, rights territory, and sync category. I created separate access views for external label partners and internal team members so each audience only saw what was relevant to their brief. Tagging standards were documented so the system stayed consistent as new assets were added.
The outcome
Partners could self-serve on briefs, with custom segmented views tied to our Marketing CRM. Instead of submitting requests and waiting. Internal pitch turnaround dropped from a 3 day average to under 24 hours because the right asset was findable in under a minute. Rights clearance errors went down because territory and ownership data lived in the same place as the asset — one source of truth for both the content and its legal status.