Panos Panay (music executive)

For the former Microsoft executive, see Panos Panay (Microsoft).
Panos A. Panay
Panos Panay portrait
Born (1972-06-25) 25 June 1972 (age 52)
Cyprus
NationalityCypriot, American
Alma materBerklee College of Music (BM Business Management), IE Business School/Brown University (Executive MBA Studies)
Occupation(s)President, The Recording Academy/Grammy Awards
Known forSVP Global Strategy & Innovation Berklee School of Music, Founder & CEO of Sonicbids, Co-Founder Open Music Initiative, Founder, Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship
Websitehttps://twobeatsahead.com/

Panos Andreas Panay (born Panayiotis Andreas Panayiotou June 25, 1972) is a Cyprus-born entrepreneur, executive and author. Panay currently holds the post of President of the Recording Academy alongside CEO Harvey Mason Jr. Previously he was the Senior Vice President of Global Strategy & Innovation at Berklee College of Music. He founded Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship,[1] and founded the online platform Sonicbids, which was later acquired by Backstage Magazine.[2][3] Panay is a Fellow at MIT Connection Science at the MIT Media Lab, and also founded the Open Music Initiative.[4]

Education

[edit]

Panay has studied for an Executive MBA from IE Business School/Brown University[5] and holds a Music Business & Management degree from Berklee College of Music, where he studied guitar with Lauren Passarelli.[6]

Career

[edit]

Panay began his career as a talent agent at Ted Kurland Associates[7] responsible for the international tours of artists including Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Sonny Rollins, and Nina Simone.[8][9]

In 2000, Panay started the company Sonicbids to enable independent artists to connect with music promoters online, using Electronic Press Kits (EPK) as a means of booking bands.[10] Panay founded the company in his apartment in Newton, MA. The company later acquired ArtistData.[11] Panay led the company as CEO for 13 years, until after its acquisition by Backstage LLC, in a deal backed by Guggenheim Partners.[12][13][14]

In 2013, after the sale of Sonicbids, Panay returned to his alma mater Berklee College of Music, to found the Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE). Among the institute's many activities are joint classes with MIT and the design firm IDEO, a summer high school program in collaboration with Brown University,[15] sponsored internships, research projects including Rethink Music's Fair Music Report,[16] online courses and other engagements meant to get students ready for careers.[17]

In June 2016, Panay co-founded the non-profit Open Music Initiative,[18][19][20] in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, and individuals including inventor Dan Harple and IDEO partner Michael Hendrix. The mission of Open Music Initiative was to promote and advance the creation of open-source standards and innovation related to music to help assure proper compensation for all creators, performers, and rights holders of music.[21]

As Senior Vice President, Global Strategy & Innovation at Berklee College of Music. Panay lead Berklee's global strategy to create an interconnected ecosystem of campuses, centers, and partnerships across the world that foster and inspire new artistic expressions, idioms, and ideas through leading pedagogy, the development of cross-cultural fluency and creative capacity, and seamless integration of technology and online learning. He oversaw Berklee's campus in Valencia, Spain; BerkleeNYC; Global Initiatives; the Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship; the Berklee India Exchange; the Berklee Music and Health Institute; Berklee's institutional strategy; and Berklee's global partnerships.[22] Those partnerships included Berklee's expansion into China and the K-12 sector.[23]

In August 2019, Panay was named an MIT Connection Science Fellow.[24]

In February 2020, Panay opened Berklee Abu Dhabi, a 4000 square meter facility developed in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism. In addition to the campus, the partnership encompasses $5 million in fellowships, through which students from the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region will be given opportunities to attend Berklee College of Music; Boston Conservatory at Berklee; Berklee's campus in Valencia, Spain; Berklee Online; and summer programs, and to have an impact on the life of Berklee internationally.[25][26][27]

In June 2021, Panay was announced as Co-President and Chief Revenue Officer of the Recording Academy, alongside Valeisha Butterfield Jones.[28] In October 2022, Jones rejoined Google as their Vice President of Partnerships & Engagement with Panay taking on the sole Presidency of the Recording Academy.[29] Panay has been tasked with driving business growth through the identification of new partnerships, strategic global expansion, and leveraging new technologies while also expanding the services offerings for both Academy's members and the music industry.[30]

Writing and speaking

[edit]

Panay has written about startups and entrepreneurship for blogs and publications including Huffington Post,[31] Forbes, Entrepreneur,[32] WSJ Accelerators[33] and Fast Company.[34] He has spoken at a TEDx event.[35] He also spoke in the podcast Shaping Business Minds Through Art.[36]

In 2021, Panay and R. Michael Hendrix, global design director at IDEO, co-wrote and published Two Beats Ahead (PublicAffairs, US and Penguin Business, UK), a book that covers what the musical mind has to teach about innovation, featuring interviews with top creatives including Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake, Gloria Estefan, Imogen Heap, Radiohead, T Bone Burnett, Hank Shocklee (co-founder of Public Enemy), and Jimmy Iovine.[37][38] The book was selected by The Financial Times as Business Book of the Month in April 2021,[39] featured in Harvard Business Review's IdeaCast,[40] Talks at Google,[41] Rebel Radio,[42] and BBC Weekend.[43]

Panay has guest-written articles on entrepreneurship for Forbes,[44] BusinessWeek, Fast Company,[45] and Inc. Magazine.[46]

Awards and honors

[edit]

Panay was awarded the Fast Company's "Fast 50" honor,[47] Mass Hi-Tech All Stars, Boston Business Journal's "40 under 40",[48] Boston Globe's Game Changers of 2017,[49] and BosInno "50 on Fire" Award[50] for excellence in education.

Personal life

[edit]

Panay lives with his wife, Kimberly, and twin daughters, Zoe and Lydia [51] in Los Angeles, California.

