Genius’ Artist Relations Director Kayvan Daragheh Speaks On The Current State of Music Journalism
Genius’s Artist Relations Director Kayvan Daragheh Speaks On The Current State of Music Journalism, The Work Genius Has Been Able To Do During The Recent Quarantine, His Role Managing Artists, The Future of Twitch and More.
Photo Cred: Kayvan Daragheh
Right before Covid-19 and the quarantine hit in March, Kayvan and I had a very in-depth conversation about a lot of things related to his upbringing and career. Due to some unfortunate situations with our audio, that interview wasn’t able to get released. It’s been about five months since we last spoke, and so many things have occurred. So, I wanted to take this time to check-in on Kayvan and see where he was mentally. I didn’t feel there was a need to have a repeated conversation. This time around, I wanted to hear what Kayvan had to say about what he’s been dealing with personally and professionally these last few months. I also wanted to listen to some of his opinions on what’s been going on in the journalism space, what he’s striving to accomplish working in artist management, and more.
Read the full interview below.
1 - First and foremost, how are you feeling right now? How’s your mental health?
I’m feeling pretty good. It’s exciting that things are starting to open up again and things are moving to some type of normalcy. But then again, it’s hard to be positive about it when about 85% of the country isn’t having the same experience that I’m having. Also, with this whole wearing a mask thing. That’s become scary as well, especially for people who are going and coming from out of town. We’ve been trying so hard in New York to stay inside. When you look at the rest of the country it’s hard to say “Oh yeah, everything is fine.” I’m optimistic and happy that things are getting better but I’m still pretty worried about the overall situation. I’m just putting more focus on controlling what I can control.
Photo Cred: Andres Tardio/@Andress55
2 - We had a conversation back in March and when we spoke, the quarantine was in the beginning stages. We had no clue what was about to happen. Has anything changed for you work-wise with Genius since we’ve started to move through these phases?
Nothing has changed much. There are some differences. I feel like for my team, we really figured out how to work remotely really effectively. There’s constant communication between all of us. We’re always delegating our duties and passing things off if we need help. Everybody’s schedule is different because we all have to take care of life stuff at home but it’s been a lot easier for us as a group. I think just from the company standpoint as a whole, we’re killing it right now. I feel really good about how we’re doing the remote thing and how we’re continuing to push the boundaries and still coming up with new and cool ideas. We’re working really hard to bring remote content to a different place. We’ve seen a billion Instagram lives with people creating content from home and a ton of Zoom things. For us, we’re constantly trying to innovate and push ourselves to the next level. I think overall in the workspace, nothing has really changed much. Only thing is we’re still not going into the office every day. I’m lucky to have been able to set up an office in my apartment. I created a little studio, I have little gaming area. It’s a space where I’m doing my work every day. It’s nice to be able to have that space. Along with forcing myself to be productive, I think this has worked out for me.
3 - Speaking more about Genius, about two weeks ago you guys did that live stream concert with Wiz Khalifa. Is the brand going to be shifting some of its focus to do things like that more often?
I don’t want to give too much away but that is a good question. It’s definitely something we’re talking about and trying to do what we can to continue it. The general consensus was that we did something completely different compared to everyone else as far as live concerts go. There were a lot of technical things we had to do on the backend to make all of that possible. For us, we spent this time creating this type of event. I definitely put my money on us creating more of these events. I don’t want to say too much because it’s still up the air and there’s still conversations being had internally. Overall, the reaction to it was really great and we were able to donate to a great cause in Pittsburgh for Wiz as well. I think there were some really good things that we did that we felt good about as a team. I would love to see us do more of those. We’ve done something from an innovative perspective. Now, we have to build on that and figure out how to do more.
4 - I wanted to chat more about Twitch and you deciding to release content on there. What made you want to start releasing your content on there and where do you see Twitch going as a digital platform for creatives such as yourself and others?
