Whitney-Gayle Benta

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In this captivating episode of Mixed and Mastered, we are thrilled to welcome the phenomenal Whitney-Gayle Benta, a Harlem native who rose to become a pivotal figure in the music industry. From her roots in a community rich with history and culture to her ascent as a top music executive, Whitney-Gayle shares her inspiring journey.

Whitney-Gayle recounts her experiences at Def Jam, where she faced immense pressure while working on groundbreaking projects like Jay-Z's The Blueprint and Ashanti's debut album. She reflects on her transition to MTV and then to Revolt, emphasizing the fast-paced changes in the music industry and her evolution from coordinator to vice president.

Whitney-Gayle also dives into her recent roles at tech giants like Facebook and Spotify and her current involvement in music finance at Harvard View Equity. Throughout, she discusses the importance of adapting to technological advancements and the crucial role of relationships in her career.

Tune in to explore Whitney-Gayle Benta’s journey through the music and tech industries, filled with insights on innovation, resilience, and strategic growth.

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Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week's guest is my girl, whitney Gail Benter, a
trailblazing music executivewith over 20 years of industry
experience spanning mediatechnology and recorded music,
currently serving as an advisorat Harborview Equity.
Whitney was previously chiefmusic officer at Jukebox and the
global head of artists andtalent relations at Spotify,

(00:22):
where she elevated creativeexperiences through high-profile
events and studio activations.
Whitney's storied career alsoincludes leadership roles at Def
Jam, facebook and as a foundingexecutive at Revolt TV.
Before that, whitney made hermark at MTV News, most notably
helping Jay-Z gain UNrecognition for his efforts to

(00:44):
bring clean water tounderdeveloped regions in Africa
.
Whitney's a proud SpelmanCollege alum and a Delta.
Let's talk more about herremarkable journey, her passion
for bridging music and media andher insights into the future of
the industry on this week'sepisode of Mixed and Mastered.

(01:05):
Welcome to Mixed and Mastered,the podcast where the stories of
the music industry come to life.
I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringingyou real conversations with the
people who have shaped the soundof music.
We're pulling back the curtainon what it takes to make it in
the music business.
These are the stories you won'thear anywhere else, told by the
people who live them.
This is Mixed and Mastered.

(01:26):
We have a guest on today, whois a very prominent music
executive.
She's had a very illustriouscareer.
It's taken her a lot of places,whitney Gale Benta.
How are you, whitney?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I'm good, how are you ?

Speaker 1 (01:50):
I'm good, nice to see you.
It's good to see you.
You look very pretty today.
Thank you, jeff.
You don't have to roll youreyes.
That wasn't you know.
Just be nice, be nice Whatever.
So let's start at the beginning.
So you are Harlem, born andraised.
Harlem born and raised.
How was that?
How was that growing up?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
It was great.
You know I come from a familythat has been in the.
Excuse me, let me start over.
I've been in a family.
I was born to a family, rather,that has been really integrated
in the community.
I was born to a family, rather,that has been really integrated
in the community Birth.
We have a family funeral homethat's been around for nearly a

(02:35):
century.
It's been almost a hundredyears.
Yeah, 2028 will make a hundredyears.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Wow, I didn't realize it was that long, jesus Christ
2028 will be our centennial.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
So you know, for me understanding the value of the
community and what Harlem meansis is always been a part of my
life.
Because of our families, youknow importance to the community
of serving, so yeah, so you'relike.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
you're like a legit Harlem princess.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I don't know if I'd say that, but okay.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, you know you, like your family, has, you know,
touched a lot of lives in thecommunity and still is touching
a lot of lives in the community,you know.
So people know who you are andthat's real, that's real, that's
real.
So tell me, like, before we getinto the music thing, like,
tell me what was it like, orwhat is it like Because it's not
over with to be in the funeralhome business, because it's,

(03:33):
like you know, you're helpingpeople send their ancestors on.
You know so, it's not always auplifting moment.
So how do you, how, how, howwas energy, like you know,
helping people get through those, those dark times?
You know, especially I meanCOVID, and all kinds of things
have happened.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah Well, I mean, I think from a perspective of a
child growing up, um, as a kid,you know, crazy enough, it was
our playground.
You know it was a small familybusiness that everybody played a
part, whether you were afuneral director, an embalmer,
you know our parents were doingservices, and so sometimes it

(04:14):
was the secretary or thereceptionist that ended up
having to be our babysitter.
So that's where we played hideand go seek.
You know as morbid as it kindof sounds it was like.
You know that was the safeplace.
But it also, you know, gave mean early understanding of
business and decorum and youknow, so we knew if a family was
showing up, you know whether itwas for to make an arrangement

(04:35):
or first viewing.
You know all we had to cut the.
You know the silliness out in.
You know this is business.
But I think something for methat has helped me just in terms
of my adulthood is just being alot more empathetic, being able
to really put myself in theshoes of other people and being
able to understand their pain.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
And you know at such a young age whether it was, you
know, unfortunately, seeingmaybe a child that passed from
stillbirth or things, thingslike that.
Or you know, definitely,growing up in the 80s I had a
lot of cases of Cracking drugsand all that stuff like that.
So you know, I think it just puta different lens on me than I

(05:17):
think most kids would, but Ican't say that it was so
different because that was all Iknew, you know.
So I guess in my mind it waslike everybody has a funeral
home or something like that.
You know that they went to, butit was really just about having
a business, you know, andreally understanding what it
meant to run a business andbeing able to see that firsthand

(05:38):
, I think has been superinvaluable.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
Okay, okay, so you graduate high school and you go
to Spelman College at that time,or Spelman University.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
It's always Spelman College.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Oh, I thought it turned into.
I thought it changed intouniversity.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
No, it's where the number one HBCU for 18 years.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Oh, here we go.
Here we go, the number one.
What now?
Just say it again, please.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
The number one Hbcu for 18 years running yes,
spelman's a great school.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
It's a great school.
It turns out a lot of qualitypeople, a lot of quality women
exactly yes, so what made youpick spelman?

Speaker 2 (06:17):
well, so my brother and my cousin older cousin are
four years older than me and mybrother went to more house my
cousin older cousin are fouryears older than me, and my
brother went to Morehouse, mycousin went to Spelman, and so
during their time in school Igot a chance to go down all the
time, you know, to visit andthings of that nature, and it
just they were having a greattime, you know.
And then I also have anothercousin who was four years older

(06:39):
than my other cousin, who wentto Spelman, and so they really
just loved it.
You know, I think for me I onlypicked four schools that I
wanted to go to, and, to behonest with you, I didn't
actually want to go to college,but I didn't know what I wanted
to do, and so my mother was likewell, until you figure it out,
go to school.
And I figured I'll apply tothese four schools and whichever

(07:00):
one I get into, maybe that'swhere I'll end up.
I got into all four.
So then that created anotherproblem, and then I just
realized, you know, I had such agreat time at Spelman, why not
go there?
And so it was definitely thebest decision of my life.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
And now you're a proud Spelman alum.
That's right, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Anyway, I'm going to move on.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
I ain't going to get into a black college fight on
this, on this, on this interviewYou're going to lose.
I'm going to let you cook.
So when did you decide that youmight've wanted, wanted to get
into the music business?
The music or the entertainmentbusiness, I should say.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Well, honestly, that, actually that started back in
high school.
You know, I think um.
You know you talk about growingup.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
You went to school with Cameron and them correct.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, we went to elementary school together and
he went to high school with mybrother.
So we went to a school, apublic school, called Central
Park East too, and we used toride this bus called the Red Bus
, and so Cam and my brother arein the same class and we're
friends, and so we went toschool together and my brother
was like his first DJ, wow.
Yeah, so that was some Harlemhistory.

