Music executive Whitney-Gayle Benta has spent more than 20 years in the music business working for some of the most influential companies in the game, including MTV, Def Jam, and Spotify. She joins Panama Jackson to talk about her journey to the big leagues and the future of music and investment. Whitney explains how music lovers will soon have the chance to invest in music royalties with the company JKBX, the first-of-its-kind platform that aims to change the game of music licensing.
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Panama Jackson [00:00:04] This episode is supported by FX’s Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur. This deeply personal five part docu series from award winning director Allan Hughes shares an illuminating saga of mother and son. She was a revolutionary, intellect and leader in the Black Panther Party. He was a rapper and political visionary who became known as one of the greatest rap artists of all time. FX’s Dear Mama, all new Fridays on FX. Stream on Hulu.
Panama Jackson [00:00:37] What’s going on, everybody? Welcome to Dear Culture, the podcast for buying about Black culture here at theGrio Black Podcast Network. I’m your host, Panama Jackson. And today we have another special guest, which I say every single time, because every guest is special here at dinner culture. But today I also really mean it because we have somebody I’ve known for years, a friend, somebody who was killing the game, who I’ve never really had a chance to tell that. Though I see you at every random event I go to that has anything to do with music. You you probably got in free to everywhere I pay. But listen, that’s just life. You’ve been at Spotify, Facebook and Instagram, which I definitely want to talk about. She’s been at Revolt, MTV. You worked at Def Jam at one point. I saw Noontime records. Listen, my guest today is somebody who you clearly need to know who is handling things behind the scenes. My guest today is none other than Whitney Gayle Benta. How are you doing today?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:01:31] I’m great. How are you? I’m so happy to be here. I’m so glad we finally able to make this happen.
Panama Jackson [00:01:37] It’s extra special for me to be able to bring friends of mine all here. Somebody I know personally who’s doing such amazing work in a space that I’ve always been extremely interested in when it comes to the music industry, just that world, like I’m a writer, so I kind of work my way in that way writing about music and culture. But people who are actually making the music move or making the culture move behind the scenes. So I kind of want to start it where you are now because it sounds like the most amazing job title of all time. I don’t know what it means. I don’t know what it has to do with, but my goodness, you are currently the chief music officer or is a musical officer or a chief music officer?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:02:14] Cheif Music Officer.
Panama Jackson [00:02:15] Okay. Chief Music Officer at Jukebox, which again sounds like the most amazing job title of all time. So two questions. One, what is Jukebox and what does the chief music officer do at Jukebox?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:02:27] Actually, what it is, it’s a music and technology company that will allow fans as well, fans of music and the general public to be able to buy and sell shares of artist song royalties. So this is a new, completely new aspect of the music industry that is literally opening up a whole new world that people in the music industry are are even confused like, Wait, what is this? So this is really on the precipice of innovation as we really open up this new world of Web3. So my role as a chief music officer, and funny enough, there’s actually only been so far release on record and publicity cheif music officer is John Legend and Steve Aoki. So it just in terms of official titles. So it’s funny, if you Google Chief Music Officer, there’s not a lot of us, but there have been some new articles that have been bubbling up about, you know, what is this new role and what is it mean? And a lot of it’s pointed towards more advertisement. But my role and she as a chief music officer, honestly, is to to be that anchor within our company as it pertains to our connection with the music artists. I’ve worked in music for 20 plus years, so fortunately, I’ve garnered a lot of goodwill and built a lot of relationships with artists and managers. So I’ve really, you know, long existing relationships. So my role is to talk to the music community externally, sharing with them what this new music ecosystem is going to look like. Many times we’ve acquired a lot of their catalogs. And so telling them about the opportunity and for the future that they have working with Jukebox.
Panama Jackson [00:04:14] One, that sounds amazing and is saying you’re like a liaison on to make sure the financial tech people understand the very industry that you all are in to ensure, like you said, maximum result. But you said like like investing. So does that mean let’s say I want to buy into you, buy into an artist or is this going to increase the royalties for artists. I’m wondering why a bunch of people basically buying into the possibility of a return on I don’t know if I’m making any sense now.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:04:46] It makes perfect sense. I just wanted you to it’s funny, I have this conversation a hundred times a day and people are it makes sense. But like, what are the means? And like, how does it make sense? So what else? The way I explained Jukebox is. For music has long been a asset class that has been untapped by or by the regular public. There have been kind of three major players. There have been record labels, private equity firms and multinational corporations that have had access to these catalogs to be able to to benefit from it. So now what we’re doing is really transformational and basically unlocking the true value that has long existed, that has only like as I mentioned, has been allowed to trade amongst these three, these group of people, which you probably have been noticing, that a lot of artists are selling their their catalogs. You’ve got like Justin Bieber, who sold his catalog for 200 million. The Weeknd, who sold his for 75 million and on and on and on. So essentially what’s happening is these private equity firms are understanding that the value of these catalogs are continuing to appreciate. And so they see the long term, you know, benefit of this.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:05:57] So what we’re doing is we’re unlocking this by being able to take a percentage of the royalty stream that comes in, and then we’re creating a music marketplace. So the same way that you would be able to buy shares of Tesla, Apple and Microsoft, you’ll be able to buy a share of Swag Surf or Back That Ass Up or whatever it is, or Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas. So that’s the way to think about it, is that, you know, because long before it, the only way that you would be able to actually be able to own a piece of Justin Bieber’s catalog is be one of one in which means that you’d have to be able to have 200 million, $200 Million. So this would create a fractionalization of artists song royalties so that you’ll be able to buy a fractional share of it. The way that you make a profit is that, like I said, as a music marketplace is a primary market and as well as there’s a secondary market. So as the song value continues to go up, you’ll be able to, depending on how much shares and buy, just like you would with my Microsoft or Apple, you’ll be able to not only be that one way fan, remember, like when you think about it, the traditionally the way that we’ve been fans are by buying merch.