I’ve been a really big gamer my entire life. My love for gaming started way back in the day with like N-64, the Gameboy Color, Sega Saturn. I’ve been a really huge fan of games since forever. I’m an only child so I spend a lot of time on my own and a lot of that time has been spent just gaming. The older I got I kind of just kept up with it. I think one of the things in my career that I struggled with in general and something that I’m now really grasping the idea of is that I have to be something or be a certain way. I think maybe like a year and a half ago I said to myself I don’t want to be any sort of character for anyone. I want anything that I do to be an extension of the things that I love already. For me, this was a way to incorporate something that I already love doing. I’m still trying to figure out the formatting of everything. So far it’s just been me playing video games and having sessions where I’m talking to people. I’m starting to get into more music content. I think I want to do more stuff like that. Initially, before I started Twitch streaming I made a list of things I want to do. One of those ideas is gaming with artists; just having candid conversations while you’re gaming than you would have when doing like a one on one interview. I’ve been thinking about doing stuff like that. I also want to do my Fresh Lists idea which is an Audiomack playlist that I do. This will be like a listening party for these artists that I pick. It’s all emerging artists so I think building a community around it is dope. We can give each other feedback, let people know what we fuck with, and don’t fuck with. Just being able to drive people towards these artists and helping them get more eyes on their music.
I see Twitch as a really cool way to build a community. One of the things that gamers do really well is building a community around the world itself. You see things like this through Discord. I started a Discord channel as well for things like networking. If people want to hop in they can and meet people, share what working on and stuff like that. Having channels like that for producers is a good one as well where the producer can come in and drop drum kits and connect with other producers is really cool. What it all comes down to is having that community and I think that’s what I find most important.
5 - You mentioned being innovative during these times. You’re a manager. You have a few music artists that you manage. What are some of the things that you’re doing or encouraging your artists to do to help them be more innovative and self-sufficient?
For me, I think there are two ways of thinking about this sort of situation. There’s the major label way of looking at it. You have a big budget so you can throw a lot of money at things and make things happen. One of the things that I noticed that major labels do is getting influencers involved on socials. It’s just something we’ve seen the big labels do which isn’t necessarily grown breaking but we’ve seen it and I think it helps especially in this era of social media. But, honestly, I would tell any artist to spend their money on ads. Especially if you’re a new act, if you can target your ads properly, you’ll see a big return of organic and real fans coming your way. As a manager, hiring a publicist in most cases doesn’t really make sense. I don’t know if there’s a big return on that. If you’re on a tight budget, you have to prioritize what you’re going to spend money on. As great as it is to have published content, I don’t think people are engaging with write-ups like they used to. I don’t even think people are engaging in video content as much as they used to. You can see that in media companies. I think for me, the big thing is spending the money on ads and equipment. Get the equipment you need to be self-sufficient. Whether that's like getting a camera so you can shoot better quality video content at home. That’s like your bread and butter right now. For my guys, it was about finding better distribution and putting our money into ads and making sure on the creative side everything was done properly. The independent route is finding out what works for you and then doubling down on it.
6 - I wanted to talk to you more about what’s been happening in the last few months in the media and journalism space. With you being a media person, I figured you’d be a great person to talk to about this. Did this have an effect on you and how do you think this is going to change cultural journalism?
We’ve been lucky at Genius to keep our entire team together. I don’t think we’ve let anyone go on our side. I feel very blessed to be in a position where I’m not as worried about it but it’s crazy to think that some of my friends have been released from some of these companies. I don’t know, man. This is such a layered conversation. It’s not that different from the way people in the media have been treated before. There’s a lot of instances where out of nowhere media companies are laying off 80% of the staff and restructuring and rebuilding. But these companies will hire people and then they’ll staff people and then pay them less. The way for them to combat that is to lay a lot of people off to free up budget to do other things. It sucks, man. As a human being to watch other people go through tough times like that is trash. The media industry doesn’t do well by the people and culture they eat off of. We’ve seen it first hand with Black Lives Matter and how these companies responded to it. A lot of these companies have been resting off black culture for decades and the fact that they won’t acknowledge it is insane. There is so much to talk about with this topic. There are issues stacked to the ceiling with these media companies and how they treat their employees. Music journalism is not something I’ve always been a huge fan of. There’s a lot of things that need to be fixed.