(08:08):
But for me I think myintroduction to music period was
I went to the school CentralPark East that I'm talking about
, and they had a violin programand there was actually a movie
about a violin teacher I can'tremember the name of it years
ago, but that was like my firstintroduction to music.
But then also across the streetfrom where I live in Harlem is
the Harlem School of the Arts.

(08:28):
So my brother was in the sports, I was in the arts, and so it
was just like a quick, literallydiagonal across the street and
so that was kind of like myentry into music, dance
instruments and things of thatnature.
But I actually got funny enoughinto music slash entertainment

(08:49):
at 15.
So my mother I'm a Buddhist andgrowing up there was, for
whatever reason, at our Buddhistcenter downtown in Union Square
, there was a career fair.
My mother asked me to go and Ididn't want to and she said just
go and just meet one person andthen we can leave.
And I was like all right, bet.

(09:09):
So went and there was a womanwho had this this is like 1994.
So she had this pretty blondehair and so she was very
striking and I just went up toher and introduced myself to her
and her name was Whitney.
So of course, naturally I waslike oh shit, you know, and her

(09:31):
name was Whitney Kyles and shewas a stylist, and so you know,
I had never heard of a stylistbefore because again, this is
1994.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, yeah, you don't know what that is.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
You know, you look at Essence magazine, you see the
finished product, but you don'tsee the behind the scenes.
And I just didn't understand.
I was like, wait, I don't getit.
You dress people likecelebrities.
And she's like, yeah, and I'mlike why they can't dress
themselves?
I really could not.
Actually, a lot of them candress themselves right.

(10:04):
And so I was just like I, Idon't get it.
And so, um, I just really waslike I need to see this, I was
fascinated.
And so she, I think, wastickled because I of my you know
night naiveness but was like,all right.
So I was just like, can Ishadow you?
Because I didn't know what thatI didn't know about internships,
I was 15.
And so that summer, um, I was astylist assistant.

(10:28):
So I ended up working forWhitney Kyles, who worked for
Harriet Cole, who's um owned acompany called Profundities.
Harriet is known for um, herbook Jumping the Broom that came
out like in the 90s and stufflike that.
So, yeah, so that summer isliterally how I say I got into
entertainment because because,by being a stylist assistant,
obviously I was dropping offclothes, picking up clothes and

(10:49):
things of that nature, but inaddition, I was on set and so,
being on set, it opened me, likethat's how I found out about
the group Allure, because theywere doing their coverage.
You know what I mean, like, andI'm just asking questions and
and you know, not knowing thatI'm talking to maybe like a
product manager or a publicist,I don't know.
I'm just there and I'm 15 andI'm asking a bunch of questions.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Fun fact, one of those girls in the law was my
intern and she was terrible.
She was a fucking terrible.
She was a terrible internbecause she was like I'm in the
law, we don't.
I don't even know why I'm doingthis.
We're about to blow up and blah, blah, blah.
Yeah she was.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, yeah, I know I know, I know she feel, don't
feel the same way now.
Yeah, it's a little differentnow, but anyway so anyway, like
I said, so just being on set, itexposed me to so many people
and I would just be like, well,what do you do?
And I want to learn a littlebit more that.
And that would just be like,well, what do you do, and I want
to learn a little bit more ofthat.
And that would lead to, likethe next internship.

(11:49):
Next thing I know, I'minterning at Kedar Entertainment
.
Next thing I know, I'minterning at Motown.
Next thing I know I'm interningat Poly, what I wanted to do.
But I had already been.
So, right before I wasgraduating from high school, I
had been working at Motown.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
And we had At least the Gerald.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Who's it?
Gerald Busby there at the time.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
No, George George Jackson.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
George Jackson.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah, another Harlem guy, yes, and a mentor of mine.
Such a great guy, um, anyhow.
Um, what happened was, uh, wehad a joint venture with a
company called Noontime that hada songwriter named Ashanti
signed to them, and so, becauseI had done such a great job at

(12:41):
Motown and I really wanted tokind of keep going, because we
had the joint venture andNoontime was based in Atlanta,
they would be like yo take herand let her work for you guys
while she's in school.
So that's how I ended up atNoontime while I was still in
school, and I ended up workingfor Billy Calloway and I was
doing like A&R administrationand learning you know a lot

(13:03):
about like the operation side ofA&R.
So that was like my first entryinto music while still being in
school.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Wow, another funny sidebar.
So I want to one of my people Iwant to get on this podcast is
Noonie, because he's he's like aghost.
He never talks, he never waslike his history so crazy.
And I saw N nivia when I workedto jive.
Yeah, when I got her her demosair quotes, there was like all
finished songs because she wasworking with noontime.

(13:33):
So like brian michael cox didsongs on there like like don't
mess with my man, all that stuff.
That was.
Those songs were done.
We didn't do anything but putthem out.
Yeah, because noontime has somany great writers and producers
like unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, noonie is amazing brian, michael cox and I
came up together um johnnybishop there kenny bishop was
there also um uh jonte therejonte was there.
He, yeah, he was like in andout.
Jq was there jq so we all, like,came up together during that

(14:09):
time wow, yeah, so that wasreally my entry, like, or so I
was working at noontime, we'regoing to school pledging, doing
all this stuff and then I leftand and I ended up working for
april love.
She had a management companyand she was managing different
producers and it was a crazystory that led to me actually

(14:30):
meeting LaRonda Sutton.
I was reading that and shereally is the one who helped
propel my career.
There was, remember, jamieFoster Brown had Sister to
Sister, of course.
Yeah, so I used to read thatlike religiously.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
Everybody did.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, that was like where you got all your
information, and so she used tohave this, this section called
office, with a view and, um, shewould do these profile pieces
on people, um kind of similar tothis, if you will.
Um, and she did one on LaRondaand I remember I was like yo,
this lady is like nuts, she wasworking at Evans music
publishing at the time, and Iremember it was like yo, this

(15:04):
lady is like nuts, she wasworking at Evans Music
Publishing at the time Yep.
And I remember it was the firsttime I ever read about somebody
being bi-coastal and I was likewhat's that?
And I was like this is crazy.
I got to do this Like I don't,you know, this woman is nuts.
So one day, you know, like Isaid I'm working for April and I
answer the phone.
Day, you know, like I said I'mworking for April and I answered

(15:26):
the phone, Mind you, I had likea laptop and I had the magazine
sister sister with that articleof LaRonda underneath, like the
laptop just open to that pageand I guess maybe in some way or
ways, like kind of trying tomanifest, I don't know.
Anyway, so she calls LaRonda,LaRonda calls and I was like
hello, loronda calls and I waslike hello, and I'm just like oh

(15:50):
my gosh, this is like loronda.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Oh my god, the lady in the magazine.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, the lady in the magazine is funny right, you
know, and I'm just like yo, thisis nuts, I can't blow this
opportunity and I'm like I don'tknow what she wants to talk to
april about, but obviously shewanted to get some of the
songwriters from edmunds musicpublishing with some of her
producers and you you know allthis thing and I'm just like man
.
I got to figure outopportunities to like talk to
her, you know, and so becauseshe was bi-coastal between

(16:14):
Atlanta and LA and so you know,so every time she'd call like,
hi, LaRonda, you know, I wasjust trying to befriend her and
then finally I just got like thecourage and I was like, listen,
I'm a huge fan of yours and,man, I would love to like meet
you, learn from you, work foryou.
So one of the times that shewas in Atlanta she, it was my

(16:37):
senior year or going into mysenior year, and she told me I
could come by her house and Iwas like, wow, the crazy thing
about that.
She lived like right around thecorner from me, really, decatur
, like it was like literallylike right around the corner,
which is nuts.
I mean, her house was muchbigger than I was staying at,
but yeah, she lived like rightaround the corner.

