WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

D A N I E L   G L A S S

 

President + Founder

Glassnote Records

New York City

Photography by Andrew Urban

I. We need to find a way to explain new technologies to the average fan. The reservoir of music has never been greater but we must explain the ease of buying it. We also need to reinstate music education to young children. It used to be part of our US system but it isn't any longer.

II. I worked at Chrysalis records under Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. I watched and learned. It was an incredible combination of the best music and a team of talented interesting executives. It felt like home to me for many years and when Chris and Terry decided to sell to EMI, I felt a real sense of loss. Ironically I ended up as president of EMI North America which encompassed Chrysalis but it wasn't the same.

III. I run daily. I run marathons. I run wherever I am. I find running to be the best way to really see, taste and smell a city. You can watch as a city wakes up in the morning; Paris is the best. I watch as the shopkeepers wash their sidewalks and as the bakers bring the baguettes from the oven. Running through Marrakesh was one of the most inspirational and sensory experiences I've ever had. I use running alone as a way to clear my head and plan the day ahead. I also run with others as a way to spend real quality time without any distractions.

IV. Glassnote was successful in North America but not as successful in the UK and Europe. I spent time talking to people like Jerry Moss, who had great success worldwide by opening up offices outside the US and realized that was the solution. I love London and feel especially attached to the UK music scene so it was a natural place for our first office outside the US and Canada, but first we needed someone to lead the team there. Sam Rumney now leads there and has made a dramatic difference in our success across Europe.

V. I feel very strongly about mentoring and have devoted time to training young executives. A big story in my career has been the people I have mentored who have gone on to great success. I am so proud of people like Monte Lipman, Jon Cohen, Rob Stone, Greg Thompson, Ron Perry, Hillary Shaev, Lisa Worden and Aaron Axelson.

VI. I am an advocate of personal communication. It's important for people to connect one on one or on the phone. You simply cannot convey passion in a text or a tweet. One needs interpersonal skills to be successful. You cannot build a real relationship whether it be with a client, an artist or a co-worker without face to face contact. Relationships are everything.

VII. I am for fair compensation. We give away too much music early and tend not to be patient and see things through all the way. As a marathoner I've witnessed way too many people burn out in the first two or three miles. It's about finishing the job.

TM

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WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

 

E M I L Y   W A R R E N

 

SONGWRITER

PRESCRIPTION SONGS

LOS ANGELES

Photograph by Aaron Gaiger

I. I encourage taking a journey to somewhere outside your comfort zone. I think the best work comes from a place that hasn’t been touched before - whether it’s a new emotion, or a secret, or an old memory. I think the best songs are those that make you feel something, and if you want a big room full of strangers to get that tightness in their chest, you have to dig down deep to a place that gives you those same feelings.

II. In this past year I have been fortunate enough to work more closely with artists in sessions - this is by far my favorite way to write. The challenge I find for myself here is striking a balance between truly personal and accessible. What I have found is that if you let yourself be vulnerable when writing a song, to really let the whole story come out and then try and pick out the highlights, you will dip into a universal emotion - and even if the details are slightly different, you will be speaking to an emotion that someone, somewhere has also felt. That, to me, is the fabric of a great song.

III. From my perspective, the biggest challenge facing the music industry is the inadequate compensation of songwriters. We work in a business that thrives off of songs - without the songs, there are no artists, no tours and no albums. The songs are the crux of this operation. That being said, album cuts, and songs that aren’t huge, radio singles are almost worthless - collecting fractions of cents on streaming services, leaving songwriters with hardly enough money to support themselves. The problem with this system is twofold - one, we are losing talented writers who simply cannot afford to live this lifestyle of working essentially for free, with the low-odds hope of getting a song cut and chosen as a single, and two, the mentality of needing to write a “smash” trickles down into the creative environment. People tend to be more concerned about “who could sing this” and “is this radio-friendly” than the actual emotional and musical quality of a song.

IV. It sounds cliche - but living life is really important. This field can be really consuming and as they say, it’s not a job - it’s a lifestyle. I think it’s really important to separate from the work sometimes - whether that means taking some meaningful time off, or just moving around and switching up the backdrop so it never gets stale. If it ever feels like anything other than waking up and doing what I love every day, I know I have to change things in order regain perspective.