Panama Jackson [00:07:20] Right.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:07:21] Ticket sales and streaming. So now you can truly say like, I’m in. So technically, you’ve always been an investor in your favorite art is right. Insert whoever. But now you can really truly say I’m an investor in you. You know, I’m investing in in your your catalog, in your song royalties. And so so this doesn’t touch anything that has to do with an artist’s publishing or master recordings. This doesn’t touch that at all. And just to give you a little bit of historical context, this is an it is a relatively new concept for us, but this is not something that is just like kind of out of the blue. In 1997, David Bowie did something that was called the Bowie bonds. He took all 25 songs of his catalog. Now, if you think about it, which artists now actually have 25 albums? But essentially what he did was he was able to raise $25 million, I’m sorry, $50 million off of the 25 songs that he did. Now, what he did was he created a music ecosystem. However, what how he differentiated is that it wasn’t done at scale. It was part of his 25 albums, which is nothing to snooze at right. But what we’re doing at Jukebox is we’re where this is going to allow us to create something at scale. I like to say that think about if Robinhood and Spotify had a baby. And so you know what I mean?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:08:48] Like so that when you wrap your head around that, you’re like, okay, it makes sense. So with the Bowie Bond, what he did was it wasn’t in a regulatory framework. What we’re doing is we’re doing this by the book so that each individual song is IPO individually, is put through the regulate process so that it becomes a registered asset with the FCC. The other differentiator for this compared to the Bowie bond is just to kind of give a little context is that it wasn’t open to the regular public and so this would be open to the general public. And if you think about that, the the demand is huge. There are 80 million individual investment accounts in the U.S. alone. So there’s so we think below Fidelity, Schwab, E-Trade, Robinhood, right now, $13.8 billion is traded on a daily basis. So. Right. And I think it’s like 3.2 trillion as a year. But the point about that is they’re trading the Apples, they’re trading the Microsoft, they’re trading all these other things. The one thing that’s not part of that is this new alternative asset class, which is music. And if you think about music is something that we all have a connection to, whether or not you’re the biggest music fan or just like somebody who’s a passive listener, I don’t care if it’s Row, Row, Row Your Boat, or like I said, or Swag Surf or like Dance With My Father. We all have these emotional connections to music one way or another in our life. And so imagine being able to tap in to those 80 million investors and then being able to to own a share of something that you actually care about. Not to say you don’t care about Apple, because I’m sure we all have an iPhone or Android. But my point is that like something like it really has an emotional, you know, connection for you.
Panama Jackson [00:10:43] So that sounds both super fascinating in like overwhelming as a mug, like just the idea of all of these songs. And so I get like, well, you have to like, get buy in from people’s catalogs and all this stuff. And also, thank you for mentioning I’ve been trying to understand why in the world all these artists are selling their catalogs so early. Right? Because, you know, the understanding is that your catalog, your masters, is what continues to provide financial well-being for you in the future. But if they’re going to do these probably actuarial things to figure out, okay, here’s your future potential earnings, we’ll give you that 300 million. Now that’s you’re going to get, you know, over the course of your life. And we’ll give you that. Now you just give us you give us access to your catalog and bull like which 300 million for us. So, I mean, I see all these artists we’re selling for, you know, extreme amounts. It’s like. Listen, if you rather sit on that three right now or wait till you get it over time, like I get it, but I’ve been so confused like where this came from because it almost seem like it comes out of nowhere. Like I keep seeing articles about it or we’re seeing all these articles and these, these artists were selling. I’m just like, Nobody’s really explaining to me why they’re doing this. I just keep seeing it happening, you know, where, where or why it’s come where y is coming from, you know what I mean? So that’s helpful and honest.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:11:54] Yeah. And I mean, honestly, this is one reason. I mean, I think artists have their own individual reasons why it could be. Some of them are just kind of like, let me cash out now because I may not necessarily be able to get this later or they see the runway that they’re going to also create more music. So you find this is I’m selling X amount right now, but I know that I have three or four more albums within me. And so let me just cash this out. Let me do some investment. Some of them might be in debt, like whatever the case may be, right? So again, like I said, what a big differentiator for us is that we are doing this in a regulatory framework. So this is not any of the FTX crazy crypto NFT stuff. This is like literally by the book FCC regulate it.
