July 1, 2025 • 65 mins
In this episode of *You vs You*, host Lex Borrero sits down with Jorge Mejia, President and CEO of Sony Music Publishing for Latin America and U.S. Latin, and a Latin Grammy-nominated composer and pianist. Jorge shares his extraordinary journey from his childhood in Colombia, navigating cultural shocks in Spain and Miami, to becoming a trailblazer in the Latin music industry.
Jorge opens up about the profound impact of losing his father at a young age, how music became his emotional anchor, and the fearless drive that led him to practice piano for eight hours a day. He reflects on the balance between artistic passion and pragmatic career choices, offering insights into how he connects with his inner child and finds freedom in creativity. Together, Lex and Jorge explore themes of resilience, self-discovery, and the transformative power of embracing your authentic self.
This episode is packed with inspiring lessons about overcoming personal struggles, parenting oneself, and achieving success while staying true to your passions. Whether you're an aspiring artist or simply looking for motivation to pursue your dreams, Jorge's story will leave you inspired to face your own "You vs You."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Idea.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
No matter what, it's possible. Balance is having a rich
inner life.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
What a success to you?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
In her piece, I have a situation that I can't control,
and it's all of them. I try not to fight
with ghosts, and I try to think of the very
best case scenario.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
A real strong relationship with someone is being able to
be a mirror. And I spend any more time with
that person my wife, and then I started to realize,
whatever that person is doing that triggers you. There's the lesson.
On this episode, we're going to be talking to the
president and CEO of Sony Music Publishing latim and you
as Laudimer, a Latin Billboard power player who has led
(00:36):
his company into a record breaking nineteen ASCAT Publisher of
the Year award, therefore turning Sony into the number one
publisher in Latin music. He's not only an accomplished executive,
but also a Latin Grammy nominated composer and pianist. Work
(01:00):
with Camilo to Daddy Yankee, He's work with them all
for him. Welcome to you, versus you.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm excited to have this conversation because I get to
have the privilege of being your friend beyond just colleagues
at work. But it started what is success to you?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Inner piece? Having enough? Right, inner piece?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
So what do you think enough looks like I have
no idea? Isn't that crazy? That's that's the the journey
of finding out what life is, you know. I find
that so particular, especially in our business, because we we
live what people consider success in such a no if
(01:51):
this is the right word, but it's such a fun,
buoyant way, right, because like our business is showmanship and concerts,
and we get to experience these things people pay thousands
of dollars for, so to them, you know, there's successful
business man that you don't know who they are. They're
you know, they're they make the cups for Starbucks or
(02:11):
they make the toilet paper. So there's not flashy or anything.
But our business is the taking the picture with the artists,
is going to the concert, is getting awards in front
of really powerful people. So it's a it's a flamboyant
type of way or show success. And and so for
a long time, my journey led me to a place
(02:31):
where I was like, Okay, that's what success looks like.
The more plaques I have on my walls the more
kind of money, or the more cars, or the more watchers,
or the more blah blahlah blah blah blah blah, and
so on and so on. Redefining that success to me
has has I think been of the biggest lessons I'm
currently in, you know, readdressing what that means as a
(02:54):
human while maintaining drive necessary to move this machine that
I called my business. I want to take it all
the way back to the beginning. Tell me about your childhood.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, I was born in Colombia and I lived there
with obviously my mom, and dad was in finance. He
was a banker and mom was a singer songwriter, And
I like to think that I get I got the
best of both of them, right. I got the numbers
from Dad and the whole creative aspect from my mom.
(03:32):
I came to the States when I was about thirteen,
and coming here was the best thing ever for me.
It was a really wonderful place to come in. I
came to Miami actually when Miami was kind of the
provinces before Miami was Miami as it is now. And
throughout my life it was all about music. Really. There
(03:52):
was always music through my mom and through my brothers.
I mean, it was just always in the house.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
What age did like music find you?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I would say that it was it wasn't a particular
age that it found me. It was just there was
no question that music was going to be part of
my life somehow.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Would you say that at home? Uh, dad's banker mentally
was more was primary? Or was it more your mom's
free spirit artists creator?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
So Dad died when I was nine, and right up
until he died, I was with him, So it was
it was very much pragmatic, structured.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Life.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And then when Dad died, I went to live actually
with mom, and uh, then it was a very it
was more artistic, and I think that's a good thing
because then it allowed me to explore both worlds. So
I grew up literally with both in key formative spaces
of my life.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I can relate to that. You know. I grew up
with my mom, who was very much outgoing, minister pastor
gogether well put together at all times. But I always
felt that at the spirit of my father, because growing up,
especially in my first my formative years as a kid,
(05:18):
was really around someone who just like super passionate about
cars and super passionate about anything he did. But it
was all driven by passions. It was not like this
necessity to be the best or have to be competitive.
It's just like this passion driven man. And when I
came to the States, which I want to, you know,
ask you about this too, because for me it was
(05:39):
a huge change, like coming from Columbia, where I felt that,
you know, life was a little bit more calm. I
had a lot even though the country was going through
a lot. You know, you got used to having the
sisters and having made and you had the driver. And
I went to a private school and then coming to
Miami and into a one bedroom apartment and all of
(06:01):
a sudden, I get thrown into ease old classes and
I'm definitely I'm blonde at that point. I have a
massive blonde hair. And the shock to me was like
really hard. I remember seeing my teachers in the way
they would speak to kids and not being able to
communicate it with my classmates at first, while also being
(06:23):
a little scared. Do you feel that coming into like
that transition from everybody speaks Spanish, everybody is kind of
like culturally very similar to all of a sudden, you know,
the cluster of Miami culture.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Absolutely, but it was slightly different because before coming to Miami,
I spent one year in Spain. We went from Colombia
to marid and that was the culture shock for me.
You know, you would think that speaking Spanish, all of
us we would speak the same language, the same thing. Spanish,
I like to say, is a common language that separates us,
(06:59):
because essentially that was not the Spanish that we spoke
from Colombia. We're very proper, very educated, very nice, right, right,
and then you get to Spain and people are like,
you know, what was he get the end of the whiteos.
You know, they're like they're like really harsh, right, and
you're like, you think that they're actually like mad at
(07:21):
you a lot of times. So that's that's when I
went through all of that. I felt completely out of
my element. I wasn't sure like what was going on,
but it was in Spanish, which was ironic, right. My
good friend at that time was an American kid who
was kind of going through the same thing. And after
(07:42):
that year was up, we came to Miami and I
just felt, oh, this is home. Weirdly, I had also
been in a British school since I was very little
in Columbia, so I basically spoke the language when I
got here, and that helped.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And where was music and all this? Like when I
got in and I discovered Michael Jackson, I was like,
I still remember that video of him jumping off the
stage with the jetpack, and I was like, what am
I seeing? This is like? So that impacted I think
a huge part of my motivation and my drive for
(08:21):
where I am today in music was like that awe
of wow, you can shock a lot of people and
had this incredible level of music, which to me, Michael
Jackson at the time was everything. But then there was
a hip hop and then there was you know, a
lot of music. Where was music in your life at
this point?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So Mom was obviously a singer songwriter, so she had
an album out in Colombia and this whole thing, and
she was always she would always be playing guitars and
so worth my sister and two brothers, they were always
singing and so on. So that was that. But I
remember actually in Spain we went to a classical music
concert and I can't tell you what he said was.
(09:00):
I don't know what it was. All I know is
it was these beautiful strings, and I remember just being
transfixed at that moment, and I thought, this is it.
I absolutely love this, And it's funny because that's I
saw that I was transfixed all this, but nothing happened. Really.
I wasn't playing piano then, I wasn't doing anything with that.
(09:22):
I was playing tennis, of all things. And it took
me getting back here, coming to Miami, breaking my leg,
not being able to move for like six months to
really start playing the piano. And at what age was
this fifteen fifteen, which is super late for playing the piano.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
When did you feel like at that point that you
had the dream of being an athlete? Or what was
fifteen year old Horge dreaming about?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Fifteen year old Hoorhe was trying to come to terms
with still having lost his dad when he was young,
moving to Spain and not really under standing anything about
that culture at the time, and then coming here and
trying to make sense of what I wanted. I loved
playing tennis, but it wasn't really what I wanted to do.
(10:13):
Once I found the piano, once I connected to the
music that had always been in our house, that's when
I was very clear that that was the life for me.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So right when you found the piano, you felt like, Okay,
I can this is the dream, I can go into music.
I want to go into music. Or was it still
something that you felt it was a hobby, But oh no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I started practicing eight hours a day literally, I mean
that's all I did for her, like ten years, I
mean for a long time. And I was lucky to
go to I was lucky to find a teacher because
you always get that. There's a guy named Bill Dawson
who when I had just started playing the piano, he
took me under his wing. He got me into a
(10:56):
New World School of the Arts. Six months of playing,
he got me into the school. And that school, for
those of you who don't know, you get to do
your academics in the morning and then you do your
art in the afternoon. It could be visual art, it
could be dancing, it could be whatever. And so I
got to from like two pm on, I got to
just play piano.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Do you feel like playing the piano was an escape
to all the emotion that you were dealing with at fifteen?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It was the perfect representation of all the emotional I
was dealing with.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, so I find like music for me at that
point in my life was like the only thing that
felt like a teacher to me almost right, because I
had been away from my father my mother very different
than our lifestyle in Colombia, was having to work all
the time right to pay the bills here, and so
(11:47):
I would come home and put the hot pockets in
the microwave. And then it was like completely watching B
T one or six some park and hip hop and
hip hop, and it became such a huge part of
my identity because I started to find things that resonated
with my creativity.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I started to find sneaker culture and was like, oh wow,
this is something. I started to find this idea of
like coming from nothing and making it like the coming
to America moment, right, And then I started to really
feel like whatever I wanted to do, I just wanted
to be the best. Because there was Michael Jordan and
(12:29):
then there was Michael Jackson, and it was like they're
the impression that they were making me as a kid
growing up, which I would also say set the bar
so high for what I thought, you know, my life
would ultimately become. Right And do you feel that at
that point of knowing what it took. You're putting eight
hours into the piano, right, as so many other artists
(12:51):
put hours and hours into the music. But there's a
certain freedom you have when you first start where you're
not necessarily thinking all the way that the result is
so hard because it seems possible. You're like, I remember
it is to tell my own Oh yeah, I'm going
to do all these things, even like I'm going to
be able to buy these cars and I'm going to
be able to do all these things, because it's just
(13:11):
the structure of adulthood of saying something is scary or
it's not going to be doables to be way less
when you're a kid, right, do you feel that did
that drive you or were you really just passionate at
the moment of just like discovering music for the first time.
At this level, the.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Best thing about being fifteen is that you're you're fearless.
You don't no one has said anything to you yet
as to why you can't do what you can't do,
or why these things are not going to happen or
they're not possible.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
You are just simply looking at the things that you
love and going for them full steam. Right, That's that's
such an amazing energy and the hard thing in life
is to sort of hold on to that because we
all have that, don't we We all have those things
that we felt amazingly alive about when we were that
(14:08):
age that there was no there were no bounds, there
was it was, it was completely reachable. That was the idea.
So so yes, the answer is yes, that's how has.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
That changed as you've reached success and career and age.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, it's funny, you there are times in life life
will beat you up. You know, you'll have moments where
reality sets in, and I think the idea is to
always try to get back to the idea that no
matter what it's, it's possible and you can you can
do it. And as far as I may be at
(14:47):
some level, you know, at whatever level I am career
wise and piano wise, music wise and so on, but
you're always looking for the next thing and the next thing.
