Tra’Von Williams

VP and Head of Streaming at Encore Recordings. Formerly Director of Editorial & Programming for Hip-Hop + R&B at Epic Records, and artist manager at SinceThe80s. From Hampton, South Carolina & raised in Columbia, SC.

The Tra’Von Williams come-up

Today, Tra’Von Williams is the Vice President/Head of Streaming at Encore Recordings. But his career started with less surety. Throughout college, he had his sights set on pursuing a career as a DJ/radio personality, but didn’t land the internships that would have given him a leg up in getting a role.

He majored in journalism while at Hampton University, and eventually decided to go to law school at North Carolina Central University in 2016. That didn't last long, however. He dropped out after the first semester and moved back home to South Carolina.

He didn’t lose his focus, though. Tra’Von opted to pursue an MBA and move to Atlanta to use his expertise to get him closer to the music entities he wanted to align with. He worked at a strategic communications firm to put a little bit of money in his pocket.

In 2017, he got a foot in the door to the music industry. Revolt Music Conference was hosting its annual event in Miami, and Tra’Von was hell bent on attending. Thinking that the conference may require formal attire, he snuck in wearing a three-piece suit. To his surprise, everyone else was in casual dress - sneakers, t-shirts, and jeans.

Uncomfortable, he sat in on the panel featuring Kevin “Coach K” Lee, Pierre “P” Thomas, and Kei Henderson. He didn’t get the opportunity to network with Coach K but he was able to get Kei’s attention.

“She looked me up and down,” Tra’Von recalls. “I knew in her head she was clowning my whole outfit. She was like, ‘You look very…poised.’ I was like, dang, I am out here looking like a dweeb in this suit.”

Still, Kei, who was managing 21 Savage at the time, was gracious enough to give out her number. It was off to the races from that moment on.

Taking opportunities

Tra’Von began as an intern for Kei and the upstart label she co-founded, SinceThe80s. Her partners were rising managers at the timeBarry Johnson and Zeke Nicholson, who were overseeing the careers of JID and Earthgang.

Tra’Von soon became Kei’s assistant. He then gained the privilege of managing some of her developing artists. He was quickly brought in to assist with almost every release coming out of the SinceThe80s factory.

The first tour he went on was with Kei’s artist, Only One Felipe, opening for A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, followed by another tour with Young Nudy. But Tra’Von’s first major tour was with Savage, as he joined Post Malone on the Beer Bongs and Bentleys Tour across America.

“That's where I was able to see at least 20 new states, which was a blessing because I'm from South Carolina,” Tra’Von explains. “I never imagined I’d be in spaces like that.”

Tours with rising stars like Asiahn and Njomza would soon follow, giving him his first opportunity to go overseas and visit new worlds like Australia, New Zealand, Brussels, Amsterdam, Germany, and more.

Skills that translated into long-term sustainability

A key element of Tra’Von’s mentality that allowed him to flourish was his strategic focus. He was entirely all in on each and every thing the SinceThe80s team was doing. His mentors (the executive team) noticed he wasn’t using any of his work or relationships as a springboard to get to another opportunity. Because of that, they offered to point him to the next step time and time again, increasing his scope of responsibilities when the time was right.

Eventually, his wide range of expertise and drive to “figure it out” led to a new role as Director of Editorial Programming for Hip-Hop and R&B at Epic Records. In his first major label post, he saw commercial collaboration happen on a massive scale, with plenty of interdepartmental projects and interfacing with the major retailers.

Ned Monahan led Spotify’s Global Hits department when Tra’Von was pitching Epic’s brightest to DSPs. Ned moved to Encore Recordings when Joie Manda took over and offered Tra'Von a role, having recognized his work and exceptional release pitching.

Life at Encore Recordings

Tra’Von explained for us the fundamental responsibilities of the streaming department at labels. The major streaming players are the ones many are likely familiar with: Apple, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Tidal, SoundCloud, as well as others where music fans across the world go to to listen to their favorite artists.

At the top level, the streaming department serves as the liaison between DSP partners and the label’s artist teams as each strives to spike streaming numbers as much as possible. This is done by sharing frequent updates and rallying support for the records.

There are two central technical components of Tra’Von’s job. The first is seeking out opportunities - the streaming department will reach out to DSPs to share releases, pitch for on-platform opportunities like playlists, and off-platform opportunities like promotional campaigns, special IRL events, and billboards across different cities. The other component is the data analysis and relaying the importance of that data to departments to the label and artists’ teams.

When one steps back to look at Tra’Von’s trajectory as a whole, it’s quite amazing. He went from an aspiring law school student who was kicked out after one semester to a post as vice president in six years.

It’s unclear where his career will ultimately finish, but until then, Tra’Von plans on using the same hustle and skill set to grow Encore into a company that competes with the major label system.

“[Encore] gave me the opportunity and they believe in me, so I’m all gears on making sure this company succeeds and [is] at the top of this game.”