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Today we are excited to unveil the second in a two-part interview feature with Rey Roldan, founder of Another Reybee Production (part 1 can be found here). We originally started working on this feature way back in August of 2013, but due to email troubles and scheduling troubles we had to start, stop, start, stop, and start all over again. It’s okay though, because we have finally had a chance to learn the story behind this powerful force in Music PR and are now prepared to present his journey to you.
It would be pretty difficult for you to find anyone working in music today who has not crossed paths with Rey Roldan at one point or another. From working with top 40 acts like Britney Spears and Duran Duran, to helping develop more buzzworthy alternative acts than I could possibly attempt to name here, Rey has spent the better part of the last two decades helping the world’s greatest talent find attention in the public eye. He started in the label world, but it’s when he decided to step out on his own that his career really began to take off.
I have known Rey for over half a decade at this point and can say beyond the shadow of a doubt he is one of the nicest, most professional, and often funniest people you will ever meet in the music industry. Everybody has a Rey Roldan story, and every single one makes him out to be someone you want as your new best friend. The insight he has to share is priceless, and we thank him for taking the time to share it with us.
The first part of this feature dealt mainly with Rey’s life before he started his own company, so this time around we are discussing the life of Another Reybee Production. If you would like to learn more about Rey and his efforts in music PR, please take a moment to follow him on Twitter. Additional questions and comments can be left at the end of this post.
H: Who was your first client?
R: At Reybee, my first clients were this Boston punk band called Lost City Angels and LA’s 50s-girl-group-combined-with-cowpunk Miss Derringer. I’m still friends with the members of both bands (Lost City Angels are on ‘hiatus’ but occasionally reunite for their legendary St. Valentine’s Day Massacre shows; Liz and Morgan from Miss Derringer had a baby and are hopefully working on new music… They’re so great).
H: You’ve worked with a wide range of names, including everyone from Britney Spears to Ryan Adams (during the ‘Heartbreaker’ years, no less). Have you found any genre of music to be particularly easier to work than another? Do you have any personal preference when it comes to the genres you work?
R: That’s a bit of a tough question because there are elements of each genre that are easier than others, but as a whole, each genre has its sweet spot. For example, we do a lot of industrial/synthpop/electro and I love how dedicated many of those writers are to the “scene”. There are about 20-25 writers who I know who I can assuredly go to and say, “Hey, [NAME], I have a brand new IAMX album… let’s go!” and it’ll connect. But on the flipside, working that kind of music to the bigger press outlets is a daunting task because it’s not as viable in the mainstream as a Top 40 act. When it comes to which genre is my favorite, I’d have to say that it’s not exactly a “genre” but I love working bands who are starting out (I would never call these kinds of artists “baby bands” except in a derogatory fashion… “Baby bands” is just so disrespectful of a term). I love being presented with a challenge and working my ass off to help these bands in their trajectory. I love the excitement getting a band their first good “look”… I love getting a band their first positive review, feature, cover, etc. Knowing that I helped a band in their strive to achieve their dream is one of the greatest satisfactions.
H: Without going too in-depth, please walk us through a typical work day:
R: Coffee… More coffee… and perhaps lunch at some point? Kidding aside, my mornings are the most hectic. Like most of us who are constantly jacked into our email, if I wake up in the middle of the night, I check email… mainly in preparation for the morning because I get anywhere between 400 to 1,500 emails overnight. Some of it is spam, but most of it is work-related, so my first hour or so of work is sifting through emails right away and answer as many of them immediately as I can. Then it’s pitching pitching pitching via email, phone, IM… and oddly, sometimes text. I always set a goal for myself every day as to how many interviews I set up, how many reviews I lock in, and how many calls I make. I’ve learned that setting goals every day makes me far more productive than doing it the standard PR strategy of letting things land where they fall. Publicity is far more effective when you’re proactive.
H: You were active in publicity before the rise of social media. Do you feel the digital age and abundant access to information has made your job as a publicist easier or more difficult?
R: Technology was a double-edged sword for publicity. In my early days of my career, I met a lot more journalists face-to-face. We met for lunch, drinks, concerts, even sometimes in the morning commute if we were heading in the same direction. Publicity was 60% social, 40% office. I had a group of friends who were a mix of publicists, journalists, TV bookers, and musicians. We’d hang out all the time (I’d say we were bar and/or concert hopping maybe four or five nights a week). Back then, we all had expense accounts (since I was at major labels, I had a huge one so I was usually Mr. Moneybags). Since we were all friends, it was easier to get our artists into Rolling Stone, Spin, and all the big mags… and the “friend of a friend” thing came in handy when pitching people who were in our little group but were associated with one of us. Pitching was done either in person, on the phone, through USPS mail, or… the modern day precursor to email, fax. There was answering machines to occasionally tend with but before caller-ID, people picked up their phone whenever it rang.
With technology came the dying out of the “hang outs”. Email slowly crept in and then soon took over and phone calls stopped being de rigueur. And it all became too convenient. Sending an email was so much more passive than making a phone call or meeting for lunch or a drink. And bosses, knowing that these meetings weren’t that necessary anymore, made us work harder… and longer. Writers became savvy to avoidance and voicemail and caller-ID prevented many personal connections from happening.
It’s MUCH easier these days to reach a lot more people, but it’s also a lot more impersonal and unfriendly. I still try to make as many phone calls as I can to establish some sort of personal interaction and keep human contact, but almost 65% of my job now is digital communication. It may be more convenient and perhaps “easier”, but I really do miss that human interaction of the old days.
H: We ask journalists a lot about what up and coming bands can say to help them when networking for coverage. As a publicist, what advice would you offer writers hoping to work with your clients?