It's it's really interesting that works.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
How do you feel you connect back to that kid?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Because as parents and I know we both have beautiful
ill ones. Yeah, you can package on it. Every time
I see her and I see this freedom where she's
just walking, she doesn't care if she eats and it's dirty,
like it's just it's just freedom. But as an adult,
(15:25):
it's find it sometimes really hard to come back to
that that freedom as a child because we have responsibilities,
we have things that we are scared to lose, Like
what what has helped you or how have you struggled
with kind of finding that inner you and getting that
freedom in the things that you are passionate about.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Having a baby for people who are driven kind of
brings you and connects you back to a simpler time,
a simpler you. And that's kind of what gets lost
among the drive, the desire, the wanting to do this
accomplish that. I think children have that that sense of
(16:11):
complete possibility, and it's super hard as a parent who's like, no,
don't mess this up, and you know it's hard, but
it's it's beautiful, right because they're connected. They are one
hundred percent connected, and you just want to be connected
that way, and you lose that a little bit along
the way, don't you.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Right? Yeah, you know what I found that and it's
funny because it's you versus you, is that I found
that we parent ourselves the same way we try to
parent our kids. So we're like, don't do that, don't
be like you're gonna get hurt. Don't but while you
can you stop jumping around? Can you stop being this?
Can you stop doing this? Because we're viewing what they're
(16:53):
doing from our filter as adults, right, And it just
hit me the other day. I was like, oh my god,
I am parenting myself, like I am, legit telling myself
these same things like don't don't do that, like you're
gonna get hurt, don't don't jump and take that risk
or do this, or like you know, I could be
(17:15):
having a beautiful smile and enjoy the day and it's like, hey, stop,
you're gonna look corny, like you're gonna get stop jumping
around people, don't do that, like you know. And I
find that we tend to do that as adults. We
tend to tell ourselves these things, and continuously, even when
we find these moments of freedom, we want to try
(17:36):
to put them back in the box.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I think one reason why people connect with some of
the artists that we work with is because somehow or another,
these artists are able to find that inner joy in
what they do and express that and connect people to
that and that's a gift and that's difficult if you
if you're trying to do it, it just it just happens. So, yes,
(17:59):
we're always try impair ourselves, and ideally as we do
the things that we love, we lose some of that.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
The a lot of it is in your case, in
your personal experience. Is it fear of what others will say,
or is it fear of maybe messing up and losing
something you've accomplished or losing something that you've worked so
(18:26):
hard for.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Well, we live in a very connected play of society, right,
so anything you do and everything you say can it
will be used against you in all sorts of ways.
So there's definitely a concern about making sure that you
are careful with what you're putting out there. And it's
also obviously we've worked hard les with you and I
(18:51):
and it's we I love my life, you love your life,
and obviously it's it is a fear of something happening
that could get in the way of that. For sure.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Do you think that that is also maybe what stopped
the artistic and led you into a business career.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
No, I made a very clear choice when I was
when when I was growing up, I was clear that
I wanted to have a certain comfort in my life,
just because when when Dad died, things got kind of
interesting in that way as far as money and things
(19:31):
like that, and it was and it made it clear
to me that I wanted to not suffer in that way.
So that was important to me. I think the best
life is a life where I have achieved that, and
then I also get to express myself creatively, which is
what which is what I'm doing, which is what I'm
working on.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Do you feel like, you know, as a guy speaking,
your father passing away also or in my case just
my father and I being not because it was his choice,
but just life situations, do you feel like you had
the pressure of like having a step up and be
the man of the house.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I was too little, and my mom is a tough woman,
so she took charge of a lot of things as
much as she was you know, Bohemia and whatever. She
took charge of a lot of things. Ah. So no,
(20:33):
I didn't have that pressure, but I'm guessing you did.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, yeah, quite. I mean my mother did the same.
She took it on, but it was it was almost
the need to for me I think it was more internal.
It was the need to supplement this void that I had,
and I was trying to find where where the boy
was coming. I think I was too young to understand
that it was like, you know, not having especially because
(20:58):
I grew up with my dad and it wasn't you know,
I don't have a tragic situation. It was just life
meant it to be this way. So I was looking
for that reconnection in a way while dealing with a
whole new country and dealing with a whole new understanding,
while trying not to get bullied at school because I
went to some school that was like definitely in the hood,
you know, and I would see these kids getting bullied
(21:18):
and I was like, oh, yeap, that cannot be me,
you know what I mean? That would look like it hurt.
And so it was a lot of trying to find
that connection or that definition of who was I supposed
to be as a man because I have a really
strong mother. But it was definitely you know, female energy
lad And it's interesting because you know, coming into that,
(21:41):
having our moms stepped into it as our examples as
go getters. Because my mom was definitely a hustler and
she definitely brought the bread home. But it also led
to a huge part of why I think. I said,
I need to go do something right, and my mother
went every night I would go to sleep, said to me,
don't forget you're incredible. You're great, and she made me
(22:05):
say that, and I started to believe that, you know,
and I would say the young Legs was very much
driven by this idea that my mom said, Okay, you're great.
So I would approach every situation as I'm great. I
am going in with everything that I have. And we
(22:25):
were talking. Prior to starting our conversation here, maybe a
couple of days ago, my staff showed me a video
of me at twenty one years old. I had hair,
you know, and I had a nice little frow. It
was going, it was waving with the wind. But the
thing that was shocking to me about that video was
(22:47):
this young kid who stood in front of that camera
and was fearless. I mean I went in there and
I was like, it was up the CEO lex and
you know, you better sign up to the Dream Big
husseleod Our showcase because if you don't, you know, you're
not gonna make it. And if you sign up, I'm
going to make you a superstar. And I was like, oh,
you know, it's like one of those where you're Likerang're like,
(23:09):
but it was also like heartfelt because I was like, Oh,
what happened to that kid? Right? Like, there was this
fearless energy that that kid had looking at that camera,
you know, twenty something years ago and didn't It wasn't shaky.
He wasn't like in disbelief, he didn't care. I mean,
that kid didn't even have the power to make someone
(23:29):
a superstar, but he really believed it. And I found
myself as a as an adult, having the power to
make a superstar, but not having the same fearless attitude
to be able to go on camera and say like
or post my opinion in that same way. And ultimately
that's what led me to become an executive or move
away from being the artist or the creative or you know,
(23:50):
and for a huge party, even though my creativity was
coming out through what my manifestation through their clients, there
was a sense of safety I felt from being behind
the camera and away from the critique of people. Right
do you feel you know, and you said you made
a very conscious decision to become an executive essentially because
(24:10):
you want a stability. You were in a rock band
as well, So what was that point, What was the
point where you're like, I'm in a rock band. I mean,
what was the change, the pivot, the plot twist that yeah,
I mean led you to this career you have now.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So first of all, this is why I admire so
much the people we work with, because they have this
single minded, crazy belief and focus to go for their
dreams with no backstop, no no anything.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
That's and that's that's incredible for me personally. Yeah, I
had a rock band and there was a choice where
we would go on tour and I don't know we're
going to stay, but it's okay. I don't know we're
gonna eat, but it was fine, we'll figure it out,
and and and and then the possibility of doing a
job as starting out at ZNY. And you know what,
(25:00):
I enjoyed the executive part because there's a big part
of me that's that that likes numbers and likes all
the things that we have to do and deal with,
and that part needed to get developed, I think for
me personally as an artist. So that down the line
I could have that to draw on. That was just
my journey. But that was that was that moment when
(25:20):
I made that decision, and it's it's so far, it's
it's worked out pretty good, and I don't think I
would be the same musician I am now. Obviously, if
I hadn't done that, it's possible that I would have
done the rock band thing, and who knows what would
have happened there, Who knows. But I don't know that
i'd be playing my first piano concerto with the London
Symphony like I did last year. You know, I don't
(25:40):
know if that would have happened, and I'm very happy
that that happened.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
You know. It's it's pretty funny to again be an
artist and have that desire and then also like kind
of juggling the executive is to your point, I ended
up enjoying what I do, right. I enjoyed closing the
deal and I enjoyed that, and I find myself like
having days where my ajournalists through the roof front. I'm like,
I'm like in that point, but then at some point
(26:08):
I hit that wall and frustration starts kicking in a
little bit, and I was sitting the other day with
a close friend of ours that is also a major executive,
and he was saying that the only time he really
gets jealous of anyone, it's not other executives. There's not
people getting you know, having more number ones. It's it's
(26:30):
when he goes to a studio to work with an
artist that's signed ten and he sees the producers producing
because he started as a producer, right, And so there's
that moment where you're like, damn, like I kind of
would to do that, Like I wish I was there
sitting right. Do you ever feel that, like as you see,
(26:51):
you know a lot of the things that you sign
here are no more contemporary and buildings as that's where
the industry has moved. But whenever you go to a
concert of classical music, you go to an hope or
you you know, I was at an undrable Celli yesterday
and I sit there once and I was like, oh
my god, I wish one I could do that, because
that's next level of talent. But you sit there and like,
(27:13):
how many decisions will be watching this and they're like wow,
you know, like I'm a little jealous. Do you ever
get that sense of You know, when when you go
to one of these events that maybe you would be
willing to give your current career to be an Andrea
of Celli, regardless of the money.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
You know, you always feel that jealousy. But I don't
know if it's jealousy, but it's that drive. You know,
you see these people doing the things that you dreamed
about doing, and you want to do it, and somewhere
in the back of your mind you know you will.
And how that's going to look, I have no idea,
(27:56):
but I'm clear that it's it's going to have and
I'm going to make sure that it happens at whatever
level that I can make it happen. That's what's it's
going to be. And I'm telling you it's going to
be a great level because that's that's what we've been
trained to do as executives.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Funnily enough, do you feel like we were having this
conversation earlier as well? It's like when is it enough?
Is it? That's right?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
No? I don't. I haven't found that. That's the one thing. Right,
if you had asked me twenty five years ago, like,
oh you're gonna be doing if you ask me, would
you feel complete doing what you're doing, having the life
that you have, traveling where you travel, all these things.
I would have be like, oh my gosh. I mean
I'm done, you know, and that's it. I can just
go to sleep, I'm done. But no, you get you
(28:46):
get to your life and you're you're just always wanting
the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.
I think that's healthy. That's that's being human, that's that's
part of who you are. And I think that's part
of also people who are success in whatever level of
success they are, that they're always looking for the next thing,
(29:06):
don't you agree?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
You know that's interesting. If you would have asked me
seven months ago, I would have been like one hundred
and tent I want to eat the world. And I
don't think my desire to eat the world has changed, right,
I think that the notion that I needed in order
to be fulfilled has changed. You know.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
That's healthy, that's that's that's healthy of you.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I just found myself in a place of success. I
found myself in a place where I was like, Okay, okay,
can I always buy more things? Yes? Can we always
have a bigger company, yes?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
But how many stakes can you eat, you know, at
the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
But what it's like, well, at what point is it enough? Right?
At what point is And again it's not the letting
go of the drive, because I think if you let
go of the drive and your purpose, you kind of die.
Like you, I say that life is the school. You're
in the curriculum of life, and part of going to
(30:11):
school is like if you went to school every day
and nobody was teaching you or anything, you get bored
really quickly. Part of the struggles of going to school
or even the classes you didn't like and the ones
you loved, was like, that's the challenge. That's what native like,
even if it was just about getting a girl or
go to school or hanging out with your friends, like
the mix of emotions, like you said, it's humanity. That's
that's what being human is. But I found myself in
(30:34):
a place that I was like so many of our
peers have, you know, ended their lives or in a
tragic way in search of happiness and supplementing kind of
that whole internally, regardless of the amount of success. Right.
