May 2, 2023 • 49 mins
Jordy Freed from Sony Corporation of America shared his journey from jazz saxophone and building websites to public relations and marketing. Twists and turns took him to radio, Blue Note, Grey Advertising, and finally to Sony. He shares the stories of his twists and turns and the challenges of managing and growing diverse brands. Jordy talks about what he's excited about now and what is changing the workflow of creators.
Guest: Jordy Freed, Head of Partner Marketing & Strategy, Brand & Business Development, Video & Sound Products, Sony Corporation of America
As the Head of Partner Marketing & Strategy, Brand & Business Development, Video & Sound Products at Sony Corporation of America, Jordy Freed leads marketing, business development, and communication strategy for the multinational company. A talented sax player who considered becoming a professional musician, the Philly native got his start as a publicist for the jazz firm DL Media, held marketing and PR roles at Blue Note, and made a quick foray into advertising at the top firm Grey. Upon returning to Blue Note in 2016, he partnered with Sony on the creation of NYC’s Sony Hall, the first venue to feature Sony’s immersive music experience, 360RA. This led to an in-house position at Sony, where he became the first U.S. employee on their Brand & Business Development team, with the remit to develop multi-million dollar business strategies. In this role, he has overseen collaborations with Doja Cat, Pink, Lil Nas X, Pharrell Williams, and Alicia Keys, struck deals to reimagine the David Bowie catalog in 360RA alongside immersive activations, led the company’s partnership with Amazon Music, and much more. He now leads marketing and business development for 360RA, as well as global branding activities for a host of sound products.
Mentioned Links
- Sony Corporation of America: https://www.sony.com/en_us/SCA/index.html
- Jordy Freed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordyfreed
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Innovating Music.
This is your host, Gigi Johnson.
I'm excited.
With today's episode,we have Jordy Freed, who comes to us
from the Sony Corporation of Americafrom the Video and Sound Products
department is head of partnermarketing and strategy branded Biz Dev.
He started out in saxophoneand up from Philly going
(00:21):
into public relationsand radio ended up at Blue Note,
then Gray advertising back at Blue Note,and now it's Sony
and he'll ship a bit of the journeypath of how he got there.
And we'll talk toward the end about thingslike artificial intelligence with music.
We pledged at the endto do a second episode, but enjoy
this first episode with Jordy Freed.
(00:45):
I appreciate someone who has doneso much in so many creative fields
and is someone myself who started in PR.
I am very happy for someone who is coming
from PRinto leadership in a music tech company
and as someone who also went to USC, I'mexcited for someone who is going to USC.
(01:07):
So we have some resonant spaces here.
So can you sharebecause things you're doing a lot of our
our listeners won't know anything about,which always is fun for me.
Can you just start out with
what you're doing at Sonyand what the product set is there?
(01:27):
Yeah.
So for context, obviouslySony is a very big company, right?
If we had a lot of different businesses.
So I sit within Sony Corporation ofAmerica and that's the US holding company.
So all of our different USentertainment businesses,
Sony Music, Sony Pictures,
PlayStation, they're all under SonyCorporation of America.
(01:49):
It's the extension of Tokyo headquarters,like the mothership
and at Sony Corporation of America.
I am director and head of Brandand Business Development
and also had a part in marketingand strategy
for our personal entertainment business.
And you're probably wondering,so so what is that?
Is everything a personal entertainment?
(02:09):
What is that?
That is specifically Sony's businessin the audio and sound space.
So but when you look at Phil.
I mean, of course, that's not me,that's not film.
That's not.
Games.
It's so when you think about headphones,
speakers, pro audio, microphone and studio
(02:33):
headphones, etc.,anything kind of mobile sound
related or professionalsound related, that whole business
I'm leading the brand for and businessdevelopment
and how we work with partners,which you know, for me is someone
growing up I always had Sony in the housethrough family, etc.
It's kind of an honor to have this role.
(02:56):
I mean, it's one of the mosticonic businesses within Sony.
I mean, when you think of how Sonystarted, audio was one of the first.
Right.
And and it touches so many elementsof creativity in the music space.
So to kind of be in a role to shapethe brand as it sits today
(03:17):
and where we want to go and really developthat business is pretty incredible.
I'm not going to lie.
Now some people come into these spaces
and you were commenting aboutwhen you were younger,
but some people come into these spacesas tech geeks, which I was not.
I'm totally not.
(03:37):
I became one as an older personand some came as musicians
and some came as people
who would be playing with devices
or be building concerts for their friends.
What is the I'ma 15 year old Jordy doing with his life.
Were you any of those?
(04:00):
I was a crossbetween a tech and a musician,
so I'm totally in the right spaceright now. Oh.
What are you doing in musicas a young person?
So I was a believe it or not,I was a really serious saxophonist
and really into jazz.
And I was gigging a lot and had a band
and, you know, I was building websites,
(04:22):
you know,as a 15 year old for, for myself.
And you know, so I and yeah, I mean,
I was just really into jazz at the timeand I was like super into it.
This was outside of Philadelphia. Okay.
So I grew up outside of Philadelphia,born born in Philly, raised right
(04:43):
outside of Philly, neighboring suburb,literally 2 minutes from the
the county line of Philly County
and the first suburb.
Yeah.
So so I was a serious musicianas a teenager.
And your parents, what did they do?
(05:03):
My mother had a couple different jobs.
She was
she was a paralegal.
At one point, she worked for MorganStanley at one point as an associate.
My father is a structural engineer.
Okay.
So, yeah,
some people come from creative families,but they go, Oh, yeah, it's perfect.
(05:24):
Go into creative work.
Your family is like saxophone playing kid
and techie building websites and thought,Our son is lost.
So I thought,our son will be going to go do so.
Okay, So
to set this up,although my dad's a structural engineer,
super creative person in his passionfor music and technology,
(05:49):
he was obsessed with Sony, believe itor not, everything in my house is Sony.
Growing up, everything I knew.
Right from the get go.
This was I was actually really trapped.
It's super, super weird.
So, you know, I love to tell thisthis anecdote in interviews
that I've been doing.
So he he's an audio file.
(06:12):
I mean, like he would notif it wasn't pristine audio quality,
he wouldn't listen.
He was totally sworn against the MP three.
He had CDs, S-A CD player,he had Macintosh
tube amps, he had crazy five one set ups
and it's funny because some of mycolleagues on the tech side
(06:36):
worked on the development of the CD
and my dad knew of then throughlike message boards and their colleagues.
And technically it's the same panelthat pays me.
And, you know, he was just really asidefrom just Sony in general, particularly
Sony Audio,I mean, he I just grew up having
gold discs around the house that,
(06:59):
you know, he was into.
So average person nowhasn't heard anything better than an MP3.
So it's sort of an interesting lens onwhere we go to as a culture.
But yeah. 100%.
So you know, it, it, it'sjust really funny how Well,
maybe not funny because like, yeah,you could say, okay, how did these
(07:20):
parents, they're not in the creative fieldhow it is, you know,
how do I wind up doing whatI was doing as a teenager? But
a lot of it was my dad, honestly,
who got me into jazz, got me into,
you know, music and
just seeing him interactwith some of that technology.
(07:42):
I mean, he would build computers, right?
When I was a kid.
So it was always kind of around.
I was just always fascinated.
I remember going into RadioShack,his seven year old just wanting to play
with every little gadget I could find.
So I was always into technology.
(08:03):
Yeah.
So what did you thinkyou were going to do with this combo? So.
So, you know, you would think, okay,
he's going to go to music school, he'sgoing to become a musician or whatever.
That was never in the plan.
Never wanted to dothat, never, never, never.
I just
(08:23):
I thinkthere was more fear than anything else.
I entered colleges. Poli sci major.
Oh, that's. It. I lied.
I loveI have friends who are policy majors,
but that definitely isa business is a strategically safe.
Different and different.
Yeah, because, you know, I was intothe West Wing and all that, right?
(08:44):
So, you know, yeah.
It just really influencedso many people's lives.
I should go. And I am.
I know.
I want Aaron Sorkin to write my writemy daily conversations.
He's the best. He's he'sliterally the best.
But maybe I did really wellfirst semester.
But I'm, you know, one semester in,
(09:06):
I was like, I'm bored.
You know, this isn't exciting.
I don't want to do this.
And so I was like, okay,I want to start my career now.
I actually want to start.
I was 18. It was January 2009.
I was like, I'm ready to go.
So I found a couple of internships.
(09:27):
I didn't I didn't have anyone make callsfor me to get into the music business
or anything like that.
I mean, I knew enough based on connectionsto the jazz world
where if I wantedto work in jazz specifically.
Knowingwhere you're going, that's a power play.
You know.
(09:47):
So I got
I was 18 and I got two jobs.
First was I was on the radio
at the Jazz
and classical station in Philadelphia,WRTI.
Not a studentstation, actual radio station.
The GM of the station had seen me playand knew that I knew jazz.
(10:11):
And he actually hired me to be on the air
for three m to 6 a.m. shift.
I was going to say with the kidon graveyard -- put him on the overnight.
