IAM790- Founder Shines Light on Budding Talent

A music lover at heart IndustryMe founder Ray Sang is dedicated to shining a light on budding talent. Fascinated by the constant stream of new sounds she started the music and entertainment platform to give a voice to the creatives she felt were being overlooked by the mainstream, choosing to specialize in pop and R&B.

As a journalist who has remained passionate about sharing stories, Ray has built her career by having candid conversations with creatives about their journeys and perhaps unseen struggles. Seeing each interview as an opportunity to learn something new, Ray's approach to journalism is centered around giving fans an unfiltered insight into the entertainment industry – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

• CEO Hack: To-do list and scheduling
• CEO Nugget: Focus on the lead classification
• CEO Defined: Being a visionary, a leader, and having a clear idea of what you want to achieve

Website: https://industryme.co.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/raysangxoxo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raysangxoxo

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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[00:00:02.20] – Intro 

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you’ve come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you’re in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

[00:00:29.69] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gretch from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Ray Sang of Industry Me. Ray, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:39.10] – Ray Sang

Hey. It's a pleasure to be here. This is super weird. I can't lie.

[00:00:44.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yes. It's so funny. We were talking a little bit before we got started, but you're doing so many awesome things. I'm super excited to have you on the show as I know you're the one who's always usually interviewing and and hearing from other people. So, before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Ray so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And a music lover at heart, Industry Me founder Ray Sang is dedicated to shining a light on budding talent. Fascinated by the constant stream of new sounds, she started the music and entertainment platform to give a voice to the creatives she felt were being overlooked by the mainstream in choosing to specialize in pop and r and b.

As a journalist who has remained passionate about sharing stories, Ray has built her career by having candid conversations with creatives about their journey and perhaps unseen struggles. Seeing each interview as an opportunity to learn something new, Ray's approach to journalism is centered around giving fans an unfiltered insight into the entertainment industry, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Ray, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:43.00] – Ray Sang

I am. Hello, guys. Thank you for having me.

[00:01:44.40] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And and before we, got more into everything you're doing phenomenally, with your company, I wanted to hear how everything got started. So could you take us through what I call your CEO story, and we'll let you get started with your business?

[00:01:58.90] – Ray Sang

Well, ironically, it kind of all started by accident. So while I was at university, everyone had this period where everyone was kind of like starting blogs and, you know, just doing things because they were a bit bored. Mhmm. So I just kind of started something with no background in journalism, kind of no idea of what I wanted to do, but kind of seeing that there was this huge gap in the mainstream for underground talent. People weren't getting the time of day if they didn't have a certain number of followers on social media or if they weren't hitting a number of certain number of streams.

And I just thought, well, the industry is not reflective of the talent that's out there at all. Who's gonna talk about these people? So I just decided that I would. I had no idea what I was signing myself up, for, but I guess you never really do. And I just kind of wanted to be a voice for the people who were being neglected. And for me, kind of music had become about vanity, like, vanity metrics, about all of these things that don't really matter. And I just kind of wanted to be different and bring it back to this tenant and the importance of the industry. So, yeah, that's how I started.

[00:03:01.19] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love that. And I love, you know, you being able to kinda highlight and and make a more of a representative, viewpoint on the music industry. Because I think, I remember, I think when I grew up, there was a kind of a phrase, kinda unsigned hype, and I think it was even like a publication or a site or something like that. But it kinda speaks to that where there's much more than sometimes we hear, and if you don't hit these certain, quote, unquote, metrics or these certain figures, you don't get that opportunity to have that light shine on you. So that's why I love everything you're doing, as far as giving the voice to maybe what some might say the voiceless to some degree.

[00:03:36.40] – Ray Sang

Yeah. I really have a passion for being a voice for people who don't necessarily have a voice. And I also think in particular genres, so for example, pop, You see a lot of white faces all the time, and there are black people or people of color making pop music. And I think just as examples of things like that, you don't see it. So if you don't see it, you'll assume that it doesn't exist. And I think that it's very dangerous to, like, have people thinking that there's only one type of person that can make a particular type of music when it's really not like that at all. So yeah.

[00:04:10.40] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And I would say, especially in, I think, the, obviously, the more creative industries, because I think that's where you start to get stymied and you don't have the creativity because you like you said, you have that, I guess, that model of what this is, what pop is, whatever any, you know, genre might be. And you kind of, I guess, put a ceiling on the creativity and opportunity to kinda hear from different voices with different perspectives and maybe have different levels of talent and different, kind of flavors, so to speak, to kinda integrate into, making the music even better.

