Stacey Tang RCA Records

Having joined Sony from Warner three years ago, Stacey Tang is now Executive Vice President of RCA. She is also, hypothetically, Boss Of The Entire Business for a few pages. Here are the five changes she’s introducing with immediate effect…

Stacey Tang takes the same approach to promotions as she does to birthdays – and not in the milestones and backslapping sense that you might think.

Instead, she sees both as just another day, or another step: acknowledged and glad to have got this far, yes; fussed over and used as markers of major change, no.

So there probably wasn’t a big party this summer when she was upped to the position of Executive Vice President at RCA UK, reporting directly to the Sony label’s President, David Dollimore.

She says: “You’re not a year older on your birthday, you’re a day older, right? Promotions are the same. The music industry changes so rapidly, and the last 18 months has really hastened the speed of change, so my role is always changing, which is great and as it should be. That’s what keeps it motivating and fun and interesting.

“I came to RCA three years ago this month, and David [Dollimore] had very fresh ideas about what he wanted to do with the label, centred around a drive to develop more of a domestic roster whilst continuing to deliver a world-class service for all of our international artists. That’s what we’ve focused on and achieved.”

In the last 12 months on RCA, Bring Me The Horizon scored their second No. 1 album [Post Human: Survival Horror], whilst Little Mix reached No. 2 with Confetti and won the BRIT Award for Best British Group, but Tang is keen to define success more broadly.

“I think the goal always has to be that you leave a place in a better position than when you joined – and that means commercially, of course, we’re running a business, but also in terms of what we do culturally, and how we operate internally.

“It goes back to talking about the promotion; it’s not about pulling the ladder up and handing down directives, it’s about: Who are we employing, are we listening to those people, and are we growing and developing people who are going to continue to evolve this label and this industry?”

Tang explains that she assembled her five-point plan below “based on day-to-day conversations with friends and colleagues at Sony and around the industry, shared experiences”. It’s an approach that she hopes has delivered a Manifesto that is inclusive, positive and practical, covering everything from what success looks like to redefining the role of record labels…

1. Measuring Success Should Be About More Than Charts

One of the things I feel most strongly about is how we measure success, and I don’t know that charts are the right vehicle. They definitely shouldn’t be the only metric .

Every platform has a different chart, each platform measures different things at different scales. So what are we meant to be looking at to measure? These aren’t likefor-like comparisons; artists have different trajectories.

Also, if Billboard or, in our case, the OCC, are the only measures of success, how do we allow artist development to happen? Because we need time for that.

If 60,000 tracks are being uploaded to Spotify every day, why are they all going to be measured in the same way? We have to choose where to focus based on each individual campaign.

Fans are the ultimate measure of success, but every fan is different, from artist to artist, from genre to genre. A fan who buys a ticket for a gig is very different to a fan who streams something out of curiosity.

This is a really complex business, everything is compared yet incomparable at the same time. And the charts, or whatever

we use to measure success, need to reflect that whilst also celebrating successes. Developing an artist takes the same amount of time now as it’s always done, but the growth happens in public, using the same measures for artists at wildly different stages of their careers. I think that’s affecting our ability as an industry to export UK talent in the way that we have previously. We’re not allowing artists [enough] time to become excellent and stand up against polished international acts. The UK has always had a history of delivering internationally and we aren’t doing that to the same degree right now. The charts have evolved to take on airplay, video views, streaming etc., but I’m not sure they’ve evolved enough to represent a much wider and deeper market. We spend a lot of time talking to artists about what their ambitions and goals are, and each one has a different “If we went out onto definition of success, whereas maybe the street and asked previously there was a more uniform view of what that meant. anyone who was No.1, Maybe it’s revenue-based – that’s how other industries would typically I don’t think the vast measure – although I wouldn’t want that to take away the passion for what majority of people we do and solely number-crunch. If we went out onto the street and would know.” asked anyone who was No. 1 at the moment, a few people might guess Ed [Sheeran whose career Tang helped kick-start at Atlantic] right now because he’s such a huge star. But they’d only be right at the moment because of timing; generally I don’t think the vast majority of people would know. It’s important to say this isn’t an antichart point. The charts are a great thing to have, and the whoops and hollers that go round this office when we get a No. 1 are wonderful. For some artists, [hitting No.1 on the chart] is what they want to do, and this isn’t to detract from that as an ambition, or undo the importance of the charts. I just feel we need a better way of measuring success across the industry, at different stages of careers, and take into account all aspects of connecting with fans and the changing habits in consumption.

