MBW’s Inspiring Women series profiles female executives who have risen through the ranks of the business, highlighting their career journey – from their professional breakthrough to the senior responsibilities they now fulfill. Inspiring Women is supported by Virgin Music Group.
Michele Ballantyne has spent an impressive 20 years at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), during which time she’s witnessed the music industry grapple with the transition from illegal downloading to streaming, and now has a front-row seat in the battle to maintain the value of human-created music in the age of AI.
As President & COO of the organization, Ballantyne now runs daily operations and manages a 56-person team. Her work has also focused on social justice advocacy, including mobilizing RIAA members to support police reform bills, guiding the implementation of members’ social change commitments and managing the most diverse board of directors in its history.
Born on the tiny Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ballantyne, who later grew up in Montreal, was a self-confessed music nerd as a kid but never envisaged being able to work in the industry.
Instead, she first pursued a career in law and politics. After graduating from the Georgetown University Law Center, Ballantyne landed government roles such as General Counsel for Senator Tom Daschle, Special Assistant for President Bill Clinton and Special Counsel for former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta.
After working on intellectual property issues with Daschle, a friend recommended her for a role at RIAA and Ballantyne started the music business part of her career in 2004.
When asked how her history in Capitol Hill informs what she does today, Ballantyne answers: “In my public service jobs, I was a generalist, a person who would step back and try to look at the big picture and make sure the puzzle pieces are all connected so that we could get things over the finish line.
“you can’t just think about what’s right in front of you, you have to think three steps ahead.”
“I used to worry that perhaps I should be more steeped in the intricacies of the details. I do pay attention to the details, you have to, but in the jobs that I’ve worked at, you can’t just think about what’s right in front of you, you have to think three steps ahead. I spend a lot of time puzzling those things out and those are the skills I brought with me.”
Here, we chat to Ballantyne about her career to date, social justice and diversity in the music industry, and the two lawsuits the RIAA has recently filed against AI startups Suno and Udio.
Do you have any habits or rituals that ensure you bring your best self to work?
I love yoga. I never really did much yoga before but I realized, right before the pandemic, that I struggle with balance. I always feel like I have to tick through my to-do list and can get very stressed out and overwhelmed.
One of the ways I address that is by doing yoga. I do it almost every day. Also, cold brew coffee, which I cannot live without.
What’s your definition of good leadership?
It is being a good listener, being thoughtful, bringing different perspectives to the table and making sure that you hear those. I work really hard and I push people to work hard, but I also hear them and validate them.
It’s important to be able to put yourself in the shoes of your team members. Also, being kind, respectful and professional and having a sense of humor about things. Things go wrong and sometimes we can’t control those.
I believe in being very direct, which [RIAA CEO] Mitch Glazier (pictured) is on the receiving end of most times. But he likes it, so it’s fine. I believe in giving feedback almost immediately, if possible, I don’t like to sit on things. I think that helps people understand where and how they can improve.
I also believe in giving positive feedback regularly, because I think people really need that. You want to know that you’ve done a good job or that you’re going in the right direction. It’s terrible if you are wandering around in the dark and have no idea where you stand. I like to let people know where they stand.
What are the biggest lessons that you’ve learned across your career?
When things get tough, put your head down, focus on what’s in front of you and put one foot in front of the other. And that it’s really important to try things, even if they scare you.
When I was a young staffer on The Hill, we used to have a meeting with the legislative directors of every Democratic senator, which was around 50 people at that time, and one of my colleagues said, ‘You’re going to lead this meeting every week.’
I was like, ‘Oh, I’m new and I don’t really know all this stuff.’ I always feel like I have to know everything before I can talk about it. He was like, ‘You actually know more than you think so you’re going to sit here every week and you’re going to run this meeting.’
I was really worried about it but I ran the meeting and it taught me how to speak in front of a group. I’m very nervous about public speaking, which is not uncommon, but the more you practice it, the better you become. And I realized, ‘Well, I can do it.’ One more thing: trust your gut.
What’s the best career-related advice you’ve ever been given?
I have had a couple of mentors and one of them is always pushing me to not get caught up in the day-to-day, to think about the big picture and how to get things done.
Around 20 years ago, he also told me, ‘Just be yourself. There are skills you have that you don’t realize are skills.’ I kept saying, ‘I’m not the expert on this and I’m not the expert on that. What am I going to do in my next job? I have to know something in particular.’
He said, ‘You’re learning how to be a good boss.’ That boost of confidence was what I needed at that time. I realized that you do need to learn, you need to understand the landscape and the substance but you also have to learn how to use good judgment. That helped me to become a better leader.
In regard to the lawsuits the RIAA has filed against AI companies Suno and Udio. What’s the organization’s ideal outcome?
