When COVID-19 forced us into lockdown earlier this year, it felt as if the world was closing in around most of us. But for Alexandria Higgs, CEO OF Alex&Rria (cute, right?) an up-and-coming, Atlanta-based music management firm, it appeared as though the world was opening explicitly for her, right at her doorstep. “I’ve met a lot of my neighbors during this quarantine,” Higgs retorts as she relates the story of how she assembled a team to get her LABEL off the ground. Straight after graduating from Georgia State University, Higgs dove into the world of venue and artist management. However, her experience dates back to the entrepreneur’s high school years as an A&R. After a hiatus while in college, she landed a position at a music venue that provided Higgs first-hand, in-depth knowledge. She worked non-stop for three and a half years until the pandemic forced her out of a job. “I was running on empty,” says the workaholic Scorpio of the time, “as weird as it feels to say, COVID was a welcome break.”
So, when quarantine ordered all to indefinitely remain where they settled, Higgs and her neighbors took the opportunity to get to know one another on the rooftop of their loft. “We would get hammered together and bullshit for hours,” she laughs. She began to get closer with one neighbor who works at Cox Media and revealed to her that he once tried to pursue a career in music and offered to play her his songs. Though she was secretly hesitant, she gave it a listen, and “it all fell into place,” as she recalls. VNIS, pronounced “Venice,” an alternative R&B crooner, instantaneously became the catalyst for Higgs to pursue her lifelong dream of being a music industry executive and is currently Alex&Ria’s sole signee.
What sets me, and my company apart is that I give my artists 100% creative control. While having the ability to cross-market them in multiple music markets.
Alexandria Higgs
A believer in the universe, Higgs viewed her circumstances as fate as she soon found a lawyer willing to represent her, also from that very loft space. Adding her sister to the team as the business strategist and longtime friend Deeana King to cover PR and marketing, Higgs is able to keep the operation close-knit and female-oriented. Higgs recalls her desire to be a music executive since childhood after being inspired by Heather Locklear’s portrayal of Roma Schleine in the 2003 film “Uptown Girls.” “I didn’t know female music executives existed, but I knew then that I would grow up to be her!” she exclaims.
“I want to lead the charge of more women in this industry.” As a young, Black woman in a field notorious for its exploitation of everyone involved, Higgs has made it her mission to restore the soul of the music industry by making it about the art and little else. “What sets me, and my company apart is that I give my artists 100% creative control. While having the ability to cross-market them in multiple music markets. My goal is to keep more money in my artists’ pockets. I don’t want to gauge them as most major labels and agencies do. I achieve this goal by keeping my team small.” Fed up with the rampant misogyny that regrettably seems to come with the territory of such a trade, “this industry is not for the faint of heart,” she muses, “but I am determined to make this industry safer for Black women especially, to thrive.”
Motivated by the pure ecstasy that music provides, Higgs is on her way to becoming a maverick in an industry that has had a reputation of being elusive and cold for decades. “I’m trying to be the Ava DuVernay of my industry,” she explains and with the halt brought upon the live entertainment industry due to COVID, Higgs can plan her attack to break that glass ceiling and be a role model for Black women.
Learn more about Alexandria Higgs and ALEX&RIA on Instagram.
