Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the Recording Academy, spoke with Billboard’s Kevan Kenney on the black carpet at the Power 100 event on Thursday to discuss how the easy accessibility of music today impacts the music industry and music consumption.
When asked if he thinks that the age of streaming is a good or a bad thing, Portnow says, “I think, generally, it’s good. It’s good from a business standpoint because we’ve been able to reinvent how we distribute our music to the consumer.”
The executive, who ranks at No. 44 on Billboard’s Power 100 list, also adds that with streaming, it is easy to address the way consumers want to get their music. “It’s really not for us as an industry to dictate [that] you can only get [music] on a disc or on a cassette or in a download,” he adds.
Portnow also addresses the fact that it is “really liberating” to the creative community that people can now hear anything they want at any time. The only downside, he says, is that it creates a large amount of traffic and sounds, making it difficult to navigate through that. He explains that is “part of what we [the Recording Academy] like to do as an organization: When you focus the spotlight on five in 84 categories, it’s a pretty good curation of the best of the best.”
You can watch the full interview with Neil Portnow above.