V. We need to consider the portrayal of women in pop music. I think we tend to underestimate the power of lyrics in mainstream songs. It is an incredibly powerful platform - people sing along to songs without consciously internalizing what they are actually saying. While I do believe there is a time and a place for a sexy, feel-good song, I am always shocked by how infrequently you hear a female singing about something other than a man, or pleasing a man. Even so many of the girl-power songs are often about how a man messed you up and now you’re stronger because of it.

VI. I am for having fun and remembering the reasons why we got into this business in the first place!

VII. I believe songwriters (particularly female songwriters) should be getting together. There are quite a lot of different ways we could be supporting and even just encouraging each other, but the business tends to get cliquey and people get split up into these little bubbles and don’t get a chance to mingle with each other. It’s always fun hearing what other people are working on and there are so many amazing songs that take forever to see the light of day. We should be sharing them with each other.

TM

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WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

B Ø R N S

 

Artist + Songwriter

Los Angeles

Photography by Stefano Galli

I. The past year has been a test of my endurance as an introvert and extrovert. Touring and being a front man versus writing and recording my album. But now that the record is done I think that hot and cool energy made for an interesting record. It brought out live spontaneous moments in the songs.

II. I've looked at the past year like a test of my artistic endurance. Finding a balance between my introverted and extroverted side: Writing and recording my debut record versus touring and being a front man. Those are two very different sides of me and I've never lived in both shoes simultaneously. Now that the album is finished and I'm on my headlining tour, I think it's the combination of those energies that made for an interesting record. It brought out live spontaneous moments in the recording process and helped me find intimacy during the live show. The question at the end of the day is: How much are you willing to give of yourself to an audience? Finding the balance between giving and restraint. That's where the art lies.

III. Music is very available these days. There are so many ways to stream music for free, and it's getting to the point where it's expected to be available without purchase. I think music should be valued as art just like a painting on the wall or a sculpture in a museum. Artists need to be able to support themselves in order to share more with the world. Investing in a record, even when it's digital, is a compliment to an artist, and an acknowledgment their art is appreciated.

IV. Wisdom is a collection of experiences. You're born with a pure lens of life, without language and without heartbreak. Then you start making mistakes. That's how art is made and wisdom is acquired. It is the slowly aging wine of self. I moved out to California by myself realizing wisdom isn't something you can force or expedite. Unruly life experience was the only way of growing as a writer and a person.

V. I am for the intersection where art exists.

TM

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WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

 

B R I A N   M E S S A G E

 

TALENT MANAGER + PARTNER

ATC MANAGEMENT

LONDON

Photograph by Dave Imms

I. Through my twenties, thirties and early forties I verged on being reckless when it came to decision-making; I once lost £400k on one artist - a wild adventure chasing hope more than a solid business plan. It was more important for me to ‘be in the game’, to ‘chase inspiration’ than to be successful. It was almost enough to have failed because at least that meant I was in there, pushing boundaries. Wisdom has helped me balance the recklessness with mostly sound decision-making that doesn’t throw out the hunt for inspiration but also doesn’t allow you to cut your own ‘business’ throat.

II. I was lucky enough to be part of the team that worked with Radiohead during their In Rainbows chapter. The wisdom I gained from this was experiencing how empowerment and a sense of adventure inspired creativity across everything we touched. It was like cracking the atom, the energy that we all lived with was intoxicating. Subsequently, I met with Nick Cave, both of us got fired up by the concept of doing things differently, of ditching the rule book and going on an adventure. The danger of doing this, the notion of challenging a successful formula in the pursuit of inspiration delivered great results and a real inclusive spirit from which many great creative concepts were delivered. We changed up how we released his 15th album, going for the pretty much untried label services option as opposed to a traditional label approach, turned the touring structure on its head and elected to do no promotion in favour of creating an exciting digital campaign.

III. Disappointment for me is not so much something that comes from the action of others but rather from my own personal failings or the mistakes I have made. Time has allowed me to accept that whilst my professional life has been something of a catalogue of mistakes and disappointments, punctuated by a number of important successes, this is OK and dare I say it, normal. To survive the mistakes and disappointments, to fight another day, to learn from them, to have them sit equally alongside the good times is what it’s about.

IV. The Artist Management game has traditionally been the path of the loner, him or her pursuing the interests of themselves, or the artist they represent. Over the last few years a bunch of us encouraged a far more collaborative approach under my chairmanship of the MMF. Once we had momentum I stepped down to allow others to step forward and benefit from the momentum we had started. I was very happy to continue the pace of my efforts but from a lower profile position.

V. Wisdom for me is knowledge and insight but wrapped in inclusiveness and human sharing. It’s not a tool for self gain in isolation but self gain through the collective of those you share your life with.