Yeah, I was on graveyard.
Sometimes I did 12 to 3,sometimes did 3 to 6, etc.
They did like four weeks of board uptraining and then boom, I was on.
And then in parallel I found a PR firm,
(10:35):
like a national PR firmthat you know, worked with.
Some of my favorite musicians
based
in the Philly area just happened to be,
ironically, this PR firm
was in a part of Philadelphia
that was literally down the street
(10:55):
from where my parents had been married
like 20 something years earlier,and my grandparents had a house.
So I'm Jewish.
We call that basher. Meant to be,I guess, right?
Synchronicity at the finest.
Yeah. Yeah, totally.
But you ask, right?
So you're not waiting for permission.
(11:15):
You're not waiting to finish college.
You're making the journey.
How did you meet the PR company?
I'm always back into how to make choices.
So to. I can film.
So I.
Okay, I was such a nerd as an 18 year old.
I would go on jazz musicians websitesand look at the contact pages
and see who works with them.
(11:36):
And I found I kept coming across this firmand I looked at the address and, Oh
my God, it's in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania,so I know exactly where that is.
The grandparents live there.
So I sent cold
emails to every single employee, Oh.
I love this. Love, love, love. Okay.
And then one of them responded,and he's like, Sure, you can come in.
(11:57):
We're not like looking for an intern. So.And I didn't have a car.
I didn't have a driver's license.
So I took a train like 40 minuteregional rail and walked three quarters
of a mile in a blizzard for an interview.
For a job that didn't exist.
Yeah, Yeah, totally.
And I was 18 and they were like, Great.
(12:17):
You know,you seem to know a lot about jazz,
you know, when you can, you know,let's bring you in for the summer.
And this is January oh nine.
And then I started my summerinternship February 27, 2009.
This summer,doing careers can be made there, right?
Certainly.
So a lot of people thinkthat they're supposed to be waiting
(12:37):
till they're done with collegeand then they're waiting to apply.
And then, you know,meanwhile there's people
who just walk in the door going, Hi,I know you.
Here's all the research I've done.
Here is why I'm the right personfor it. And magic happens.
Yeah, sure doesn't happen in the fifthone happens.
But yeah, yeah.
I worked for free for like
maybe 6 to 8 months and I was.
(13:00):
Here's a thing you might say.
Oh, well, he's privileged,you know, he had family help.
First of. I didn't have family help.
Second of all, I was actually making moneyfrom the overnight radio gig. So
I was doing the
overnight radio gigwhile doing the PR internship.
And and then it turned into a part timejob, then full time job.
(13:21):
And I did that all throughout undergrad.
So I was working full time.
I would do class from 8 to 10.
I again, I didn't have a car driver'slicense till I was 21,
and then I would take the trainand then I would work ten.
I worked like 11 to 7
every day.
And I did that all through undergrad. So.
(13:42):
So working with brands backthen, working with creators back
then, what was marketing like then?
I mean, I, I think of my PR time
was a decade or more earlierwhere most of what we were doing
was emailing people, calling cold, calling
(14:02):
people, following up on press kits,
tracking down who
is doingwould put into their marketing for events.
What was that?
What was the technology and what waswhat was the job?
It was so interesting at that timebecause it was such a weird,
awkward transition in mediaand also the music industry because,
(14:26):
you know, you were seeing the dip of,you know, regional outlets going away.
You were seeing shrinkingand consolidation of,
you know, genrevertical coverage in music.
You were seeing,you know, fewer journalists,
but the journaliststhat they're covering a lot more.
And then you had the whole thingthat was social
(14:51):
and blogs and message boards and,
you know, direct to consumer and guerrillagrassroots, online camp and influencers.
Facebook, it called influencers.
They weren't influencers.
They were, you know, people who werereally passionate about something that,
you know, influenced other people.
Yeah.
So like, I remember in oh nine, like doingface targeted Facebook ads for shows
(15:15):
and doing weird promotions with, you know,landing pages that were made on like,
you know, like Max, you know,
DIY website builders and like,
I remember like doing
press releases where you would set up
like clips for like streamingand excerpts of the music,
(15:39):
you know,But this was before Spotify, and it.
Was a way to, in your case, to sonic.
Bids and yeah, totally.
It was a weird, awkward time.
But like I'd say,
what helped get me in the door
was a lot of transition in mediaand just a lot of experimentation.
No one knewanything of what they were doing
(16:02):
digitally because, you.
Know, we're still at this stage.
I had stopped, so I stoppedbecause I was like, okay, I need to
I didn't want to be perceivedas the person who was like, okay,
I'm going to use this jobto help my playing for all the musicians
and going to get to know I was like,my dad always like, you know,
(16:25):
you have to like,immerse yourself and put yourself in
the way.
Like if you need to operate as a businessperson, yet you got to lock in.
So I, I didn't want to play anymore.
I hung that up and I dedicated myself to,
to PR and what's funny.
So I didn't know what PR was,but I was a really famous going.
(16:49):
You don't know it.
No, no. No one does.
But here, here's what's interesting.
So math wasn't my strongest suitgrowing up.
Writing wasand I was the editor of my school paper.
And the qualities that you need
or needed to be in communicationsor a publicist,
I just by chance possessed those qualities
(17:11):
and I stumbled into ithonestly without even knowing that.
Yeah, like as a comms majorfor undergrad, that's perfect for, for me.
And it's funny, so
the job actually,I wasn't a communications
major in undergraduntil I started as a publicist.
(17:32):
I switched, but
oh, like if you look at the macroof the evolution, it really started
for a passion for jazz in musicthat led to a passion for PR.
And that passion for PR, really like withchanging media, pushed me for a passion
for new ways of looking at integratedmarketing, digital marketing, etc.
(17:56):
That then that led to another jobthat was a proper marketing job
where I really got to controla lot of true direct to consumer at scale.
So that was. Yes.
And that was that was Blue Note.
And of course, Jazz Blue Notetotally makes sense.
How did you make that happen?
Did you walk in the doorin saying you should hire me?
(18:16):
No. At that point I had relationshipsthat I developed and, you know,
one thing led to another and got connectedto the owner of Blue Note
through a friend who was workingthere, got a job there.
And at that pointI had five years of experience.
(18:37):
I was, say, Sammy, known to an extent in
whatever that small jazz circle was or is.
But yeah,the blender job really allowed me to flex
marketing, you know, and real PR at scale.
I mean, it's an international brand and,and it really opened my eyes
to, you know, somethingtruly consumer facing.
(19:00):
It's interesting when you're doing
I was doing artistPR right out of festival PR whatever
at the firm
you know it's not like
it's not true consumer brand like yeah
people know who artists are,but it's you know it was smaller scale.
Yeah, great jazz musicians.
But when you work for a companylike the Blue Note, you know,
(19:23):
that's when you get into okay,like people actually know this brand.
A lot of people, even people outside of,you know, core music
because it's a destinationin New York City, right?
So I really got to flex to marketing chopsto be able to control,
you know, not just PR and communicationstrategy for that company, but,
(19:45):
you know, how you market to individuals,
how you leverage own touch pointsto, you know,
spark action among a constituencyor acquire new customers.
Right.
Or listen. To customers. Right.
So yeah. Totally 100%.
You've got a long thread to pulland sort of what as the business around
(20:08):
you is changing and musicand the tech around it
that that it'snot just an individual event action
and then knowing the press for thatgeography it's really a longer thread.
Yeah for sure.
And I was what was really interesting is
what started really opening my eyesto that broader world that is marketing
(20:32):
brand development was I was involvedin a lot of the company expansion.
So when, for example, the company
opened venues in Hawaii in China,
I got to lead the integrated
marketing and comms rollout for that.
Obviously different partnersin those two markets and multinational
(20:54):
launch, you know, customersin in different markets.
And you know, that really started
getting me interestedin a world outside of music, honestly,
into general kind of brand developmentfrom a global perspective.
And I'm sure you saw that I left L.A..
(21:15):
I was going to say for a guy who was just
jazz, just jazz music, music.
Great. Yeah, yeah.
I got really tired of it.
And there was one specific
experiencethat really opened my eyes to so that
that rollout for Hawaii in Napa, Hawaiiin China now was wild.
(21:36):
But yeah.
Well,I did the blue note Napa and Brazil to say
I did all of those.
I got connected to folksat the New York Stock Exchange
because I was trying to get a closingbell,
triple, you know,and ultimately I did when I came back.
And we'll get to that.
But I remember I toured the floor
(21:58):
in May 2015.
I've been a couple of times, but that wasthe first time and I was just in all
during the floor of the stock exchange.
And that's what really got me interested
in a world outside of that small worldthat I was operating in.
So I went to greatand I wasn't there for long.
(22:19):
I was working on some incredible projects,so I did the PR
for the National Park ServiceCentennial Campaign,
which was awesome.
I did some work with Cannon and RonHoward,
you know, on some branded entertainmentintegrated
marketing campaigns and
honestly, without that experience,I wouldn't be where I am today
(22:42):
because I just opened my eyesto everything that I needed to connect
the dots to be able to come back to BlueNote, after which I did,
and build what I builtto actually get the job that I have now
and really have the experiencethat I have.
