Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Speaker 1: Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2: All Right, everybody this weekend. It's not the super Bowl,
Speaker 2: it's the Grammys, which I guess we could say is
Speaker 2: the super Bowl of the music industry.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's fair to say. Hey, we've got
Speaker 1: back with us Harvey Mason, Junior CEO at the Recording Academy.
Speaker 1: It's the organization that oversees the Grammy Awards. I gotta give,
Speaker 1: like you know, not just a brief intro of heart.
Speaker 1: Harvey Mason has done everything. Okay, check this out. He's
Speaker 1: not just a CEO. He's also a music producer and songwriter.
Speaker 1: He's worked with Beyonce, Bieber, Aretha Franklin, Elton, John Whitney, Houston,
Speaker 1: Ariana Grande. Okay, so he knows a thing or two
Speaker 1: about music. He's a movie producer. He's done scores for
Speaker 1: many of the movies that you know and love. He
Speaker 1: recently produced the Aretha Franklin biopic respect He's working on
Speaker 1: other movies right now. I'm very pleased to have Harvey
Speaker 1: back with us. How are you, Harvey?
Speaker 3: So good? Thank you? That intro was much too long,
Speaker 3: but I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Well, you've done a lot.
Speaker 1: You have done a lot, and I didn't even mention
Speaker 1: at all. Hey, let's talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: industry right now, because look, since we last spoke to you,
Speaker 1: a lot has happened. We saw touring just roar back
Speaker 1: over the last year. Big thank you to Beyonce and
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift. But those are only two huge artists. The
Speaker 1: vast majority of artists are not able to do what
Speaker 1: they're able to do. Talk to us a little about
Speaker 1: the environment out there right now.
Speaker 3: It's definitely unique since COVID, there's just an appetite, there's
Speaker 3: a hunger for live experiences, and I think music has
Speaker 3: been thriving because of that. But as you said, it's
Speaker 3: not just Beyonce and Taylor, thank you, they had great seasons,
Speaker 3: great years, but it's also the other touring working musicians,
Speaker 3: the people who hang the lights, the people who you know,
Speaker 3: set the microphones and work the soundboards. There's so many
Speaker 3: music people associated with big tours and small performances, So
Speaker 3: venue owners think about all the different people that are
Speaker 3: in this eCos. We're just thankful that we're through COVID
Speaker 3: and we're able to enjoy music. And what I like
Speaker 3: most about the live shows, whether it's the big, massive
Speaker 3: arena tours or intimate stages, it just brings people together.
Speaker 3: It gets people to sing and nod their head and
Speaker 3: feel good and share a human experience. So happy to
Speaker 3: be doing music right now and involved in the environment.
Speaker 2: Hey, we'll talk to us about the environment for award shows.
Speaker 2: You know, it's gone under some difficult times, whether we're
Speaker 2: talking about the Oscars or the globes, you know, in
Speaker 2: terms of diversity issues and just kind of being more
Speaker 2: relevant in terms of what is going on. We're broadly
Speaker 2: at the world. I feel like music, to some extent
Speaker 2: often is more in tune to culture, but it's had
Speaker 2: its own rough moments. How do you think about it
Speaker 2: as you approach this year's Grammys?
Speaker 3: So much to unpack there. Actually it's probably a ten
Speaker 3: minute response I'd love to give you, but I'll start
Speaker 3: with the work we've done over the last four years
Speaker 3: around our membership. You know, we're twenty four thousand members.
Speaker 3: We've totally rethought and overhauled who our members are. We're
Speaker 3: now at almost forty per cent people of color, where
Speaker 3: over thirty percent women, which is totally different than we
Speaker 3: were four years ago. Our awards and the diversity around that,
Speaker 3: the representation has changed. But to your point of making
Speaker 3: sure we're relevant, it means listening to what's going on
Speaker 3: in the music industry. It means listening to our creators,
Speaker 3: our members, and them telling us. You know, we can't
Speaker 3: sit back in a room and say, Okay, we're the Academy.
Speaker 3: We're going to do this and this and this. We
Speaker 3: have to make sure we're representing the music people and
Speaker 3: we're listening to what's happening. This stuff moves so fast.
Speaker 3: As you said, music is driving culture. In order to
Speaker 3: keep up with that, we have to make sure we're
Speaker 3: paying attention, we're inviting the right people in to share
Speaker 3: their knowledge and their experience. It could be as small
Speaker 3: as one genre saying, Harvey, you and the Academy are
Speaker 3: totally missing this. Let's make sure we get a new category,
Speaker 3: which is great because we've done three new categories this year.
Speaker 2: Which is very cool. Who are the right people when
Speaker 2: you say that, what does that mean?
Speaker 3: The right people are the professionals in those different groups
Speaker 3: of music makers, whether they're songwriters' producers, engineers, but there's
Speaker 3: all these different genres, and it's also more complicated because
Speaker 3: genres are blurring and people are coming together, but reaching
Speaker 3: out to the different areas geographically speaking, gender speaking, genre
Speaker 3: and making sure that we have information coming to us
Speaker 3: from all the different constituencies.
Speaker 1: Hey, how do you make the show the actual Grammy
Speaker 1: Awards more relevant in terms of viewers, in terms of
Speaker 1: getting people to tune in. I'm just reminding myself. We
Speaker 1: learned earlier this month that a new low in terms
Speaker 1: of ratings for the Emmy Awards, So people are definitely
Speaker 1: getting their content other places. The award shows are not
Speaker 1: attracting the audience that they used to. How do you
Speaker 1: change that?
Speaker 3: Well, we're actually trending the other direction. We were up
Speaker 3: thirty percent last year and we continue to grow our audience.
Speaker 3: But it's an interesting point something we have to consider.