Panama Jackson [00:12:43] Listen, I’m all in. I look forward to learning more about that because it definitely does all fascinate me. So I really have a quick break here and then we’re going to come back and I kind of want to start out start talking about how you got here to begin with. So stay tuned here on Dear Culture. So I was reading your bio. I can remember where this word, but somewhere and I did not realize at Spelman. So you and I met in college. You were at the Spelman with the Morehouse. You created your own major, which was music industry studies.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:13:17] Yeah. Yeah.
Panama Jackson [00:13:18] So did you always know you wanted to be in the music industry?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:13:22] I did. I want to say I always did. But it was something when I was in high school that I fortunately landed an internship unexpectedly and each internship led to another to another. And I realized that, like entertainment was going to be my track. It was just it was it was thrilling to me. And I knew that I wanted to be in the ecosystem. I don’t think I know today knew per se, what I wanted to do when I was a kid. I used to just tell my mom, like, I just want a big office, corner office and I just want to yell at people. That was literally what I wanted to do, which is kind of crazy now. And I think about it socially, working from home now of ourselves. One person I’m yelling at is my toddler or whatever. He’s yelling at me. But I knew that I wanted to write and but I knew that I wanted to be in the and the music space because I was a musician as a kid. I played the violin and piano and I j But I knew that I wasn’t really fulfilled being a musician. Smith Anxiety. But I loved being behind the scenes and supporting musicians. And so to me, that was way more gratifying or more just the arts, period. I don’t want to say just musicians, because I’ve also done stuff that was actors and actresses, so, you know, but that is really was the impetus for it. But yeah, I created my own major that Spelman It’s funny because you Spelman being a liberal arts college they you know while it ran the gamut, music and entertainment was not some while music was a major, but it wasn’t kind of like music business as we think of it today, it was really like, if you want to sit, dance and play the violin or, you know, traditional instruments, but there was nothing necessarily for the business side of things. And when I did go in this moment, I was still playing the violin my freshman year. And I have a tendency to be a person who kind of, you know, kind of goes to the beat of her own drum. And so in the application for Spelman, it was in a very light italics, but it basically said like an independent major. And I was curious because I wasn’t sure necessarily what I was going to do. I just knew I want to experiment and sound and I’ll figure it out one way or another. And so when I got there and I investigated like, What is this? They really told me that a lot of people, you know, basically nobody has done it. And I think I probably might have been one of the first people to ever do an independent major. And so essentially what it was is I created my own curriculum, had to find advisors to support me at the school. And the idea was I was I knew I was like, I want to be in the music industry. So I basically created this curriculum that outlined the courses that I thought that I needed to take. So I not only took classes at Spelman, I took classes at Morehouse as well as Clark Atlanta. So to me I wanted to cover, you know, every aspect of entertainment as I was trying to figure out my way. And so Dr. Johnson, who was a who is a pianist at Spelman, was my music advisor. And then I also had a econ advisor at Spelman. I can’t remember the teacher’s name, but essentially to me, that was the way of putting music business together. So it created a proposal, you know, showed classes that she wanted to take and what you expect the end result to be. And I got approved.
Panama Jackson [00:16:54] That’s fascinating. I mean, I for one, to have the wherewithal to create that and to do that at, you know, 18 years old or whatever, like is is I mean, that’s the best that level of vision, you know, at that because most of us the sort of the school like I grab a major of the list that they provide you know if that changes while I’m there then I’ll change with that. But then I got it. You know, the idea to think of an industry to be a part of and they create a way to do it. I wish I had this conversation back then cause I’m. I mean, I would like to do this like, I was I had, you know, I mean, all these discoveries about myself later, you know what I mean? With my writing and all this stuff, I didn’t. You know, I’m a writer. I never wrote for the Maroon Tiger, anything like that. It just wasn’t anything that I did. You know, I was an icon in math and stuff like that. But, yeah, I’m just I just think that’s awesome. And it led you to MTV? Was that the first big job you got out of college?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:17:49] No, I was actually it was Def Jam. So, um, I got it. I was working for a management company at the time. I was working for a woman in Atlanta while we were still in school by the name of LaRonda Sutton, who was the SVP for Edmonds Music Publishing, and then was leaving to go to Universal Music Publishing at the same time in New York. And at the same time she had a management company called All of a Sudden and I was working on that arm of things. And so she said to me like, Well, what are you going to do when you graduate? And I was like, I don’t know. I’m just trying to figure it out. Like, I’ll get there in a second. Let me just like graduate. And then, you know, I figured I was going back to New York. And so as such. You know, she took it upon herself. You know, I guess I was a great team member for her. But she reached out to one of her best friends who was the vice president of marketing at Def Jam and was like, listen, you got to take care of my girl. And so I literally was in a class at Morehouse. This gentleman, I’m sure you were familiar Dr. Anderson’s class.