I was watching the Avici documentary and it really broke
my heart because it was a kid who was doing
(30:56):
incredible things. But the pressure of achievings dream you always want.
It also comes with the realization that everything you thought
was going to be the solution to all your struggles
is not going to be it. And so I found
myself in a very unique situation where it was like, great,
I have the company, I have money, I have these things.
People think of me as successful. But and to when
(31:19):
is enough? Because I'm tired of the lifestyle, right, And
That's part of the thing that I think has really
helped launch this this idea of a podcast, was we
get caught up in the lifestyle of the music industry, right,
the chase of it, because it's like the lottery. I
explain to people, this is like going to Vegas every day,
you know, like you're literally you can sign something and
(31:40):
tomorrow I can flop where you can sign it and
become the biggest hardest in the world, and all of
a sudden you hit the jackpot. But I really found
myself in a place where it was like, when is
it enough? And at what point is I'm I going
to stop my internal suffering because of the you know,
and I was shamed with you the other day someone
(32:02):
told me, you've been programmed to be a wave. You've
been told your whole life you have to have power
and movement and direction and clarity and vision and work
your ass off eight, ten, twelve hours a day because
if not, you're not gonna make it. And he said,
but the problem with the wave is it knows it's
(32:26):
going to break. Now. It doesn't know if it's going
to break in the ocean. It doesn't know if it's
going to break in the sand, but it knows it's
going to break. And so at that point the way,
it starts getting anxiety because well, am I going to
like be again? Am I going to be big enough?
(32:47):
Am I gonna come into the sands with enough power?
Is someone going to actually like surf on top of me?
Or I'm just gonna be the wave that nobody paid
attention to. And he said something to me, He said,
but in that moment, when you got to realize, as
you're the ocean, you can make another wave. And so
part of my journey and part of the concept of
(33:08):
you versus you, is how to get ourselves to a
place where we understand where the ocean so that we're
not so driven by the wave that we live our
lives in this consistent run because at some point, your body,
the mind, all these things give up, right, so it
(33:31):
gives out of you the worldly costume that we wear.
Will get tired and you get old, and opportunities dry out,
and you retired from your job. And I think about
that as a father too, right, because I'm like, I
spend so much time working and the time flies by.
You know, she went from being this little baby that
(33:53):
I had to carry all the time to now like
kicking me in the face when she's sleeping. You know,
Like it's just like, would you say that for you?
Part of what you're doing at this stage in your
career and your life is trying to find that rhythm
between your passion and love for music, your family, the work.
(34:15):
Or do you feel that you are the place where
you're settled in and you are at a state where
you feel in rhythm, as I say, because I don't
believe in balance, which we'll get to acting.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I am still searching for the rhythm that balances the
pulling of family work and creative work. But I think
you hit on something very important. We are going through
a mental health crisis in many respects. There have been
people who have and their lives in our industry who
(34:52):
were very successful outwardly, and it makes you pause and
think about what's important and so on. So I think,
at least for me, the important aspect of maintaining a
healthy balance is having a rich inner life, and and
(35:15):
for that I've done this for a very I'm not
saying I'm there, but I'm saying that it's very useful
for me. I meditate every day. I do yoga every day,
little bittle yoga, meditation, and that has helped very much
with that struggle. Now, am I in the middle of
(35:37):
the struggle? Yes, I definitely slam And I think it's
because there's a lot of things. There's a lot of
things happening right now. There's there's career, there's family with
a young daughter, and and there's the creative pursuit. So
it's a lot of things happening at the same time.
And obviously we're out of balance from time to time
(35:57):
a lot. But but having a rich inner life that
allows you to center every day, at least once a
day is key and crucial. If I didn't have that,
I think I would have spun out of out of control.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
A long time ago, I found myself many times sitting
in my office and saying, if this was all gone,
will I be okay? Will I consider myself successful? Or
would the demise or the sale or whatever it is
(36:34):
of my business mean that I was any less successful
than I was yesterday. Do you find yourself at any
time as you've ran the number one company in music
publishing in Latin music, do you ever find yourself in
that state where you're like, what if this is all
(36:55):
gone tomorrow?
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I don't think about that really, maybe on purpose, I
don't think about that. Do you identify your self worth
with your success?
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Right?
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I think that the inner life work is essential, And
I think that if you had asked me ten fifteen
years ago, the answer would have been, yes, this is
this is why I am and so on. But but
now I think it's it's more of it's funny. I
feel now I have much more internally to be okay
(37:36):
with some catastrophe, to make do with less, but paradoxically
that allows you to create more. Does that make sense?
But it wasn't always that way at all, And I'm
not saying I'm anywhere near where I feel at peace
and so on. But that's the that's the struggle, and
that's the journey. That fear might be there, but I
(37:58):
don't I don't address it because the internal work I focus.
I try to focus on the best case scenario of
all of the options that has been integral to my life.
Whenever I have a situation that I can't control, and
it's all of them, I try not to fight with
ghosts and I try to think of the very best
(38:21):
case scenario and I try to vibrate with that. If
you will not always successful, but that's the idea, and
that's what I try to give energy to, that very
best case scenario.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah. For me is that notion of and the realization
that I'm okay no matter what. Yeah right. That's been
the biggest breakthrough in my work has been that I
am already great. I am okay no matter what. You know.
I get the blessing of having a driver during my weekdays.
(38:55):
And I realized the other day as I was sitting
at the back of my car driving looking out, life's
a lot better as a passenger. It's a lot better
as someone that you can enjoy the view. And I
was programmed my whole life that that was not the
way to be successful. The way to be successful was
(39:15):
you better take the bull by the horns, right, the
famous bull in Wall Street, and you better right and well,
a lot of that really led me to where I
am today. I suffered it all the way over here,
and I've realized to your point of you don't actually
control any of the situations, right, Like I believe that
(39:37):
our work is the understanding that the universe is in
divine order, right, it's in this perfection of alignment that
causes us to meet and connect with certain people and
move things. And I would have never thought it would
be back in Miami, like all these things that you
just can't control. Life just happens the fine as perfect
and it's divine order into it. So my work has
(40:00):
taught me now to learn to be still instead of
having to be the driver all the time. Is to
learn to be still. I say, be still enough to
listen and then be courageous enough to act. But the
figuring and out of how things are going to happen
or when or how and how can hm that's the
(40:34):
part that I'm learning to let go because I've I've
realized that there's times and we talk about this in music.
There's times where we put all our efforts into an artist.
I mean every marketing idea, every dollar, every spend, everything,
you give it your whole attention, it still fails. And
then there's things that you just do passionately and you
(40:55):
kind of just said, well, I don't really know if
this is going to work, like our work with Kaliuci,
where it was like, we'll do the album, we'll put
it out because we're starting out, and this kind of
nobody really knew who Kliuchi was. I mean, she had
a strong fan base in her kind of niche world,
but even I'll be honest, I didn't know who she
was before the project got presented to us. But then
(41:17):
I remember getting the phone call when Televatia blew up
and became a massive and it was just an influencer
that and so you're like, I could have spent all
the money marketing and I still now had that right.
And I say this to artists a lot, because a
large part of it is just letting the vessel flow
and create the art because you love it, because the
(41:39):
rest of the things are so out of your control,
and while you have to be a good shepherd and
discipline and do the things that I think are still
essential parts of you know, working. Everything's out of your control.
So I've started a huge part of my work has
been just letting it go and and just in the
midst of like the struggle of the dress or whatever
(42:02):
the moment is, being able to say I'm okay.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
That's the hardest thing for control freaks like I think
you and I.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, do you feel that at disappointing your career, you're
still driven by competition, still driven by needing to be
number one? By all means.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
I may have gotten to I may have had some
success right in what I do, but I certainly think
that there's a lot more things that we can do
as a company and certainly as a creative force as
an artist. So yeah, but it's not so much about
what the other person, the other company or whatever they're doing.
It's really about what the bar is. You were talking
(42:48):
about the Michaels, same thing. My bars are our way
up there as to what I want to achieve. So
that's the competition that I'm definitely driven mine.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Will you say that based on that right base, based
on having to look at that? Are you looking at people,
you're looking at numbers, or you're looking at a self goal. Right?
Is it? Is it like inspired by being ah and
Acelli or you know whoever that references as a classical
(43:20):
pianist and forgive me for my lack of classical music knowledge.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Is it driven by numbers? Is there a number attached
to uh? You know? I want to make I want
my career to make me x millions of dollars? Or
is it completely driven by maybe even the fear that
(43:46):
if it don't get there, your full purpose wasn't was
it reached?
Speaker 2 (43:51):
No, it's it's driven by by this. I don't know
where it comes from by but this need to share
a certain part of myself with people and hopefully people
will resonate with it. That then allows me to create
a life where I don't worry about the numbers, where
I don't have to worry about it, right, and where
(44:13):
I'm able to continue sharing that and ideally, hopefully it
makes for a better world. I know the sound so like,
but it's true. I mean, ideally that leads to a
better place for all of us. And don't ask me
where that need comes from, but because it's but it's there.
I mean, I'm going to be it. I totally. I'm
going to be recording next week in London the next
(44:36):
a bunch of other pieces that are going to part
of the project that I'm doing. And I was practicing
today my wife and daughter were in the pool. What
need do I have to do that?
Speaker 1 (44:46):
Right?
Speaker 2 (44:47):
I really don't have a need to miss time with
my daughter, my wife, but I do. It's it's there,
It's intrinsic, and it's sometimes it's it's a demon that
drives you. Sometimes it's an angel that drives you. But
at the end of the day, it's it's a desire
to to to be seen and to share with with people.
(45:09):
And I think we all share that. We all have that,
and that's part of being human once again, right.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah, I mean then there's there's something beautiful about the
fact of community, right like we we we need community,
like we need you need the sharing of energy, you
need the sharing of appreciation. And I was I was
sharing with you the other day that you know, one
of the things I've learned about building a real strong
(45:36):
relationship with someone is being able to be a mirror
and be able to be every sense of a mirror,
right be able to be the guy that says, hey,
look at you, you're doing great. Be able to look
at the mirror and say, hey, buddy, this could have
been better, you could do best. But most importantly, to
be able to take things out of you that you
might not notice that my way of being triggers And
(46:00):
that concept is something I had never understood before. Right like,
when somebody pissed me off or somebody's annoying, my first
reaction was like, cut them out. I'm not gonna spending
more time with that person, like life. And then I
started to realize, whatever that person is doing that triggers you,
there's the lesson. There's something in that that is affecting
(46:22):
you that has a lesson tied to.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
It's the concept that whatever it is that you don't
like and somebody else lurks within you and that's why
it's triggering you. And that's the gift, And that's the
idea of living life taking one hundred percent responsibility for
everything that comes your way, which is one of the
(46:47):
things that has helped me a lot. Everything that happens,
take a hundred percent responsibility for it because in some
way it has been created by you and it's there
for a higher purpose us if you will.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
How do you use that in leadership? What would you
say your style of leadership is.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
I like to think that I allow people to work
until I don't feel comfortable. If I don't feel comfortable,
then I become a pain I get really nit picky.
