On Friday, March 15, 2019, Mr. James Brown came to speak to Mrs. Carolyn Manheim‘s first period Sports & Entertaining Marketing class in order to share his extensive knowledge in the music industry with Def Jam Recordings. Brown is the father of Midlo sophomore Kaden Brown, as well as an Old Dominion University graduate and the Vice-President of Urban Promotions of Def Jam Recordings. Traveling to New York weekly, he is involved with promotions, marketing and digital marketing, and publicity for artists, such as Beyonce and 2 Chainz. Mrs. Manheim comments, “While I love teaching students about the music business, it is great to have a professional in the field willing to talk with the class.”

Brown touched on multiple interesting facts about the industry, such as the death of CD’s, which the students have learned about in class. He reiterated that streaming is the music distribution of the future. “He was really enthusiastic about going into the music industry, and he influenced me to want a career in this industry. I learned about how charts work and many other music facts,” shares Jon Smiley. “Mr. Brown’s music experience was very interesting and cool to learn about. I was really interested when he talked about what he does with the radio stations in marketing artists’ music,” remarks Jake Childers. 

Mrs. Manheim’s Sports Marketing class learned a great deal from Mr. Brown, maybe even gaining some insight to a possible future career in the business world following high school.