Growing from the bottom to designing and owning your company from scratch is the ultimate goal for most people worldwide. This was also true of EMPIRE’s CEO, Ghazi Shami, who had built his way up through his lifetime career – starting out as a computer programmer at 18 and ending up acquiring a successful music distributing business and publishing company under his wing; all while having never attended college or university.
When EMPIRE, established in 2010, launched Ghazi Shami as CEO it found success quickly. Ghazi could serve as someone to emulate because his biography provides an excellent example for people who want to follow his path of discovery through the music and tech industries – albeit where he built successful independent entities at the end. Empire operates both a record label and an American distribution company–in London, New York City (NYC), Atlanta and Nashville. While EMPIRE typically releases albums across many genres–particularly hip hop–Empire is most well-known for its rap music; this is mainly because that genre dominates all of the social media (mostly YouTube).
LATEST CELEBRITY BREAKING NEWS
Empire has partnered with prominent brands such as Google Play, Spotify, iTunes, Rdio, Amazon, SoundCloud and Deezer for distribution of its music. In addition to this digital download option it is also manufacturing vinyls of the album which it sends out to local record shops.
Ghazi Shami Early Life
Ghazi was born in San Francisco, California, and is the founder of the major record label Empire Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc.; he went to San Francisco State University, where he used to have a position as a sound specialist for Bay Area artists.
He also graduated from the College of San Mateo with a bachelor’s certification in Radio and Television between 1997-1999. Ghazi was an employee at 3rd Eye Studios, which he held for four years before eventually moving over to Tangent International, where he took on the Integration Engineer position.
His job spanned across many different opportunities thereafter – working as both a Sales Engineer at FIC and QA Engineer at AudioHighway before eventually being named Creative Media Manager at Audiohighway – all while holding strong as one of their top employees throughout his tenure there.
Ghazi’s High School Years
Ghazi Shami got into making music during his first year of high school when he was just 14 years old. His precocious talent won him accolades from teachers and students alike at a time when hip-hop culture was exploding in New York City in the early 2000s. He honed his skills with DJs—including his own friends who became famous DJs themselves—and producers who helped nurture what would become an unstoppable career.
A restless soul, Ghazi graduated from college after four years of studying abroad and then spent six months studying neuroscience before diving right back into musical pursuits at an accelerated pace: He released records under different pseudonyms, participated in collaborations with rappers including Kanye West and Drake, mastered piano and drums, recorded covers, soundtracks—even original scores for major films like The Handmaiden.
Ghazi Shami Started as A DJ
Ghazi has been interested in music ever since he saw an electronic mixing board at his high school. He became obsessed with both music and electronics early on, which led him to become a DJ during those years. After realizing how talented he was, Ghazi learned the art of producing records and became even more skilled than just being able to mix songs together; eventually making the transition from being a DJ to becoming a producer – all before he turned eighteen.
When performing as a DJ, Ghazi would often rap along or involve himself in other aspects of hip hop culture such as break dancing.
What Is Empire Records?
Fans may not know the history and controversy around EMPIRE Records. With every artist that has left, many have wondered what this company really is all about – but it seems to change each time. It’s no secret that EMPIRE has been struggling for a while now after losing some of its most popular artists but now, people are wondering if it will survive much longer at all.
1. San Francisco Headquarters
EMPIRE Distribution, Records, and Publishing is an international company with headquarters located in San Francisco. They are headquartered in New York City, Nashville, London, and Atlanta as well.
2. A Hip-Hop-Focused Label
EMPIRE is known for releasing works from up-and-coming artists in the hip-hop scene. They were the first to release music from Trinidad James, Rich Homie Quan, K Camp, and Migos – all of which have landed on the Billboard charts with top hits and critically acclaimed albums.
3. Blackground Records Affiliated
EMPIRE has re-released albums from Blackground Records, including Aaliyah’s discography.
4. Top Dawg Entertainment
Nina Etminan, the A&R who helped sign Kendrick Lamar for her own label, is also a part of Top Dawg Entertainment. Artists such as SZA, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul are all under the care of Nina Etminan’s company – they were signed to Top Dawg Entertainment through her connections.
5. 7 EMPIRE Artists Killed
EMPIRE has lost seven rappers this year. This includes King Von, MO3, Drakeo The Ruler, Young Dolph, and PnB Rock. Lotta Cash Desto also died this year – he was shot and killed in Houston one week after the death of another EMPIRE artist PnB Rock. In the past, singers Aaliyah and Tupac Shakur have also been featured on EMPIRE records before they passed away due to unfortunate circumstances.
A COINCIDENCE?
Rap artist PnB Rock was shockingly murdered last week. In light of his death, footage of comedian Katt Williams emerged online – he used to talk about life insurance policies labels take out on rap stars and how much money they could make from their deaths. There are speculations going around social media circles that labels kill independent artists for publicity or something else nefarious. Just days after his death, PnB rock himself became independent with a new mixtape release;
Silicon Valley
Throughout my time in Silicon Valley, I got the chance to sharpen my softer skills. It’s important to know that this particular region has an interest for me because it revolves around technology and music. Working at value-added resellers, or VARs (companies with both retail outlets and services), made me aware of how much I liked the distribution of goods – bringing them from A to B successfully – so when people started asking me what kind of business I wanted to start next, distributed technology seemed like a natural fit! And while innovation is key here, we try our best never to forget the community around us – integrating digital technologies into music production and distribution just so happens to be one of those things!
