How LVRN's Amber Grimes Took A Risk, Left College, And Became A Force In The Music Industry

Founded in 2012, the Black-owned record label and management company is the loving home of some of today’s hottest artists such as Summer Walker and 6LACK.

In June, LVRN went global after a managerial partnership was signed with Davido. 

One of the visionaries behind LVRN’s business moves is Amber Grimes.

 

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Kicking the year off, the top music executive was named as the Executive Vice President/GM of LVRN Records and as a partner in LVRN Management, as previously reported by AfroTech.

Before stepping into the music industry, the Atlanta native attended Kennesaw State University. But after about two years, Grimes took the risk to drop out and take on a role at Def Jam, which became a pivotal moment at the start of her career.

“When I got an opportunity to be in music in an official way when I got my job at Def Jam, it was a no-brainer,” Grimes told AfroTech.

“I would never tell anybody else to drop out of college,” she added. “Do your thing. But this is what I’m going to do, and I’m going to work extra hard for it.”

Betting on herself led Grimes to work with the likes of Def Jam, Spotify, and Capitol Records. Although she has worked with big-name companies, being open to doing numerous jobs in the music industry, from artist management and A&R to managing a studio, is why she is the head honcho she is today.

“I tried a bunch of things to figure out what I love but in the midst of all of that, I picked up every single skill from every single job that I ever gave myself the opportunity to engage in — that’s what’s been most impactful for my career.”

Grimes’ path to her current role at LVRN was carved by the organic relationships she’s built in her hometown. Coming up along with the label’s founders — Carlon Ramong, Justice Baiden, Junia Abaidoo, Sean Famoso McNichol, and Tunde Balogun — transformed into now, working by their side as game changers.

“In Atlanta, I’ve always worked with my friends and I’ve always been very lucky — because I’m from Atlanta — to have friends that were just my friends but ended up being extremely successful people,” Grimes expressed. “I worked on K Camp’s management team for a long time. I worked with Mike WiLL Made-It in helping him build up Ear Drummer Records, his label.”

She continued: “And it’s a full circle moment for me to be able to come back and work with LVRN — these guys that I’ve known since I was 17-years-old. I have always worked with my friends. Having to go get all these really corporate jobs and learn all these political things and everything that I learned, and then, to be able to bring it back and make my friends’ company like a family business more substantial [and] really give it a professional foundation that they felt was missing, that’s like a dream come true. So, I’m only here for the ride right now.”

Since launching, LVRN has had a running streak of dominating the industry. A major key to its success is its drive for innovation.

In January, LVRN teamed up with Microsoft for an “unplugged” metaverse experience.

“I would love for more people to get access to amazing experiences,” Junia Abaidoo, Head of Touring & Operations, LVRN, said in a statement. “The amazing thing about this technology is that no matter wherever you are, you can access it and you can access something mind-blowing and really transformational and inspiring, in its creative execution.”

Hosted in AltspaceVR, each quarter, both artists from LVRN’s roster and outside talent perform on the platform and in person.

In addition to the performances, the partnership works to help student organizations in Atlanta teach the next generation about technology early on.

Focusing on the community they’ve built, LVRN uses its investment in Laylo — a fan engagement startup — for communication with its event attendees.

“This partnership is an incredible opportunity for us to engage with the music community in a new and innovative way and open the doors of our brand new offices [in Atlanta] to the world,” Grimes shared with AfroTech. “It’s also been fulfilling to empower our young staff to lead this initiative, alongside our head of touring, and bring web3 and the entertainment industry closer.”

LVRN and Microsoft’s next two events will be held in Q1 and Q2 of 2023.