Ethiopia Habtemariam: The highest-ranking African-American female at a major record label

Ethiopia Habtemariam: via Facebook



Ethiopia Habtemariam was born on September 24, 1979, and she headed Universal Music Publishing Group as Senior Vice President & Head of Urban Music. She will be taking over Sylvia Rhone's position at Motown Records. That makes her the highest-ranking African-American female (of Ethiopian descent) at a major record label. Motown is a division of Universal Music Group, the World's largest Music company.

Ethiopia Habtemariam
She “strongly believed Motown should be youth-driven,” an individual close to the executive told TheWrap. “It’s all about youth. They’re the ones who open the doors.”

How did she get there?

Ms. Habtemariam has signed some of music's biggest superstars, including; multi-platinum recording artist and songwriter Chris Brown, breakthrough artist and songwriter Keri Hilson, gold recording artist and songwriter Ciara. She's steered the careers of BMI Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year Polow Da Don, Andre Merrit, Candice Nelson, Balewa Muhammad, Ezekiel Lewis (The Clutch), Rock City, and Brian Kennedy to name a few.

She also oversee’s one of the hottest urban rosters in music — from multi-platinum and GRAMMY award winning acts like Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Eminem, Jeremih, Amerie, Ashanti, Jill Scott, Prince, Nicole Sherzinger, Ice Cube, Raphael Saadiq, Swizz Beatz, DMX, Asher Roth, Beastie Boys, R.Kelly, Babyface, Keyshia Cole, and many more. She is a native of Atlanta and she began interning at LaFace Records at age 14. Hired there as an assistant right after high school, she found herself in Los Angeles in 2001 working as a creative manager for Edmonds Music Publishing. Universal came calling two years later.

So essentially she's an executive from the publishing side of the business being given a very senior role within Universal's corporate structure (she is credited with wooing Justin Bieber into a global publishing deal) business moves like that help you a lot. With her background in music publishing and a sharp focus on discovering hit talent, Habtemariam envisions developing Motown to be a magnet for young trendy stars who appeal to the industry’s core youth audience.

It would be good to see how she and Chairman Barry Weiss work together, hopefully he'll be forward thinking as well, just as he was in the 80's during the maturation stages of Hip Hop when he was keenly aware of what the trends were then. Weiss's resume is well established even now (Britney Spears, Usher, Backstreet Boys, Justin Timberlake, 'N Sync and T-Pain) and now with Ms. Habtemariam steering the ship at Motown, things should be interesting indeed.

Ethiopia Habtemariam: "The labels think they dictate what's hot to the consumer. That's the biggest mistake. You can never underestimate the intelligence of the consumer, especially the youth. I'm not going to mention any specific songs, but there are records that are just hits at radio but don't translate into sales. So you have labels that will chase the charts or what's happening in different areas and then will sign those acts.

But they're not quality acts. That's because artist development doesn't exist anymore. I remember when people knew the names of everyone in a group. Now labels might rely heavily on production companies to give an artist some definition. That's because labels have smaller staffs and so many artists. As such, there's a short list when it comes to the next generation of urban music superstars"

- She definately knows what she's talking about...

Follow @Iamindemand and join the conversation on Twitter Right Now!!!

Entrepreneurial Music Artists: hate all you want, 50 Cent is smart about money

Did you hear who his partner investor is? The inventor of PayPal and the chairman of Facebook; 50 Cent was letting you know what kind of business muscle he's aquainted with. He was giving his stock pick and why he is investing in them. He also talked about diversifying his music and telling artists that your not just going to be making money from album sales.



Follow @Iamindemand on Twitter Right Now!!!

The Reinvention of Queen Latifah - She has a decent brand name

You don't get a spot on Sesame Street unless you've got cross-over appeal



Queen Latifah went from rap artist, to actress, to entertainment executive and entrepreneur and has enjoyed a varied career since growing up in Newark New Jersey. Her considerable talent has earned her not only a Grammy award, but Oscar and Emmy nominations as well. Her image is one of considerable transformation and I wanted to make a mention of her because Queen's image is a classic example of how one should grow in the ever-evolving business of music and media.

Video: Queen Latifah - Come Into My House (Live)



LYRICS from the song:

"Keep in mind I move Multitudes, The Asiatic Blackwoman, Hardcore beat drumming, It's hard to keep a good woman down - so I keep coming, Blow for blow, I take and I get some, Still I rise in a civilized wisdom".

Queen Latifah: discusses how one can remain true to themselves and at the same time not forget their roots. What gives an artist their longevity (besides their apparent talent) is their poise and character because that's the "intrinsic value" of any brand name. Listen to how she has this character from within effortlessly.



Reinventing herself constantly...

Jay-Z unveils his latest “Blueprint” for Success

Via: uk.reuters.com



JAY-Z on Death of Autotune:

" I'm a multi-millionaire,
so why is it - I'm still the hardest n*gga here? "

This is an excellent article on Jay-Z Inc.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - At just about any given moment of any given day -- including this sunlit June Friday afternoon -- Jay-Z is a busy man. Sitting on a swivel chair at his Roc the Mic studios in downtown Manhattan with a glass of Santa Margherita white wine in hand, he tackles interview after interview with Japanese reporters, pausing only to use the restroom or ask his assistant to get him a refill or an order of food from his sports club, 40/40.

But while he handles his international duties, his Roc Nation team -- seven people, including his assistant, longtime publicist and engineers -- make sure his empire runs smoothly. His employees are scattered around the room, some perched on stools or couches, others standing or sitting on the floor, some with laptops before them. His assistant is booking flights, hotels and car service for the BET Awards, which is taking place that weekend; his publicist whispers on the phone about another magazine story.

Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter and raised in Brooklyn's Marcy Projects, is the first to admit he could not have achieved half of his successes on his own. But it's his overarching big-business vision and talent that have positioned him as one of the most well-known and influential artists of his time.

"I still owed an album to Def Jam, but I wanted to have it back for a number of reasons, the most important being that it wasn't consistent with the type of business I planned for me or where I was positioning myself. Everything in my life I had taken charge of, but yet I was still an artist signed to a label. It seemed a little archaic in my plans," he says. "I've always prided myself on being a principled person. It was more so the principle than the amount of money. It was about owning my own masters and owning my own companies, but you have to pay for the privilege, and that comes at a premium." Continue Reading: Click Here