As the newly appointed president of Limelight Records, Spencer hopes to give back to the organization that drew her to Elon University.
As she walked through the main hallway in Arts West on her first tour of Elon, a poster grabbed Maya Spencer’s ’27 attention.
It advertised a best-of album created by Limelight Records, an organization Spencer was unfamiliar with. When she asked about it, the studio art professor who was showing her around told her it was Elon’s student-run record label, and Spencer was immediately hooked.
Now a music production & recording arts major with a production concentration, Spencer said learning about Limelight from that poster ended up being one of the biggest reasons she decided to come to Elon.
“I knew that I wanted to study music in a program that was focused on production and not classical music,” Spencer said.
Spencer initially joined Limelight as an artist during her first-year at Elon, but she wasn’t as involved in the organization until the beginning of this year, when she felt the need to participate in a way that would help her reach her professional goals.
“I knew that the artist track wasn’t exactly for me,” Spencer said. “It’s not necessarily the thing I’m most passionate about, but leadership is something that I’ve enjoyed for a really long time.”
Spencer was excited to learn more about the music business through Limelight and said her experience has been “educational and experimental.”
Now, as she prepares to step up as president of the organization, her biggest goals are to get Limelight more involved on campus and to focus on artist development.
Spencer hopes that through events like showcases and festivals on campus, students and other members of the community can appreciate the work of the student musicians. Spencer is also dedicated to making sure artists within Limelight feel that their needs are being met by the organization.
“I want to put more focus on artist development, so that they feel supported and feel like they have a place in Limelight and structure to how they want to do things,” Spencer said.
As president, Spencer said she can now give Limelight and its artists the spotlight they deserve.
“Making sure that [Limelight] reaches as many people as possible, whether they want to see more music or make music, that’s really what it’s all about to me,” Spencer said.