Aloe Blacc is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter. Before embarking on a full-time music career, he worked as a corporate consultant at Ernst & Young until being laid off.
“Nah, no way. If I was still at Ernst & Young, if I was still business consulting, I'd continue through that pathway. I'd probably have left Ernst & Young to go to work for one of the companies that maybe we were consulting for probably would have made my way up the executive ladder and Probably would have been some sort of entrepreneur on the side, or maybe would have started a competitive company to the one I was working for, because I would have recognized, I love processes, and I would have recognized processes that maybe the company was reticent to change, or just had, you know, slow bureaucratic ability to pivot, and I would have thought, there's a better mousetrap, I'm gonna go build it, and see you at the finish line.”
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More from Aloe Blacc
Opinion
Aloe Blacc: The music album was invented to boost label profit margins
“When enterprising business empresarios and the music industry recognized that you could fit 12 songs on the same piece of vinyl and the manufacturing costs are the same, they thought, well, we can sell it for 12 times more because the buyer is getting 12 times…”
Aloe BlaccFeb 18, 2023▶ 26:10Aloe Blacc: The Secret to Songwriting & Storytelling; Working w/ Avicii on “Wake Me Up” | 20VC #979 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Aloe Blacc lets label executives remix songs if his original stays public
“When the song is finished, however, that's when I detach myself from it, and I tell the business people, okay, what do you need to do to make this work? You're like, well, we need to Frankenstein it. Like, go ahead, just make sure that I have my original versi…”
Aloe BlaccFeb 18, 2023▶ 27:44Aloe Blacc: The Secret to Songwriting & Storytelling; Working w/ Avicii on “Wake Me Up” | 20VC #979 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Aloe Blacc is building a biotech startup and pursuing FDA approval
“So I'm in the business. I'm in the middle of like developing a company, hiring on executives from pharma or biotech and finding advisors and developing a FDA pathway. All of this is brand new to me, but I think it's a worthy endeavor.”
Aloe BlaccFeb 18, 2023▶ 51:47Aloe Blacc: The Secret to Songwriting & Storytelling; Working w/ Avicii on “Wake Me Up” | 20VC #979 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Aloe Blacc brought music management in-house and ended lawyer retainers
“I shed myself of all of, as much of the infrastructure as possible, like, you know, brought management in-house rather than having a manager, so I can, so I'm in charge, I get to control the time. You know, shed myself of retainers for, you know, lawyers and o…”
Aloe BlaccFeb 18, 2023▶ 7:21Aloe Blacc: The Secret to Songwriting & Storytelling; Working w/ Avicii on “Wake Me Up” | 20VC #979 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Aloe Blacc: Mastering song structure enables focus on poetry
“When you get it down and you understand the format, you can spend so much more time on the beauty of the poetry.”
Aloe BlaccFeb 18, 2023▶ 14:44Aloe Blacc: The Secret to Songwriting & Storytelling; Working w/ Avicii on “Wake Me Up” | 20VC #979 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Aloe Blacc: Songwriting with professionals takes four hours maximum
“And you, when you're working with a professional, it happens in four hours. When you're not, you've got to come back the second day or the third day to finish things up.”
Aloe BlaccFeb 18, 2023▶ 14:58Aloe Blacc: The Secret to Songwriting & Storytelling; Working w/ Avicii on “Wake Me Up” | 20VC #979 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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