Mark Josephson, my partner of more than ten years, graduated from this plane yesterday.

Mark created Rockpool, an aggregator of club DJs that played rock music working with record companies to provide those DJs with records. Simultaneously Rockpool published a newsletter about “dance-oriented rock.”

Rockpool was launched in September 1979 with his partner Danny Heaps. Rockpool became an incubator for music creatives and gave many young executives their start.

In 1980, Rockpool joined forces with Dance Music Report, the most important newsletter for DJs at the time, to launch the New Music Seminar. The NMS as it became known as served as a catalyst for change in what was then a stagnant music industry. Mark, Danny, Dance Music Report’s Scott Anderson and publicist David Salidor were the original partner at the launch.

The first NMS was held on Bastille Day, July 14, 1980 at the same time as the well-established institution, The Billboard Disco Forum. It was a one-day event at a rehearsal studio a block away from the Hilton where the Disco Forum was being held. The following year the other partners dropped out and Tom Silverman and Joel Webber joined Mark as partners. NMS wasn’t just about dance music; it was about everything in the music business as seen from the perspective of the DJ. Within six years, it became the world’s biggest and most important music conference. Mark’s support of the musical fringes and the underdogs helped lead NMS to champion the spread of new genres like hip hop, house music, and early NY performances from radical new artists from Nirvana to Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force to Dave Matthews.

NMS keynote speeches pushed change agendas from ending apartheid to stopping music censorship with a Frank Zappa keynote.

Much of the spirit of Rockpool and NMS are due to the vision of Mark Josephson. He was the doorway for many young aspiring music executives and entrepreneurs. He challenged authority and paved the way for a better music industry. He will be missed.