The Industry Connection

Live look at me trying to survive until the Holidays:

Music News

• 📰 Quick Hits:

  • SoundCloud says it will (finally) be profitable in 2023.

  • Music consumption rose from 20.1 hours per fan in 2022 to 20.7 hours this year.

  • Taylor Swift grossed $2B from her tours, movie, merch and music in ‘23… and here we are fighting for a $5,000 bonus!

  • 37% of music fans attended more events this year than ever before, according to Live Nation.

  • Spotify confirms prompt-based AI playlists are coming. 

• 👑 ROSTR released the most viewed Agencies and Agents of 2023.

• 🔥 What were the hottest genres for producers in 2023? Full list here. 3 things that stood out:

  • Electronic music saw a comeback, with 85% growth in 2023. (I unfortunately haven’t stopped playing my 2016 EDM playlist too).

  • K-Pop and Hip-Hop both fell in popularity with producers this year. One thing to note is that Hip-Hop remains the most popular genre, accounting for 19% of total downloads, but it’s been an entire year since we’ve seen a rap song atop the Billboard charts (first time in 23 years).

  • African music is exploding globally, driven by artists like Burna Boy and Rema.

• 🛴 Ariana Grande signed with Good World after leaving Scooter Braun 

  • Good World manages Demi Lovato, Troye Sivan, Tame Impala, Charli XCX and others. She’s in good hands.

• 📱Disclosure used AI that took the stems of their track, Simply Won’t Do and created 1,000 unique remixes… and then released them as NFTs. Their fans (understandably) aren't excited about it.

Entertainment News

• 🏆 Netflix has finally shared their viewership data 

  • The issue with data visibility for streaming services became a key point of friction during the strikes.

  • Takeaways:

    • The Night Agent took gold with 812.1 million hours of viewership.

    • 55% of viewing went to their original shows, with 45% going to licensed titles like Suits.

    • I’m not sure my 627 hours of watching Selling Sunsets was taken into account.

• 🤔 Paramount Global isn’t for sale.. but control of it is

  • Variety reports 1,000 jobs may be cut

• 🏈 The Super Bowl is returning to LA in 2027

• 🎮 E3 shuts down after 2-decades as the video game industry’s biggest convention.

  • 9,000 jobs were cut from the video game industry this year.

Interview with Gurj Bassi, Head of Music Marketing & Partnerships for SiriusXM

Originally a music journalist from London, Gurj Bassi relocated to New York City in 2005 as an A&R Manager at TVT Records before joining Atlantic Records in 2008 as Digital Marketing and Editorial Content Manager.

In 2012, she joined Republic Records as their Senior Director of Digital Marketing. Gurj led digital strategy for an all-star roster of multi-platinum, award winning artists such as Lorde, The Weeknd, The Avett Brothers and Pearl Jam to name a few.

After four years as the Senior Director of Artist Marketing at Pandora, responsible for leading industry relations with UMG artists in North America and booking performances for brand sponsored subscriber events, Gurj was invited to join SiriusXM as the Head of Music Marketing & Partnerships in 2020 where she has since overseen a team responsible for managing channel partnerships with artists such as U2, The Beatles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Drake, Pearl Jam and many more. 

Our conversation is below:

AvA: How did you get involved in the business side of music? 

Bassi: In college I studied English literature as well as media studies. As part of the media studies course, I had to complete a two week internship. I secured that at Smash Hits, which was this pop bible of a magazine that I grew up idolizing. I used to write letters to the editor to try and get on the letters page, and save up my pocket money to buy the magazine and read it from cover to cover. As a teenager, it had all of my favorite artists on the cover, and inside it had posters.. It was really old school in that way. I did an internship and at the end of it, they asked me to come back, and then offered me a full time junior writing position. It was really a dream come true. I was 18 years old, hadn't even finished college yet, and haven’t looked back. Every door since then has been opened for me by wonderful managers and mentors as well. 

AvA: Can you talk about your experience moving from Atlantic to a smaller team at Republic.

Bassi: Atlantic Records was one of the first major labels to embrace having a full digital marketing team. They understood the trajectory of where music consumption and discovery was going, and the impact of technology and smartphones. I was one of maybe 27 people on that team at Atlantic. Everyone was pretty young and had really clear roles and responsibilities. It was a very well-oiled machine. 

When I moved over to Republic, it was quite a different environment. It was a much smaller team and really robust. Atlantic had been a label for much, much longer than Republic at that point. I was one of 3 people on that team. There was one person who was overseeing everything for Cash Money exclusively: Little Wayne, Nicki Minaj & Drake. Then myself and one other person were the digital team. We had to deal with everything between us and split the roster while also building the rest of the department. It was really exciting for a completely different reason. It was almost like being at a startup, and being a part of something from the beginning that would be built out to something much larger over the years

AvA: What are your primary areas of focus as the Head of Music Marketing & Partnerships at SiriusXM? 

