Key Player: Sean Glass

Sean Glass, 31, is the founder of Win Music and the latest face behind the Apple Music Connect service, working on the tech giant’s new platform for the music industry.

Born into a family with a history of running record labels, his CV also includes being a successful DJ and promoter, before his first release broke Duke Dumont as a global star, debuting at number one with the Grammy-nominated ‘Need U (100%)’.

Mixmag caught up with Glass as he waited to board a flight in Nashville before an appointment at Drai’s in Las Vegas.

Where did your career start for you?

That’s hard to say, as I grew up around music. Labels are literally in my blood. My grandfather started a label. My Dad and uncle have a label; my cousin does, my mom worked at one. But I feel like my career began when I started DJing again after college.

How did DJing push you into this career path?

It was supposed to be a sideline for my filmmaking, but it turned into booking, then programming venues and putting on my own events. I’d get hired because I could play a set and also hook up the artists and industry people.

Is that how Win Music started?

I ran a night with some friends and once we got it to 1,500 people, we wanted to scale it up to 5,000, but the artists that could do that didn’t suit our format. I wanted guys like Flight Facilities and Duke Dumont, but they sold less than 400 tickets. So how do you make Duke Dumont the headliner of a 5,000-
capacity event when he doesn’t sell that many tickets? You make him one of the biggest stars in the world.

That can’t have been easy, though?

People gave me credit because of my family, but I had no idea what I was doing. However, I was willing to do the work, knew where the culture was headed and had a vision to make Duke Dumont big. EDM was giving dance music a platform, but it was a Trojan horse; dance music had no business on that platform in reality. But what I did was use that to leverage Top 40 radio and the Grammys instead. Duke Dumont sounded out of place against Afrojack or Avicii, but I knew he’d sound great next to Katy Perry. It was also important to me to align myself with the right people. The EDM community is disingenuous whereas dance music is one of the longest-standing and purest communities in music. Those were the folks I wanted to be around.

Are people the key to success?

When an industry remains broken for a decade, stick to the smart people by default. There used to be a reason to be the same as everyone else when they made money. That isn’t the case now. So what I’ve always tried to do is be ahead of my peers, and be necessary. If you’re necessary, and you have good people around you, then you’ll figure out how to make a business from that.

Do you think now is an exciting time to work in the industry?

Absolutely! When nobody has it figured out you have the opportunity to figure it out yourself. I’m the perfect example; I came onto the scene out of nowhere, broke a record and made an impact. I made zero dollars off the record, but it gave me a career.

So how did your work with Apple Music come about?

Larry [Jackson] called me to pick my brain, and I shared my pivot that I was working on for Win Music. Larry talked me through Connect, and there was clear synergy. Then Jimmy Lovine and Trent [Reznor] walked me through the whole thing, which was surreal. I was honoured they asked me to join the team. It took me two days to figure it out but once I did I thought fuck everything else: this is the solution!

So what does your role involve?

I’m doing a bunch of things. It’s exciting to bring in amazing new music and find exciting ways to get it out into the world. The Apple Music ecosystem is so impressive. There are so many ways to grow content, and so many ways to connect with audiences.

Is that what makes you think that Connect is the solution?

Beats 1 is a better radio experience than you knew existed. Listen in, and check out Connect while you do. Nothing I can say can explain the strength of Apple Music better than that. 9am PST with Zane Lowe any day is purely the best new music!

So you think Apple Music is key to the future of the industry?

It’s about culture. It’s important to note who is behind this. This isn’t the platform industry, the tech industry or the streaming industry. It’s the music industry, and we took the music out of it for a long time. With Beats 1 and Apple Music you’ve got real music people in control, and that is extremely powerful.

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