110. Evan "Kidd" Bogart: Writing Hits, Beyoncé, Eminem & How the Music Biz Works — Catalogs, Splits, AI

Episode 110: Evan "Kidd" Bogart has worn nearly every hat in the music industry. From mailroom A&R at Interscope Records to hit songwriter (Beyoncé's "Halo," Rihanna's "SOS"), artist manager, booking agent, and now buying music catalogs with Seeker and advocating for creators as Vice Chair of the Recording Academy. He's one of the rare people who has sat in nearly every seat at the table. In this episode, Elmo Lovano goes deep with Evan Bogart on both the craft and the business of music. Evan is the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart, the legendary executive behind KISS, Donna Summer, Parliament, and the Village People, and manager, Joyce Bogart Trabulus. He grew up inside the music business, tried to make it as a rapper, and worked his way up from the Interscope mailroom to the A&R department. As a teenager, he discovered Eminem and was the first person to put Em in front of Jimmy Iovine. He'd go on to sign Kara's Flowers, who later changed their name to Maroon 5. After getting sober in his early 20s, Evan reinvented himself as a songwriter, and his very first composition, "SOS" for Rihanna, went to No. 1. He followed it with the Grammy-winning "Halo" for Beyoncé, co-written with Ryan Tedder in just three hours, plus hits for Britney Spears, Madonna, Lizzo, Jason Derulo, Leona Lewis, and more. Today, Evan is the CEO of Seeker Music, the creator-led music rights, publishing, and record company he's built into a catalog of more than 19,000 copyrights and master recordings valued at roughly $400 million. The catalog includes works by Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Drake, Christopher Cross, Joan Jett, Run the Jewels, and Lewis Capaldi. Named the #2 Most Innovative Music Company of 2025 by Fast Company, Seeker recently closed its inaugural $267 million asset-backed securitization with M&G Investments and announced a global distribution partnership with Virgin Music Group. If you don't know what that means, that's OK, because we break it all down. We get into how you actually value and buy a music catalog, the business of publishing and masters, how songwriter splits and royalties work, why music rights have become an institutional asset class, and how music-backed securitization deals get financed. We also dig into Evan's role as Vice Chair of the Recording Academy and Co-Chair of the GRAMMYs Songwriters & Composers Wing, where he fights for fair mechanical royalty rates, helped create the Songwriter of the Year Grammy, and is helping shape the conversation around AI and the future of music rights, creativity, and ownership. This is the deep, insider version of Evan Bogart's story. The craft, the deals, the money, and the mission. For anyone who wants to understand how the music business actually works. I hope you enjoy the conversation with my dear friend, Evan Bogart! This episode is brought to you by our friends at The Pod Company! Their portable sauna makes it easy to prioritize your health wherever you are, whether you're on tour, traveling, or at home. Use promo code ELMO to get yours for $499 instead of $999! Learn more at https://podcompany.com/ Huge thanks to our friends at DistroKid! DistroKid is the easiest and fastest way to get your music on over 150 platforms worldwide! Go to https://distrokid.com/vip/elmo to get 20% off your first year! Become a Patreon Member to stay in the loop as we post Patreon-only exclusive content, ad free episodes, and discussions about music and music careers. https://www.patreon.com/gowithelmo Please SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW this podcast to catch new episodes as soon as they drop! Your likes, comments and shares are much appreciated! Listen to the audio form of this podcast wherever you get your podcasts: https://elmolovano.komi.io/ Follow Evan: https://www.instagram.com/kiddbogart/ Follow Go With Elmo: https://www.instagram.com/gowithelmo/ https://www.tiktok.com/@gowithelmo https://x.com/gowithelmopod Follow Elmo Lovano: https://Instagram.com/elmolovano https://x.com/elmolovano Follow Jammcard: https://www.youtube.com/@jammcard https://www.instagram.com/jammcard/ jammcard.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices