Welcome to Music Matters Podcast with Darrell Craig Harris, talking about all things music with celebrities, artists, music business insiders and more. Laura Whitmore, how are you doing today? I'm fantastic, how are you? Very good. I mean, Las Vegas, it's getting a little warmer here, so that's a good thing, I guess. So we spoke many years ago, it was actually almost four years ago when I first started this, I know it's gone by fast, when I first started this crazy podcasting thing. And you have such an interesting background because you have a very deep background in music retail, music industry. Also in the recording world, you started off in marketing and CBS records when you came right out of college. You worked for Korg, Marshall, Vox, all these huge companies. And you've been a positive grid now for several years. I've been there for six years, but I actually, before that, I had my own agency and they were my client for a couple of years too. Awesome. And then where are you coming to us from? I'm in New York City. Okay. I'm one of those crazy people. So tell me about positive grid because a lot of people know, they've heard either, heard of the company or they're using the products, it's very popular in the guitar world. Positive grid is probably best known for our flagship product called Spark, which is a smart, connected guitar amp mainly made for practicing that has an app with it. And so it's really fun to play and practice with. And I think the whole sort of focus of positive grid is just to get people to play more. So very technology enabled company, always thinking forward, always trying to come up with something people have never seen before. So we're kind of this small company that kind of took off during the pandemic when we launched Spark. We actually launched at the very end of 2019 and it was the perfect product for people who were home and wanted to play. And there's even features in it where you can jam with, you know, a drummer or bass player inside the product. So it definitely helps scratch the playing edge for many people who are stuck at home. I started with the company. I had my own agency. They were my client for about two years. I started working on the launch of Bias FX2 back in the day, which was a really big launch for the company. And then I actually worked on the Spark launch. They were my client at the time. And it was such a successful launch. So I ended up going in-house with them. Actually my six year anniversary is April 1st. So coming up in a couple of days. But yeah, and it's been, you know, I'm head of global marketing. So deal with all our territories, all our teams, making the magic happen with all of that. And then really understanding what motivates, you know, guitarists and, you know, new players and seasoned players and what gets them excited and what their pain points are and all that fun stuff you think about in marketing. The company is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Maybe that's what you were thinking of. It's actually been 15 years of positive, great existence, which is exciting for us. We've grown so much. You know, it's kind of awesome to see that evolve and become like a real, you know, real player in the guitar space. Yeah. And that's a crowded space. So you have a lot of competition, but it is an amazing story. And I think also part of the big story with Positive Grid is innovation. I know you guys are now working with some AI, modeling and some different things like that. Could you tell me a little bit about that? I was just reading about it. Yeah. I think our whole focus with AI, like, look, we're at the cutting edge of whatever technology is out there. I mean, there's like speaker technology that we've incorporated into the amps that is so advanced now compared to, you know, what it was in the past. So when we're thinking about AI, you know, we're thinking about how do we make the experience for the player like more awesome than ever? How do we get away from the stuff that frustrates them and, you know, keeps them away from playing and enjoying it and making all the fun stuff still happen? Right. Yeah. So we're really thinking about how do we empower the player, not replace the player? So any AI tools and functions that we have in our products are really focused on that. So that being said, you know, we have a lot of experience with machine learning and deep technologies using AI and other, you know, other elements to just really, A, make sound amazing, B, aid with the process of like finding the tone that inspires you so we can get you from like plugging into your bit tone that you can just play with like really fast. And just like giving you so much flexibility and like, what is that tone? You know, like to pretty much be anything now. So it's a really exciting thing to see and we have some new things in the works that I can't talk about right now, but our... Oh, come on. Crazy awesome. I know. That's the whole thing about that company because you guys are always innovating. Some other companies, you know, especially guitar amp companies, they kind of are built on their legacy brands, which are great, but they kind of stuck in a certain place. But it's nice that you guys are always coming out with new products. What's a particular product that