Komali Scott-Jones
WARNER MUSIC & BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Beyond lip service – embodying the D&I agenda
Komali Scott-Jones is an A&R Manager at Parlophone Records. To speak to her, you’re left feeling invigorated (such is the energy she brings to the spaces she occupies) and also introspective (the latter arises from the thought-provoking insights she has amassed in her relatively short career in the music industry). As a young, Black woman in a still male-dominated and less-diverse field, we found Komali’s resilience and commitment to paying it forward for future generations to be truly inspiring.
Working in music always felt like an inevitability for Komali Scott-Jones – she grew up immersed in the music industry thanks to the careers of both her parents. She still found her own way there, starting off in fashion as a booking agent for the Premier Hair & Makeup agency before deciding to make the move across to music. She applied for and landed an internship at Virgin EMI, and although the position was in the Promotions department (decidedly not her passion), she did not let the opportunity go to waste. “I just used to soak up as much knowledge and experience as possible,” she recalls. While spending that year figuring out which department would be the right fit for her, Komali clearly made the right connections and impressions – she received several offers for A&R roles, including one from Parlophone Records which she accepted.
With her move across to the Warner Group almost three years ago, she ended up in the somewhat-unusual position of working in the same building as her Mum, who works at ADA. Rather than finding it off-putting, Komali is effusive about their relationship and reflects on being lucky enough (unlike some of her friends) to never need to explain why working in music is a ‘real job’. Moreover, her Mum leverages her years of experience to be able to provide Komali with invaluable advice, ranging from ‘keep it in perspective – it’s not brain surgery, no one’s life is on the line’, to ‘find the middle ground between the highs and lows and that’s how you get through the really hard days’.
Given the highly-involved nature of the artist-A&R relationship, such advice has gone a long way to instilling Komali with the resilience and grit necessary to go the distance in her field. Of course, this is in addition to a passion for music, her innate energy and some keen instincts, all of which led her to hone in on and later successfully sign budding hitmakers, like the artist Hamzaa. “She was the first artist that I signed and it was a super competitive deal, industrywide,” she recalls, noting, “It was just a milestone for me winning that deal and being able to work with someone that special.” What contributed to her success in signing Hamzaa, particularly since she describes being ‘on the backfoot’ due to coming in later than the other players? “We just really connected on a personal level and really hit it off. I really believe in her and her talent and her vocal,” she explains.
That thread of believing and trusting in the artist and their music also runs through Komali’s approach to A&R; although the field is becoming increasingly data-driven, she stresses the importance of the human element. “To do this job really well I think you have to try and consider both things, but I’m definitely more about the passion than the numbers. I think it’s the human experience that ultimately connects to people and sells the music far and wide,” she asserts. No surprise, then, that when faced with a hypothetical choice between an immediately successful one-hit wonder or an artist who would require long-term tending before reaching the pinnacle of sustained success, Komali opted for the latter. “On my side of things, that means you’ve been part of the journey and it’s more rewarding than just kind of stepping in and not being involved quite as much,” she explains.
Working in music always felt like an
inevitability for Komali Scott-Jones –
she grew up immersed in the music
industry thanks to the careers of both
her parents.
As the conversation turns to recent global events regarding racial and social injustice and how that has been translated in the UK context, we got another glimpse into Komali’s psyche and saw how she passionately engages with whatever she believes in. When it came to the distressing and horrifying killing of George Floyd and what followed on from it, she has been outspoken and, moreover, actionoriented from the very beginning. “For me it’s been tough, but it has sparked a lot of movement and a lot of action, and on Blackout Tuesday I was one of many execs that came together that day,” Komali describes. She goes on to elaborate, “We sought to work out what we can do and how we can spark change for the other Black people that are in the industry who are struggling to advance to the level they’re meant to, and struggling to be retained at the companies they put so much into.” The culmination of these conversations and efforts was the launch of the Black Music Coalition, of which she is part of the Executive Committee and which recently released their manifesto.
While Komali is hopeful that this marks the beginning of positive generational change, she is also open about how difficult it has been to juggle this work – and work it is – alongside her career. “That’s been a lot to handle alongside life and my day job, but I’m really proud of it. And one of [the coalition’s] mantras is that Black labour isn’t free, but the four of us on the exec committee are prepared to do that initial groundwork to put the infrastructure in place,” she explains. She also has her eyes wide open about the potential for currentlyengaged organisations to backslide, and stands ready to apply pressure if that’s the case. “A lot of them pledged a lot of money and said they were going to support us, and I’m really interested to see how far that generosity is going to stretch past the issue trending on Twitter,” she says.
Komali is also blisteringly honest in calling out the music industry’s generally laissez-faire attitude towards Diversity & Inclusion: “There’s a huge amount of work to be done, I think because they deliberately decided that it’s not an issue for them and it doesn’t affect them,” she says. Her next point is another blunt indictment of the status quo, “It’s important to remind them that we aren’t disposable, and you can’t just hire us for cool points, or black points, or diversity box-ticking – we have real value, and talent, and we should be rewarded and recognised as such,” Komali explains.
She does see an increasing awareness around this, and believes that the work done in the past few months has and will continue to help this become more evident. With Komali at the vanguard, you can’t help but feel that future generations will have better prospects and experiences within the industry*.
“To
do this job really well I think you have
to try and consider both things, but I’m
definitely more about the passion than
the numbers.”
In that vein, she shares her advice for young and upcoming artists: “Stay as authentic to yourself and think about the effect that you want to have on the world. There’s so much noise around but do your best to block out the noise and just focus on yourself and who you want to be as an artist.” As for herself, and other young music executives, she had this advice, “Continue to always trust your instincts, even when people doubt you because you haven’t got all the experience they have yet. No matter how high up someone is in the Company, they all had a first day or a first year or a first artist - so you can’t be disheartened by people telling you that you can’t be good without the experience, as that comes with time.”
We loved that, in a conversation that touched on a range of hard-hitting topics and personal experiences, the hardest question for Komali was about her desert-island playlist. True to form, she nonetheless came up with some gems: seminal classics like Michael Jackson’s Thriller; crucial debut albums (and mixtapes) like Instant Vintage by Raphael Saadiq, Illmatic by Nas and Frank Ocean’s nostalgia, ULTRA; and the anthemic The Writing’s on the Wall by Destiny’s Child. After chatting with her and getting a feel for her passion, drive, perspective and grit, it doesn’t seem any stretch to say that in years to come, Komali’s artists will add to this list of infinitely re-playable albums.
* Late in 2019, Komali Scott-Jones co-founded The Debrief along with Afryea Henry-Fontaine and Char Grant. All-too-aware of the absence of organisations dedicated to addressing the unique issues facing black women and women of colour music executives, they launched this initiative to create a safe space for these under-served groups. (www.the-debrief.com and @thede.brief)