VI. We need to talk more about working together, as the current hostility between streaming services such as YouTube and rights holders such as Universal Music is hurting everyone.

TM

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WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

A N N A   C L Y N E

Composer + Curator

New York City

Photography by Phil Knott

I. We seek wisdom and guidance from others in challenging times. A common challenge for artists is writer's block. As a composer, when you are commissioned to write a new work, you are presented with three parameters – duration, instrumentation and a deadline. Sometimes the deadline is fast approaching, but inspiration hasn’t materialized. At such times, we can turn to our mentors, or to scores of the great composers from centuries past – to learn from their wisdom. And so a thread is passed between generations – a lineage of sorts. A personal example of this occurred last year when I was writing a new large-scale work, for which I attempted many different openings – all different, but none of them were sticking. During this time, I was fortunate to meet a composer whom I respect greatly. I was still experiencing writer’s block, and the pressure of a looming deadline, and so I reached out for some advice regarding writer’s block. His letter, in response, was full of wisdom – “Again and again you have to want to learn to walk again. Like a child. Step by step. And you always have to start with yourself...it is the right road, it is the beautiful road, it is life.” Having reflected on his true and poetic words, I returned to the piece with a new perspective and it unraveled naturally and relatively quickly. I met the deadline and I’m thankful for his wisdom during the process.

II. I am passionate about collaborating with artists from other fields – be they visual artists, filmmakers, or choreographers. I find inspiration in both their work and in the dialogue that unfolds in a collaborative artistic relationship. Through collaboration, I am able to develop ideas with another, and to see my own work through a new lens.

III. Now is an incredibly exciting time to be creating music - different genres of music have been smashed open as artists explore new approaches to their craft, and as ensembles are more creative with programming, and risk-taking with younger composers. Technology has also had a massive impact on the creation of today’s music, whether it be through the internet, working with notation and sound-editing software or the creation of new instruments. At the touch of a button, you can hear music from anywhere in the world. Technology drives the presentation of, and our exposure to music within an internet-driven platform for interaction.

IV. Organizations that are exploring new directions are reinvigorating the more traditional classical music world. The American Composers Orchestra is encouraging composers to let their imaginations run wild with the Playing it UNsafe program that invites composers to submit ideas for new innovative works. This was an opportunity that I was fortunate to have in 2008 when I proposed and composed a double laptop concerto for live visuals, live electronics and orchestra in collaboration with a visualist and an electronic musician. Adventurous programming, and not being afraid to program contemporary fresh work is also vital. A wonderful example is the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, which is dedicated to contemporary symphonic music by living composers.

V. We need to talk more about keeping a fluid dialogue between those driving the business and the artists themselves. Artists should know their rights, opportunities and most importantly, how they can share their work with a wider audience.

VI. I am for creating more opportunities for young and emerging artists to meet and receive advice from those in the business – from publishers to presenters. This should be an integral part to any music education – from community colleges to conservatoires.

TM

WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

 

B E N   M A R S H A L L

 

HEAD OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE + VIVID LIVE

SYDNEY

Photograph by Peter Plozza

I. I’m married to an incredible woman and have two gorgeous boys who are five and nearly two. Holding work down with family is a strain and I can only do it because Clare is astonishing and nothing is left unspoken between us – everything gets dragged into the light and nothing’s ever left to fester when the pressure hits. Anything good that comes my way from work is equally due to her. 

II. The last year has been a mammoth one for me professionally: I took on the role of Festival Director of Vivid Live, our big annual music festival and brought back Graphic - our festival of comics, animation, illustration and music after a year’s absence. These two festivals are in addition to the year-round music program we present at the Opera House. When programming a successful festival that celebrates ambitious contemporary music like Vivid Live, the challenge is to get to grips with what makes it special and ask what can you add? For me the key thing was the idea that this festival is the only time we get to completely take over the Opera House with one art form, contemporary music in this case. Chasing down acts like Morrissey, Sufjan, Flume, Royal Headache, The Preatures and TV On The Radio was essential but to also make sure there’s more going inside the Opera House on than just the performances on the stages – we needed to properly take over the space. Universal Everything did an incredible job lighting the Opera House sails, we converted the northern foyer into a proper bar, had a kids festival take over one of the big rooms, did a series of artist in-conversations, threw an outdoor party on the northern point, brought projections inside the building and filmed a videoclip for Flume inside the Opera House. The joy is in finding new and interesting ways to present this incredible building to the world and to program work that does the place justice. 