[00:04:41.30] – Ray Sang

Exactly. And even with things like female rap, for example, a lot of the female rappers, the current aesthetic is very, like, hypersexualized. Or if you don't kinda fit the Meg the Stallion type mold, you're just not gonna have a career. And there are so many talented female rappers out there that don't necessarily fit that box. So it's like for people like them also just to you don't have to fit a certain mold in order to be talented or, you know, get a platform or receive exposure.

[00:05:09.80] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that's one of the beautiful beautiful things about this time and age is that we have the opportunity to kinda find those. And I love that you created that platform where we can find, you know, some of these, phenomenal artists that we may not necessarily know about. So, could you take us through a little bit more on what we can find, on your platform and the people that are listening to this right now?

[00:05:29.69] – Ray Sang

Sure. Okay. So we have quite a range of things that are happening with the site and then the platform more widely on social media and such. So in terms of the actual platform itself, you'll find a lot of reviews. So like song reviews, album reviews, that sort of thing. You will also more recently find a lot of opinion pieces. So with everything going on with the black lives matter movement, with us being a black-owned platform, it was vital that we spoke about that. So we've been talking about, a lot of the things to do with, black black musicians, and black artists, and sharing stories and our opinions on everything going on.

There's a recent story that we just did about black women within the dance and EDM world And that's basically how they weren't being credited. So what's happening is that their vocals are being used on songs and they're essentially the main part of the song, but they're not receiving credit, which obviously translates into the way that they're paid and royalties and, you know, has adverse financial implications. So stuff like that is also what you'd find in our culture section. And then as well as that, we also have interviews about covering talent. And more recently, we started to do that on IG live as well. So you'll find that on our social media too.

[00:06:40.39] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And, again, kinda like we've been talking about is, like, so many times, I think it's probably discouraging for artists like that, but I think it's probably even maybe discouraging for people that maybe want to do EDM or maybe wanna do pop or and thinking of, like, going that route and not seeing that there's anybody or anything. So they kinda get discouraged in the very beginning. So that's why I love that you created a platform because, obviously, it gives that opportunity for us to hear kinda different, artists and and different types of music, so to speak. But it also, I think, is very inspirational for those people who want to even go that route and realize that it's not possible. It's actually something people are doing. They're just trying to get their name and their voice out there.

[00:07:22.10] – Ray Sang

For sure. And that's kind of something else that we're trying to expand more on within the next couple of years in terms of the education side of things. So a lot of people, want to do stuff, but they just have no idea where it is they should start. So a lot of our events would be set will be centered around, you know, teaching people how to network, how to write songs, how to, you know, connect with the right producers, that sort of thing. And then, on top of that, we also do that through our IG live interviews as well. So we'll be interviewing people from the industry and we, get their advice on how to, one, break into the industry or once you're there, how to navigate it.

[00:07:57.19] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. Absolutely. Knowledge is definitely power. So I appreciate you, creating, the knowledge for that. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for you personally or your business and your platform, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:08:14.60] – Ray Sang

Oh, what's my secret sauce? I mean, is it a secret if I share it now?

[00:08:20.89] – Gresham Harkless

Only me and you.

[00:08:23.10] – Ray Sang

I think well, in terms of the platform or widely, I think our secret sauce is our, priority on long-form content. Something that I found, especially with reviews, is that everyone kind of wants to be the first. So because everybody's rushing to be the first, like, no one really takes time with reviews and things like that anymore. So you'll get a hundred words, which is most likely copied from the press release, which is not journalism, but we're not gonna get into that. So, yeah, you'll have a lot of that and that irks me.

So I've tried to avoid doing that and that's something that me and my writing team definitely, try to avoid. So we try and make sure that all of our reviews are relatively long form, quite in-depth, and take time to, Make artists feel like we've seen and heard them because that's something that I feel is really important These artists, I think music is a labor of love So I think with that being said You want them to feel like you've actually sat down and paid attention to what it is that they've put their heart and soul into So I want and I want that to translate into the reviews So with that being said, I'd say yeah prioritizing long-form content and sitting and taking the time to sit with music and let it marinate before we actually let it.

[00:09:31.79] – Gresham Harkless

So, I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:09:43.00] – Ray Sang

To-do list. I could not live without a to-do list. I think, because I'm working across so many different time zones, working all sorts of odd hours all the time, I think I would not be able to keep track of everything without a to-do list. And one other thing that I would say I use quite frequently is scheduling. And that's everything from emails to tweets to social media posts. Like literally everything is scheduled for me. Obviously, I don't think it's appropriate to be emailing someone at like 10 PM their time just because it's an appropriate time for your time. So I think, yeah, scheduling and I think Google Mail is really, really helpful for that. They are fantastic when it comes to scheduling emails. So scheduling and to-do lists, just just to keep track of everything. And also, I like to tick things off. It gives me a sense of satisfaction. It makes me feel like I've accomplished stuff. So, yeah, I love I love a good to-do list for sure.