(16:58):
So that was bizarre.
And I remember standing in herliving room and I felt like I
was just kind of like pouringout my life, like I want to be
in the music industry.
You know, I read this articleabout you.
You're like freaking amazing,like I want to learn from you, I
want to work with you.
So she mentions you know thatshe was starting a management
company.
Call all of a sudden and I waslike I kind of I want to come

(17:20):
work for you, and so I startedworking for her management
company.
Okay, yeah, so during that timethat now this is going into my
senior year of college she isgoing to, she transitions from
Edmonds Music Publishing toUniversal Music Publishing and
she's about to anyway.
And so just say like, now we'remaybe January of 2001,.

(17:44):
You 2001,.
And she's about to make thatchange.
And so she's like so what areyou thinking about?
I'm about to move to New York,yada, yada, yada.
What do you think about foryour future?
And to be honest with you, Iwas like I'm not thinking about
that, I'm trying to justgraduate.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Then I'll figure it out later.
Then I'll figure it out later.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
I'm like so what's your plan?
What's your plan?
I was like I don't even know,Like I'll figure it out, Like I
don't know, I just hadn'tfigured it out, so you know.
And she was just trying toguide me, you know.
And so what happened was, I'llnever forget, I was in a class
at Morehouse it's like a class.
This guy named Dr Anderson, itguy named dr anderson.

(18:30):
It was like an easy, easy aclass.
You know, one of those thingsyou just sit there and write
your name and you automaticallyget an a.
And I had my two-way pager andI opened it.
It was a note, it was a messagefrom laronda.
So this is now probably likeapril, may or whatever.
And so she's like when yougraduate, you'll have a job at
def jam as a marketing.
Wow, what like.
And I had to like hand it to mywhoever to sit next to me, like
yo.
Is this saying what I'mthinking is saying?
And I'm like and they're likewell, did you interview for it?

Speaker 1 (18:52):
I'm like no, like, this is yeah but I mean, but
back then, I think, even more sothan now that's how things went
a lot of times, like especiallywith the black executive
community.
You know, people knew eachother.
So it was like yo, you know,this person is my people or
whatever, and you got a shot.
Obviously, you have to take theshot and run with it, but it's

(19:12):
not like it's very differentthan now.
It's like you just really got,you know, but through the
network and you could get a lotof opportunities, you know back
then you know, I don't know howit is now, but back then that's
how it kind of went, you know,sure.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
So I'm just like, ok, I guess I'm going to do this
when I graduate.
And so I ended up working forone of Deidre's I mean one of
LaRonda's best friends, deidreGraham, who is the vice
president of marketing.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Marketing yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
And she had obviously rose up the ranks there.
So I was just like, all right,bet, like this is what we're
doing.
And um, two weeks aftergraduating from spelman, my
parents moved me back up to tonew york and I started working
wow, now who was the def jam?

Speaker 1 (19:56):
who was running la reed and jay-z at the time?
No, no, no this is leo or kestill Leor and Kevin, yeah, so
how was it working at Def Jam inthat era?

Speaker 2 (20:07):
It was so much pressure.
I mean it's definitely not themusic industry of today.
I mean there was so much toprove.
I was there when some of thebiggest records came out of Def
Jam.
So you know Jay-Z's theBlueprint worked on that.
You know Ludacris' Chicken andBeer.
Ashanti, you know, worked onAshanti's project.

(20:28):
You know the Ink, all these,you know huge projects.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Drew Hill.
At the time they were poppingtoo.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah, def Soul launched and you know, I think
Deidre at the time really had alot to prove.
Like I said, she moved up inthe ranks and now she became
this vice president of marketingand so the expectations for her
, you know, the stakes were high.
I'm a 21 year old, literallycollege, and I didn't actually
like interview, like I don't.

(20:58):
I didn't know what the stakeswere, if you will, because it
was, dare I say, handed to me.
You're not to say that I didn't, but that's cool.
But that's okay but I think,yeah, and to me it's like I knew
I had to rise to the occasionbecause I couldn't embarrass now
this, my old boss, who slash amentor, right, so I knew I had

(21:20):
to to deliver, um, if you will,but I mean it was literally a
haze the whole time, likecompletely unethical, in terms
of like.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Were you on.
They weren't on Varick at thattime.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
No, they had finally moved up to Higley the worldwide
poor.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Okay, okay.
So I was on the executive floor.
I reported to Deidre.
However, lior's office wasright and I was like the second
assistant for Julie, because shehad an assistant, but if her
first assistant wasn't theredoing something for her, I had
to cover her and then, like ifLior needed something, like
Marsha was like the secondassistant for Kathy, you know.

(21:59):
So we were all really just likein the trenches and it was
really very much a 24 hour umwork cycle you know, you worked
hard.
You played hard um you know yougot back up like use out dinners
.
I'm sure you remember thisdinners wouldn't start till like
9 pm yeah, you wasn't goinghome at five, that's no,

(22:21):
starting at 9 pm, absolutelyAbsolutely.
Then you might go after that.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, you go out after dinner.
Right, go after that, yeah youdrag your ass home and like get
a couple hours of sleep and youback up again and the next day
pop them off again.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Right and then, like for me, deidre, because she
really wanted to show you knowthat she meant business, I would
have to, sometimes, notsometimes I would have to get
there earlier than leor and Iwas like, but he's got a driver
and I got the c train and it gotto the point where so much

(22:54):
pressure, right the local, thatat that, um, that I contemplated
just buying a pillow and ablanket and sleeping underneath
my desk, because it was likesometimes I just be so tired,
you know, and it was like it'snot even worth the commute.
I'm losing hours taking thelocal train back uptown you know

(23:15):
, right back downtown.
Yeah, so, like I said, it wasn'tthe best work environment but I
learned so much.
But I think it was like kidsmanaging kids like now we like
deidre and I talk about it now,we just laugh, you know and it
was like kids managing kids, youknow.
Nobody knew what they weredoing.

(23:35):
I'm 21 and hindsight she'sprobably like maybe 31 or 29,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Like yeah, really know what they were doing and
after two and a half years I waslike okay, I'm done, like I
can't and you're out, yeah andso, before you move on to the
next spot, tell me if you,without incriminating anybody or
anything, tell me one crazydeath jam story while you were
there, that that you were done,you saw and were involved with

(24:02):
oh, I mean plenty, of Dame Dash.
Okay, tell me one.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
I don't have anything specific because they happen
all the time, but it was likeyou know where the fuck is Lior,
where the fuck is Kevin,where's Fat man, you know, and
being upset about something and,just like you know, going
through the hallways, I remember.
So there's a 27th floor, 28thand 29th floor I don't remember
which was which, but like Ithink it was the 29th floor and

(24:31):
you know there was, you hadmurder inc and you had
rockefella, uh, all in the samefloor.
It's like you put the kidsupstairs away from the executive
, acting crazy right be actingcrazy.
Right, it would be so crazy, youknow.
So it was just always that,just it was unpredictable.
There was always somebodyfighting, somebody mad at Kevin,

(24:54):
you know, calling him a fat boy.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Base games in the hall.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Right, it's just like it was so unethical.
You know, I'm trying to thinkof like I can't think of his
name right now, but he's in jail.
But I was like Erzman I can'tthink of his name right this
second but I was like he was anice guy to me, supreme, supreme

(25:20):
, yeah, all the time I'm like,hey, supreme, you're such a nice
guy.
Yeah, we used to come up theretoo.
Yeah, all the time I'm like,hey, supreme, you're such a nice
guy Meanwhile.
Meanwhile I'm so naive, don'tknow, you know.
So I mean again, I was still soyoung when I think about it, I
was 21 and I think I was stillin this haze because I look back

(25:42):
and I'm like I really wasn'tmature enough for that job none
of us were none of us were youknow, right right, they gave us
like corporate cards.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
What are you crazy like?

