Columbia Records partnered with She Is the Music and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute to present “She’s Next: A Music Industry Workshop for Young Women” yesterday. The program’s goal is to educate young women about today’s music industry and the careers that exist within it — including that of Columbia recording artist Jozzy, who wrote Billy Ray Cyrus’ verses on the remix of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.
Several Columbia execs kicked off the program by talking about the marketing campaign behind one of the label’s biggest successes in recent years, Lil Nas X.
EVP/GM Jen Mallory, SVP Melissa Thomas, and Co-head of Urban Music Phylicia Fant spoke about the artist and project, and were followed by Jozzy, who talked about writing Cyrus’ verse for the “Old Town Road” as well as her own career. She then answered a battery of questions from the students.
She Is the Music — which was announced by Alicia Keys at last year’s National Music Publishers Association meeting, in the wake of the “step up” controversy around the 2018 Grammy Awards — is a nonprofit organization that aims to increase the number of women working in music: songwriters, engineers, producers, artists and industry professionals.
Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) creates education and social-impact programs dedicated to music education and making music accessible to as many people as possible.