196: What Innovators Can Learn from Music’s Biggest R&B Breakthroughs

What if the songs artists love the least become the ones fans can’t live without? In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Amani Roberts, DJ, professor, author, and creative powerhouse, to explore where real innovation happens in the music industry—beyond technology, beyond distribution, and deep into the creative process itself. Amani takes us behind the scenes of some of the most legendary R&B hits, revealing how experimentation, last-minute decisions, and creative risks have shaped the soundtracks of our lives. From Earth, Wind & Fire collaborating with magician David Copperfield to transform live performances, to Kool & The Gang reinventing their sound to reach #1, we unpack the unexpected ways music evolves. But this conversation goes beyond music. Amani shares lessons on creativity, reinvention, and ownership that apply to any industry—whether you’re leading a business, building a brand, or creating something from nothing. We also dive into the business of music today, from the rise of streaming and catalog sales to how artists are navigating a world where music is consumed differently than ever before. If you’ve ever wondered how collaboration, risk-taking, and even rejection fuel the biggest breakthroughs, not just in music but in innovation at large. This episode is for you.  

Om Podcasten

Did you ever wonder how an innovation got to its finish line? How innovators saw the future, made a product, and created change – in our world and in their companies? I did. Innovation Storytellers invites changemakers to describe how they created their innovation and just as important – THE STORIES – that made us fall in love with them. Come learn how great innovations need great stories to make them move around the world and how to become a better storyteller in the process. I’m Susan Lindner, the Innovation Storyteller. But I wasn’t always. I’ve been a wannabe revolutionary, an epidemiologist at the CDC and an AIDS educator in the brothels of Thailand helping to turn former sex workers into entrepreneurs. Trained as an anthropologist and the Founder of Emerging Media, I’ve spent the last twenty years working with innovators from 60+ countries. Ranging from cutting edge startups to Fortune 100 companies like GE, Corning, Citi, Olayan, and nine foreign governments, helping their leaders to tell their stories and teaching them how to become incredible advocates for their innovations. Great innovation stories make change possible. They let us step into a future we can’t see yet. I started this podcast to shine a light on our generation of great innovators, to learn how they brought their innovation to life and the stories they told to bring them to the world.