R: Courtesy and respect will get you everywhere… or at least help you get everywhere. There are so many emails and phone calls I get from writers who feel that the way to get what they want/need is to be demanding or entitled. That doesn’t fly in my book. I don’t care if you’re from the biggest publication or a blog with three readers, I’ll treat you the same way. I’m very karmic. If you barge through my door and demand, I’ll push right back. If you come in with respect and courtesy, I’ll return it in kind. I can’t fulfill every request I get, but if I can, I will. And please, if you’re going to use a template or a form letter, make sure all the details are correct. Sure, my name is oddly spelled so I’ll forgive you if you write “Ray” or “Mr. Roland”… but if you’re requesting an interview for “Yellowcard” and you forget to change “All Time Low” in your email, that’s going to send me a different signal than you originally intended.
H: Piracy is one of the most discussed topics in the industry today. Do you feel album leaks are preventable? If so, how would you advise an artist to keep their music safe while still getting the word out?
R: Leaks aren’t 100% preventable but there are ways to insuring you stop leaks from coming from you. I’m a big user and supporter of Haulix (and no, I’m not fishing for brownie points because you’re interviewing me). 90% of the writing world is familiar with Haulix and how it’s watermarked with each writer’s info. So that’s a good preventative. Most writers aren’t hip to streams but will deal if that’s the only alternative. But for me, one of the biggest ways I’ve learned to prevent leaks from my own dealings is through firm and honest trust. When I am working a very high-level record, I will connect with the writer first and make sure they are planning on covering it before I send it. And when I connect with the writer, if I don’t know them already, we establish a trust bond that will tell me if I feel it safe to send to them. There are bands where I’ll send downloads and streams in my first pitch, but I tailor my list to those people who have exhibited trust to me in the past. I don’t do big blasts of downloadable music to hundreds of people who I may or may not know… That’s just asking for a leak.
H: When it comes to working with your clients, how do you prefer to share their music with press? What is it about this method that appeals to you the most?
R: As I mentioned above, I’m a firm believer in Haulix. We put a good portion of our clients on Haulix. And it’s great too because you can run reports and see who has listened to albums and which songs the most to help tailor follow-up calls. But I also use Dropbox, mostly when a record has already been released and the fear of leaking is over.
H: Looking towards the future, what are the biggest challenges currently facing your company?
R: I’ll be honest. Reybee is at a VERY good place right now. Thankfully, I’ve really never had to actively pursue projects and I don’t mean that in an egotistical way. One thing I’ve always maintained is a great relationship with many of our clients both past and present. We get a lot of repeat business (and I hate to call it “business” but there’s a lack for a better term). We’ve worked every Yellowcard record since they came off of hiatus. With the exception of one Bayside record, we’ve been attached to their last handful of records. We work all of the high-level projects off of Metropolis Records. Chuck Ragan probably will stay with us forever (I hope). Because of our track record working with Chris Carrabba on Twin Forks, we are now working with Dashboard Confessional. The Architects have been with us forever. And the great thing is, these bands and their teams recommend us all the time to their friends. I take pride in being a faithful to bands. It’s a great feeling going to a show and meeting bands who I’ve always been a fan of and have them say, “Wait, YOU’RE Reybee? We need to talk.” That’s happened countless times and it feels awesome.
H: What are your current career goals, and how have they changed in recent years?
R: I don’t set goals too far into the future. I set benchmarks to help me get where I want to go. When I started out in publicity, my goal was to work at a label. When I got to a label, I wanted to build an artist from the ground up. When I did that, I wanted a platinum record. When I got that, I wanted to run the publicity department… etc… all the way up to running my own company. And I’m there now. I’m not one to be too open about my plans because I don’t want other people to see what I’m planning and beat me to the punch… but let’s just say that I have my eyes set on my next step… and if you look at my past record, I’ve achieved pretty much every career goal I had set for myself. Place your bets now!
H: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
R: I don’t mean this in a “oooh, he’s asskissing”, but I want the music industry to go back to being about the artist and the album. I mean, I had a hand in propelling the idea further of a “singles-dominated industry” with my hand at being a teen pop publicist for Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, etc., but we lost sight of music as art. There are some really awesome artists who have amazing full “albums” but not many people today have the attention span to listen to albums in full. We forget just how deep some of these wells are that artists dig to write these songs. I still marvel at intricate musicianship that most people pass over in search of a hook. I still am amazed at lyrical word play and clever lyrics. And the industry tends to look for “hits” or whatever “fits” the current hot sound.
H: Your roster is as eclectic now as ever before. Do you have any plans or releases on the horizon you would like to bring to our attention?
R: We just signed three amazing artists that I’m floored by. SPEAK and Tinnarose both from Austin and Mustered Courage from Australia. SPEAK is this, for lack of a better genre, rockin’ synthpop band that wanders the line that Passion Pit, Phoenix and Kids of 88 traipsed. They’re very close to Tegan & Sara, Ra Ra Riot and RAC too, so they’re a band’s band as well which is awesome. Tinnarose is this brand new band with sublime boy/girl vocals like The Magic Numbers and The New Pornographers but with a rootsy twist. Mustered Courage is one of Australia’s biggest young bluegrass bands and are huge Down Under but the US isn’t hip to them… yet. They’re making a move toward being a string band for their next chapter but this album we’re going to be working is freakin’ phenomenal. You think you heard where the new generation of bluegrass-infused Americana a la Mumford and Sons and Avett Brothers? Just wait… just wait.
H: I think that covers everything. Before I let you go, are there any final thoughts or observations you care to share?
R: Best way to tackle publicity (or any music industry job) is with humor. Even when I get the most annoying requests or dealing with the most tyrannical managers, humor can disarm anyone. Plus, life’s too short to be humorless.
