Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: the last couple of years have seen a fair amount
Speaker 1: of upheaval at the Recording Academy. The organization, you know
Speaker 1: who they are. They represent songwriters, engineers, producers, performers and
Speaker 1: a lot more. It's probably best known for overseeing the
Speaker 1: annual Grammy Awards. For more on what's been going on,
Speaker 1: the moves to change the future direction of the academy,
Speaker 1: we welcome to Bloomberg Business Week Harvey Mason Jr. He
Speaker 1: is CEO of the Recording Academy. He's on the phone
Speaker 1: from l A. He's also the founder and CEO of
Speaker 1: Harvey Mason Media. Harvey welcome, nice to have you here.
Speaker 1: How are you. I'm so good. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Excited to be here. Well, it's great to have you here.
Speaker 1: First of all, like I do with a lot of
Speaker 1: folks who come on here with us, tell us about
Speaker 1: the last year. There's been a lot of stuff going on.
Speaker 1: Obviously COVID, but also you know, institutions, organizations, companies really
Speaker 1: being tested in terms of what they stand for and
Speaker 1: what their future strategies are, tell us about the has
Speaker 1: to her or so for you, well started a little
Speaker 1: bit before that. Actually, for me, I ran the chair
Speaker 1: of the board. I've been a member, I've been a trustee,
Speaker 1: and a couple of years ago I really saw an
Speaker 1: opportunity to really level up what we were doing at
Speaker 1: the Academy and I saw it being a timely issue,
Speaker 1: something that we had to take responsibility for. So I
Speaker 1: ran for chair on kind of a platform of change
Speaker 1: and improvement. And that was I think two and a
Speaker 1: half years ago. And then I was put in as
Speaker 1: a CEO on interim basis about eighteen months ago. And
Speaker 1: at that point we really started looking at everything we
Speaker 1: were doing, is you know, pulling back the curtain. How
Speaker 1: can we be more reflective, more representative, more diverse and
Speaker 1: more relevant. And there was a lot of things that
Speaker 1: needed to change at the Academy. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: things we did really, really well that we also needed
Speaker 1: to talk about and amplify and share with our members
Speaker 1: and the general public and music consumers. But we really
Speaker 1: looked at everything we're doing. We were also the tiny
Speaker 1: little thing called COVID had a lot of impact on
Speaker 1: what we were able to do obviously had a huge
Speaker 1: effect on our membership in our music community. We were
Speaker 1: some of the first people to be out of work
Speaker 1: and we'll definitely be some of the last come back.
Speaker 1: We've been really hyper focused on trying to serve our
Speaker 1: members around the needs. There. You took us there at
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Let's go there. Uh, the financial impact of
Speaker 1: the pandemic on the music industry, how would you quantify it? Um?
Speaker 1: No word there that we can use and we've created
Speaker 1: that can can show exactly the impact that it's had.
Speaker 1: It's been catastrophic, it's been critical, It's been something that
Speaker 1: no one's ever expected. I can tell you through our
Speaker 1: Music Cares organization, which is the part of the Academy
Speaker 1: that gives back to music people who need help. Typically
Speaker 1: in the normal year will be five six million dollars
Speaker 1: of service needed people who need help with rent or
Speaker 1: bills or medical care. This year we're well right around
Speaker 1: thirty million dollars services provided. So we've never seen anything
Speaker 1: like this. A huge event like hurricane can train and
Speaker 1: put people out of work for over a period of
Speaker 1: time nine eleven for a period of time, but nothing
Speaker 1: has had the impact the COVID has had on our industry.
Speaker 1: You are, It's really interesting. I think there are times
Speaker 1: that people look at the music industry and they just
Speaker 1: assume everybody is really successful, it makes a ton of money.
Speaker 1: I remember in college being part of our radio station
Speaker 1: about jazz performers and and a lot of them were
Speaker 1: just barely getting by. And not everybody in the music
Speaker 1: industry makes a ton of money. No, in fact, just
Speaker 1: the opposite. Most people in the industry making less than
Speaker 1: the medium income. And I think there are a small
Speaker 1: percentage of people that are making you know, hundreds of
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars. It's a tiny amount of people. Most
Speaker 1: of us are working day to day musicians or writers,
Speaker 1: or producers or crew members or you know, gap riggers,
Speaker 1: things like that. So it is an organization with the
Speaker 1: Academy that represents the whole spectrum. Of course, some of
Speaker 1: our members get more visibility than others on the show,
Speaker 1: but it is our responsibility to look out for our
Speaker 1: all of our members. But even more import earlier than that,
Speaker 1: the whole music community and zooming out maybe a click
Speaker 1: further than that, it's our responsibility to utilize the power
Speaker 1: of music and the leverage our brand at the Academy
Speaker 1: and the Grammys to try and make change, try and
Speaker 1: improve things, try and bring people together, try and fight
Speaker 1: for things that are wrong, and just make a difference.
