Lee Ellison joins JackTrip Labs

Silicon Valley-based remote music-making technology company JackTrip Labs has appointed Lee Ellison as its new chief strategy advisor. 

JackTrip Labs is an independent public-benefit corporation spun off from the JackTrip Foundation, a collaboration between Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and Silicon Valley software entrepreneurs. JackTrip Virtual Studio, the online platform designed by JackTrip Labs, allows users to play music together remotely over the internet without the challenges of audio lag time. It emerged during the coronavirus pandemic as a platform for local choirs, who had discovered they could not sing together over the Internet due to the inherent lag time in meeting spaces like Zoom.

By partnering with Amazon Web Services, JackTrip Labs allows thousands of users in more than 50 regions worldwide to collaborate virtually in producing music — whether one-on-one music lessons, a jam session between bandmates or a multi-person choir recital — without audio lag time.

Ellison is the former CEO of Audinate, known for its audio networking technology Dante. Ellison grew Audinate from an early venture startup to a publicly listed company with an estimated market capitalization of half a billion dollars. Said Mike Dickey, JackTrip Labs co-founder and CEO, “We are excited to welcome Lee to the JackTrip team. He is a proven leader with first-hand experience growing technology companies. His years of experience in the audio industry will help us continue to foster JackTrip Labs’ mission of successfully connecting musicians in real-time over the Internet. His marketing and partnership expertise will also be vital as we continue to become a creative collaboration medium for musicians around the world,” he said.

“It took a really great company to lure me out of retirement,” said Ellison, “but I jumped at the opportunity to work with JackTrip. They have all the ingredients to change and improve real-time music collaboration. They have a bright and passionate management team with amazing technology that stretches the boundaries of what is possible with latency and audio quality over the Internet. The possibilities for JackTrip’s technology are endless, and I look forward to working with this innovative company to pave a path for the future of the music industry.”