As Shami worked on different types of music technology projects in Silicon Valley, he got an idea for the type of platform that he wanted to create. As an entrepreneur who wants to improve life for artists and consumers alike through innovative solutions, this sense was instilled early in his career. Because there were already platforms like YouTube, Apple Music, and Spotify- which allow one easy click for distributing content- Ghazi saw it coming beforehand and started his own company right away before anyone else did.
His skills are what contribute to the success of his company- being able to make serious competition among fellow music production and distribution competitors because they know they need to keep up with him when it comes to new technologies.
INGroove Music (2 Years as a Director of Urban Music)
INgroove Distribution Company gives Ghazi Shami a one-year trial in 2006, which allowed him to experiment with the ever-growing business of digital distribution. He played an important part in the company – acting as its director. Alongside other responsibilities such as consulting services, he worked closely to develop different urban talents and sign them.
During this time INgrooves offered him access to unexplored aspects of music distribution, specifically things like redlining agreements which only helped him gain new skillsets even though his exploration has already spanned many years (including work at other smaller music labels).
Ghazi Shami learned from his previous position at INgroove – where he saw all of the flaws in current systems and established EMPIRE because these were what needed to be done right. He observed how the blurredness between labels and distributors created an imbalance among them, which led to Ghazi wanting more influence over distribution during his time at EMPIRE.
With this new mindset, he became aware of the advantages technology holds; however, it wasn’t something they were quick to invest in back then so they took it to slow instead. His experiences with INgroove shaped him by providing him with practical experience that came into use when developing a flourishing enterprise through awareness and discipline – even if there was resistance from some parties or lack of conviction from others who didn’t agree with the direction he wanted to take things.
The Start of EMPIRE
While at InGrooves, helping artists with distribution was one of his primary duties. People who were in the music business often didn’t take care of distributing goods themselves – they would rely on physical stores – and this presented challenges when it came to things like the international market because there are many different countries without brick-and-mortar stores near them.
So he set up Empire to solve those problems, making sure all products had a way to be distributed properly for anyone around the world. His second aim was creating value additions – things that could make their work even better than before (the best possible version) after finishing production; these included audio mastering, liner notes transcription, and translation services or video editing).
The company, which was once just an idea, was now progressing towards being a working concept. Traditional recording techniques were implemented in the digital distribution plan to complement it during the beginning stages. Its success lied not only in its uniqueness but also in how it could counter piracy within the music industry. Ghazi Shami saw Empire as a potential answer to this issue, mainly because people would be paying for something instead of pirating it.
Advertisers still paid money even though they did not directly gain anything back from users who streamed music. But with the increasing number of people switching to stream content over downloading and sharing files illegally, Empire had been doing very well and signed up many celebrities such as Kendrick Lamar due to their popularity among listeners.
Why Ghazi Shami Decided to do Things Differently
Shami decided to adopt a new strategy, one different from what others were doing. This decision led to his company’s success – it was all due to his relentless love for music, which drove the passion and ingenuity behind how he did things. He integrated both digital elements into his productions and distribution- making sure that those who worked alongside him shared this same fascination with music – knowing full well that technology can change rapidly, but never really stopped being around since it started evolving years ago.
There used to be cassette tapes, CD players, downloads of MP3 files, CDs replaced by MP3 players (at least until iPods became popular), followed by smartphones overtaking iPods as soon as they hit the scene; but now there are streaming services taking over everything else at an astonishing rate…and so it seemed only natural for Shami to make moves accordingly – ensuring effective integration of various technologies in support of any one working with music or producing it in some way or another
Streaming is key to Empire’s success and has been from its inception in 2010. His tech-savvy skills allowed Ghazi Shami also invested in software updating the company’s technology so that it had a competitive edge over other music companies since he was more aware of current trends. The strategy for value addition is also important for the company’s growth as it always looks for opportunities to improve – refining its services and products. With many successful artists under the company, consistent improvements show how committed Ghazi Shami is to make changes within this industry which shows he will succeed where others do not.
FAQs about who owns empire records
Is Empire Records The Same As Empire Distribution?
There is confusion between what most people are actually looking for when they search Empire Records–EMPIRE can also be this entity. Yet there are two separate organizations that have also been known to go by the name of Empire Records, one being a TV show and another being a movie.
How Do I Submit Music To Empire Distribution?
Empire Distribution has teams around the world. They want to know that when they partner with an artist, that artist will bring something valuable to them – it is not their responsibility for building up someone new who doesn’t have anything at all. That being said, Empire Distribution are not a company you can just throw your demo or CDs at so easily; you need to see it from another angle.
Is It Free To Submit Music To Empire Distribution?
There is no paid service to have your music heard by Empire Distribution. Refer to the paragraph above for how you can get noticed naturally.
Conclusion
Altogether, the British government’s interest in industrialization during WWII was not revolutionary enough to make it seem like a change from the old policies. However, the new interventionist and active approach most historians say is what made the 1940 Colonial Development and Welfare Act such a major turning point doesn’t seem much different from earlier policies when you look at it more closely.
It wasn’t until Sydney Caine or Charles Carstairs spoke of giving metropolitan authorities some power over colonial governments that anyone mentioned assuming responsibility for states other than ours; which shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise considering up until now colonial governments’ only purpose has been balancing their budgets – spending just enough money and collecting taxes – so nothing ever really changes.