III. Brian Eno curated the first Vivid Live in 2009 (then called Luminous) and when I started programming the festival I went back to Brian Eno’s writing for some inspiration. I discovered his incredible out-of-print diary “A Year With Swollen Appendices” and at the back were two amazing passages on why art is important that are worth sharing. The first reason he gives is that a major component of what makes human beings unique is the ability to cooperate – everything that resembles civilization comes from people interacting to do more than they could on their own. And art is one of the primary ways we rehearse seeing the world through another’s eyes – every film you watch, book you read or song you listen to gives you a window to another’s view of the world. The second reason Eno gives is that art also exists to rehearse us in various forms of cognitive uncertainty. Things happen to us that have no neat solutions, like the death of loved ones or the breakdown in relationships. Part of art’s job is to be a place where you can go to sit with mystery and be confronted by things that are just for contemplation and experiencing and have no neat cognitive outcomes. 

IV. I think what makes the music industry different from selling toothpaste - with all the branding, digital strategy, new markets and career development all business entails – is at least as interesting as where music overlaps with industry. 

V. I think we need to talk more about music as art. It’s not a conversation that’s easy to have when you’re on the commercial side of the fence and I know I’m in a privileged position and so I feel a responsibility to talk about contemporary music as art and why art is important. I genuinely think the work of Nick Cave stands up next to traditional art forms for example. Why it works at the Opera House is because it sits next to the Nederlands Dans Theatre and Opera Australia and Bell Shakespeare – it’s part of the same creative arc to me. 

VI. I am for treating music as an art form as well as an industry, while trying to sell all the tickets as honourably as I can.

TM

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WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

A L E X   W H I T E

HEAD OF NEXT BIG SOUND AT PANORA

NEXT BIG SOUND

NEW YORK CITY

Photography by Phil Knott

I. An art class was divided randomly into two groups. The first was told they could make one clay sculpture, and that they’d be graded based on the beauty of that piece. The second group was told that they would be graded based on the weight of all the clay they used in their sculptures. At the end of the semester, the first group self-selected the best pieces, and all of the pieces from the second group were graded by independent judges. One might suspect that the group that had all semester to work on just one piece would win in a landslide, but the reverse was true. The group that had produced the most volume ended up having the best pieces. Creativity depends on constraints and on volume.

II. From second grade through fourth grade, I was pulled out of public school. My mom taught me on Mondays and Fridays, and I went to this program for three days a week with 25 other kids. The program was about self-directed learning. Say you need to learn about Native Americans. In the public school system, it’s 'here’s a worksheet, here’s a video, here’s a test' but with the homeschooling it was 'what are you most excited about?' So I would build these huge clay pueblo models of Indian homes. That experience of not just reading a book, but thinking about what is most interesting in this area and diving into it was huge because that’s all I’ve done for the last seven years: how do I raise a venture capital? How do I hire someone who’s 30 years older than me to run sales? We’ve had to figure all those things out. You basically have to find an area like corporate taxes, and dive in and learn everything about it so you can either hire someone to do it, or do it yourself.

III. Every year I would make these New Year’s Resolution list of 100 things that I was going to do. I’ve since simplified that a lot, and tried to just focus on a few big rules. Now I do more revisiting a few times a year: take a deep breath before I eat a meal, look people in the eye when I’m talking to them in a conversation. Before I go to sleep, I write down a few things that happened during the day that I liked, or that I’m grateful for.

IV. What was most fascinating with Next Big Sound was not the consumer app people would add things to. It was having millions of people all saying which artists they think are going to become popular. Then you can map the flow of data through that ecosystem. You can understand how music spreads, how artists break. Unlock the black box of how a band becomes famous.

V. When we launched in 2009, Spotify hadn’t entered the US, Facebook hadn’t launched pages you could like, Twitter had only 50 bands that were on it, and no one had heard of SoundCloud. It was wildly different. So what a great era to make sense of this data, and make it useful. That’s the mission, in the same way that data transformed finance and sports, we’re doing it for the music industry.

VI. Jason Mendelson is a mentor, investor, and friend of mine. There are countless examples of him relaying his thoughts, ideas and suggestions. One that stands out for me was a big change that we founders were going to announce to the company. He said he’s seen startups devolve into an “us vs them” mentality of founders and management vs. employees, and that one idea he’s seen work was to talk to a few well-respected team members before and bring them into the decision making and thought process. It’s a guiding idea that we’ve leaned on over the years and it’s really helped us avoid any kind of division in the company.

