S01E07 — Parker Ulry and a masterclass in digital marketing

Today, we are joined by Meg Tarquinio, as we discuss the world of Spotify curation, A&Ring, and the other A word - algorithm. 

A year ago, Meg joined Nettwerk Music Group, coming over to the label world after a decade in music-tech. Previously, during an 8 year stint at Spotify, she created 100s of the platform's playlist brands (e.g., #ThrowbackThursday, Peaceful Piano, Songs to Sing in the Car), established its indie folk & acoustic portfolio (e.g., Roots Rising, Fresh Folk, Infinite Acoustic), and drove key developments like algotorial playlists and the pitch tool. Her last few years there saw her further pursuing her passion for expanding the ways people discover and connect to music, by leading Spotify's global curation strategy team and steering the company's editorial strategies, programs, policies, formats, and tooling.

In a past life, Meg was on the long and winding road to becoming a literature professor, and she still has dreams of pursuing some scattered academic endeavors in the fields of musicology, adaptation studies, and the digital humanities.

Today, we have a very special guest. Terry McBride, CEO and co-founder of Nettwerk Music Group…. “and my boss” — (sameer!)

Terry discusses the evolution of running a modern day record label, 38 years after founding Nettwerk in his apartment in 1984.

Nettwerk Music Group is one of Canada’s largest independent record label, artist management and music publishing company and  has corporate offices worldwide in Vancouver, London, Hamburg, Boston, Los Angeles and New York. Since its inception, Nettwerk has released over 700 different albums and sold over 170 million albums worldwide with renowned artists such as Coldplay, Fun, SYML, Mike Posner, Passenger, Dido, and Sarah McLachlan.

Terry has spoken at dozens of international conferences about the social landscape, digital branding, intellectual property rights and the future of music consumption. In 2008 he co-authored a broad reaching futuristic paper on the Millennial Generation for the University of Westminster in London, UK. He is a two time recipient of the Pollstar Manager of year for his work with Avril Lavigne, Coldplay and Sarah Mclachlan. He is also a recipient of the Juno Awards “ Special achievement award” for the growth and advancement of the Canadian Music Industry.

In 2006, Terry co-founded a chain of wellness centers called YYoga and fitness. It’s McBride’s vision for YYoga Studios to evolve into social third spaces, focusing on health, fitness and wellness for the body, mind, spirit and the community. Terry is also a long-time supporter, E-Series speaker, and recipient of the 2015 FWE Mentor Award.

In today’s episode, we talk through the life & career of Keith Goodwin. 

Keith Goodwin is an artist, producer, multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with Days Away, Good Old War and recently, Found Wild. Goodwin has spent the past few years producing and working with artists such as Anthony Green, LULLANAS, and more.

2021 saw Goodwin put out his first solo project. The track, “I Know What Love Is (Because Of You), is charity project in conjunction with Taylor Guitars and featured Grammy winning artist such Zac Brown, Jason Mraz, KT Turnstall and 45 other artists from around the globe. The proceeds of the song is in support the MusiCares COVID-19 FUND, to help those in the music community adversely affected by the pandemic.

Additionally, Goodwin has used his sound engineering background is producing several podcasts. 

This week, we have an honest conversation with Asian pop star / actress Narelle Kheng (Forbes 30 Under 30). We discuss the balancing act artists have with their careers, and life, and how important it is at growing at your own pace.

A former national swimmer, Narelle is an actor and a member of Sam Willows,  one of the most successful bands to come out of Singapore and consists of siblings Narelle and Benjamin Kheng and their friends Sandra Riley Tang and Jonathan Chua. The group was formed in 2012 and released their first EP that year followed by their first full-length album Take Heart in October 2015. Last year in July they released their second studio album I Know But Where.

In 2019, she embarked on her on her solo career under the name “Narelle”. With the final phase of an album out in 2021, and a short film to accompany the project, “Narelle” is a genre bending project that is more personal, and represents the personal growth and discovery Narelle has gone through in the past few years. 

S01E10 — Derek Robertson and the State of Music Journalism in 2020

This week, we have music journalist Derek Robertson to discuss the state of music journalism in 2020. Robertson discusses the lack of criticality, and often objectivity in journalism. 

Derek Robertson is a freelance music writer, editor, and digital journalist with over ten years’ experience contributing to a variety of publications, both in print and online. Having written for the likes of the Guardian, the Independent, NME, Timeout, and Vice, he had a three-year stint as Editor-In-Chief at Drowned In Sound, where he oversaw editorial direction and digital strategy. He also writes artist biographies, provides content for several internationally renowned festivals, and has been a BBC Sound Of… pundit for several years.

This week, we have Vanja Primorac. Vanja Primorac is currently the Vice President of Content at Pollen, a marketplace that curates the best shared experiences for young people and gets them closer to the artists they love. She’s currently building out the strategy and team that will focus on developing artist branded curated travel experiences around the globe. 

In the episode, we discuss Primorac’s journey in the industry and how Spotify’s changed artists’s careers, the lack of trusted and influential human curators and how artists are finding new ways to connect with their fan base with the the lack of touring.