Speaker 2 (25:57):
I remember, okay, I'll tell you, not a crazy story
, but it was a funny story.
So we used to have this, uh,car service called grand yep,
anyway, yeah, and I'll leave allthe details about that if you
know, you know.
But yeah, one day partying andI thought I released the car, I
could have swore I released thecar and up the next morning I
had to get to the office and I'mlike why is this car still

(26:19):
sitting in front of my apartmentbuilding?
The driver was sleeping, itapparently I didn't release the
car, you stayed out there allnight all night long I was like
oh shit, well fuck it.
Can you take me back?

Speaker 1 (26:32):
to school.
Yeah, what the hell.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
And then I released the car, but I think I was just
so tired I forgot.
I think that was probably thecraziest thing I might have done
.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
that was like you know it's all right.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
They had the money they could cover it Right, they
were able to write that off.
Yeah, it's all right.
They had the money they could.
They could cover it.
Right, they were able to writethat off and yeah, it's fine.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
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And now back to our show.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
So we're after, so after Def Jam, two and a half
years of being beat up youdecided to go to MTV.
Yeah, so how did that?

Speaker 2 (27:38):
happen.
So I was because of GabbyPeluso, who did video promotions
at Def Jam.
I love her to death.
She is like a little angel tome, but Gabby saw how much I was
getting beat up.
It didn't necessarily like itand so she was like yo there's
an opportunity because she would.
Her job as a video promotionsperson was to be the liaison

(28:00):
with bt mtv music choice to getall the videos on air and so on
right.
So she, you know, obviously kindof had ends to know.
You know she's talking to himall the time about when people
are looking for talent.
And she was was like hey,there's this coordinator role at
MTV news in the talentdepartment and I think you'd be
great for it and I'm like Idon't even know what a talent

(28:21):
booker is.
And so she was like but you'llfigure it out.
And so there was a couple ofthings that I had critiques.
I was like do I have to answeranybody's phone?
She was like no.
I was like okay, right.
I was like all right, everythingelse I could probably figure
out you know, and her reasoningwas that at the time, you know,
she was like, essentially youjust got to book X for different
programs and at the time allthe hardest artists were Def Jam

(28:44):
artists.
So it was people already knewthat I was already a singer.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Yeah, you had to connect with it anyway.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, Figure everything else out at the end.
So I remember, you know,getting the job, taking the job
and going, and I remember, formaybe at least a year or so,
artists at Def Jam were soconfused Like wait, are you here
for MTV or are you here for DefJam?
And just came to the shoot, andso you know, eventually they

(29:10):
figured it out.
But you know, definitely Ifigured it out.
But, um, you know definitely Iowe everything to Gabby Peluso,
Um, and I still thank her tothis day because that really
helped make the gateway for therest of my career.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
But you're leaving a huge part out.
So among the industry anyway,because nobody else in the
industry knew who you were, butamong the industry, because
nobody else in the industry knewwho you were.
But among the industry, whitneybecame very famous because at
the MTV Awards people would bepushing artists in to do
interviews and Whitney wouldalways be in the back with a

(29:42):
headphone, with a headset on,and she'd be like ushering
people in, ushering people out,like she wasn't supposed to be
necessarily on camera.
You weren't on air talent butshe would always be like right
there, like she wasn't supposedto be necessarily on camera.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
You weren't on air talent, but you would always be
like right there, like Whitney'sright there, yeah she's right
there and everybody would becoming in and out.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
You know it could be Justin Timberlake or whoever it
was, lady Gaga, whoever it wasat the time, and you would
always be in the back likelooking frazzled with a headset
on, pushing people in and out.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
I was like, oh, she's going to go with me again, MTV
Awards again, we're going to seeWhitney again, exactly.
So you know, I started off as aviral.
I was viral, exactly, and Istarted off as a coordinator
again, not knowing anythingabout television.
I had an interest in it and butI learned along the way and so
through the time, like I said, Istarted off as a coordinator
and left as a vice president,but I learned about really
television production and, asyou know, I kind of got my chops
up.
I was able to then be able torun the red carpets for the

(30:40):
Grammys when it came to ourstations and the Grammys, but
then the VMA pre-shows andpost-shows and movie awards
pre-shows and post-shows, so wasin charge of procuring, you
know, talent for for those.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
So that was always why I was like running you know
crazy right, looking crazy, yeah, going viral I used to be at
home like, should they go withme?
Right running around lookingcrazy, but you worked with some
you know people who are stillaround, like you were.
Sway was at mtv at that time.
And yeah, joseph patel, who'snow doing massive movies with

(31:15):
quest love.
And, yeah, jason rodriguez likea great people at that time
dukes tuma basa um yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
So I mean I like I feel like I am so lucky.
I hit the lotto when it came toyou know, just having amazing
colleagues, because it wasn'tabout you know one person.
We really moved as a unit, youknow 15-15.
And it was definitely like thislike sorority, fraternity type

(31:48):
of thing, like we all just movedas one unit and I just learned
so much just about work ethic.
Yeah, it was.
It didn't feel like work, weliked staying late, you had fun
yeah yeah.
So I got my chops there and andthen you know, as I really
started to begin to finallyunderstand my job, you know I
was able to pitch ideas and, youknow, really understand what it

(32:10):
meant to be a talent producer,knowing which artists were going
to be, you know, into certainconcepts.
Like, one of the one of thefirst projects that I was able
to really introduce was doingthis Jay-Z Water for Life, a
documentary where we went toAfrica and it was Jay's first
time ever going to Africa.
It started off as a literallyas a joke.

(32:30):
I was on the phone with hispublicist, jana Fleischman, who
was an old co-worker of mine atDef Jam, and we were just like
man, we should take a tripsomewhere.
And we're like, yeah, you knowjust shooting the shit and so
and we're like, but like, whatartists dime could we put it on?
Like who you know?
So we started going throughlike marketing, who's got stuff

(32:51):
going on?
And so she pulled all thedifferent artists that had tours
about to come up and Jay's wascoming up and I said let me take
this.
It was him, along with a coupleother people to our pro-socials
team this guy named Ian Rowe,black guy, and see if there's

(33:11):
any way that we can like link acause to.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
A free trip, basically.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Yeah, a free trip.
So like, let's see if we canfind a pro social cause that we
can link it to and figure out anexcuse for us to have to go.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
So there were a couple of them, and one that
stuck out was water, and so weended up teaming up with the UN
and in this cause about the playpumps.
They were called play pumps andit was this organization that
helped to get build these like,think about, like, not Ferris
wheels, but they have theselittle round dollies and kids

(33:51):
are playing around with it andessentially what happens is it
pulls the irrigation from insidethe water and so, as the kids
are playing in the schoolyard,playing around in these little
circles and having fun, whatit's doing is it's actually
putting water, fresh water intothis well.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
So they're actually drilling for water without
realizing it.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Exactly, they think they're just playing, but it's
actually helping Because whatwas happening was the kids were
having to sacrifice going toschool to get water for their
families, so sacrificing theireducation.
So we found Play Pumps.
We shared the idea with Jay, hewas down for it and I got a

(34:33):
free trip to africa um.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
What country did you go to?