No, and.
I love how you frame thatbecause for a lot of people
they think that it's a linear,a linear pathway
(23:03):
and not kind of a repurposingthat I keep drawing with my hands.
For the people who are not seeing this
or who are listening to itand watching it on YouTube, that
there tends to be almost a replica
or a looping backto to real sort of build skills.
So you came to Sony
with a promise for themand for you to, to do what?
(23:26):
What is what is kind of your joy of thisright now. So
I, I had a
a long standing relationship with Sonybefore I started.
So when I came back to Blue Note,I built a business with In Blue
that aligned Blue Notewith different brands
for business venturesand brand marketing activities.
(23:48):
And the biggest one that I didwas a partnership between Blue Note
and Sony Corp headquarters to open a venuecalled Sony Hall in Times Square.
So I had this idea with Blue Note.
We were thinking about opening a venueat the time,
a new venue in New York,and I said, Well, what if we make it
because I had my PR hat on?
(24:08):
Okay.
But it was also from a marketing it's downperspective.
If you open a venue,what's distinctive about it?
What's the storywith the connective tissue?
How how are you goingto really distinguish yourself?
What's going to be different about itcompared to say, okay, it's another venue
in New York and I just kept coming backto technology, right?
What where is the live experience going?
(24:31):
Who could we align with to tell
a unique storyand offer something unique to customers?
And I got connected to Sony Corp in 2017,
and within less than a yearwe did a deal and opened Sony Hall.
And so I was working across the company
for almost two years
(24:51):
on the Blue Note side,
creating opportunitiesto activate and integrate within,
you know, the Blue Note ecosystemand Sony Hall four for Sony.
And they were looking for.
So this division that I work for,the sound team was looking for someone
as they were expanding their activitiesand they knew me and
(25:14):
you know, it's funny.
Yeah.
I mean it just it happened.
And they're like, Yeah, let's
do you want to work for us?
So let me just didn't exist.This job didn't exist.
It was
there was no you know, it's funny, Iprobably shouldn't have been saying this.
Technically, I don't think I applied.
(25:35):
But have you played foranything that you've done?
Gray I applied for Okay.
Yeah,
that's actually interesting deal Media.
I didn't apply for Deal Media.
I didn't apply for a Blue Note.
I didn't apply for Gray.
I applied for
(25:57):
and I've only applied for one joband that was great.
Well, yeah,So let's shift gears into innovation.
So yeah, so a lot of people tend to thinkthe innovators are the creatives.
The innovators might be the
engineers creating the new product.
You been innovating aroundbrand connections, activations,
(26:19):
but now you're in an innovating spacealso.
So what is your current lens on
innovation in personal audio
and also innovation overallas it's happening right now.
It's really the the knocking downof boundaries and limitations.
(26:40):
That's really what it comes back to.
And I can cite a couple different examplesselfishly for some of the things
that we're working on, whether you'reinnovating and pushing the boundaries
of audio experience to do morein the canvas that you have as a creator.
So when you look at spatial audio,363 Audi audio,
for example, or Atmos or whatever,to be able to expand those limitations
(27:06):
that existed from normal stereo to do more
with your creative canvas, I.
Wanted to share because this is an area,first of all, of my heart beat,
but also some people may know of Atmos,
they may know of of Sony 30, 63,but they possibly don't.
I think the flag goes up of spatial audio.
(27:27):
They don't yet get it.
So can you dig a little deeper? Sure. So
we've been listening to music in stereofor the past 40 years.
It's left channel, right channel.
Everything you've listened tofor decades has been stereo.
You may not even know it,but it's pretty much been stereo
unless you've been in someone'sreally nice den with a bunch of speakers
(27:51):
that's probably not stereo,that's five one.
You hear certain things togetheron the left side,
certain things together on the right side,and there's no depth, there's no
element where you feel like you're
surrounded by the music spatial.
What that does is gives you, in essence,a true sense of space.
(28:14):
When you hear thingsa little bit more precisely,
you might hearcertain instruments in certain locations
that you didn't hear before,so you might hear bass
in one section of your headphonesand see vocals
in another section of your headphones,and you feel enveloped in the music.
That's essentially what spatial audio is.
(28:37):
So I'm still listening with my two ears,of course, and I'm probably listening
that devices on my two years,but there is the perception of items
within it moving in front of me behind me
by using
placement.
Yeah, exactly.
It's it'sa mixing process at the end of the day.
(28:58):
So when music is createdfor those don't know,
for those of you who might not be aware,
you know, you record music, you
then need to mix it in a particular wayto get the levels right and sound right,
and then you master it to refine,you know, the work.
And then that's a finished product.
So, you know, after music's recorded,you have all these different
(29:21):
sounds that have been recorded
that make up what is called a mix,and then you can mix that content
most mixes
have been stereo, but with spatialyou can take the individual
sounds into your pointand place them in different locations.
But it also is for those of uswho are playing in VR and other things,
(29:42):
it actually could be actuallyplacing the audio
in What then is movingobjects in a VR space and air space,
a immersive theater,and that stuff's all growing like crazy.
It's not growing like crazy. It'd be nice.
It was growing like crazy,but it's in a growth mode also.
That's very similar, though.
I mean, so if you look at our software,for example,
(30:04):
it's a ProTools plug plugins.
A ProTools is for those of youwho don't know you know what many,
many folks in recorded musicuse to, to record music.
Right.
And makes musicand there's a plug in for that
for 360 for examplewhere if you enable this plug
in, you see a sphere on the screenand it gives you 100
(30:29):
something locations to placethose different sounds in the sphere.
So you are virtually placing sounds,right?
Similar to what you mightdo for a VR metaverse play.
But yeah, that that's essentiallythe process.
So, you know, back to your your question,I mean, that's one example of
(30:51):
of kind of breaking downsome of the limitations.
Another example outside of spatial audio.
So one thing we actually just announced
literally now and last week, it'ssomething like 360
virtual mixing environment.
And what this is, is
(31:12):
the idea that you can mix in a studiowithout being in studio.
So you can, for example, go into a studio
that you would want to mix inor normally mix in.
We would measureyour listening attributes.
So we would take some measurements.
And then using software, you can literallybe at home with your headphones.
(31:34):
And when you are mixingright as a creator,
you get the same acoustic experienceand profile in the headphones at home
through the software that you wouldas if you were in the studio.
So mixing things in your gesture
was also are youare you measuring the piano as well
or your ear and you're shaping your earto go with it, as well
(31:58):
as the acoustic representationof the actual room space?
100%. You hit the nail on the head.
So that's exactly what we're doing.
And so, for example,if you're a professional engineer
who is traveling the worldin an artist calls and says, Hey,
(32:18):
I need a mics tonight,we're all working in the studio.
I know you can't get there.Can you do this mics?
You could actually do the micsand maintain that acoustic integrity
and authentic experienceas though you're there.
Or let's say you're an aspiring DIYcreator that wants to mix in, you know?
Germano hit Factory, right?
(32:40):
Iconic recording studio in New York City.
But you could never get in there.
There may be a way for youto actually do that.
You might need to come inand get some measurements, but
without, you know,spending hours and hours in the studio,
you might be able to
mix it all, you know,like the people you look up to.
(33:03):
So again, it just comes back to
really breaking down those boundaries
and expanding limits,if you will, that kind of enable
more possibilities and just it'skind of unlocking more creativity.
And just like I think without some ofthese things are more shackles, right?
(33:27):
So we're trying to take more shackles offfor creators
to basically allow them to do more.
I would also say, though, and getting intowhat is changing workflows, right.
So so, you know,
selling B2B marketing, B2B awareness,B2B still is a crowded space
and people are rethinking all the waysthey're working
(33:51):
all the time bywho else is tapping them on the shoulder.
How are you staying with the innovators
who are also having other peopletap them on the shoulder?
It's a really good question.
It's true partnershipat the end of the day.
So, you know, you have toyou can't do this in a vacuum, right?
You need to look at these alliancesfrom a true collaboration perspective.
(34:16):
So, you know, when we're tryingto scale these technologies, right,
we are working with those
at the forefront of their fields
to really better understandthe application of those technologies
to what those masters do,
and then work with those mastersto spread the word.
(34:39):
And you could say, Oh, well, isn'tthat a fancy word for their influencers?
No, they actually aren't,because influencers aren't
necessarilygiving input on product development.
So do you have a physical labthat that that's music and audio
creators and technicianscome into to work with you guys?
Is there kind of a a physical workspaceor play space or tinker space or,
(35:03):
or are you guys going into other people'sworkspaces
to kind of see digital workflowand physical spaces?
Do you have anthropologists on staffkind of sit in through other people's
creative processes?
We it's a really good question.
We generally I mean, I've seen itboth ways.
(35:23):
We have folks that come to Tokyo, right?
Everyone,I mean, who doesn't want to go to Tokyo.