Little Mix

2. Continue To Harness The Power Of Music For Protest And Change

Music shapes culture, it moves people and it connects communities. We saw that throughout the pandemic with support groups forming and consumption reflecting mood and feeling, whether that be driven by politics or weather.

We can see what happened to tracks by Childish Gambino and Kendrick Lamar for instance, around the Black Lives Matter movement, Blackout Tuesday and The Show Must Be Paused initiative. And then go back to Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy, Bob Dylan, music’s always been used as a form of protest.

Going back to my first point, if we’re just chasing charts the whole time, I don’t know that we’ll necessarily be looking at those [non-chart] songs right now or giving them profiling or space to develop and grow. We, as labels, invest in artists and acts that are going to shape history and reflect moments and moods through their stories, and that’s a really, really important social aspect to be aware of.

There might be some things that I don’t see or feel because they’ve not been my experience. And there will be other instances where people I work with won’t share my experience, but an artist may touch on something I can relate to. The important thing is to have all of those voices represented, heard and promoted.

If you think of how many tens of millions of pounds we invest in marketing, creating visuals and imagery to support music and lyrics, then you have to conclude that what we get behind matters, it has a lot of sway. It helps define the zeitgeist.

Listen, sometimes I can’t remember if I locked the front door after I leave the house in the morning, but I can remember lyrics to songs from the eighties if they’re on the radio in the car on the way in. Music has the power to become embedded, so it’s important there is music that represents a range of stories and views, and we should be mindful of that balance when we look at what we sign.

I’ve already mentioned Kendrick, and I’ve mentioned Childish Gambino, and what Dave and Stormzy do in the UK is equally galvanising. Is the constructive work Stormzy has done supporting scholarships at Cambridge reflected in the majority of stories we sell? Do we promote the ideas of successful young businessmen outside of lazy stereotypes? Maybe imagery

and the music that we work with only tells one story? Maybe there should be more black male singer/songwriters? Are we investing across the board and helping tell the stories that show the real breadth of experience in the country that we live in?

For example, through our Sony Music Social Justice Fund we have partnered with [classical composer and pianist] Alexis Ffrench to fund two scholarships for black students at the Royal Academy of Music. We need more initiatives like that, to support a broader range of talent, tell those stories and disrupt typecasts.

3. Evolve Industry Leadership For The Modern Workforce

If we want to tell different stories effectively, we need different people who find and relate to those stories, divergent executives leading the industry and a broader mix of professionals shaping music history.

I’ve mentioned some artists in that respect, but to find and sign those different artists, to understand their experiences and have empathy with their message and their mission, requires different leadership. That’s not just topdown leadership. There is power in numbers and united voices.

We deal in emotions, how someone felt when they wrote a song, how someone feels when they perform a song, how fans feel when they listen to a song, watch a video, leave a show. We need to be more mindful of emotion and empathy in our everyday lives.

It’s about a different style of leadership – how we listen to each other, for instance. We’re back in the office now, and I love it, I love how we gesticulate wildly and chat loudly, talking over and with one another. But I also hope we keep some of that Zoom/ Teams etiquette, where maybe time and voice share was more evenly distributed.

Some time is needed for reflection and generating ideas, daydreaming big stuff as opposed to running at maximum capacity all of the time.

At Sony we have worked closely with MIND as a corporate group and at artist campaign level. There are training and policies geared towards supporting everybody that we work with. And we’ve made a point of extending those services and support to artists and managers, because they’re part of our community and peer group; that’s long overdue.

The world has evolved, our workforce has evolved, so leadership, and the style of leadership, has to mirror those changes. The days of power suits and dictating respect are gone.

I think power was historically often wielded in a dictatorial style; now I think it’s something that should radiate outwards, with ideas and strategies being shaped by input from everyone. That makes for a stronger culture and team.

I believe a large part of shaping this approach and thinking is through mentorship. It’s easy to slip into common tropes of competition or battle, but we have to look after our people and they’ll look after us.

