A Message from our CEO
DiMA marked Black Music Month this year with conversation, music, and expert insight. Dr. Lisa Beckley-Roberts of Jackson State University shared an essay explaining the impact of Mississippi Hill Country Blues music and curated a playlist featuring both legacy artists and more recent ones underscoring the power of streaming to keep older music accessible for discovery and rediscovery.
Furthering the celebration of Black music, we were again honored to pair Black music executives from the DiMA membership with Members of Congress for conversations about music, politics, and leadership. Joshua “J1” Raiford of Pandora interviewed Rep. Jim Clyburn and Xavier “X” Jernigan of Spotify caught up with Rep. Nikema Williams. Watch the interviews and catch the playlist of songs that came up in the conversations.
June is also Pride Month, and we celebrated initiatives of our member companies highlighting LGBTQ+ music, stories, and culture.
Finally, bringing leaders from across the music industry together to talk about shared data challenges was a topic I discussed with Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert, on the Music Biz Weekly podcast. The discussion about Credits Due and metadata is important, and I’m grateful to them for opening their platform for me to share my insight.
I’ve got three weeks before my family hits the road for our summer vacation and I’m working on the playlist, please send me suggestions—I’ve already added Beyoncé’s “BREAK MY SOUL” and some tracks from Bartees Strange’s awesome new album Farm to Table!
– Garrett Levin
CEO, Digital Media Association
@garrettlevin | @digitalmediausa
