Toddrick Ricks

The way Toddrick Ricks remembers it, the Petersburg, Va., house in which he grew up looked much like the inside of a record store. His mother, who worked at an actual record store, would constantly bring home promotional posters and the latest releases. Coupled with the fact that his uncle was a DJ, Ricks was constantly surrounded by music.Ricks has both a bachelor and master of arts in Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media from Temple University.

The young Ricks was mesmerized by his early concert experiences – the very first being Bobby Brown and New Edition. He asked why there was man surrounded by lights in the middle of the audience (it was the sound engineer) and told the ushers they had an exciting job. And since then, Ricks definitely has seen a lot of the industry. He spent time as a sound technician in Philadelphia and an usher at Philips Arena in Atlanta working concerts. Toddrick says he was very fortunate to be in Philadelphia during a time that the Philadelphia sound had resurged. He ran sound for artists like John Legend and Jill Scott before they became hit

Ricks also made connections and gained experience through 10 years of internships and volunteer positions at some of the biggest names in the business like Columbia Records and Warner Brothers. He is now working as a royalties administrator at Warner Music Group in New York City. He focuses primarily on the digital side of the industry – ensuring that everyone who should be is compensated when a song is downloaded or converted to a ringtone.

Ricks believes the industry has made great strides in ensuring money gets where it needs to be in the digital age of music, “but they haven’t got the technique down 100 percent yet.” Still, he equates this time period to the dawn of radio, during which many were unsure how that new media would turn a profit.

Outside of Warner, Ricks has founded daNujac Entertainment, an artist management and music production company. He’s currently working to get his first artist, Ronvé, a record deal. Ricks says the rap artist’s music focuses on the positive aspects of urban life. “I think he has something to say. He wants to be an example.”

Ricks, too, can be seen as an example. His is a career that proves that tenacity can bring great rewards.