you have that you guys are just releasing that you're really, really excited about? Well, the last couple of releases have been our newest version of BIAS called BIASX, which does have some really awesome tone generation and also, you know, AI enabled features that help you build tone and organize and use tone and like all your recordings. Yeah. And you can experiment with different sounds easy. It kind of makes it a little bit easier to experiment. Yeah. And like so many options in there. And then right before that, we launched Sparkneo, which is our guitar amp and a headphone, like they're all in one. So the guitar processing is actually in the headphones. Oh, okay. Awesome. The original Sparkneo came out with like a wireless adapter so you can just plug that into your phone. The receiver is already in the headphones. And the sound is kind of amazing. In it, you put them on and you're like really surrounded in this whole world of tone. So that has been doing really well. It's amazing the technology. It's just, yeah, the technology. It's exciting for players, especially because, you know, I know a lot of players, like I used to live in Tokyo and obviously size makes a difference there. So when you leave your house, you have to kind of put everything with you. So it's nice to have, like you mentioned, if they're going to go jam or they want to just practice just to have the headphones, not have to bring extra gear is really awesome. Let's talk about the She Rock Awards because that is a huge thing. I believe you founded the She Rock Awards, is that my understanding? Yeah. So my other hat. You have a lot of hats. Pick up the positive grid hat. Yes, I founded the She Rocks Awards. I think our first one was in 2013. And it was actually, well, just in case you don't know if you're listening, it's quite a large award show that honors women in the music industry. And it happens during the NAMM show out in Anaheim every January. So actually, 2027 will be our 15th anniversary, our 15th year of She Rocks Awards. And it's become this really incredible, well attended big event in the really big ballroom. We've honored, like so many, you know, big names, performers, you know, Melissa, Ethrid, Chakkan, the Gogo's like you name it. Lots of legends, also up and comers. And but the thing that I really love is we also honor women from behind the scenes from all aspects of the industry. So we don't we don't just focus on music products or the record industry. We just kind of combine them all together. And it's really incredible to hear all these women's stories when they come up on stage to accept their awards and share some of their journey. And it's just been an incredible event and kind of a focal point for us to keep talking about, you know, gender equity in the industry and, you know, making sure like, hey, you're putting a panel together, like make sure there's a woman on the panel or, you know, just like keeping it top of mind. And, you know, the yeah, it's important. And it's it's been a it's been a great journey, an interesting journey for me, because I literally started it out. I was just like, oh, I don't know the other women in the industry. Maybe I can make an event to like bring us together. And it's grown into this this quite large production that we do while I'm actually also working the name show for Positive Grid. Yeah, you're juggling many hats. Yeah, I'm like, wait, I didn't plan on this. But but it's been it's been great and really an honor for me to be able to, you know, give all these women kudos and China spotlight on women. The opportunity, as you mentioned, for everybody to actually be in one room from different areas of the music business, music industry, and be able to network is a huge, huge thing. Yeah. And what was so when you originally you originally got started, will you just buy yourself with this idea and like started to put it all together? Or did you have a sort of a team that you put together? How did that work? Well, at the time, I had my own agency called Mad Sun Marketing, and I was doing marketing for a bunch of, you know, companies in the musical instrument industry. And I decided to do it and I had my staff. I had like two people at Mad Sun that worked for me. So the three of us kind of the power trio made those first couple of things happen. But I was out there like pitching for sponsorships and everything myself. I did a lot of the production. I had like a publicist and another, you know, marketing production person working for me, so they helped me. Now it's sort of grown into I have like a core team of like three people that help produce the show. But we literally get, I think they told me the other day, 90 volunteers come and help us make that show happen. Yeah, because it is for people that haven't been there. Well, now is a huge thing anyway, but people haven't seen the Shearock Awards. It has become a really huge thing, especially at the NAMM show. And this year was actually, or this past year was actually really a family affair because you had a lot of artists performing with their family members. Yeah. Talk about that because it's a crazy list of people. It's some really artists that we all love and have known for many years. I mean, we had Vicki Peterson from the Bengals was one of our