Ensuring Music Remains Diverse and Inclusive

annual Grammy Awards. For more on what's been going on, the moves to change the future direction of the academy, we welcome to Bloomberg Business Week Harvey Mason Jr. He is CEO of the Recording Academy. He's on the phone from l A. He's also the founder and CEO of Harvey Mason Media. Harvey welcome, nice to have you here. How are you. I'm so good. Thank you for having me. Excited to be here. Well, it's great to have you here.

First of all, like I do with a lot of folks who come on here with us, tell us about the last year. There's been a lot of stuff going on. Obviously COVID, but also you know, institutions, organizations, companies really being tested in terms of what they stand for and what their future strategies are, tell us about the has to her or so for you, well started a little bit before that. Actually, for me, I ran the chair

of the board. I've been a member, I've been a trustee, and a couple of years ago I really saw an opportunity to really level up what we were doing at the Academy and I saw it being a timely issue, something that we had to take responsibility for. So I ran for chair on kind of a platform of change and improvement. And that was I think two and a half years ago. And then I was put in as a CEO on interim basis about eighteen months ago. And at that point we really started looking at everything we

were doing, is you know, pulling back the curtain. How can we be more reflective, more representative, more diverse and more relevant. And there was a lot of things that needed to change at the Academy. There's a lot of things we did really, really well that we also needed to talk about and amplify and share with our members and the general public and music consumers. But we really

looked at everything we're doing. We were also the tiny little thing called COVID had a lot of impact on what we were able to do obviously had a huge effect on our membership in our music community. We were some of the first people to be out of work and we'll definitely be some of the last come back. We've been really hyper focused on trying to serve our members around the needs. There. You took us there at the pandemic. Let's go there. Uh, the financial impact of

the pandemic on the music industry, how would you quantify it? Um? No word there that we can use and we've created that can can show exactly the impact that it's had. It's been catastrophic, it's been critical, It's been something that no one's ever expected. I can tell you through our Music Cares organization, which is the part of the Academy

that gives back to music people who need help. Typically in the normal year will be five six million dollars of service needed people who need help with rent or bills or medical care. This year we're well right around thirty million dollars services provided. So we've never seen anything like this. A huge event like hurricane can train and put people out of work for over a period of time nine eleven for a period of time, but nothing has had the impact the COVID has had on our industry.

You are, It's really interesting. I think there are times that people look at the music industry and they just assume everybody is really successful, it makes a ton of money. I remember in college being part of our radio station about jazz performers and and a lot of them were just barely getting by. And not everybody in the music industry makes a ton of money. No, in fact, just the opposite. Most people in the industry making less than

the medium income. And I think there are a small percentage of people that are making you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's a tiny amount of people. Most of us are working day to day musicians or writers, or producers or crew members or you know, gap riggers, things like that. So it is an organization with the Academy that represents the whole spectrum. Of course, some of our members get more visibility than others on the show, but it is our responsibility to look out for our

all of our members. But even more import earlier than that, the whole music community and zooming out maybe a click further than that, it's our responsibility to utilize the power of music and the leverage our brand at the Academy and the Grammys to try and make change, try and improve things, try and bring people together, try and fight for things that are wrong, and just make a difference. And that's really kind of where I hope we can

go in the future. We've got about a minute left and then we'll come back and continue the conversation, but in about fifty seconds. I mean, if there's one thing you could right now change for your industry, make it better, make it more inclusive, what would it be. Well, I think it starts with being more inclusive and being more diverse and hearing from all the right voices, make sure people have a voice and our seat at the table at at every level, both in the creative side, on

the executive side, and the decision making side. And then also making sure that the income and the payouts are equitable and fair in regards to the creators and partnership with the streaming companies and the labels and the publishing companies. Is a lot of money being generated by the consumption, and we've never seen new is it consume at the rate we're seeing it now, But there's not a lot of clarity on how that music gets or the money gets split out, and how do we monetize this art

that these people are creating. That's something that we need to figure out. One of the things I wanted to ask you, Harvey, and thanks for staying with us, is you guys, and you specifically in your team focusing on keeping the music you know, community want to make sure it is inclusive, representative of all kinds of individuals. Uh. And how did it get to a point because you would have thought music creative um that it would be diverse and inclusive by its nature, and yet it wasn't.

How did it get to be that way? Hard to predict, only because I haven't been here that long care but I think some of it. But you understand the music industry, You've worked within it for a long time totally. And the music industry has a lot of diversity in its creative side, uh, not so much on the business side.