Panama Jackson [00:19:03] Art something or other. Mm hmm.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:19:05] Right. All you had to do is show up, and you got an A. So I was like, I am so literally. And I was on my two way pager at the time, and I got a text message from LaRonda, and she said, you know, when you graduate from school, you’ll have a job at Def Jam. Never interviewed for it, never did anything. I was like, Oh, snap. And I shared her with like my friend who was sitting next to me were like, What? Like, you know, like I said, it, it was a blessing. But I think it also speaks to the really what the music industry is about, which is about having relationships and having, you know, good reputation. So cut to graduate sometime May 20, 21, two weeks later, move back to my hometown, New York City, Harlem, New York. And I start working as a marketing assistant at Def Jam two weeks after graduating from college, which, when I think about it, is insane. Like, there was no break. There was no time to really be to enjoy graduating and to be a kid. Like, I literally was like thrust into the deep end of the pool of working with some of the biggest artists and music. And, you know, now that I look back and I look at photos, I’m like, You had no business. I was literally a kid who just graduated from school. And I’m, you know, working with DMX and working with Ja Rule and working with the Ashanti and like Jay-Z and, you know, Ludacris. And so it was it was a little rough in terms of trying to adjust. But that was my first job out of school. And, you know, I got a chance to fortunately be a part of working on the Blueprint, which everybody knows. It was one of Jay-Z’s probably most heralded albums during that time. And, you know, it was also so much going on in the world in New York in 911 and all that. So but I was there for two and a half years. And like I said, it was definitely music industry bootcamp. It was not for the faint of heart. And but that’s really where I cut my teeth and really learned did the true definition of like having thick skin. I’ll spare everybody all the details of that. But I mean, I’m definitely. A better person for it. And then I had a colleague of mine who was our counterpart with MTV and BET and a Music Choice at the time, and there was an opening to be a music coordinator at MTV News. And so she came to me and was like, you know, again, you know, I was like, I’ve had all these angels, fortunately, to really support my career, who was like, So what are you trying to do? And I was like, I don’t know, like just working. Just figure it out. She’s like, you know, there’s this job at MTV, you know, to be a talent booker. And I think you can do it. I don’t even know what a talent booker was.
Panama Jackson [00:22:05] She had that faith in you, though.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:22:06] Right. Exactly. So she was like, you have the gift of gab. All the artists love you at Def Jam. All the artists know you. And so the idea was like and then at the time, everybody at MTV was trying to book Def Jam Artists. So her thing was like, You’ll figure it out when you get there. Right? And I was like, Okay. So going over to that, I’m going over to MTV. That was 2003. I don’t really know what I was doing, but it was really funny as well. Like maybe like the first year and a half of the Def Jam Artists, which was a lot of the artists that I booked, were like, Do you work? Where do you work? Are you at MTV or are you Def Jam? Because like, we’re here all the time and we always see you know, and so anyway, I started as a coordinator. I was at MTV News and Docs for ten years and I left as a vice president. And I really learned the inner workings of the music industry as well as the television industry. And like that was probably that was one of the best times of my career. And I can say that because who would stay at a job now for ten years? Like now it seems like so like, you know, taboo to say it out of place for ten years. But it was I felt like you worked at like United Benetton. There was people, every single color walk of life, you know, sexual orientation. There was just so much freedom to be able to, you know, express your differences. And I think it was actually encouraged that, like our different walks of life helped us provide different perspectives to make great television programing. And so while I was there, I moved up the ranks. I learned how to make good television. I worked on some of the most heralded television shows on MTV. It was the My Block series. I got a chance to do a documentary with Jay-Z that was called Water for Life, and where we did a press conference to announce the the documentary at the U.N. and then ended up also premiering it at the U.N. with the Secretary-General Kofi Annan. I did a documentary, I did two documentaries on Kanye West, the first documentary with Drake. My time is better, Better than Good Enough Now. I’m Nicki Minaj. My time now, Demi Lovato, as well as Lady Gaga. So it was such an amazing time for me in really understanding, you know, television and music and blending, you know, two passions of mine.
