Exec Profile With Nina Navarro of Muso.AISenior Vice President ofPartnerships & Communications, Muso.AI

Years with Company: 3

Address: Los Angeles, CA

Web: muso.ai

Email: nina@muso.ai

Clients: Music creators, labels, publishers, studios and distributors

BACKGROUND

Making sure creative people receive credit for their contributions to musical works has become increasingly difficult. Helping solve this problem is Muso.AI. The slick platform is making it easier for anyone to track, correct and share their discographies, not just for artists but also those behind the scenes.

Birth of an Entrepreneur

Ten years ago, I moved to L.A. to study fashion design. One year into fashion school, I realized everyone was drinking Red Bull. And I was like, what’s going on? This is going to kill everyone. So at 18 years old, I raised money to launch a healthy energy drink. This is where the entrepreneurial Nina began.

Being Fwrd

Then, I worked with Randy Jackson as his marketing director for a company that didn’t happen due to COVID. From the connections I made working with Randy, I started my own marketing agency, [FWRD Media.] I was working with international clients from the U.S., Mexico, all the way to China.

Having Something to Market

A couple years later, I was introduced to Jay [Baumgardner] through a friend. Jay’s a great guy, so we kept in touch. In 2017, he was telling me this idea of launching a company that would solve the issue with credits. And I was like, “Reach out to me when you have a product.”

In 2018, he reaches out. “It’s going to be a beautiful app.” And I’m like, “Jay, if it’s not on shelves, it’s not going to do any good to spend money on marketing.” I didn’t want to take advantage of him. Fast forward to 2021. Jay and Kyran [de Keijzer,] his other cofounder, called me and said, “All right, now we’re ready.” 

Viral Marketing

I did a grassroots campaign; I didn’t do any ads. Basically, the idea was to do something that would become viral. All our users get a tile they can share from our app. It basically gives you a snapshot of their careers. I started sharing their tiles on our social media and they started reposting. Big artists and producers started sharing their stats on Instagram. 

Joining the Fold

That’s when Jay said, “Would you join us as head of marketing?” Besides all the engineers who developed the platform, I was the first hire. I joined as head of marketing in February ’22. After that, I transitioned into a completely different role. Now, I’m more in the [role of forming] partnerships. 

Automatic Discographies

In a short time, Muso has become the industry’s go-to platform for credits and analytics. If you have credits anywhere, our platform has already done the work. If someone like Mike Dean downloads the platform and searches his name, he would already find a profile that’s populated with his information. All he has to do is claim it. 

We give anything from streaming numbers to social views to how many times a track has been Shazamed. For the first time ever, someone like Vinnie Colaiuta can download the app and see all his credits. 

Switching Tactics

Initially, the plan was to capture credits at the moment of creation. We realized that you can’t say, “Hey, everyone. Start using Muso to capture credits.” That’s never going to work. That’s when we switched to the model of putting all their data in one place and making them claim it. 

Correcting Errors

When they claim their profiles, they’re able to look through their catalogs and say, “Hey, I have a producer credit that isn’t here. Let me add it.” So if Mike Dean sees he doesn’t have a credit, he can submit it and it will go through a verification funnel. There’s a little bit of AI that will flag if something looks incorrect. We may say, “We need more details. Submit more paperwork so we can verify this as a legitimate claim.” To date, we’ve modified over three million post-distribution credits.

Analytics

We give everyone the same data. They can see how many streams they have across their entire catalog. They can filter by time periods, so they can see streaming numbers over the past seven days, month, year or lifetime. You can also see credits by role, so you can see which album has been streamed the most. 

In regards to socials, you can see on TikTok and YouTube Shorts how many videos have been created with the song that you worked on. And we show you the videos. If we look at the song “Cuff It” by Beyoncé, you can see that Kevin Hart posted a video that has 20 million views with the song. So it’s a lot of discovery. 

Hidden Revenue

Recently, we heard from deadmau5. His manager reached out and said, “Using your data, we were able to see that an older song was getting a lot of streams. We traced it back to something viral on TikTok.” So they were able to collect money that they weren’t collecting on. 

