HIGHLIGHTS FROM ERVING & CARTER'S PANEL

On Monday, Human Re Sources' J. Erving and Q&A's Troy Carter announced a new daily gathering of industry heavyweights, The Panel, held via Zoom. The daily sessions are livestreamed for all interested colleagues to listen and participate in the ongoing conversation regarding the adjustments being made and affects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the folks that keep the machine running.

The first session featured Erving, moderator Carter, Motown’s Ethiopia Habtemariam, Live Nation Urban’s Shawn Gee, Capitol’s Amber Grimes, Warner Chappell’s Ryan Press, Beat House’s Tiffany Kumar and attorney Damien Granderson, among others.

One of the major themes in the opening session was "Business as Modified," as opposed to "Business as Usual." With the live sector taking the biggest hit during the pandemic, the industry will have to lean on digital platforms to carry the torch. Artists and managers will play a major role in reach and engagement, as labels can only do so much.

Gut vs. data/A&R
Ethiopia: we were at the forefront of hip-hop domination just as deals were done with streaming services.
Granderson: artists don’t just want to sign a deal and hand over their careers to labels, we can challenge the system to be creative in deal-making to meet each client’s needs. I see trend for artists and entrepreneurs to do new kinds of deals.

What are panelists most optimistic about?
Erving: About music and what’s going to come out of this time when all these creatives have the time to create.
Shawn Gee: Community and creativity; we’re weathering the storm and figuring out the fundamentals. Creatives drive this and they’re gonna change the world.
Ryan Press: The most important thing in the world to me is the song, and I’m super-optimistic about what comes from this. I see artists tapping back into music, aside from all the other stuff that comes with it. And I’m excited for us—that this situation is going to make us better executives, tapping into different skill sets.
Amber Grimes: I’m excited about the underdogs that are gonna win big. Some ideas that didn’t make sense and artists that didn’t get heard will get big attention.

Tuesday's session included Quality Control boss Coach K, LVRN's Tunde Balogun, Electric Feel's Austin Rosen and more.