Month: May 2014

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News

Industry Spotlight: Derek ‘Sknk’ Scancarelli

Hello and welcome to the final industry spotlight of the week. We have been fortunate enough to speak with a number of professionals from across the industry over the last year, but it was not until this particular feature that we were able to speak with someone doing their best to become a professional in the field of video journalism. Their unique perspective on music today and where it’s headed in the near future allowed us to see the business as a whole in a new light, and we hope his words will have the same impact on you. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

We talk a lot about the importance of finding and securing internships while still in school, and the person at the center of today’s post would probably tell you it is because of their experience at internships that they became the person they are today. Derek Scancarelli, otherwise known to the digital world as ‘Skank Jones,’ has spent the past half decade preparing for a full time career in music that he continues to pursue today. He always knew journalism was something that fascinated him, but it wasn’t until he spent time at newspapers, labels, and eventually tv stations that he discovered his true passion resided in creating visual stories worth sharing with others. Now, through unpaid writing and occasional freelance work, Derek is finally starting to find traction in the business he has wanted to be a part of the majority of his life. In the interview below he shares how he reached this point, as well as advice for others hoping to find their own path in music.

I met Derek a little over a year ago, and I knew from the first time we interacted that he was going to do big things in the music industry. In the decade I have been working in various areas of this business I have only met a handful of people as driven and focused on success as Derek, nor many who have nearly as much fun working as he seems to when compiling questions or footage for publication. Everyone gets into this business for their own reasons, and I do not claim to know every motivation Derek has, but I know for a fact his heart and mind are in the right place. He’s not here to make money or become famous, though I am sure he would love both. Derek is in this business because music has been his best friend for longer than he can remember. He loves art and loves to help artists share their work with the world, regardless of genre. He might not be a household name at this point, but I am certain he will reach that level of recognition as long as he stays on his current path.

If you would like to learn more about Derek and his adventure in music, please take a few moments to follow him on Twitter. Additional questions and comments can be left at the end of this post.

H: Hello and thanks again for joining us. Please take a few moments and introduce yourself to our readers:

S: My name is Derek Scancarelli, I am a multimedia journalist based out of New York. I tend to specialize in live music and entertainment, but have dabbled in almost everything. Currently, I produce original feature content for Under The Gun Review. I produce videos, photography sets, and conduct countless interviews.

H: I want to address your name right away, and then we can get to everything else. I’m told your real name is Derek, but everyone online seems to refer to you as ‘Skank Jones.’ What is the story behind that moniker, and how did it originate?

S: My last name is Scancarelli. Growing up I didn’t mind being called, “Skank,” it was happening whether I embraced it or not. When I was younger and the rapper Mike Jones released the track “Back Then,” and a bunch of my friends started calling me “Skank Jones.” It sort of stuck.

H: Do you ever see yourself moving away from that name with your writing and video efforts?

S: I’ve branded my logo and photography page based around the name D. SKANK PHOTOGRAPHY. It’s unique and memorable. No, I don’t want my byline in Rolling Stone or any legitimate publication to say “Written by: Skank Jones,” but for now the logo will be slated in all of my video work and appear on my photos. If you looked at any of my Under The Gun Review work, it will always say it was written/produced/etc by Derek Scancarelli.

H: Okay, let’s take a step back and look at your early years with music. When you think about your childhood and the songs that served as your soundtrack, what memories comes to mind? 

S: I bet this is a question that everyone fumbles on. The first records I’ve ever owned were The Monkees and Steppenwolf. Don’t ask me why, but I was born to be wild. When I was young, my father would always rock out with me to bands like Pink Floyd in the car. When I started playing Tony Hawk video games is probably when I fell in love with punk music. THPS2 came out in 2000, I was 9 years old. It had Public Enemy and Anthrax, Swingin Utters, Lagwagon, Bad Religion, Rage Against The Machine. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX came out that same year. It had Rancid, Sublime, Social Distortion. Those were eye openers. I also remember winning a Blink-182 single sampler at an elementary school carnival. The sampler had two tracks, “All The Small Things” and “M+Ms.”

H: Who was the first artist/group you can recall falling in love with, and how did you originally discover them? Bonus points if you include an early ‘fanboy’ moment.

S: In 2003 my father brought me to see Iron Maiden, Dio, and Motorhead at Jones Beach. That one probably changed my life. I’ve seen almost every NY appearance Maiden has made since. They have such a grandiose level of international success, it baffles me.

My biggest fanboy moment would be in 2006 at Ozzfest in NYC. I ran into some friends who had some ridiculous connection to Ozzy’s manager through a travel agent. An hour later, I went from getting sun poisoned to meeting the Prince of Darkness himself. I put out my right hand and told Ozzy it was an honor to meet him, I’m pretty sure he grabbed my thumb with his left hand and just flopped it around. I look like a complete child I’m cheesing so hard in that photo.

H: Who did you see when you attended your first concert, and what can you remember about the experience? Go on, paint us a word picture:

S: I went to my first concert with my buddy Chris and his uncle. He’s actually an NYPD officer now, am I old or what? It was at a venue in Plainview, NY called The Vanderbilt. It no longer exists, but I’ll never forget that night. We saw Hoobastank, Blindside, and Greenwheel. I was in the 6th grade and had a 103 degree fever, but I insisted on going anyway. Not exactly the most badass first show.

H: You are known more for your work in photo and video than text. When did you first notice your admiration for still images and video camcorders?

S: When I was growing up, I wasn’t infatuated with sports. Sure, I played some hockey, but that was never me. I listened to CDs and watched music videos religiously. Remember M(usic)TV? TRL? Those used to be things.

I’d watch shows like Steven’s Untitled Rock Show on Fuse and Headbangers Ball. The content always had me so interested, and then one day I realized that people get paid to make this stuff. The English language and text will never disappear, but the climate is changing. Sure, writing is a fundamental, the fundamental of journalism, but I have a passion for putting it together visually.

During college, I completed six different internships. Three were at TV stations, one was at a newspaper, one at a radio station, and one at a record label. At the newspaper office, I saw how the company was dying, despite being backed by a major printing company. I realized that the future of journalism isn’t simply in textual content.

At one of the TV stations, a mentor of mine told me that you can no longer be a “cameraman” or an “editor” or an “interviewer” or a “photographer.” He told me that if I wanted to stand out in this industry that I have to be able to do it all. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish here, within reason.

H: I’ve found over the course of this series that many professionals experience a ‘lightbulb’ moment in their youth or teen years that leads them to initially believe the music business is the place for them. Do you have such a memory or experience to share?

S: I don’t know what the exact ‘lightbulb’ moment was for me, but for as long as I can remember it’s all I’ve wanted to do. Contrary to your question, I have a lot of those moments now at 23. I think that with every successful story I write, photo I take, interview I conduct, the next light down the hallway turns on. It’s a long rocky road; but we must celebrate tiny victories. Sometimes it gets defeating and exhausting trying to pave way for yourself and doing all of this.

But every time I sit down to talk with someone that influenced me growing up, I have that ‘lightbulb moment.’ Sitting on the sidewalk and interviewing a Ramone, ‘lightbulb moment’. Jay Mohr telling the suits to fuck off and that we’ll talk for as long as we want, ‘lightbulb moment.’ Seeing an interview you conduct with the Descendents or Scott Ian go viral, ‘lightbulb moment.’

The people that do this as a career do it for the passion. I say it all the time, I could’ve gotten a finance degree and worked on Wall Street like my sister, but man, I’d be one miserable guy. Those little moments remind me why I’m doing what I do.

H: You followed high school with a trip to college. Did you study anything related to the music business?

S: Initially I went into the University at Albany as an intended Marketing major. I graduated with a Communications degree with a double-minor in Business and English. The program was media related, but not music industry related. I dabbled in every realm of media as I’d mentioned previously. I completed an internship at Equal Vision Records and also was an Arts & Entertainment Editor at the Albany Student Press. Ask any touring band if they hit Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park, NY and they’ll tell you that Ted Etoll is the go-to guy. I owe him a serious thank you to. He welcomed me into that venue like I was his son, whether it was for Nas or Every Time I Die. The whole staff there is incredible. I also did some promotion for a company called MASS EDMC who put on enormous electronic shows. The guys who run PeepThis were helpful as well. The Capital Region takes care each other. I liked that.

H: As someone still making their way into the business, do you feel college is something everyone should consider when hoping to get into the music industry? 

S: College is necessary to get into any industry. At this point, it’s become standard. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of people have become immensely successful without formal education, but nowadays even college graduates are out of luck when it comes to employment. You don’t need to accrue hundreds of thousands in debt to have an education if you go about it the right way. Once you earn that degree, no one can take it away from you.

H: A little bird told me you may be considering some additional education in the future. Care to talk about that?

S: I don’t think graduate level education is necessary for everyone. I’ve been back and forth on the matter personally. Currently, I have an opportunity to participate in a journalism MA program that is highly competitive and ranks along the monsters such as Columbia and NYU, for a fraction of the cost. In a climate where every person that has the internet thinks they are a journalist, really learning the fundamentals couldn’t hurt.

So, I have a decision to make. As far as for everyone else, it’s a big decision. I finished college a semester early, so I can handle three more semesters. I’d also be walking away with less debt than if I were to buy a Honda Civic.

H: You’ve made the biggest impression on music through your journalistic efforts. When did you first become interested in the news side of the industry?

S: I’m always curious about the “inside scoop.” When it comes to the TMZ aspect of reporting, I’m not a fan. But looking into the history and inside the world of entertainment is exciting. You take these “larger than life” figures and have a conversation with them. Then all of a sudden, you’re not so removed. It brings people closer to the things they’re passionate about. Maybe meeting bands when I was younger made me want to pursue that feeling more and more.

H: You currently produce content for Under The Gun Review. When did you first learn of that site, and what inspired you to apply?

S: When I was in college, I had a friend named Matt Dondiego. He would contribute to the Albany Student Press and write about bands like Basement and Forever Came Calling. When I bumped into him at shows like State Champs, we discussed his other endeavors, one of which was writing for Under The Gun Review.

