Last week, Billboard revealed their 2020 R&B /Hip-Hop Power Players list. Included among the list of prestigious music executives are Black American Music Association (BAM) founders Michael Mauldin and Demmette Guidry. Every year the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list highlights the year’s most influential music executives and leaders in the industry.
About being recognized on this year’s list, Mauldin says, “It’s an honor to be included in such a prestigious article. Events and activities that surround us during this time in history are some of the most critical times of our lives, and I’m excited and proud that Black American Music and the Black community are in the forefront of our global culture.”
Before founding BAM in 2017, both Mauldin and Guidry have served decades in many notable senior leadership roles in the music business, launching entrepreneurial ventures, and developing and orchestrating many award-winning music careers. After serving as president of Black Music at Columbia Records, Mauldin created and started producing the urban teen live concert series, “The Scream Tour,” and in 2015 he partnered his Scream Tour brand with Live Nation Entertainment to create, SCREAM NATION, a touring platform designed to produce live concert events and tours for emerging young artists. With his work as a senior executive at Columbia Records, Warner Brothers Records, Music World Entertainment and Sanctuary Records, Guidry has cultivated a solid career behind the scenes of the music industry encompassing business development, marketing and management of successful music brands, and producing creative content for a broad portfolio of clients in music, film, and live entertainment.
In addition to the invaluable contributions Mauldin and Guidry have made to the careers of many artists including, Jermaine Dupri, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Public Enemy, Wyclef Jean, NAS, Fugees, Anthony Hamilton, Alicia Keys, Destiny’s Child, Bow Wow, 50 Cent, Kenny Lattimore, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, and the industry as a whole, they have expanded their work to bring awareness to the economic impact and cultural influence of Black American Music worldwide, and to create initiatives that positively affect the Black community through the Black American Music Association (BAM). BAM is a professional trade organization dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting the legacy and the future of authentic Black American Music as an indigenous art form. It provides music industry professionals, creators, scholars and music industry stakeholders with opportunities to transform global cultural relevance into community relevance that will empower future generations through professional training, education, preservation, financial literacy and advocacy.
Earlier this year, BAM partnered with VotingRightsAreCivilRights© and other organizations and individuals to combat voter suppression tactics and intimidation during the 2020 election. The effort specifically focused on protecting the vote in 14 swing states and 54 counties with high African American and Latino populations through a poll workers initiative and SeeSay, an online tool that enabled people to report voter suppression activities in real time. In October, BAM, in conjunction with the Georgia Entertainment Caucus (GEC), announced the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame which will be located in historic downtown Atlanta on the sidewalks of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Northside Drive. The Walk of Fame will honor iconic individuals and organizations that have impacted Black culture and the community alongside those who continue to lead us into the future. Groundbreaking is slated for December 2020, with an official inaugural celebration scheduled for January 2021 during Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.
Guidry shares, “It is an honor to be recognized by Billboard for our work empowering future generations by uplifting an art form I’ve labored to advance for 25 years. Through the arts, our community has created much of what we know as American music and culture.
At BAM we’re focused on transforming our cultural relevance into local community relevance. We are forging the leadership to amplify the voices across culture that wield power, authority and influence to enact policies and decisions concerning the art form. In these challenging and exciting times, we are humbled to be of service and proud to be working alongside our membership. We would like to thank VotingRightsAreCivilRights© and our coalition partners for their support in our efforts to combat voter suppression and to protect the vote. We are effective when we galvanize resource and creative to mobilize the community on behalf of the culture.”