Speaker 2 (34:37):
oh man, uh, I know, oh god, it's so long ago.
I know there's one where I hadto have malaria pills.
Um, I can't think of it.
It'll come back to me okay butum, yeah, but um.
What was really incredibleabout that is that, like, like
this, as I mentioned, startedoff as a joke and next thing,
you know, the UN gets involvedand we're like wait, it's like

(35:01):
wait, wait, yeah, what's goingon?
This thing is dead serious.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
They hear the superstars go to Africa and hang
out.
And I was just getting real.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Right.
And so, next thing, I know wedo a press conference to
announce MTV partners with Jay-Zand the United Nations to bring
awareness to, you know, the,you know the lack of water in
Africa, and they're going to beshooting this documentary you
know coming up and then so weshoot the documentary and then

(35:30):
we premiere it.
Mind you, this announcement wasalso done with the Secretary
General, kofi Annan.
Wow.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
It was major.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
It was major and so we were just like man, this was
a joke that has just spiraledout of control.
Yeah, and then so we do thedocumentary come back and then
we premiere it at the un that'scrazy all from a joke to try to
get a free trip to africa,exactly.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
But again, I mean not to sound like the old fogey,
but that type of thing happeneda lot back then.
Yeah, you know things.
You present, you know an idea,not not necessarily as a joke,
but an idea, and it just itcould just spiral into these
major moments, the majormovements you know, because
everything was everything wasn'tnew then, but things were
merging more.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Back then like who ever thought that UN would be
involved with Jay-Z and Def Jam?
But like it started to mergemore Kind of people started
finding common ground.
Yeah, and common ground with alot of things.
It was like, oh yeah, they'rerappers, but they're trying to
do something and we have theresources, and so why not do it
together and create awareness,and so on and so on.
So yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Leverage their visibility to bring awareness to
the cause.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
That's a good story.
How long were you at MTV?

Speaker 2 (36:47):
I was there for 10 years.
You were there for 10 years,yeah, so from 2003 to 2013 is
when I left.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Wow, so you saw a lot of changes there.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
So many changes.
I mean, when I first started wedidn't have the internet.
Yeah, we didn't have theinternet.
So to kind of launch into thatand really moving away from you
know, back in the day there wasthe 10 to the hour news hits to
now digital and having artistsbe upset because what am I

(37:20):
supposed to do with this link?
My mother wants to see me on tv.
You know what I mean.
Like I don't know what this is,you know.
But I remember bringing inadele as a new artist, bringing
in Taylor Swift as a new artist,and this is like nobody knows
who you are.
I brought in Lady Gaga for her,you know, because Troy reached
out to me and was like hey,could you do a?

(37:40):
You Hear it First on my newartist and just see you know?

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Yeah, see if you didn't give me any traction,
right?

Speaker 2 (37:46):
So it's crazy that, like even now, a lot of these
artists that are like huge megastars, they got their start with
me, you know, just taking achance.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Doing little blurbs.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
And they add up.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Wow, yeah, wow.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
I didn't realize we were there for 10 years.
That's a long time and theheyday and really MTV's heyday
you were there for like the realrun when they went into reality
television and when theyobviously TRL was a huge thing
and I still remember going tothe theater.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
I remember the Jersey Shore folks and I was like I
remember Snooki was in my officeand they were just like like
deer in a headlight and I'm likeyour life is about to change.
They still doing it, yeah, andI was like, and they were just
kind of like wait, what do youmean?
And I was like, and they werejust kind of like wait, what do
you mean?
And I'm like your life is aboutto change and you don't even
understand.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah, yeah, I remember going to some of the
VMA awards.
They were really fun.
You know everybody gettingdrunk and high and hanging out
in the lobby, and those are goodtimes, yeah, good times.
So you left.
What made you leave MTV?
You got the shot to go toRevolt or you just are ready to

(38:55):
move on.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
I saw that I was kind of starting to see the writing
on the wall in the sense that,like I felt like after 10 years,
if you don't get out soon,you're going to kind of end up
being stuck.
And I saw that things weremoving more to a digital first.
Yeah, and I saw that thingswere moving more to a digital
first, like you know, and I alsokept like paying attention to a
lot of buzzwords that werecoming which were startups, and

(39:19):
so I knew I wanted some startupexperience, but I didn't
necessarily know how to get it.
At the same time, I felt like Ihad done everything that I
could have done at MTV.
At that point, you know, when Iwent in, I really went in as a
rookie, not even basicallytaking a chance on me, and I
felt like, as long as I read theplaybook, which I did and

(39:39):
mastered it, I was good.
And at that point I was kind oflike there's nothing left to do
.
So I was, I wanted to to testmy chops to see like, hey, I
can't.
I came into a place where theBible was already written.
Wouldn't it be cool to go to aplace to write the Bible?

Speaker 1 (39:56):
You know what I mean.
Like the playbook it started up.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Yeah, and so some of my other colleagues Ramon Dukes,
tuma Bassa, had, you know, youknow, had courageously, you know
, decided to go to Revolt andyou know, obviously knew me from
my time at MTV and you knowwe've always had a great
relationship.
I always take care of, you know, him and his team, whatever.
And he took a chance, and so Iwas one of the founding

(40:21):
executives for Revolt and it wasbased in Los Angeles, but I
stayed in New York and built outa team on the East coast and
the West coast, and so you know,I love that experience because
it was literally like we wererolling up rust leaves and with
this big idea to you know, noone really knew, you know, what
this was going to be, and noneof us had ever come to a place

(40:43):
where you're building somethingliterally from scratch, zero,
yeah, you know, scratch.
And I'll never forget the daywhere, like you know the
countdown when we turn thelights on, like, okay, you know,
in the calendar, you're justlike my gosh, this is happening
and that was.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
How was it?
How was it when the lights cameon?
I mean yeah Right, can you seeit?
Can you, can you see it?
Can you see it?

Speaker 2 (41:28):
write the Bible.
And it also gave me anopportunity to test my
relationships, because at thatpoint I felt like I was starting
to become Whitney from MTV andI didn't like that.
I wanted to be known as my ownperson and I was like if I
really have developed truefriendships and true
relationships, then I should beable to lean on those

(41:50):
relationships in this new, inthis new quest of mine.
Didn't hurt that you know I wasworking for Sean Diddy Combs.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
No, of course not, but still like that, did not
have that MTV gorilla behind you.
Yeah, every time you ask forsomething, because they will,
people going to automaticallysay yes because MTV.
Why would you ever say no?
Exactly Again, the Puffers is abig brand and a big entity, but
it's still a new thing andpeople don't quite know what it

(42:19):
is.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Right, why would I waste my time yeah?

Speaker 1 (42:22):
why would I do that?
You'll get popping and thenI'll come back around, type
thing.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Exactly, Exactly.
So, yeah, so I ended up atRevolve and, you know, one of
the best, most cherishedexperiences I had was sorry,
that's my step-grandma's olddaughter.
Hey, baby, I was working withAndre Harrell.