When I graduated college a semester early, I would randomly contribute back to the school newspaper. I couldn’t wrap my head around not putting out content. I started working at an advertising firm in May 2013 and that is exactly when I started at UTG. I couldn’t keep applying to cover events as an “Alumni Contributor,” that was getting old quick. UTG has allowed me to produce any and all content I’ve brought to the table thus far. They encourage their writers to grow and support me no matter what. I’ll always be grateful for that. Hopefully the friendships I’ve been establishing over the past year will last for many more years to come.

H: What was the application process like? Did you have an interview?

S: When I applied, I’m pretty sure I was browsing the website to see if they were looking for writers, so I sent a resume over. I included a cover page that listed a lot of the photography and interviews that I’d done in the past year up in Albany. I made sure to show my diversity, dropping interviewee names as varied as Hostage Calm, Insane Clown Posse, and Nick Kroll. I mentioned how I’d photographed Gwar and countless other bands. Versatility carries value for me, so I expected that UTG would appreciate it as well. I was welcomed onto the team open arms, there was no high-pressure interview.

H: You do a lot of on camera work. Who was your first on camera segment on, and how did it go? 

S: The first time I ever went on camera, I was interning at a high school sports channel owned by Cablevision called MSG Varsity. When they were training new staff for the studio and control room, I went on camera to do a mock “Sportscenter” type show. I have some great reels. Some footage is serious, some is silly.

The first legitimately released on-camera interview I conducted was with Brandon Boyd of Incubus. The video has over 4,000 views on Youtube, so I’ll take that. I think it went well, although I wish I had better posture and didn’t fix my glasses like a nerd. One guy commented saying, “The interviewer is crap.” That’s always comforting.

I don’t necessarily like being on camera, but I think it sometimes helps the flow of an interview. It also has to do with how prepared or confident I am in talking to the particular artist. I often shoot and conduct these interviews alone, so it isn’t even possible. I don’t see myself being Carson Daly, but it’s fun from time to time to go on camera.

H: You’ve made your name known in the industry, but have you started getting paid for your work yet?

S: I was paid doing production work at MSG Varsity for two consecutive summers. I’ve been credited on television multiple times and of course, printed in countless bylines. Currently, I work full time at an advertising agency, but that isn’t music industry or really journalism related.

A lot of people have heated debates over unpaid internships and freelance work. What I can tell you is that often times you need to look at what you are getting out of an experience rather than what they are getting out of you. Obviously, I won’t be doing unpaid work forever, but my experiences over the past few years through UTG and other outlets has far exceeded the college education that I’ve paid for.

I literally just started contributing to another website, I did my first freelance gig last weekend. It’s a foot in the door and I’m very proud of the content I produced.

H: Do you feel you should be getting paid? It seems many sites and blogs do not pay contributors right now. 

S: Of course I do, but logistically, that isn’t always possible when you’re starting out. I’d have my head up my ass if I didn’t understand that. It depends on whether or not the website is in the proper financial situation to pay you. As far as I know, no one at UTG is paid. If UTG could employ me full time, I would dedicate my 9-5 to it in a heartbeat. Given that the site started in 2009, it isn’t quite at that level yet.

That being said, the time and effort I’ve put into unpaid work has given me valuable life and career experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. It has gotten me to new levels of exposure I’d never known before. Sure, sometimes it means pinching pennies or sacrificing, but anything worth working for won’t get handed to you.

H: When it comes to receiving music for review and feature consideration, what streaming services do you prefer and why?

S:Usually I prefer VHS tapes with fuzzy screens. What’s this site called? Haulix? I’ll go with that. All jokes aside, I do prefer Haulix to all of the others. It’s simple, well-formatted and subtly presented. It’s easily to stream and/or download and I know it protects the rights of artists. But getting handed a nice hard copy Compact Disc is nice too. Hey Rey, thanks for Twin Forks!

H: What advice would you offer to other up and comers thinking of pursuing a career in the music business?

S: Get ready to bust your ass. Don’t expect anything handed to you. When I first graduated college, I sat down with a mentor and television executive. I told him that it’d been a little rough trying to find a job. Do you know what he told me? He looked at me and said, “Hey. Stop acting like somebody fucking owes you something.”

It’s harsh – but it’s life. Work hard. Then work harder. Present yourself professionally but don’t be a total stiff either. Learn to make friends. Networking is key. Don’t air out your dirty laundry on public forums, and learn to accept the things you can’t change but do all in your power to change those that you can. But hey, I’m only 22, so I’m still learning. Check back in with me in 20 years.

H: What are your current goals for 2014?

S:As noted earlier, I’m in a bit of a transitional period, so that is contingent on whether or not I commit to further pursuing my education or not. Regardless, I hope to continue producing quality original content and continue to expand my horizons.

H: Thinking a bit more longterm, what are your career goals?

S: I love interviewing, I love entertainment and I love production. It’s pretty hard to find a job that combines all of those things, but at the same time it isn’t. MTV doesn’t play music, Fuse is a small network (and was bought by JLo), but we are in a landscape where all different kinds of companies are ever-expanding and growing. I’d love to be an executive producer on a show producing original content surrounding music. We’ll see. Hopefully if I prove myself one day I’ll have creative control over my own show. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

H: Who is your dream interview, and why are they your choice?

S: As far as musicians go, it may seem like the easy route, but simply the greats: Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul McCartney, Elton John, that list could go on forever. Prince would be unreal. Eminem would be incredible.

H: What has your worst interview experience been thus far? You can omit any names as needed.

S: I haven’t had any terrible interview experiences thus far. I’ve had some bands who’ve come off really snobby or acted like they couldn’t care less. But you need to learn not to take that stuff too personally. I’ve also learned to gauge people. One the body language starts changing, they’re probably tired of talking.

H: What do you feel are the biggest challenges you face as a professional right now?

S: Right now, managing time. Working full-time is exhausting and important to pay the bills. My day job drives my dream at night, but that often means I have no time for myself. It’s kind of a Catch 22. The end goal is having a job that you love and enjoy, then at night you can have your personal time. I’ll make that sacrifice now for the end game.

H: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

S: I don’t think one change would make a significant difference. There was a paradigm shift, and to be honest, I wasn’t involved in the industry before the age of the internet. The best way to deal with an industry that changes constantly is to adapt and move forward, not looking at the past. I wish there was an easy fix to the way the internet has made almost all content free, but at the same time, I utilize that every day. When I interviewed Bert McCracken [The Used], he compared his music being on Spotify to slavery. I don’t know if we are quite there, but I can certainly see where he’s coming from.

H: Well, I think we have reached the end. Do you have any final thoughts or observations you would like to share?

S: I appreciate you reaching out to speak with me. I’m humbled to join the ranks of the many talented individuals you’ve interviewed here. If anyone reading this has every enjoyed or viewed any of my content, then thank you for giving it the time of day. If you haven’t please check some out!

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News

An Introduction To Concert Photography – Part 3: How To Shoot DIY Punk Venues

Hello, again. Welcome to the second Advice column of the week. We received such an overwhelming response to our last photography feature that we partnered once more with Nick Karp to create a third installment in what appears to have become our latest ongoing series aimed towards bettering the music industry. We have several additional photo-themed columns  planned, but we are always looking for suggestions on topics worth covering. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Following my local music scene played a huge influence on my desire to shoot bands. Within a local music scene comes a DIY culture behind it, and bands performing at unconventional venues was the norm. Shooting bands at VFW halls, Leigon Halls, Basements, living rooms, and even backyards was not a rarity, and if I am being completely honest I would have to say that shooting at those establishments is much harder than shooting at an arena or other large scale venue. Arena shows have big production budgets, including lighting with front and back lights. You can shoot at low ISO’s and still produce a correctly exposed photo. DIY venues however, may only have a single florescent light bulb in the entire room.

So, how do you capture great moments in a situation like that? Flash. Shooting these type of shows often requires you to break some of my unwritten rules of the photo pit, but there is a reason good reason for such rule violation. 99% of the time there is no photo pit, or anyone making sure you stick to the ‘3 song rule,’ and with the band’s blessing, flash can be allowed. The follow is a list of techniques I use for shooting at these types of venues…

Flash bounced off ceiling:

The technique I have found most useful is having an external flash aimed directly up to bounce forwards on the ceiling. This distributes the light equally over the band member you are trying to shoot. That said, this method can only work with a lighter colored ceiling as black/dark ceilings will absorb too much of the light.

When using this technique I try to have my power high enough so that my ISO is 800 or so. My shutter remains around 1/100 and my F stop is at f4. Some examples of bouncing a flash against a ceiling can be viewed below:

In this picture you can see how the light spreads pretty evenly over bass player Nicholas Inman(You Blew It!) and some of the fans. 

In this photo, lead singer Damian (Fucked Up) is in the crowd. There is virtually no light in the crowd, so I bounced a flash at the ceiling to try and get some light on him. It worked and this is the image.

Flash at 60 degrees:

This is a technique I use when the ceiling is really low, like when shooting in a basement. The bottom of the photo will not be lit up as much as the top so I suggest upping the shadows and blacks in post production. An example of this can be shown below.

Here you can see what happens when I use a 60 degree flash. You want to keep your flash power low enough to not blow the highlights out. In post I raised the shadows and added some contrast. Lucky for me, TMP had floor lights that went on and off, and they gave me a little extra light to work with in this tiny basement.

For this one, I did the same exact thing with my lighting as the shot before, except there are no floor lights. Check out the bass and you can see how grainy it is from pushing the shadows. The light was bright enough to light the bass below, but dark enough where it didn’t blow his face out.

Dragging the shutter:

Dragging the shutter is what occurs when you use flash to light up the subject and have a shutter speed so low (Around 1/20 – ½) that you’re able to move the available light in the photo. You can either bounce the flash to the ceiling or point the flash directly at the band. If you do the ladder, make sure to ask the band’s permission prior because having a flash directed and flashed in your eyes Is distracting when you are performing. If pointed at the band, I try to have my flash power low, and even with that, my ISO at 400 or so.  My aperture will be somewhere around f 5 -6.3 and again, shutter will be at 1/8th. An example can be seen below.

Here’s a somewhat extreme look of dragging the shutter. You can see that theirs is two Pat Butlers [Singer of Sleepy Hahas]. My shutter speed was at ½, so this is an extreme case of dragging the shutter. I feel as if this photo gives off a psychedelic feel.