But if I feel comfortable, I like to think that
people can work absolutely freely and do what they need
(47:29):
to do because we know what the goals are.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
And this is you know, you obviously need this major
corporation that is huge insights compared to our beautiful boutique
company here. But I think that's one of the biggest
struggles I've had as a leader, right. I think I
create the runway for this freedom of creation, but it
(47:55):
also creates a fear in me of sometimes people can't
reach the expectation of freedom because they need You know,
some people are really good at You got to tell
them take that here and go here. If you tell
them pain freely and don't worry, I'll frame it later.
(48:17):
It's like the wiring goes and then I become like you.
Then you become like WHOA. I become strictly on it,
but my whole life that frustration that I get because
I see things that I see the world as limitless.
I started to find it really hard to find people
(48:38):
who vibe within my energy, right within how I create.
And when I understood the concept of the mirror, I
started to notice something about myself, and it was the
need to be the savior, right, the need that if
you struggle on something, part of my leader ship is
(49:00):
to come save you. The person I do my work
with told me, no one needs saving legs. You're stopping
them from learning the lesson. And sometimes that lesson is
you firing them, because if you could try to save them,
they don't learn the lesson from you, and then they'll
(49:23):
spend their whole lives looking around having to relive the
same lesson because you saved them from that one time
that they could have learned it the hard way. And
I was and I in understanding that, it also freed
me a bit to say, Okay, let them mess up,
(49:44):
let them put it. And then I started to struggle
with like, well, what's the boundary of enough messups? Right?
What's the boundary of like okay, sorry to stright through,
you know what I mean? Like, at some point you
have to have guidance and say, hey, you didn't achieve
the goals you were given and you might hate me
for this, but I got to have a healthy bound
(50:06):
do you find yourself with especially in a business I
think we're where so much of the operations of the
business are creative led and kind of universe having given
you the right time in the right place right because
hard to judge. Sometimes an an are doing their job
(50:28):
with an artist and the artist doesn't become successful. You know,
how have you historically dealt with that in our business
and with your staff and the team and kind of
picking and letting go of people.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
I think the hardest thing for me as somebody who
leads people and has led people is understanding that not
everyone is wired exactly like I am and being able
to see the strengths in having people who are not
exactly like I would handle seeing the strengths and people
(51:04):
who would handle problems not exactly the way that I
would and seeing that it might be a better way.
And that has taken a minute. So I've been able
to grow as a leader by being able to appreciate
the strengths that are not exactly like what I what
I would be like I've been lucky to have a good,
close team that has lasted for a while with me.
(51:27):
The people who work with me closely in the Miami
office have been most of them with the company more
than ten years, and we've all learned from each other
because we were completely different people ten years ago. All
of us, I mean some of them have been there
for a very long time. But it's not easy because
as as a leader, you also need to adapt to them.
(51:50):
What is the judge, what is the line the budget?
We need to make a certain number every year. We
need to get to a certain a goal, and that's it.
We make it period and if we ever started not
making it, that's when things start happening. But we've been lucky,
we've been We've done well.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
How do you choose when enough mess ups is enough?
Speaker 2 (52:17):
There's there's no map, There really is no map. It's
it's a point where you know that it's enough because
the person is very unhappy, most likely because the mess
ups aren't They come with a cost, they come with
an emotional cost, They come from with all kinds of
(52:38):
costs for you and the team, right, so that person
is not happy. Obviously you're not happy, and at some
point behooves you because it's your responsibility to make a decision,
and it's always better to make a decision than not
(52:58):
to make a decision, whether that decision is the absolute worst,
it's better to make a decision than not make a decision.
Make a decision to make it right.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Love that. Love that now shifting from leadership to your artistry,
right because I've I've been preview to a few you know,
very intimate conscious by your bye you, I've been able
to like see this excitement, like there's a way that
(53:28):
as your friend, you light up when you talk about
the music you're making and going into Ivy Road and
these things that I love to see as your friends. Right,
that's the mirrord part where I'm like your biggest cheerleader.
Tell me about your music, talk to me about this project.
What's exciting, what are the challenges, what are the things
that you're seeing. I want to know more because we're
(53:51):
going to get to this incredible book that you've published,
which I got the blessing of discovering on my own
because my friend never told me he had one, And
I gotta say, I'm so glad I did it. It
has been an inspiration for even the writing of my
(54:12):
own book, for the understanding of storytelling that you did,
for how personal you got, but then it was driven
by music. So talk to us about you know, your music,
your your project, and then this book, because honestly, I
think it's a you know, a largely undiscovered diamond that
(54:35):
needs that needs the light because it needs a tiffining display,
you know, because it really is incredible and seriously congratulations
and kind of mad you never's aorry about it about
I really enjoyed it. I spent my past two nights
with it, and I've generally enjoyed what what it fed
to me, you know, And I think someone so many
(54:57):
times when we when we do this or any creative project,
we obviously won the result, but I would say, if
you just touched one person, that's all that mess, and
you really touched with this, and you've touched me with
your music. Honestly, I the first time I saw you play,
right away, I was like, not only as your friend,
but even as a lover of music, just incredible talent
(55:18):
you have. So I'll stop talking about all the amazing
things you make me feel with your music, but please
tell me about these projects. You are.
Speaker 2 (55:26):
Thank you, lex Thank you so much for that means
a lot coming from you. Thank you. So the book
that Lexus is talking about is a project that I
did if twenty five short pieces. They initially started their
life as piano preludes, and preludes are pieces that you
play before the big concert. They're typically pieces that the
(55:47):
pianists will use to warm up before the concert. But
a lot of composers made sets of them in every
key and they're performed regularly, so a lot of big
bushes did that. So I wrote a set of twenty five.
There's twenty four keys, but I put an extra one
in there. And what I did with that is I
(56:10):
also wrote for each of the pieces a little chapter,
a little because I think that classical music requires a
little bit of some new Classical music requires a little
bit of context many times. So the context for these
pieces are a little bit of the stories around my life,
and basically the music is a representation of those stories.
(56:32):
And then I put it in a book format where
you read and the press play and you hear the music.
The music that you hear in the book is the
orchestral version. So I created those pieces and then I
orchestrated them, and we've done that in shows. We've played
it where we I'll tell the story and then the
orchestra will play. And it's been an amazing, amazing reaction
(56:56):
every time from the people because they're connected to the music.
And thank you. I'm so glad that you found it
and I'm so happy that that you that you enjoyed it.
And yeah, the planets to continue to doing and continue
performing that. So that's that project. The next thing that
I'm working on. I did a piano concerto that I
recorded over in London and Heavy Road with the London
(57:16):
Symphony Orchestra. That hasn't come out yet. I'm going next
week to finish a couple more pieces to put the
whole album together.
Speaker 1 (57:24):
So that's so exciting. I can't wait. I can't wait
to hear it. And I encourage everyone to go listen
to the book. You want to give that this is
the shameless plug. You had to put one on the nage.
How will you find it? Because I wanted to find this.
Speaker 2 (57:38):
Yeah, So this is this is a book that's available
for Amazon Kindle or it's it's an eat reader thing
or Apple ebooks, right, and it's a memoir. In music,
it's music with with stories attached to it.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
So you've become an accomplished music executive. Accomplished me. Now
here comes to dad question in your book. I remember
the story and maybe you could tell us again the
story when you told your father you kind of wanted
to follow this this music like you were like, you
(58:14):
saw I forget what was the band that you sound.
Speaker 2 (58:16):
Yeah, it was I don't know what it was.
Speaker 1 (58:18):
It was you saw a bad a rock band on
TV and that's what I would.
Speaker 2 (58:22):
I want to do. And my dad was like banker right,
and and he's like, I'm sure. He was like, oh
my god.
Speaker 1 (58:30):
It was like, that's not going to make any money.
Speaker 2 (58:33):
He said to me. As long as you're the best
at editor, as long as you're you do the very
best you can at it, then it'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (58:40):
So as a father, is there a dream for your kid?
Is there something you you would want them or something
you wouldn't want them to.
Speaker 2 (58:46):
So as a father, it all kind of comes into focus.
You just want to be happy, and then you realize
that being happy doesn't take any of the other stuff
that we're all like chasing. Right, As a father, you're like,
if you have a nice life that makes you happy,
it makes you fulfilled, I'm gonna be good. I don't
need her to be an Olympic athlete. I don't you know.
(59:07):
I don't need any of that as a father, right,
And that's kind of what we need to tell ourselves
to do it.
Speaker 1 (59:12):
Yeah, it's interesting because a lot of people ask me,
you know, would you want your daughter to be in music?
Like you feel like Jade would be like an amazing
musician and that part of you that have lived in music,
and she's like, oh no, no, no no, And then
I'm like, honestly, I just want her to just be happy.
And I love that that part of the story in
(59:35):
the book really touch me because, to be honest, when
the when the story started, I thought he was going
to tell you, no, son, you got to go run
the family business. You gotta go, you know. And the
fact that he said, just be the best at it, Like,
I love that. Like it was something that I wrote
down on my journal, something that I write these h
these notes to Jade every night that I want her
(59:56):
to read when she's older, and I wrote that in there.
It makes me most But it's really that huge point
of being able to tell someone just love what you
do and do it as the best of your ability
and not worry about the outside, especially in today's world.
You know, when our kids become our age or even
(01:00:17):
you know, teenagers. God knows where the world will be,
but we live in a world filled with the necessity
of having to like show it to the world and
beat the end, you're seeing what everybody else has. All
of a sudden's anxiety level kicks in. So I love that.
I love that, and I love that story, and I
think it's something I will take hold as a good
uh teaching to my to my daughter. You know, as
(01:00:38):
we're coming to to this end of this beautiful conversation,
m hm.
Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Hm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
What do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
So legacy it's it's kind of a loaded word, right,
it's how do you want your memory to live on? Right?
When people think about you, what do you want them
to think about?
Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Right?
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
I would like them to think of me as somebody
who championed songwriters and somebody whose music they love to
play and listen to. And a good father, good husband.
Those are those are the main main things. But I'll
be honest, I hadn't really thought about it. I guess
(01:01:31):
at some point you have to. You have to think
about these legacy questions. But that's that's the main thing.
Somebody who took care of who helped people achieve their
dreams as we do. Somebody whose music people love to
perform and listen to, and a good person for my
family love that.
Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
So I named the podcast You Versus You because I
truly believe that our biggest battle is against ourselves, right, Yeah,
you were saying earlier, like sometimes you get led by
the angel, sometimes the demon, and I think we both
have both inside, right, we both have this inner struggle
that that makes it that is largely shaped by what
(01:02:15):
I believe is is our internal filter, right, And our
filter is uh, you know, made out of our trauma
or kind of our life lessons and definitely fear. And
that causes us to intake information that is happening to
us and process it through that filter and judge it
through that filter. And so one of the things that
(01:02:37):
that's made me realize is that if I, you know,
sit here and tell you I love you, you feel something.
If I text you the same, you'll feel something. If
I turn around and say a few and I texted
to you, you'll get surprised, And it made me understand
(01:02:59):
the power of words. But it also made me understand
that we talk to ourselves more than we talk to
anybody else, and so the stories we tell ourselves are
so important to our well being, so important to breaking
through that internal part in order to set ourselves freet
(01:03:22):
to enjoy the life for living, regardless of the circumstances, situations,
the people, and so on. So to end this, I
wanted to really do a good exercise that we could
both do. And the exercise is, what is one sentence
that you could tell yourself right now that could be
(01:03:44):
transformative to your tonight and to your rest of the week.
Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
I am happy, I am healthy, love that those are
the power of the I am M statement.
Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
I am okay, and I am fearless.
Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
That's yours.
Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
That's one. So with that, orhy, thank you for an
incredible time.
Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
I appreciate you coming here, opening up, telling your stories.