So we're happy to host people and we do,
but we spend a lot of time in the fieldbecause at the end of the day,
like this is it's you're not going to haveAndy Warhol come to your place.
You know, you're going to go to Andy.
With the food and alcohol is.
(35:44):
But that's I'm sure sure.
You're going to go to the creator, right?
You're going to go to them.
Understand their element
and understand what they need to do,what they do.
So our team spent a lot of timegoing to creators and
and again, keep in mind, I'm just talkingabout one side of the business.
(36:06):
I'm just talking about the pro side.
There's a wholenother side of the business
we haven't even talked about.
That's a consumer side.
So because again,what's interesting about Sony is,
especially comparedto some of our competitors
and in this general category,and something I'm really proud of
is when you look at music and musicexperience, we are truly end to end.
(36:29):
You know, it's rare to find a company
where we make the gearthat's used in the studio
by the creators and then providetechnology for mixers, etc.,
And then have hardwarethat's also used by end consumers as well.
And again, that's
even separate from owning a recordlabel, etc..
(36:51):
I'm just talking about the coreaudio business, right?
It's very rare to see that,
to have that role in the endto end creative consumption process.
Does that make the
marketing harder, though, and the and theand the thinking about innovation
because you've got the thethe big Sony brand, even Sony Audio brand
where people who make it eitherstuck in old ways of thinking or not
(37:16):
see the innovations because they're buyingthe end consumer good
that is more mass marketedor they don't see the innovative side.
I mean is
how do you sort ofand you've spent a lot of time
looking at brand points of viewwith other folks as well.
How do you keep a brandfresh and innovative as well as trusted?
(37:37):
That's an excellent question.
And something that we discuss quite a bit.
And we are taking certain actionsto address that.
And it's all I mean,it is part of it is how you approached
the integrated business development sideto join these things together.
And some of it is
(37:58):
the marketing communication side in termsof how you're telling the story.
So when you look at partnerships
as you can't think aboutand I'm speaking in general terms, right,
you can'tyou can't think of things as siloed.
You have to look at what do I have,what what chess pieces do I have
and how do these all connect?
And then when you'relooking at partnerships, you know,
(38:20):
what is that through line and connectivetissue to the various businesses
that demonstratea true integrated partnership
to develop the brandon consumer and professional?
And then on the marketing side,same thing.
You know,what is the underlying message, right?
That carries over intoand what do we represent as a brand
(38:42):
and what do our products representbut really as a brand, Right?
What do we stand for in this space?
And then how do we connect thedots in how we storytelling
across differenttouchpoints to its audiences more.
Than just like your dad waswhen you were growing up,
that line of their house and everything.
So that's one.
(39:04):
So that's here's what's interesting.
That's one segment though.
So on the consumer side,
we might need more people like my dadand other customers as well.
But we're also working later first, too.
So at the end of the day,
and I think you'll see more of this,right, in terms of what we're doing,
(39:26):
if you look at some of our Marcumcontent recently, it's so creator focused.
I mean, we are going in a marketon the consumer side
with artists like Souza and Collideand Whitney Houston.
And these arethe faces of what we're doing.
And it's not from a celebrity endorsementperspective at all.
(39:50):
We have no interest in doing that.
All of these activities are realpartnerships with their respective teams,
and the artists are getting involved.
If they're alive andand if they're not alive,
the estates are getting involved in how we
elevate the music experiences for fans.
(40:11):
And you'll seesome very interesting things this year
in terms of what we have coming down
the pike that also do representa lot of innovation.
But it brings back to the essence of what
music experience is supposed to be.
And we're really leaningin, you know, is is a brand
that is for music
(40:34):
from an audio experience perspective.
So it's yeah, that we're thinking about itend to end basically.
So so you are yourself a jazz
fan, an audio file, a technical geek
separate from the adventuresand innovations at Sony.
What might be a couple other thingsyou're excited about that you're
(40:55):
either seeing coming up the pikeor that you see need to come up the pike.
That's a man you have great questions.
I'm inspired by.
First, we feast on listening,creating great questions.
Sorry, I'm a.
Visitor is really,really, really great questions.
I want to reflect on this for a minute.
(41:16):
I mean, this is going to beI hope it's not
a cliché answer.
I am absolutely petrifiedbut completely fascinated
by what's going on with A.I.,and it's really, really, really scary.
So we are presently.
Recording this in April of 2023,
(41:38):
after the week of the weekendand Drake A.I.
then, then blew up with songs
and the question of if if UMG,
who has who has who has donetakedowns on all this stuff.
But what then are the roads to stand onif you're actually having a new track
(41:59):
with someone who is identifying as A.I.
but represent Drake in the weekendand the Rihanna work and every
this has been a big weekendfor this question.
Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
And that's just in one industry, right?
Yeah.
So, like,
you have to think about every industryand, you know, today's headline April 18,
2023 on LinkedIn was
(42:21):
how chat about he is analyzing stocks.
And when I was
reading a couple of days ago about howOpenai one of one of their platforms
is taking databases
of clothing patternswith professional B2B side
so that literally goI want you know, this, this, this, this
(42:42):
and the pattern pops up at the other endand can go right to the manufacturing
and you're kind of going maybethere were people on that entire grade.
Yeah, that were the oneswho created patterns and
and you know, where, where then areall those creative roles And then what
what do they need as to equipmentto manifest the next stage of this stuff.
(43:03):
But yeah.
Yeah.
It's scary as a tactic.
I am completely astonishedand fascinated by it.
And I spend every day on Bardand chat CBT in some way or another.
To be honest.
One amazing application for me has been
(43:23):
it's actually been a
great learning toolas I'm going through my MBA.
If there's something I don't understandfully,
you know,it doesn't always get something right.
And at the end of the day, you know,I still have to take tests myself
and you can't use it for exams, etc..
But when you're when you're studyingand there's a concept you don't understand
(43:45):
to be able to plug in, you know, what is X
me, you know, on a balance sheet, right?
That is pretty amazing
to have it spit out right awayor and look at how you sell for,
you know, a correlationcoefficient in statistics course, right?
(44:05):
So as a learning tool,it's actually been amazing.
Well, if you have to do a competitiveanalysis for either job or class,
you can pre do the competitive analysisand then ask the question and then you go,
Well, there's three companies
I didn't realize and this confirmseverything I already did.
I'm workingright now with a group of people.
We're building a VR escapefor a museum game.
(44:27):
Long story, but half the team is usingsome elements of generative
AI to supplement their workand then bringing that back to the group
saying, Here'swhat I got out of generative
AI that I've then added in gameplay,competitive analysis,
puzzles, whatever that.
So yeah, it you know, it's interestingthinking about the I always go
(44:48):
so now what's the competitor of advantage
if all of uscan be playing with this stuff
and is it play well or is it replacement.
Right.
Well okayso this is something really interesting
and this comes back to some of the stuffI've worked on in my MBA
in this like analytics sectionthat I'm in now, and it comes back to,
(45:12):
you know, if we all have the
same data or same tools,the differentiation is the
the human creativity, resource and capitalto interpret and apply at that point.
So yeah, yeah, totally.
So it's it you know, there'salways going to be a human element.
It's just wherethat margin of error is closed
(45:33):
is, is quickly diminishing
and yeah,
I mean, I'm just completely fascinatedby it.
I'm just blown away and
I feel like right nowthere's definitely major, major
tectonic plates shifting in the Internet
(45:54):
as we've known it for the past 20 years.
And new people who are become creators
because they will have piecesof that puzzle under the hood,
which has been under the hood in toolsfor quite a while.
Right? Yeah.
I'm assuming there's some machine elementsin your 360 hour product.
I'm assuming that there is,you know, pieces of the puzzle
in a lot of things people haven't seenand won't see under the hood.
(46:16):
But I do think it's going to opena whole new series.
Like in drug discovery.
Yeah, a whole new series of combinationsof things we haven't seen yet.
We have. Talked.
For a while now.
We're at the end of our conversation.
Jordi,is there anything we haven't mentioned
that you'd want to makesure we put on the table?
I thinkyou've covered most of it, to be honest.
I you know,I wish we had like another 2 hours to talk
(46:41):
because I've really, really enjoyedthis particular conversation.
I wish we could do a part two.
We totally can do a particularI did sign up for a part two
and we'll look back and say,What was that generative A.I.
thing that back then or you know,what's happening.
I would love to talk internationallyin many ways.
You have a nice lens into thatand innovation in music.
(47:04):
By the time this goes live,we'll have launched actually
with one of my entities,a whole Spain innovation program.
And there's interesting thingshappening around the world that
we tend to talk from a
but for lack of a better term
sort of Western bias to what's happeningwith innovation in music.
Be great to talk about that becauseyou guys touch all of those elements.
(47:28):
So that would be great to follow up on.
Jordi, do you need peopleto reach out to you for anything?
Who would you like to reach outand how can they reach out?
I would sayLinkedIn is a great resource to be honest,
so you can type in my name j
o, r, d, y, f, or d on LinkedIn.
I should pop up hopefully.
(47:49):
But that may be shown that.
Maybe you need chatbots toto send you there.
I don't know.
To remind you that I talked to and tell.
But, you know,if you are fascinated by this space,
I mean, what I love aboutit is kind of multifaceted space I'm in.
(48:09):
So I always say like entertainment, music,marketing and technology is kind of
like the the trilogy for me, like the,you know, the hat trick.
So if you're interested in any of thosespaces, want to talk more, great.
If you're a potential businesspartner, great.
If you're a creator, great.
I'm pretty open,
(48:30):
so I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
But that's a.
Whole other thing,because you've got a new baby coming soon.
By the time this goes live,it will have come about in the world.
So hopefully not going away.
So, yes.
Knock on wood,everything's good in the world. Yep.
Excellent journey.
Thanks for joining us.
And we will do a part two.
Yes, thank you.
(48:50):
Appreciate it.
Welcome to Innovating Music.
This is your host, Gigi Johnson.
I'm excited.
With today's episode,we have Jordy Freed, who comes to us
from the Sony Corporation of Americafrom the Video and Sound Products
department is head of partnermarketing and strategy branded Biz Dev.
He started out in saxophoneand up from Philly going
(00:21):
into public relationsand radio ended up at Blue Note,
then Gray advertising back at Blue Note,and now it's Sony
and he'll ship a bit of the journeypath of how he got there.
And we'll talk toward the end about thingslike artificial intelligence with music.
We pledged at the endto do a second episode, but enjoy
this first episode with Jordy Freed.
(00:45):
I appreciate someone who has doneso much in so many creative fields
and is someone myself who started in PR.
I am very happy for someone who is coming
from PRinto leadership in a music tech company
and as someone who also went to USC, I'mexcited for someone who is going to USC.
(01:07):
So we have some resonant spaces here.
So can you sharebecause things you're doing a lot of our
our listeners won't know anything about,which always is fun for me.
Can you just start out with
what you're doing at Sonyand what the product set is there?
(01:27):
Yeah.
So for context, obviouslySony is a very big company, right?
If we had a lot of different businesses.
So I sit within Sony Corporation ofAmerica and that's the US holding company.
So all of our different USentertainment businesses,
Sony Music, Sony Pictures,
PlayStation, they're all under SonyCorporation of America.
(01:49):
It's the extension of Tokyo headquarters,like the mothership
and at Sony Corporation of America.
I am director and head of Brandand Business Development
and also had a part in marketingand strategy
for our personal entertainment business.
And you're probably wondering,so so what is that?
Is everything a personal entertainment?
(02:09):
What is that?
That is specifically Sony's businessin the audio and sound space.
So but when you look at Phil.
I mean, of course, that's not me,that's not film.
That's not.
Games.
It's so when you think about headphones,
speakers, pro audio, microphone and studio
(02:33):
headphones, etc.,anything kind of mobile sound
related or professionalsound related, that whole business
I'm leading the brand for and businessdevelopment
and how we work with partners,which you know, for me is someone
growing up I always had Sony in the housethrough family, etc.
It's kind of an honor to have this role.
(02:56):
I mean, it's one of the mosticonic businesses within Sony.
I mean, when you think of how Sonystarted, audio was one of the first.
Right.
And and it touches so many elementsof creativity in the music space.
So to kind of be in a role to shapethe brand as it sits today
(03:17):
and where we want to go and really developthat business is pretty incredible.
I'm not going to lie.
Now some people come into these spaces
and you were commenting aboutwhen you were younger,
but some people come into these spacesas tech geeks, which I was not.
I'm totally not.
(03:37):
I became one as an older personand some came as musicians
and some came as people
who would be playing with devices
or be building concerts for their friends.
What is the I'ma 15 year old Jordy doing with his life.
Were you any of those?
(04:00):
I was a crossbetween a tech and a musician,
so I'm totally in the right spaceright now. Oh.
What are you doing in musicas a young person?
So I was a believe it or not,I was a really serious saxophonist
and really into jazz.
And I was gigging a lot and had a band
and, you know, I was building websites,
(04:22):
you know,as a 15 year old for, for myself.
And you know, so I and yeah, I mean,
I was just really into jazz at the timeand I was like super into it.
This was outside of Philadelphia. Okay.
So I grew up outside of Philadelphia,born born in Philly, raised right
(04:43):
outside of Philly, neighboring suburb,literally 2 minutes from the
the county line of Philly County
and the first suburb.
Yeah.
So so I was a serious musicianas a teenager.
And your parents, what did they do?
(05:03):
My mother had a couple different jobs.
She was
she was a paralegal.
At one point, she worked for MorganStanley at one point as an associate.
My father is a structural engineer.
Okay.
So, yeah,
some people come from creative families,but they go, Oh, yeah, it's perfect.
(05:24):
Go into creative work.
Your family is like saxophone playing kid
and techie building websites and thought,Our son is lost.
So I thought,our son will be going to go do so.
Okay, So
to set this up,although my dad's a structural engineer,
super creative person in his passionfor music and technology,
(05:49):
he was obsessed with Sony, believe itor not, everything in my house is Sony.
Growing up, everything I knew.
Right from the get go.
This was I was actually really trapped.
It's super, super weird.
So, you know, I love to tell thisthis anecdote in interviews
that I've been doing.
So he he's an audio file.
(06:12):
I mean, like he would notif it wasn't pristine audio quality,
he wouldn't listen.
He was totally sworn against the MP three.
He had CDs, S-A CD player,he had Macintosh
tube amps, he had crazy five one set ups
and it's funny because some of mycolleagues on the tech side
(06:36):
worked on the development of the CD
and my dad knew of then throughlike message boards and their colleagues.
And technically it's the same panelthat pays me.
And, you know, he was just really asidefrom just Sony in general, particularly
Sony Audio,I mean, he I just grew up having
gold discs around the house that,
(06:59):
you know, he was into.
So average person nowhasn't heard anything better than an MP3.
So it's sort of an interesting lens onwhere we go to as a culture.
But yeah. 100%.
So you know, it, it, it'sjust really funny how Well,
maybe not funny because like, yeah,you could say, okay, how did these
(07:20):
parents, they're not in the creative fieldhow it is, you know,
how do I wind up doing whatI was doing as a teenager? But
a lot of it was my dad, honestly,
who got me into jazz, got me into,
you know, music and
just seeing him interactwith some of that technology.
(07:42):
I mean, he would build computers, right?
When I was a kid.
So it was always kind of around.
I was just always fascinated.
I remember going into RadioShack,his seven year old just wanting to play
with every little gadget I could find.
So I was always into technology.
(08:03):
Yeah.
So what did you thinkyou were going to do with this combo? So.
So, you know, you would think, okay,
he's going to go to music school, he'sgoing to become a musician or whatever.
That was never in the plan.
Never wanted to dothat, never, never, never.
I just
(08:23):
I thinkthere was more fear than anything else.
I entered colleges. Poli sci major.
Oh, that's. It. I lied.
I loveI have friends who are policy majors,
but that definitely isa business is a strategically safe.
Different and different.
Yeah, because, you know, I was intothe West Wing and all that, right?
(08:44):
So, you know, yeah.
It just really influencedso many people's lives.
I should go. And I am.
I know.
I want Aaron Sorkin to write my writemy daily conversations.
He's the best. He's he'sliterally the best.
But maybe I did really wellfirst semester.
But I'm, you know, one semester in,
(09:06):
I was like, I'm bored.
You know, this isn't exciting.
I don't want to do this.
And so I was like, okay,I want to start my career now.
I actually want to start.
I was 18. It was January 2009.
I was like, I'm ready to go.
So I found a couple of internships.
(09:27):
I didn't I didn't have anyone make callsfor me to get into the music business
or anything like that.
I mean, I knew enough based on connectionsto the jazz world
where if I wantedto work in jazz specifically.
Knowingwhere you're going, that's a power play.
You know.
(09:47):
So I got
I was 18 and I got two jobs.
First was I was on the radio
at the Jazz
and classical station in Philadelphia,WRTI.
Not a studentstation, actual radio station.
The GM of the station had seen me playand knew that I knew jazz.
(10:11):
And he actually hired me to be on the air
for three m to 6 a.m. shift.
I was going to say with the kidon graveyard -- put him on the overnight.
Yeah, I was on graveyard.
Sometimes I did 12 to 3,sometimes did 3 to 6, etc.
They did like four weeks of board uptraining and then boom, I was on.
And then in parallel I found a PR firm,
(10:35):
like a national PR firmthat you know, worked with.
Some of my favorite musicians
based
in the Philly area just happened to be,
ironically, this PR firm
was in a part of Philadelphia
that was literally down the street
(10:55):
from where my parents had been married
like 20 something years earlier,and my grandparents had a house.
So I'm Jewish.
We call that basher. Meant to be,I guess, right?
Synchronicity at the finest.
Yeah. Yeah, totally.
But you ask, right?
So you're not waiting for permission.
(11:15):
You're not waiting to finish college.
You're making the journey.
How did you meet the PR company?
I'm always back into how to make choices.
