From experiencing the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus as a two-year old boy and listening to Dalaras and Marinella as a teenager, to rising to president of the organisation behind the world’s top music awards, Panos A. Panay’s journey is a testament to resilience and leadership in the music industry.
While in Sydney earlier this year for the ARIA Innovators Conference he spoke to Neos Kosmos about the music industry’s evolution, the esteemed Recording Academy, his leadership journey, and how his Greek Cypriot heritage shaped who he is today.
Growing up in post-invasion Cyprus in the 1970s, Panay never imagined he would one day become president of the organisation behind the GRAMMYs – the world’s most prestigious music awards.
“I would have had more chances of going to the moon than having this job,” he told Neos Kosmos.
As a child in Nicosia – “the last divided capital in the world” – Panay witnessed firsthand the 1974 Turkish invasion hardships.
“It was very traumatic … I think every day I was reminded of the grief of the fact that half my family lost everything, they were refugees. And many of my childhood friends that went to school with people who lost everything.”
Though the 1974 invasion took much from Panay and his fellow Cypriots, it also gave him many reasons to find strength in the face of adversity.
“It’s really difficult to grow up in a small country that’s divided into two … You ‘re from a small country, you feel unprotected, you feel that any day you may lose everything.”
“How can it not shape you and make you determined?”
Rethinking the future of the Australian music industry
From vinyl, cassettes and CDs to digital platforms, the way we listen to music has evolved significantly over the years.
“The music industry has been enormously resilient,” said the president of the Recording Academy.
Earlier this year, Panay visited Sydney to be the keynote speaker at the Australian Recording Industry Association’s ‘first ever’ ARIA Innovators Conference.
The conference aimed to bring together industry stakeholders from across the country to address and rethink the future of the Australian music industry in the post-streaming era.
“It’s amazing to see the transformation and the impact that has occurred onto the Australian music scene. There’s no shortage of massive megastars,” he said.
Panay talked about the “challenges endemic to the Australian music scene.”
“Australian output is in English, and I think that causes it to be lumped in with a lot of the primarily American output.”
In a streaming era, he said “that creates unique issues.”
Algorithms don’t distinguish between Australian, American, or British music, Panay explained, which makes it harder for Australian talent to grow.
This change has caused “a flattening of culture in some ways.”
“I do think that we’re missing a bit of that spice and flavours and ingredients that used to make at least music develop in English speaking countries fairly unique, even though they were all in English.”
He said this reflects not only changes in the industry but also broader shifts happening in a post-internet world.
As for AI, that’s a “wholly different animal,” Panay said.
Just like a pen, “it can be an instrument of, amazing and beautiful expression, or it can be an instrument of hate.”
He said while the academy is not “anti AI or anti-technology” it supports “ethical guidelines” for the data AI uses.
“Our job as an organisation is to ensure that its creator first.”
Redefining the music industry through innovation and entrepreneurship
From a young age, Panay knew where he wanted to be.
“I don’t remember any time in my life when I did not wanna move to America.”
The day after completing his two-year army service in Cyprus, he jumped on a plane and headed to the U.S. at just 19.
“I lived in a country of half a million people, and I came to a country of 350 million people.”
He applied and got into Berklee College of Music -the world’s largest independent college of contemporary music- to become a musician.
Soon he realised his true calling was in the music business.
Relying mostly on his “own merit,” he later secured leadership roles and gained extensive experience in both entrepreneurship and academia.
In the 2000s he founded Sonicbids “the first ever platform that connected bands and promoters.”
“We had over a million shows that happened through the platform.”
For Panay, running Sonicbids for over 13 years was more than just business.
It built a sense of community, offered him a chance to travel the world, and “observe the needs of musicians through a very different lens every time.”
It was also the reason he came to Australia in 2005, the second-largest market for Sonicbid’s membership outside the U.S.
“I used to create these random dinners and invite 15 members in any city that I would be in and take them to a Greek restaurant. I joke that because it’s the only place that I know where to order.”
With a “360 view of the industry,” Panay returned to Berklee, but this time, not as a student.
He held leadership positions oversaw global programs and initiatives, including campuses in Valencia, New York City and Abu Dhabi, as well as expanding the college’s reach in China and other international markets.
Panay also spearheaded Innovation and Strategy at Berklee, which exposed him to new technologies and led to close collaborations with MIT.
“The common thread in my career has been being creating platforms in ways for artists to be able to express themselves and make meaningful careers.”
The Recording Academy
In 2021, Panay was named president of the Recording Academy, the top music organisation representing music professionals, best known for the Grammy Awards.
Together with CEO Harvey Mason Jr, his vision is to “expand” the Academy’s “reach” to creators from diverse cultures worldwide.
“You find talented people in every corner of humanity. The main difference is their access, their opportunities.”
Panay believes “that through community you develop strength,” and that “music is the key that unlocks every door.”
In recent years, the non-for-profit organisation has made “tremendous strides” in “diversifying its membership.”
This includes “welcoming 3,000 new women voters,” with “over 40 per cent of the organisation now made up of people of colour,” and “more than 60 per cent of the membership” having joined in the last five years.”
“We’re here to represent, what the industry looks like today, not what it looked like ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.”
The Recording Academy is unique, Panay explained because it was founded by creators with a mission to support, educate, and promote the creative community.
