The Lawyer Who Worked His Way Into Music | Jeremy Sirota (Suno, Merlin, Warner)

"I've never been the smartest person in the room. So I've always had to pull at something else." Jeremy Sirota has a career that refuses to sit on a straight line — and that's the point. Tech lawyer at Morrison & Foerster. Record exec at Warner Music. Global licensing deals at Meta. CEO of Merlin, where he took annual revenue from $900M to $1.8B. Now Chief Commercial Officer at Suno, one of the most-watched generative AI music companies on the planet. But the through-line was never the title. It was a way of working: build the room where genius happens instead of being the genius in it. It took his ten-year-old daughter cutting him off mid-lecture — "Dad, no more TED Talks today" — to make that click. In this conversation, Jeremy gets into the class that nearly ended his law career, the book he'd never talked about publicly until now, why he keeps a "captain's log" of half-formed ideas, and the one thing AI can't do for you: have something to say. For founders, operators, and builders figuring out the move from operator to authority to icon — this one's worth your time. 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/23sV8PD... 🔗 Everything else: https://thebiggerstage.transistor.fm Guest: Jeremy Sirota — Chief Commercial Officer, Suno Host: Matt Stone #TheBiggerStage #JeremySirota #Suno #MusicIndustry #AI #Creativity CHAPTER MARKERS 0:00 "Everyone here is smarter than me" 0:47 The career that doesn't fit a straight line 1:58 "Dad, no more TED Talks": the moment that cracked him open 3:51 Why he never bet on being the smartest in the room 5:13 Walking away from law 5:45 The Flash job he wasn't qualified for 7:29 Going to law school when everyone said don't 10:31 Why headwinds are a gift 13:56 The class that nearly ended his career 17:12 From Morrison & Foerster to music 18:48 Inside Warner: outsourcing, AWS, and the first digital deals 20:54 "Go walk the halls": the most valuable hour of the day 23:08 The mentors who rewired how he thinks 24:00 "Uninspired": the book he'd never talked about 26:11 "Worry about what you bring with you" 27:45 Why boredom is a perspective problem 31:36 Stop waiting for inspiration. Put in the work. 32:39 Momentum creates momentum (and the captain's log) 34:26 Slack is corporate TikTok 35:07 The "make this worse" game 36:44 Lateral thinking: land the plane upside down 38:05 "I don't want my past self in the future": AI and writing 40:01 You have to have something to say 41:08 The Ryman: marrying two unrelated ideas 43:41 Read outside your lane (and Wikipedia roulette) 44:39 What makes someone iconic 50:19 Paying it forward, and what's next 52:43 How could we make this conversation worse?