Blog posts and interviews on the music industry
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Ruth has a Ph.D. in Management and Organizations from the University of Michigan and taught Entrepreneurship to MBAs at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She has written for TheAtlantic.com, Psychology Today and Wired.com.She currently writing a book about the history and production of rock concerts.
Ben's publicist reached out to me a while back when he was in Vancouver with Lionel Ritchie. She connected the two of us which lead to this interview. It was fascinating hearing Ben's story of how he got the gig playing with Lionel Ritchie, Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, John Fogerty, Tony Braxton, Don Felder and many more. I will hint that it had something to do with playing all the open mics and jam nights in NYC. Equally as interesting is hearing about how he is pursuing a parallel solo career as an independent artist.
A while back I interviewed radio host, author and music marketer David Hooper about his book Six Figure Musician. We did the interview in Nashville about a week prior to the launch. At the time he told me about his plans for the book and how he intended to market it. I thought it would be interesting to follow up with him and find out how his marketing strategies were working and what he had learned about his audience.
Today's interview is with Gregg Stewart, a marketing expert with over 13 years of first hand experience in the entertainment industry. As the Associate Director, Music Marketing Strategy & MuchFACT he's the main point of contact for music industry partners at Bell Media Inc. when it comes to music and entertainment.
Finding success in music or business is all about the accumulated experience and knowledge that allows us to recognize and seize the opportunity that ultimately results in what the general public observe to be "overnight success." I was curious as to what those opportunities had been for Jeff. With his experience and first hand stories to tell about artists and their careers I was curious as to what advice he could offer for those looking for a career in music.
Today's interview is with my friend Robbie Grayson from Franklin Tennessee. Robbie is the CEO of TraitMarker, a way for you to discover the "real you." As it states on the website: "Chances are that your personality lies buried beneath years of expectations and demands that life has heaped upon you. TraitMarker uncovers the genuine you lying beneath it all..."
Martin is a guy that has "been there, done that..." he has played with everyone from Johnny Rotten in his band Public Image, Ltd to Pig Face, Killing Joke, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Flea, Danny Carey from Tool, and many others... He owns a record label and is an in demand speaker at music conferences around the world as well as a professor at Columbia College in Chicago. He is the author of many books including most recently Tour Smart.
While meeting with a songplugger friend in Nashville, he asked me if I would interview some clients of his that were in town. The truth be told I was not really interested. I have always tried to keep my personal interviews (unlike when I am being hired...) to be with people that I have actively searched out. This situation was a little different and also a perfect example of how the industry really is based on relationships. I didn't want to offend my friend and I understand in this biz that if you scratch my back I'll scratch yours. So I said "sure."
Oscar is a renowned Canadian radio promoter who has worked with the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Tiesto, Swollen Members, Classified, and Marcy's Playground to Jets Over Head, Madeleine Peyroux, Robbie Robertson and Jordan Knight. He focuses on commercial radio in Canada and knows exactly what it takes to break on radio.
This week's interview is with Bill Caywood. Bill is a graphic designer and branding expert, he is the CEO of Brett Manning's Singing Success, the Creative Director of TraitMarker, founder of NashvilleParties.com, co-founder of Festivalus and the co-founder of Caspian Productions. His clients range from Faith Hill and Jimmy Eat World to Interscope Records, EMI and Warner Brothers.
After interviewing many successful artists, entrepreneurs, authors, etc... after a while a number of similarities start to appear, from their personality traits to the environment around them. Although one of those traits is the ability to put yourself out of your comfort zone, the real question is what have been the experiences that build people up to not only recognize opportunities but to also risk taking them. What in Rick's past experiences and development have allowed him to consciously choose to put himself in a place of vulnerability along way from his comfort zone? Not only once but many times over and excel?
Today's Interview is with vocal coach extraordinaire, Brett Manning. Brett has worked with many well known artists including Taylor Swift, Hayley Williams, Keith Urban, Wes Hampton and has also coached several Grammy and CMA Award winners, as well as recent Broadway casts of Les Miserables, Jekyll & Hyde and Elton John's Aida.
Karen Kang is a recognized brand strategist and the CEO and founder of BrandingPays LLC, a corporate and personal branding company (www.brandingpays.com). She is the author of BrandingPays: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand. She has trained thousands of professionals on the unique BrandingPays™ System for personal branding.
Charles helps artists, musicians & songwriters create and extend their online presence. He implements strategies and runs campaigns to increase fan acquisition, engagement and create brand awareness. The intent of these efforts are to acquire and nurture a fan base that would help artists build and maintain sustainable careers.
Design is a tremendous tool for improving and simplifying education and learning; creating experiences that are more delightful, functional and meaningful; developing businesses, organizations and initiatives that will have sustainable long-term growth, and a positive effect on the community and environment.
Josh shares a ton of hands on advice in this interview that will be invaluable to building your brand's visual identity.
A musician in his free time, chris has surprisingly good knowledge of the current music industry and has a ton of great comparisons and examples to share.
Chris is a New York Times Bestselling author of books like The Impact Equation and Trust Agents (cowritten with Julien Smith), Social Media 101, and Google Plus for Business.
DAVE DOUGLAS is a prolific trumpeter, composer and educator from New York City. His unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition some of which includes a Guggenheim Fellowship, Aaron Copland award and Grammy-nominations. Douglas has developed his work for several unique ensembles with whom he’s currently active including his quintet, electric sextet Keystone, Brass Ecstasy, Sound Prints Quintet, co-led with Joe Lovano. His new Quintet released their debut recording, Be Still, in September 2012 with singer Aoife O’Donovan, the first time Douglas has featured a vocalist on a recording. Since 2005, Douglas has operated his own record label, Greenleaf Music, releasing his own recordings, albums by other artists in the jazz idiom, and continues to prove himself as a forward-thinking leader in the realm of digital music distribution. He served as artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at The Banff Centre in Canada 2002 through 2012 and is co-founder and director of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2013.
Ariel is a thought leader in the digital PR world: the founder of a successful PR firm; international speaker & educator and the author of two books on social media and marketing for artists. Ariel’s Cyber PR® process marks the intersection of social media with engaged behavior, PR, and online Marketing.
Today I have Martin F. Frascogna on the show, he is an attorney who specializes in international entertainment law. He has worked with international musicians, Grammy winners, labels and tours, currently representing clientele in 23 countries spanning 6 continents.
Today I am speaking once again with Marty Neumeier. The last time we spoke it was on the topic of branding, a topic on which Marty is an internationally renown authority. He has written many books including Zag which was named one of the "top hundred business books of all time" for its insights into radical differentiation; and The Brand Gap, considered by many the foundational text for modern brand building. It fascinates me how often musicians are told to find a real job and that they will never be successful in terms of a career at their art. However, it seems that "real jobs" are less and less of a "real option" in today's economy as technology is taking over in what Marty is calling "the robotic age."
