MA Music Business student, and awardee to Key Production’s Women In Music bursary Kyarah Boon, caught up with Karen recently to interview her and find out more about her journey into music.
Karen discusses her inspirational journey to her position as CEO of Key, as well as her other accomplishments and how she moulded and shaped her own path.
Kyarah: So Karen, what made you go into the music industry?
I was a music fan from an early age, and my first gig was The Specials back in 1979 when I was a teenager. When I went to university, I studied genetics, so absolutely nothing to do with the music industry. But when I was there, I began working in events, so I was booking all the independent bands and organising DJs for club nights. So while I was there, I started organising a lot of gigs, and going to a lot of gigs and concerts, which led me to follow that passion while doing the degree. When I finished my degree, I went travelling, had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do at all, and then my friend said to me ‘well you’re all about music, why don’t you try and get a job in the music industry?’. So I began to write my CV and landed myself a job within the music industry at 22 years old.
Where did you start in the music industry, and how did you get where you are today?
I started as a receptionist, which I think is a perfect place to start because you get to know people. I always said I didn’t want to be a secretary, because back when I started, people always used to say ‘the only way a woman could get into the music industry is by being a secretary and working her way up’. So starting as a receptionist was great because you get to know how a company runs and you get to see every person in it. Then from there, I worked my way up in the company, learned a lot, and then left to start up on my own in a nutshell.
How did you start Key Production?
Starting up on my own was more circumstance. I didn’t see eye to eye with a new boss, and through several conversations that we had, I realised that what I was doing at the company I could do by myself. So I approached one of the companies that we were doing work for, and said ‘if I could save you loads of money, could I do the work for you if I set up on my own?’. They said yes because they knew I had the knowledge and that I could get it done. I then approached the suppliers we were using and asked them if I set up on my own if they would trust me and give me a small line of credit who said yes and supported me. The record label I was doing the work for actually had an extra office, which they said I could use. So I ended up doing the work for them for much cheaper than they were getting, and I worked out that I could make enough money off this to live and 30 years later they are still customers!
What are some values that you are committed to?
A lot of my personal values come through for the company values. A few of those include independence, passion and integrity. Also, sustainability is a significant value that I’ve always had and found most important to incorporate within the company. The physical products we produce are aimed to be as sustainable as they can be. I have always found it essential to bring family values both in and out of the workplace, and I think its values that my parents instilled in me from a very young age. They have followed me through my whole life and taught me to put myself in other people’s shoes, which I think is so important when it comes to treating people autonomously.
How do you incorporate sustainability within the company, and why is it of such high value to you?
Sustainability has always been very important to me. It became part of my lifestyle when I was a teenager and went vegetarian when I was 19. I began to look into alternative energies and did more research on how we would destroy our planet if we didn’t do so. This was a long time ago, and everyone thought I was a bit mad at that point. So it’s always been a part of me and part of my values, and when I started the company, I wanted to make this a priority. As soon as recycling became available to anyone I was recycling. When I first started, I was looking into the environmental impact of manufacturing. As early as in 2008, we offered our customers the ability to carbon balance all the carbon that was used in making a CD. This would cost the buyer slightly more money, but people weren’t interested in doing that because it was more expensive. This has really changed now luckily. Now that sustainability has begun to be incorporated a lot more, so we are now really pushing all of our factories to make sure that they work in a much more sustainable way. Things have changed so much for the better over the years and it’s really heartening to see that.
How do you feel about ‘diversity’ and the lack of women within the music business industry?
It is much better than it was, but nowhere near as good as it should be. It is interesting because I was on a panel quite recently talking about diversity in the industry to a group of students. When I looked around the room, it was incredibly diverse. I commented on how diverse the audience was and told them that it is eventually up to them to keep going and continue to make the music industry as diverse as possible. Why is there still a lack of women and diversity in the music business industry? There are still too many white men at the top, and I believe that when they are making the decisions they tend to take on people from their demographic.
I get asked a lot if we should positively discriminate, which is a fascinating conversation. I have spoken to a lot of women about this, and almost all of them have said that they don’t want to be hired “just because they are a woman” but instead get hired or be recognised because they are good at what they do. So if I have two people apply for the same position, and the man is better and will fit in better with the company I am going to hire the man. However, if they were equal, I would take the woman. So I positively discriminate in that sense, but I will always look at the overall balance in the office and make sure that it works.
Did you have a mentor yourself? Or perhaps someone that inspired you to get where you are today?
When I was starting, there weren’t any programs that I knew about or that were available. I suppose I mostly relied on the influences in my life, which really were my parents. The way they brought me up and the values that they instilled in me, they told me to reach for the stars. They really encouraged me and guided me at the beginning, and they taught me that it was okay to fail and always to keep trying. I did look up to the people that taught me how to do the jobs that I did early on in my career; they helped me gain the skills and helped unfold my true potential.
Thank you Karen, truly inspirational!
Karen has contributed towards Kyarah’s postgraduate fees, as well as mentoring her in all aspects of music business, continue to follow their story through our blog and Instagram!
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