Constantine Roussos

Early years

As part of his mandatory military service, Roussos enrolled to the Cypriot National Guard and joined the Special Forces as a Green Beret officer also known as LOK (Greek: ΛΟΚ – Λόχοι Ορεινών Καταδρομών, Lochoi Oreinōn Katadromōn). All LOK Groups are part of the Army Special Forces Command DKD (Greek: ΔΚΔ – Διοίκησης Καταδρομών – Diikisis Katadromon). Later he joined the Military Music Department of the Cypriot National Guard (SMEF). After his mandatory military service, Roussos left Cyprus for the United States to pursue his education.

Education

Roussos graduated Harvard Business School, the University of Southern California, Musicians Institute and Pepperdine University.

Career

After 2003, Roussos became an investor in new domain names, which he described as virtual real estate. In 2005 he started a global outreach initiative to launch a new top-level domain for the music industry under the brand .MUSIC. On 15 February 2011, Roussos authored an article for the music trade magazine Billboard called "How .music Will Save the Industry." Roussos said that "by incorporating efficient registration policy-making and domain name authentication, monies will flow directly into the pockets of artists and the music community, not to pirates or unlicensed illegitimate websites." Roussos also said that the .music he proposes will benefit the music industry because the ".music domain will serve as a badge of trust, safety and credibility to the music consumer. By allowing only verified music community members to register their domain, .music will ensure it will be used in a safe and responsible manner. Confidential consumer data, security and stability are a priority. Stricter guidelines for registration will also help protect Internet users from malware, phishing or any other malicious behavior that can arise as well as increase trust."

According to the Washington Post, "Roussos believes the .music domain will help Internet users easily connect to their favorite band's real Web site by typing the name of the band followed by .music on their Web browser; and will help musicians sell their music directly to consumers. Many famous bands – Queen, Kiss, the Eagles – don't own their own .com Web sites because their names use common words." According to the Los Angeles Times, "under his plan, only legitimate, professional artists could be approved for a .music suffix. If fans typed in ladygaga.music or queen.music, he says, they would know they were getting authentic sites rather than pirates or imitators that are frequently found in .com and .net domains."

In 2012, the ICANN new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Program launched and .MUSIC applied for the .music gTLD under the company name DotMusic Limited as a community-based Applicant with support from established institutions associated with the music industry. According to the New York Times, .MUSIC was "supported by government bodies across the world and by several central companies that deal with unsigned acts, like the digital distributor TuneCore and the Web service ReverbNation" and that .MUSIC’s priority is to make the .music domain widely available to the global music community while balancing the needs for inclusiveness and security."

Roussos also partnered with Tina Dam to form another TLD-related business with clients such as William Morris Endeavor and News Corp. According to Hollywood Reporter, Roussos is the "co-founder of domain management firm MyTLD.com, who has lobbied for industry support with assurances he'll use gTLDs as safe havens for entertainment consumption."

Roussos also represented the independent music sector and other associated clearly delineated communities in Community Objections filed with the International Chamber of Commerce against new gTLD applicants (including Google and Amazon) to increase competition, prevent anti-competitive behaviour and ensure appropriate enhanced safeguards are implemented to protect intellectual property owners from cybersquatting, malicious abuse, copyright infringement and piracy. Roussos also represented .MUSIC in Legal Rights Objections filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization against music-themed gTLD Applicants. .MUSIC held registered trademarks in nearly 30 countries for the ".music" and "dotmusic marks" under classification for domain registration and domain name registry services, and management of databases for domain names. According to the New York Post, Roussos claimed that "it is clear that if ICANN grants the applied-for .music gTLD to any of these applicants, it will create intended material harm to us [and] take unfair advantage of and unjustifiably impair the distinctive character and goodwill reputation of our .music-related trademarks."

Panels and awards

Roussos has participated in panels at ICANN public meetings, Harvard Business School, the University of Southern California, the University of California Los Angeles, New York University, Georgetown University, Pepperdine University, CMJ, the Future of Music Coalition, Popkomm, SoundCTRL and San Francisco Music Tech. Roussos has received numerous awards, including "Top Business Plan" at the Center of Entrepreneurial Studies at the USC Marshall School of Business.