If you had told the young Todd Perry, who grew up in Philadelphia utterly obsessed with music, that he’d one day become a VP at one of the biggest record labels in the world, he probably wouldn’t have believed you. But that’s precisely the incredible journey this industry vanguard has been on. I met up with the newly-minted VP of Marketing at Warner Records recently to learn more about his unlikely path, from a kid geeking out over albums with his dad to an influential executive helping shape the careers of some of the biggest artists on the planet.
“My dad put me on to a lot of music as a kid,” he says. “He was also very intentional with how he introduced it to me. We listened to albums from top to bottom, and he talked about everything, from the cover art to the bass line of a song. He was the music guru in the family.”
That early music education would prove invaluable when a tenacious Perry decided to take a chance and manage a singer-songwriter friend he met while attending Morehouse College. With zero experience, he was flying completely blind. “I had no clue what I was doing; I just knew I had great taste in music and a knack for connecting and amplifying,” Perry admits with a laugh.
His friend-turned-client got a publishing deal with legendary producer Laney Stewart and moved to LA, prompting Perry to make frequent trips to the city. “I didn’t even know what publishing was at the time. I would just hang out at the studio, and that’s where I met people and made a lot of relationships.”
One of those key relationships was with Laney Stewart, who became a mentor to Perry. It was Stewart who encouraged Perry to stay in LA to pursue a career in the music business. Perry, who had recently graduated from Morehouse and was applying to law schools, took the plunge and accepted a job from Stewart. “I thought becoming a lawyer was my way into the business side of music, but Laney opened a different door. He really was like the shepherd for me getting into the industry,” he says.
Perry’s first official role in the music industry was in publishing, working with Stewart’s joint venture with Universal Music Publishing. “Laney would give me these huge contracts to read,” Perry says. “I would just sit at his crib, highlight things I didn’t understand, and ask him what they meant. It was very “wax on, wax off”, the way that I learned. That’s the school of thought I come from, where you’ve got to get in the mix and learn fast in a high-paced environment.”
Stewart also taught Perry about more than the business side of publishing. “”With Laney, I started to understand the creative side of publishing – like the A&R side of connecting the docs and what a hit song is, all the mechanics of that because there really is a science to it.”
After Stewart sold his company, Perry made a strategic pivot to management, starting with managing Stewart himself. “That was a big thing for me, to have the person who got me into the industry ask me to manage him,” Perry says. As Perry’s knowledge and network grew, so did his management roster of artists, producers, and songwriters. “Before you know it, I had a nice little shop of my own of publishing and management.”
Perry’s company flourished, riding the wave of a thriving music industry. But then, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and the landscape shifted dramatically. Touring revenue evaporated overnight, forcing the industry to adapt at breakneck speed. Yet, the pandemic was just one of many forces reshaping the music world. An increasing number of artists were breaking away from major labels to go independent, while distributors began to offer services that went beyond traditional distribution, including label services. “A lot of distributors were offering label services almost as a sales tactic, another way to service the album or the artist,” Perry notes. “As a manager, I was already doing these things for the artists I worked with. We were handling A&R, marketing – the whole gamut.”
Ever the visionary, Perry saw an opportunity. He repositioned his company as a label services consulting firm, ready to navigate the industry’s new normal. His foresight led him to a friend who worked at Create Music Group, a YouTube monetization MCN looking to expand its label service offerings.
“We met at a Shake Shack, and I pitched him,” he recounts. “I had a bunch of case studies on different artists that I was managing that were successful. The pitch was that Create would have my company serve as a consultant for the artists they signed. Our firm could ease the burden on artist managers and secure a better return on investment for distributors. With a dedicated team maximizing each release’s potential, we could help distributors mitigate risks and enhance their margins—unlike major labels, which sit on these huge catalogs and have a different risk profile.”
Create Music Group took Perry up on his offer, impressed by his vision and industry acumen. Within three months, they brought him on board as Vice President of A&R and Business Development. “Create is where I really started to get a lay of the land with independent music distribution and DIY artists, and how the independent music pie just got bigger every year in terms of the real estate that they occupied on the charts and in music consumption.”
