Dr. Portia Sabin is President of the
Music Business Association The Music Business Association (Music Biz), formerly known as the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), is a not-for-profit trade association based in Nashville, Tennessee that seeks to promote sustained financial growth and bolst ...
(Music Biz), a
not-for-profit trade association that seeks to promote sustained financial growth and bolster inclusion & equity efforts in all areas of the
global music business. Sabin previously served as president of the
independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally known ...
, and has been involved in the leadership of
music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...
associations
American Association of Independent Music
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, North ...
(A2IM) and
World Independent Network (WIN).
Career
While getting her Ph.D. in Anthropology & Education from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, Sabin played drums in several NYC bands before moving to
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region.
European ...
, to research her dissertation.
She began working at Kill Rock Stars in 2000 and started her own artist management company, Shotclock Management, in 2001. From 2005 through March 2008 Sabin managed dance/punk band
The Gossip
Gossip (or The Gossip) was an American indie rock band formed in Searcy, Arkansas, originally active from 1999 until 2016. For most of their career, the band consisted of singer Beth Ditto, multi-instrumentalist Brace Paine, and drummer Hannah ...
. In 2006 Sabin left her postdoctoral fellowship at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
to run Kill Rock Stars. She has been on the board of the
American Association of Independent Music
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, North ...
(A2IM) since 2011, and continues as a board member of
World Independent Network (WIN). In 2011-12 Sabin chaired the organizing committee of A2IM's inaugural Libera Awards, an awards show celebrating independent labels and artists.
As the president of Kill Rock Stars, Sabin is credited with integrating the artists from sister experimental label 5 Rue Christine into the Kill Rock Stars roster and focusing more on artist development. Companies such as
CD Baby
CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...
have shared her advice to their touring musicians to help them appeal to labels. In 2011, Sabin relocated the company from Lacey, Washington, to the Olympic Mills Commerce Center in Portland, Oregon. Under Sabin's direction, in 2012 Kill Rock Stars began releasing albums from prominent stand up comedians alongside its musical releases and Sabin has stated "I really feel like comedy is the new punk rock".
In December 2014, renowned comedian Zach Broussard named Sabin as one of the top 1,000 comedians of 2014.
In 2017, Sabin was elected to a three-year term on the board of
A2IM
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, North ...
.
On August 8, 2019, it was announced Sabin would succeed James Donio as president of Music Biz effective September 3, 2019. Joining shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sabin led the Association to pivot its annual Music Biz Conference programming into more than 70 virtual events across 18 months, to help foster education, networking and community for the global music business at a time where gathering in-person was not possible. The Music Biz 2022 conference — the Association’s first in-person event since the start of the pandemic — was the most successful modern conference in its history, with more than 2,300 industry professionals hailing from more than 750 companies in attendance across the event's four days.
Sabin’s tenure with Music Biz has also seen the organization bolster its efforts to support diversity, equity and inclusion for historically marginalized communities. As of May 2023, the executives which comprise the Music Biz’s Board of Directors are more than 50% female, and 60% are BIPOC. For her efforts since taking the helm at Music Biz, Sabin was named to Billboard's 2021 Change Agents and 2022 & 2023 Women in Music lists.
Sabin is married to Kill Rock Stars’ founder
Slim Moon
Matthew "Slim" Moon (born October 15, 1967) is an American musician and the founder of the American independent music label Kill Rock Stars (KRS). He also started its sister label, 5 Rue Christine. Slim ran KRS from 1991 to 2006, during which ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabin, Portia
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American music industry executives
Teachers College, Columbia University alumni
American anthropologists
People from Olympia, Washington
University of Washington people
Talent managers
Place of birth missing (living people)