Speaker 1: And that's really kind of where I hope we can
Speaker 1: go in the future. We've got about a minute left
Speaker 1: and then we'll come back and continue the conversation, but
Speaker 1: in about fifty seconds. I mean, if there's one thing
Speaker 1: you could right now change for your industry, make it better,
Speaker 1: make it more inclusive, what would it be. Well, I
Speaker 1: think it starts with being more inclusive and being more
Speaker 1: diverse and hearing from all the right voices, make sure
Speaker 1: people have a voice and our seat at the table
Speaker 1: at at every level, both in the creative side, on
Speaker 1: the executive side, and the decision making side. And then
Speaker 1: also making sure that the income and the payouts are
Speaker 1: equitable and fair in regards to the creators and partnership
Speaker 1: with the streaming companies and the labels and the publishing companies.
Speaker 1: Is a lot of money being generated by the consumption,
Speaker 1: and we've never seen new is it consume at the
Speaker 1: rate we're seeing it now, But there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of clarity on how that music gets or the money
Speaker 1: gets split out, and how do we monetize this art
Speaker 1: that these people are creating. That's something that we need
Speaker 1: to figure out. One of the things I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you, Harvey, and thanks for staying with us, is
Speaker 1: you guys, and you specifically in your team focusing on
Speaker 1: keeping the music you know, community want to make sure
Speaker 1: it is inclusive, representative of all kinds of individuals. Uh.
Speaker 1: And how did it get to a point because you
Speaker 1: would have thought music creative um that it would be
Speaker 1: diverse and inclusive by its nature, and yet it wasn't.
Speaker 1: How did it get to be that way? Hard to predict,
Speaker 1: only because I haven't been here that long care but
Speaker 1: I think some of it. But you understand the music industry,
Speaker 1: You've worked within it for a long time totally. And
Speaker 1: the music industry has a lot of diversity in its
Speaker 1: creative side, uh, not so much on the business side.
Speaker 1: So I think there's something to be said for are
Speaker 1: people being aware just may not have understood or been
Speaker 1: cognizant of the fact that they could be involved in
Speaker 1: the academy And maybe that holds true for some other
Speaker 1: parts of the business. I know for us, I think
Speaker 1: there was just we didn't amplify what we did as
Speaker 1: an academy, and we didn't talk about all the other services.
Speaker 1: We just talked about the awards. So people just felt like, well,
Speaker 1: the Academy may or may not be for me. I know,
Speaker 1: I'm a creator, but I don't know if I should
Speaker 1: be involved in the academy side. I think if you
Speaker 1: know project that out, maybe the same thing how true
Speaker 1: for the industry. But it's really hard to predict. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you don't make it more diverse, don't make it
Speaker 1: more inclusive. Inclusive you know. Are you thinking about the
Speaker 1: survivability of the Academy going forward. Well, I think it's
Speaker 1: always something that's in our minds. But we are at
Speaker 1: this point very diverse, and we've accomplished some of our
Speaker 1: early goals pretty quickly. In the last two years, staff wise,
Speaker 1: elected leader wise, we have reached gender parity, We uh
Speaker 1: people of color are represent and almost now, so I
Speaker 1: think we're really really reaching some great numbers. We have
Speaker 1: some work to do in our membership, and I think
Speaker 1: was we continue to look forward on things that we're
Speaker 1: working on, we'll find other ways to keep improving. We
Speaker 1: by no means think the work is done, but again,
Speaker 1: we do want to be reflective and representative of the
Speaker 1: music industry that we serve, and that's very diverse. As
Speaker 1: you said, we've got work to do, but we've come
Speaker 1: along with We also want to set an example. We
Speaker 1: want to leave we want to get this right and
Speaker 1: not just for for our industry before every industry exactly
Speaker 1: like set set an example. What about the rest of
Speaker 1: the music industry though? Right, so many of your members
Speaker 1: and outlying companies, and you know, whether it's recording companies,
Speaker 1: labels and so on and so forth, you know, what
Speaker 1: more can they do? And I do this, I'm pushing
Speaker 1: you a little bit, but you know, we've done it
Speaker 1: with the sports industry and how they ultimately during the
Speaker 1: crisis of the last year where they're stepping up and
Speaker 1: providing stadiums for people to vote like that was huge
Speaker 1: and was significant for the industry to take a step.
Speaker 1: What's what's that moment for you guys? Well, first off, Carol,
Speaker 1: I love you pushing me. I have no problem with
Speaker 1: pushing myself and I'm pushing everybody that we can at
Speaker 1: the Academy because there is this is important and I
Speaker 1: think music serves a really unique role. Much like sports
Speaker 1: people listen to creators or music people people listen to athletes.
Speaker 1: So I think if we can start to do things
Speaker 1: the right way and continue in the direction we're headed,
Speaker 1: we can make a bigger impact on not just the
Speaker 1: music industry or not just the music community, but you know,
Speaker 1: our society at large. And that's the goal for us
Speaker 1: at the Academy is to really utilize the opportunity that
Speaker 1: we have, the influence that we have, and to really
Speaker 1: make a difference. And like I said, zoom out a
Speaker 1: little bit from just thinking so much about what can
Speaker 1: we do today for our Grammy Awards or what can
Speaker 1: we do? You are there. All that is very important,
Speaker 1: very important, but it gives us the opportunity to do more,
Speaker 1: all right. And I love that you mentioned the Grammy
Speaker 1: Awards because I think when we think about the economy,
Speaker 1: that's what we so many people understand. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: the thing visually that we all relate to specifically, but
Speaker 1: it is such a visual medium, right, And so what
Speaker 1: you put out there, UM, tell me about some of
Speaker 1: the conversations you're having about how you think about how
Speaker 1: you produce that show going forward, what we wanted to
Speaker 1: be the most entertaining show we can. You know, last
Speaker 1: year we did something very drastically different because we couldn't
Speaker 1: have fans in the audience, and our creatives and artists
Speaker 1: were unsure, unsecure how they could be around each other.
Speaker 1: So we set up a format that gave them safety
Speaker 1: and comfort and confidence. Whether or not we are able
Speaker 1: to continue in that type of format or we go
Speaker 1: to a new format, it will all really be dependent
Speaker 1: on COVID and the protocols and what we're allowed to
Speaker 1: do here in l A County and statewide federally. But
Speaker 1: our hope is we can bring great musicians and creators
Speaker 1: and artists together and make a show that is not
Speaker 1: only entertaining, but healing and bringing people together and uniting
Speaker 1: people and showcasing how we all can work together and
Speaker 1: how different genders and races and sexual orientations can all
Speaker 1: join forces to accomplish something great. And that's I think
Speaker 1: the power of music. You mentioned creative types. You are
Speaker 1: a creative type. You've worked with Penn, produced songs for
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariyah, Carrie, Elton John and of
Speaker 1: course Aretha Franklin. You've got an amazing movie coming out
Speaker 1: in August. Um tell me about this, and having seen
Speaker 1: Aretha Franklin live, there's there was nobody like her, oh man,
Speaker 1: nobody like her, right, So she was incredible. I was
Speaker 1: so fortunate to get the chance to work with her
Speaker 1: for thirteen years or so over of course of her career,
Speaker 1: and she was very very special to me, but just
Speaker 1: specially to all of us. And the she's on August thirteen,
Speaker 1: respect movies coming out, it's about Aretha Franklin in her life.
Speaker 1: It's she's being played by Jennifer Hudson. It's in theaters only,
Speaker 1: which you know now is always a conversation point, and
Speaker 1: hopefully the COVID allows us to go to theaters August thirteen.
Speaker 1: But I'm very proud of the movie. A lot of
Speaker 1: great music and also a very important story that most
Speaker 1: people don't know about Miss Franklin, and that were that
Speaker 1: was the trials and tribulations that she suffered going through
Speaker 1: early in her life to become you know, the queen
Speaker 1: of soul, of the iconic voice that she was. It's
Speaker 1: so important to tell those stories. And I think that
Speaker 1: is again something that we just assumed somebody was popular
Speaker 1: or famous or successful, right, and you just think it
Speaker 1: was easy, and that's not the right assumption, just quickly,
Speaker 1: definitely not. And most people nowadays don't realize that. They
Speaker 1: see the TV shows where you sing and you get
Speaker 1: voted on, you're a millionaire, you know, and they don't
Speaker 1: know that Aretha actually had a lot of hurdles and
Speaker 1: obstacles she had to overcome to become who she was.
Speaker 1: She she was one of the all time greatest voices
Speaker 1: in our in our history, but yet she had not
Speaker 1: found her voice for the first six or seven records
Speaker 1: of her career. So I think people will enjoy this
Speaker 1: story of triumph and what she has accomplished in her life.
Speaker 1: When in doubt, when I don't know what to listen to,
Speaker 1: I throw on some Aretha. It's like you just go there.
Speaker 1: It's just amazing. Hey, Harvey, I hope you'll come back
Speaker 1: really enjoyed this time. Harvey Mason Jr. His Chief executive
Speaker 1: Officer of the Recording Academy, founder and CEO of Harvey
Speaker 1: Mason Media, joining us on the phone in Los Angeles,