Panama Jackson [00:24:49] So it’s funny that you say that, you know, it was the greatest time of your life because what I what I was curious about and this kind of forays into moving into places like what I guess Spotify and Facebook and all the like, you know, it seems like after you leave MTV, like it’s just like on a pop hit, like you just like, you know, you’re going to these places that at least from the outside in, were all like, These are the IT places to be, from Revolt and like all this stuff, right? But back then. Oh, let me let me say it this way. Currently, like, taking up space as a Black woman is like. Like, that’s just the thing, right? Like, it’s like, you know, you we are. We are allowed in speaking about these things. And. And Black women’s voices seem to be being heard more than it seems like ever before. Back then, I wouldn’t think so as much. So I was curious about, like, as a Black woman in these spaces that you are ascending the ranks are going up the ladder on. Like, was it ever difficult or was it something that because of who you are and the relationship that you built, like you were able to ascend that ladder in a way that didn’t make you feel marginalized amidst the midst anyway?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:25:55] So what I’ll say is to go back to that foundation that I had at MTV. It was a utopia. It was. And I was very fortunate, you know, to be in this place that I said it was like the United Nations of, you know, the United Benetton, you know, where your ideas were heard, because every no one person looked the same. So it was like they were true. We were such a melting pot. So as a Black woman and there were a lot of young Black men at the time at the company, but as the only Black woman in my role. I definitely. My word and my thoughts carried weight and I didn’t know any different. Like, I’ll give you an example. This was when. So a lot of times when new artists were trying to break into MTV, they would come to MTV News because we had these like ten to the hour spots that were like kind of like, no harm, no foul. It was just kind of like a little blurb. And so that was kind of like the easiest point of entry. And then like, you know, you know, you made it when you were like on TRL. I remember one of, you know, my now mentors, Troy Carter, who at the time was managing a Freeway Eve, like he really kind of came out of that era, but he called me. I never forget it was a Sunday and he called me. I was driving back on 95 North back to New York from Maryland, and he said, I got this new girl named Lady Gaga. And I was like, What the heck is a Lady Gaga? And he was like, I know. Just don’t worry about it. And but she’s amazing. I’m going to send you a link to her MySpace and I want you to check it out. And I was like, all right. And he was like, yo, could you see if you could give me some love again? Because MTV News was like the easiest point of entry if, like, if it failed, maybe couple of people who knew, like, you know, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:27:56] And so this is like, right on the brink of like the dot com era where you had now articles that we read on a daily basis. So I remember being going to our morning editorial news meeting and I said, Listen, guys, Troy reached out to me. He’s got his artist name Lady Gaga. I don’t even know what a Lady Gaga is. I’ll listen to the music is not for me and I’m clear on that. But that’s like to me, that’s super important to understand that you’re not. I’m not I’m not the demo, right? Like, Oh, I shouldn’t be. Actually, you should be. Who’s our audience is, you know, interest. And I was like, I don’t know. I was like, is cool is not really for me. But I can tell you she’s going to be a star. And I’ll never forget my boss was like, What is a Lady Gaga? I was like, I don’t understand. I don’t know. This hair bow thing like is a thing. But I promise you, we need to do a story on her. She’s going to be big. And so, again, she’s new, right? So everything was a Lady Gaga and we took a chance on her. But they trusted me and they trusted my gut. So that’s why I say for me, I got really fortunate because, you know, I could bring something that sounded crazy. And they’re like, all right, she she isn’t, you know, disappointed us yet. So I kind of was in this like, little utopia, you know, for a minute. And then but for me, it was it was great. I was there for ten years and I was trying to figure out like, well, when, you know, it’s time to leave, you know, because I’ve had this great experience at this amazing company and I love all my coworkers, but I knew I needed to grow. So and quite frankly, I felt like MTV when I got there. The Bible, I always like to say, was already written. And so I was like, I want to really kind of test the skills that I’ve developed here and like, see if this was just like a fluke or if this was like, you know, did I really, like, make an impact? And so at the time 2013, Puff was about to launch Revolt TV and he was poaching some of my colleagues and he remembered me because obviously he was at MTV all the time. Bad Boy was just on a street and he was always there. And so, you know, he’s like, baby girl, you know, I see you all the time whenever I’m here. You know, I always have a great experience and I know what you do, you know, And I want to do the same thing. I want to basically make revolt as big as MTV, if not bigger. And for me, that was exciting. Yeah. And I try to pay attention to pop culture. I try to pay attention to like what is buzzing out in the world. And for me, I saw that like startups and, you know, side of culture and digital were like these big buzzy words. And I was like, Well, how do I get some of that? So, you know, when I found out, like also, how often were television networks going to be launching anyway? I knew this was going to be the end of television because you kept hearing about cord cutting. So I was like, Let me take a chance and be able to create, you know, a write the Bible myself, you know? And so I jumped in and took a chance and went over to revolt TV to to launch this network.
Panama Jackson [00:31:27] You know, That’s amazing. I want to take a quick break here. We come back. I want to talk about doing that and moving to a place I really wanna talk about Spotify here because I’m so fascinated by that. I keep You were fascinated, but it is true. Because this is a world that I’m unfamiliar with. So I’m going to take a quick break. We’ll come right back and we’ll get more into your story of your culture, our backyard, your culture, with Whitney Gayle Benta, who is a music exec who has been in all these spaces that you you’re familiar with, perhaps in roles, don’t even understand how they exist or what they exist to do. But, you know, one of the places that you’ve been on your journey, which includes, you know, Revolt, Facebook and Instagram, is Spotify, which, you know, everybody and their mama uses Spotify even if you don’t even intend to. Nowadays, it’s all over the place. You see Spotify branding it every festival like it’s a it’s a thing. And let me get this right. You are the global head of artists and talent relations, right?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:32:20] Yes.