(43:02):
You know, and you know, hey babyleaves and got dirty with them,
you know they had this I, hehad this idea of like bringing
back like jack the rapperconference and in, and so that
ended up being the revolt musicconference.
And I remember being like weneed more time, this can't work.
And he's like onward we'regoing.
And I'm like no, this is stupid.

(43:22):
Like it ain't gonna work right.
Oh my God, like these people arecrazy, like we need more time.
You know it was very much avisionary and pushed you to your
limit.
You know what I mean when youfelt like you couldn't do it.
And you know, to this day I'mstill like damn, we really

(43:43):
pulled this off.
But like our very first RevoltMusic, revolt music conference,
like we had post malone, we hadum sZA.
We had wait, no, I'm sorry,cardi b, um sZA, I think, was
probably in high school.
What am I talking about?
But we had sheesh, I'm tryingto think everybody that you

(44:03):
could possibly think of.
That's like a huge star now, butit was like right, it was just
like you know, I remember postMalone was like walking through
the kitchen to get to the stageand he performed like in a
basically elevated banquet riser, you know.
So it was just like it was nutsto think that like we pulled

(44:27):
this off and all these now hugeartists were just like nobodies.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Yeah, you know, they were just having fun, a little
fun opportunity, you know.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
I miss Andre.
I mean, I talk about all thetime like I was so excited when
I worked in the business at acertain point and then he knew
who I was.
I was like Andre Harrell knowsmy name.
Yeah, I can't believe this guyknows my name.
And then, of course, we startedto develop a relationship
through his cousin, o'neal,because me and O'Neal are still

(44:58):
really tight and so I'd bearound Andre a lot and he had a
big ass townhouse down in thevillage and we'd go there.
But when I would see Andre andhe would just be like, no, just
Sledge, I'm like that Andreknows my name.
This is unbelievable.
Because he was such an iconicfigure to me.
You know, what I'm saying.
What he did in the business wasjust amazing, you know.
Yeah, for sure I miss him.

(45:18):
I miss him a lot.
How long did you work at Revolt?

Speaker 2 (45:28):
So now what?
I'll say this I remember I toldyou I stayed at MTV for 10
years and I realized I was like,ooh, I'm going to stay too long
.
So at this point I was like Ican't make the same mistake
anymore.
And I realized that businesshad been starting to change,
because I'm always kind ofpaying attention to what's going
on.
And so I was like now I justneed, I need every single time I
go to a place, I need to have amission, like what am I there
to do?
And so, as far as I wasconcerned, my mission was to see

(45:50):
that I could build a department, you know, see that I could
build a company.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
What department did you build?

Speaker 2 (45:55):
I built out the talent relations department.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Talent relations.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Yeah.
So I was like and I want toshow, demonstrate that I can
launch a network.
So after I did that and we wereable to make you know, get it
done in two years, I was likeI'm out, not because I was a
terrible experience, it was agreat experience, but I felt
like.
I didn't want to hop around, andso, again, we were digital

(46:19):
first, but I think we were stilla little behind on that and I
was like, okay, I got a littlebit experience, but I want to
get a little bit more, and so Ifelt like the place to really go

(46:40):
if you're going to try to learnsomething is like the Harvard
of digital, and that wasFacebook.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
How did that happen?
Did you have a?

Speaker 2 (46:49):
plug there or you just kind of?
Yes, I did.
Actually, um old colleague ofmine was working on the music
partnerships team at at aFacebook.
She worked who I worked with atMTV, and then the head of the
music partnerships team at um atFacebook at the time was my old
colleague who worked in newmedia at Def Jam.
So you know, that's why Ialways say it's better to be

(47:12):
nice to everybody, because youdon't know who.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
You never know.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Right, you know, and, like the funny thing, is my
boss Jonathan.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Just always tell you to be nice to me.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Whatever.
Anyway, jonathan, he was likethe nerd, like he was like
clunking around on his computerand like when I was at Def Jam
nobody understood computers.
He was like get out of here,you nerds.
Like we don't care and likethey used to get sunned all the
time because new media, which isessentially social, you know,

(47:43):
and he worked for Theta Sandifer.
At the time they got no respectbecause nobody could understand
it, you know.
But I was always nice toJonathan.
He was cool with me, likewhatever.
We were all in the trenches andso he ended up actually being
my boss and Malika, who was mycoworker at MTV you know, we

(48:05):
were peers at my time at MTV, Imean, excuse me, at Facebook,
wow, yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
So it's like how was it working at Facebook?
Now you were, did you have togo out to Silicon Valley a lot,
or were you just in New York?

Speaker 2 (48:20):
I went all the way to Menlo Park, but I was based in
New York, so Malika was based inLos Angeles, Jonathan was based
in Los Angeles and I was kindof like the New York arm of
things, which was great.
I don't you know, I don't thinkI knew what I was getting
myself into, and I rememberMalika warning me like this
ain't what you think it is, youknow, and I'm thinking like the

(48:42):
music industry and it very muchis but wasn't Music partnerships
?
And now I really fullyunderstand partnerships as a
result of this role.
You know, yes, you're workingwith artists, but really, if you
will, you're kind of hawkingproducts.
You're like, hey, these are theFacebook products that are
important to us and here's whatyou can use to be, you know, to
connect with your most engagedfans and stuff like that.

(49:04):
But it took me a while torealize, like, this is not
really that sexy.
But I was there at an amazinglike I think I just have knock
on wood really great timing.
But I was there when welaunched Instagram Stories.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Wow, and we came after Snapchat.
Before we move forward, tell mea little story about that.
Launch instagram stories.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
Launch I remember.
I'll never forget that day.
We was two more working.
At that time tumu was like aspotify, I think.
The reason I bring that upbecause I remember, like him,
being one of the people to callme like yo.
Y'all just went for the jugular.
You know what I mean, becausesnapchat was like the hottest
yeah, huge snapchat was on fire,yeah you know, we just like it

(49:48):
was super stealth mode and Iremember being in the office in
New York for the launch and justpeople being like, yo, this is
nuts, what is this?
I can, just, you know, useInstagram not just for pictures,
but now I can look at like Imean.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
People's lives.
People's lives, yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
Yeah, and I remember like we just felt like the
biggest champion.
It was almost like winning likethe Superbowl.
You know what I mean and peoplewere mad.
You know, obviously you knowour competitors and stuff like
that.
But I remember being like yo,this is nuts and it's funny,
cause it's something that wetake for granted now but it had

(50:26):
to launch at some point.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Yeah, but it had to launch at some point, yeah, so
shoot Cause.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
I guess that had to be like 2015, I think.
So it might be coming on likethe 10th anniversary of
Instagram stories, but now Ithink it's just something that
people just kind of take forgranted.
But then, also while I was atFacebook, we launched Facebook,
watch Facebook live, facebooklive and donate.
Also, while I was at Facebook,we launched Facebook Watch
Facebook Live, facebook Live andDonate.
So I got a chance to reallyunderstand about, like, the

(50:52):
launch of products and,essentially, the way our roles
were.
We were to the community that wewere serving, which is the
music community.
We you know, we were the peoplethat they know, so explaining
how to use the products.
You know, we were the peoplethat they know, so explaining
how to use the products.
But also we were very muchadvocates for the artist
community internally, becauseyou got engineers who don't

(51:12):
understand well, why can'tBeyonce just go live?
Like, you know, there was alack of understanding, so he had
to basically kind of beinterpreters, like, okay, you
want this, but they want thisand so so, and so has a new
album coming out.
How do we make it worth theirwhile for them to help launch

(51:33):
our product?
So you get what you want, weget what we want.
You know what I mean so you'revery much kind of like speaking
two different languages becauseyou got the nerds who are just
like I don't understand what thebig deal is yeah, just tell
them to do it like what's theproblem yeah, um so, but I think
something that was kind offrustrating for me as a person
who, like you know, coming intothe music team, like at the time

(51:57):
we didn't have music rights.
So, as we're launching all thesenew products and we're working
with, specifically, musicians,we're like hey, john mayor, talk
to your fans, but don't playyour guitar yeah, that's kind of
like.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
He's like why would I do that?