VII. We need to talk more about musical education in schools. The problems facing our world need creativity to solve them, and music is one of the best ways to build creative kids.

VII. I am for the truth.

TM

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WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

A N T H O N Y   D E M B Y

FOUNDER + CULTURAL ARCHITECT

HUMBLERIOT

NEW YORK

Photograph by Stefano Galli

I. I define wisdom as extensive knowledge gained from experience. It should only be deemed as wisdom when it’s passed on to others. Otherwise, it is just knowledge. Wisdom doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to everyone, it must be shared.

II. I remember I was living in LA and I had reached a point where I needed a major shift. I had just come from a trip to NYC and I remember feeling alive and inspired there. I showed Rashad, one of my best friends, a photo of me standing in Times Square and he looked at the photo and turned to me and said “Dude, what are you doing here?” I was an A&R Coordinator at Overbrook Entertainment back then. He said “Look how happy you look in this photo. You belong here.” I re-examined the photo again and saw the determination he saw and realized that I was home in that photo. I had been thinking about moving to NYC for a while but that conversation was a defining moment for me and I decided that the time was now. After an extended bout of couch surfing with friends I decided to pull the trigger. I remember calling my mom to tell her I was about to go quit my job, leave LA and move to NYC to pursue my dreams in the music business. Her response was “OK, I’m going to have your father call you”. By the time my pops called, I had quit, moved everything out of my desks at work, booked a flight to Houston to see my folks and then booked a flight to NYC.

III. One of the biggest issues in the music business from my perspective is that the value placed on music itself has diminished. These artists put their heart and souls on display and what they have created has now been relegated to just being the soundtrack to the marketing plan. I understand the value of giving away some music for free as an introduction or as an incentive or reward for fans but not everything. I’m not saying that I won’t hop on SoundCloud a grab a free track but I still do buy music. I got into the business because I wanted to help artists and do my best to support their work by buying music and creating vehicles to help them monetize their creativity. 

IV. I think that there is a very individualistic mentality and there is no mentorship. I remember when I was coming up in the industry, I had mentors who were there to shepherd me through new territories and overcoming obstacles. They showed me the ropes so to speak and in return I was able to impart knowledge to them on how I viewed things from my vantage point. In today’s unstable landscape, there is this survival mentality where it is me for me and there is a lack of community.

V. We need to take better care of ourselves. We operate in a system that requires long hours, stressful work environments, and often we find ourselves in thankless scenarios. We put ourselves last when in actuality we need to place the oxygen masks on ourselves first and then breathe life into our passions and professions. I am a faithful meditator and runner and I give as much time to my personal well-being as I do to my career. I work hard but play and pray harder.

VI. We need to talk more about things that matter. Call me old school but I feel some of the music today is disposable and a great deal of artists are playing it safe. One of the reasons I love music is because great songwriters have no inhibitions and say things we never would. I am not asking for a message in every song but I miss the vulnerability of storytelling. Take me somewhere, make me feel something, and make it resonate.

VII. I am for change. Period.

TM

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WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

A N A   M A T R O N I C

ARTIST, AUTHOR, + BROADCASTER

SCISSOR SISTERS + BBC

BROOKLYN

Photograph by Damian Weilers

I. Going to Tranny Shack and being in San Francisco were my performance art college. That was when my aesthetic and knowledge grew, because the performers and the people that I met were from all over the world, all different ages and from all different eras. This was just after what my friends refer to as “the gay holocaust,” which is when all of their friends who were HIV positive were dying. We were a group of people who were united in celebration and recognition in all that we are, have been, and have been through. That is the same sort of energy and recognition that I try to bring to my performances and my life experiences with other people. Recognition of the moment that we’re having together, and reveling in that moment. Giving yourself permission to go as crazy as you want to, and recognizing that it’s a way to deal with the darkness, as well. 

II. It helps when you’re working on something to stop and allow the collective unconscious to come down. I’m really into this physicist who has his own brand of spirituality, Amit Goswami. It’s the idea that when you are working, your brain is in one mode, and when you are not working, your brain is in another, relaxed mode. Often, great thinkers talk about their breakthroughs happening at those moments when they’re actually not working, when they’re doing dishes or in the shower and they have that Ah-ha! moment. Dr Goswami talks about the idea that as important as it is to do, it’s really important to be. He calls it do be do be do.