It's a blessing to have you be a guest in
this journey that I've taken the leave of faith with.
Thank you everyone who's been here and got a chance
to enjoy this conversation and until next time.
Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Thank you so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
Thank you guys, Runo applause for horror, Hey Love, Thank
you guys for tuning in to You versus You. Please subscribe, like,
and share as we build this community that we help
each other to live the life of our dreams. You
Versus You as a production of Neon sixteen and Entertained
Studios in partnership with the Iheartmichael to that podcast network
(01:04:57):
for more podcasts, listen to the iHeartRadio app podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Idea.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
No matter what, it's possible. Balance is having a rich
inner life.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
What a success to you?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
In her piece, I have a situation that I can't control,
and it's all of them. I try not to fight
with ghosts, and I try to think of the very
best case scenario.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
A real strong relationship with someone is being able to
be a mirror. And I spend any more time with
that person my wife, and then I started to realize,
whatever that person is doing that triggers you. There's the lesson.
On this episode, we're going to be talking to the
president and CEO of Sony Music Publishing latim and you
as Laudimer, a Latin Billboard power player who has led
(00:36):
his company into a record breaking nineteen ASCAT Publisher of
the Year award, therefore turning Sony into the number one
publisher in Latin music. He's not only an accomplished executive,
but also a Latin Grammy nominated composer and pianist. Work
(01:00):
with Camilo to Daddy Yankee, He's work with them all
for him. Welcome to you, versus you.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm excited to have this conversation because I get to
have the privilege of being your friend beyond just colleagues
at work. But it started what is success to you?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Inner piece? Having enough? Right, inner piece?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
So what do you think enough looks like I have
no idea? Isn't that crazy? That's that's the the journey
of finding out what life is, you know. I find
that so particular, especially in our business, because we we
live what people consider success in such a no if
(01:51):
this is the right word, but it's such a fun,
buoyant way, right, because like our business is showmanship and concerts,
and we get to experience these things people pay thousands
of dollars for, so to them, you know, there's successful
business man that you don't know who they are. They're
you know, they're they make the cups for Starbucks or
(02:11):
they make the toilet paper. So there's not flashy or anything.
But our business is the taking the picture with the artists,
is going to the concert, is getting awards in front
of really powerful people. So it's a it's a flamboyant
type of way or show success. And and so for
a long time, my journey led me to a place
(02:31):
where I was like, Okay, that's what success looks like.
The more plaques I have on my walls the more
kind of money, or the more cars, or the more watchers,
or the more blah blahlah blah blah blah blah, and
so on and so on. Redefining that success to me
has has I think been of the biggest lessons I'm
currently in, you know, readdressing what that means as a
(02:54):
human while maintaining drive necessary to move this machine that
I called my business. I want to take it all
the way back to the beginning. Tell me about your childhood.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, I was born in Colombia and I lived there
with obviously my mom, and dad was in finance. He
was a banker and mom was a singer songwriter, And
I like to think that I get I got the
best of both of them, right. I got the numbers
from Dad and the whole creative aspect from my mom.
(03:32):
I came to the States when I was about thirteen,
and coming here was the best thing ever for me.
It was a really wonderful place to come in. I
came to Miami actually when Miami was kind of the
provinces before Miami was Miami as it is now. And
throughout my life it was all about music. Really. There
(03:52):
was always music through my mom and through my brothers.
I mean, it was just always in the house.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
What age did like music find you?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I would say that it was it wasn't a particular
age that it found me. It was just there was
no question that music was going to be part of
my life somehow.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Would you say that at home? Uh, dad's banker mentally
was more was primary? Or was it more your mom's
free spirit artists creator?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
So Dad died when I was nine, and right up
until he died, I was with him, So it was
it was very much pragmatic, structured.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Life.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And then when Dad died, I went to live actually
with mom, and uh, then it was a very it
was more artistic, and I think that's a good thing
because then it allowed me to explore both worlds. So
I grew up literally with both in key formative spaces
of my life.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I can relate to that. You know. I grew up
with my mom, who was very much outgoing, minister pastor
gogether well put together at all times. But I always
felt that at the spirit of my father, because growing up,
especially in my first my formative years as a kid,
(05:18):
was really around someone who just like super passionate about
cars and super passionate about anything he did. But it
was all driven by passions. It was not like this
necessity to be the best or have to be competitive.
It's just like this passion driven man. And when I
came to the States, which I want to, you know,
ask you about this too, because for me it was
(05:39):
a huge change, like coming from Columbia, where I felt that,
you know, life was a little bit more calm. I
had a lot even though the country was going through
a lot. You know, you got used to having the
sisters and having made and you had the driver. And
I went to a private school and then coming to
Miami and into a one bedroom apartment and all of
(06:01):
a sudden, I get thrown into ease old classes and
I'm definitely I'm blonde at that point. I have a
massive blonde hair. And the shock to me was like
really hard. I remember seeing my teachers in the way
they would speak to kids and not being able to
communicate it with my classmates at first, while also being
(06:23):
a little scared. Do you feel that coming into like
that transition from everybody speaks Spanish, everybody is kind of
like culturally very similar to all of a sudden, you know,
the cluster of Miami culture.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Absolutely, but it was slightly different because before coming to Miami,
I spent one year in Spain. We went from Colombia
to marid and that was the culture shock for me.
You know, you would think that speaking Spanish, all of
us we would speak the same language, the same thing. Spanish,
I like to say, is a common language that separates us,
(06:59):
because essentially that was not the Spanish that we spoke
from Colombia. We're very proper, very educated, very nice, right, right,
and then you get to Spain and people are like,
you know, what was he get the end of the whiteos.
You know, they're like they're like really harsh, right, and
you're like, you think that they're actually like mad at
(07:21):
you a lot of times. So that's that's when I
went through all of that. I felt completely out of
my element. I wasn't sure like what was going on,
but it was in Spanish, which was ironic, right. My
good friend at that time was an American kid who
was kind of going through the same thing. And after
(07:42):
that year was up, we came to Miami and I
just felt, oh, this is home. Weirdly, I had also
been in a British school since I was very little
in Columbia, so I basically spoke the language when I
got here, and that helped.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And where was music and all this? Like when I
got in and I discovered Michael Jackson, I was like,
I still remember that video of him jumping off the
stage with the jetpack, and I was like, what am
I seeing? This is like? So that impacted I think
a huge part of my motivation and my drive for
(08:21):
where I am today in music was like that awe
of wow, you can shock a lot of people and
had this incredible level of music, which to me, Michael
Jackson at the time was everything. But then there was
a hip hop and then there was you know, a
lot of music. Where was music in your life at
this point?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So Mom was obviously a singer songwriter, so she had
an album out in Colombia and this whole thing, and
she was always she would always be playing guitars and
so worth my sister and two brothers, they were always
singing and so on. So that was that. But I
remember actually in Spain we went to a classical music
concert and I can't tell you what he said was.
(09:00):
I don't know what it was. All I know is
it was these beautiful strings, and I remember just being
transfixed at that moment, and I thought, this is it.
I absolutely love this, And it's funny because that's I
saw that I was transfixed all this, but nothing happened. Really.
I wasn't playing piano then, I wasn't doing anything with that.
(09:22):
I was playing tennis, of all things. And it took
me getting back here, coming to Miami, breaking my leg,
not being able to move for like six months to
really start playing the piano. And at what age was
this fifteen fifteen, which is super late for playing the piano.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
When did you feel like at that point that you
had the dream of being an athlete? Or what was
fifteen year old Horge dreaming about?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Fifteen year old Hoorhe was trying to come to terms
with still having lost his dad when he was young,
moving to Spain and not really under standing anything about
that culture at the time, and then coming here and
trying to make sense of what I wanted. I loved
playing tennis, but it wasn't really what I wanted to do.
(10:13):
Once I found the piano, once I connected to the
music that had always been in our house, that's when
I was very clear that that was the life for me.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So right when you found the piano, you felt like, Okay,
I can this is the dream, I can go into music.
I want to go into music. Or was it still
something that you felt it was a hobby, But oh no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
I started practicing eight hours a day literally, I mean
that's all I did for her, like ten years, I
mean for a long time. And I was lucky to
go to I was lucky to find a teacher because
you always get that. There's a guy named Bill Dawson
who when I had just started playing the piano, he
took me under his wing. He got me into a
(10:56):
New World School of the Arts. Six months of playing,
he got me into the school. And that school, for
those of you who don't know, you get to do
your academics in the morning and then you do your
art in the afternoon. It could be visual art, it
could be dancing, it could be whatever. And so I
got to from like two pm on, I got to
just play piano.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Do you feel like playing the piano was an escape
to all the emotion that you were dealing with at fifteen?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It was the perfect representation of all the emotional I
was dealing with.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, so I find like music for me at that
point in my life was like the only thing that
felt like a teacher to me almost right, because I
had been away from my father my mother very different
than our lifestyle in Colombia, was having to work all
the time right to pay the bills here, and so
(11:47):
I would come home and put the hot pockets in
the microwave. And then it was like completely watching B
T one or six some park and hip hop and
hip hop, and it became such a huge part of
my identity because I started to find things that resonated
with my creativity.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I started to find sneaker culture and was like, oh wow,
this is something. I started to find this idea of
like coming from nothing and making it like the coming
to America moment, right, And then I started to really
feel like whatever I wanted to do, I just wanted
to be the best. Because there was Michael Jordan and
(12:29):
then there was Michael Jackson, and it was like they're
the impression that they were making me as a kid
growing up, which I would also say set the bar
so high for what I thought, you know, my life
would ultimately become. Right And do you feel that at
that point of knowing what it took. You're putting eight
hours into the piano, right, as so many other artists
(12:51):
put hours and hours into the music. But there's a
certain freedom you have when you first start where you're
not necessarily thinking all the way that the result is
so hard because it seems possible. You're like, I remember
it is to tell my own Oh yeah, I'm going
to do all these things, even like I'm going to
be able to buy these cars and I'm going to
be able to do all these things, because it's just
(13:11):
the structure of adulthood of saying something is scary or
it's not going to be doables to be way less
when you're a kid, right, do you feel that did
that drive you or were you really just passionate at
the moment of just like discovering music for the first time.
At this level, the.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Best thing about being fifteen is that you're you're fearless.
You don't no one has said anything to you yet
as to why you can't do what you can't do,
or why these things are not going to happen or
they're not possible.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
You are just simply looking at the things that you
love and going for them full steam. Right, That's that's
such an amazing energy and the hard thing in life
is to sort of hold on to that because we
all have that, don't we We all have those things
that we felt amazingly alive about when we were that
(14:08):
age that there was no there were no bounds, there
was it was, it was completely reachable. That was the idea.
So so yes, the answer is yes, that's how has.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
That changed as you've reached success and career and age.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, it's funny, you there are times in life life
will beat you up. You know, you'll have moments where
reality sets in, and I think the idea is to
always try to get back to the idea that no
matter what it's, it's possible and you can you can
do it. And as far as I may be at
(14:47):
some level, you know, at whatever level I am career
wise and piano wise, music wise and so on, but
you're always looking for the next thing and the next thing.