Speaker 2 (52:12):
right.
So, you know, I got frustrated.
I'm like we got more money thanjesus and we can't figure out
how to get music rights and solike, basically, they could only
talk and they couldn't, youknow, because we would get
takedowns from the labels, andso I was getting frustrated and
just I think it was also kind oflike immaturity and I think I
was kind of also like I'm readyto blow this popsicle stand.

(52:34):
This is not really what I want,and so, but Malika tried to
warn me, but I'm so grateful forit.
I've learned so much, really,about tech and, like I said, I
went to the Harvard of tech andI feel like man, I jumped into
the deep end of a pool and I hadto figure out how to swim, and

(52:57):
I say that all to say, becausethen when I went to Spotify, I
was like right afterwards I waslike this is a cakewalk.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Yeah, because I had already let's talk about that.
Let's talk about the transitionto Spotify.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Yeah, so Troy Carter, who I mentioned earlier, you
know, when he was managing LadyGaga.
My job has always been aboutrelationships and so Troy and I
always remained friends and intouch and at the time he was the
global head of artistspartnerships at Spotify and
again kind of feeling the itchthat like I think my time at

(53:29):
Facebook is kind of coming to anend.
It had been two, two and a halfyears, you know, and I really
wanted to get back to the musicand so I reached out to him and
was like, hey, you knowsomething, you know pops off
there.
I'd love to go.
Jesus, I feel like I've lived50 million careers.
So there was an opening in spot.
Well, actually, no, it was arole that was made for me

(53:53):
because Troy was like hey, we're, we were still pre IPO at the
time, so it was still a privatecompany but on the precipice of
becoming a publicly tradedcompany.
But as we were growing, um, itwas losing some of its mom and
pop feel, and so he was like theway that, like I bring my
artists to MTV, they know you,they know that they're in good
hands.
We need to kind of create thiscar wash feel at Spotify where

(54:16):
people know.
Okay, when I come in thebuilding I see Whitney, I know
that I'm in good hands and youknow right.
So he tasked me with doing thatand I was like, okay, bet, you
know I can do it with my eyesclosed.
The challenge with that wasthat you were dealing with a lot
of people at Spotify thatdidn't come One, it was a
Swedish company to you dealingwith a lot of people that didn't

(54:39):
actually come from the musicindustry, really understand.
So I felt like similar to likefighting engineers, as I
mentioned in Facebook.
I felt like I was fightingcolleagues to really understand
the importance of artistrelations and like why it's so
critical, you know, in ourbusiness, whereas I think a lot

(55:01):
of times at least my perceptionis at the time it was very much
they're just cogs on a wheel,you know.
And so I had to do a lot oflike internal educating of
people on the music team, whichis crazy, um, you know engineers
.
And then also, you know, dealingexternally with partners and
getting them excited aboutspotify troy I was excited about

(55:22):
working for troy, um, so you tolearn so much about him, you
know, as an executive on thesame side.
Well, six months later he leftand I was like, really, do you
could have gave me a heads up,like I might've, you know, chose
differently and you know Ireally felt that like I came
there with a mission to fulfillwhat he, the task that he had,

(55:46):
and so it kind of felt a littlelost at first because it's like
now he, it was his vision, he'snot there yeah, he's not there,
and so for a little bit, youknow, as they were the changing
of the guards and stuff, I felta little lost and and and just
trying to, you know, find my way.
Eventually we, you know, youknow, got it together.

(56:07):
Nick Holmstein ended up beingthe head of the music department
.
He brought Chaka in From.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
Disturbing to Peace.
Yeah, full Circle Death JamMoment.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Yes, full Circle Death Jam Moment.
My big brother loved him todeath and you know I'm getting
him on here too.
I talked to him, the other, daysaid you're gonna come on here,
goodness, he's like all right,you know, I'm gonna do it, I'm
gonna do it, that's good, that'sgood.
I talked to him yesterday, um,and so, um, I was really excited
when chaka came, because I waslike now, like you know, we

(56:43):
could really move some stuff,you know, and do some stuff, um,
like tech companies, you, youknow, bringing in people, so
they bring their people.
It was just chaos for a littlebit and then eventually, shaka
ends up leaving and COVIDhappened.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Everything gets shut down, wait before we go into
COVID things.
So like what is your take on Imean, it is what it is now, but
what is your take on the mergingof tech and music and how it's
affected the music industrypositive or negative?

Speaker 2 (57:17):
I mean, I think it was a necessary evil.
I think there is many ways, Ithink the music industry was
becoming very archaic in some ofits practices.
But you know, I thinktechnology is necessary.
Hold on, let me get throughthis.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Yeah, she's just agreeing with you, that's all.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
Yeah, exactly, hold on.
Alright, kiddo, I need you totake a nap.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
All good, I knew you would like that, okay, cool.
So I'm going to wind it up.
After this, I'm going to do thequestions.
Yeah, because the questions, Ithink, are what's going to
really help with the shorts andthe reels and all that you know.
Cool.
So I'm going to wind it withthis and then we'll do the
questions.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
The problem is I have 50 million jobs and I can see
that my battery was going to dieon my computer, so I have to go
to the doctor.
But I think to die on mycomputer, so.
But I think she should go downfor a nap now.
Okay, yeah, sorry, I've had 50million jobs, that's all right.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
We were talking about the necessary evil of tech and
music mixing.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
Sorry, so listen, I think there's, we were talking
about the necessary evil of techand music merging, sorry, so,
listen, I think there's thenecessary evil of tech and music
merging.
It's one of the things that,sadly, the music industry has
always been is slow to adoptionin all respects.
You know what I mean, allrespects, you know what I mean.

(58:51):
So, um, and I think it's alwaysbeen a step behind, because I
think people are always scaredof innovation and losing their
spot.
You know, just think going fromcassette tapes to cds you know,
what I mean, or vinyl from tocassette tapes how they ran naps
.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
They're off right.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
So you know, I mean to be with you like.
I'll even take it a stepfurther, but as an adjacent, mtv
had the opportunity to buyYouTube and didn't.
That's why Tom Justin got fired, and so that slow adoption
Right.
Like, people are always afraidto innovate, and it's like man
if you had done it you.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Yeah, I can't even imagine.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Right.
So it's like to think like mtvhad the opportunity to buy
youtube like kidding me.
So yeah, so I just think thatyou know it's a necessary evil,
but I think that people didn'tnecessarily know, like, how to
go about it and I still thinkvery much are still trying to
figure it out.
I'm saying that but, yeah, Ithink the streaming world makes

(59:47):
it easy.
You know, one of the things Iwas um sharing with a friend of
mine is that, like I do love theum, the opportunity that
streaming provides in terms oflike sharing in a vast array of
music um with differentgenerations, my son is five and

(01:00:07):
he knows uh party up by dmx.
But he also knows um he listensto frank sinatra going to bed
wow you know what I mean, like,and that's only yo real talk.
His favorite song right now isit's tricky by run dmc wow.
He's like I met this littlegirly it was kind of girly I

(01:00:30):
went to our house and bust itout.
I'm like gosh, but he's five.
And he heard it one day becauseit was accidentally playing
after a Bruno Mars song in thecar.
And he heard the beat and waslike what's that?
And I was like this and he'slike yeah, and he was like it's
chicken and he made me pay itlike five times, like that is

(01:00:53):
his jam wow you know what I mean.
So that's funny, yeah, yeah.
So his babysitter was like doeshe know what those words mean?
I was like I asked him if heknows what a buster?

