Burgeoning pop star Tai Verdes, whose broke through in a big way at radio and streaming with the hit “A-O-K,” will discuss how he went from Verizon store employee to drawing 12 million monthly Spotify listeners in an online conversation that’s part of the annual ASCAP Experience this month.
The chat, available to all with a free RSVP for the conference (sign up here), takes place Nov. 17 at noon PT/3 p.m. ET, and will be hosted by Shirley Halperin, PvNew‘s executive editor, music.
The ASCAP Experience is largely aimed at putting industry pros in front of emerging and aspirational creatives to explain some of the finer points of their process and how they’ve succeeded in the music business. Among those who’ve already participated in discussions this year are Greg Kurstin, Chris Stapleton, Michael Franti, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, D-Nice and Draco Rosa.
The 26-year-old Verdes has attracted headlines like “Tai Verdes Is on Top of the World” (V magazine) and “Get Used to Seeing the Name Tai Verdes” (Stereogum). Among the parts of his seemingly “overnight” success story Verdes will discuss are how he’s racked up two billion views on social media, and how “A-O-K” has accumulated more than 200 million streams globally, since becoming a TikTok phenomenon. Verdes will also talk about the more immediate and practical matters songwriter-artists face on the way to releasing music and getting to those numbers, like navigating publishing credits.
Verdes, who records for the Arista label, has more than one arrow in his quiver: A follow-up song, “Let’s Go to Hell,” has just been released today.