With 13,000 voting members, this body decides the Grammy Awards outcomes based on peer recognition, not popularity or juried selection.
“A big part of what the academy does is using whatever megaphone you have to do good and to protect this group of musicians, of creators, in a way that as a collective, we’re able to do a lot more impactful than as individuals.”
GRAMMYs On The Hill
After Australia, Panay’s next big stop was in Washington D.C., where he got ready to climb another peak at the “GRAMMYs On The Hill.”
The annual event, hosted by the Recording Academy, brings together music creators and political leaders to promote fairness, equality, and justice in music laws and improve industry policies.
“The GRAMMYs are an amazing ceremony. That’s a graduation and culmination of everything this organisation does where everything comes together.
“GRAMMYs on the Hill is like your favourite class. It’s the one where you can’t wait to go to.”
From listening to Dalaras to representing music legends
Being raised “in a country that many maps even omit altogether,” Panay “had zero access to any music outside of traditional Greek music.”
He “primarily” listened to artists like Giorgos Dalaras, Elpida and Marinella.
“To listen to American or English music, I had to tune into BFBS, which was the radio station of the British Armed Forces or go to the British Council and listen to so called jazz, because I had heard of jazz, but had no idea what it sounded like,” he remembers.
Little did he know years later he would work as a talent agent, representing iconic artists like Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone and Chick Corea.
Life’s challenges never held Panay back
Instead, they fuelled the drive and determination that led to his future success.
“I was sure as hell determined to be the hardest working kid on the planet … The one most willing to learn.”
And while there was a time when he wanted to be a footballer for Arsenal, his love for music prevailed.
“Your career is an act of incrementalism more than an act of thoughtful and strategic planning for where you’re gonna be.”
A proud Cypriot
Sometimes those who have lost everything understand the importance of giving the most.
“Cypriots are amazingly resilient.”
Cyprus has been occupied by almost every major army in the history of Western civilization, said Panay.
His family is well known in Cyprus for their involvement “in the struggle to overthrow the British rule.”
“My grandmother, you know, hid a lot of the of the fighters in their house.”
These stories his father continues to tell him, along with his own experiences, have shaped him into the “proud Cypriot” he is today.
As a father to twin girls, Lydia (Λυδία) and Zoe (Ζωή), whose names are tattooed in Greek on his arms, he views the value of his heritage in a new light.
“For me their Greek identity has been important. I benefited a lot in my life and feeling bicultural at minimum.”
Panay credits much of his outlook on life to his parent’s “extremely giving” nature.
“Once you have children, it’s all about them. And it’s not a sacrifice. It’s a privilege.”
“It’s about creating an environment for them that enables them to build an even better life than the one you’ve benefited from.”
And when it comes to raising his daughters, there’s one thing he cares about.
“I don’t care about rules. I care about values … It’s about creating and viewing a set of values and a belief system that hopefully lasted for a lifetime”.
Running away from and to Cyprus
Panay left Cyprus young for a better life on the other side of the world.
As he grew older, the pull to go back grew stronger.
“I spent, I don’t know, forty years of my life running away from my country. And then the last, you know, ten years running to it.”
While the U.S. has much to offer, it’s “the smells, the sand, the soil,” and the “earnestness that still exists” in Cyprus that he misses the most.
Greeks often find their way to one another, no matter where they are in the world.
Most recently, while in Sydney, Panay met with Cypriot Australian Silia Kapsis, who represented Cyprus in Eurovision 2024.
“I will make all the time in the world to talk to a young artist, any artist, but certainly a Cypriot artist or a Greek artist, because I relate to them.”
With many Cypriots moving to Australia after the 1974 displacement, it’s no surprise Panay has relatives in Melbourne – the third largest “Greek city” in the world.
Though he values his heritage, he realised growth meant stepping outside his comfort zone.
“If I left my home and all I did is have a bunch of people from my home country around me. What the hell am I learning?”
“Experiencing discomfort is the key to growth.”
A connection to Greekness through cooking
When Panay isn’t talking with artists or working on music projects, he enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, especially with seafood.
“Cooking is part of my identity. It’s my creative outlet, and I think it’s maybe my connection to my Greekness.”
Food and music are very similar, he said, because they are the “only things that express your identity and everybody can understand.”
“If I can feed you something that I make, I don’t need to explain it to you just like I can play you a piece of music that I make and I don’t need to explain it to you.”
Music reaffirms our humanity
Panay was in Cyprus when wildfires in Los Angeles fires broke out in January 2025.
In terms of what the situation is like today, “it depends where you live,” he said.
“If I turn left on Sunset Blvd, nothing changed. Nothing. If I turn right, it’s like the abyss.”
This year, the GRAMMYs raised $25 million to support musicians and others impacted by the LA fires, said Panay.
“I’m very proud of the way that the organisation pivoted and used its platform and its considerable megaphone to amplify that message and raise awareness and more importantly raise money.”
The Cypriot visionary, said the Academy’s mission is “to use music as a means of creating more cohesion in our society, making it better.”
“I really genuinely believe that the most important class of citizens is actually not the politicians, is not the businesspeople, it’s not the academics.
“I think it’s the creators who express just our shared dreams, aspirations, fears, beliefs, doubts.
“That’s what reaffirms our humanity. Right? And I think it just starts from there.”