In this shot of Zealot, I had my shutter speed faster than I did than the previous photo. This is at 1/25th of a second where the photo is not heavily distorted, but I obtained enough back ground light to slightly move bend the light so my subject and the room lights can pop.

Using off camera flash:  

Off camera flash is something I do very rarely mainly because of venue limitations. Although some would allow me to set up a flash or two on the sides of the venue, I choose not to because my equipment is out of my sight. Despite this, off camera flash is one of the better methods to use when shoot at DIY venues. The way I set is up is to point the flash at the middle of the stage and then shoot about 45 degrees towards the center of the stage.  If I’m using a second flash, I can point that flash to my other side of me, 45 degrees towards the center of the stage, or if I can put it behind the band, I will set it up directly across from the first light. An example of when I use off camera flash is below.

In this shot you can see one of the the flashes in the back of the phot. The lead singer was lit up by another flash to camera right. The flash was so powerful that my settings were ISO 500, 1/100, F9.

For this shot, only the flash on the back was used. The other flash was having a hard time being triggered. You can see the difference not having a back flash makes, and how essential it is to have that front flash.

Pop Up Flash. 

I hate it. There’s a reason top of the line equipment doesn’t have pop up flashes. 

Nick Karp is a professional photographer and freelance music writer. He recently relocated to NYC and dyed his hair bright pink because that is the kind of thing people do in the music business. 

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News

Industry Spotlight: Natalie Camillo (Adrenaline PR)

Hello and welcome to the very first ‘Industry Spotlight’ feature of the week. We are thrilled to have you with us this afternoon, and we hope you will make it a point to stop by regularly from here on out. This blog exists to promote and inspire the future of music business, but we are only able to do that if we receive input from our readers. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

You may or may not remember this, but earlier this month we spent two days sharing the story of Adrenaline PR founder Maria Ferrero. Today we are adding a second chapter to the story of Adrenaline PR thanks to an in-depth conversation with Senior Publicist Natalie Camillo, which you can find a few paragraphs below.

Natalie and I have been working together professionally for at least half a decade at this point, and in that time she has been able to align herself with a number of reputable bands and brands from across the music industry. Writing this now I am struggling to recall a single week in the last several years that has passed without some kind of contact from her, and from the way she describes her passion for music in this interview it’s not hard to imagine she will continue that trend of constant contact for many years to come. She’s what some might call a lifer in the industry, and truth be told it’s dedicated people like her that make it possible for the rest of us to hope for the overall growth of our industry in the years to come. 

If you would like to learn more about Natalie and her efforts in music after reading this post, please make it a point to follow Adrenaline PR on Twitter. Additional questions and comments should be left at the end of this post.

H: Hey there, thank you for joining us. Before we dive in, please take a moment to introduce yourself:

N: Natalie Camillo, senior publicist and campaign manager at Adrenaline PR!

H: We like to begin every interview by learning a bit about the life of the people we are speaking with. Tell me, what are your earliest memories of music?

N: My earliest memories of music are sitting with my Grandpa Camillo in his basement listening to Frank Sinatra by the fire (that I was always throwing newspaper into and stinking up the place), and getting my first radio at the age of 9 and discovering modern pop music for the first time. My mother and father raised me on oldies, jazz and classic rock until I was about that age.

H: How about the first album you ever purchased with your own money?

N: I have no idea what that would be… probably some nu metal album. But the first album that was ever given to me was probably Smash Mouth’s Fush Yu Mang, or possibly a Frank Sinatra box set. I loved Frank Sinatra when I was little… he might as well have been the only recording artist on the planet.

H: Can you recall the first artist or group you obsessed over? Bonus points if you share an early ‘crazy fan’ moment from your life.

N: I have no shame. I loved *NSYNC and the Spice Girls when I was little. Come on… a little girl coming into her own in the late 90’s? I had to have been about 10 when that stuff first got big… I had Justin Timberlake posters all over my wall. I begged my dad to paint my bedroom walls baby blue when I turned 12 because it was Justin’s favorite color. Yep – I was that kid. Somewhere between that and my introduction to rock radio and nu metal on my middle school bus, I started buying Disturbed, Korn and Incubus CD’s… and thus began my love of heavy music. Everyone has to start somewhere, I unfortunately lived in a country town with no venues or any sort of scene, so radio really was the only introduction to new music I had. Around the same time, I also had a fast introduction to a lot of electronic music, and later on in high school I got into some punk and even rap music. I had a good, well-rounded source of influence.
I don’t believe I ever really had a crazy fan moment until I was already working at this job, and at this point it didn’t have the same “sparkle” because I had the professional face on. I can safely say, however, that I often have those “surreal moment” flashbacks where I think, “Man, 14-year-old me would have just FREAKED OUT after meeting that person. How crazy is it that 15 years ago I would have never known that I’d be working with these rock stars I idolized back then”. At 14, I was rocking out on a school bus with my discman… now I’m 27 and talking with these guys directly, scheduling their press days at festivals. Nuts. I mean… Chester and Mike of Linkin Park were standing within a foot of me at the Revolver Golden Gods last month… that was pretty insane. Again, a “14-year-old me” moment. Hybrid Theory is still a great record.

H: They say everyone has a series of moments or experiences in life that steer them towards the careers they ultimately pursue. Are you able to pinpoint any moments in your life that flipped the switched on the ‘publicity’ bulb?

N: I actually wanted to get my start in metal radio promotions, but publicity is where I ended up (and gladly so). Same horse, different color. I realized that I wanted to work in metal in college – again, I always had a love for heavy music but once I got involved with my college radio station, I quickly became the person in charge of CMJ Loud Rock charting, which also meant I chose all of the heavy music rotation. I was in talks with industry folks every day, learning about the industry and the inner workings of promotions. It seemed right up my alley, so I began to pursue it.

H: If you could offer one piece of advice to aspiring publicity professionals who may be reading this now, what would it be?

N: Internships. Internships. Internships. Follow your gut and push as hard as you can (within reason) to reach your goals. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something.

H: What are the biggest challenges facing publicists today?

N: Publications not having enough staff to get features done or willingness to try new things to get new bands into their pages, younger bands thinking they know more about publicity or what’s press-worthy than the seasoned publicists they’ve hired, managers not willing to follow our lead or try new things… there’s always something, but in the end, everything works out and everyone works as a team to reach the best endgame.

H: More specifically, what are the biggest challenges facing Adrenaline PR today? Finding clients? Growth? Recognition? What are the problems you are working to solve at the moment?

N: We’re pretty easy going, problem-free people, and we like to squash things before they can even become a problem… so nothing really. We grow more every year and come into bigger and better projects as time goes on based on increased company awareness and many successful campaigns.

H: Without going too in-depth, please walk us through a typical day at work:

N: Every day is different and each of us here have different tasks, but I’ll try to cover it all. Answering emails and phone calls (as well as writing them and making them, obviously) which pertain to all of the below: pitching national and regional press on records/events/tours, setting up interviews and preview press, setting up exclusive press and marketing opportunities like track streams/contesting/music video debuts, etc. and planning with/making timelines for the clients that portray those marketing plans, servicing music digitally (with HAULIX, of course) and following up on that distribution, working on financial documents and keeping track of new and potential clients, gathering and organizing press into outlined reports for our clients, writing a few press releases per day and getting approvals with clients, setting up packed press days for bands in large markets, getting guest list approvals with venues for festivals, club shows, etc., editing our website, keeping track of tour dates and itineraries (lovely PR mavens Arielle and Ally in our office handle the majority of that, however), sending out day sheets/press schedules/guest lists to tour managers and clients… oh, and HAVING FUN! Lots of that. It’s a lot of work, but it’s simple once you have the hang of it and know how to manage your time. It’s good working with all driven, like-minded women in an open and easy-going environment.

H: What are your current career goals?

N: To see where the road takes me… I like being here and I haven’t thought much past it, as irresponsible as some may thing that sounds.

H: What is one thing you hope Adrenaline is able to accomplish this year?

N: We’re doing well – so the goal is to keep that going and keep making a difference for our clients!

H: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

N: There are a lot of things I’d like to change, and this is a very open-ended question. To keep it simple – I think people should be more open minded about a lot of things.

H: You have been a Haulix client for a while now. What do you like about our service?

N: I love the security aspect as well as the ability to truly track what people are doing with the promos. It takes the guessing game out of, “…well I spent a bunch of money to send a ton of packages out that I hope made it to their final destination… and I’m hoping these folks answer their emails and phone calls when I reach out to check on the packages.” You can see what’s going on, you can reference whether someone got their email, opened it, even listened to it or downloaded it, etc. And my favorite – the ability to create reports to follow up with people based on what they’ve done with the promo.

H: Are there any opening at Adrenaline PR? If so, how should those interested in joining the team go about applying?

N: Email maria@adrenalinepr.com

H: What should artists reading this ask themselves before hiring a publicist?

N: Do you have enough to promote before you take that plunge and make that investment? If you are just a group of guys playing a few basement shows in your hometown and not releasing any music or doing much of anything, you may want to consider waiting until you have something to promote before you dive into the PR pool.

H: What is the biggest misconception people have about publicity/publicists?

N: I’m going to have to second what Maria said. You aren’t going to hire PR and get a platinum record and end up on the cover of Rolling Stone based on that fact alone. A lot of cooks need to be in the kitchen to build up an artist. It takes a village to raise a child…

H: Aside from paychecks and steady employment, how do you measure you personal level of success at what you do?

N: When a client takes the time to say “thank you” or “you’re doing a great job” or even the rare, “we couldn’t have done this without you guys”… that’s really what makes it for me. I know things are truly going well when people take the time to show us appreciation for the hard work.

H: Natalie, from what I have been able to learn prior to this interview it seems a large portion of your industry experience began after entering college. That said, you actually attended York College of Pennsylvania to study communications and the music industry, correct?

N: I did. However, I feel that my extra-curricular activities are what really propelled me into this industry. Specifically working with my college radio station, WVYC, as the FM Program Director and Loud Rock Director (metal music management, for lack of a better term… who at CMJ came up with the term loud rock, anyway?).

H: Did you have any idea publicity would be where you wanted to end up at this time, or was there perhaps another area of the music industry you thought you would work in?