Even Jay had a song he worked on with Evanescence as a producer. He was able to see that “Bring Me to Life” has this amount of streams and then there’s a spike, then it goes down, then a massive spike. He recovered a check of like $100,000. 

Using Artificial Intelligence

The third founder is Aaron Kaufman. We tried to go with Muso.com and it was taken. But Muso.AI was available. Aaron said, “I think A.I.’s going to be huge in the next couple years. And I have some ideas of how we can incorporate it.” That’s how we ended up with Muso.AI. 

Amazon Meets LinkedIn

Something that’s next is working with retailers. We’re going to allow someone to say, “These are the synthesizers I use.” If someone finds a credit on a song, they can go to the person’s profile and see that he’s sponsored by X company.

Then, they can purchase directly. 

Also, A&Rs are using our platform. By end of this year, we want everyone to be able to communicate. So if you want to reach out to someone, that’s going to be available. For all the business profiles, we’re going to start listing who works [there]. It’s going to be like a LinkedIn on steroids, where you can also purchase.

The Hispanic Connection

Coming from a Mexican background, my first language is Spanish. We’ve onboarded so many companies in Latin America. It’s exciting for me, because I pushed hard to make our platform available in Spanish. I was like, “I can be part of this. I’ll make sure it’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Creators First

Muso is completely self-funded. We haven’t gotten any outside money. And we saw all these companies were boasting about all these deals and doing so much press. I said, “We’re going to go the other way. We’re going to make sure we get all the people at the bottom on board. They’re going to create the buzz for us that’s going to be heard at the top.” This is exactly what’s happening.The post Exec Profile With Nina Navarro of Muso.AI first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

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RECORDING ACADEMY INVITES MUSIC CREATORS AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS TO JOINToday the Recording Academy® extended membership invitations to more than 3,900 established music professionals spanning diverse backgrounds, genres and disciplines, underscoring the Academy's commitment to inclusivity and representation within the music industry. This year's 2024 class of invitees is 45% women, 57% people of color and 47% under the age of 40. With this year's new member invitees, the Recording Academy is on track to achieve its goal of adding 2,500 women Voting Members by 2025 this year, one year ahead of schedule.

Invitations must be formally accepted by July 31 for recipients to become Recording Academy members and participate in the Online Entry Process (OEP) for the upcoming GRAMMY Awards®. Through OEP, members can submit recordings, music videos and other eligible content for GRAMMY® Award consideration. Individuals invited as Voting Members who accept their invitations are eligible to vote for the GRAMMY Awards, with the first voting ballot opening on Oct. 4 and closing on Oct. 15. The 67th GRAMMY Awards® will take place on Feb. 2, 2025, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

"There's no better way to kick off GRAMMY season than by inviting thousands of diverse and talented music creators and professionals to join our Recording Academy family," said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. "Our members are the heart of the Academy, driving our mission to make lasting, positive impacts on the music community and shape music history. We are hopeful that all 3,900+ invitees join us in serving, celebrating and championing the voices of music creators year-round."

The invitations extended today offer each potential new member an opportunity to power the Recording Academy's mission of cultivating the well-being of the music community, celebrating artistic excellence in the recording arts, advocating for human creators' rights, investing in music's future through the GRAMMY Museum®, and supporting music people in times of need through MusiCares®. Recording Academy Voting Members — made up of artists, songwriters, producers, and engineers active in the music industry — are eligible to vote for the GRAMMY Awards, ultimately determining the outcomes on Music's Biggest Night® and shaping music history.

Among the invitees celebrating this career milestone today are Tanner Adell, Ashnikko, Grupo Frontera, and Teddy Swims, who expressed their excitement:

Tanner Adell: "So excited to say I am in the Recording Academy/GRAMMYs 2024 New Member Class. This year has been full of checking things off my bucket list, and this is definitely one of them! Couldn't be more honored to join this incredible roster and advocate for music and my fellow creators."

