The Evolution of Music Curation with Saidah Blount

Where crypto and music intersect, you can find Roneil Rumburg. This week’s guest sat down with Jeff to help explain the benefits of a decentralized Web3 streaming platform. You’ll learn why this is beneficial to artists, and understand a bit more about how digital currency can open up a world of possibilities. Roneil Rumburg is co-founder and CEO of Audius, a digital streaming service that connects fans directly with artists and exclusive new music. Audius is fully decentralized, owned and run by a vibrant, open-source community of artists, fans, and developers all around the world. Founded in early 2018, Audius serves millions of users every month, making it one of the largest crypto applications ever built! Big Takeaway:  Music fans pay for experiences, and Web3 is making it possible to deliver those experiences in entirely new ways.  Learn more about Audius. https://audius.co/ Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Imagine putting out a song on Soundcloud and getting discovered by one of the biggest composers of all time. Well, that’s what happened to today’s guest Rianjali Bhowmick. Her story of getting discovered is truly magical, but as she talks to Jeff about it, her life wasn’t always that way! In fact, it came at a really difficult time for her. Fast forward and her career has launched to include singing at Citifield, performing with Bono, composing for Netflix, and so much more. Learn all about what her journey was like and her awesome outlook on creating work.  Big Takeaway:  Artists often get just as nervous to perform for 3 people as they do for 25,000 – or Rianjali does at least!  Follow @rianjalimusic on Instagram and Youtube Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Have you ever wondered why working out is so much better with music? Why does music affect us this way? What happens in the brain? Well, wonder no more, because Professor Costas Karageorghis is here to explain it! He discusses different aspects of study he has and continues to engage with, his projections for innovations in music and fitness, and why he is such a lover of jazz music.  Professor Costas Karageorghis’ expertise is in the psychological, psychophysical, and neurophysiological effects of music in exercise and sport. His scientific output includes over 200 scholarly articles, 12 chapters in edited texts, and the text 'Inside Sport Psychology' (Human Kinetics). He has recently published a second text, 'Applying Music in Exercise and Sport' (Human Kinetics), as well as an associated study guide. He is also an accomplished jazz piano player and still performs his music.  Big Takeaway: One of Costas’ current projects involves creating bespoke pieces of music for individuals based on personality tests.  Follow Costas on social Twitter: @SAVIBrunel Spotify: Brunel SAVI Group (@SAVIGroup) Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts

Have you ever wondered how your favorite playlist was made? Do you miss the days of mixed tapes? Join us on this nostalgic journey with Saidah Blount to learn why music discovery is so important, how human curation provides warmth that technology simply cannot, and why context is so important to content.  Saidah Blount is an NYC-based brand and marketing executive known for her focus on music culture. As Sonos' Senior Manager, Global Content Marketing, she’s helped to establish and develop new sonic and cultural platforms for the company, including Sonos Radio, positioning the company as an emerging leader in the music and content space. In her past, Saidah has worked with a number of innovative and influential media outlets and brands, including NPR Music, The Fader, Adidas, Punchdrunk, Spotify, and Topshop. Big Takeaway: The best way to prepare for a career in music is to get a well-rounded education on all sides of the business through practical applications like internships and mentorships.  Follow Saidah on social IG: @saidahb // Twitter: @saibellanyc Learn more at https://www.sonos.com/en-us/sonos-radio Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Have you ever wondered how artists get paid for their work? When one song has multiple musicians, producers, etc, how are royalties paid?  Jeff is joined by Molly Neuman to help us understand how music publishing can be done to benefit creators. Molly is the President of Songtrust, the world’s largest and most accessible global publishing administration service. Under Neuman’s leadership, Songtrust has grown to represent more than 3 million copyrights for more than 350,000 writers in 145 countries, as well as tens of thousands of business clients including record labels, distributors, and boutique publishers. She has seen all sides of the industry including creating and performing herself with her punk rock trio called Bratmobile. She’s been working in digital music and streaming for nearly two decades and is passionate about empowering artists to understand how music publishing really works.  Big Takeaway: No matter what types of new elegant options emerge, lock blockchain, for example, artists will always face the challenge of getting adequately compensated for their work, and we are sure to see many sorts of examples brought to market to help make it easier.  Follow Molly on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mollydneuman Learn more at songtrust.com Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Have you ever thought about how important music is during your workout? Learn why this is true, and why the sound of a business is so important to its success in this exciting conversation with Teff Martinez! Teff is the Content Director for the Aaptiv division at Pear Sports. Her role includes managing an audio engineering team, developing content strategies, and keeping in-app content releases moving forward on a daily basis. Her expertise in music & audio has led her to work for big companies like ESPN (The Walt Disney Company) as a lead audio engineer, and Chewy where she got to lead in all audio initiatives and build out the audio department workflow. When she's not working, Teff is an avid songwriter, music maker, and content creator. Big Takeaway: The future of music will be heavily influenced not only by audio branding used by businesses but by the creator innovations from bedroom musicians.  Follow Teff on social @ thataudiochick and @ teffmusic Learn more at https://aaptiv.com/ Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Have you ever thought about how music enhances marketing? Why do brands so popularly partner with artists, and how can they do it best? Here to share his take on marketing with music is Geoff Cottrrill. Learn how he started the Rubber Tracks initiative at Converse to support emerging artists, the story behind Starbucks CDs, and the time Paul McCartney showed him baby pictures of his daughter Beatrice! Geoff Cottrill is a marketing wizard and music taste-maker. He has held marketing executive roles with some of the best-known brands in the world from Proctor and Gamble to Starbucks, to Coca-Cola, Converse, and Now Top Golf. Geoff was also the chairman of the Grammy Foundation for over a decade. Music and marketing have been an important strategic initiative for him, having launched Converses undiscovered artists program called Rubber Tracks and Starbucks’ music initiative Hear Music. Big Takeaway: When using music in your marketing efforts, the best thing you can do is let the artist do their art. Find the artist that matches your brand’s vision but then ask them what they want to do. Let them be authentic and simply be the platform allowing them to share their authenticity.  Follow Geoff on LinkedIn!Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Have you ever attended a concert in Augmented Reality? OR have you ever used an Instagram filter that made it seem like an artist was performing right in your living room? Well, now you can! This week’s guest is Vivek Agrawal, and he is sharing his amazing journey from tech executive to musician. What he learned in tech that betters his music, how artists have to promote themselves differently during a pandemic, and why following your passion is so important. Vivek Agrawal makes Hindi music in augmented reality. A technologist turned composer, Vivek has spent the past several years completing his debut album and developing mixed reality experiences to showcase his music. He has worked with AR Rahman, co-created the Bose Frames, and is passionate about the power of immersive technology and the 3D metaverse to elevate the music listening experience. @viagrawal on Instagram Big takeaway: Facetime and Zoom meetings may not feel like authentic connections to many people, so seeking out alternate ways to forge connections between an artist and their fanbase, or any human at all, is particularly important right now.  Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Do you love a good origin story about how a musician got their start? Did you hear about the one where her brother got his hand stuck in a pasta machine and that ended up being the start of her international touring career? Maureen Herman is her name and she tells Jeff all about how tragedy led to opportunity not once, but twice during her music career.  Maureen is a writer and bass guitarist, who played with the iconic Babes in Toyland. They played venues all over the US and Europe and she is now in the midst of writing her memoir.  Big takeaway: Having a community of creative people around you is the best support, inspiration, and built-in network you can find. Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts 

Have you ever wondered how managers and producers find the next biggest star? How do they know they’ll be popular, and what do they do to develop them into the artists they eventually become? David Boxenbaum breaks it all down from his perspective having discovered the legendary Maroon 5! Learn what is possible to fix versus what can’t be learned, and why some artists are just natural stars. You’ll also hear some great stories about Dave’s interactions with stars like Beyonce and Diddy, and how he is using his music biz experience in his latest business venture.  Davids Boxenbaum is the CEO of Newport Media Advisors, providing strategy consulting services to technology companies in media and entertainment, with a focus on the music and book publishing verticals. Throughout his career, he discovered and developed several platinum acts, including Maroon 5. David co-founded A&M/Octone Records, where he developed the upstream business model (now an industry standard) and was one of the early innovators in multi-rights artists deals. Big Takeaway: Scouting an artist is like scouting a baseball player. It’s not about how good they are now, but how good they good be in 2 to 5 years. You can polish a star, but you can’t create a star, so you have to know what you can fix and what you can’t.  Voices Behind The Music is presented by Feed Media Group and produced by Growth Network Podcasts