His first cousin, Panos (Costa) Panay, was Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Microsoft until September 2023, where he led the development of the Microsoft Surface product line and the Windows 11 operating system.[52]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ WBZ News (29 January 2014). "Berklee College Of Music Starts New Program For Teaching Business Side Of Things". cbsnews.com. CBS Broadcasting. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Backstage Acquires Sonicbids". Backstage. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Panos A. Panay | Berklee".
  4. ^ "Open Music Initiative - Co Founders". Open Music. Open Music Initiative. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Mondo.NYC Speaker Back to Speakers Link Panos A. Panay". Mondo NYC: New York's Music & Tech Business Conference & Showcase Festival. Parallax Agency. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  6. ^ France, Pauline (3 June 2013). "Front and Center: Berklee College of Music Guitar Professor, Lauren Passarelli". The Woman's International Music Network. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Interview With Panos Panay, Founder and CEO Of Sonicbids". Songwriter Universe. 2013-12-04. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  8. ^ Widran, Jonathan (4 December 2013). "Interview With Panos Panay, Founder and CEO Of Sonicbids". Songwriters Universe. Songwriter Universe. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  9. ^ Panay, Panos. "Best Advice I Ever Got: Panos Panay". Inc. Mansueto Ventures.
  10. ^ Panayiotou, Alexia (2019). "Generating tensions: A multilevel, process analysis of organizational change". Strategic Organization. 17 (1): 14. doi:10.1177/1476127017734446.
  11. ^ "Sonicbids Acquires ArtistData To Help Musicians Get More Exposure On The Web". Techcrunch. 2010-06-14.
  12. ^ "SonicBids acquired by Backstage - Boston Business Journal". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  13. ^ Sisario, Ben (30 January 2013). "Backstage to Acquire Sonicbids". Media Decoder Blog. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  14. ^ "Sonicbids acquired by Backstage". VentureFizz. 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  15. ^ "BerkleeICE and the Brown Leadership Institute to Host High School Summer Program". Berklee College of Music. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  16. ^ "Rethink Music puts focus back on music-industry transparency". 14 July 2015. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  17. ^ Rubenfire, Adam (2014-08-06). "Fine-Art Students Get Lessons in Business". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  18. ^ "Music Royalties Initiative Unites YouTube, Spotify, Labels". Rolling Stone. 2016-06-13. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  19. ^ Granados, Nelson. "Academics, Music Labels, Streaming Services Unite To Fix Music's Digital Ecosystem". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  20. ^ "YouTube, Spotify, Major Labels Join Initiative to Streamline Music Royalties". pitchfork.com. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  21. ^ Shea, Andrea (13 June 2016). "Enough With The Lawsuits: Berklee, MIT Lead Effort To Create Ownership Rights Database For Music Industry". wbur.org. WBUR. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Panos A. Panay | Berklee".
  23. ^ Aswad, Jem (22 June 2021). "Recording Academy Names Valeisha Butterfield Jones and Panos Panay Co-Presidents". variety.com. Variety Media, LLC, Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  24. ^ "Panos Panay | MIT Connection Science".
  25. ^ "Berklee Abu Dhabi Center | Berklee".
  26. ^ "The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi Celebrates Opening of Berklee Abu Dhabi".
  27. ^ "Berklee College of Music has a new outpost in Abu Dhabi - the Boston Globe". The Boston Globe.
  28. ^ "The Recording Academy Names Valeisha Butterfield Jones And Panos A. Panay As Co-Presidents". Recording Academy. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  29. ^ Nwanji, Ngozi. "Recording Academy's Valeisha Butterfield Jones Will Step Down To Re-Join Google For VP Role On Its Diversity Team". afrotech.com. AfroTech, Blavity, Inc. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  30. ^ "Mondo.NYC Speaker Back to Speakers Link Panos A. Panay". mondonyc.com. Parallax Agency. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  31. ^ "Panos Panay". www.huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  32. ^ Panay, Panos. "Panos Panay". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  33. ^ Huston, Caitlin (18 September 2013). "Panos Panay: Offer the Best Work Environment". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  34. ^ "Why Music Majors Make Some Of The Best Entrepreneurs". Fast Company. 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  35. ^ "TEDx Berklee Valencia Interviews Panos Panay". Berklee Valencia. Berklee College of Music. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  36. ^ Hindi, Nir (8 April 2021). "episode 3 – two beats ahead | Michael Hendrix and Panos Panay". The Artian. The Artian or Nir Hindi. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  37. ^ Panay, Panos A.; Michael Hendrix, R. (4 August 2020). Two Beats Ahead. PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781541730571.
  38. ^ Two Beats Ahead. 8 April 2021.
  39. ^ "FT business books: April edition". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  40. ^ Beard, Alison (20 July 2021). "IdeaCast Lessons In Innovation from Bowie, Beyoncém and More". Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business Publishing.
  41. ^ Lanzet, Josh. "Talks At Google R. Michael Hendrix & Panos A. Panay, Two Beats Ahead". Talks At Google. Retrieved 21 April 2023 – via YouTube.
  42. ^ Levine, Josh (7 April 2021). "EP 233: Two Beats Ahead: Inspiration everywhere". rebelradio.net. Rebel Industries. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  43. ^ "BBC Weekend - Two Beats Ahead April 4, 2021". soundcloud.com. BBC Weekend. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  44. ^ Lindenmayer, Michael. "7 Lessons Music Mavens Can Teach Entrepreneurs". Forbes. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  45. ^ Panay, Panos. "Why Music Majors Make Some Of The Best Entrepreneurs". fastcompany.com. Mansueto Ventures, LLC. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  46. ^ Panay, Panos. "Best Advice I Ever Got". inc.com. Mansueto Ventures, LLC. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  47. ^ "05_Panos Panay". Fast Company. 2005-03-01. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  48. ^ "BBJ announces 40 Under 40 honorees - Boston Business Journal". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  49. ^ "The Full List of The Globe's Game Changers for 2017". bostonglove.com. Boston Globe Media Partners. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  50. ^ "Announcing This Year's 50 on Fire Winners [VIDEO]". BostInno. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  51. ^ "About Kimberly - Miximals & Co". Miximals & Co. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  52. ^ Reddit, "Ask me anything" with Panos Panay
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