A TASTE OF RAINMAKERS 2024: NIR SEROUSSI

Over the last two-plus decades, Nir Seroussi has been one of Latin music’s most influential executives. During his tenures at EMI Latin and Sony Music Latin, Seroussi helped catapult artists—who before his arrival were treated as purveyors of niche genres—into critical-mass phenomena. In his current role as EVP, Interscope Capitol Labels Group (formerly Interscope Geffen A&M), Seroussi has redefined how Latin music is developed and marketed in the U.S., creating an innovative organizational and operational business model within the major-label ecosystem.

What were your earliest experiences connecting with music?

I was born in Israel, and when I was 11, in 1986, my family moved to Venezuela. I was attending an American school and was listening to more American-based music, starting with hip-hop and then metal, which is how I got into playing guitar. I was the first metalhead and first kid to rock long hair in my school. Soon, other kids started approaching me, curious about the music. Not only did I introduce them to metal, I also convinced them to pick up instruments themselves. I started sourcing instruments from the most random and nastiest places to supply my new business as the local instrument dealer to my classmates. If someone showed too much enthusiasm, I’d persuade them to invest in a drum set, of course, for the higher margin.

How do you make the seemingly huge leap from living in Venezuela to attending the Berklee College of Music?

My mother was thinking, “What do I do with this kid? He likes music, but he’s got a knack for business.” During a trip to Israel, she spent a few days at the U.S. embassy browsing through hundreds of college brochures. When she finished, she handed me a booklet of the recently inaugurated Music Business and Management Program at Berklee College of Music and said, “This is it.” From my perspective, there was no resistance. Makes sense, combining music and business, I thought. Why not?

What were your Berklee years like?

It was the best experience. I met so many amazing people, many of whom are still in my life. I recently met up with Jay Fialkov, who still teaches the most impactful class I’ve ever taken, “Legal Aspects of the Music Industry.” Back then, he started a label called Dakota Arts. As soon as I heard about it, I would bug him incessantly, and I eventually convinced him to let me work at the label. That was my first experience in the business.

What did you do after you graduated from Berklee?

After graduation, while everyone else was heading to L.A., New York or Nashville, I wanted to go somewhere different. I had read about Ricky Martin having a global hit, and I thought, “I speak Spanish. Maybe I should give Miami a shot.” Once I graduated, I drove down and landed an internship at WEA Latina (now Warner Music Latina). I was the first one in and the last one to leave every day. I worked there for a few months, but I wasn’t feeling Miami at the time. One day I came in and told my boss, “Thank you, but I’m leaving,” then packed up my half-dead car and drove cross-country to L.A. without a plan.

What was your first break in L.A.?

I connected with Tomás Cookman, a veteran manager and entrepreneur, and a fantastic guy. He didn’t even know me, but just from a phone conversation, he said, “I’m gonna send your resume to my friend K.C. Porter,” who at the time was one of the biggest producers in Latin music. K.C. had just closed a joint venture with Universal Music Publishing and was looking for someone to run it. He basically said to me, “Here are the keys; go and figure it out.” That was my initiation into working at Insignia Music with K.C.

Up to this point did you know anything about music publishing?

I knew about publishing from school, but, of course, I had never actually done it. I was at Insignia for three years, and on so many levels, it was a life-changing experience. I got to see K.C. in action, and I inevitably ended up learning about publishing, working with writers and understanding the hustle of pitching. That kind of experience at Insignia ignited my passion to develop and work with creatives.

How did you get into songwriting?

I have both a curious and an impatient mind. I spent a lot of time pitching songs, and there was one instance when I knew exactly what this producer wanted. I tried to get the staff writers to come up with the song, but all day long I kept saying no to all their ideas. I finally decided to sit down and do it myself. At the time, I’d befriended a wonderful writer who eventually went on to become the Diane Warren of Latin music, Claudia Brant. We sat down to write this song together, and we got it cut. That’s when I caught the songwriting bug.

Why did you decide to make the leap of faith and leave the relative comfort of a steady paycheck to strike out on your own as a songwriter?

After I left Insignia, I received job offers from major publishers, but I didn’t want to commit to the corporate world. Instead, I partnered up with my good friend and college roommate, Chuy Flores, who is a phenomenal producer and engineer. We joined forces and worked together as independents for a couple of years. That experience taught me about the real hustle. I mean, try predicting your royalty checks every quarter. Good luck. I have a genuine appreciation for and serious empathy with creatives and what they go through, including all the rejection.

EMI Latin eventually came calling, accelerating your growth and understanding of the Latin music market. How did that opportunity materialize for you?

I used to pitch projects to a great executive named Miguel Trujillo, who was running EMI Latin’s West Coast office. One day he asked, “Would you ever consider working for a label?” I didn‘t really think about it too much, and I answered him intuitively: “The only way I would do it is if I can oversee marketing and A&R.” My logic was if you’re the marketing guy, you have no control over the product that’s being handed to you, and if you’re the A&R, you have no control over what happens with the product you’re handing over. A year later, he called and said, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I have two job openings: head of marketing and head of A&R of regional Mexican. The bad news is that I can only pay for one, so you’d have to do both.” I didn’t blink...

You were red-hot at Sony and at the pinnacle of the Latin music market; why make a move at that point to Interscope and start all over again building something from scratch?

At the core of everything I do lies the question: How can I be the best partner to the artist? If I’m capped, then my abilities are capped, and the artist’s ability to grow is also capped. From 2015 to 2018, everybody wanted to sign in Miami because it’s the doorway to break in all the Latin territories, with the possibility of collaboration on the American side. Latin artists were gaining global recognition, and I strongly believed they deserved access to the same resources as any other superstar. The problem was that each side of the industry, both Latin and American, was missing half the story. Neither side knew about the culture of the other. The American side especially didn’t get it. Their solution was to hire someone with a Hispanic name who looked the part, maybe spoke Spanish, and then hand them a checkbook to go chase the artists. In the end, that’s a lose/lose proposition.

I saw a hole in the market to bridge the gap between the Latin and the general markets, and I didn’t see anybody in the position to create that solution. This idea excited me and occupied my mind right up until the point in early 2019 when I left Sony. Just two days later, before I even had a minute to think about where the ideal place and person would be to present this idea, John Janick calls me. This is very John. He’s always five steps ahead. I gave him my elevator pitch, and without hesitation he said, “I got it—let’s do it.”

Since starting at IGA, you’ve clearly had a lot of success while nurturing a vision of seamlessly introducing Latin music into Interscope. What is your apex objective?

We’ve accomplished our ultimate goal, which is to be deeply ingrained in the company’s DNA, just as we are. When you step into the building and ask any employee, “What types of music do you guys work on?” and their response is, “Oh, we do pop, rock, hip-hop, Latin, etc.,” at that point, you know you’ve become an integral part of the label, not just an afterthought.

(The 2024 edition of Rainmakers will be published this fall.)