It's it's really interesting that works.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
How do you feel you connect back to that kid?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Because as parents and I know we both have beautiful
ill ones. Yeah, you can package on it. Every time
I see her and I see this freedom where she's
just walking, she doesn't care if she eats and it's dirty,
like it's just it's just freedom. But as an adult,
(15:25):
it's find it sometimes really hard to come back to
that that freedom as a child because we have responsibilities,
we have things that we are scared to lose, Like
what what has helped you or how have you struggled
with kind of finding that inner you and getting that
freedom in the things that you are passionate about.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Having a baby for people who are driven kind of
brings you and connects you back to a simpler time,
a simpler you. And that's kind of what gets lost
among the drive, the desire, the wanting to do this
accomplish that. I think children have that that sense of
(16:11):
complete possibility, and it's super hard as a parent who's like, no,
don't mess this up, and you know it's hard, but
it's it's beautiful, right because they're connected. They are one
hundred percent connected, and you just want to be connected
that way, and you lose that a little bit along
the way, don't you.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Right? Yeah, you know what I found that and it's
funny because it's you versus you, is that I found
that we parent ourselves the same way we try to
parent our kids. So we're like, don't do that, don't
be like you're gonna get hurt. Don't but while you
can you stop jumping around? Can you stop being this?
Can you stop doing this? Because we're viewing what they're
(16:53):
doing from our filter as adults, right, And it just
hit me the other day. I was like, oh my god,
I am parenting myself, like I am, legit telling myself
these same things like don't don't do that, like you're
gonna get hurt, don't don't jump and take that risk
or do this, or like you know, I could be
(17:15):
having a beautiful smile and enjoy the day and it's like, hey, stop,
you're gonna look corny, like you're gonna get stop jumping
around people, don't do that, like you know. And I
find that we tend to do that as adults. We
tend to tell ourselves these things, and continuously, even when
we find these moments of freedom, we want to try
(17:36):
to put them back in the box.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I think one reason why people connect with some of
the artists that we work with is because somehow or another,
these artists are able to find that inner joy in
what they do and express that and connect people to
that and that's a gift and that's difficult if you
if you're trying to do it, it just it just happens. So, yes,
(17:59):
we're always try impair ourselves, and ideally as we do
the things that we love, we lose some of that.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
The a lot of it is in your case, in
your personal experience. Is it fear of what others will say,
or is it fear of maybe messing up and losing
something you've accomplished or losing something that you've worked so
(18:26):
hard for.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Well, we live in a very connected play of society, right,
so anything you do and everything you say can it
will be used against you in all sorts of ways.
So there's definitely a concern about making sure that you
are careful with what you're putting out there. And it's
also obviously we've worked hard les with you and I
(18:51):
and it's we I love my life, you love your life,
and obviously it's it is a fear of something happening
that could get in the way of that. For sure.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Do you think that that is also maybe what stopped
the artistic and led you into a business career.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
No, I made a very clear choice when I was
when when I was growing up, I was clear that
I wanted to have a certain comfort in my life,
just because when when Dad died, things got kind of
interesting in that way as far as money and things
(19:31):
like that, and it was and it made it clear
to me that I wanted to not suffer in that way.
So that was important to me. I think the best
life is a life where I have achieved that, and
then I also get to express myself creatively, which is
what which is what I'm doing, which is what I'm
working on.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Do you feel like, you know, as a guy speaking,
your father passing away also or in my case just
my father and I being not because it was his choice,
but just life situations, do you feel like you had
the pressure of like having a step up and be
the man of the house.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I was too little, and my mom is a tough woman,
so she took charge of a lot of things as
much as she was you know, Bohemia and whatever. She
took charge of a lot of things. Ah. So no,
(20:33):
I didn't have that pressure, but I'm guessing you did.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, yeah, quite. I mean my mother did the same.
She took it on, but it was it was almost
the need to for me I think it was more internal.
It was the need to supplement this void that I had,
and I was trying to find where where the boy
was coming. I think I was too young to understand
that it was like, you know, not having especially because
(20:58):
I grew up with my dad and it wasn't you know,
I don't have a tragic situation. It was just life
meant it to be this way. So I was looking
for that reconnection in a way while dealing with a
whole new country and dealing with a whole new understanding,
while trying not to get bullied at school because I
went to some school that was like definitely in the hood,
you know, and I would see these kids getting bullied
(21:18):
and I was like, oh, yeap, that cannot be me,
you know what I mean? That would look like it hurt.
And so it was a lot of trying to find
that connection or that definition of who was I supposed
to be as a man because I have a really
strong mother. But it was definitely you know, female energy
lad And it's interesting because you know, coming into that,
(21:41):
having our moms stepped into it as our examples as
go getters. Because my mom was definitely a hustler and
she definitely brought the bread home. But it also led
to a huge part of why I think. I said,
I need to go do something right, and my mother
went every night I would go to sleep, said to me,
don't forget you're incredible. You're great, and she made me
(22:05):
say that, and I started to believe that, you know,
and I would say the young Legs was very much
driven by this idea that my mom said, Okay, you're great.
So I would approach every situation as I'm great. I
am going in with everything that I have. And we
(22:25):
were talking. Prior to starting our conversation here, maybe a
couple of days ago, my staff showed me a video
of me at twenty one years old. I had hair,
you know, and I had a nice little frow. It
was going, it was waving with the wind. But the
thing that was shocking to me about that video was
(22:47):
this young kid who stood in front of that camera
and was fearless. I mean I went in there and
I was like, it was up the CEO lex and
you know, you better sign up to the Dream Big
husseleod Our showcase because if you don't, you know, you're
not gonna make it. And if you sign up, I'm
going to make you a superstar. And I was like, oh,
you know, it's like one of those where you're Likerang're like,
(23:09):
but it was also like heartfelt because I was like, Oh,
what happened to that kid? Right? Like, there was this
fearless energy that that kid had looking at that camera,
you know, twenty something years ago and didn't It wasn't shaky.
He wasn't like in disbelief, he didn't care. I mean,
that kid didn't even have the power to make someone
(23:29):
a superstar, but he really believed it. And I found
myself as a as an adult, having the power to
make a superstar, but not having the same fearless attitude
to be able to go on camera and say like
or post my opinion in that same way. And ultimately
that's what led me to become an executive or move
away from being the artist or the creative or you know,
(23:50):
and for a huge party, even though my creativity was
coming out through what my manifestation through their clients, there
was a sense of safety I felt from being behind
the camera and away from the critique of people. Right
do you feel you know, and you said you made
a very conscious decision to become an executive essentially because
(24:10):
you want a stability. You were in a rock band
as well, So what was that point, What was the
point where you're like, I'm in a rock band. I mean,
what was the change, the pivot, the plot twist that yeah,
I mean led you to this career you have now.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So first of all, this is why I admire so
much the people we work with, because they have this
single minded, crazy belief and focus to go for their
dreams with no backstop, no no anything.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
That's and that's that's incredible for me personally. Yeah, I
had a rock band and there was a choice where
we would go on tour and I don't know we're
going to stay, but it's okay. I don't know we're
gonna eat, but it was fine, we'll figure it out,
and and and and then the possibility of doing a
job as starting out at ZNY. And you know what,
(25:00):
I enjoyed the executive part because there's a big part
of me that's that that likes numbers and likes all
the things that we have to do and deal with,
and that part needed to get developed, I think for
me personally as an artist. So that down the line
I could have that to draw on. That was just
my journey. But that was that was that moment when
(25:20):
I made that decision, and it's it's so far, it's
it's worked out pretty good, and I don't think I
would be the same musician I am now. Obviously, if
I hadn't done that, it's possible that I would have
done the rock band thing, and who knows what would
have happened there, Who knows. But I don't know that
i'd be playing my first piano concerto with the London
Symphony like I did last year. You know, I don't
(25:40):
know if that would have happened, and I'm very happy
that that happened.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
You know. It's it's pretty funny to again be an
artist and have that desire and then also like kind
of juggling the executive is to your point, I ended
up enjoying what I do, right. I enjoyed closing the
deal and I enjoyed that, and I find myself like
having days where my ajournalists through the roof front. I'm like,
I'm like in that point, but then at some point
(26:08):
I hit that wall and frustration starts kicking in a
little bit, and I was sitting the other day with
a close friend of ours that is also a major executive,
and he was saying that the only time he really
gets jealous of anyone, it's not other executives. There's not
people getting you know, having more number ones. It's it's
(26:30):
when he goes to a studio to work with an
artist that's signed ten and he sees the producers producing
because he started as a producer, right, And so there's
that moment where you're like, damn, like I kind of
would to do that, Like I wish I was there
sitting right. Do you ever feel that, like as you see,
(26:51):
you know a lot of the things that you sign
here are no more contemporary and buildings as that's where
the industry has moved. But whenever you go to a
concert of classical music, you go to an hope or
you you know, I was at an undrable Celli yesterday
and I sit there once and I was like, oh
my god, I wish one I could do that, because
that's next level of talent. But you sit there and like,
(27:13):
how many decisions will be watching this and they're like wow,
you know, like I'm a little jealous. Do you ever
get that sense of You know, when when you go
to one of these events that maybe you would be
willing to give your current career to be an Andrea
of Celli, regardless of the money.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
You know, you always feel that jealousy. But I don't
know if it's jealousy, but it's that drive. You know,
you see these people doing the things that you dreamed
about doing, and you want to do it, and somewhere
in the back of your mind you know you will.
And how that's going to look, I have no idea,
(27:56):
but I'm clear that it's it's going to have and
I'm going to make sure that it happens at whatever
level that I can make it happen. That's what's it's
going to be. And I'm telling you it's going to
be a great level because that's that's what we've been
trained to do as executives.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Funnily enough, do you feel like we were having this
conversation earlier as well? It's like when is it enough?
Is it? That's right?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
No? I don't. I haven't found that. That's the one thing. Right,
if you had asked me twenty five years ago, like,
oh you're gonna be doing if you ask me, would
you feel complete doing what you're doing, having the life
that you have, traveling where you travel, all these things.
I would have be like, oh my gosh. I mean
I'm done, you know, and that's it. I can just
go to sleep, I'm done. But no, you get you
(28:46):
get to your life and you're you're just always wanting
the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.
I think that's healthy. That's that's being human, that's that's
part of who you are. And I think that's part
of also people who are success in whatever level of
success they are, that they're always looking for the next thing,
(29:06):
don't you agree?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
You know that's interesting. If you would have asked me
seven months ago, I would have been like one hundred
and tent I want to eat the world. And I
don't think my desire to eat the world has changed, right,
I think that the notion that I needed in order
to be fulfilled has changed. You know.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
That's healthy, that's that's that's healthy of you.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I just found myself in a place of success. I
found myself in a place where I was like, Okay, okay,
can I always buy more things? Yes? Can we always
have a bigger company, yes?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
But how many stakes can you eat, you know, at
the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
But what it's like, well, at what point is it enough? Right?
At what point is And again it's not the letting
go of the drive, because I think if you let
go of the drive and your purpose, you kind of die.
Like you, I say that life is the school. You're
in the curriculum of life, and part of going to
(30:11):
school is like if you went to school every day
and nobody was teaching you or anything, you get bored
really quickly. Part of the struggles of going to school
or even the classes you didn't like and the ones
you loved, was like, that's the challenge. That's what native like,
even if it was just about getting a girl or
go to school or hanging out with your friends, like
the mix of emotions, like you said, it's humanity. That's
that's what being human is. But I found myself in
(30:34):
a place that I was like so many of our
peers have, you know, ended their lives or in a
tragic way in search of happiness and supplementing kind of
that whole internally, regardless of the amount of success. Right.
I was watching the Avici documentary and it really broke
my heart because it was a kid who was doing
(30:56):
incredible things. But the pressure of achievings dream you always want.
It also comes with the realization that everything you thought
was going to be the solution to all your struggles
is not going to be it. And so I found
myself in a very unique situation where it was like, great,
I have the company, I have money, I have these things.
