Ron Stone

Ron Stone (born March 15, 1944) is an American personal manager, and musician's advocate. Stone began his career during music’s ‘golden age’ in 1968 at Geffen and Roberts Management alongside industry names such as David Geffen, Elliot Roberts, and Irving Azoff where Stone managed the careers of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Eagles Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Bob Dylan, Band, Devo, America, and Tom Cochrane. With Danny Goldberg and Burt Stein, Stone formed Gold Mountain Entertainment in 1985 after having signed Bonnie Raitt and Belinda Carlisle. With the elevation to partner of John Silva, Nirvana, Beastie Boys, Beck, Foo Fighters, and Sonic were added to Gold Mountain’s client roster. In 1992 Stone parted company with Goldberg (who had gone to Atlantic Records) and continued to sign artists like Ziggy Marley, Rickie Lee Jones, Tracy Chapman, Baha Men, and Joss Stone. Stone leveraged his stature in the entertainment industry during the Internet boom to be a spokesperson for the rights of artists whose intellectual property and content were being distributed freely via peer to peer applications like Napster. Stone’s broad knowledge of the Internet and the challenges that new technologies pose to the music business led him to consult on digital and copyright issues to the RIAA. Stone along with Noah Stone formed the first artists driven coalition against piracy, Artists Against Piracy. Stone was also instrumental in the formation of The Recording Artists Coalition.