7 - What do you think is a good first step to solving some of these issues?
I think being vocal. I’m happy that I work for a company that actually listens to its employees. We’ve been having a lot of conversations internally about figuring things out and more importantly what we as a company owe to the culture that we profit off of and built our entire platform around. I feel very lucky to be at a company where we could have those conversations openly, especially with upper management as well. A place where we can voice our opinions and tell them how we feel. We have discussions about the media world as a whole outside of what we talk about with Genius. I think that’s a part of it. Having those open and honest conversations where upper management listens and then from there, it’s on upper management to self-reflect. It’s their job to look around and ask themselves if they’re doing right by their employees. A lot of companies will take heed to what their employees have to say and try to honestly make some changes internally. But, a lot of companies don’t really give a fuck. As long as they continue to make money they don’t care what anyone has to say and that’s where the problem lies. Forcing the conversation is a huge part of it. Being united within the conversation is crucial.
8 - You being a huge music guy I’m sure you listen to a ton of different things. What are you currently listening to?
Man, I’m weird. I listen to a ton of different stuff. I have been very into French rap. Like, all types of French rap. I love the language. I’ve been learning French throughout this quarantine as well. The main reason is to fully understand the music. I’ve been listening to this guy named Tayc. He’s more of an R&B singer than he is a rapper but I think he’s incredible. Pop Smoke because I love drill. I’m from the UK originally so drill and grime are in me. So, Pop Smoke is definitely on my list. R.I.P. to him of course. All the other Brooklyn guys as well like Sheff G and Fivio Foreign. I just finished How to Make It in America so I’m back on the Cudi train. Then we have the UK stuff. I’m super into M Huncho and Headie One. You guys all know who Headie One is now from the Drake co-sign he just got. I’ve also been digging into shit from like the 50’s. Just a bunch of random shit I catch myself listening to frequently. Then we have Maxo Kream. He’s probably my favorite rapper right now. My playlist is all over the place, bro.
9 - You have your hands in a lot of things outside of Genius. What would you say your ultimate goal is?
For me, I have very lofty dreams. My wife and I were having a conversation about this the other week. I’m trying to create generational wealth for my family to the point where my grandchildren’s children will be good for life. My end goal is to create an empire. I want to build more than just one thing. The reason why I dedicate myself to so many different aspects of what I do is because I want to build something that becomes all of these things in one. First and foremost, I would love to be able to get my management company off the ground. That’s more of a short term goal than it is long term but still a huge goal on mine. At the end of the day, I want to make an impact. I want to make a positive impact on the music industry as a whole. I want to be able to take what I gain from music, whether that be knowledge or money, and apply to the things I feel need to change. That’s always been my thing, man.
10 - What can we expect from you as we move throughout the summer? Any plans going into Q4?
I’m going to be doing more of the Fresh Picks live. I’m like revamping Fresh Picks graphics. I’m going to be incorporating a lot of that into our drops. I’m about to start producing on Twitch. The first month or two of being in the quarantine was very stifling as far as my creativity goes. Everything that was going on just made it so hard to create until recently. I’m going to be working very hard with management and working with my artists. All of them have their own projects coming which I’m very excited for. Genius will continue to do more live content. I have some branding content pieces that should be coming out soon that I’m very excited about. I have two projects that I’ve very excited for that I won’t speak on too much yet. You’ll definitely see them when I announce them. There’s something with Burberry coming that is going to be amazing. I’m super proud of it. There’s another project that we did with HP that’s related to our home studio product which we just launched last week. It’s pretty much like an online beat creating tool. Aside from all of that, I’m home every day with my wife and my dog. I get a chance to spend a lot more time with them which is awesome.