People think of me as successful. But and to when
(31:19):
is enough? Because I'm tired of the lifestyle, right, And
That's part of the thing that I think has really
helped launch this this idea of a podcast, was we
get caught up in the lifestyle of the music industry, right,
the chase of it, because it's like the lottery. I
explain to people, this is like going to Vegas every day,
you know, like you're literally you can sign something and
(31:40):
tomorrow I can flop where you can sign it and
become the biggest hardest in the world, and all of
a sudden you hit the jackpot. But I really found
myself in a place where it was like, when is
it enough? And at what point is I'm I going
to stop my internal suffering because of the you know,
and I was shamed with you the other day someone
(32:02):
told me, you've been programmed to be a wave. You've
been told your whole life you have to have power
and movement and direction and clarity and vision and work
your ass off eight, ten, twelve hours a day because
if not, you're not gonna make it. And he said,
but the problem with the wave is it knows it's
(32:26):
going to break. Now. It doesn't know if it's going
to break in the ocean. It doesn't know if it's
going to break in the sand, but it knows it's
going to break. And so at that point the way,
it starts getting anxiety because well, am I going to
like be again? Am I going to be big enough?
(32:47):
Am I gonna come into the sands with enough power?
Is someone going to actually like surf on top of me?
Or I'm just gonna be the wave that nobody paid
attention to. And he said something to me, He said,
but in that moment, when you got to realize, as
you're the ocean, you can make another wave. And so
part of my journey and part of the concept of
(33:08):
you versus you, is how to get ourselves to a
place where we understand where the ocean so that we're
not so driven by the wave that we live our
lives in this consistent run because at some point, your body,
the mind, all these things give up, right, so it
(33:31):
gives out of you the worldly costume that we wear.
Will get tired and you get old, and opportunities dry out,
and you retired from your job. And I think about
that as a father too, right, because I'm like, I
spend so much time working and the time flies by.
You know, she went from being this little baby that
(33:53):
I had to carry all the time to now like
kicking me in the face when she's sleeping. You know,
Like it's just like, would you say that for you?
Part of what you're doing at this stage in your
career and your life is trying to find that rhythm
between your passion and love for music, your family, the work.
(34:15):
Or do you feel that you are the place where
you're settled in and you are at a state where
you feel in rhythm, as I say, because I don't
believe in balance, which we'll get to acting.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I am still searching for the rhythm that balances the
pulling of family work and creative work. But I think
you hit on something very important. We are going through
a mental health crisis in many respects. There have been
people who have and their lives in our industry who
(34:52):
were very successful outwardly, and it makes you pause and
think about what's important and so on. So I think,
at least for me, the important aspect of maintaining a
healthy balance is having a rich inner life, and and
(35:15):
for that I've done this for a very I'm not
saying I'm there, but I'm saying that it's very useful
for me. I meditate every day. I do yoga every day,
little bittle yoga, meditation, and that has helped very much
with that struggle. Now, am I in the middle of
(35:37):
the struggle? Yes, I definitely slam And I think it's
because there's a lot of things. There's a lot of
things happening right now. There's there's career, there's family with
a young daughter, and and there's the creative pursuit. So
it's a lot of things happening at the same time.
And obviously we're out of balance from time to time
(35:57):
a lot. But but having a rich inner life that
allows you to center every day, at least once a
day is key and crucial. If I didn't have that,
I think I would have spun out of out of control.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
A long time ago, I found myself many times sitting
in my office and saying, if this was all gone,
will I be okay? Will I consider myself successful? Or
would the demise or the sale or whatever it is
(36:34):
of my business mean that I was any less successful
than I was yesterday. Do you find yourself at any
time as you've ran the number one company in music
publishing in Latin music, do you ever find yourself in
that state where you're like, what if this is all
(36:55):
gone tomorrow?
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I don't think about that really, maybe on purpose, I
don't think about that. Do you identify your self worth
with your success?
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Right?
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I think that the inner life work is essential, And
I think that if you had asked me ten fifteen
years ago, the answer would have been, yes, this is
this is why I am and so on. But but
now I think it's it's more of it's funny. I
feel now I have much more internally to be okay
(37:36):
with some catastrophe, to make do with less, but paradoxically
that allows you to create more. Does that make sense?
But it wasn't always that way at all, And I'm
not saying I'm anywhere near where I feel at peace
and so on. But that's the that's the struggle, and
that's the journey. That fear might be there, but I
(37:58):
don't I don't address it because the internal work I focus.
I try to focus on the best case scenario of
all of the options that has been integral to my life.
Whenever I have a situation that I can't control, and
it's all of them, I try not to fight with
ghosts and I try to think of the very best
(38:21):
case scenario and I try to vibrate with that. If
you will not always successful, but that's the idea, and
that's what I try to give energy to, that very
best case scenario.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah. For me is that notion of and the realization
that I'm okay no matter what. Yeah right. That's been
the biggest breakthrough in my work has been that I
am already great. I am okay no matter what. You know.
I get the blessing of having a driver during my weekdays.
(38:55):
And I realized the other day as I was sitting
at the back of my car driving looking out, life's
a lot better as a passenger. It's a lot better
as someone that you can enjoy the view. And I
was programmed my whole life that that was not the
way to be successful. The way to be successful was
(39:15):
you better take the bull by the horns, right, the
famous bull in Wall Street, and you better right and well,
a lot of that really led me to where I
am today. I suffered it all the way over here,
and I've realized to your point of you don't actually
control any of the situations, right, Like I believe that
(39:37):
our work is the understanding that the universe is in
divine order, right, it's in this perfection of alignment that
causes us to meet and connect with certain people and
move things. And I would have never thought it would
be back in Miami, like all these things that you
just can't control. Life just happens the fine as perfect
and it's divine order into it. So my work has
(40:00):
taught me now to learn to be still instead of
having to be the driver all the time. Is to
learn to be still. I say, be still enough to
listen and then be courageous enough to act. But the
figuring and out of how things are going to happen
or when or how and how can hm that's the
(40:34):
part that I'm learning to let go because I've I've
realized that there's times and we talk about this in music.
There's times where we put all our efforts into an artist.
I mean every marketing idea, every dollar, every spend, everything,
you give it your whole attention, it still fails. And
then there's things that you just do passionately and you
(40:55):
kind of just said, well, I don't really know if
this is going to work, like our work with Kaliuci,
where it was like, we'll do the album, we'll put
it out because we're starting out, and this kind of
nobody really knew who Kliuchi was. I mean, she had
a strong fan base in her kind of niche world,
but even I'll be honest, I didn't know who she
was before the project got presented to us. But then
(41:17):
I remember getting the phone call when Televatia blew up
and became a massive and it was just an influencer
that and so you're like, I could have spent all
the money marketing and I still now had that right.
And I say this to artists a lot, because a
large part of it is just letting the vessel flow
and create the art because you love it, because the
(41:39):
rest of the things are so out of your control,
and while you have to be a good shepherd and
discipline and do the things that I think are still
essential parts of you know, working. Everything's out of your control.
So I've started a huge part of my work has
been just letting it go and and just in the
midst of like the struggle of the dress or whatever
(42:02):
the moment is, being able to say I'm okay.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
That's the hardest thing for control freaks like I think
you and I.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, do you feel that at disappointing your career, you're
still driven by competition, still driven by needing to be
number one? By all means.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
I may have gotten to I may have had some
success right in what I do, but I certainly think
that there's a lot more things that we can do
as a company and certainly as a creative force as
an artist. So yeah, but it's not so much about
what the other person, the other company or whatever they're doing.
It's really about what the bar is. You were talking
(42:48):
about the Michaels, same thing. My bars are our way
up there as to what I want to achieve. So
that's the competition that I'm definitely driven mine.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Will you say that based on that right base, based
on having to look at that? Are you looking at people,
you're looking at numbers, or you're looking at a self goal. Right?
Is it? Is it like inspired by being ah and
Acelli or you know whoever that references as a classical
(43:20):
pianist and forgive me for my lack of classical music knowledge.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Is it driven by numbers? Is there a number attached
to uh? You know? I want to make I want
my career to make me x millions of dollars? Or
is it completely driven by maybe even the fear that
(43:46):
if it don't get there, your full purpose wasn't was
it reached?
Speaker 2 (43:51):
No, it's it's driven by by this. I don't know
where it comes from by but this need to share
a certain part of myself with people and hopefully people
will resonate with it. That then allows me to create
a life where I don't worry about the numbers, where
I don't have to worry about it, right, and where
(44:13):
I'm able to continue sharing that and ideally, hopefully it
makes for a better world. I know the sound so like,
but it's true. I mean, ideally that leads to a
better place for all of us. And don't ask me
where that need comes from, but because it's but it's there.
I mean, I'm going to be it. I totally. I'm
going to be recording next week in London the next
(44:36):
a bunch of other pieces that are going to part
of the project that I'm doing. And I was practicing
today my wife and daughter were in the pool. What
need do I have to do that?
Speaker 1 (44:46):
Right?
Speaker 2 (44:47):
I really don't have a need to miss time with
my daughter, my wife, but I do. It's it's there,
It's intrinsic, and it's sometimes it's it's a demon that
drives you. Sometimes it's an angel that drives you. But
at the end of the day, it's it's a desire
to to to be seen and to share with with people.
(45:09):
And I think we all share that. We all have that,
and that's part of being human once again, right.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah, I mean then there's there's something beautiful about the
fact of community, right like we we we need community,
like we need you need the sharing of energy, you
need the sharing of appreciation. And I was I was
sharing with you the other day that you know, one
of the things I've learned about building a real strong
(45:36):
relationship with someone is being able to be a mirror
and be able to be every sense of a mirror,
right be able to be the guy that says, hey,
look at you, you're doing great. Be able to look
at the mirror and say, hey, buddy, this could have
been better, you could do best. But most importantly, to
be able to take things out of you that you
might not notice that my way of being triggers And
(46:00):
that concept is something I had never understood before. Right like,
when somebody pissed me off or somebody's annoying, my first
reaction was like, cut them out. I'm not gonna spending
more time with that person, like life. And then I
started to realize, whatever that person is doing that triggers you,
there's the lesson. There's something in that that is affecting
(46:22):
you that has a lesson tied to.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
It's the concept that whatever it is that you don't
like and somebody else lurks within you and that's why
it's triggering you. And that's the gift, And that's the
idea of living life taking one hundred percent responsibility for
everything that comes your way, which is one of the
(46:47):
things that has helped me a lot. Everything that happens,
take a hundred percent responsibility for it because in some
way it has been created by you and it's there
for a higher purpose us if you will.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
How do you use that in leadership? What would you
say your style of leadership is.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
I like to think that I allow people to work
until I don't feel comfortable. If I don't feel comfortable,
then I become a pain I get really nit picky.
But if I feel comfortable, I like to think that
people can work absolutely freely and do what they need
(47:29):
to do because we know what the goals are.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
And this is you know, you obviously need this major
corporation that is huge insights compared to our beautiful boutique
company here. But I think that's one of the biggest
struggles I've had as a leader, right. I think I
create the runway for this freedom of creation, but it
(47:55):
also creates a fear in me of sometimes people can't
reach the expectation of freedom because they need You know,
some people are really good at You got to tell
them take that here and go here. If you tell
them pain freely and don't worry, I'll frame it later.
(48:17):
It's like the wiring goes and then I become like you.
Then you become like WHOA. I become strictly on it,
but my whole life that frustration that I get because
I see things that I see the world as limitless.
