Today we’d like to introduce you to Janette Berrios.
Janette, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have a background in Finance, Economics, and Entrepreneurship, but I’m an artist at heart, so I would call myself a Creative Entrepreneur. I winded up in the music industry thanks to the CEO of Symphonic Distribution, Jorge Brea. As some may or may now know, Jorge is my husband. When we met he had Symphonic up and running alongside his best friend and brother. They ran the company out of their apartment at the time. I was working in Corporate America under Securities Lending and decided to leap into working with Symphonic. I had under my belt the experience of running my own business plus the structure that Corporate America had brought.
I can say I’ve now worked seven years in the music industry and have loved it. It’s incredibly rewarding to work with so many creatives around the globe and educating them on how to treat their craft as a business.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road for sure and every stage has its challenges and lessons to be learned along the way. I think our current challenge today as we scale is making sure the entire organization is moving in unison. This includes processes to the culture of the company.
Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
Symphonic Distribution is a 100% independent music distribution and marketing company founded by music producer Jorge Brea in 2006. Headquartered in Tampa, FL and with offices in Brooklyn, Nashville, Denver and Bogota, Symphonic provides thousands of new and established record labels, managers and individual artists with global digital music distribution to hundreds of retail and streaming platforms, as well as playlist pitching, release promotion, and a comprehensive suite of label services.
Artists and Record Labels that have had their content distributed through Symphonic Distribution include Bassnectar, deadmau5, Waka Flocka Flame, Calma Carmona, The Movement, Daddy Yankee, Richie Hawtin, Stick Figure, Marshmello, and many more of various genres and music focuses.
I would have to say that I’m the proudest of being able to build a fully independent company. We’re currently in a landscape in which major record labels continue to throw money at artists and labels to own their works, newer distributors are popping up left and right backed by large corporations (that typically have no business in music) and throughout it all, there is still a very active and thriving independent music community that continues to challenge big money.
What has honestly set us apart all these years has been how we treat our clients. As corny as it might sounds, we consider Symphonic a family and we treat our clients like family. It helps that we’re Hispanic, so we tend to be a bit overly warm for some, but it’s just in our DNA inevitably.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I would have to say I was getting my first puppy when I was about 5 years old. My aunt got it for me – which I still don’t know if she had asked my parents permission to get it for me. I named him Pekito – which sounds very close to the word Perrito meaning puppy in Spanish. (I get no creativity points there) It was just a simple mutt but it was automatically the best gift ever. I used to dance with him and dressed him up all the time – he was the best! My Dad always jokes that the poor pup must have had a rough time with me, but it was all out of love.
Contact Info:
- Address: 707 N Franklin St.
4th Floor
Tampa, FL 33602 - Website: Symphonic Distribution
- Email: info@symdistro.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/symphonicdistro
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/symphonicdistribution
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/symphonicdist
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/symphonicdistro
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