That we will go to court and we will win. That they will have to pay damages and address what they are doing. It’s not OK to use the materials of artists as inputs and without permission. We want them to understand that they’re doing something wrong and address it.
What do you make of the fair use argument and that the development of these companies, and music startups in general, is being constrained and limited by licensing deals?
We don’t believe it’s fair use. On the constraints in the marketplace [argument], I don’t believe that’s true. There are constructs set up for a reason, there are companies that have proven, over the course of the time I’ve been at the RIAA, that they’re willing to pivot, they’re willing to be innovative, they’re willing to license and work with other companies. There are ethical players in the marketplace already that have been licensed.
Our companies have used AI in a responsible and ethical manner to produce these great songs that you’ve heard from artists like The Beatles, which is amazing. Recently, Randy Travis, the singer-songwriter from Nashville, was in town. He had a stroke in 2013 and he used AI to produce music.
“I don’t think it’s OK for companies like Suno and Udio to take materials and use them for their own purposes to make money. Human creativity has to be protected.”
I don’t think it’s OK for companies like Suno and Udio to take materials and use them for their own purposes to make money. Human creativity has to be protected. There are deals being done all the time. Everything is moving so fast and we have to establish some rules of the road before it gets way too far out, creativity is suppressed and the marketplace is flooded with AI generated music.
The thing about music that is so great, that makes us all so passionate about it, is that it comes from inside someone. It’s sincere and organic and it expresses their lived experience or their imagination. It’s not fair to take that away.
Greg Bulla via Unsplash
What’s the status of legislation that might better protect copyrighted works in the age of AI?
It doesn’t exist, of course. The thing you learn very quickly when you are working in Government, especially in the US, is there’s a time lag behind everything.
Right now, we’re working in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate to get them to address some of these issues. They acknowledge that things are not moving as quickly as they would like, and they acknowledge that technology moves more quickly than the legislative process. The first piece of legislation we hope will make it through addresses the issue of deep fakes.
A big part of your work at the RIAA has focused on social justice and diversity. Have you witnessed effective change in those areas across the industry during your 20 years at the organization?
Yes, I have. I see more diverse faces at the table. I also think there’s always room for improvement and there’s much more work to be done. We can’t take our foot off the gas.
There were these major shifts after the police reform bills, George Floyd’s death and the RAP Act [a bill to protect artists from having their lyrics used against them in court]. The entire industry coalesced around these things, not just people of color. You have to keep talking about it. The work has to continue and you have to be intentional about it. We can’t let up because it’s too important.
Are there any specific changes you would like to see across the music business that would improve access to equal opportunities and diversity today?
It’s a couple of things. We partner with the Black Music Action Coalition to do a music accelerator programme at a historically black college in Tennessee, TSU.
One of the things that’s so important about that is getting young people into the business, making sure that they’re set up to succeed and progress and they have the exposure, the understanding and the knowledge to move forward.
To expand the horizons of where you look for talent is also important. And making sure there’s more and different perspectives. As an example, for our board, it’s about increasing the number of people of color but also genre diversity, regional diversity, gender diversity and racial diversity. It’s not just one thing and I think people get stuck there.
You have to look around. Are we hearing from women? Are we hearing from the LGBTQ community? Are we hearing from young folks and more experienced folks, as well as black people, Latin people and Asian people? We have to make sure that we’re getting all of the perspectives.
What are the most exciting developments happening in the music business today, from your perspective?
In the time that I have worked at RIAA, the way that record labels have evolved has been fascinating. In the beginning, they were still dealing with the repercussions of Napster, Grokster and illegal downloading. The future was very uncertain and there was a resistance to change.
“Labels have gone from being viewed as gatekeepers to more like gateways into the music business and into greater success for artists. We’ve worked hard to show that we are good partners.”
Over time, I’ve seen lots of exciting, innovative perspectives, different, younger people coming in with different ideas about how to do things, how to shake things up. Labels have gone from being viewed as gatekeepers to more like gateways into the music business and into greater success for artists. We’ve worked hard to show that we are good partners.
It’s a tough business and it’s hard to break through. There’s so much music out there, hundreds of thousands of tracks being uploaded every day. How do you reach the people who want to hear what you have to tell them? I feel really proud and grateful to be part of the group of folks who help make that happen.
If you could go back to the beginning of your career and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?
Keep pushing. I never imagined I would have a job in music. I also never imagined I could go to one of the best law schools. I never imagined I would work for the President of the United States.
I never imagined I would find myself in some of the rooms where important decisions are being made, but somehow I did, through a combination of hard work, great mentors, a bit of luck, seizing opportunities and doing the things that were scary sometimes. One foot in front of the other really does get you places if you’re committed to doing the work.
Virgin Music Group is the global independent music division of Universal Music Group, which brings together UMG’s label and artist service businesses including Virgin and Ingrooves.Music Business Worldwide
