Balancing the Grind with Jorge Brea, Founder & CEO of Symphonic Distribution

Jorge Brea is the Founder & CEO of Symphonic Distribution, a company offering digital music distribution, video distribution, royalty collection, marketing, and more for creators.

1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

I am the founder and CEO of Symphonic. We’re a music, tech, and finance company for the music industry, providing core services such as digital distribution, user generated content monetization and optimization, sync licensing and much more.

Essentially a system of record for artists, record labels, managers, and more. I started out as an artist wanting to get my own music out there and had struggles finding a reliable partner so I thought that it would be best to build the experience that I would want rather than trying to find it. Symphonic was born in 2006 and I’m happy to say that we’re over 150 employees in major markets worldwide. 

2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

Typically starts with checking email before going into my round of daily calls. I am mostly meeting with my senior team as well as part of technology and product stakeholder calls as I still very much enjoy providing input on how we’re shaping our products.

I will also still take calls with clients, whether new or established, as Client Management is an essential part of all our day to day lives. Lastly, I try to generate at least one opportunity a day on the business development side of the business. That can be signing a client or partnering with another company or brand to enhance our product.

3) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

It’s a tough challenge to get true work-life balance. My wife and brother work at the company so we find ourselves still being in work mode outside of normal working hours however, we don’t consider what we do “work” thus, it is quite fun to talk about the challenges and improvements we want to make.

When I am totally disconnected from the work, it usually means catching up on entertainment and media where possible. New shows, movies, but also enjoying the arts in my local Tampa community as well as still making music whenever time allows. I definitely make it a point to disconnect as much as possible on the weekends where I almost don’t look at what is happening in the business. 

4) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

I am more actively monitoring my health with smart watches or other technologies. We’re big data junkies and it is good to analyze your own physical analytics to help improve the day to day.

I’ve also started getting into podcasts that are about other creative industries, as many of the concepts that people talk about can be adopted into our day to day. Lastly, wanting to and starting to do more walks helps to clear the mind.

5) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

I honestly don’t read as much as I would want to. My father was an avid reader, literally reading thousands of books but for me, it’s tough to sit down and concentrate and dedicate a good amount of time for that medium.

Podcast-wise, I am enjoying The Rewatchables which analyzes films. I am a big film buff and love to talk about movies, acting, etc. Newsletter-wise, I am frequently reading Music Business Worldwide, Trapital, whatever Billboard sends, Jay Gilbert’s ‘Your Morning Coffee’ and of course the newsletters that our team prepares which are packed with a ton of info.

6) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?

Mark Cuban has talked about this and he’s such a hard worker that I imagine that his concepts are valuable.

7) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

My work-life balance consists of me still being somewhat immersed in creative or arts. Watching movies, understanding how they are made, or just the effort itself is really interesting to me so I consider that a way for me to balance my actual work life. I think everyone is wired differently and should have something else that they are at least interested in to build on a positive work life experience.

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