N: I think I was looking towards metal radio promotions, but publicity is just where I ended up based on my job search towards the end of college. I’m happy with my decision, obviously.

H: Like many of our previous guests, you spent a lot of your time in college working for the campus radio station. What can you tell us about your time in that program and the lessons/skills learned?

N: In the most basic terms, I learned how to be a team player and a business professional in a music industry setting. WVYC offered me my first whack at working with real industry professionals in publicity and radio promotion, plus my first position managing anything, really. Those industry professionals steered me towards my vital internship opportunities and all of the conferences and events I took part in that allowed me to network and expand my contacts. Had I not nurtured a few of those relationships (some of which I still have intact today with several managers and publicists at different labels and companies), I wouldn’t be in the seat I am today. For all of those folks that I ever hounded with my questions about the industry when I was 19 – you are the reason I am here. Thank you.

H: As someone who went to school to study music and ultimately did find work in the business, do you think college is the best path to entry for those hoping to get into the business side of music?

N: Honestly, I know plenty of people in this industry that didn’t go to school. I honestly think it has a lot to do with knowing the right people and being in the right place at the right time. But, had I not had the internships or got into the radio station, I wouldn’t know the people that got me into this position, and had I not been in school… you get the connection. School made this happen for me, but it’s not going to be the same for everyone. Additionally, I feel like going to school taught me so many other valuable skills, aside from the education aspect. Just interacting with all different kinds of people in different settings in itself was nurturing.

H: Things really picked up for you in 2008, with roles at Relapse and The Syndicate, and MetalSucks. Did radio pave the way towards these opportunities, or was it a combination of that and other efforts?

N: My connections with the radio station definitely got me into those positions. The Syndicate was a simple street team position, but I knew a few folks over there through metal radio promo that definitely pushed me towards doing that. It was paid too, which was nice as a college student. Same with Relapse, I knew a few people in the promotions department that connected me with their internship coordinator. MetalSucks started out a bit differently… I was already interning at Heavy Hitter Inc. (a radio promotions company that has since closed, but you can find the staff and owners currently working hard at In De Goot and Strong Management) in NYC in the summer of 2008 and I met the MetalSucks guys right around then and expressed my interest in helping out with their project. So I became what I believe was their first “intern”… I basically helped them set up some social media, edit a few posts, etc. Nothing too big, but it was cool to be a part of it. Thanks guys!

H: You joined the MetalInsider team in 2009, briefly, then turned to the world of PR for good upon joining Adrenaline in June of that same year. When did you initially learn of Adrenaline’s existence, and how did you become aware of the job opening?

N: Yep, I was doing some post editing and running of the news feed sidebar for MetalInsider.net towards the end of my college tenure – I wanted to keep myself busy while I was finishing school. The Adrenaline PR connectiom basically went like this: I was setting up an interview for WVYC with one of their clients (I believe it was The Acacia Strain, I suppose Prosthetic had hired Adrenaline to work a few clients and their radio promo team connected me to them) and through creating a relationship with them, I learned an employee was leaving. That employee passed my resume to Maria, who liked me enough to want me around! I was hired the day before I graduated and moved to New Jersey from Pennsylvania two weeks later. Five years later… here I am, still enjoying myself.

H: What was the interview process like?

N: Maria and I went to Panera and we had a long conversational-type interview after she had already reviewed my qualifications. It was clear that we had a connection and that it would be a good fit.

H: Who was the first client you handled at Adrenaline, and what can you tell us about that experience?

N: We all handle a bunch of clients at once, but the first client I really remember sinking my teeth into was Dethklok, you know, the cartoon comedy band from the Adult Swim TV show Metalocalypse. I handled their guest list and press schedules for one of their big tours back in 2009… it was probably the one with Mastodon. Looking back, I probably made a ton of little mistakes before it was done with, but without that experience I wouldn’t be as quick with that kind of work today. We continue to work with Brendon Small on a lot of his projects – he’s a great guy. We also continue to work with Bryan Beller (check out The Aristocrats!) and Gene Hoglan quite often, as well. Also great people – all some of my favorite people to work with.

H: Do any of the lessons you learned in those first few months at Adrenaline leap to mind right now? Our readers appreciate all the insight they can get?

N: The industry is a BIG pond – and I am a small fish. Be a team player, listen more than you talk, don’t drink too much coffee (I snap sometimes), and appreciate every second of your day. No problem is too big, and like Maria says, “Everything always works out”. I’m blessed to be where I am, and I’ll never forget that.

Categories
News

How Independent Artists Use Haulix

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another week of music industry advice and insight here, on the official blog of Haulix. We are focusing heavily on the advice side of our editorial efforts this week, kicking off with an in depth look at a unique way many independent artists have begun using our service that artists worldwide should feel encouraged to duplicate. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Our mission at Haulix is to provide a secure and easy-to-use digital distribution platform to anyone hoping to share media online. Through our platform clients are not only able to upload, host, and send albums in a secure manner, but they are also able to watermark and track that content for as long as it lives online. In the weeks ahead we will be taking these efforts a step further still by implementing a new system that will track content illegally shared online and automatically issue DMCA takedown notices without our clients having to do more than click through a handful of setup screens. We could go on and on about our plans beyond that update, but this post is not about the future. This post is about the now, and how many independent artists are using Haulix in a way that many may not have previously considered.

Back in April, a promo being sent on Haulix was brought to the attention of our development team through a user who noticed something odd about the email they had received. Instead of reading an introduction written by a label or publicist hoping to land coverage for a new/upcoming release, the messaging attached to the Haulix promo was that of a band hoping to find a record deal. It seems they had already built a solid following and recorded an album primed for release, but in hopes of finding a bigger platform to share their sound they were holding off until labels, management, booking agents and the like could review their work. The band could have used Soundcloud to share streams, or even taken to WeTransfer to conveniently send press kits with customized landing pages, but neither option would have offered the security or options for customization made possible by Haulix. 

To be honest, we never really considered the idea of a band using Haulix in this manner, but as soon as we read that email a collective delayed lightbulb moment flashed above all our coffee-addled minds. For years bands have been blindly emailing (or physically mailing) press kits and advanced track streams to outlets and industry professionals in hopes of gaining attention without giving a second thought to the security of the product. It only takes one person with a love of piracy/internet glory to stumble across the advance music you are sharing for your marketing efforts to fall apart. An early leak would not only hurt sales of your record, but also diminish the chances of someone wanting to put it out down the line. A record deal will not be completely out of the question, as you could always record more music, but leaks certainly complicate the already difficult mission of being noticed in the music industry.

So, what makes Haulix ideal for bands looking to securely and intelligently promote themselves online? Truth be told it’s a lot of little things coming together, and that is one aspect of our product that makes us the most proud. Artists can and should use Haulix to promote themselves to industry professionals and journalists alike because we not only provide a state-of-the-art distribution platform that is completely customizable to your needs and equipped with advanced security measures, but we also provide in depth analytics so you can know exactly who is engaging with your media. This makes follow ups a lot easier and takes the stress of a potential leak off the artist’s shoulders completely, but it’s still up them to win over their potential new audience.

When presenting yourself to potential fans and industry professionals it is important to come across as both welcoming and informed. That may read easy, but it is something many artists struggle with across social networks every day of the week. Why are you a band? What is your purpose as an artist? Who are you trying to reach? What are you trying to say? Before you can hope to make an impression in the industry you need to know these things, and you also need to be able to express them to people who may have never heard your music before. Especially in the digital realm, people are more likely to encounter your writing and imagery before ever hearing you play a note, and if either does not work for them they may never even give your music the time of day. It is a harsh truth, but a truth nonetheless.

Once you know all of this you can begin to draft the best presentation of these facts and ideas possible for your initial outreach messaging. In the case of the band who inspired this post, they chose to begin with a press quote from an internationally recognized outlet, followed by a one-line description of their music. As an outsider, this tells me enough to know whether or not I am going to be the slightest bit curious about what awaits on the other side of the email invitation. If that line grabs my attention then I am definitely going to click. If the message begins with something forgettable then I will probably move on to the other dozen or so bands vying for attention in my inbox on that particular day. 

From this point, the possibilities as far as presentation and voice are concerned are essentially endless. The best advice we can offer when it comes to delivering your message to those who may have never interacted with your brand before is to be yourself to the best of your abilities. People pick up on honesty, and even if they do not completely dig or otherwise like what you are doing they will respect it. Beyond that, we have several posts in our blog archives that can aide you in maximizing the impact of your invitation. Here are three tips for improvement we ran earlier in the year:

The Haulix email distribution system was designed to enable anyone to create and send well-designed promotional invitations in minutes. As soon as an album is uploaded to our system clients are only a few clicks away from sharing their media with anyone on their contact list, and even if they choose to send out a basic promo the results are both clean and professional.

As an example, please take a look at this promotional invitation sent earlier today with zero customization made to the original promotional messaging layout:

This message perfectly conveys all the information that needs to be shared with the receiving party in a way that is easy to digest. It’s the ‘no frills’ approach to sharing materials and it works. We know journalists care more about the music they’re receiving than the design of the email, but when you’re trying to bring attention to up and coming talent a strong pitch can go a long way. Here are three simple tips for improving the impact of your promotional messaging:

1. Add a personal touch.

Every journalist knows they are not the only writer you are pitching on any given project, but that does not mean they do not like to feel special every now and then. When you reach the first screen of customization, Haulix offers multiple options for personalization:

The easiest way to make things a bit more personal is to add your own name, or the name of your company, to the ‘reply-to’ section of the form. From there, publicists and artists alike would be wise to write a direct message to the person receiving the invitation. It should be short and concise, offering a quick description of the album and any information the recipient should know regarding coverage possibilities.

2. Include the album art and any additional supplemental materials the recipient may find interesting.

Just below the introduction box on the email customization page there is a space reserved for the description of the materials being sent. This box autofills with the same information provided on the actual promo page, but it never hurts to give it a once over to ensure things are as enticing as possible. Especially with lesser known artists, this space can help grab journalists who may have otherwise overlooked the release based on lack of familiarity.

The promo section also offers users the ability to include an image from the promo page with the email. To do this, simply click on the photo you want to appear in your messaging. The selected item will have a blue box around it after being clicked.

3. Change the colors of your email, and don’t forget to add a header to aide with brand recognition.

Once you have completed the text portion of messaging customization, click on the ‘Next’ icon at the top of the page and you will be directed to a preview of your message. On the right side of the page there is a header that reads ‘Invitation Design.’ Click the dropbox below and select ‘New.’ You will be prompted to enter a name for this template, and for the sake of simplicity we recommend naming picking a name related to the release itself. This will allow you to return to this design even if the messaging of the email changes.

Once you have chosen a name for your new template the page will refresh and reveal a set of email customization tools. These options, located on the right side of the page, allow users to change the color of the body, background, and text of your message. They also allow for the addition of header and background images.

The possibilities for personalization are essentially endless when leveraging these tools, and with a little effort basic invites can be transformed into far more engaging invitations:

As mentioned above, once you create a new template that layout will be forever saved on Haulix for future use. The promo messaging will always autofill from the promo page, but introductions need to be written each time a new invitation is created. Mass email is always possible, but there is something to be said for making people feel unique.

Categories
Job Board News

Music Industry Job Board (5/18/14)

A lot has been written about the supposed dire state of the music industry, but truth be told there are a number of successful and growing companies, including record labels, that are thriving in 2014. In this column we bring together every job opening we can find from the companies responsible for building the future of the  business and present them to you, our reader, in hopes of aiding you on your journey to join the global music industry professional family.

Each Sunday we scour the internet for the latest and greatest job postings throughout the music industry. You can help us better serve our community by sending any job openings you find or have to james@haulix.com. Be sure to include the name of the company hiring, a detailed description of the position being offered, a desired start date, contact information, and any additional supplemental information you feel may be needed.

Job Openings:

Full Time Staffer (Barsuk Records)

Job summary: Barsuk Records is seeking an experienced individual to join our Seattle office. As a small company with a select roster of artists and where most current staff have worked for 5-10 years or more, there’s a fair amount of responsibility-sharing at Barsuk. Ideal candidates will have experience (3-5 years minimum) in one or more record industry disciplines, including but not limited to marketing & promotion, A&R, project management, warehouse operations, artist management, event planning, bookkeeping, copywriting, and/or design. Familiarity with Barsuk’s catalog and 15-year history is strongly preferred, but not necessary.

Music Supervisor/Sales (Atrium Music)

Job summary: Atrium Music, a new-model, boutique music licensing and publishing company is seeking an experienced, well-connected and highly motivated team member for the position of music supervisor/sales agent to pitch and place the company’s vast catalog of artist and composer music. 

Manager, Digital Marketing (Universal)

Job summary: As a key member of the Digital Marketing team within UMe, the Manager’s position marries strategy with execution across all digital channels for a designated set of projects, from start to successful finish. The Manager will work collaboratively with internal stakeholders and global counterparts, per project as well as with external industry and consumer facing outlets to develop online, social, and mobile opportunities. In an unconventional approach to catalog priorities, this role will also take on the onus to develop core, genre comprehensive campaigns to elevate and optimize deep catalog titles, tracks, and artists. The Manager will report directly to the department head for Digital Marketing.

Licensing Administrator (Warner Music Group)

Job summary: Securing from music publishers any and all rights required in order for WMG’s U.S. record labels to exploit any musical compositions embodied in the sound recordings and records that those record labels release, negotiating the corresponding mechanical and other licenses covering those musical composition rights, and paying those music publishers the corresponding mechanical and other license advances, fees, and/or other royalties in an accurate and timely manner. 

Business And Legal Affairs Assistant (Sony)

Job summary: This position will provide administrative support to the Business & Legal Affairs contract administration staff, and assist in digital rights management and administration. Advances/Payments/Checks: Manage the requisition and distribution of all contractual advances and other payments.

Administration and Licensing Manager (Confidential)

Job summary: Scout Staffing is actively seeking an experienced and personable Administration and Licensing Manager for Nashville’s fastest-growing independent record label. Working closely with the Director of Administration and VP of Publishing, this role includes both publishing and record label administration duties while also managing a full-time coordinator. If you have a passion for licensing, a team-oriented mindset and management style, and a want to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, then this role with an innovative label may be the one for you!

Sales Representative (Alfred Music)

Job summary: Under general supervision, performs increasingly responsible and complex duties in developing and serving an account base and attaining sales goals of company products in an assigned territory and within a team environment.

Music Payroll Coordinator (TEAM)

Job summary: Wonderful opportunity for the right candidate.  TEAM provides talent and union payroll services to music clients in the Film, TV and Sound Recording industries.  The Music Payroll Coordinator is a “team-player” position that requires accuracy, attention to detail, initiative and a pro-active approach to duties and responsibilities in working with intercompany departments, clients and colleagues.  Discretion in handling company and private or personal client and employee information is required, along with a positive attitude, professional ethics, appearance, and conduct.

Project Manager (MTV)

Job summary: Are you interested in driving highly visible initiatives for MTV Artists? Do you enjoy working in an entrepreneurial environment solving complex technical problems and delivering innovative solutions? MTV is looking for a Technical Project Manager to help us make our MTV Artists website and apps even better! This role will provide project leadership, mitigate project risks, make tradeoffs, and balance business needs versus technical constraints. You will work with various software and business teams around the company to identify and drive innovative solutions that achieve business goals. This is an opportunity to shape the next generation of MTV artists!

Music Assistant (Sports Media Network)

Job summary: Assist Coordinating Director of Music, Music Director and Music Coordinators in the preparation, filing, coordination and organization of music licenses and related music documentation. Oversee the management of digital audio resources, storage and organization of the department’s audio libraries. Handle the update of music data to the cue sheet management system, as well as the distribution and handling of cue sheets to licensors.

Senior Manager, Market Research (The Country Music Association)

Job summary: The Country Music Association is currently seeking a Senior Manager, Market Research to manage a broad range of research initiatives related to CMA initiatives and the country music industry as a whole under the direction of the Sr. Director, Market Research.  The position will design, manage , implement and report primary and  secondary research to provide a multi-dimensional and in-depth understanding of the Country Music consumer and marketplace.   Position will also manage CMA Insiders – CMA’s proprietary consumer panel.

Project Manager (Gibson Guitars)

Job summary: Gibson Brands, Inc. (f/k/a Gibson Guitar Corp), the world’s premier manufacturer of musical instruments and professional & consumer audio equipment, is building out its Product Management function in Corporate Marketing and is seeking to hire six (6) Product Managers. The Product Managers will be located in Nashville and report directly to the Executive Vice President of Product Planning. They will have responsibility for managing existing product lines as well as creating and integrating new products and product changes within their specific product line.

Office Manager (Yamaha)

Job summary: Yamaha is seeking a dedicated Office Manager to work on a temporary basis for a period of approximately three months. The length of the temporary assignment may vary contingent upon business needs. Individual will be responsible for various clerical and administrative functions in the office.

Maintenance/Process Supervisor (United Record Pressing)

Job summary: The Maintenance/Process Supervisor is responsible for overseeing and executing the work of maintenance staff. The maintenance staff is responsible for the upkeep of vinyl presses and other machinery needed to produce a high quality product. The role also provides support to the execution of the production schedule. The successful candidate must have strong communication and troubleshooting skills, and possess the ability to perform maintenance duties as needed.  

Music Content Operations & Data Specialist (Getty Images)

Job summary: You love music, technology, operations and the coming together of all three. You have the ability to look at music on the asset level and understand data trends surrounding it. On a day-to-day basis, you aren’t afraid to dig into databases for more information and know how to communicate your findings to a broader team. You execute quickly on projects, are detail oriented, love creating processes and enjoy troubleshooting issues. You understand music as a digital asset and know what it takes to move an asset along a value chain to generate revenue in today’s complicated music landscape. You will work closely with our global sales group, contributor services, content curators and contributor relations teams. Your focus is to ensure that our high quality music offering grows online and offline while also spearheading delivery of our music offerings to existing and new customers. You will also be a conduit between our contributor base and music partners and facilitate our music submission process when necessary. You must understand music licensing as a business and technical formats for digital music assets. Most importantly, you must like working on a diverse team, love to execute according to a plan and learning as you go. 

Controller/Treasurer (Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Job summary: Oversees and manages the LA Phil’s accounting practices, financial controls, financial reporting, audit and tax filings, cash management, payroll, insurance and retirement plan administration.

Manager, Membership (The GRAMMY Museum)

Job summary: The Manager Membership of the GRAMMY Museum is responsible for all aspects of a highly successful membership program, including strategic planning and growth; providing a significant base of unrestricted annual support and donor cultivation; providing excellent benefits and services; developing effective marketing strategies and programs; increasing and improving member renewal, retention, upgrades and acquisition. 

Finance Director (Wind-Up Records)

Job summary: The finance team provides financial reporting, accounting, planning, budgeting, financial compliance and auditing for the company. TheFinance Director reports to and partners directly with the Chief Financial Officer to assist with a broad range of Finance activities including shared supervision of Finance Manager.

Director & Chief Curator, GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi (AEG)

Job summary: The Director & Chief Curator leads all activities directly related to the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi® collection and exhibitions in carrying out the organization’s mission, vision, strategic plan, and budget.

Mid-Level Digital Account Manager (Complex Media)

Job summary: If you are tired of the typical AdOps jobs and want to provide higher value beyond the execution of campaigns, you are ready to work with Complex Media. Set up a meeting with us to learn how you can be part of the team that is making Complex Media’s Digital success a reality! Bring in your creativity! The idea is to stay ahead of the market by offering digital advertising products that are unique – we provide the venues to challenge the established guidelines. 

Director of Marketing (Backstage)

Job summary: Sonicbids (part of Backstage.com) is looking for a Director of Marketingto grow its two-sided opportunity listing marketplace. The Director of Marketing will grow band and promoter (venues, festivals etc) signups via acquisition marketing at high volume and low cost. You will be responsible for narrowing Sonicbid’s marketing focus and solving the marketplace chicken vs egg problem. The Director of Marketing will manage the marketing team and work in partnership with the Director of Brand and Content.