So to. I can film.
So I.
Okay, I was such a nerd as an 18 year old.
I would go on jazz musicians websitesand look at the contact pages
and see who works with them.
(11:36):
And I found I kept coming across this firmand I looked at the address and, Oh
my God, it's in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania,so I know exactly where that is.
The grandparents live there.
So I sent cold
emails to every single employee, Oh.
I love this. Love, love, love. Okay.
And then one of them responded,and he's like, Sure, you can come in.
(11:57):
We're not like looking for an intern. So.And I didn't have a car.
I didn't have a driver's license.
So I took a train like 40 minuteregional rail and walked three quarters
of a mile in a blizzard for an interview.
For a job that didn't exist.
Yeah, Yeah, totally.
And I was 18 and they were like, Great.
(12:17):
You know,you seem to know a lot about jazz,
you know, when you can, you know,let's bring you in for the summer.
And this is January oh nine.
And then I started my summerinternship February 27, 2009.
This summer,doing careers can be made there, right?
Certainly.
So a lot of people thinkthat they're supposed to be waiting
(12:37):
till they're done with collegeand then they're waiting to apply.
And then, you know,meanwhile there's people
who just walk in the door going, Hi,I know you.
Here's all the research I've done.
Here is why I'm the right personfor it. And magic happens.
Yeah, sure doesn't happen in the fifthone happens.
But yeah, yeah.
I worked for free for like
maybe 6 to 8 months and I was.
(13:00):
Here's a thing you might say.
Oh, well, he's privileged,you know, he had family help.
First of. I didn't have family help.
Second of all, I was actually making moneyfrom the overnight radio gig. So
I was doing the
overnight radio gigwhile doing the PR internship.
And and then it turned into a part timejob, then full time job.
(13:21):
And I did that all throughout undergrad.
So I was working full time.
I would do class from 8 to 10.
I again, I didn't have a car driver'slicense till I was 21,
and then I would take the trainand then I would work ten.
I worked like 11 to 7
every day.
And I did that all through undergrad. So.
(13:42):
So working with brands backthen, working with creators back
then, what was marketing like then?
I mean, I, I think of my PR time
was a decade or more earlierwhere most of what we were doing
was emailing people, calling cold, calling
(14:02):
people, following up on press kits,
tracking down who
is doingwould put into their marketing for events.
What was that?
What was the technology and what waswhat was the job?
It was so interesting at that timebecause it was such a weird,
awkward transition in mediaand also the music industry because,
(14:26):
you know, you were seeing the dip of,you know, regional outlets going away.
You were seeing shrinkingand consolidation of,
you know, genrevertical coverage in music.
You were seeing,you know, fewer journalists,
but the journaliststhat they're covering a lot more.
And then you had the whole thingthat was social
(14:51):
and blogs and message boards and,
you know, direct to consumer and guerrillagrassroots, online camp and influencers.
Facebook, it called influencers.
They weren't influencers.
They were, you know, people who werereally passionate about something that,
you know, influenced other people.
Yeah.
So like, I remember in oh nine, like doingface targeted Facebook ads for shows
(15:15):
and doing weird promotions with, you know,landing pages that were made on like,
you know, like Max, you know,
DIY website builders and like,
I remember like doing
press releases where you would set up
like clips for like streamingand excerpts of the music,
(15:39):
you know,But this was before Spotify, and it.
Was a way to, in your case, to sonic.
Bids and yeah, totally.
It was a weird, awkward time.
But like I'd say,
what helped get me in the door
was a lot of transition in mediaand just a lot of experimentation.
No one knewanything of what they were doing
(16:02):
digitally because, you.
Know, we're still at this stage.
I had stopped, so I stoppedbecause I was like, okay, I need to
I didn't want to be perceivedas the person who was like, okay,
I'm going to use this jobto help my playing for all the musicians
and going to get to know I was like,my dad always like, you know,
(16:25):
you have to like,immerse yourself and put yourself in
the way.
Like if you need to operate as a businessperson, yet you got to lock in.
So I, I didn't want to play anymore.
I hung that up and I dedicated myself to,
to PR and what's funny.
So I didn't know what PR was,but I was a really famous going.
(16:49):
You don't know it.
No, no. No one does.
But here, here's what's interesting.
So math wasn't my strongest suitgrowing up.
Writing wasand I was the editor of my school paper.
And the qualities that you need
or needed to be in communicationsor a publicist,
I just by chance possessed those qualities
(17:11):
and I stumbled into ithonestly without even knowing that.
Yeah, like as a comms majorfor undergrad, that's perfect for, for me.
And it's funny, so
the job actually,I wasn't a communications
major in undergraduntil I started as a publicist.
(17:32):
I switched, but
oh, like if you look at the macroof the evolution, it really started
for a passion for jazz in musicthat led to a passion for PR.
And that passion for PR, really like withchanging media, pushed me for a passion
for new ways of looking at integratedmarketing, digital marketing, etc.
(17:56):
That then that led to another jobthat was a proper marketing job
where I really got to controla lot of true direct to consumer at scale.
So that was. Yes.
And that was that was Blue Note.
And of course, Jazz Blue Notetotally makes sense.
How did you make that happen?
Did you walk in the doorin saying you should hire me?
(18:16):
No. At that point I had relationshipsthat I developed and, you know,
one thing led to another and got connectedto the owner of Blue Note
through a friend who was workingthere, got a job there.
And at that pointI had five years of experience.
(18:37):
I was, say, Sammy, known to an extent in
whatever that small jazz circle was or is.
But yeah,the blender job really allowed me to flex
marketing, you know, and real PR at scale.
I mean, it's an international brand and,and it really opened my eyes
to, you know, somethingtruly consumer facing.
(19:00):
It's interesting when you're doing
I was doing artistPR right out of festival PR whatever
at the firm
you know it's not like
it's not true consumer brand like yeah
people know who artists are,but it's you know it was smaller scale.
Yeah, great jazz musicians.
But when you work for a companylike the Blue Note, you know,
(19:23):
that's when you get into okay,like people actually know this brand.
A lot of people, even people outside of,you know, core music
because it's a destinationin New York City, right?
So I really got to flex to marketing chopsto be able to control,
you know, not just PR and communicationstrategy for that company, but,
(19:45):
you know, how you market to individuals,
how you leverage own touch pointsto, you know,
spark action among a constituencyor acquire new customers.
Right.
Or listen. To customers. Right.
So yeah. Totally 100%.
You've got a long thread to pulland sort of what as the business around
(20:08):
you is changing and musicand the tech around it
that that it'snot just an individual event action
and then knowing the press for thatgeography it's really a longer thread.
Yeah for sure.
And I was what was really interesting is
what started really opening my eyesto that broader world that is marketing
(20:32):
brand development was I was involvedin a lot of the company expansion.
So when, for example, the company
opened venues in Hawaii in China,
I got to lead the integrated
marketing and comms rollout for that.
Obviously different partnersin those two markets and multinational
(20:54):
launch, you know, customersin in different markets.
And you know, that really started
getting me interestedin a world outside of music, honestly,
into general kind of brand developmentfrom a global perspective.
And I'm sure you saw that I left L.A..
(21:15):
I was going to say for a guy who was just
jazz, just jazz music, music.
Great. Yeah, yeah.
I got really tired of it.
And there was one specific
experiencethat really opened my eyes to so that
that rollout for Hawaii in Napa, Hawaiiin China now was wild.
(21:36):
But yeah.
Well,I did the blue note Napa and Brazil to say
I did all of those.
I got connected to folksat the New York Stock Exchange
because I was trying to get a closingbell,
triple, you know,and ultimately I did when I came back.
And we'll get to that.
But I remember I toured the floor
(21:58):
in May 2015.
I've been a couple of times, but that wasthe first time and I was just in all
during the floor of the stock exchange.
And that's what really got me interested
in a world outside of that small worldthat I was operating in.
So I went to greatand I wasn't there for long.
(22:19):
I was working on some incredible projects,so I did the PR
for the National Park ServiceCentennial Campaign,
which was awesome.
I did some work with Cannon and RonHoward,
you know, on some branded entertainmentintegrated
marketing campaigns and
honestly, without that experience,I wouldn't be where I am today
(22:42):
because I just opened my eyesto everything that I needed to connect
the dots to be able to come back to BlueNote, after which I did,
and build what I builtto actually get the job that I have now
and really have the experiencethat I have.
No, and.
I love how you frame thatbecause for a lot of people
they think that it's a linear,a linear pathway
(23:03):
and not kind of a repurposingthat I keep drawing with my hands.
For the people who are not seeing this
or who are listening to itand watching it on YouTube, that
there tends to be almost a replica
or a looping backto to real sort of build skills.
So you came to Sony
with a promise for themand for you to, to do what?
(23:26):
What is what is kind of your joy of thisright now. So
I, I had a
a long standing relationship with Sonybefore I started.
So when I came back to Blue Note,I built a business with In Blue
that aligned Blue Notewith different brands
for business venturesand brand marketing activities.