III. My husband and I are in the Joshua Light Show, a psychedelic light show that’s been going since the sixties. It’s a collective of light artists, and we do light shows behind bands, making handmade light visuals. I use a giant overhead projector, and drop liquids into it, and manipulate the liquids along in time with the music. It’s stuff that’s been going since the days of Jefferson Airplane, The Who and The Doors. There’s nothing like working in collaboration with people on this kind of thing, where you’re seven people behind a screen and you can’t all put light on the screen at the same time. You have to know when to pull away and when to come in, and it’s a really fine line. 

IV. I believe in the concept, as Elvis did, of TCB. Taking Care of Business. You take care of the business and then that allows and frees you to enjoy it. Understanding what your business is, and what everybody else’s business is, is really important. Everybody coming in knowing what’s expected of them allows for a really nice experience. 

V. I gave up on wanting or striving for success a long time ago, because that’s bullshit. That relies on outside acceptance. If you strive for success, you’ll probably be disappointed, and you probably won’t gain any wisdom from it. Working toward fulfillment finds you gratified at every turn, because every little bit of recognition that you get, every show that you play, every bit of applause is earned and earned for an honest expression. To me, that’s so much where I’d rather be. 

VI. I am for the Black Lives Matter movement. I’m really thankful for social media for that, because you get to interact with people and with minds who are thousands of miles away, have fantastic points of view, and really help illustrate thought in a way that you might not get in your normal social circles.

TM

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WISDOM: A PORTRAIT SERIES

A A R O N   B A Y - S C H U C K

PRESIDENT, A&R

INTERSCOPE GEFFEN A&M RECORDS

LOS ANGELES

Photograph by Stefano Galli

I. My stepfather was a major source of wisdom for me. He was 83 years old when he passed away this year. He had a tremendous passion for life. He was always my friend and advisor for any kind of question about life. 

II. Something I’ve really tried to work on in the last year is gratitude and realizing all of the very positive things that are happening in my life and in people’s lives around me. In this last year, I’ve experienced a lot of loss, it really makes you look at what you have and what things you want to hold onto. I think it’s healthy to take stock of what you have in life: your health, your happiness, your success, family and friends. It’s amazing how quickly the question about what you should do, one that was taking up your thoughts, becomes an easier decision. 

III. In today’s business you can write and produce quality music out of your bedroom, it’s allowing more people to try their hand at it. We’re seeing an explosion of really talented people that instead of choosing to go the artist route are choosing to go the songwriting and production route. You can do it anywhere, you can make beats on your phone, you can record yourself into your phone, all these things are right at your fingertips. People ask me all the time, do you feel that your job as an A&R person is even needed anymore? Because it used to be that A&R people were the only ones hearing new music and you had to be in one of these jobs to be in the know, and now it can be some kid in his or her dorm room in Stockholm that finds the next great thing. My answer is this - It’s more important now than ever, because there’s now more good than ever, but there isn’t a lot of great music. There isn’t a lot of truly unique and special, and I think it’s important to have A&R people who help define the difference between what is good and what’s great, and what deserves to be signed and exposed to the masses.

IV. In 2015, a hit can mean a lot of different things. I think what’s really important is cultural impact, and that the song or the artist is moving the needle forward somehow. A hit can obviously be based on particular numbers of spins at radio, the traditional sort of definition of a hit, or it’s sold a lot of copies, but there may be a song that doesn’t perform very well at radio, but connects on streaming, or it goes viral on a visual that was connected to it, or it might be a band that can sell four or five thousand tickets a night, but has never had a hit at radio. I think there are more examples of all of those types of hits and successes in 2015 than ever before. There used to be only one barometer by which it is measured, and now I think there’s a lot of ways to make a cultural impact. 

V. I have at this point in my career found a new love for education. I think it's a really important for us to be socially responsible. For the current leaders of the music business to not take for granted that we were taught extensively by somebody else. None of us got here by total chance, we all had a great education and it’s my hope that I can make an impression on somebody who’s just starting out. For example, A&R meetings are really dreaded things that a lot of companies do, so the A&R meetings that I do do are more about education than anything. I bring in a member of the creative team, or the admin team, licensing team, clearance team. Somebody who can educate my staff on what it really means to participate in 360, why it’s important to communicate with a producer about whether they’re bringing a musician in and how that musician is paid. 

VI. We need to talk more about the difference between success at work and success in life. 

VII. I am for admitting when you don't know something and asking questions.

TM

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