Carter: Unreleased Prince music ‘coming soon’
Carter, in his role as Prince’s estate advisor, says unreleased material will be released ‘soon,’ but does not give details as to when, or which label might release the songs.
He was a guy who practically lived in a recording studio, and once we started going through [the unreleased material] we really started finding some gems. I heard some music the other night that was pretty mind-blowing and we’re getting some stuff mixed right now. We’ve got great projects in the works that I’m excited to talk about. So the answer is yes, there will be unreleased Prince music coming soon.
Talks about Drake’s streaming success
Carter comments on Drake’s One Dance feat. WizKid and Kyla passing one billion streams on Spotify, during the eight months since it was released.
It’s a phenomenal record, that’s where it starts. It’s just one of those rare records that translates throughout the world. Drake’s always been great at really capturing hip-hop and pop sensibilities, but to be able to do that globally with a record like this is just amazing…Hit records make us look really smart. [Laughs] I think Drake made a monster of a record and people responded, and I think our guys within Spotify are just getting better and better at how to put music out in front of more and more people and when it all comes together it works.
Fortune profile
In a profile in Fortune, Carter talks about Spotify’s relationship with its customers.
The music industry did a terrible job of building a relationship with consumers. Spotify was one of the first services that actually focuses on the consumer because they don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars a year on music.
And on his skillset:
The only two things that ever came naturally to me are music and investing.
Tech should train minority talent
In a panel on diversity at the Upfront Summit, Carter asks: What if we started treating computer science in the same way we treat athletics? Carter compares basketball’s feeder system to the hodge-podge landscape of tech recruiting. Despite the number of jobs available to skilled and talented programmers, there’s not a nationwide program to identify young talent, develop it, sponsor it with big names and scholarships, and lift kids out of unfortunate situations along the way.
In the NBA, there’s only room for 450 jobs. In tech, it’s exponential.
Re/code interview
In an interview with Re/code, Carter talks about SMASHDLabs.
On the artist side, we made a significant investment in very young artists from the very beginning of their careers and helped them become global superstars. So, on the entrepreneurs’ side, the idea of the labs was to be able to create this ecosystem to help them from the very beginning, to see them through from development and hopefully until they become large companies.
He also says that the accelerator companies had access to entrepreneurial advice from Marc Cuban, who gave the welcoming address, Sophia Amoruso of retail site Nasty Gal, Jason Calacanis, Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, Upfront Ventures’ Mark Suster and MediaREDEF Chief Executive Jason Hirschhorn.
We had a wide array of incredible entrepreneurs and investors that came in to speak to the group. The head of growth for Snapchat, he probably spent five days with our companies. That’s significant.
Fast Company interview
Carter is interviewed by Fast Company. He talks about how to get investor approval:
Do the work. That’s as basic as you can possibly get. You can’t dream your way out of a problem. You can’t just dream your way into the business. You’ve got to actually put rubber on the road and do the work. If your job is to sweep floors, the only way those floors are going to get swept is if you put the broom on the ground. If your job is to code, you need fingers on the keys. So whatever it is you do, you actually have to do the work. You can’t just talk about it. You can’t be philosophical about it. You have to get the physical work in.
Ebony interview
Ebony interviews Carter on the status of Blacks in tech.
You know the Jay-Z saying, “men lie, women lie, numbers don’t (laughs)?” This is a key point of that. Numbers show that there are not that many brothers and sisters in this field, and it takes the brothers and sister that are in already to help open those doors. We need to have that real, honest conversation on why the numbers are so low…I can say I’ve never felt overtly discriminated against in tech, or that I’ve walked from a meeting saying that someone was undeniably racist. But when you have companies like Twitter where 25% or more of your users are African American, but your employee base is in the very low single digits, that speaks volumes of your hiring practices and your thoughts on our community. I don’t think it’s said that ‘we aren’t hiring Blacks,’ but people are known to hire in their networks. So if you didn’t go to Harvard, or weren’t in this social club, or aren’t a member of this fraternity or sorority, you won’t have the same access as someone who shares the same exact resume as you do. We just have to get plugged into the networks.
