Deborah Mannis-Gardner

Deborah Mannis-Gardner — the “Queen of Sample Clearance” according to Billboard, Forbes,
Midem, Music Week, Okayplayer, Variety, and more — is the go-to expert for global music
rights clearances. After starting DMG Clearances, Inc. in 1996, Deborah’s sample clearance skills
quickly became legendary, and she has cleared releases for artists including Drake, Tyler the
Creator, DJ Khaled, Eminem, Pop Smoke, Logic, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Frank
Ocean, Jay-Z, John Legend, Megan Thee Stallion, Big K.R.I.T., Brockhampton, French Montana,
Big Sean, J. Cole, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and more.

Deborah has also handled music clearances for films by Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers,
and Richard Linklater; TV series such as Dave and Virginia Grohl’s “From Cradle to Stage” on
Paramount +, as well as “The Serpent” and “#BlackAF” on Netflix; ad campaign clearances for
Google, Ciroc, and Kmart; podcast music clearances for Dave Chappelle’s “The Midnight
Miracle,” Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell’s “Broken Record,” and “The Actual Stretch and
Bobbito Show”; video game clearances for Rockstar Games franchises such as “Grand Theft
Auto” and “Red Dead Redemption,” as well as Turtle Rock Studios’ “Back 4 Blood”; Grand Rights
clearance for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway sensation “Hamilton” and music clearances for
its release on Disney+; and political campaign clearances for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ 2020
presidential campaign.

Deborah also served as the award-winning music supervisor of HBO’s Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine
docu-series “The Defiant Ones.” She has spoken at SXSW, Midem, Music Biz, the A3C Festival &
Conference, CMJ, the Nashville Film Festival, and SyncSummit Nashville, as well as at New York
University (NYU), Temple University, and Widener College. She currently sits on York College of
Pennsylvania’s Music Industry Advisory Board.