I started interning at Interscope in 2000, right as they opened a new department called “new media.” It was the first digital marketing department in the industry, and I officially joined the team after finishing college. The team had doubled from 3 to 6, and in a couple more years, it doubled again. During that time, iTunes launched, Myspace launched, and Facebook opened to the public. Every time a new platform emerged, we had its founders in our offices talking about how music can be integrated, and how our artists can get involved. (Remember Tom from Myspace?)

That said, the introduction of digital music monetization and social media are two significant ways the industry has changed. They widened the scope of what was possible with music marketing and technology.

In the interview, Calvin Klein’s CMO says that “digital marketing is now just marketing.” Some music companies have eliminated “digital marketing” titles altogether. It’s a bit of a linguistics problem because tech and digital should be integrated into every area of the industry.

As far as siloing, I see it a lot in the data arena. It can be challenging to pull data sources together to create that full picture of an artist’s impact and growth because they live across different teams and channels: social media, streaming and sales, touring, merch. When we integrate digital teams across all of these marketing verticals, we can better optimize how employees and artists spend time and money.

Data would certainly be one—using data to design marketing strategies and develop a global audience.

It depends on the artist. Joel Adams grew a fan base off the release of his single “Please Don’t Go” a few years back, while based in Australia. Some of the team at Spotify have referred to him as a “case study” of an artist who can break out globally on the platform, territory by territory.

Now, when he releases new music, he’s not solely relying only on getting big playlist looks, but investing time into the community he’s built across platforms. For example, this week, he launched the Facebook series, “Live With Joel.” He spends a half-hour every week with fans, chatting, playing music, and telling stories. While this activity doesn’t directly drive streaming on Spotify, he has over a million fans he can directly and personally connect with, which will hopefully convert down the road.

Generally speaking, artists do best when they put time into communicating on the platform where they are most comfortable, take ownership of their messaging, and talk directly to their fans.

These artists are always on the road, and we look for opportunities that complement and leverage that. For example, we’re about to launch a mobile game with Sum 41 where fans can play to win tour merch and tickets to upcoming concerts, as well as opt in to stay connected on an ongoing basis, which will be an exciting experiment.

We had a lot of success bundling tickets to the Backstreet Boys DNA World Tour with their new album this year. In terms of content, there’s some fun to be had with established artists who have a long history and big catalog. We spend a lot of time digging into the archives and sourcing content from fans as well. Even as established artists release new music, they can continue to bring their history into marketing both on and offline. Nostalgia is a big connection point.

Pharrell has so many cultural touchpoints beyond music. He’s always in the studio, but he also has a collection with Adidas, his art collaborations, and fashion collaborations. He releases books, TV series, and films, and has numerous projects geared toward social good.

This year he launched his Something in the Water Festival. On the music side, he brought out everyone from Missy to Jay Z to Usher to Tyler, the Creator. The weekend also reflected the non-music aspects of his life too—from tech to fashion to food to philanthropy to TV and film. There was a large scale art installation by KAWS, a talk with author Deepak Chopra, a film screening, and a church service. A community garden was built with a local school, and a basketball court was built on the boardwalk. We’ll see that develop even more at the festival next year.

Don’t let being in the music business detach you from the experience of being a fan. Buy the merch, geek out over the credits, hang out in the comments, buy a ticket, get the deluxe, stand in a line!