Age: 29
Job title: CEO, Nanolog Audio, Inc.
Why he’s a 2019 Top 40 Under 40: He uses music to advance the work of scientists and business knowledge to advance the work of musicians.
Adam Brown has the long, flowing hair you’d expect of a member of a metal band. It’s fitting because until recently he was the drummer in Striker, a band with international distribution that’s toured worldwide for crowds of up to 6,000 and accrued numerous accolades, including a Juno nomination.
He’s tossed around a football with Steel Panther, talked banana pudding with the lead singer of Anthrax on a cruise ship and opened for Metallica at Rexall Place. The group’s had several record labels, but Brown helped manage it the last few years, putting his MBA to work. The band went from playing 15 shows a year to 120; it has 10 music videos that have garnered three million views; and it’s grossed over $100,000 from performances the last two years.
“The music background is also a business background, really. We’ve built a brand and established a business,” says Brown.
While working on his MBA, Brown began a project with Nanolog Audio Inc. that uses Nobel-prize-winning scientific knowledge — akin to a “black hole,” as described by Brown — to create guitar pedals with a unique sound. That project evolved into a full-time job where Brown increased the company’s social media following and sales, working to commercialize the product to the music industry.
He has a passion for giving as much honest information as possible to those starting in the music industry. And he likes to share his business acumen as well — he created a business plan for Sea Change Brewery, helping secure its licence and funding.
Brown’s so fresh off a three month tour his drum set sits dismantled in his basement — so the reality of him no longer being in the band hasn’t quite set in. “I’m not sure what’s next. Take time to rewind. Maybe politics,” he laughs. “Or, I’d love to be a business professor someday.”
This article appears in the November 2019 issue of Avenue Edmonton