I started to find it really hard to find people
(48:38):
who vibe within my energy, right within how I create.
And when I understood the concept of the mirror, I
started to notice something about myself, and it was the
need to be the savior, right, the need that if
you struggle on something, part of my leader ship is
(49:00):
to come save you. The person I do my work
with told me, no one needs saving legs. You're stopping
them from learning the lesson. And sometimes that lesson is
you firing them, because if you could try to save them,
they don't learn the lesson from you, and then they'll
(49:23):
spend their whole lives looking around having to relive the
same lesson because you saved them from that one time
that they could have learned it the hard way. And
I was and I in understanding that, it also freed
me a bit to say, Okay, let them mess up,
(49:44):
let them put it. And then I started to struggle
with like, well, what's the boundary of enough messups? Right?
What's the boundary of like okay, sorry to stright through,
you know what I mean? Like, at some point you
have to have guidance and say, hey, you didn't achieve
the goals you were given and you might hate me
for this, but I got to have a healthy bound
(50:06):
do you find yourself with especially in a business I
think we're where so much of the operations of the
business are creative led and kind of universe having given
you the right time in the right place right because
hard to judge. Sometimes an an are doing their job
(50:28):
with an artist and the artist doesn't become successful. You know,
how have you historically dealt with that in our business
and with your staff and the team and kind of
picking and letting go of people.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
I think the hardest thing for me as somebody who
leads people and has led people is understanding that not
everyone is wired exactly like I am and being able
to see the strengths in having people who are not
exactly like I would handle seeing the strengths and people
(51:04):
who would handle problems not exactly the way that I
would and seeing that it might be a better way.
And that has taken a minute. So I've been able
to grow as a leader by being able to appreciate
the strengths that are not exactly like what I what
I would be like I've been lucky to have a good,
close team that has lasted for a while with me.
(51:27):
The people who work with me closely in the Miami
office have been most of them with the company more
than ten years, and we've all learned from each other
because we were completely different people ten years ago. All
of us, I mean some of them have been there
for a very long time. But it's not easy because
as as a leader, you also need to adapt to them.
(51:50):
What is the judge, what is the line the budget?
We need to make a certain number every year. We
need to get to a certain a goal, and that's it.
We make it period and if we ever started not
making it, that's when things start happening. But we've been lucky,
we've been We've done well.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
How do you choose when enough mess ups is enough?
Speaker 2 (52:17):
There's there's no map, There really is no map. It's
it's a point where you know that it's enough because
the person is very unhappy, most likely because the mess
ups aren't They come with a cost, they come with
an emotional cost, They come from with all kinds of
(52:38):
costs for you and the team, right, so that person
is not happy. Obviously you're not happy, and at some
point behooves you because it's your responsibility to make a decision,
and it's always better to make a decision than not
(52:58):
to make a decision, whether that decision is the absolute worst,
it's better to make a decision than not make a decision.
Make a decision to make it right.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Love that. Love that now shifting from leadership to your artistry,
right because I've I've been preview to a few you know,
very intimate conscious by your bye you, I've been able
to like see this excitement, like there's a way that
(53:28):
as your friend, you light up when you talk about
the music you're making and going into Ivy Road and
these things that I love to see as your friends. Right,
that's the mirrord part where I'm like your biggest cheerleader.
Tell me about your music, talk to me about this project.
What's exciting, what are the challenges, what are the things
that you're seeing. I want to know more because we're
(53:51):
going to get to this incredible book that you've published,
which I got the blessing of discovering on my own
because my friend never told me he had one, And
I gotta say, I'm so glad I did it. It
has been an inspiration for even the writing of my
(54:12):
own book, for the understanding of storytelling that you did,
for how personal you got, but then it was driven
by music. So talk to us about you know, your music,
your your project, and then this book, because honestly, I
think it's a you know, a largely undiscovered diamond that
(54:35):
needs that needs the light because it needs a tiffining display,
you know, because it really is incredible and seriously congratulations
and kind of mad you never's aorry about it about
I really enjoyed it. I spent my past two nights
with it, and I've generally enjoyed what what it fed
to me, you know, And I think someone so many
(54:57):
times when we when we do this or any creative project,
we obviously won the result, but I would say, if
you just touched one person, that's all that mess, and
you really touched with this, and you've touched me with
your music. Honestly, I the first time I saw you play,
right away, I was like, not only as your friend,
but even as a lover of music, just incredible talent
(55:18):
you have. So I'll stop talking about all the amazing
things you make me feel with your music, but please
tell me about these projects. You are.
Speaker 2 (55:26):
Thank you, lex Thank you so much for that means
a lot coming from you. Thank you. So the book
that Lexus is talking about is a project that I
did if twenty five short pieces. They initially started their
life as piano preludes, and preludes are pieces that you
play before the big concert. They're typically pieces that the
(55:47):
pianists will use to warm up before the concert. But
a lot of composers made sets of them in every
key and they're performed regularly, so a lot of big
bushes did that. So I wrote a set of twenty five.
There's twenty four keys, but I put an extra one
in there. And what I did with that is I
(56:10):
also wrote for each of the pieces a little chapter,
a little because I think that classical music requires a
little bit of some new Classical music requires a little
bit of context many times. So the context for these
pieces are a little bit of the stories around my life,
and basically the music is a representation of those stories.
(56:32):
And then I put it in a book format where
you read and the press play and you hear the music.
The music that you hear in the book is the
orchestral version. So I created those pieces and then I
orchestrated them, and we've done that in shows. We've played
it where we I'll tell the story and then the
orchestra will play. And it's been an amazing, amazing reaction
(56:56):
every time from the people because they're connected to the music.
And thank you. I'm so glad that you found it
and I'm so happy that that you that you enjoyed it.
And yeah, the planets to continue to doing and continue
performing that. So that's that project. The next thing that
I'm working on. I did a piano concerto that I
recorded over in London and Heavy Road with the London
(57:16):
Symphony Orchestra. That hasn't come out yet. I'm going next
week to finish a couple more pieces to put the
whole album together.
Speaker 1 (57:24):
So that's so exciting. I can't wait. I can't wait
to hear it. And I encourage everyone to go listen
to the book. You want to give that this is
the shameless plug. You had to put one on the nage.
How will you find it? Because I wanted to find this.
Speaker 2 (57:38):
Yeah, So this is this is a book that's available
for Amazon Kindle or it's it's an eat reader thing
or Apple ebooks, right, and it's a memoir. In music,
it's music with with stories attached to it.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
So you've become an accomplished music executive. Accomplished me. Now
here comes to dad question in your book. I remember
the story and maybe you could tell us again the
story when you told your father you kind of wanted
to follow this this music like you were like, you
(58:14):
saw I forget what was the band that you sound.
Speaker 2 (58:16):
Yeah, it was I don't know what it was.
Speaker 1 (58:18):
It was you saw a bad a rock band on
TV and that's what I would.
Speaker 2 (58:22):
I want to do. And my dad was like banker right,
and and he's like, I'm sure. He was like, oh
my god.
Speaker 1 (58:30):
It was like, that's not going to make any money.
Speaker 2 (58:33):
He said to me. As long as you're the best
at editor, as long as you're you do the very
best you can at it, then it'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (58:40):
So as a father, is there a dream for your kid?
Is there something you you would want them or something
you wouldn't want them to.
Speaker 2 (58:46):
So as a father, it all kind of comes into focus.
You just want to be happy, and then you realize
that being happy doesn't take any of the other stuff
that we're all like chasing. Right, As a father, you're like,
if you have a nice life that makes you happy,
it makes you fulfilled, I'm gonna be good. I don't
need her to be an Olympic athlete. I don't you know.
(59:07):
I don't need any of that as a father, right,
And that's kind of what we need to tell ourselves
to do it.
Speaker 1 (59:12):
Yeah, it's interesting because a lot of people ask me,
you know, would you want your daughter to be in music?
Like you feel like Jade would be like an amazing
musician and that part of you that have lived in music,
and she's like, oh no, no, no no, And then
I'm like, honestly, I just want her to just be happy.
And I love that that part of the story in
(59:35):
the book really touch me because, to be honest, when
the when the story started, I thought he was going
to tell you, no, son, you got to go run
the family business. You gotta go, you know. And the
fact that he said, just be the best at it, Like,
I love that. Like it was something that I wrote
down on my journal, something that I write these h
these notes to Jade every night that I want her
(59:56):
to read when she's older, and I wrote that in there.
It makes me most But it's really that huge point
of being able to tell someone just love what you
do and do it as the best of your ability
and not worry about the outside, especially in today's world.
You know, when our kids become our age or even
(01:00:17):
you know, teenagers. God knows where the world will be,
but we live in a world filled with the necessity
of having to like show it to the world and
beat the end, you're seeing what everybody else has. All
of a sudden's anxiety level kicks in. So I love that.
I love that, and I love that story, and I
think it's something I will take hold as a good
uh teaching to my to my daughter. You know, as
(01:00:38):
we're coming to to this end of this beautiful conversation,
m hm.
Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Hm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
What do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
So legacy it's it's kind of a loaded word, right,
it's how do you want your memory to live on? Right?
When people think about you, what do you want them
to think about?
Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Right?
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
I would like them to think of me as somebody
who championed songwriters and somebody whose music they love to
play and listen to. And a good father, good husband.
Those are those are the main main things. But I'll
be honest, I hadn't really thought about it. I guess
(01:01:31):
at some point you have to. You have to think
about these legacy questions. But that's that's the main thing.
Somebody who took care of who helped people achieve their
dreams as we do. Somebody whose music people love to
perform and listen to, and a good person for my
family love that.
Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
So I named the podcast You Versus You because I
truly believe that our biggest battle is against ourselves, right, Yeah,
you were saying earlier, like sometimes you get led by
the angel, sometimes the demon, and I think we both
have both inside, right, we both have this inner struggle
that that makes it that is largely shaped by what
(01:02:15):
I believe is is our internal filter, right, And our
filter is uh, you know, made out of our trauma
or kind of our life lessons and definitely fear. And
that causes us to intake information that is happening to
us and process it through that filter and judge it
through that filter. And so one of the things that
(01:02:37):
that's made me realize is that if I, you know,
sit here and tell you I love you, you feel something.
If I text you the same, you'll feel something. If
I turn around and say a few and I texted
to you, you'll get surprised, And it made me understand
(01:02:59):
the power of words. But it also made me understand
that we talk to ourselves more than we talk to
anybody else, and so the stories we tell ourselves are
so important to our well being, so important to breaking
through that internal part in order to set ourselves freet
(01:03:22):
to enjoy the life for living, regardless of the circumstances, situations,
the people, and so on. So to end this, I
wanted to really do a good exercise that we could
both do. And the exercise is, what is one sentence
that you could tell yourself right now that could be
(01:03:44):
transformative to your tonight and to your rest of the week.
Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
I am happy, I am healthy, love that those are
the power of the I am M statement.
Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
I am okay, and I am fearless.
Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
That's yours.
Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
That's one. So with that, orhy, thank you for an
incredible time.
Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
I appreciate you coming here, opening up, telling your stories.
It's a blessing to have you be a guest in
this journey that I've taken the leave of faith with.
Thank you everyone who's been here and got a chance
to enjoy this conversation and until next time.
Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Thank you so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
Thank you guys, Runo applause for horror, Hey Love, Thank
you guys for tuning in to You versus You. Please subscribe, like,
and share as we build this community that we help
each other to live the life of our dreams. You
Versus You as a production of Neon sixteen and Entertained
Studios in partnership with the Iheartmichael to that podcast network
(01:04:57):
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