Panama Jackson [00:32:20] So one, what does that mean? And what what were you doing? It is and there’s a second part to this question, because I had an artist on recently on on the podcast and I was talking and she’s a Black country music artist, and we were talking about how a lot of those artists don’t seem to, like, really connect like deep into the ecosystem of pop star, like get online, the playlists and stuff like that. And it was interesting because we were just talking about like how there’s a fight on the for country, like fight on the acceptance side from like the white country establishment. But then there’s like the acknowledgment from the Black music establishment and how like and I was like, I wonder how this even happens, like with spaces that curate all these playlists and how people even get on these things that I think you would know better than I would help break artists nowadays. Like, I would assume that’s how some of that stuff happens. But I’m just curious about your role in Spotify, just like your thoughts about like gatekeeping, I suppose in general in the music industry with streaming it how it exists now.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:33:23] Okay, okay. You said a lot.
Panama Jackson [00:33:25] Big questions. I know.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:33:27] I’ll try to break it down, bite size, I can tell you the quick story and I’m glad I shared the story about Troy Carter and Lady Gaga because that comes full circle when it comes to how I got to Spotify. So Troy ended up having an amazing career with Lady Gaga and making her into helping to help make her into the huge megastar that she is now. Troy Carter is also a very well known venture capitalist, so he’s always like an extreme visionary.
Panama Jackson [00:34:01] Troy Carter, he was on Shark Tank.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:34:04] Yeah.
Panama Jackson [00:34:04] Oh, that Troy Carter. Yeah, Yeah. The glass. Yeah. Okay.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:34:10] Philly’s own.
Panama Jackson [00:34:10] Yes, Yes. Okay.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:34:12] So Troy, who introduced me to Lady Gaga and asked me to, you know, give him, you know, some help with, you know, getting her on MTV was the global head of Creators services at Spotify, as well as being an early investor at Spotify. And so obviously, we stayed in touch, you know, throughout the matriculation of my career. And he said, hey, listen, Spotify is continuing to scale and as we’re getting bigger, you know, our ability to really kind of have that both touch point with artists and managers were losing it. And I want you to bring some of your MTV flavor to it. So it’s so funny. I laugh when I tell the story because it’s like it was a full circle moment, right? You know? And he’s like, I want to bring I want you to bring some of that MTV energy that you had that if we knew, we would come and say MTV and Whitney, Elena, whoever was there, they’re going to be all right. I want that to be what happened at Spotify, that when an artist knows that you’re coming up to Spotify for a meeting, oh, Whitney’s there, so and so is there there, we’re good.
Panama Jackson [00:35:28] Gotcha.
[00:35:28] So that was literally my kind of like. You know, my role in terms of what I was told. Now, what happened, of course, when you get to a job is, you know, always different. And so this was a global company, first of all, you know, that was continuing to grow. And so scaling my relationships on a global stage is is quite difficult. But I was able to. Figure it out. And the idea was really actually taking some of the DNA from MTV of creating what we call, like this car wash so that when an artist did come to MTV, I was using when the artists come to Spotify, they were doing all the things with those photos, you know, setting up a music meeting, you know, with their editors, doing a podcast and such. And so that was really what my my initial role was to go into at Spotify and also just making sure they were creating a good sentiment with the artists in management community that they felt like they were being supported because you had now Apple, Tidal was coming, you know, Amazon, Pandora. So we wanted to make sure that like we were the place that we were the number one place for, for for artists and partners that they felt like, you know, Spotify, they know us, They understand us.
