Assertion Contradicted
Troy Carter: White executives literally hold 'head of Black music' titles
“You actually, believe it or not, have white people that are the heads of black music with a title at some of these companies.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Troy Carter: America will never achieve true racial reconciliation
“So we're still reminded of our place in, in, in this country, so you'll never get to reconciliation. We all know the truth, but we'll never get to reconciliation.”
Opinion
Music industry executive diversity is far worse than the NFL
“The music industry is much, much worse than the NFL. What black music has contributed financially to the music industry, What black culture has contributed, you know, financially to the music industry, and when you look at the ratio of actual black executives …”
Assertion Supported
White executives hold 'Head of Black Music' titles at some labels
“You actually, believe it or not, have white people that are the heads of black music with a title at some of these companies. You know, it's, and literally you have qualified black executives in the company, but actual white people with a title, the head of bl…”
Opinion
Troy Carter: America will never reach true racial reconciliation
“So we're still reminded of our place in, in, in this country, so you'll never get to reconciliation. We all know the truth, but we'll never get to reconciliation.”
Insight
Troy Carter: Black founders need equal capital access, not charity
“Like, those Black businesses should be held to the same standard of return on capital. It's just the opportunity to have access to that capital, have access to the support and training that Y Combinator companies may get, or that, you know, first-round capital…”
Opinion
Troy Carter: The era of high digital ad returns is over
“Because I just feel like you're never gonna get that return back from ads. What it is, is that, that era's over with, you know, so, so I feel like the storytelling piece of it is the way you can sort of get the attention you need around it.”
Opinion
Black founders need equal capital access and standard ROI expectations, not charity
“Like those black businesses should be held to the same standard of return on capital. It's just the opportunity to have access to that capital. Have access to the support and training that Y Combinator companies may get, or that, you know, first-round capital …”
Opinion
Carter: Record labels have 'screwed over artists for generations'
“Record income traditionally has been your smallest piece of the pie because record labels have screwed over artists for generations. So you're always forced to go on the road and sell merchandise and do all of these other things to subsidize the income essenti…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lady Gaga Fired Carter by Asking to Go in Another Direction
“She walked in and say I'm, I want to go in another direction, basically.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Carter: Label Wanted Lady Gaga's Songs For Britney Spears
“And, you know, I think we worked on the music for almost nine or 10 months, and then we took it to the record label, and the record label said, oh, those songs are great, let's give this to the Pussycat Dolls, let's give this to Britney Spears.”
Insight
Troy Carter: The majority of celebrity brand partnerships do not work
“You know, it's most celebrity partnerships don't work. The majority don't work.”
Insight
Troy Carter: Transactional celebrity brand partnerships usually fail
“You know, making sure that is not transactional. You know, if it was me sitting in that seat, I would want somebody who's in love with my product and mission aligned with the vision of the company. And if you didn't have to pay them that they still would promo…”
Insight
Carter: Behind-the-scenes advisor input moves the needle more than forward-facing promo
“Even with my business, we set aside advisory shares, you know, so it's certain artists I call, some product people I call, and they're just incredibly helpful, you know, and so, and sometimes you may need somebody to do something forward facing, but a lot of t…”
Insight
Troy Carter: Wealth doesn't protect Black Americans from systemic racial bias
“Money doesn't matter, and power doesn't matter. It's just this bias that, that's sort of baked in and the recipe of America that we've had to live with,”
Assertion Open · timeframe Feb 2021
Charlie Puth refused to soundcheck until venue removed its Confederate flag
“And then we went to Ohio after, and on stage, it was a Confederate flag right behind the stage, and Charlie Puth refused to go on for his soundtracks. Until they took that flag down.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Troy Carter in 2020: Live music touring won't normalize until 2022
“On the touring side, it's catastrophic, and the reality is we probably won't see this look normal until twenty-twenty-two, in my opinion.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Troy Carter was attacked by hotel security during a YPO retreat
“Recently I was on a trip probably five months ago with my YPO forum, which is, you know, Young Presidents Organization, and we did a retreat to Mexico City, and it's 10 of us, We get out of our SUV to pull up to the hotel. All of the guys go in the back to get…”
Opinion
Troy Carter viewed 2020 protests as a multiracial coalition of the left-behind
“I think what we've seen that's different with these protests, this is what I consider just a merger of the left behind, where this, these are white, black, Asian, Hispanic people that have been, you know, saddled with student debt, people who, Can't pursue the…”
Insight
Black victims shouldn't need elite credentials to be presumed innocent
“He shouldn't have to have a Harvard degree or be a bird watcher to be an innocent person being accused of something like that, that could have ended up in, in him being arrested or his death.”
Assertion Open · timeframe Jun 2020
Charlie Puth refused to soundcheck until a Confederate flag was removed
“And on stage, it was a Confederate flag right behind the stage, and Charlie Puth, Refused to go on for his soundcheck until they took that flag down.”
Prediction Held up
Carter predicted in 2020 that live touring wouldn't normalize until 2022
“On the touring side, it's catastrophic, and the reality is we probably won't see this look normal until twenty-twenty-two, in my opinion.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Carter: Industry told early Lady Gaga she needed a nose job
“I remember people telling her she was gonna have to get a nose job, you know, because, you know, her nose was too big to be a pop star, or she was gonna have to give these songs to the Pussycat Dolls because she wasn't famous enough. Or this record needed to g…”
Insight
Carter: Independent artists get better label terms by building audiences first
“We're starting to see a generation of independent artists now that have broken that barrier that are starting to make money off of music as well, because they're putting out this music. The record labels are discovering them because they've already blown up es…”
Troy Carter