Women in Music Comes to Miami

Women in Music held it’s first ever event in Miami with some 80 women in attendance, ranging from senior publishing executives to managers, publicists, concert promoters, songwriters and media executives. The turnout on a Friday night (Feb. 23) at Social Hive, an upstart video production and digital marketing company doing exciting creative work, signaled that Miami’s women in Latin music (because the vast majority were Latin) are more than ready to have a discussion about their place in the industry.
                                                   

The fact that many in attendance run their own companies after having worked for multinationals didn’t go unnoticed.

“When I moved to the U.S. there were a lot of women in the charts, and something happened and they disappeared,” said Paula Kaminsky, who was formerly VP of marketing for Sony Music Latin and now runs her own company, with Maná and Luis Fonsi among her clients. “I think the industry is not giving the support and patience women artists need.”

And because there seems to be limited space for women, they tend to compete with each other, added someone wryly.

But the tone on Friday evening was anything but competitive. Instead, it granted a rare opportunity to discuss as a group, and on many levels, how to move women’s issues forward in a positive and proactive manner.

Bringing Women in Music to Miami was the brainchild of Mayna Nevarez, who owns PR and marketing firm Nevarez Communications (clients include Daddy Yankee, Carlos Vives and Elvis Crespo) and met Women in Music directors at a breakfast at Midem last year.

Nevarez contacted Women in Music president Jessica Sobhraj and planned for a launch event in October that got postponed after hurricane Maria. On Friday night, global membership co-chair Cassandra Kubinski attended, and plans are underway to officially open a Miami chapter.

Motéma Music Turns 15: Jazz, Soul, World Music & More

On West 127th Street, inside the Harlem brownstone where she runs Motéma Music, label founder Jana Herzen, 58, sits in a high-ceilinged office with a stack of CDs in front of her. In recent years, an array of jazz, soul and world music artists have knocked on Herzen’s door and auditioned for her.
                                                 

Motéma has launched the careers of jazz-soul singer Gregory Porter, child-prodigy pianist Joey Alexander and Latin-funk bandleader Pedrito Martinez, among many others. It also has given refuge to veteran artists from major-label upheavals, including National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master pianist Randy Weston, pianist Monty Alexander, vocalist René Marie and the late pianist Geri Allen. In 2014, the label also released Why?, the first album in 13 years from former Cream drummer Ginger Baker.

How did you transition from theater to being a singer-songwriter?

I left the theater to pursue my muse as a musician. I traveled around the world and eventually recorded an album [Soup’s On Fire] produced by a French African [Shaka Ra Mutela]. That was in 1999. When I was promoting it, I got the idea of starting my own label. I got a couple of bites to sign, but I decided to do the DIY thing that led me to make it grow by promoting other people.

You went from artist to entrepreneur?

I had this huge learning curve, and [former Narada label executive] David Neidhardt helped me figure out how to run a label. We got noticed at the center of the jazz scene at the time. People like Todd Barkan at Jazz at Lincoln Center helped me to meet the right people musically, like [pianist] Randy Weston. I came from way outside of the jazz world, so I knew I could bring a new flavor in my approach to it.

How did you finance the label in the beginning?

I came into a little bit of money. My parents were arts supporters. Through their scientific work, significant patent money emerged. They told me at one point, “If there’s anything you want to do, talk to us, and maybe we can support you.”