hosts and she played with her husband. They performed and then Carney Wilson was there performing with her husband and her daughter. I can't remember who. Yeah, it was a big list. But there was like, I mean, it's really nice because even like the finale this year, we honored Rachel Platton. So we had Fight Song as a finale. Right. And we had the School of Rock, like all star girl band perform with some guests. And Rachel Platton came out and sang along. And it was just so cool to give that opportunity to these young, really fantastic performers and their families came. And I think there was a there was our other host was Mixie from Stichta Part. And I think she was telling me that like her mom or her parents like flew out to be here to see her. I think it's a really great feeling event. You walk away really inspired and I think people want to share that. Yeah. And it's a sisterhood. And we always talk about brotherhood, but that's a sisterhood. And it's an amazing thing that you've created. Talk about because you obviously are really involved with NAMM. And that's a great company, too, for people that know their organization of NAMM is fully great, awesome people. But talk about women as a strides that women have made in music business. Obviously, there's a record side, but the music industry side. Manufacturing all that. Tell me about about how you see that has has progressed. Yeah, I mean, I think it has progressed. We were I just did a panel the other day for Women's Month, and I had women from other women's organizations when we all talked and we were like, we all agreed. There's definitely been progress, but we're nowhere near done. We're still like so much disparity. And you do see, you know, I think it's more accepted for women to be in different roles, especially in marketing. You see a lot of women in marketing and like musical instrument history. I think that there's so gaps in, you know, a lot of areas like demonstrating or sales or product development that don't have a lot of women involved. And I think it's a matter of creating opportunities in the pipeline to like bring qualified people to grow qualified people for those positions. I think that's very tricky. Do we get internships and that kind of thing? Yeah, you know, and there's like I said, there's all these organizations that are trying to help fill that pipeline, which I think is really great. And you do see organizations that have women in key roles, start to bring more women in and more diverse, you know, groups. And I think that that helps, you know, they open the door behind them, which is which is really great. But I do still think it is very male dominated industries. Yeah, it's been it's been a brod hood for many years. Yeah, I mean, and some companies are better than others about caring about it and making it happen. You know, well, it's great that when you have a company like Positive Grid, who's innovative, tech wise, they're also innovative with that. Yeah. And you're you're leading the charge with that, which is which is really awesome. You've been a great ambassador for that entire cordu sort of area of the music business. What's what's exciting for you to see with young artists, especially young female artists, what are some things that you've really noticed over the past maybe a couple of years that you're seeing some some innovation and some excitement? Yeah, I think, you know, when the pandemic happened, I started in my own podcast, She Rocks podcast. Yeah, yeah. And I started talking to a lot of female artists. And the thing that I saw was that they really just kind of took the reins on production and figured out like, oh, I'm going to figure out how to use these tools. I don't want to have to rely on others. I want to, you know, feel empowered to to make what I want to make happen. So I've seen that like the fruits of that, for sure, more women involved in production, production, the production side of things for their own music and other people as well. I think too, like I used to be the music writer for Parade Magazine, so I get pitched like a crazy amount of. Right. Yeah. Your Dave is definitely well done. And I still like I just interviewed this artist named Lolo, who's a Canadian like singer-songwriter, and I loved how her music was just so like brutally honest about what it's like to be a woman. And I really appreciated that, like that she felt that she could speak and sing about like, this is like real shit that's happening to me. Yeah. And she made, yeah. And she made it into like really catchy songs. And I was just like, I'm like, that's really cool. And maybe a little bit different than what I've seen for the way women speak about what, you know, what they're experiencing, because it's not new that women, you know, sing about that. But the way she did it felt new. Yeah. And music and music, I mean, even music and also like things like comedy and theater, they all have, they have a very powerful voice. And it can be, you don't have to beat people over the head, but that's like it's really, it gets noticed, right? But I also felt like, you know, she was just like kind of blatantly honest in a way I hadn't seen before. And I really liked that. I also think, you know, I always take note, like maybe I don't even think about it anymore, it just happens subconsciously like, oh, is there a woman playing an instrument in that band, not just a singer? And I definitely think we're seeing more of that, which I'm really happy. About that. Yeah. And there's a lot of amazing, I'm a bass player, you know, and even in that space, there's some really amazing and they've always been amazing players, but now they're getting noticed. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because again, that's always been kind of a brohood. Well, and you even see like these bands that, you know, these really big bands that are touring are adding like a woman into the band when they have a slot, right, that they need to fill. And that used to be like so unusual. And I wouldn't say it's common, but it's really good to see like that validation of like, these women are out there, they're awesome. They can hold up their own in any situation and they're getting that recognition, which I think is great. Yeah. And I've done a lot of production work and I often kind of, oftentimes when I've worked with women in that space, sound lighting, that they've been, the, they're really on it because they know they have to work almost twice as hard to get noticed and to get those gigs because it's not easy to get those gigs. Yeah, not easy. Yeah. So that's an awesome thing. And I think that somebody like you, especially with She Rocks Awards, it leads, it leads the charge and it gives them kind of a safe space to kind of touch base with. And also, as I mentioned, the marketing and an award like that to get everybody in one room is, I mean, that's, I know that's no easy task. Well, I always say too, like the green room at the She Rocks Awards is like the best networking spot you could ever be in. And there's definitely projects that have happened from people being in the green room together, which was very cool. And it's important. It creates, you know, a good safe space for everybody to kind of interact. And I think that's exciting. Talk about some of the artists that you guys are working with. Well, first of all, like Steve Vai is one of our signature artists. So actually he's our only artist that we've done like a long-term signature product where there's a Sparkmini Vai, which has been great. And he's so great to work with. I've known him for a really long time. He's actually come to the She Rocks Awards a bunch of times and he helped us give an award to Nita Strauss back in the day. That was really cool. You know, we work with people like Paul Gilbert and you know, Bettenport, like all, you know, some of those staples of guitar, like he's really great players. But then there'll be like younger players, like we're just starting to build a program with this woman called Gina Fontanella, who is like this really great singer. I think she was on The Voice or one of those shows, but she has this really fun, like punky music and she's spearheading this like all female fronted tour this summer. So we're going to be working with her on some new, some new things that we're, we're doing. And just like, you know, we're, we are definitely like pretty across the board and like inclusive like kinds of music, you know, how popular are they? Like we want all levels of people. Obviously, like we like working with the legacy people because you get a lot of visibility, but it's also so fun to give opportunity to somebody that's just really good and, you know, does, does what they do. And you want to be a part of it and enable it. Yeah. And it's nice to support young and up and coming artists, which is, that's, it's exciting. And they get, maybe you're, you're going to be their first, maybe endorsement. Yeah. Maybe. So that's, that's a fun place. Yeah. It's really fun. And, you know, mostly it's about like, are they good at making content? Like, because the content, like to me is it just like takes the visibility of what you're doing with the artist and multiplies it, you know, a hundred, a thousand times, whatever. Is it great for them to be, you know, playing or create, you know, doing their own thing, of course, but like if they can also like, you know, integrate into that, like telling their story so that you can share that. I mean, that's. Yeah. And it helps, it helps them and it helps you. And it's, it's a win-win. And, and your guys are such a positive company. And like I mentioned, always innovating. So it's nice to work with young, young artists that are innovating and coming up with different ideas. And I think too, like when you're starting to work with like a younger artist, you know, maybe you're right, it is their first endorsement, but they're really good at making content. Like that's a way for them to get their foot in the door to being a part of an artist roster, because you are always looking for, you know, musicians who just are good at that. Yeah. And they're, they're aligning with that with a great brand. And that, that's it. Again, like it comes back to it's a win-win for them and get some notice. Talk about, maybe you give some advice to young women, especially that want to get involved in, and the music industry retail and manufacturing. What would be some things that you think would be some key points they should maybe pay attention to and, and have the news that they could try? Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, everybody asks about how do I get into the music industry? I always say show up, right? Like, um, and like one of my points is go to things like Nam, because I always felt like panels at Nam are the secret weapon, because you can just walk up after and meet all these amazing people. And you just heard them talk about something. They're all right there. So you have something to say to them that isn't just like, Hey, I like your gear. You know, so, um, just put yourself in places where you can have those kinds of conversations. And I always think like everybody has value, you know, like think about what's your value, like what can you bring to them? You know, and if you're not sure, then like think about that and prepare yourself because nobody's just going to take you by the hand and just show you everything. Right. You have to show up with like something that you love or something that you did, you know, with the women's group. I always, um, often hired interns and people that wanted to get into the industry and I'm like, okay, can you write, you know, like if you can write, I'm always looking for, you know, content on our website and you can interview anybody. Like it's such a great connector. Like, Hey, just reach out and say, I've been doing an interview for the women's international music network. Like, do you have 10 minutes to talk to me? Yeah. And nobody's going to say no to that. Yeah, people don't say no. They want to, they want to be sharing like, you know, they're what they know and what they do. Right. And I just think that there's things like that that you can do to, um, show differentiation from yourself and show that you're willing to like do the leg work. Cause I think that's the thing that maybe holds people back as if they're just expecting somebody to open the door, but they're not going to, they got to knock at the door, you know, they got to like figure out like, okay, how do I get through the door? Like, how do I get through the next door? Like, you can't expect somebody to just take you by the hand and do that. Yeah. And they got, you mentioned, they got to show up prepared and ready for the opportunity because opportunities come to all of us, but we just, we also have to be prepared when they happen. And sometimes you're like sticking your neck out in ways that you're like, oh, this is uncomfortable, but. That's where all the good stuff happens when you're uncomfortable. And if you see a knee, like, like, uh, this is, I haven't done this in a while because I haven't, I haven't really focused on it, but when I moved a lot. And usually when I would move to a new town, I would, well, two things I would do. One, I would have a party and invite all my neighbors because I wanted to know all my neighbors. Right. And usually there was music involved, which was really fun. But two, I would go to the open mic around me because I wanted to like find my tribe in that area. And just by going to open mics and knowing how to do production, like I would end up running the open mics and I would meet all the musicians and I'm still friends with so many people from all over the country. Yeah, it's building your network. Yeah. Yeah. And then I got jobs from it and I got, you know, marketing jobs and singing jobs and whatever. And it's just like, because I was there and because I wanted to help, you know, so. Yeah. And that's why two cents. Well, yeah, yeah. But that's that, you know what, that's great advice. And I think, I think just showing up and you have to be in the room, you have to be in the room with the people that you want to work with. Otherwise, you can't, you can't, it's a non-starter if you can't get there. But let people know how they can find out more about Positive Grid and also the Women's International Music Network. So Positive Grid, you can find us on all your social channels and our website is positivegrid.com. That's an easy one. We're definitely everywhere. For the Women's International Music Network, our website is thewomen.com. T-H-E-W-I-M-N.com. We're also on all the social channels, the women. If you sign up for our newsletter, there's no charge. We're not a membership organization. You will find out about all the cool events we have. We have panels, education sessions, opportunities to perform. We're actually going to be involved in a performance event this summer. Obviously, the Shirox Awards, if you want to volunteer, like all that information gets pushed out through the website and our newsletter. So that's awesome. I just admire you so much. We're only touching the surface here because you're kind of everywhere. And you have such a great background that it's really, first of all, fun to talk with you. It's an honor for me. And I love what you do for women in the music industry. That's a space that the more noise, the better. And just to get the word out on that. And everybody too, make sure if you're at NAMM to check out the Shirox Awards. I want to get the S there because that's such a great event. And it's exciting and it's featuring just amazing people, including yourself. But a whole team and a whole group of really talented folks. So thank you so much for joining me, Laura. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks a lot.