People are our business, from artists to [staff in the] office and to fan bases. I think a little more humanity and care across all of our leadership efforts will make for a wildly different industry.

4. Keep Pushing The Boundaries Of Flexible Working

We’re all working more flexibly now, which is great. The less rigid we are, the less people will be excluded and the stronger an industry we become.

Equity for diverse teams means different execs need different things at different stages of their careers. That should be addressed with smart management on a one-by-one basis. One huge element we need to address as a nation is parental leave, which traditionally has always fallen to women to take. In 2015 Shared Parental Leave was introduced to the UK, but I think only 2% of eligible couples took it up then; it’s probably 3-4% now. I would like to see equal parental leave introduced more widely, as we are doing at Sony [where parents of any gender qualify for 52 weeks leave]. A Harvard Business Review article in 2012 mentioned fathers with even short work absences due to family obligations were recommended for

“If we want to tell fewer awards and received lower performance ratings, and that was different stories, we mainly just taking paternity leave for two weeks. That’s terrible for fathers need different people who want to spend time bonding with their young families. to find and relate to At Sony we have a 50/50 those stories.” gender staff split, and our senior management is probably 40% female. If we want to maintain and grow that, we have to look to provide equal opportunity and take an even-handed approach to parental leave – and I’m pleased that we are now doing that. The assumption that women are the primary care-givers, and want to take a year off, can feel like it might disrupt career paths or force execs to make decisions for financial reasons – and it gives men less time to bond with their children, and many of them want to do that. Lockdown has changed a lot of our priority lists and we need to be brave enough to let those priorities shape our working lives now. I’ve had conversations with colleagues who have been apprehensive about returning after extended absences or who want to reassure me that they are committed to their work as well as their families. Of course they are! We all know that careers in our industry are the antithesis of nine-to-five work, so we have to be flexible anyway; flexibility just makes sense in an industry that doesn’t fit into traditional parameters. 31

But we have to make equal or shared parental leave central to creating a level playing field, not only in the workplace but in terms of quality family time as well.

Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes performs at All Points East in 2019

5. Redefine The Role Of A Record Label

The industry is adapting, it’s changing, and it’s important that art and music keeps leading technology – and that technology isn’t simply defining art and music.

We have seen a massive explosion in tech solutions to issues caused by the pandemic and huge engagement on platforms – whether that’s live-streamed gigs, virtual events in Minecraft or Roblox, NFT’s and the entry of blockchain-based streaming services, or TikTok which is always a conversation in meetings now.

Artists and managers are talking to us the whole time about their campaigns – they’re smart business people which is why we are in business with them in the first place.

We often remind new artists,you’re the CEO now, we work for you – and they need to look at what they need to add to their business to grow it and make it more successful through us.

If [an artist has] a bigger management company, with more bandwidth and a greater range of skills internally, then what they require from a record company will be different to an individual who is relatively new to the game or has a smaller support team by choice.

What a record company is and what a record company does has to be different for every artist and manager. It differs from campaign to campaign, and between us we have to make the decision as to what will serve and deliver their vision best.

We have to be more flexible about what we invest in and how we invest, because we literally do not stop spending money from the moment we sign an artist.

We have to be more complex and more specialist and we need a broader range of skillsets than ever before, because we get involved with artists at very different stages of their careers.

It will always be a priority to break new artists, but look at the volume of catalogue streams, and the best-selling artist albums of the year. They shouldn’t be anniversaryonly campaigns.

We talk so much to artists at the beginning of their careers and we have to continue those conversations, in depth, being transparent about what they have access to and what services we can support them with.

We need to constantly go back to artists and their teams and explain, ‘This is what you have access to within Sony,’ whether we’re talking about podcasting, merch, live plans or partnerships with platforms and services, whatever it might be – anything that helps them be the best broadcasters they can be to their fans and grow that pool which will support them in long-term career goals.

As labels and businesses within Sony we’re encouraged to be collaborative. We learn from each other and share hypotheses, approaches and data. Our artists and managers won’t have all that information across so many case studies, so we share that with them and they find it useful.

It’s not for us to tell an artist what to do, because we don’t have to publicly stand behind their work. They do that, and they do it in front of their fans. So we have to understand what their truth is and where they want to go, and then do as much as they need and as much as we can to help them. n

Photo: Tom Rose / Shutterstock