Meet Tarik Bradford | Owner of Dahomey Music-Synch Licensing & Publishing

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tarik Bradford and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tarik, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
From a very young age I always had the ambition to start my own music related company. I was inspired by legendary executives like Berry Gordy and Russell Simmons so I studied them over the years and tried to learn as much from their stories as possible and figure out how to apply that to my own journey. Once I entered into the music industry I wanted to soak up as much information and accumulate as many experiences as possible and eventually use that knowledge to venture out on my own. After several years of working at a variety of companies in the music business I decided the time was right to take that leap of faith and venture out on my own.

What should our readers know about your business?
Dahomey Music Enterprises is a 3rd party music licensing and publishing company that specializes in placing the music of artists in Film, Television and Advertisement spots. I believe what separates my company from others is the unique combination of business acumen and creative skills that seek to find the best and most fitting opportunities for all of the clients that I represent. This has been a 20 plus year journey for me with several bumps in the road so it certainly hasn’t been easy. I’ve been able to overcome these obstacles by being relentless, establishing quality relationships and constantly learning from any and all experiences whether positive or negative. I think it’s important for the world to know that I have built a quality brand and company that has respect and a great reputation in the industry.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would start the week off with a trip to the Santa Monica pier to enjoy the weather and people watch. For dinner I would make sure that we visited some of my favorite restaurants including Osteria Mozza, Blue Plate Oysterette and Gjelina. During the middle of the week I would make sure to take them to one of the great sporting venues (Staples Center, Dodger Stadium, Sofi) in town to catch a game. Next I would look to take them on a museum trip probably starting with the Grammy museum and making our way over to LACMA and The Getty. After that we might head out to a few places downtown like The Standard, The W hotel or The Edison. On the weekend I would take them for a little cultural shopping and lunch in Leimert Park. To end the week I’d take them to a themepark perhaps something like Universal Studios and end the week with a night at The Comedy Store or the Laugh Factory.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate my shout out to all of the Black music executives in the industry that inspired me to want to work in music in the first place. Several people inspired me but some of the more prominent names I want to mention include Berry Gordy, Dick Griffey, Russell Simmons and Clarence Avant.

Website: www.dahomeymusic.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dahomey_music/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/home

Image Credits
Michelle Bradford