A&R Department Coordinator (Universal)

Job summary: Candidate will support the A&R team. Responsibilities will include booking studios, coordinating travel, assisting with budget preparation, preparing expense reports and heavy phones.

Director of Licensing- Trailers (Chappell Production Music)

Job summary: Warner/Chappell Production Music is looking for a results driven, professional, flexible, hardworking individual for the full-time position of Director of Licensing- Trailers in our Los Angeles office. This is a fun and challenging position in fast-pace environment.

Graphic Designer (Warner Music Group)

Job summary: Throughout this internship, the Graphic Design Temp will assist in translating wireframes and sketches into clean, usable, and elegant designs and prototypes. You will work closely with the Sr. Art Director on product design and enhancements. Pieces of the design work will be carved off and entrusted to you. Projects can vary from complex backoffice, B2B, B2C, and artist management across mobile, tablet, and desktop.

Data Entry Specialist (Confidential)

Job summary: Major worldwide talent agency seeks ambitious career oriented person for entry level data entry position in its music department. Qualifications include excellent typing skills, result-driven proficiency in analyzing data, knowledge of social media, Microsoft Office, Excel, and Powerpoint skills, strong written and verbal communication skills, and organizational skills. Knowledge of the music industry is a plus but not a requirement.

Retail Account Manager (Ticketmaster)

Job summary: The Retail Account Manager will be responsible for working closely with the VP of Retail Partnerships in fostering growth and harmony in assigned retail relationships and provide creative/strategic recommendations to increase sales.

Web Content And Production Coordinator (House Of Blues)

Job summary: We’re looking for a CMS web production and Front End/CSS coordinator with a passion for creating great digital experiences. The successful candidate will be tech savvy and an eager problem solver that enjoys working hard, tackling challenges and being in a collaborative team environment. The Web Production Coordinator will be a critical member of the House of Blues Entertainment team, helping to oversee the maintenance and creation of dozens of different web properties. This person will work directly for the Web Content Manager and closely with the designers, marketing teams and developers in building and maintaining website solutions in CSS and HTML for our venues around the country. This junior candidate should possess a very good understanding of Content Management Systems plus JavaScript/jQuery, HTML5 & CSS3. A commitment to producing high quality code across browsers and platforms is very important, as is a love of the music and entertainment industry.

Music Teacher (Yamaha)

Job summary: The Yamaha Music School of Boston is seeking a Music Teacher to conduct weekly Yamaha Music Education System (YMES) courses and private piano lesson instructions. The assignment of schedule and class or student load may vary contingent upon business needs. Individual will report to the School Director.

Music Rights Manager (Gideen Corporation)

Job summary: Gideen Corporation located in Los Angeles, CA is looking for an experienced Music Rights Manager. This position is part-time with possibility to become full-time. Candidate has to have at least 5 years experience working within the legal department of a record label, larger music management or music publishing company handling counter claims on multiple levels including youtube.

Assistant Music Manager (Confidential)

Job summary: An emerging artist is seeking an Assistant Music Manager. The primary responsibility of the Assistant Music Manager is to proactively assist artist in all aspects of the artist’s career development.

Director of Publicity (Universal)

Job summary: Universal Music Group is currently seeking a Manager, Publicity in our New York, NY office location: We are looking for a Manager, Publicity who will be responsible for entire press campaigns for all high profile artists while creating and implementing full national campaigns for select artist in the online space at our Hollywood location.

Director of Artist Marketing (Pandora)

Job summary: As the Director of Artist Marketing you will lead the marketing strategy for an exciting new product initiative for Pandora. You will work with cross-functional team members from artist relations & partnerships, corporate strategy, marketing, product management, design, engineering, communications, sales, legal and more. We are seeking candidates with expertise in the music industry who possess exceptional skills in product marketing strategy, go-to-market execution, communication and project management.

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News

Journalism Tips #15: ‘How To Spend Your Summer Vacation’

Thank you for joining us for another installment in our our ongoing Journalism Tips series. We started this column as a way to help aspiring writers get their start in music, but over the couple months we have been evolving into a place writers come to have their questions about life in the business answered. Today we are continuing that effort with a response to a question posed by multiple reader in regards to how aspiring writers can make the most of their summer vacation. If you have any questions about developing as a writer/blogger in music, please do not hesitate email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Many of our readers are wrapping up another year of school this month or next, and if they’re fortunate enough to not absolutely have to find work right away their are several weeks of childlike freedom ahead. It’s an exciting time to be young, and for the young it’s an important time to be thinking about the future. Advertisers will tell you to embrace the now or otherwise live in the present, but if you want to make a career for yourself in the music business you should see the arrival of summer vacation as a door to opportunity that only needs your drive and passion to be kicked wide open. I cannot tell you exactly what you need to do in order to make yourself noticed by the industry at large, but by following the follows tips you will position yourself for success down the line. Making the most of that positioning and networking with the people you meet through those efforts is entirely up to you.

Make a list of achievable goals and set dates for each task to be accomplished.

There is no real limit to what you can accomplish this summer, but if you do not have an idea of what you are trying to achieve from the start you are bound to spend days, if not weeks spinning your wheels with indecision. If you want to be a writer, this means setting goals for the amount of content created, as well as the dates that you plan to have certain festival/tour coverage complete. For example, those who plan to attend Vans Warped Tour on July 1 could set a goal to have all interviews and related live coverage published within 10 days of the event.

Find an internship.

The is no overstating the profound impact a great internship can have on your career trajectory. These internships does not have to be directly related to journalism, but it should be in an area of the music industry that interests you. After all, there is always a chance you will not ultimately become a music writer. Internships offer you an opportunity to explore other areas of music, such as publicity and digital marketing, where many of the skills used for writing can be leveraged. This not only gives you more options for your post education career, but it also provides you with a more well rounded understanding of how the industry functions.

Use Festival Coverage To Refine Your Voice

Summer music writing is synonymous with festival coverage, and in 2014 it’s hard to go more than 3 or 4 days without a major music event kicking off somewhere across the continental United States. Many of these festivals feature similar lineups, which will no doubt result in redundant coverage from blogs and magazines who were granted press badges just so they could spend their mornings summarizing the same set lists and performances delivered by at every festival that came before through a handful of hit-or-miss pictures and interviews. We will probably never reach a point where this type of coverage is not commonplace, but that does not mean that it’s the type of content you have to create in order to make an impact at these events. In fact, the content that typically gets the most attention are the articles that find a way to be unique in a sea of commonality. Summarize set lists and complete interviews if you must, but take the time to soak in the festival environment and convey it to your readers through editorial efforts. Write about what you saw, felt, smelled, tasted, touched, thought, and experienced. Tell them what it was like for you specifically, and don’t be afraid to tell the truth. If the festival was crowded or the sound was terrible go ahead and let the world know. Likewise, if something surprises you in a good way, even small things, highlight them as well. Every event has pros and cons. Don’t gloss over the experience.

Challenge yourself to write about something different

Writers, like musicians, have a bad habit of getting overly comfortable with material that works and hesitating whenever the idea of trying something new is presented. While there may always be a place in this world for someone who is the most well versed individual on one particular topic, the growing trend in entertainment writing is sites and magazines recruiting people who are well versed on a variety of topics. If you’re into music, that means being able to write about an up and coming country act with the same sincerity and intelligent voice as you would the next big pop punk outfit. It could also mean doing video interviews and writing album reviews, or otherwise switching the type of media you are creating while still speaking in an intelligent and welcoming voice. This summer, challenge yourself to step outside your professional comfort zone and surround yourself with material that will make you actually work. Find events and/or albums that require research, thought, and time to properly analyze, then go out and create that content. Buy a camera and take photos at every event you write a live review for instead of bringing along a photographer. Start a podcast. Interview a rapper. Whatever it is you have always thought you would never do, now is the time to toss care to the wind and give the unknown an honest attempt. You never know what you might learn about yourself.

Network. Network. Network.

No matter where you go or what you choose to write about this summer, you need to make it a point to introduce yourself to everyone you can and be as nice as humanly possible. You should also work on printing business cards as soon as possible, even if you have no real business to promote. You’re promoting yourself at these events, even if you feel like you’re only there to see a show. You’re not. In reality, especially at festivals, you’re representing your personal brand to every concert attendee, artist, manager, and industry professional who happens to be on site. Holding doors and buying drinks for the right people may open more doors than any well written article, and all it takes is putting others before yourself. Ask people who they are and what they do, but also do not be afraid to share your current activities and goals. Tell them what you are working towards and who knows? They may be able to help.

Build an online portfolio and remember to keep it updated

The internet has made it incredibly simple for people with an interest in writing to begin sharing their content with the world without spending anything at all beyond the basic cost of internet (which might not be a factor in places with free public wifi). Writers love free platforms and free promotion, but if you want to properly represent yourself online it’s worth finding $100 to spend on a custom domain and site hosting fees. Companies like Squarespace and Wix make it incredibly easy to build high quality websites in no time at all, and if you know the right phrases to Google you can often find offer codes to make those reasonably priced services even more affordable. There is a myth amongst writers in the digital age that if they take time off from creating content they will slip into the realm of forgotten people simply because the demand for new material is so high, but it is incredibly important that writers set aside time to carve out their own, professionally-focused corner of the internet. You need a place where people who are interested in working with you can find links to your work, as well as a resume, bio, contact information, and whatever else you feel obliged to share about yourself with the world. If you want an example, click here to see the portfolio of yours truly (Haulix James).

Whatever this summer, remember this: No one notices the aspiring professional who keeps to themselves and does the same thing every day. The people who makes big moves in this industry find the strength and courage within to make a change long before anyone else ever takes notice. Make this summer the time when you take life by the reigns and begin to truly leave your mark on this industry. The world is yours.

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Job Board News

Haulix Weekly Update #39 – “We’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat”

“I understand what’s it like to work all week and on Friday night just want to go and leave your brain at the door, buy some popcorn and be thrilled by something.” – Don Cheadle

Hello and welcome to the final Haulix blog update of the work week. If you’re reading this post the day it goes then you’re likely joining us in the unsettling anticipation of the weekend ahead. It is Godzilla week, after all, and thanks to an early screening this week we already know it’s awesome. Before you run off to the cineplex however, we need to take a few moments and reflect on everything we’ve accomplished in recent days.

