Since the introduction of digital music and digital platforms, there has been a shift in the music and entertainment business. Previously, young musicians wanted to be part of a larger corporation. The dream was to land a contract, write music, sing songs, sell records, get famous, and go on tour. All the while, record labels were primarily concerned with how much money they could make selling the music. The model was built on enticing young artists.
The problem is that as artists develop their craft, they become more interested in making good music than in being famous and touring. In the meantime, these artists are also trying to build relationships, build a brand, manage their finances, and stay popular with the public and other artists. This model benefits the label more than the artist. Investing a small amount upfront in exchange for a large percentage of future revenue is a good deal. Entertainers are starting to realize that if they own their thoughts and ideas and focus on their craft independently, they can work alongside the big companies and be profitable without a loss of control over their lives.
This idea of working parallel to the industry instead of being absorbed by it is a powerful idea because when artists and executives build their own infrastructure, they do not need to trade ownership for access. They can partner with executives from a position of strength. This shift in thinking changes everything, and it’s already playing out in real time in cases like Salt-N-Pepa’s fight to reclaim their master recordings, where the group is arguing in court that artists deserve a real path back to owning their own work.
More entertainers are realizing that the best opportunity is not always with the big music making company. Great opportunities for artists lie in intellectual rights, building brand bridges with other facets of the entertainment industry, and in creating and growing their own brand.
The Executive Path: Building Infrastructure
Steve Stoute is one of the clearest examples of this shift. He spent roughly a decade as a music industry executive, holding roles as executive vice president at Interscope Geffen A&M Records and president of urban music at Sony Music, where he worked on projects across Nas, Mary J. Blige, and Eminem’s debut album. In the late 1990s, Stoute partnered with branding executive Peter Arnell, founder of the Arnell Group, on Pass, a venture that matched brands with celebrities. That partnership gave Stoute his first real look at what he could build in advertising and brand marketing, and he came to believe the impact he could make there would outweigh what he could do managing entertainers.
Stoute didn’t actually leave the record business behind so much as translate what he’d learned from it. It was in 2004 when he built Translation, the advertising agency, and started bridging the music business with the entertainment industry at large. Translation’s goal continues to be a company that sits between brand and culture. Instead of being paid a salary to work on projects, Stoute put himself in a position to create and own the projects himself, moving the industry into a more collaborative space. He understood the importance of ownership: instead of joining and getting absorbed by a big company, he built one of his own, and that’s the model he’d point other artists toward as well.
A 2018 academic report on Translation by Bowling Green State University researcher Carlin Dixon traces the agency’s roots as a minority-targeting shop that Stoute launched in 2004 after his time with the Arnell Group, and describes how it grew into one of the go-to agencies for brands chasing culturally fluent, “in the know” campaigns. Dixon’s research credits Stoute’s music-industry background with giving him access to the inner circle of artists and brands that made those partnerships possible.
Parallel to Steve Stoute is Desiree Pérez, who has offered another blueprint for executive success. She serves as the CEO and co-founder of Roc Nation, where she built a vertically integrated entertainment empire alongside Jay-Z starting with nightclub and live entertainment work in New York before co-founding the company in 2008. Desiree evolved into one of the most powerful executives in the industry, known for negotiating landmark deals such as the strategic partnership with the NFL. These moves demonstrated her ability to leverage culture for long-term equity rather than short-term gains. Her low-profile approach has allowed the deals to speak for the brand, and she’s exemplified the executive path to parallel wealth by building infrastructure that supports artists without relying on the traditional label system, the same infrastructure Jay-Z leaned on when he brought Roc Nation’s biggest catalog moments back to New York for his Yankee Stadium shows celebrating Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint.
The Artist Path: Building Empires
History has its eyes on the superstars of yesterday. They have provided modern superstars with a direction on how to pivot from music-making touring machines to sustainable creators and business moguls who regularly give back to the community.
Dolly Parton is a creative genius in country music. She started singing with her guitar in church and on radio shows, then later on television shows like Hee Haw. As her career grew, she was able to pivot into acting, executive producing, publishing, writing, hospitality, and philanthropy. Dolly co-founded Dollywood in 1986 alongside Herschend Family Entertainment, and she remains a 50 percent owner of the park today, employing thousands of people in the East Tennessee region she calls home.
Dolly built a publishing and licensing empire along with the Imagination Library, which gives away thousands of children’s books. This year, Dolly’s Broadway musical production will open on Broadway. After the show, you can visit her Dolly Parton exhibit, which showcases all of the merchandise she has licensed. It is now possible to buy a Dolly Parton cake mix, cake pan, or Jello mold. All of these ventures will ensure the public keeps Dolly Parton in their hearts and minds for this generation.
Queen Latifah follows a similar trajectory in the urban entertainment space. The Queen started as a rapper and actress and then founded Flavor Unit Entertainment to control her own productions. Flavor Unit Entertainment allowed her to profit from films and TV shows beyond her acting fees. She became a longtime CoverGirl partner and invested in tech and media. She used her music fame to open doors in Hollywood and business.
Jennifer Hudson offers a modern example of this strategy. She has had a stunning career done entirely on her own terms. Hudson went from a small independent recording artist to a producer and production company owner, and in 2022 she became just the second Black woman and the youngest performer ever to reach EGOT status, joining Whoopi Goldberg in that club. Her company, Jhudd Productions, has a reach that extends from music production and record holdings to television production. Hudson is an artist who learned early in her career that she had better build a business alongside the bigger record companies instead of allowing herself to be absorbed.
