[6] Panay began his career as a talent agent at Ted Kurland Associates[7] responsible for the international tours of artists including Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Sonny Rollins, and Nina Simone.

[8][9] In 2000, Panay started the company Sonicbids to enable independent artists to connect with music promoters online, using Electronic Press Kits (EPK) as a means of booking bands.

[17] In June 2016, Panay co-founded the non-profit Open Music Initiative,[18][19][20] in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, and individuals including inventor Dan Harple and IDEO partner Michael Hendrix.

[25][26][27] In June 2021, Panay was announced as Co-President and Chief Revenue Officer of the Recording Academy, alongside Valeisha Butterfield Jones.

[29] Panay has been tasked with driving business growth through the identification of new partnerships, strategic global expansion, and leveraging new technologies while also expanding the services offerings for both Academy's members and the music industry.

[30] Panay has written about startups and entrepreneurship for blogs and publications including Huffington Post,[31] Forbes, Entrepreneur,[32] WSJ Accelerators[33] and Fast Company.

[36] In 2021, Panay and R. Michael Hendrix, global design director at IDEO, co-wrote and published Two Beats Ahead (PublicAffairs, US and Penguin Business, UK), a book that covers what the musical mind has to teach about innovation, featuring interviews with top creatives including Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake, Gloria Estefan, Imogen Heap, Radiohead, T Bone Burnett, Hank Shocklee (co-founder of Public Enemy), and Jimmy Iovine.