[00:10:39.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the which is, the CEO nugget. And this could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It's something you might tell, somebody that's a client. Or if you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

[00:10:58.10] – Ray Sang

Focus on delayed gratification. Mhmm. And the reason I say that is, part of what we do focuses on a lot of upcoming talent. And something that I found is people don't pay attention unless you give them a reason to, and you're not gonna be able to give them a reason to instantly. It's not gonna happen straight away. It's just it's just how the human mind works. People tend to engage with things that they're already familiar with. So to build that familiarity takes time. So, yeah, I would definitely say don't expect things to happen right away. Focus on delayed gratification.

[00:11:30.70] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That's extremely powerful. And I think there's a saying, like, the secret to overnight success is that it takes ten years. And I think so many times when you reach so much success, a lot of times we just see that I guess, that snapshot of somebody's life or snapshot of their accomplishments, but we don't see kind of, like, the delayed gratification they invested in so that those things can happen. And I think so many times to our detriment, as people that are getting started with things, but also to the people that have put in so many hours and time and resources into what it is that they do, that we don't recognize that these people sometimes have been playing the long game, and we need to do that ourselves if we want to, be successful.

[00:12:10.70] – Ray Sang

For sure. Like, no overnight success actually happens overnight. So I definitely would agree with that. It's all it's always about this kind of opportunity meets the right timing. And that will only happen if you're investing time in the way prior to that happening.

[00:12:26.10] – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. Just plant those seeds when you don't always see them sprouting. And once they start sprouting and growing, that's when we start to, see the fruits of our labor. And, so now I wanted to ask you, what I call kind of my favorite question, the glue question even of the podcast, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quotes, unquote CEOs on this show. So, Ray, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:46.79] – Ray Sang

Oh, to be a CEO to me means being a visionary. So it's kind of like you are the captain of a ship. You have to charter out the destination and then steer everybody else wherever to wherever that destination is. So, yeah, I think being a leader and being able to manage people and all of that is all well and good. But even prior to that, you have to have a vision and you also have to have some type of idea as to how you are going to get people there. Because no one's gonna believe in that vision unless it's kind of steady and secure, and you have a clear idea of what it is that you are trying to achieve.

[00:13:24.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. I love that. And it kinda ties into what we talked about with the hack is, just I mean, the nugget is just understanding the the the vision and where you're gonna go and understand the process that it takes to do there. And I think a true leader is able to not only kind of articulate that, but also kinda maybe be that motivational person for the people on the team as well too to understand that this is the vision. This is what it's probably going to look like. And I think when you're able to do that and set those expectations is when you're really truly able to lead and really able to create some phenomenal, opportunities for the world.

[00:13:56.50] – Ray Sang

For sure. And the thing about being the captain is that's just one role. The captain also realizes that they need a crew. So it's kind of also this idea of realizing that you can't do everything at once and you can't do everything that needs to be done in order to get the ship somewhere, but you do have a role in choosing the destination and steering the ship there. Once you've got that in place, then everybody else will fall in line. So yeah.

[00:14:20.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And then it is kinda like you have to have that ego to be able to start something and create something, but you also have to be able to step back and understand that you have people that are on the team that may be better than us in certain aspects, and that's the reason that they're on the team so that they can really shine their light as best as possible and create that win win win opportunity. So, definitely appreciate that, that definition, and I and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional. You can let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you and your team are working on.

[00:14:54.50] – Ray Sang

Well, the best way to get in contact with me personally would be via my social media. I'm RaySang xoxo across all social media. I had a bit of a thing with Gossip Girl when I was a lot younger, which is why all my social media have xoxo, but we're gonna roll with it. And then to find Industry Me, on socials, our Instagram is Industry Me Official and our Twitter is Industry Me with two's. And if you would like to make a submission to us, it's industry me at gmail dot com. That's industry me with two e's, so spelled the same way with Twitter. And, yeah, just look forward to more educational content, more interviews, more reviews, and more music discovery.

[00:15:33.70] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. We will have the links and information in the show notes. And then from one journalist at heart to another, I appreciate all you're doing and the way you're getting, people's names and the work that they're doing out. So truly appreciate that and everything you stand for, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

[00:15:49.39] -Outro 

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IAMCEO.CO. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it’s a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear a www.CEOgear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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