In light of the recent events, Vydia took part in Blackout Tuesday and The Show Must be Paused. This was done to stand in solidarity with the Black community, which has given us and many others so much, but has historically not gotten much return.
We feel our obligation as an organization has to be much greater than posting a message on social media. Artists and labels that use the Vydia platform need to know our company’s values and what we represent.
Therefore, on Tuesday, June 2nd, we canceled all non-essential work, moved all meetings and calls, and instead spent the entire day coming up with ideas on how we could leverage our platform and position to help.
The first three hours of the day were dedicated to brainstorming ideas that would be introduced to the larger group based on a few simple guidelines.
2. They need to leverage our strengths in the music business and the development of technology.
3. They need to align with our core values and mission as a company.
After the brainstorming session, employees were auto-assigned into random groups of 10 where they would share their ideas over the next hour to determine which ideas would be championed to the larger company-wide group. We then spent another two hours discussing the best ideas and how we could turn them into actions.
Given that one of the brainstorming guidelines was making sure the ideas align with our core values, we feel it’s important we highlight some in the hopes that this encourages others to do the same.
2. When we receive, we give back
3. We admit our mistakes and work together to fix them
4. We share ideas and let the best ideas rise to the top regardless of who within the company came up with it.
5. We recognize music as culture and believe respect should be given to those communities.
For example, as part of the explosion in the streaming music market, emerging territories like Africa and Latin America have seen tremendous growth. As a result, we’ve built tools to help local labels in these areas achieve scale while supporting the regional infrastructure. We believe this is good business, and generally the right thing to do
The outcome of our brainstorming sessions during Blackout Tuesday resulted in the enhancement of our relationships with local organizations and we look forward to expanding them even more as our company grows.
Newark All Stars:
In addition to the team-building workshops we hold semi-annually, Vydia commits to hire and mentor two students every year from their program.
Prep for Prep:
Vydia will donate any of our company computers which are insufficient for coding, but still have a high value for other tasks so children in the program can have better access to technology and the internet.
Boys and Girls Club of Asbury Park:
In addition to our previous volunteering efforts, Vydia commits to mentoring the students of their hip hop program so they may learn about the business of music and not just the creation of it. This will help students better understand their rights and ownership of anything they create.
Jersey Shore Women in Tech:
Vydia will commit to donating and providing resources to its annual initiative of introducing technology to women of color in the Asbury school district. This helps introduce their students to skills highly sought after and paid in the workforce.
We hope this information provides better insight into our core values, and while we’re far from perfect, we always strive to do better. To learn more about how Vydia gives back, we’ve built a community page on our website where you can find the ever-growing programs where we donate both our time and money.
– Roy LaManna, CEO and Co-Founder, Vydia