(23:48):
And the biggest one that I didwas a partnership between Blue Note
and Sony Corp headquarters to open a venuecalled Sony Hall in Times Square.
So I had this idea with Blue Note.
We were thinking about opening a venueat the time,
a new venue in New York,and I said, Well, what if we make it
because I had my PR hat on?
(24:08):
Okay.
But it was also from a marketing it's downperspective.
If you open a venue,what's distinctive about it?
What's the storywith the connective tissue?
How how are you goingto really distinguish yourself?
What's going to be different about itcompared to say, okay, it's another venue
in New York and I just kept coming backto technology, right?
What where is the live experience going?
(24:31):
Who could we align with to tell
a unique storyand offer something unique to customers?
And I got connected to Sony Corp in 2017,
and within less than a yearwe did a deal and opened Sony Hall.
And so I was working across the company
for almost two years
(24:51):
on the Blue Note side,
creating opportunitiesto activate and integrate within,
you know, the Blue Note ecosystemand Sony Hall four for Sony.
And they were looking for.
So this division that I work for,the sound team was looking for someone
as they were expanding their activitiesand they knew me and
(25:14):
you know, it's funny.
Yeah.
I mean it just it happened.
And they're like, Yeah, let's
do you want to work for us?
So let me just didn't exist.This job didn't exist.
It was
there was no you know, it's funny, Iprobably shouldn't have been saying this.
Technically, I don't think I applied.
(25:35):
But have you played foranything that you've done?
Gray I applied for Okay.
Yeah,
that's actually interesting deal Media.
I didn't apply for Deal Media.
I didn't apply for a Blue Note.
I didn't apply for Gray.
I applied for
(25:57):
and I've only applied for one joband that was great.
Well, yeah,So let's shift gears into innovation.
So yeah, so a lot of people tend to thinkthe innovators are the creatives.
The innovators might be the
engineers creating the new product.
You been innovating aroundbrand connections, activations,
(26:19):
but now you're in an innovating spacealso.
So what is your current lens on
innovation in personal audio
and also innovation overallas it's happening right now.
It's really the the knocking downof boundaries and limitations.
(26:40):
That's really what it comes back to.
And I can cite a couple different examplesselfishly for some of the things
that we're working on, whether you'reinnovating and pushing the boundaries
of audio experience to do morein the canvas that you have as a creator.
So when you look at spatial audio,363 Audi audio,
for example, or Atmos or whatever,to be able to expand those limitations
(27:06):
that existed from normal stereo to do more
with your creative canvas, I.
Wanted to share because this is an area,first of all, of my heart beat,
but also some people may know of Atmos,
they may know of of Sony 30, 63,but they possibly don't.
I think the flag goes up of spatial audio.
(27:27):
They don't yet get it.
So can you dig a little deeper? Sure. So
we've been listening to music in stereofor the past 40 years.
It's left channel, right channel.
Everything you've listened tofor decades has been stereo.
You may not even know it,but it's pretty much been stereo
unless you've been in someone'sreally nice den with a bunch of speakers
(27:51):
that's probably not stereo,that's five one.
You hear certain things togetheron the left side,
certain things together on the right side,and there's no depth, there's no
element where you feel like you're
surrounded by the music spatial.
What that does is gives you, in essence,a true sense of space.
(28:14):
When you hear thingsa little bit more precisely,
you might hearcertain instruments in certain locations
that you didn't hear before,so you might hear bass
in one section of your headphonesand see vocals
in another section of your headphones,and you feel enveloped in the music.
That's essentially what spatial audio is.
(28:37):
So I'm still listening with my two ears,of course, and I'm probably listening
that devices on my two years,but there is the perception of items
within it moving in front of me behind me
by using
placement.
Yeah, exactly.
It's it'sa mixing process at the end of the day.
(28:58):
So when music is createdfor those don't know,
for those of you who might not be aware,
you know, you record music, you
then need to mix it in a particular wayto get the levels right and sound right,
and then you master it to refine,you know, the work.
And then that's a finished product.
So, you know, after music's recorded,you have all these different
(29:21):
sounds that have been recorded
that make up what is called a mix,and then you can mix that content
most mixes
have been stereo, but with spatialyou can take the individual
sounds into your pointand place them in different locations.
But it also is for those of uswho are playing in VR and other things,
(29:42):
it actually could be actuallyplacing the audio
in What then is movingobjects in a VR space and air space,
a immersive theater,and that stuff's all growing like crazy.
It's not growing like crazy. It'd be nice.
It was growing like crazy,but it's in a growth mode also.
That's very similar, though.
I mean, so if you look at our software,for example,
(30:04):
it's a ProTools plug plugins.
A ProTools is for those of youwho don't know you know what many,
many folks in recorded musicuse to, to record music.
Right.
And makes musicand there's a plug in for that
for 360 for examplewhere if you enable this plug
in, you see a sphere on the screenand it gives you 100
(30:29):
something locations to placethose different sounds in the sphere.
So you are virtually placing sounds,right?
Similar to what you mightdo for a VR metaverse play.
But yeah, that that's essentiallythe process.
So, you know, back to your your question,I mean, that's one example of
(30:51):
of kind of breaking downsome of the limitations.
Another example outside of spatial audio.
So one thing we actually just announced
literally now and last week, it'ssomething like 360
virtual mixing environment.
And what this is, is
(31:12):
the idea that you can mix in a studiowithout being in studio.
So you can, for example, go into a studio
that you would want to mix inor normally mix in.
We would measureyour listening attributes.
So we would take some measurements.
And then using software, you can literallybe at home with your headphones.
(31:34):
And when you are mixingright as a creator,
you get the same acoustic experienceand profile in the headphones at home
through the software that you wouldas if you were in the studio.
So mixing things in your gesture
was also are youare you measuring the piano as well
or your ear and you're shaping your earto go with it, as well
(31:58):
as the acoustic representationof the actual room space?
100%. You hit the nail on the head.
So that's exactly what we're doing.
And so, for example,if you're a professional engineer
who is traveling the worldin an artist calls and says, Hey,
(32:18):
I need a mics tonight,we're all working in the studio.
I know you can't get there.Can you do this mics?
You could actually do the micsand maintain that acoustic integrity
and authentic experienceas though you're there.
Or let's say you're an aspiring DIYcreator that wants to mix in, you know?
Germano hit Factory, right?
(32:40):
Iconic recording studio in New York City.
But you could never get in there.
There may be a way for youto actually do that.
You might need to come inand get some measurements, but
without, you know,spending hours and hours in the studio,
you might be able to
mix it all, you know,like the people you look up to.
(33:03):
So again, it just comes back to
really breaking down those boundaries
and expanding limits,if you will, that kind of enable
more possibilities and just it'skind of unlocking more creativity.
And just like I think without some ofthese things are more shackles, right?
(33:27):
So we're trying to take more shackles offfor creators
to basically allow them to do more.
I would also say, though, and getting intowhat is changing workflows, right.
So so, you know,
selling B2B marketing, B2B awareness,B2B still is a crowded space
and people are rethinking all the waysthey're working
(33:51):
all the time bywho else is tapping them on the shoulder.
How are you staying with the innovators
who are also having other peopletap them on the shoulder?
It's a really good question.
It's true partnershipat the end of the day.
So, you know, you have toyou can't do this in a vacuum, right?
You need to look at these alliancesfrom a true collaboration perspective.
(34:16):
So, you know, when we're tryingto scale these technologies, right,
we are working with those
at the forefront of their fields
to really better understandthe application of those technologies
to what those masters do,
and then work with those mastersto spread the word.
(34:39):
And you could say, Oh, well, isn'tthat a fancy word for their influencers?
No, they actually aren't,because influencers aren't
necessarilygiving input on product development.
So do you have a physical labthat that that's music and audio
creators and technicianscome into to work with you guys?
Is there kind of a a physical workspaceor play space or tinker space or,
(35:03):
or are you guys going into other people'sworkspaces
to kind of see digital workflowand physical spaces?
Do you have anthropologists on staffkind of sit in through other people's
creative processes?
We it's a really good question.
We generally I mean, I've seen itboth ways.
(35:23):
We have folks that come to Tokyo, right?
Everyone,I mean, who doesn't want to go to Tokyo.
So we're happy to host people and we do,
but we spend a lot of time in the fieldbecause at the end of the day,
like this is it's you're not going to haveAndy Warhol come to your place.
You know, you're going to go to Andy.
With the food and alcohol is.
(35:44):
But that's I'm sure sure.
You're going to go to the creator, right?
You're going to go to them.
Understand their element
and understand what they need to do,what they do.
So our team spent a lot of timegoing to creators and
and again, keep in mind, I'm just talkingabout one side of the business.
(36:06):
I'm just talking about the pro side.
There's a wholenother side of the business
we haven't even talked about.
That's a consumer side.
So because again,what's interesting about Sony is,
especially comparedto some of our competitors
and in this general category,and something I'm really proud of
is when you look at music and musicexperience, we are truly end to end.