Each and every Friday we like to take a brief break from our regularly scheduled programming to update and reflect on everything happening at Haulix HQ. We are far more than a music blog, as many of you already know, and posts like this give us an opportunity to share more our efforts with all of you. If you have any questions about the content of this post, or if you are interested in learning more about the secure music distribution services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

We have been telling you for over a month that we have a major addition coming to our anti-piracy toolkit, but we are still a week or two from the official roll out of the project. What we can tell you today is that things are moving forward, and we recently launched beta testing for this highly teased offering. Once live we will be able to assist clients in battling piracy more fiercely than ever before. More details soon.

On the blog end of things, we continued our efforts to create better and more informed industry this week through multiple new posts. We interviewed industry big shots, talked about the need to remember where we come from, and offered a boat load of advice to beginners. You can find a rundown of everything we ran in recent days below:

Advice: Remember The People Who Help You

How To Kill Your Band #8 – Everyone Has To Start Somewhere

Industry Spotlight: Fred Feldman (Triple Crown Records)

Industry Spotlight: Adam Lopez (New Age Media Management)

Music Industry Job Board (5/11/14)

Journalism Tips #14: ‘Quality Vs Quantity’

Next week we will not only have the story of High Times, but also the legend behind one of the hottest young video critics’ and their ridiculous stage name. We will also have a new Job Board update, additional advice features, and the announcement of a brand new feature slated to begin in June.

That’s all we have for now. Have a great weekend, everyone!

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News

Advice: Remember The People Who Help You

Hello and welcome to the final Advice column of the week. Earlier this week I was having a conversation with a fellow music writer when a story was shared with me that I knew would eventually make its way onto this blog. For the sake of privacy and the hope of not destroying anyone’s reputation, we have chosen to keep the names of people and groups involved in this story secret. If you have any questions about the content of the blog, or if you would like more information regarding the distributional services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

A couple years ago, a writer for a popular alternative music blog stumbled across a promising pop punk band online that had yet to be covered on any major music blogs. After listening to a demo from the group’s then upcoming EP, the writer reached out and expressed a desire to work together. The two hit it off right away, and even though the group did not have anything new on the immediate horizon the writer began trying to find ways to feature them on their site so that they could still be promoted to new listeners. The traffic clicking on those posts were low, yes, but they were still doing for for the band than anything other sites were doing to aide the group on their rise to the top.

Several weeks after the band and the writer initially made contact the group announced plans to release what would eventually become their ‘breakout’ EP. Upon learning the news the writer immediately reached out to see if there was any way their site could host the exclusive premiere of the EP, which was an offer the band accepted within an hour. The music was sent, a feature was written, and at some point in the winter of that year the group’s EP made its debut on the writer’s site. 

Fast forward half a dozen months and that little pop punk act no one knew is suddenly the hottest up and comer in alternative music, with more than one respected label knocking on their door. The group lands a support slot on a major tour and finally their first date near the town where the writer resides. When the show comes the writer makes an appearance, and after the group’s set the writer makes their way over to the merch area in order to finally introduce themselves in person. Hands are shaken, names are exchanged, and then the frontman for the band asks one question: “Who are you?”

To be fair, this is a common mistake that happens between newly acquainted people all over the world. As much as we would all love to remember every person we meet it has proven an incredibly difficult task to accomplish, which is something our writer was fully aware of when asked to essentially reintroduce themselves. The writer again states their name, this time including the site they write for, and the same member responds, “Oh yea, I think I have heard of that. Do you guys write about our band? You should.” The writer smiles, shares in some small talk, and walks away feeling both disappointed and slightly disrespected.

It’s very possible and arguably quite likely that this encounter occurred at a moment when the artist speaking was simply not thinking through the words coming out of their mouth, but even if that were true the impression that conversation made on the music writer would still be the same. Writers hope that musicians have respect for them and their craft, especially in an age where every blog essentially doubles as a free promotional platform for whatever musicians the contributors to that particular blog care about, but that is not always the case. Some see writers as being something akin to paparazzi, as if they are nothing more than a group of bottom feeders snooping for a click-worthy headline to give meaning to their otherwise empty lives. While those people most certainly do exist in the world, just like there are artists who only make music to make money or attract the opposite sex, it is far from the norm.

As an artist on the rise it is incredibly important that you make it a point to try and remember the people who help you out along the way. Whether they’re writers, venue owners, booking agents, or the mother of some young fans who thought to bring you cookies as a way of saying thanks for making their children happy, taking time to recognize and appreciate the dedication others have to helping you succeed will only help to further the positive word of mouth about your efforts spreading across the industry. People will not only want to share the good news about your latest creation, they will want to share you with the people in their lives. They know you not only know, but that you appreciate the fact they are doing whatever they can to help, and that makes them want to help you even more. This is the complete opposite effect the story at the beginning of this post had, which was inspiring the music writer to tell others about the promising band who completely forgot about the site that helped them first reach a national audience. That one bad interaction may lead to dozens, if not hundreds of conversations, which will in turn be shared with other people who were not present for the event, and at that point it becomes impossible to control how much truth is involved in each retelling.

We say this a lot, but it bares repeating that the music industry is an incredibly small place where almost everyone knows everyone, and the people you don’t know can usually be accessed through mutual friendships. This means that everybody talks to everybody, and people take a lot of stock in the opinions of other industry professionals, especially when it comes to gauging new talent. People want to know not only if others believe an artist will sell, but whether or not they will be a good person/group to work with for the next several years. No one wants to pour money into an artist who turns out to be an egotistical asshole, even if the material that artist creates is some of the best on the market. In order to develop a new talent in the modern industry you need to align yourself with people who are as driven and grounded as they are talented. This may be the place where rock stars are made, but there is no room for a rock star mentality when it comes to the business end of entertainment.

All of this may lead some to believe that they are not allowed to make errors, but that is not the point we are trying to make. In fact, mistakes are expected. We are all human, after all, and part of filling that roles means making mistakes because it’s only through our errors that we can discover the right path for our individual journey. The key is being able to admit when you are wrong, or even being open to the idea your memory may not be as great as others. Embrace it, and don’t be afraid to tell people you meet that while you appreciate their efforts you often struggle with names. People will understand that excuse and react to it far better than presenting yourself as someone who has never interacted with that individual in the past.

Kim Grim probably said it best when she advised all future professionals, artist or otherwise, to avoid becoming a dick in this business. Be the type of person you would want to work with, and align yourself with people who have similar goals and/or aspirations.

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News

How To Kill Your Band #8 – Everyone Has To Start Somewhere

Hello and welcome to the eighth installment of Eric Morgan’s How To Kill Your Band. This column offers advice to up and coming artists from the perspective of a professional musician who has thrived with and without label support over the last decade. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

An Introduction:

I’ve been in the music industry as an artist for nearly 10 years now. In that decade I’ve achieved nearly all of my childhood music dreams, but I’ve also made just as many mistakes that run over my mind before I fall asleep each night. A wonderment of how a few different decisions, rerunning in hindsight, would work out in some alternate universe. This ever creeping determinism is a fallacy I’m quite aware of but one that I will never completely shake, though it’s these experiences I’ve learned the most valuable lessons. These are the things I’d like to share in a series of mini-blogs I call How To Kill Your Band.

Part 8 – Everyone Has To Start Somewhere

To kill a band, you have to start one first. This week I’m going to be diving into the musical influences that hooked me on playing music. I try to write music in some form almost every day  and after a recent fit with writer’s block I went back to my early roots to get some inspiration. In past interviews I’ve almost always been asked about my band’s influences but not so much as my personal gateways that encouraged me to start writing my own songs. So here’s the chance to relive my own musical adolescents and discuss the artists that shaped the way I look at music.

Rufio – Perhaps, I Suppose (2001)

This was the first band that really motivated me to become a better guitar player at a technical level. There is simply no other pop punk band that shredded like these guys. Though I don’t remember what made me pick out their debut Perhaps, I Suppose in the first place, I vividly recall leaving the mall and popping the album in my discman as the crescendo into “Above Me” quickly filled my ears. Just fifteen seconds into that lead track was enough to leave me stunned and instantly inspired to figure out what on earth they were doing on their fretboards. I just never knew it was possible to do so much on guitar and still be maintain the ever catchy pop punk spirit that Rufio rooted themselves in. The moment I got back home I grabbed my guitar, booted up the Compaq Presario for a quick Dogpile (yes!) search, and stayed up all night learning that album.

Senses Fail – From the Depths of Dreams (2003)

Running through the gamut of Drive-Thru Records releases, I eventually landed upon Senses Fail’s From the Depths of Dreams EP in 2003. By now I had a large collection of the label’s records filling up my pseudo-leather bound CD booklet that included the likes of The Starting Line, New Found Glory, Allister, Midtown, Rx Bandits, and The Movielife. These were all great bands endemic to a profoundly influential period of pop punk at the turn of the millenium but there was something different about Senses Fail. This band was serious. While their peers were busy with self deprecating humor and the mistrials of high school romances, Buddy Nielsen was singing about death. The band gets right to the point as the lead track off that debut EP, “Steven”, is about a close friend of that name being killed in a car accident. That song gave me chills on the first listen. Buddy’s raw, unique but slightly out of tune vocal delivery coupled with the bands darker melodic arrangement was sort of a breath of fresh air to me. Senses Fail also clearly had hardcore influences and the metal tinged guitar riffs were a gateway into my discovery of early metalcore acts.

Further Seems Forever – The Moon is Down (2001)

Chris Carrabba was only barely in this band long enough to record their first album, The Moon is Down, but it is by far my favorite indie rock/emo release of all time. I’d assume this is a product of a perfect storm where I am going through newly turned teenage angst and Chris’s powerful emotionally soaked lyrics. His vocal delivery, while not tunefully perfect, is undeniably catchy. His choruses come to the verge of screaming several times on this album giving you the ability to tangibly feel the emotion he’s pouring out over every line. The instrumentation here is undeniably second fiddle to the vocally driven tracks but they are subtly complex and provide just the right atmosphere to push each theme to it’s climax. Listening back over the album now, I’m amazed at how much melody is hidden in the guitar tracks while still managing not to detract from Chris’s dense but soaring storytelling. Even when it wasn’t the focus, there seemed to always be something intricate going on guitar wise and that idea propelled much of my early songwriting. One secret gem of this album is Steve Kleisath’s insane drum work. While the guitar and vocal lines on the album conservatively tend to play around the same ideas, Steve makes each song stand apart with a complex yet song supporting drumming that fills the emptiness and creates variety in places where there otherwise are none. This is an album I go back to from time to time for inspiration and a refresher on how instrumentation properly supports vocally driven songs.

