Inside Benny Pough’s Career in Hip-Hop Trapital

Music exec Benny Pough has shaped the hip-hop industry in a career that’s spanned from Motown Records to Def Jam to Roc Nation and now his own entrepreneurial pursuits. Benny joined me on Trapital to discuss his 30-year journey and where it’s heading next.

The defining feature of Benny has been his ability to spot and develop musical talent. He’s responsible for signing the likes of Future, Jeremih, and Yo Gotti, among others. That skill was initially forged from having an ear for what would catch on the radio, but has evolved in the streaming era. Despite this radical shift in music consumption, Benny says “stars will always be stars.”

After working at seven different record labels, Benny left the corporate world in 2019 and dove full-time into entrepreneurialism. He runs two separate companies — DVERSE Media and Kandiid. The former is a global music distributor and publisher, while the latter is a mobile app for creators to monetize their content. Benny also manages a diversified real estate portfolio. 

Like Benny’s own career, our conversation covers a lot of ground. Here’s our talking points: 

[3:13] How Benny Developed His Eye andEar For Talent
[4:42] Differences Between Hit-Makers andSuperstars
[6:10] How Has Streaming Changed Superstar Development?
[7:33] Record Label’s Role in Talent Development 
[13:07] Inside Def Jam’s Business Turnaround During Mid-00s
[16:02] Aligning Business andArt at Def Jam 
[18:15] Teairra Mari and Rihanna Coming Up at Def Jam
[21:37] Balancing Short-Term andLong-Term Business Goals
[24:39] How Did Benny Adapt To Working At Different Labels?
[27:00] Why Benny Became a Full-Time Entrepreneur 
[28:34] How Does Benny Split Time Across His Business Ventures?
[31:26] DVERSE Media’s Pitch To Artists
[33:15] TikTok’s Role In Talent Development Today
[34:43] Monetizing Content On Kandiid
[36:07] How Benny Got Into Real Estate
[38:54] Benny’s Upcoming Book


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Host: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.co

Guests: Benny Pough, @bennypough
 
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TRANSCRIPTION

[00:00:00] Benny Pough: You can have a star, but if you don't have people who can market it and promote it and put the music together, then it's going to take that star a little more time. Or you can have great executives, but you have artists that don't have drive. They're kind of confused on who their identity is. They write good songs, they don't write great songs, then it's kind of off balance. It's that marriage of really strong executives and really great artistry.  
[00:00:35] Dan Runcie: Hey, welcome to The Trapital podcast. I'm your host and the founder of Trapital, Dan Runcie. This podcast is your place to gain insights from executives in music, media, entertainment, and more, who are taking hip-hop culture to the next level. 

[00:00:55] Dan Runcie: Today's guest is Benny Pough. He is a music industry veteran. And when I'm talking about people that understand promotion, understand what it takes to make an artist go from sixty to a hundred, this is the person to talk to. He has identified talent over the years, working at Motown, Perspective, Arista, MCA, Def Jam, Epic, and Roc Nation Records. He worked at Def Jam during one of the turnaround eras for the record label from 2003, all the way up to 2011. So we're talking about that stretch where you had Rihanna, and Jeezy, and Kanye, and so many artists that made a huge impact there. Then he also worked at Epic where he was able to see Future, and