Speaker 3: Consumers aren't necessarily always watching linear or traditional television. We
Speaker 3: have to make sure we're going out to where people
Speaker 3: are absorbing their content, taking in their content that could
Speaker 3: be digital, that could be social, that could be streaming.
Speaker 3: And we're doing all that, and we're really happy and
Speaker 3: proud that our engagement is higher than it's ever been.
Speaker 3: More people are taking in Grammys and the music related
Speaker 3: content than ever before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting. You know, I was thinking about the
Speaker 2: super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Which are you thinking about?
Speaker 2: I was thinking about Taylor Swift. You know what's so funny.
Speaker 2: You know, we did this whole story about, you know,
Speaker 2: the Tailor and Travis combination, and you know, folks have
Speaker 2: done some calculating of kind of that brand and the
Speaker 2: impact it's having on the NFL and the super Bowl
Speaker 2: coming up a week after the Grammys. But I mean,
Speaker 2: when you think about the brand that is Grammys, what
Speaker 2: do you hope people think that it is?
Speaker 3: Well initially and on the surface, we hope people really
Speaker 3: enjoy the show and say, wow, that was incredible. I
Speaker 3: saw something on stage that blew me away, or I'm
Speaker 3: so amazed. But my hope and our messaging and the
Speaker 3: more I reach out and talk to people, I would
Speaker 3: love it if they would understand what the Academy does.
Speaker 3: You know, the other three hundred and sixty four days
Speaker 3: of the year, which is advocate for music people make
Speaker 3: sure they have a safe and healthy ecosystem to operate in.
Speaker 3: We are doing Music Cares, our health and human services organization.
Speaker 3: We gave out over thirty five million dollars during COVID,
Speaker 3: and then our museum and the education, the preservation of music,
Speaker 3: making sure the next generation of people like me or
Speaker 3: like our members have music at their fingertips to make
Speaker 3: sure they're learning and understanding. And so it's a wide
Speaker 3: range of things we do at the Academy. Yes, the
Speaker 3: Grammys are here. It's exciting, it's amazing. Please enjoy it,
Speaker 3: but also know this is a not for profit organization
Speaker 3: that does everything within our power, within our mission to
Speaker 3: serve and uplift music.
Speaker 2: I love what you said, and there's so many You
Speaker 2: started off the conversation about all the people behind the
Speaker 2: scenes and often the musicians, And I think about years
Speaker 2: ago I was in college and our college radio station
Speaker 2: was all about jazz here in New York and the
Speaker 2: jazz musicians who for years were never paid and there
Speaker 2: were a lot of them where that were homeless, Like
Speaker 2: it was really upsetting. And I just think about, you know,
Speaker 2: being an advocate for those who are behind the scenes,
Speaker 2: right that aren't necessarily the front singer, if you will,
Speaker 2: or what you but that's a really important part of this.
Speaker 3: And knowing your audience, Bloomberg, I'll talk a little bit
Speaker 3: about that, making sure that musicians are paid fairly and
Speaker 3: there's equitable system for royalties and ownership of intellectual properties.
Speaker 3: Whether it's the jazz musician who's working a day to
Speaker 3: day gig job somewhere, or it's a superstar and all
Speaker 3: the team that works with them, we have to make
Speaker 3: sure there's legislation in place. We're advocating federally and locally
Speaker 3: for laws and things that we passed to protect the
Speaker 3: art form and protect the work. That's very important. And then,
Speaker 3: as I touched on music cares, when a musician is
Speaker 3: falling on hard times, do they have a safety net?
Speaker 3: They have somebody that they can call for support, for
Speaker 3: help financially or otherwise. And so that's what I'm proud
Speaker 3: about the Academy. For sixty five years, We've had ups,
Speaker 3: we've had downs. People have been happy with us, they've
Speaker 3: been angry with us. But what's been consistent that we
Speaker 3: have not missed is the opportunity to serve our music
Speaker 3: community and will continue to do that.
Speaker 1: Hey, Harvey, I just want to end with kind of
Speaker 1: people understanding more of how you do things, because I'm
Speaker 1: kind of still in awe of everything that you're able
Speaker 1: to do not just see the recording Academy, but outside
Speaker 1: of that job, how do you make sure that you're
Speaker 1: dedicating enough time to your CEO position but also pursuing
Speaker 1: these projects, including songwriting, producing, and then also working on
Speaker 1: these films.
Speaker 3: Well, that's a delicate bouncing a good question. I don't
Speaker 3: know quite yet how I do it myself. I spend
Speaker 3: a lot of the time juggling. I do do the
Speaker 3: CEO thing pretty much all day every day, and then
Speaker 3: the evening comes to the music comes to me, and
Speaker 3: I can get into the studio and create. So it's
Speaker 3: a juggling act. My kids are growing up. I don't
Speaker 3: have pets, I don't have any hobbies. I love to work.
Speaker 2: I love that. Is there any AI involved? Just got
Speaker 2: about ten fifteen seconds.
Speaker 3: AI's definitely involved. A I has always been involved, not always,
Speaker 3: but in the last ten or so years, it's been
Speaker 3: involved in how I make music, how people write, how
Speaker 3: people create, and it's going to continue to go that direction.
Speaker 3: We have to make sure we're figuring out how to
Speaker 3: put some guardrails around that and protect the human creative community.
Speaker 2: It's a really good point.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 2: We're looking forward to the Grammys this week, and thanks
Speaker 2: for finding some time for us. We know you're really busy.
Speaker 2: Harvey Mason, Junior Chief executive Officer at the Recording Academy,
Speaker 2: As we said, oversees the Grammy on Grammys, excuse me
Speaker 2: on Zoom from La