Meet Equasta White, CEO of indie music’s Clarion Group
Meet Equasta White, the CEO of The Clarion Group. She’s a rising star in the next generation of music execs and the subject of the latest profile from the team at indie music trade group A2IM.
Guest post from A2IM
Equasta White has been in the artist management/label services industry for over 5 years. CEO of The Clarion Group, she is part of our inaugural batch of BIMA fellows.
In addition to her work at The Clarion Group, she also works in the radio servicing /promotions & marketing industry with Cincinnati-based, I Hear Music, Inc.
Read more about Equasta’s career below, and follow her on instagram, and Twitter, and The Clarion Group on Twitter and Instagram.
Equasta utilizes her B.S. in Psychology, Master’s of Business Management and 15+ years of Corporate experience to manage artists, client demands, and business operations.
She is currently finishing her Music Supervision Certification from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. She is an active certified member of the Pragmatic Institute with formal Project Management ( Project Management Institute) & Six Sigma training/ experience.
She is also a member of Women in Music, the global non-profit organization for advancement of women in the music industry and the Guild of Music Supervisors, and The Dallas Film Makers Alliance. She also represents The Clarion Group as a research participant with The Open Music Initiative which is untaken by Berklee College of Music.
Tell us a little about your company, The Clarion Group!
The Clarion Group is based in Dallas, TX and focuses on management/consulting for artists/producers/composers and provides label services. The Clarion Group has been directly involved in the development and release of artist projects in Gospel and Christian Hip Hop/Rap and R&B/ Rap/ Hip-Hop/ Latin genres.
I am also a product developer and event manager, the skills for which are very applicable to preparing artists to “go-to-market”, identify their niche fanbase, and garner support from media, radio, and influencers domestically and abroad in an authentic and organic manner.
Are there any projects you’re working on or company updates that you’re most excited about?
Our company is incredibly passionate about metadata, clean data analytics, and music tech innovation (e.g. A.I., Open API) in music. We have noticed that there is lack of focus on the importance of metadata and data encoding for the independent artists, boutique labels who do not have a major label team overseeing their business operations. So, we are in the process of launching Metadata Dog. It is a new product/service for artists, composers, and labels that essentially prepares them to monetize their music through proper data encoding.
Is there a success story or career milestone that you are most proud of?
In the music industry, there are a lot of unspoken rules and formats that artists must follow in order to standout and garner attention from fans and executives. Our company created a strategy that defied the rules and allowed a couple of our artists to have their music accepted in multiple genres that are not usually open to music that is outside of their norm.
Also it was a milestone to watch our artists gain significant fans engagement and organic growth in international markets based on data and trend analytics research that we conducted across varying music and social media platforms.
What else do you get up to outside of work?
I love travelling abroad and studying historical cultures, I am a concert junkie as well. I enjoy predicting music trends and album releases. I am obsessed with Space travel, watching re-runs of The Office, King of The Hill, and Star Wars.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Artists should understand that music releases/ tours/ performances alone will not yield a sustainable and successful career. You must diversify your skills and ensure that you can work remotely or with others collaboratively in case you are unable to perform. Sometime creators don’t feel like creating or performing but life goes on, so you have to be able to remain relevant with your other talents and gifts and make them part of your overarching business strategy. If you need help with that, that’s what our brand does, helps you plan for the future.
Do you or someone you know fit the bill? Submit an executive here.
About A2IM:
A2IM is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit trade organization headquartered in New York City that exists to support and strengthen the independent recorded music sector. Membership currently includes a broad coalition of more than 700 Independently-owned American music labels. A2IM represents these independently owned small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) interests in the marketplace, in the media, on Capitol Hill, and as part of the global music community. In doing so, it supports a key segment of America’s creative class that represents America’s diverse musical cultural heritage. Billboard Magazine identified the Independent music label sector as 37.32 percent of the music industry’s U.S. recorded music sales market in 2016 based on copyright ownership, making Independent labels collectively the largest music industry sector.
Learn more about A2IM here, and contact our team at membership@a2im.org to join now
