Students, parents and faculty quickly overtook the Annenberg Forum Friday as hit music producer and artist Kenny Beats and his team made their way onto the stage. As one of the many events hosted over Trojan Family Weekend, Wasserman Music, in partnership with USC, held a panel to spotlight different music professionals and to highlight what it takes to build and represent an artist.
The panel, moderated by USC Vice Provost for the Arts, Josh Kun, included music manager Mike Power and Dylan Johnson, EVP for Wasserman Music Lee Anderson, Vice President of A&R at Universal Music Taylor Testa, and the artist himself, Kenny Beats.
Kenneth Blume III, known musically as Kenny Beats, has been a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to creating music, producing for household rap and hip-hop names from Kendrick Lamar, Ski Mask the Slump God, Denzel Curry and Vince Staples and crossing into genres like indie pop with Dominic Fike, Joji and Omar Apollo. Last year, he gave us a taste of his own voice through his album “Louie”—a heartfelt montage of vocals weaved with a vintage soul to express the complex relationship with his father.
It’s not common to have already built a loyal fanbase as a producer before the release of an album, nor is it common to have your name on records, or to work on long-term projects and full albums with artists. So how was Kenny Beats able to make a name for himself in an industry that makes it hard for producers to stand out in?
To him and his team, it was the shared understanding that they needed to build something “irreplaceable culturally.”
“That’s going to be music videos, that’s going to involve live shows, that’s going to involve merchandise, and that’s going to take a lot of people around Kenny to service what he’s able to do as both an artist and producer,” said Mike Power, long-term friend and manager to Blume.
According to Power, the first deal they struck for Blume was in 2017, when an artist offered $200 for his beat. It was also when he realized how disposable producers were in a rapidly expansive industry, one where artists could easily get beats from anywhere.
“That’s how we started everything,” Power said. “Just seeing how little value a lot of the industry placed on producers. We wanted to build something where people had to come to us.”
“The Cave”—a YouTube series to showcase the behind-the-scenes of Kenny Beats making music—did exactly that, racking up 700,000 subscribers in the first year. The channel features videos of Blume producing music for artists like Doja Cat, Joji, and Zack Fox, who freestyle over the beat that Blume makes in the episode.
The producer and artist also took to Twitch to expand his reach. On top of opening up to his audience about his music production process and giving out tips and advice to other producers, he also hosted weekly beat battle competitions that producers of all ages from the world competed in for prizes.
The channel has over 350k subscribers and is the most viewed music-oriented Twitch stream, according to the team. His Discord, with 135k users, has become a networking haven of sorts, where producers often work together, share music, and give advice to others wishing to pursue music.
“We’ve worked really hard to build this community with a lot of people around the world,” he said. “If all these people could all make music together and learn from each other, we’re doing a much bigger thing than any record released.”
Not only did merging music production with the digital space create a long-lasting community, but efforts like Kenny Beats’ beat battles became a way for producers to gain attention from his audience.
Breaking into the music industry and being valued as a producer has been a known challenge to producers, and it’s even more challenging for marginalized communities. A study conducted by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative for 2022 found that women only made up 2.8% of producers in the music industry, and only 26% of those were women of color.
But the anonymity of the submission process in Kenny Beats’ beat battles helps to dispel this disparity. Moderators on stream are also there to make sure the platform is a safe space for everyone “coming from anywhere,” according to Blume. In fact, the winner In the last season of the beat battles was a female producer originally from Japan, by the name Izumi.
But gaining attention from the public is different from creating a lasting career. Mike Power emphasized how important it is to take your time when building your brand, and says that success and finding those who understand your worth—especially in the music industry—is something that can’t be rushed.
“Overnight success takes ten years,” Power said. “Being a good person and building great relationships are paramount to that journey.”
“If it wasn’t for my best friends and people wanting to create value for me as a producer, I never would have gone into the content-side,” Blume said. “When I started working with my friends was when my career worked.”
Taylor Testa, Blume’s publisher, had been friends with him before they were business associates but admitted she delayed signing with him because she didn’t work in hip-hop. She changed her mind after realizing that Blume was well-versed across multiple genres, and when she saw the “undeniable” work ethic behind his then-team—something she says is pivotal when she’s looking to sign someone.
“Kenny was doing 30 sessions a day to make sure that he was really putting in the work…and that’s just not something you can teach,” she said. “Whenever I’m looking at signing somebody, I don’t sign anyone who has a plan B—you’re either all in or you’re not in.”
To students, the panel gave hope to those interested in pursuing the music industry.
Ari Segal, a junior studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics and visiting from Emory University, talked about what it meant to be able to hear from Kenny Beats and music professionals.
“I thought it was really informative to hear from him alongside his team about the business as well as the creative process,” he said. “As a music maker, it really helps to see different opportunities in the industry.”
When asked how Kenny Beats knew he felt “ready” to dive head-first as a full-time producer, he mentioned how important it is for artists to take their time working on their craft, but said it ultimately came down to taking that first leap of faith.
“You’re never ready,” he said. “You just got to do it.”