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J. W. Roth is an American entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Notes Live, Inc., an independent live entertainment and hospitality company and the founder and executive chairman of Roth Industries, a Colorado-based prepared foods company.

Early life
Roth was born and in Denver. A fifth generation native of Colorado, he grew up on a small ranch between Colorado Springs and Denver. He worked as a ranch hand in junior high school and started his first business at 15, selling firewood door-to-door.

Career
Roth continued to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities after high school. In addition to working for a packaged foods manufacturer and an insurance provider, he started a marketing company, producing and directing direct-response commercials and infomercials.

A lifelong music fan, in 1994 Roth founded MAXmusic with John Oates, a broadcast and cable television show composed of live music segments, interviews with artists, and music videos. Cassettes and CDs by the artists featured were sold through a toll-free number. In an interview with Billboard, he described MAXmusic as "a televised record store". The show debuted on E! in April 1994, and later aired in syndication. In October 1994, 93.4% of the company was acquired by Renaissance Technology, a software developer for interactive TV. Following its acquisition, Roth co-founded companies related to agriculture and veterinary medicine, including AspenBio, which went public in 2000.

Roth used his earnings from the AspenBio offering to start or finance several companies. In 2002 he co-founded Accredited Members, which provided investors with small and micro cap research. In 2003, he helped a neighbor, Glen House --- a C7 tetraplegic and an MD -- finance and start Colorado Catheter, a company that developed catheter technology for disabled people. He and House partnered again in 2006 to found Disaboom, a social network for people with disabilities and their caregivers.

Roth later cofounded Roth Industries. The parent company of Roth Premium Foods, Roth Brands, and Bourbon Brothers Smokehouse & Tavern, among other subsidiaries, Roth founded Roth Industries with his son, Mitchell Roth.

While he remained executive chairman of the company, in 2016 Roth resigned as CEO of Roth Industries to found Notes Live, Inc, a live music and hospitality company. Mitchell Roth was named CEO. In a 2022 interview with the Colorado Business Journal, Roth said: "My passion is live music. So when it got to the point that I could do live music, I decided that that’s what I was going to go do, and I was going to build a company doing it.”  In 2019, Roth opened his first live music venue, Boot Barn Hall, in Colorado Springs.

In 2022, Notes Live announced the development of The Sunset, a $40-million 8000-seat open-air amphitheater in Colorado Springs. Construction began in July 2023. Boot Barn Hall in Gainesville, Florida opened in July 2023, and Notes Live venues in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and Oklahoma City were announced. Roth was featured as an "All Star" in the live entertainment industry trade magazine, Venues Now in October 2022.