Panama Jackson [00:36:52] Gotcha. And the last question I had, which was just about kind of like like how did those algorithms and things where I ain’t asking for the special sauce, I understand you got, you know, NDAs and all that stuff. But, you know, like I said, I’m just curious about how people end up on all these playlists that I think end up creating spaces and opportunities for artists like I learned about. I learned about artists nowadays through playlists or I like when I’m trying to find music to listen to, I’ll just go through and I’m like, Let me hit this, hit this playlist to see what’s on here. And I’m like, Oh, this is amazing. Then I had like a little radio button and I go off into all these bases and I’m getting old. So my capacity to remember them all is not what it used to be like. Yeah, unless they really unless they really hit. But you know, what’s it like being at a place like Spotify that is breaking all of these artists? And I imagine folks are constantly reaching out to you all like, Yo, I’m trying to get a spot somewhere. You know, I have a I have a younger brother who I remember the first time he ended up on a on a Spotify playlist like Do literally texted the entire family like, Yo bro, I maybe I’m on a playlist and I’m like, Which one is like a million? But I’m happy for you. Like, you know, it was it was an accomplishment for him, you know what I’m saying? So, yeah, you know, what’s that like being a space that helped create that?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:38:09] You know, it’s it’s gratifying to be able to help say that you’re part of this story of allowing or helping an artist to get their music to be heard by by so many at the time when I was leaving Spotify and obviously this is is probably increased since then, but there’s 100,000 songs that are ingested a day. Let that sink in. And so it’s impossible for one person, let alone a team of people to be able to listen to that. So I remember getting emails where an artist would reach out and say like, Thank you so much. In many cases I had nothing to do with it, you know, And because it truly is, you know, it has to be an algorithm. Otherwise the way would be able to see their families, you know what I mean? Right. And also making sure that they are. Really? Um, what’s the word I’m trying to use? Labeling their. Their music the correct way. Like, if you’re a jazz artist, you know, But, like, hey, I should be on rap caviar. No. You know what I mean? I’m just being facetious. But the point is that, like, knowing what helps what release would helped on, you know, the editorial side is that it allows, you know, the Spotify team to be able to find help. You find your audience better. You know and you know obviously who doesn’t want to be on today’s top hits or, you know. You know, Taste or Rap Caviar, but you have to go to where your true audience is.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:39:56] So, you know, 100,000 songs a day is insane. And so there’s going to be song. Yeah. So there’s going to be some that are going to be good. And then a lot of them are really bad, you know? And I think we always have to remind people is that like the cream rises to the top and you know, people are artists. And as Erykah Badu says, you know, I’m sensitive about my ish. And so with that being said, not everybody’s going to make it. But I think the thing that I would always encourage artists is that like, you know, granted, gone are the days of the old way that the music industry was. Existed. But now, you know your street team exists in your phone. You know, exists when you’re contacts. It exists, you know, with your social media and so galvanize, you know, the people that are your true fans, you know, invest, continue to invest in them. A lot of times, I think, unfortunately, social media makes us think about like, you know, you eventually want to get to a place where, you know, you’re superstardom, but you got to continue to pour into your fans. I think a person who did it really, really well and he’s no longer with us, but in the early days of everybody trying to figure out this war was Mac Miller. Mac Miller utilized YouTube, he utilized social media. He’d be like, okay, guys, so guess what? We’re going to have part two of such a such is that nobody really knew about part one, but okay he knew how to market himself, right? You know what I mean? He was not that.
Panama Jackson [00:41:29] Yeah.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:41:30] He was really good at that. And he made you like anticipate what was going to come next. And so I think, you know, now this new age in music industry, you have to have some hustle, you have to have some grit, which is crazy because it’s a little bit of an oxymoron of like, Oh, think how things exist now. Everybody lives in a much a microwave society where they want everything handed to them. They want to be Beyonce, say, tomorrow. They want to be music executive yesterday after being an intern for one day. You know what I mean? Like, you got to go get that cheesecake. You got to pay your dues.
Panama Jackson [00:42:05] Right? That’s all. Yeah, that’s great. And that those gems that you provided, I think, will be helpful to anybody listening who’s interested in making their runs. All right. Let’s take one last break here, and we’ll come back with our Blackfessions and Blackmendations and find out where you can keep up with the world of this wonderful exec here, Whitney Gayle Benta, right here on Dear Culture. Alright, we are back here on Dear Culture with our final segments, which are my favorite here on Dear Culture. And that’s because we love to say as Black people that we are not a monolith. Well, here’s our chance to prove it. We do Blackfessions, which is a confession about show Blackness, which is something that people might be surprised to know about you because you are Black. Do you have a Blackfession for us?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:42:49] Yes. My Blackfession is. I am West Indian. My my father’s side is from Trinidad, Antigua, St Kitts. And I absolutely hate like, Soca and Reggae music.
Panama Jackson [00:43:08] Really?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:43:08] Like, really a song. I know there’s certain there’s certain songs I like, but like real talk. If you will give me off a dance floor, I’ll be like, let me go sit down. And I cringe because I’m like, I know my grandmother’s, like, rolling over her grave right now. You know, I’m like, I can’t. I can’t stand it.
Panama Jackson [00:43:33] I got to say thank you for that, because that’s a real Blackfession. That’s like cultural and personal. Like, that’s that’s where you come from and you like. Yeah, I just that, you know that. Thank you. That is a real share. That’s a real, real share. All right. Well, to counteract the Blackfessions that people share here, we also ask for Blackmendations, which is a recommendation by, for and about something Black. It could be anything, something you like to support, something you think other people should support, something you might have going on, whatever it is that is by, for and about Black culture. Do you have a Blackmendation for us?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:44:14] Uh, yeah. I would say my Blackmendation is I really love athleisure wear. I’m wearing some now that one of the brands that I love is a good friend of mine named Ashley Muhammad, who owns a clothing line called BeEyeConic, which is all about like she’s a female Black entrepreneur from Harlem. I love all her sweat pants. This white gear, I’m constantly rocking it. You probably see it all of my Instagram and my green sweat suit and blue sweatsuit. And so I’ve been inspired by her and and her movement of entrepreneurism and really following her passion. So that would be my Blackmendation. Check out Be Iconic dot com.