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
out and he was like no, he's probably catching on
because of the melody it's anursery rhyme melody.
Yeah, he doesn't really trip onthe words, it's the melody that
kind of pushes that forward,you know.
So you leave Spotify, you go toWas it J-Blocks?
No, where'd you go to Jukebox?
Jukebox, are we counting?

(01:01:28):
You were there.
You were there very short,right yeah, no, I'm definitely
counting that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
So I leave spotify.
Uh, scott cohen, who was thehead of innovation at warner
music, leaves.
He's really cool with maxsociety again trying to figure
out like evolution and likewhere music is going and this
whole NFT world and like allthat stuff.
And you know, one of the peopleI often talk to all the time

(01:01:55):
actually is Troy, and I think Icall him the Oracle.
I'm like you got enough moneyto be the Oracle because you got
time to think you ain't got nobills to pay.
You know, and he and I havebeen talking about like the
democratization of music andjust like the future of music.
And I didn't really understandit.
And he's like it's still early,you will, and this is still

(01:02:16):
when I was at spotify, um, andso finally this opportunity
comes and I'm like is this whatyou were talking about?
And I was like I don't think Iknow what he's like.
No, you, you should definitelygive this a try.
And I'm like but I don't knowanything about the finance side
of the music industry and so,like I remember him trying to
explain to me like you know whatit meant.

(01:02:38):
So finally, like I felt likewhen he like dumbed it down for
me.
I was like, okay, maybe I cando this, you know, because I
just felt like I needed to havesome type of, like you know,
master's degree in finance andor at least a publishing
background, which I had, youknow neither.
And so I was at Jukebox for ayear and a half as a startup
company.
We had like 20 million dollarsin backing and the idea behind

(01:03:01):
Jukebox is to allow retailinvestors to be able to buy and
sell shares of artists songroyalties.
Music as an asset has become ahuge profit for people.
But, you know, people arebuying music assets like, or
rather selling like, justinBieber sold his catalog for $350
million.
You know, different people aresaying it, selling it, but the

(01:03:23):
problem is that the averageperson isn't able to one have
access to it and be able toparticipate in that.
The idea behind Jukebox was thatand I still think it's still
early, ahead of its time is thatessentially, they work with
rights holders.
So people that were buyingthese huge catalogs and you're
buying at a 20, you know,usually a 20X multiple you're

(01:03:43):
saying, hey, listen, why don'tyou allow the fans to be able to
participate in the buying ofthese assets?
They're just going to be afractional owner of a royalty
stream.
So the idea behind that is thatit helps the asset owner
actually recoup their moneyfaster because the fans are

(01:04:04):
buying, you know, fractionalshares of it and it's still
performing.
Then they're able to then gettheir money back.
So, but, and so it wasfascinating for me to really
like learn about a new line ofbusiness and, like, I feel, like
my unintentionally, but myentire career has always put me

(01:04:24):
in a place where I've learned alittle bit more about a
different part of the businessthan I ever started to know
about.
You know, even from theinternship as a stylist
assistant, you know, I'm, youknow, on set learning about oh,
you're a product manager.
What is that?
You know what I mean.
So I feel like in my life hasalways allowed me to do that and
I say that I'll just say isthat that same thing actually

(01:04:48):
happened with jukebox.
So the time there was veryshort because it was, as I
mentioned, it was a startup andnothing's guaranteed.
We ran out of money, but it didafford me the opportunity to
learn a little bit more aboutfinance and it actually put me,
positioned me, to where I am now.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
And so Now you're at Harborview.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
Right.
So I'm at Harborview Equity,which is an investment firm that
was started in 2021 by CheriseClark Source.
It's Black owned, based inNewark, new Jersey, and it's an
investment fund that buys assets, artists, catalogs.
But one of the things that Ilove that we're doing is that we
are building out a biggerecosystem.

(01:05:33):
We're building out a mediacompany, you know, getting into
sports, and what really sets usapart as a company is that you
know we're buying catalog, butwe're also building out
partnerships with artists andcatalog.
But we're also building uppartnerships with artists.
We've done strategicinvestments in Macromedia Mucho
Mas, which is a Latin, aproduction company.
We're working with JesseCollins and Westbrook so that,

(01:05:58):
as we're acquiring catalogs fromdifferent artists, that we can
then pour back into them andreally make the money work in a
flywheel.
So there's some artists that youknow are just like hey, I just
want to check, leave me alone,you know, fly off into the
sunset.
But then there's others thatare like hey, let me, you know,
like Joseph Patel and I areworking on sitting down with an

(01:06:20):
artist that we recently acquiredtheir catalog to start building
out concepts for content thatwe can then, you know, bring to
like film and television.
So it's like, you know, it'sreally a full circle with that.
So I love the fact that if Ihadn't been for the fact that I
had been at Jukebox I mean,charisse was also a personal

(01:06:40):
friend of mine, a mom friend,but it was because of my entry
into Jukebox that it helped melead me to yeah, and so you know
, I actually had somebodycompliment me recently and they
were like man, like you'reprobably one of the only people
in the music industry that cansay they understand like the

(01:07:01):
finance side, you know, and thecreative side of the music
industry.
I think that's a little generous.
I'm still learning very muchthe finance side.
You know, I sit in a lot of themeetings um with you know,
capital markets and stuff, andI'm like I have no idea what
these people are saying, but I'mso grateful for the fact that I
have access you know, to beable to, to learn you know, and

(01:07:23):
I feel like I'm getting paid tohave, like you know, a
masterclass in like finance andmusic that I would have You're
in the room.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
That's the main thing you get in the room.
You figure it out, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
So that's Whitney Gale Benton's story.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:40):
As of now.
As of now, as of now, see, thatwas very easy, whitney.
See, you have to just trust mesometimes.
As of now, see, that was veryeasy, whitney See, you have to
just trust me.
Sometimes, don't roll your eyes, you just did it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
You did it.
You said you're not using thevideo, so I can roll my eyes all
up.

Speaker 1 (01:07:53):
Okay, thank you, whitney, for coming to my show.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
Sorry for being so long-winded.
No, it's all right.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
I mean, the people want to know what if this is
something they want to do, or orother genres too, it doesn't
have to be music.
You know just how to move andhow to be smart and be open to
new um, to new opportunitiesyeah, yeah thank you for coming
to mixed and mastered wendyyou're welcome I really
appreciate it.
You can't?
Yeah, all right, we're to talkoffline about the other stuff,

(01:08:28):
but go tend to your baby, I will.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
Now, of course.
Now she's quiet when it's allsaid and done.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
Exactly, but thank you again for coming to Mixed
and Mastered and I'll talk toyou soon and I really appreciate
it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
You're welcome.
You're welcome, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:08:44):
You can catch Mixed and Mastered on Apple Podcasts,
spotify, iheart or wherever youget your podcasts.
Hit that follow button, leave areview and tell a friend I'm
your host, jeffrey Sledge.
Mixed and Mastered is producedand distributed by Merrick
Studios.