Ashnikko: "It is an honor to become a member of the Recording Academy. I am so grateful to be a musician in such an exciting era of music. It is an incredibly inspiring time. To be able to have a hand in nominating some of my favorite artists that are shaping culture right now feels very special."

Grupo Frontera: "We are excited to join the Recording Academy as new members this year. We have been so blessed to be accepted into the music industry with open arms in the short time that we have had and joining this community filled with the best of the best music has to offer is an honor."

Teddy Swims: "I am truly humbled to be invited into the Recording Academy. It is an honor to be a part of something that so many of my heroes have belonged to."  

 See here for additional invitee quotes.

The Recording Academy's membership invitation process is community-driven and peer-reviewed annually, focusing on two types of membership: Voting Membership for music creators and Professional Membership for music business professionals^. Each year, interested musicians and professionals must apply for membership by March 1. Their submissions are reviewed in the spring by a peer review panel composed of existing Recording Academy members active in the music industry. If approved, candidates are invited to join the Recording Academy. For more information on the Academy's membership requirements, visit here.

A comprehensive report on the Academy's 2024 New Member Class, along with a detailed breakdown of the overall membership demographics and crafts, will be released later this year following the deadline for 2024 invitees to join the Academy. To see the 2023 New Member Class and overall membership update, visit here.

^GRAMMY U® is the third type of Academy membership and follows a distinct application process. Visit here for more info.The post RECORDING ACADEMY INVITES MUSIC CREATORS AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS TO JOIN first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

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Donner Adds New Guitars to Its Seeker Series ElectricsDonner has introduced two new additions to its DST Seeker Series electric guitar lineup: the DST-600 and DST-700. By adding these two new models, Donner's time-tested Seeker Series has reached new heights with a balance of vintage and modern design, providing contemporary players with the ultimate playing experience and versatile tones, from warm blues or clean style to shred-heavy metal sounds.

The DST-600 has an alder body, C-shaped maple neck and comes in either SSS or HSS configurations with a maple or rosewood fretboard. The models featuring the rosewood fretboard come with 22 frets, while the maple fretboard version features 21 frets. Boasting special tuning on each pole piece, the vintage staggered SSS/HSS configured DST-600 gives an authentic 60s sound that is sparkly clean, while providing a rich and smooth tone when pushed with some overdrive. The DST-600, with a trio of alnico V single coils, marks Donner's faithful attempt for the vintage aesthetics while maintaining versatile play capabilities by providing an alternative HSS configured option.

Crafted with several differences from the original Seeker series, the DST-700 is Donner’s bold offering for aggressive players. First, the DST-700 boasts a 5-piece neck made with roasted maple bolted on a basswood or mahogany body, offering supreme stability and aesthetics for shred guitarists. Second, new pickups designed by Donner Lab come in two configurations: HH and HSS with coil switch. These new Donner Lab pickups are designed, made, and tuned for high-output fatter tones, yet deliver tremendous dynamic range.

Finally, the fingerboard utilizes a compound radius of 10"-14" resulting in a neck that achieves an ideal ergonomic equilibrium, suitable for producing both clear melodies and chordal playing, as well as lightning-fast solos played on the higher frets.

Other features include an easily accessible truss rod adjuster that sits next to the neck pickup, allowing players to make adjustments without removing the neck, high-quality hardware, including steel medium frets, Donner 18:1 locking machines, 2-point synchronized tremolo with block saddles, and a steel plate.

Availability:

The Donner DST-600 and DST-700 electric guitars carry suggested retail prices from $429.9 to $499.9, varying from models of different setups, and are available from donnermusic.com and selective retailers.

4 models, including DST-600 in Fiesta Red (SSS) pricing $429 USD, DST-600 in Sunburst (HSS) pricing $439 USD, DST-700 in Natural (HH) pricing $499 USD and DST-700 in Forest Green (HSS) pricing $499 USD, are now available onDonnermusic.com.

For prices and availability of other models please check out more information on www.donnermusic.com or contact your local retailers.The post Donner Adds New Guitars to Its Seeker Series Electrics first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

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