Benny Pough - Achieving Mastery: A 29 Year Major Record Label Career at the Highest Level to Entrepreneurship and New Adventures

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Malcolm Gladwell famously wrote in his book “Outliers” that it takes 10,000 hours of focused hard work at something to reach a level of greatness. But what comes beyond 10,000 hours is a level of skill that only very few people reach in their lifetimes, and that’s a level of Mastery. In one of my very early episodes of the podcast (5 Steps to Building a Foundation of Mastery in the Entertainment Business), I was studying Mastery for a Masters Course at Full Sail University and identified 5 skills to reaching mastery. Those include studying the masters and collaborating with others, taking risks and trying new things, learning new skills, creating a unique product, and lifestyle and relationships. I could probably break that into 8-10 keys to mastery, but I lumped a few together back then. When it comes to working at the highest level of the major record label side of our industry, Benny Pough, is someone that encompasses all of those traits and has reached mastery many times over again. 

Benny Pough has had a 29-year career working for major labels. He got his start in 1990 working at the legendary Motown Records. His journey leads him to become the Promotions Manager for Arista Records in 1994. Then in 1996, he joined MCA records where he worked his way up to becoming the Senior Vice President of Promotions. After that, he had an 8-year adventure with the historic Def Jam Records as their Senior Vice President. In 2011, Benny became the Executive Vice President for Epic Records, the label that was once home for Michael Jackson. His final stop was as the President for Roc Nation. Benny had a career that most people who want to be in this industry can only dream of. But that came with a lot of hard work, endless hours, and lots of sacrifices. Throughout his career, he delivered radio hits for superstars such as Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye West, Travis Scott, Future, DJ Khaled, 21 Savage, and many more. 

After having mastered the record label world, in 2020, Benny went all-in on himself starring his entrepreneurial journey with his own record label, D’Verse Media, the app KANDIID where people can turn one piece of content into multiple pieces of content and monetize them, he’s a life long Real Estate proprietor and manager, and has been working on a book that shares his journey. The book called “On Impact” will be available early 2021, and shares his story, lessons, and philosophies of a 29-year career in the record industry. In this conversation, we discuss Benny’s journey, lessons and philosophies for artists looking to work with major labels, how world events in 2020 have impacted the music industry, Entrepreneurship, spirituality, and much more. This episode was a true gift! Thank you, Benny! 

To learn more about Benny Pough visit:
https://www.bennypough.com/
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