(36:29):
You know, it's rare to find a company
where we make the gearthat's used in the studio
by the creators and then providetechnology for mixers, etc.,
And then have hardwarethat's also used by end consumers as well.
And again, that's
even separate from owning a recordlabel, etc..
(36:51):
I'm just talking about the coreaudio business, right?
It's very rare to see that,
to have that role in the endto end creative consumption process.
Does that make the
marketing harder, though, and the and theand the thinking about innovation
because you've got the thethe big Sony brand, even Sony Audio brand
where people who make it eitherstuck in old ways of thinking or not
(37:16):
see the innovations because they're buyingthe end consumer good
that is more mass marketedor they don't see the innovative side.
I mean is
how do you sort ofand you've spent a lot of time
looking at brand points of viewwith other folks as well.
How do you keep a brandfresh and innovative as well as trusted?
(37:37):
That's an excellent question.
And something that we discuss quite a bit.
And we are taking certain actionsto address that.
And it's all I mean,it is part of it is how you approached
the integrated business development sideto join these things together.
And some of it is
(37:58):
the marketing communication side in termsof how you're telling the story.
So when you look at partnerships
as you can't think aboutand I'm speaking in general terms, right,
you can'tyou can't think of things as siloed.
You have to look at what do I have,what what chess pieces do I have
and how do these all connect?
And then when you'relooking at partnerships, you know,
(38:20):
what is that through line and connectivetissue to the various businesses
that demonstratea true integrated partnership
to develop the brandon consumer and professional?
And then on the marketing side,same thing.
You know,what is the underlying message, right?
That carries over intoand what do we represent as a brand
(38:42):
and what do our products representbut really as a brand, Right?
What do we stand for in this space?
And then how do we connect thedots in how we storytelling
across differenttouchpoints to its audiences more.
Than just like your dad waswhen you were growing up,
that line of their house and everything.
So that's one.
(39:04):
So that's here's what's interesting.
That's one segment though.
So on the consumer side,
we might need more people like my dadand other customers as well.
But we're also working later first, too.
So at the end of the day,
and I think you'll see more of this,right, in terms of what we're doing,
(39:26):
if you look at some of our Marcumcontent recently, it's so creator focused.
I mean, we are going in a marketon the consumer side
with artists like Souza and Collideand Whitney Houston.
And these arethe faces of what we're doing.
And it's not from a celebrity endorsementperspective at all.
(39:50):
We have no interest in doing that.
All of these activities are realpartnerships with their respective teams,
and the artists are getting involved.
If they're alive andand if they're not alive,
the estates are getting involved in how we
elevate the music experiences for fans.
(40:11):
And you'll seesome very interesting things this year
in terms of what we have coming down
the pike that also do representa lot of innovation.
But it brings back to the essence of what
music experience is supposed to be.
And we're really leaningin, you know, is is a brand
that is for music
(40:34):
from an audio experience perspective.
So it's yeah, that we're thinking about itend to end basically.
So so you are yourself a jazz
fan, an audio file, a technical geek
separate from the adventuresand innovations at Sony.
What might be a couple other thingsyou're excited about that you're
(40:55):
either seeing coming up the pikeor that you see need to come up the pike.
That's a man you have great questions.
I'm inspired by.
First, we feast on listening,creating great questions.
Sorry, I'm a.
Visitor is really,really, really great questions.
I want to reflect on this for a minute.
(41:16):
I mean, this is going to beI hope it's not
a cliché answer.
I am absolutely petrifiedbut completely fascinated
by what's going on with A.I.,and it's really, really, really scary.
So we are presently.
Recording this in April of 2023,
(41:38):
after the week of the weekendand Drake A.I.
then, then blew up with songs
and the question of if if UMG,
who has who has who has donetakedowns on all this stuff.
But what then are the roads to stand onif you're actually having a new track
(41:59):
with someone who is identifying as A.I.
but represent Drake in the weekendand the Rihanna work and every
this has been a big weekendfor this question.
Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
And that's just in one industry, right?
Yeah.
So, like,
you have to think about every industryand, you know, today's headline April 18,
2023 on LinkedIn was
(42:21):
how chat about he is analyzing stocks.
And when I was
reading a couple of days ago about howOpenai one of one of their platforms
is taking databases
of clothing patternswith professional B2B side
so that literally goI want you know, this, this, this, this
(42:42):
and the pattern pops up at the other endand can go right to the manufacturing
and you're kind of going maybethere were people on that entire grade.
Yeah, that were the oneswho created patterns and
and you know, where, where then areall those creative roles And then what
what do they need as to equipmentto manifest the next stage of this stuff.
(43:03):
But yeah.
Yeah.
It's scary as a tactic.
I am completely astonishedand fascinated by it.
And I spend every day on Bardand chat CBT in some way or another.
To be honest.
One amazing application for me has been
(43:23):
it's actually been a
great learning toolas I'm going through my MBA.
If there's something I don't understandfully,
you know,it doesn't always get something right.
And at the end of the day, you know,I still have to take tests myself
and you can't use it for exams, etc..
But when you're when you're studyingand there's a concept you don't understand
(43:45):
to be able to plug in, you know, what is X
me, you know, on a balance sheet, right?
That is pretty amazing
to have it spit out right awayor and look at how you sell for,
you know, a correlationcoefficient in statistics course, right?
(44:05):
So as a learning tool,it's actually been amazing.
Well, if you have to do a competitiveanalysis for either job or class,
you can pre do the competitive analysisand then ask the question and then you go,
Well, there's three companies
I didn't realize and this confirmseverything I already did.
I'm workingright now with a group of people.
We're building a VR escapefor a museum game.
(44:27):
Long story, but half the team is usingsome elements of generative
AI to supplement their workand then bringing that back to the group
saying, Here'swhat I got out of generative
AI that I've then added in gameplay,competitive analysis,
puzzles, whatever that.
So yeah, it you know, it's interestingthinking about the I always go
(44:48):
so now what's the competitor of advantage
if all of uscan be playing with this stuff
and is it play well or is it replacement.
Right.
Well okayso this is something really interesting
and this comes back to some of the stuffI've worked on in my MBA
in this like analytics sectionthat I'm in now, and it comes back to,
(45:12):
you know, if we all have the
same data or same tools,the differentiation is the
the human creativity, resource and capitalto interpret and apply at that point.
So yeah, yeah, totally.
So it's it you know, there'salways going to be a human element.
It's just wherethat margin of error is closed
(45:33):
is, is quickly diminishing
and yeah,
I mean, I'm just completely fascinatedby it.
I'm just blown away and
I feel like right nowthere's definitely major, major
tectonic plates shifting in the Internet
(45:54):
as we've known it for the past 20 years.
And new people who are become creators
because they will have piecesof that puzzle under the hood,
which has been under the hood in toolsfor quite a while.
Right? Yeah.
I'm assuming there's some machine elementsin your 360 hour product.
I'm assuming that there is,you know, pieces of the puzzle
in a lot of things people haven't seenand won't see under the hood.
(46:16):
But I do think it's going to opena whole new series.
Like in drug discovery.
Yeah, a whole new series of combinationsof things we haven't seen yet.
We have. Talked.
For a while now.
We're at the end of our conversation.
Jordi,is there anything we haven't mentioned
that you'd want to makesure we put on the table?
I thinkyou've covered most of it, to be honest.
I you know,I wish we had like another 2 hours to talk
(46:41):
because I've really, really enjoyedthis particular conversation.
I wish we could do a part two.
We totally can do a particularI did sign up for a part two
and we'll look back and say,What was that generative A.I.
thing that back then or you know,what's happening.
I would love to talk internationallyin many ways.
You have a nice lens into thatand innovation in music.
(47:04):
By the time this goes live,we'll have launched actually
with one of my entities,a whole Spain innovation program.
And there's interesting thingshappening around the world that
we tend to talk from a
but for lack of a better term
sort of Western bias to what's happeningwith innovation in music.
Be great to talk about that becauseyou guys touch all of those elements.
(47:28):
So that would be great to follow up on.
Jordi, do you need peopleto reach out to you for anything?
Who would you like to reach outand how can they reach out?
I would sayLinkedIn is a great resource to be honest,
so you can type in my name j
o, r, d, y, f, or d on LinkedIn.
I should pop up hopefully.
(47:49):
But that may be shown that.
Maybe you need chatbots toto send you there.
I don't know.
To remind you that I talked to and tell.
But, you know,if you are fascinated by this space,
I mean, what I love aboutit is kind of multifaceted space I'm in.
(48:09):
So I always say like entertainment, music,marketing and technology is kind of
like the the trilogy for me, like the,you know, the hat trick.
So if you're interested in any of thosespaces, want to talk more, great.
If you're a potential businesspartner, great.
If you're a creator, great.
I'm pretty open,
(48:30):
so I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
But that's a.
Whole other thing,because you've got a new baby coming soon.
By the time this goes live,it will have come about in the world.
So hopefully not going away.
So, yes.
Knock on wood,everything's good in the world. Yep.
Excellent journey.
Thanks for joining us.
And we will do a part two.
Yes, thank you.
(48:50):
Appreciate it.
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