Bassi: I manage the music vertical of content, marketing and partnerships at SiriusXM, and our team oversees any partnership with an artist, band or a brand that has a channel. We work hand-in-hand with the programmer and management to understand the vision for the channel and what's coming down the pipeline. Also how we integrate talent milestones, whether it's album releases, tour announcements, anniversaries, underplays etc.

We’re always informing the rest of the organization on what's happening with the channel including content opportunities, collaboration opportunities, and what we can explore off platform so it really feels like a one stop shop for everything Pearl Jam, or everything U2. We want to make sure you're getting the inside scoop first of that big album anniversary or new single. 

AvA: How has SiriusXM carved out their own unique offering in the competitive streaming environment? 

Bassi: It's the intimate listening experience. It feels like we're hanging out. You could be listening on a drive for hours, or it could be the music in the background while you're cooking. There is something for every part of my life that SiriusXM can be the soundtrack to. I'm really looking for a listening experience that matches the standard and quality of music that I like, and I often find I can't quite nail that experience with AI or auto generated playlists. A lot of people really enjoy the human touch to it. There's this perfect ratio of talking just enough so you're getting information about the artist or the song, and then an uninterrupted flow of music. I think we do a really good job of giving you a discovery of new artists seamlessly sequenced with songs that you know, and artists that you're familiar with and love. And then again, the human touch with having the host guide that listening experience for you.

AvA: How do you foresee music consumption continuing to evolve in the future?  

Bassi: The change that has been occurring in music and consumption of content in general from even five years ago has been pretty radical. Social and content platforms like TikTok and Instagram have had a tremendous influence on that change. You now have the ability to get your music out to the masses in a way that you weren't able to before. That's a really exciting thing as it evens the playing field for everyone. Anyone has a great chance of having their music discovered, and I think that's going to continue and you’re going to see more and more niche and sub genres of music. I also think the lines between content and music are going to continue to dissolve. 

AvA: How about music changing in general?  

Bassi: The very making of a song is evolving, and the length of a song is changing. The point at which a chorus or bridge comes in is happening earlier in a song. We are moving towards a world of instant gratification where we need to hear the hook immediately. You're going to see a difference in song structure as well and see people deviating and doing some really interesting things musically. There are also going to be some surprising evolutions in music that we can't account for. And we haven't even touched on what things like AI are going to do, something I’m equal parts excited and terrified for. 

AvA: Now for a hard hitting question: I hand you the aux (bluetooth?)... which artists are you putting on the speakers? 

Bassi: At the moment, I’m really hooked on this four piece Japanese girl group called Atarashii Gakko!, and they have this song called Tokyo Calling. It's just so cool and different from anything else. They're equal parts, dancers, performers, rappers and singers and it's visually kind of jarring. And I love that. 

I've also been listening to a lot of U2, which doesn't sound new, but I went to see them at the Sphere and it was really a deep dive into all of their hits. 

The Jungle album Volcano has really been a big soundtrack for me driving, at the gym and commuting. I'm a big fan of that band, and seeing them live is such an incredible experience. 

AvA: What is some advice you'd give to someone just starting out in the business? 

Bassi:  

1) Personality has so much to do with how quickly and far you progress in your career. 

2) Listen more than you talk. If you are just starting out in your career, you want to learn as much as possible from a variety of people in different places. Ask questions, listen and watch how they operate as a team and individually. Schedule a time to get coffee with someone to pick their brains about what you've observed at the end of your internship, or once you've been there long enough to try and get a sense of how things work. It’s also very important to choose the right time and situations to ask questions. 

3) Genuinely being appreciative and polite. It goes really far. 

Top Music Jobs and Internships

💼 = Job | 🎒 = Internship

💼 Associate Director, Digital Marketing - Alamo Records - NYC - Apply Here

💼 Creative Licensing Coordinator - Secretly Group - Brooklyn or LA - Apply Here for Brooklyn or here for LA.

💼 Influencer Coordinator - Flighthouse - LA - Apply Here

💼 Junior Client Manager - MPRS - NYC - Apply Here

💼 Operations Coordinator - Live Nation - LA - Apply Here

💼 Label & Content Services Specialist - Create Music Group - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Marketing Intern - Flighthouse - LA - Apply Here

🎒 A&R Research Intern - Create Music Group - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Music Editorial Intern - Paste Magazine - NYC - Apply Here

🎒 Spring Music Intern - Warner Music Group - Various - Apply Here

🎒 Fall Intern - SiriusXM - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Live Music Marketing Intern - Brooklyn Made Presents - Brooklyn - Apply Here

🎒Management Intern - Crush Music - LA - Apply Here

🎒 A&R Intern - Thrive Music (EDM) - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Music Group PR & Promo Intern - Insomniac - LA - Apply Here

👋 Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter and see you next week!

This newsletter is written by Warner Bailey (connect with me here). Edited by Malik Figaro. 

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