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About Zack Massey

Zack Massey has spent 20 years in the music industry, including 14 at iHeartRadio. Since 2020 he has been Creative Director for Luke Combs, and he founded Black Label Creative. In 2025 he was nominated for a CMA Touring Award. He builds software for the music business, Sorvo and The Liner Lab, and helps owners in any industry figure out where AI actually saves them time. Based in Nashville.

Zack Massey in a black cap and T-shirt, with warm stage lights and haze behind him

I came up through radio, where I spent fourteen years at iHeartRadio working across programming, content, audiences, and digital strategy. Since 2020, I've served as Creative Director for Luke Combs. I'm also the founder of Black Label Creative, where the work has included photography, film, creative direction, album campaigns, and tours. In 2025, I was nominated for a CMA Touring Award for Tour Videographer/Photographer of the Year.

Somewhere along the way, I started building the software I kept wishing existed. Some of the problems are big. A lot of them aren't. They're the same ten-minute frustrations that show up every day, and the cost adds up over time. That's what led me to Sorvo and The Liner Lab. I care about making information more useful and giving the people who know their business a better basis for decisions.

I still make things, shoot things, and work with artists. I also use AI to build custom tools and study the problems I'm curious about. I don't think technology replaces having an opinion or knowing the work. I'm interested in what happens when it gives those things more room to matter.

Twenty years, roughly in order

  1. 2006–2020 iHeartRadio Programming, content, audiences and digital strategy.
  2. 2020–Now (current) Creative Director, Luke Combs My longest-running creative work, through Black Label Creative.
  3. 2020–Now (current) Founder, Black Label Creative Creative direction, photography, film, album campaigns and tours for artists, labels and brands.
  4. 2025 CMA Touring Award nominee Nominated for Tour Videographer/Photographer of the Year. source: CMA
  5. Now (current) Sorvo and The Liner Lab® Projects I'm building, both patent pending. Sorvo is music intelligence, in an invite-only beta. The Liner Lab is artist audio delivery.
  6. Now (current) AI strategy advisor, RCS Advising the broadcast software company on its AI strategy.
  7. Now (current) Consulting Free 20-minute calls with owners in any industry, independent artists, managers and labels.

Black Label work

Selected artists, labels, and brands featured in Black Label Creative's work.

See the full portfolio at blacklabel.mx

What I write and talk about

ai AI & tools What I use, what I stopped using, and how to tell a real AI tool from a demo. /writing/topic/ai music-data Music industry & data Radio, streaming and the numbers behind artists' careers. Every figure sourced. /writing/topic/music-data building Behind the build What I'm building, including what broke. /writing/topic/building creative Creative work Cameras, light, campaigns and the craft side of the work. /writing/topic/creative perspectives Twenty years in What the long view teaches. Mostly about attention, judgment and radio. /writing/topic/perspectives

Elsewhere

Press and podcasts

Run a business? Work with me directly A free 20-minute call. I'll tell you honestly whether AI can help. /work In the music business? See my companies Black Label Creative, Sorvo and The Liner Lab®. /music