Previously, Primorac lead UTA’s Music Innovation initiative, which worked with departments across the agency and companies in emerging digital and tech to identify unique collaborations that would elevate artists, their stories and bring them closer to their fans. Once COVID-19 hit and took the live business to a screeching halt, Primorac and her team stepped up to lead the charge in finding unique live streaming partnerships for their clients. This included everything from charity driven initiatives, to big partnerships with Oculus and BeApp and ultimately guiding the agency through the live streaming pay per view platform landscape; a solution that would allow artists to stay connected to their fans while generating incremental revenue. Earlier in her career, Primorac worked at Spotify across Artist & Label relations and marketing. She worked directly with artist and management teams as a representative of Spotify and helped educate partners on best practices and various partnership opportunities and has developed artists marketing campaigns by bringing the artist’s creative vision to life, most notably Louder Together which brought Nina Nesbitt, Sasha Sloan, Charlotte Lawrence and producer King Henry together to write an original song. 

Vanja Primorac started her career working at Revolt TV as a producer in the creative department. 

This week, we have Jess Kangalee who discusses the dark arts of radio plugging, to starting a firm on her own, and a very educational insight in her journey and successes of being a woman and a minority in a field of music notorious for being a "boys club". 

Jess Kangalee has a decade of experience working in broadcast media promotions for artists, festivals and events. She currently runs her own company Good Energy PR, working with a roster that prioritises female identifying/lgbtq/poc artists. Prior to Good Energy, Kangalee was Head of UK Radio & TV PR at a big independent label where her efforts helped break artists such as Moses Sumney, Phoebe Bridgers and Whitney, as well as working on game changing campaigns including Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten. Aside from Secretly Group releases, Kangalee also worked on seminal releases for badbadnotgood and Run The Jewels as well as 7 festivals seasons including Citadel (4), Green Man (3), Lovebox (7) and Wilderness (6).

Previously to the label, Kangalee worked at an independent plugging company across a diverse roster including  Azekel, Battles, Boards of Canada, Bombay Bicycle Club, Caribou, Daniel Avery, Grizzly Bear, Metronomy, Sleater Kinney, Sinkane, Tame Impala, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The War On Drugs to name a few. 

Kangalee is also very active in pushing for change within the independent music sector to increase diversity and equality and has been leading talk sessions across labels, live, management, publicity, A&R, artists and more.

This week’s episode, we have Parker Ulry, Director of Digital Marketing Interscope Records. Ulry’s career has seen run digital with pop cultures biggest names including chart topping DaBaby, Summer Walker, Blackbear, Lil Mosey, Alexander 23, and cult favourite LANY. In this episode, we discuss how artist marketing in the digital sphere is run in 2020, and how covid has altered creativity and consumerism. 

Prior to Interscope, he worked at Warner Bros Records, handling digital for a portion of their roster. Ulry has spent the past 6 years of his career helping artists promote themselves, their music, and their brands online.

Edited by Keith Goodwin. 
Intro & Outro music by Superheart

This week’s episode, we have multi-platinum selling songwriter, the very talented David Stewart. Stewart shares stories of how songwriting is a talent which comes from a lifetime of practice, and how writing in lockdown has tested the relationship of artist and songwriter. 

Stewart has worked with some of the biggest names in music from America and the UK including Selena Gomez, The Jonas Brothers, Hailee Steinfeld, Ed Sheeran, Ryan Tedder, Skrillex, Tinie Tempah, Troyboi, Example, Wretch32, as well as rising star Claudia Valentina. He also has a production/writing collective called ‘Mad Teeth’ which is signed to RCA Records.

After many years on the road, Stewart turned his hand to production and songwriting full time engaging in a two-year stint in Atlanta working with Ludacris’ team and honing his skills. 

 Stewart’s recent collaborations include the Jonas Brothers’ “What A Man Gotta Do.” Produced and written by Stewart, it was the #1 most added song at Top 40 and AC radio in January. He also produced and co-wrote Hailee Steinfeld’s newest single “I Love You’s,” released in March 2020.

Edited by Keith Goodwin. 
Intro & Outro music by Superheart

This week, we talk to Ryan Chisholm. GM of Work of Art Management (Mike Posner, Trevor Daniel, Wes Period, MILCK, Verzache, Quadeca and Tai Verdes.) along with SVP of Arista Records (West Coast).

With a career that amasses number ones, and over 6 billion streams, Chisholm’s first introduction to the industry actually started at home — his father, Kevin Chisholm was Carlos Santana’s manager. 

For the past 5 years Chisholm has managed the career of pop / singer-songwriter / poet / podcaster Mike Posner. Posner's song “I Took A Pill in Ibiza” amassed over 2.5 billion worldwide streams, went Top 10 in 85 countries, held the #1 on Top 40 radio for two weeks straight, made history as “One of Spotify’s Top 10 Most Streamed Songs of All Time” and earned Posner a 2017 Grammy nomination for “Song of the Year”. 

Edited by Keith Goodwin. 
Intro & Outro music by Superheart