So I think there's something to be said for are people being aware just may not have understood or been cognizant of the fact that they could be involved in the academy And maybe that holds true for some other parts of the business. I know for us, I think there was just we didn't amplify what we did as an academy, and we didn't talk about all the other services. We just talked about the awards. So people just felt like, well,

the Academy may or may not be for me. I know, I'm a creator, but I don't know if I should be involved in the academy side. I think if you know project that out, maybe the same thing how true for the industry. But it's really hard to predict. I mean, if you don't make it more diverse, don't make it more inclusive. Inclusive you know. Are you thinking about the survivability of the Academy going forward. Well, I think it's

always something that's in our minds. But we are at this point very diverse, and we've accomplished some of our early goals pretty quickly. In the last two years, staff wise, elected leader wise, we have reached gender parity, We uh people of color are represent and almost now, so I think we're really really reaching some great numbers. We have some work to do in our membership, and I think was we continue to look forward on things that we're

working on, we'll find other ways to keep improving. We by no means think the work is done, but again, we do want to be reflective and representative of the music industry that we serve, and that's very diverse. As you said, we've got work to do, but we've come along with We also want to set an example. We want to leave we want to get this right and not just for for our industry before every industry exactly like set set an example. What about the rest of

the music industry though? Right, so many of your members and outlying companies, and you know, whether it's recording companies, labels and so on and so forth, you know, what more can they do? And I do this, I'm pushing you a little bit, but you know, we've done it with the sports industry and how they ultimately during the crisis of the last year where they're stepping up and providing stadiums for people to vote like that was huge and was significant for the industry to take a step.

What's what's that moment for you guys? Well, first off, Carol, I love you pushing me. I have no problem with pushing myself and I'm pushing everybody that we can at the Academy because there is this is important and I think music serves a really unique role. Much like sports people listen to creators or music people people listen to athletes.

So I think if we can start to do things the right way and continue in the direction we're headed, we can make a bigger impact on not just the music industry or not just the music community, but you know, our society at large. And that's the goal for us at the Academy is to really utilize the opportunity that we have, the influence that we have, and to really

make a difference. And like I said, zoom out a little bit from just thinking so much about what can we do today for our Grammy Awards or what can we do? You are there. All that is very important, very important, but it gives us the opportunity to do more, all right. And I love that you mentioned the Grammy Awards because I think when we think about the economy,

that's what we so many people understand. I mean, that's the thing visually that we all relate to specifically, but it is such a visual medium, right, And so what you put out there, UM, tell me about some of the conversations you're having about how you think about how you produce that show going forward, what we wanted to

be the most entertaining show we can. You know, last year we did something very drastically different because we couldn't have fans in the audience, and our creatives and artists were unsure, unsecure how they could be around each other. So we set up a format that gave them safety and comfort and confidence. Whether or not we are able to continue in that type of format or we go to a new format, it will all really be dependent on COVID and the protocols and what we're allowed to

do here in l A County and statewide federally. But our hope is we can bring great musicians and creators and artists together and make a show that is not only entertaining, but healing and bringing people together and uniting people and showcasing how we all can work together and how different genders and races and sexual orientations can all join forces to accomplish something great. And that's I think the power of music. You mentioned creative types. You are

a creative type. You've worked with Penn, produced songs for Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariyah, Carrie, Elton John and of course Aretha Franklin. You've got an amazing movie coming out in August. Um tell me about this, and having seen Aretha Franklin live, there's there was nobody like her, oh man,

nobody like her, right, So she was incredible. I was so fortunate to get the chance to work with her for thirteen years or so over of course of her career, and she was very very special to me, but just specially to all of us. And the she's on August thirteen, respect movies coming out, it's about Aretha Franklin in her life.

It's she's being played by Jennifer Hudson. It's in theaters only, which you know now is always a conversation point, and hopefully the COVID allows us to go to theaters August thirteen. But I'm very proud of the movie. A lot of great music and also a very important story that most people don't know about Miss Franklin, and that were that was the trials and tribulations that she suffered going through early in her life to become you know, the queen of soul, of the iconic voice that she was. It's

so important to tell those stories. And I think that is again something that we just assumed somebody was popular or famous or successful, right, and you just think it was easy, and that's not the right assumption, just quickly, definitely not. And most people nowadays don't realize that. They see the TV shows where you sing and you get voted on, you're a millionaire, you know, and they don't know that Aretha actually had a lot of hurdles and obstacles she had to overcome to become who she was.

She she was one of the all time greatest voices in our in our history, but yet she had not found her voice for the first six or seven records of her career. So I think people will enjoy this story of triumph and what she has accomplished in her life. When in doubt, when I don't know what to listen to, I throw on some Aretha. It's like you just go there. It's just amazing. Hey, Harvey, I hope you'll come back

really enjoyed this time. Harvey Mason Jr. His Chief executive Officer of the Recording Academy, founder and CEO of Harvey Mason Media, joining us on the phone in Los Angeles,