Panama Jackson [00:44:59] All right. We’ll make sure that we do that. Where can people keep up with what you got going on? How can people keep up with the experience that is you?
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:45:08] The way that they can keep up with me is all my socials are. I am Whitney Gayle. Instagram. Twitter. Not that I’m on that much. Tik Tok. I don’t do tik tok, but I’m a good voyeur and and linked in right. And then and LinkedIn so that’s where can catch me. We launch officially for Jukebox September 12th, 2023. And you can go on jkbx dot com already to join the waitlist to learn more about jukebox as we continue to grow the company.
Panama Jackson [00:45:49] Thank you so much for joining us here at Dear Culture you are appreciated. Your story is important. I love to see people thriving and excelling in taking on job titles that sound like the literal greatest job titles of all time. So I don’t even know what you could do from here because I don’t know any no title better. And maybe CEOs what you want, but Seed music offers It literally sounds like my dream so you appreciate appreciated. Thank you so much for being here.
Whitney Gayle Benta [00:46:17] Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Panama Jackson [00:46:19] And thank you to everybody for listening to Dear Culture, which is an original podcast, the Rio Black Podcast Network. It is produced by Sasha Armstrong, edited by Geoff Trudeau, and Regina Griffin is our director of podcast. Again, my name is Panama Jackson. Thank you for listening. Have a Black one.
Panama Jackson [00:46:44] This episode is supported by FX’s Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur. This deeply personal, five part docu series from award winning director Allan Hughes shares an illuminating saga of mother and son. She was a revolutionary, intellect and leader in the Black Panther Party. He was a rapper and political visionary who became known as one of the greatest rap artists of all time. FX’s Dear Mama, all new Fridays on FX. Stream on Hulu.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:47:21] I’m political scientist, author and professor Dr. Christina Greer, and I’m host of The Blackest Questions on the Grill’s Black Podcast Network. This person invented ranch dressing around 1950. Who are they?
Marc Lamont Hill [00:47:34] I have no idea.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:47:36] This all began as an exclusive Black history trivia party at my home in Harlem with family and friends. And they got so popular it seemed only right to share the fun with our Grio listeners. Each week we invite a familiar face on the podcast to play. What was the name of the person who was an enslaved chief cook for George Washington and later ran away to freedom? In 1868, this university was the first in the country to open a medical school that welcomed medical students of all races, genders and social classes. What university was it?
Roy Wood, Jr [00:48:09] This is why I like doing stuff with you, because I leave educated. I was not taught this in Alabama Public Schools.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:48:15] Question three. You ready?
Eboni K. Williams [00:48:17] Yes. I want to redeem myself.
Amanda Seales [00:48:19] How do we go from Kwanzaa to like these obscure.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:48:24] Diaspora, darling.
Amanda Seales [00:48:25] This is like the New York Times crossword from a Monday to a Saturday.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:48:29] Right or wrong, because all we care about is the journey and having some fun while we do it.
Kalen Allen [00:48:34] I’m excited and also a little nervous.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:48:36] Oh, listen. No need to be nervous. And as I tell all of my guests, this is an opportunity for us to educate ourselves because Black history is American history. So we’re going to have some fun. Listen, some people get zero out of five. Some get five out of five. It doesn’t matter. We’re just going to be on a little intellectual journey together.
Eboni K. Williams [00:48:52] Latoya Cantrell.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:48:54] That’s right. Mayor Latoya Cantrell.
Michael Twitty [00:48:57] Hercules Posey.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:48:58] Hmm. Born in 1754 and he was a member of the Mount Vernon slave community, widely admired for his culinary skills.
Kalen Allen [00:49:05] I’m going to guess AfroPunk.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:49:08] Close. It’s AfroNation.
Kalen Allen [00:49:11] I’ve never heard that.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:49:12] According to my research, and Samuel Wilson a.k.a Falcon.
Jason Johnson [00:49:17] Wrong. Wrong, I am disputing this.
Latosha Brown [00:49:21] Very, very, very, very. 99.9999 sure that it is Representative John Lewis, who is also from the state of Alabama that you know, Christina, we got some goodness come out of Alabama.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:49:33] There’s something in the water in Alabama. And you are absolutely correct.
Diallo Riddle [00:49:36] The Harder They Come.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:49:38] Close.
Diallo Riddle [00:49:39] Oh, wait. The Harder They Fall?
Dr. Christina Greer [00:49:41] That’s right. I’m one of those people that just changes one word.
Roy Wood, Jr [00:49:46] I just don’t know nothing today. I’m gonna pour myself a little water while you tell me the answer.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:49:50] The answer is Seneca Village, which began in 1825 with the purchase of land by a trustee of the A.M.E. Zion Church.
Roy Wood, Jr [00:49:57] You know why games like this make me nervous? I don’t know if I know enough Black. Do I know enough? How Black am I? Oh, my Lord. They. They. We going to find out in public.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:50:05] So give us a follow. Subscribe and join us on the Blackest Questions.