Business Insider interview
In an interview with Business Insider, Carter explained that his investing style is largely based around “feel.”
I’m a simple guy. I know a lot of investors use a lot of analytics in their diligence process, and for me it’s about feel. It’s how do I feel about the idea, how do I feel about the entrepreneur. It’s the same thing that gave me an advantage to being an artist manager. Because it’s all feel. You’re not operating with a lot of data, so you get to feel out people…I want to know your background; I want to know your dynamic; I want to know how long you guys have known each other. If you’re partners on the show, I want to know how long you guys have known each other. I want to know how you guys make decisions together — that tells me a lot about how the business is going to be run.
TechCrunch Disrupt interview
Carter is interviewed by Lane at TechCrunch Disrupt. He says that artists’ complaints about streaming revenues are flawed, because the only alternative to streaming services is piracy or having someone listen to the song on YouTube for free. He says artists to be patient, and said that streaming is a numbers game.
Once everyone is converted to services like Spotify, the economics will make a lot more sense.
However, he says that labels are not paying artists Spotify royalties.
Spotify came in and did a presentation for us, maybe about a couple of months ago, and our clients made a significant amount of income from Spotify. Well, let’s rephrase that: the labels made a significant amount of money off of Spotify that didn’t match up to the artist royalty statements that the artists received. So, Spotify is paying out a lot of money, it’s just not finding its way into the hands of the artists.
He also says that while Silicon Valley’s ecosystem eventually needs to open up:
If you don’t open up the opportunities to the people who understand the industry, and understand the space, Silicon Valley is going to miss out.
Business Insider interview
Carter is interviewed by Business Insider. On why he originally turned down Shark Tank:
Originally I passed on doing it and I went home and I talked to my wife about it, and I ended up coming back around…What we thought about is that you can’t be it if you can’t see it. There’s not a lot of black entrepreneurs and I can’t sit there and bitch about diversity in tech and all of those things about access and pipeline if I’m not out there doing something about that…I’m watching the riots in Baltimore, I’m watching Ferguson, I’m watching Blacklivesmatter, I’m watching Jesse Jackson berate Silicon Valley. There’s just all these conversations around race, diversity, and tech. That’s what kind of gave me this shift where I said “It’s time that I do something and lend my voice.”
On working on the show:
You know what, I’ve gained a tremendous amount of respect for the sharks. I don’t know how they do their day jobs and do what they do on Shark Tank. It was definitely competitive for sure, and you get into some really deep negotiations. Luckily once I realized, “Ok, this is what I do every day” I got into my comfort zone. The biggest surprise for me was the length of the negotiations. The producers and editors do a really good job of what can sometimes be an hour and a half-negotiation and edit it down to a seven-minute segment.
Billboard interview
Carter talks about why he started SMASHD Labs to Billboard.
There’s definitely a huge amount of accelerators out there, but there was a void for one that focused on brand, and that’s a space we have a lot of experience at and that makes this unique. Selfishly, it works for the Atom Factory — by being able to put 25 of the smartest entrepreneurs from around the world in your office. We get a lot of value out of that as well…[I want] A diverse team — the crux of my personal mission is to open up entrepreneurship to everybody, so Silicon Valley doesn’t have a patent on innovation. We want to open up the process to people outside of that network — the team would be diverse, hard-working entrepreneurs with technical expertise that are looking to gain traction on their product.
On the importance of data:
There’s always going to be a place for artists — but when you look at what humans have actually done to devalue music, from a pure monetary valuation standpoint, this is the part where our industry needs a lot of help. SoundCloud is worth its $1.5 billion valuation, but there’s no way in the world that SoundCloud should be worth more than The Beatles’ catalog. From a value proposition, we have a huge opportunity to re-value our business… I think the music is undervalued. I think up to this point we’ve done a poor job of valuing our content.
USC interview
Carter shares his story and advice with University of Southern California students. He talks about his lowest point:
It was a really tough one and a half years of my life… I feel, as a human being, you can only hit so many lows before you are at your breaking point. I remember this one point when I was driving my car… and I had to pull over, and I just broke down and cried my face out. And after I did that, I said “OK, it’s time. Let me get back to work”. It was just one of those moments when I had to pull it out of myself… I’m a firm believer you got to work your way out of these problems and you always got to do the right thing.
