Finding Her Frequency

When Cameo Carlson ’93 moved into her dorm room at Grinnell College in the early 1990s, her father helped by carrying seven milk crates of CDs up the stairs of Younker Hall. Those seven crates were a vivid symbol of her passion: she brought her music with her and, as she would later discover, music would carry her through her Grinnell years and into an unexpected career.

Today, Carlson is a music industry executive and CEO of mtheory, an artist development, marketing, and strategy firm that supports more than 25 managers and over 100 artists around the world.

Despite her passion for music, as a first-generation student and political science major who transferred to Grinnell in her second year, Carlson did not arrive with a blueprint for a career in the music business.

“I didn’t know you could do jobs like this,” she says. “I always loved music, and my parents were really into it so I grew up appreciating all kinds of music, but I didn’t know that it was something I could get into, and I didn’t even know that I wanted to work in the field.”

Still, Carlson’s love of music led her down a path that would shape her professional life and help her forge a career that she never anticipated. In her first year at Grinnell, she found the campus radio station, KDIC, and landed a show, “Music to Solve Your Rubik’s Cube,” which focused on ’80s alternative music. She also DJed parties at the Harris Center on weekends and devoured every concert she could attend. But she did not yet see how that passion could become a profession.

“I just loved it,” she says. “I was just obsessed with music and worked several jobs and would spend my money buying music and buying tickets and trying to see as many shows as I could.”

Those experiences laid the groundwork for her future. “Our job in music now is really about connections,” she says. “People still want to connect over songs, over lyrics — those are the things that help them get through hard times or celebrate the good ones. Music is universal; you can carry it anywhere.”

Discovering a Career Path

After graduating in 1993, Carlson briefly considered a path in public policy and planned to pursue a graduate degree in Washington, D.C. It just didn’t feel right, though, so she followed her instincts and joined her best friend in a move to Seattle. There, she worked in retail and immersed herself in the local music scene.

“I was in Seattle and so there was just all this amazing music going on around me,” she recalls. “But I was working at the mall at a clothing store, and I went broke, so I had to move back home to Joplin, Missouri.”

That move turned out to be pivotal. Carlson landed a part-time job at a small AM radio station, airing church services and spinning country songs she barely knew.

“I knew nothing about country music,” she admits, “but I fell in love with radio. That was the first time I thought, ‘Oh, I’m actually getting paid for this. This is what I want to do.’ It made me realize that there were all these behind-the-scenes jobs in music I’d never known existed.”

The Wild West of Digital Music

Carlson pursued a graduate degree in journalism from the University of Missouri–Columbia, but she found herself at another crossroads upon graduation: remain in Columbia where she was working as a clerk at an adult bookstore, take a job at a North Carolina radio station, or try something entirely new — a position at a start-up called Spinner.com in San Francisco.

“I didn’t know what the hell streaming radio was,” she laughs. “But I thought, well, San Francisco sounds fun.”

She started at Spinner in early 2000. Within a week, AOL bought the company. “It was truly the Wild West,” she says. “There was no way to prepare for a job like that because it didn’t exist before.”

That leap into the unknown became a pattern. Carlson went on to join Apple’s iTunes team when it was still in its infancy — a six-person startup inside one of the world’s most ambitious tech companies. She worked directly with Steve Jobs, helping to shape the platform’s editorial strategy, music catalog, and global launches.

“I joke that those were my Forrest Gump years,” she says. “Steve loved the music and was personally involved. He’d call in the middle of the night and say, ‘Why don’t we have the Herman’s Hermits catalog?’ and you’d have to get on a plane to London to go figure it out.”

Her time at Apple took her around the world — Tokyo, Sydney, London — and validated her path. “I was a first-generation student who had never really gone anywhere,” she says. “Then suddenly I was flying around the world because of music. That’s when my parents said, ‘OK, you’re going to be all right.’”

Closer to the Artists

After Apple, Carlson held senior digital and marketing roles at Universal Motown and Republic Records. But even amid these big names and big campaigns, she wanted to be closer to the people who made the music.

“I learned a lot at the label,” she says, “but it wasn’t always about what was best for the artist. I knew I wanted to change that.”

