Team - MetaBrainz Foundation
The MetaBrainz Team
Robert Kaye
— Founder
Robert was the founder and lead geek for
MusicBrainz
and the MetaBrainz Foundation,
the non-profit organization created to protect and support MusicBrainz. After studying Computer Engineering at Cal
Poly, San Luis Obispo, he joined Xing Technology where he shaped the MP3 efforts and then spent time for the dot
com boom on EMusic’s FreeAmp team. While at EMusic he started working on MusicBrainz, the open music encyclopedia,
and fell in love with Open Source software.
Robert was an active hardware hacker, creating art projects for Burning Man and Nowhere. He was the co-founder of
Party Robotics
where he co-created Bartendro the open source cocktail robot.
He lives on in our hearts and in open source.
Chat:
you're welcome to try
GitHub:
mayhem
ListenBrainz:
rob
Nicolás Tamargo
— Style Leader/Customer Support/Community Manager/Software Engineer
Nicolás started (and still moonlights as) a hardcore editor, because he just likes
organizing data that much. He was eventually offered the style leader position, in which
he helps the community decide how all the data should be organized. Later he was put in
charge of answering any support issues, and finally started to actually write code to
fix those complaints (and sometimes, to be honest, to cause new ones!).
When he's not actively working for MetaBrainz, he's busy
editing MusicBrainz
or traveling around trying to watch some wildlife.
Originally from Spain, he now lives in Tartu, Estonia.
Chat:
reosarevok
MusicBrainz:
reosarevok
GitHub:
reosarevok
iNaturalist:
reosarevok
Laurent Monin
— System Administrator
A zealous music devotee, Laurent Monin first stumbled upon MusicBrainz and Picard in attempts to codify his vast
collection of over 1500 CDs. In addition to being a music fanatic, Laurent has been programming on anything with
more than 1 bit since 1982 and has been an esteemed Linux system administrator since 1998.
With his extensive repertoire of skills and passions, Laurent has actively contributed to a myriad of open source
projects, notably
ELinks
and
Geeqie
, and loves to tinker with the hardware of various audio
gadgets, including amplifiers and loudspeakers. However, Laurent's contributions do not end there. He currently
sustains the MetaBrainz servers while residing near Besançon, France.
Chat:
zas
Yvan Rivierre
— Software Engineer
Yvan is a software engineer for MusicBrainz and comes from Nancy, France. Initially he discovered MusicBrainz
as a simple user, then started to edit it, then reported issues, then fixed issues reported by others, and got hired
in the end. Besides that, he casually plays music, listens to music, eats music, … music, for an healthy way of life.
Chat:
yvanzo
Nicolas Pelletier
— BookBrainz Lead, Software Engineer & Graphic Designer
Nicolas comes from a graphic design background, but was always a computer and electronics tinkerer at heart.
He followed his curiosity into the land of development never to return again. He has always had a passion for music
and books, and enjoyed working on MetaBrainz projects so much he eventually joined the team.
In his free time, Nicolas likes to go rock climbing, hence the nickname, and designing and building structures.
Born in Canada and raised in France, Nicolas now lives in Barcelona, Spain.
Chat:
monkey
GitHub:
MonkeyDo
Kartik Ohri
— ListenBrainz/CritiqueBrainz/Android App Lead & Junior Software Engineer
Kartik joined the MetaBrainz community during Google Code-In 2018 and since then there has been
no looking back. Now as a contractor for MetaBrainz, Kartik leads the development of the MusicBrainz Android App and
CritiqueBrainz projects. He also spends a lot of time on the AcousticBrainz and ListenBrainz projects.
Chat:
lucifer
GitHub:
amCap1712
Adam James
— System Administrator
Adam is a system administrator and occasional developer with over 15 years experience in Linux and Open Source
software. A huge music lover, he became an active MusicBrainz editor whilst organising his digital music collection,
which led to his involvement in the MetaBrainz community.
Adam's time is being provided on a pro-bono basis by
Transitiv Technologies
where he is a consultant and technical director.