Moroder, Carter chat
Carter and Moroder chat about music and technology at the DLD conference in Munich, Germany. Moroder talks about his upcoming album., digital recording, and recording Scarface. Moroder on digital:
I love digital. I think I was one of the first, if not the first one, to recorded a whole album only on digital. The album was called E=mc², which I recorded in Los Angeles, with a guy from Salt Lake City who invented the stereo digital, called Dr Stockham. I recorded the whole album in two days live. I have to wait for weeks for the computer to generate edits and cuts.
Billboard Year in Music ‘upstart’
Carter is quoted as an “upstart” in Billboard’s 2014 Year in Music, alongside Meghan Trainor and Nico and Vinz:
Last year, when people came to Atom Factory, a lot of it was on me to be able to deliver. I had to show up to every meeting; the focus was on me. And this year, I think the focus has been on us. We all understand that we’re only as good as the talent we represent.
The Influencer Economy interview
Carter is interviewed by Williams on The Influencer Economy. He talks about about hip-hop, entrepreneurship, life, failure, success and finding passion around your work.
In life in general, there are no guarantees. Failures are a part of life. As cliché as it may sound, the way I look at it is that there are no rewards without taking risks. We take a risk every time we step out the door, you know, every single day. Life is full of risks and failures, but at the same time life is full of triumphs and happiness.
I relate to entrepreneurs on a soulful level. I know what keeps them up at night. I know how those victories feel. .. And when you can’t make payroll, and you’ve got knots in your stomach, I know what that feels like too.
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Platform Summit 2013 interview
Carter is interviewed by at the Platform Summit 2103’s session on Failure: The Surprising Critical Ingredient of Success. (Meet the Risk Takers.)
For a startup , in order to win big you have to swing big.
NBC News interview
Carter is interviewed by Shriver for NBC News.
I know how to pick really good people. From great artists to great partners. I call it my ‘West Philly Spidey Senses’.
On women:
I attract really strong women! My wife is CFO of the company and the CFO of the house…and mother of five. My COO is a woman. The president of my company is a woman. I surround myself with really, really strong women.
Tips to Succeed as a Manager
Carter gives some tips to Rennie about how to succeed in the music business as a manager:
One I would say is you gotta have a real passion for it. It’s not an easy business, so that when times get hard you really stick with it. The other thing is that I have a real personal relationship with all of the clients i work with. It’s more than just a transaction and it’s more than just business I’m actually in their fight, and they are people I love and people I really respect. And when you have those things you don’t mind taking the late night phone calls or sacrificing time away from the family, because it’s bigger than just a commission check.
Credit Suisse Entrepreneur’s Summit interview
Carter shares his insights on the effects technology has on business and what he looks for when investing in startup companies.
Technology has always affected business. Always some kind of disruption… (need to) have that ability to live around the corner. And pay attention to emerging technologies…We do more investing in entrepreneurs than we invest in startups. It always starts with “who are we investing in?”… and whether this entrepreneur has the wherewithal to go the distance.
Fast Company interview
Carter is interviewed by Fast Company. He talk about his split with Gaga:
I’m human. I went through every emotion. You go from fear to sadness…It’s like you wake up and you work with somebody every day, and then all of a sudden they’re not there anymore. I don’t think you’re ever prepared to sever that deep of a relationship.
Family:
Money doesn’t make me tick. This definition of success doesn’t make me tick. Managing some of the biggest stars in the world doesn’t make me tick. Making my family proud makes me tick…Will [Smith] was talking about how he still worries about being broke. And I laughed because I’m like, ‘Me too.’ It’s a thing from where we come from. A lot had to do with going broke as an adult too. So when you come from nothing and you work your way up and you make something of yourself, there’s always that sense that all of this could go away tomorrow
On investing with other artist managesr:
When you look at how technology companies are funded, it’s not a zero-sum game. It could be 20 investors in one company, and everybody has to work together for the benefit of that company. As we invested, we realized we need each other on these deals because my network is better when you’re in it.