That opportunity came in 2017 when she joined mtheory, a company that embraced a model that allows managers to focus on what matters most: the artist.

“Managers have to be experts in everything — touring, creative, marketing, data — and that’s impossible for one person,” Carlson says. “At mtheory, we support them so they can focus on the art.”

Carlson was named CEO in 2022, and under her leadership, mtheory has expanded its reach and influence, helping shape careers across genres while creating space for more voices to be heard.

Championing Access and Equity

Carlson’s leadership extends well beyond the difficult task of surviving the music industry into the herculean act of creating positive change. In 2022, she launched the Equal Access Development program, which provides funding, mentorship, and industry connections to managers and artists from underrepresented communities — including women, queer artists, Indigenous people, and people of color.

“After George Floyd’s murder, we didn’t want to just post black squares on our social media profiles,” she says. “We wanted to make a real investment in changing who gets to sit at the table.”

The program offers a cash stipend, structured curriculum, and direct access to executives at Apple, Spotify, labels, and agencies — opening doors that have long been closed.

Carlson also co-founded Digital Divas Nashville, mentors through the Women’s Music Business Association, and serves on diversity and inclusion boards for the Academy of Country Music and the Music Business Association. In 2024, she received the Music Business Association’s Presidential Award for Outstanding Executive for her contributions.

MusicRow magazine recently called her a “digital pioneer” for “giving a fair shot to voices the industry often sidelines.”

Grinnell Roots, Lifelong Connections

Through her long and varied career, Carlson has remained true to the values she learned and honed at Grinnell: curiosity, connection, and the courage to follow her passion. She credits Grinnell with shaping her inquisitive nature, adaptability, and confidence to take chances. “All of these jobs I’ve had, I didn’t really deserve on paper,” she says. “I wasn’t qualified because they didn’t exist before I took them. But Grinnell taught me to figure things out.”

She’s stayed deeply involved with the College, serving on the Alumni Council, organizing externships, and mentoring students interested in music and media.

“I joke that there was a dark period when career outreach wasn’t great,” she says, “so I made a point of being visible. If anybody’s interested in the music industry, I’m raising my hand.”

Carlson often writes personal notes in care packages given to students through Grinnell’s Alumni Care Package project that was first launched by a group of alumni on the Everyday Class Notes (ECN) Facebook page, inviting them to connect. One student took her up on it — meeting her in Nashville for advice. “I always tell them, ‘You are not your major,’” she says.

She’s also brought Grinnell students directly into mtheory. “I try to make sure they see all the different jobs that exist in the company,” she says. “There’s no music management major at Grinnell, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get into the music business.”

Grinnell student Bruna Foss ’27, who studies music and economics, shadowed Carlson during an externship and later joined mtheory as a summer intern in New York. Foss, who hails from Curitiba, Brazil, is a guitarist and singer. Her video blogs, posted on TikTok, have attracted more than 360,000 followers on the platform.

“Cameo is one of a kind,” Foss says. “She understands where we’re coming from and wants to support us. She even took us to the Grand Ole Opry and always gave us her full attention in every meeting.”

Foss says Carlson has become a role model: “It’s inspiring to see a woman playing such a key role in a brutal market. She motivates me to keep pursuing my dreams.”

The Digital Revolution, Part Two

Carlson’s career has always intersected with technological change, the shift from physical to digital media, and from the early days of streaming music to today’s conversations about the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in music.

“I get nervous, but I get excited about new technologies,” she says. “For as much as there’s drama around AI, this feels like iTunes all over again. It’s digital revolution part two. We can’t run from it — we just have to find the cool stuff we can do in ethical, interesting ways.”

Now leading one of the most forward-thinking companies in music, Carlson remains committed to artist-first values and to creating pathways for others, especially those who might never have pictured themselves in the music industry.

And despite her success, she’s still the same music-obsessed Grinnellian at heart. Asked about her favorite concert of all time, she paused to consider the thousands of moments she’s experienced over the years. “I got to see a tribute to Nelson Mandela in London after he was released from prison — Peter Gabriel and others. It was once-in-a-lifetime. But really, there have been so many amazing shows. I just love being where the music is.”