Chat:
atj
MusicBrainz:
atj
GitHub:
atj
Julian Anderson
— System Administrator
Julian took a liking to terminals as soon as he could get his hands on one, and in high school, he began building,
breaking, and rebuilding virtual machines in an effort to learn how they worked. Over the course of the following decade,
he refined his skills and eventually began a career in IT, with a focus on helping organizations make the most of their
digital infrastructure. Along the way, he developed a sizable music library, as well as a growing need to manage this
library; this need led him towards the MetaBrainz community.
In addition to assisting the MetaBrainz team with their system administration efforts, Julian enjoys listening to a wide
variety of music (& contributing to MusicBrainz accordingly), taking in natural scenery, reading, and traveling.
Chat:
julian45
MusicBrainz:
julian45
GitHub:
julian45
Simon Hartman
— Design, UX Consultant & Social Media Jockey
Simon has been contributing data and complaints about UX and design to MusicBrainz since 2009.
In 2022 he started complaining about UX and design in an official capacity. He lives in New Zealand
and has 15 years experience across various graphic design/comms/marketing roles.
Chat:
aerozol
MusicBrainz:
aerozol
ListenBrainz:
aerozol
Ansh Goyal
— Junior Software Engineer
Ansh is a Software Engineer and is based in New Delhi, India. He joined MetaBrainz as a Google Summer of Code student in 2022 and has been a part of the community since then.
He started contributing to CritiqueBrainz and BookBrainz and is now also working on ListenBrainz.
In his leisure moments, Ansh enjoys binge-watching movies and listening to music.
Chat:
ansh
GitHub:
anshg1214
ListenBrainz:
anshgoyal31
Voluntary Project Leaders
Akshat Tiwari
— Junior Software Engineer
Akshat started contributing to the MusicBrainz Android App out of love for the project and after dwelling
on the variety of projects MetaBrainz operates, he decided to focus on the MusicBrainz project.
He was accepted as a Google Summer of Code student and is now a contractor for MetaBrainz, where
he focuses on the improvement of the MusicBrainz user interface and user experience.
Akshat has always been fascinated by the creativity of people. He resides in New Delhi, India.
Chat:
akshaaatt
GitHub:
akshaaatt
Medium:
akshaaatt
Param Singh
— Former ListenBrainz team leader
Param is a software engineer and the former leader of the ListenBrainz project. Param
joined MetaBrainz as a Google Summer of Code student in 2017 and has been part of MetaBrainz since then.
Param loves both programming and music a lot, so MetaBrainz was love at first sight for him.
When not staring at a screen, Param plays some chess and tries to listen to new music.
Chat:
param
GitHub:
paramsingh
Last.fm:
singhparam
ListenBrainz:
iliekcomputers
David "drsaunde" Saunders
— MusicBrainz Areas
David was in charge of adding new areas to MusicBrainz, as requested by the community. He was
active in MusicBrainz for over a decade and one of the few editors to have surpassed the one million
edits mark. A proud Canadian, when not in MusicBrainz he enjoyed some of his favourite things, such
as
THC
TFC
CTS
GnT's
as well as cheering for the Toronto Raptors.
Chat:
you're welcome to try
MusicBrainz:
drsaunde
Akira Holm
— MusicBrainz Instruments
ApeKattQuest or MonkeyPython has been a MusicBrainz editor since 2004, and
is in charge of adding and improving the musical instruments in MusicBrainz (the very unseriously-named,
yet quite important "Instrument Inserter" position). When not looking all over the internet (and the library!)
for instrument data, his other hobbies include playing games, listening to all sorts of different music, Lupin
III, colouring, and collecting all sorts of things, from stickers and stamps to bottlecaps.
Chat:
ApeKattQuest, MonkeyPython (plus a whole lot of other Lupin III references)
MusicBrainz:
ApeKattQuest, MonkeyPython
ListenBrainz:
ApeKattQuest, MonkeyPython
GitHub:
ApeKattQuest-MonkeyPython
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