One of his biggest coups at Create was securing Tory Lanez after the artist’s highly publicized split from Interscope Records to pursue an independent path. “At the time, Tory Lanez was this massive artist, and his announcement that he was leaving his label and going independent was major,” Perry recounts. “I told the CEO of Create the very first day we met that I would sign Tory. Two months later, I did. It was a huge accomplishment for me, and I believe it was a watershed moment for the industry.” Lanez’s bold move reverberated widely, inspiring other artists to consider independence. “He was like a modern-day Paul Revere because it got a lot of artists thinking, ‘If he can do it, then maybe we can too,'” Perry explains.
Working with an artist of Lanez’s caliber, who had cultivated an established audience and fan base during his major label tenure, proved an invaluable learning experience for Perry. “With Tory, I learned a great deal about creating an environment and infrastructure that could compete at the highest level without the backing of a major record company,” he says.
This experience prepared Perry for his next move to Stem Disintermedia, Inc., a company he was attracted to for its focus on supporting established independent artists. “Stem’s business model was a lot different than what I had worked with before, and I thought they had an identity that was more in line with what I believed it looks like to support an artist,” he explains.
“Stem doesn’t have a DIY business or a long-tail distribution business, so they’re not in the business of just distributing any artist. They have a closed platform, and there are people like myself, A&Rs, or artist relations, who are there to sign specific artists that we believed as a company we were designed to support – artists that were at a more established place in their career.”
With this selective approach in mind, Perry sought to create a comprehensive support system for Stem’s artist roster. “I wanted to create an environment where we weren’t just signing artists, but we started to emphasize and lean on the services we were developing,” Perry continues. “We had a commerce and DSP pitching team dedicated to ensuring artists got the right real estate on platforms like Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and Deezer. We had a strategy team focused on working with the manager and team after signing a project, strategizing how to utilize the budget, incorporate digital marketing, leverage press and PR effectively, and develop innovative marketing concepts to make noise and generate buzz. My role at Stem was over signings, while also leveraging these different departments within the company to support the artists we brought on board.”
Having started his new position as VP of Marketing at Warner Records in May this year, Perry is thrilled to bring his experience and perspective to a major label. Perry’s signature enthusiasm barely contained, he laid it out: “I think that in this day and age, the greatest marketers understand A&R very well and the greatest A&Rs understand marketing very well. As a person who sits at the intersection of both, I’m excited to see how I can help and make an impact at Warner across all those fronts.
Perry’s career has been a whirlwind ride through the dynamic landscape of the modern music industry. As he recounted jumping from opportunity to opportunity, I could hear the passion in his voice. You can tell music isn’t just a job for Perry – it’s a calling and truly a lifestyle. At every turn, Perry dove headfirst into mastering the nuances and intricacies of the music business, determined to not just survive but thrive amidst the industry’s upheavals. Whether starting his own business or spearheading innovative artist support systems, Perry’s hands-on approach allowed him to stay ahead of the curve. This ability to spot trends and capitalize on them has been Perry’s calling card.
Yet, what truly sets Perry apart is his grounded nature. Despite his long list of accomplishments, he carries himself with an easygoing affability. When I asked what his desert island song would be, his face lit up as he chose “Be Ever Wonderful” by Earth, Wind & Fire. This 1977 track, written by the legendary Maurice White, carries a powerful message of self-acceptance and inner peace that seems to resonate deeply with Perry’s own outlook on life.
“If today was my last day, and I could send a message to people through the title and the sound of the record, it’s ‘Be Ever Wonderful,'” Perry explained. The lyrics encourage listeners to stay true to themselves, find their place in the world, and spread positive energy despite outside pressures to change. For Perry, who has navigated the industry while staying grounded in his passion, the song’s mantra of being “ever wonderful in your own sweet way” feels particularly poignant.
That authentic spirit is precisely what makes Perry such a trailblazer. If his journey so far is any indication, underestimate him at your own risk. As the baton passes to a new generation of music moguls, all eyes will be on Perry and the indelible imprint he’s poised to leave on the industry’s future. The hits will keep coming as long as his insatiable passion continues to blaze. Count on Todd Perry to keep disrupting, innovating, and shaping music’s perpetual evolution.
Connect with Todd:
- Instagram: @mortywaxman