Thrice – Identity Crisis (2001)

I was introduced to the wonder of Thrice by Justin Brown, AHAF and Bornstellar vocalist, back in 2002 during our sophomore year of high school. He brought his super awesome mini-disc player to school one day and the first song on his latest mix was “Phoenix Ignition”. The track starts off innocently enough with frontman Dustin Kensrue singing softly over a single acoustic guitar before abruptly kicking in with the full band under the anthem of his now screaming voice. This was the first time I had been intimately exposed to screamed vocals and I was quite taken back by it. It took me a good half dozen listens to come around to the band but once I got past the nascent startle of this new sonic aggression, I realized how amazing and beautiful it all was. The viscerally raw rage that permeated Identity Crisis stoked an undeveloped side of my musical dexterity that changed my perspective of what songs could be. Up until that point, most of my library came out of the Drive-Thru roster who’s pop punk ethos contrasted greatly with this new post-hardcore purposefulness. Teppei Teranishi’s guitar playing was another major influence to my riff building framework. While bands like Senses Fail also had metal influences infusing their guitar sections, Teppei brought a technical level to the hardcore/punk band that was quite novel at the time. His instrumental prowess was a constant inspiration as I continued to develop my guitar playing early on and brings us to another band that Justin introduced me to:

Hopesfall – No Wings to Speak Of (2001)

Being a Charlotte native, I along with nearly all other aspiring local musicians were heavily influenced by the rise of Hopesfall in the early 2000’s. They were the first hardcore band to really put Charlotte on the map and their early success sparked a creative renaissance in our music scene. 2002’s The Satellite Years may have been the band’s most well known album but 2001’s No Wings to Speak Of  is the quintessential masterpiece of the entire melodic metalcore genre. This record showed me what was possible if you broke all the rules. There were no defined choruses, verses, or even a semblance of song structure but a weaving path of evolving melodies carried each song like it’s own separate story. The band freely rotates between aggressive hardcore sections and spacious reverb drenched cleans that taught me how much you could change the mood within a single song. This EP is probably the biggest influence to my writing on A Hero A Fake’s first release, Volatile. My fascination with abrupt transitions between heavy and clean passages, soaring guitar driven atmosphere’s, and the orchestration of sporadically changing time signatures is traced back to this amazing record.

Honorable Mentions:

AFI – The Art of Drowning (2000)

Boyhitscar – S/T (2001)

The Starting Line – Say it Like You Mean It (2002)

Underoath – The Changing of Times (2002)

A Static Lullaby – …And Don’t Forget to Breathe (2003)

Thursday – War All the Time (2003)

Misery Signals – Of Malice and the Magnum Heart (2004)

 

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Job Board News

Industry Spotlight: Fred Feldman (Triple Crown Records)

Hello, everyone. Whether this is your first or one hundredth visit to our site we are beyond excited to have you joining us for this afternoon’s feature. We were asked way back in the fall of 2013 to begin speaking with more label owners, and it did not take us long to realize those professionals are some of the hardest in the entire music industry to track down for an interview. To date only a few names have graced our page, and today we add another as Triple Crown Records’ founder Fred Feldman finally shares his store. If you have any questions about developing as a writer/blogger in music, please do not hesitate email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

For more than a decade Triple Crown Records has been a tastemaker for alternative rock and beyond. By forgoing the typical label approach of finding one sound to push, founder Fred Feldman and crew have made it a point to work with any artist they found interesting, regardless of genre. The result of these conscious efforts is one of the most diverse and beloved indie labels in existence, and today the story of how it all came together is being shared by the man who first brought the company to life.

I don’t remember where I was the first time I heard an album from Triple Crown Records, but if I had to take a stab in the dark it would probably be somewhere between 2003 and 2004. It was during this time that the label, which was only a few years old, began releasing albums by Brand New that would quickly become staples within the alternative music scene. Those albums hooked me, as well as thousands of others, to the label’s work for life even though many of their artists did not sound like a Jesse Lacey fever dream. I now own well over a dozen Triple Crown releases, and based on their current roster I am confident I will add many more titles in the years to come.

If you want to learn more about Fred and his efforts at Triple Crown, please take a few moments and follow the label on Twitter. Additional questions and comments can be left at the end of this post.

H: Please introduce yourself to our readers:

F: My name is Fred Feldman and I own Triple Crown Records

H: Thank you for joining us, Fred. We’re very excited about this.

F: No Problem, happy to help.

H: Before the music industry ever came along, what are some of your earliest memories of music?

F: Just being a fan, really.  From an early age I was a big fan of music. In high school I played in bands. Nothing good, of course, but I still love playing and being around music. I’m a little older than my audience, so when I was coming up I would take photos for actual fan zines and magazines, not websites. That was back when print was something special [laughs], but yea – decided I would like to have a career in it even though I couldn’t play and took an interest in the business side.

H: What was your first concert experience?

F: It won’t go over well even now probably, but my first concert ever was going to see Boston with Sammy Hagar at the Nassau Coliseum.

H: That’s amazing.

F: Oh, you have no idea. I always smile whenever I see something on Sammy Hagar because that was the first real arena rock moment for me. He stepped out on stage and it was just unreal. I think I was eleven or twelve at the time.

H: A lot of people seem to witness those key ‘influential’ concerts in their early teens.

F: Yea. When I grew up it was all arena rock. My first punk show was in high school with Heart Attack. It was also the first time I saw a pit, which was pretty life changing as well.

H: You mentioned that you started off taking photos for zines. Can you recall your earliest project in music?

F: Well I always very interested in music. This was before you could just email someone for a photo pass. I shot for friends’ fan zines, shooting punk rock stuff in New York that was pretty easy, but a lot of the other stuff would involve attempting to sneak your camera into gigs, getting close and grabbing shots. Then you would write to people, send them your pictures, and hope to get your stuff published. It was always rewarding to see the final product, to open a fan zine or magazine and see your work.

I didn’t really get serious about the business end of things until college. At that point I started booking shows and working at a radio station. That’s when I realized “Oh, this could really be something.“

H: I read online that you attended Syracuse University. Did you study Business?

F: Sorta. I got a liberal arts degree, but I think the thing that was a great opportunity for me at Syracuse was being on a big campus and being able to book concerts for the Concert Board. You weren’t booking a DIY venue, you were booking shows that dealt with real agents, real venues, big production, and generally speaking a lot more tasks than DIY venues would be less likely to handle.

H: Is it through booking at Syracuse that you found your first job in the industry?

F: No, I got out of school and had no idea what I wanted to do. I couldn’t find a job because I never took an internship. I think internships are great and they can certainly be very beneficial, but I did not take the internship route because I had a job and needed to make money. So I literally contacted a bunch of companies and told them I would work for free. Through someone, a friend of a friend of a friend, I landed a job in the mail room at Profile Records. From there I worked my way up from a part time job to a full time role at the company.

H: Wow. That’s similar to those classic industry tales you read about where someone starts in the lowest position and works their way to running the company.

F: I did end up running the company. I got pretty lucky there because there came a point where the two owners of the company split, and I was going to leave the company, but one of the owners told me that if I stayed I could start what he called ‘my little rock thing.’ I loved hip-hop, and I loved working with it at Profile, but I grew up interested in punk rock and initially went to profile because of their rock releases. I ended up doing every job there, and then started another company called Another Planet while running Profile Records. 

H: One more question about life at Profile – Did you get to work with Run DMC?

F: Yes, I did. It was a wild time, and I can only say my entire experience there, aside from being very education, put me in a lot of places and allowed me to do a lot of things I never imagined. I worked with them (Run DMC) on their comeback album and it was crazy. To see them perform and work their way back to the top was just amazing. Run is that character people see on TV, he’s both very humble and kind.

H: You mentioned Another Planet. Is that what eventually became Triple Crown?

F: No, that was a label that we started there. Profile also owned Rock Hotel Records, which had put out some of the most important New York hardcore records. The catalog was kind of dormant, so I suggested we reissue those records and sign new things. I’m not delusional, it was kind of hit and miss, but when the label was purchased by Arista they kept that roster and catalog. 

H: I was building up to that. When the company sold were you cut, or did you choose to leave and do your own thing?

F: No, they kept me on during the transition. We had a few successful artists at the time, and I was the person who knew those artists, so they allowed me to stay on for a while and make sure everything went smoothly. It was a good position for me because it allowed me to start my own company [Triple Crown] while still having something to fall back on. I think when you decide to do something like start a business you have to dive in, but for a while there I had a safety net.

H: Who was the first artist you signed to Triple Crown?

F: Oddly enough, I was about to make a deal with 25 To Life when I started to think that Profile was going to be sold, so I sat down with the owner to discuss the possibility of taking 25 To Life. I spoke with Rick from the band and told him that I was leaving to start my own thing, but still wanted to do their record if he was interested. He was and we did it. We we also had a Stubborn All-Stars record that was completed for Another Planet, so I licensed that and those became our first two releases.

H: You started Triple Crown in 1997, but then in 2001 you have a small roll at Fat Beats Records. What is the story there?

F: When you’re starting a business and you’re throwing everything you have at it, you just have to hustle. I was looking for distribution and my friend with Fat Beats told me they could help me out if I worked with them to start an in-house label. A year and a half later we signed Atmosphere, so again my hip-hop history started to come through in my work. It was a crazy time, but also an awesome time.

H: How many people are on staff right now at Triple Crown?

F: It depends, really. I think we have three people right now. We assemble a team around each artist/project and move forward from there. Every artist and every audience is different. There may be some crossover, but at the end of the day the best option we have found is to start fresh and build a plan from the ground up.

H: I read in another interview that one of the first things you do with every new band is to get them on the road, playing at least five or six times a week. Is that true?

F: In our industry, touring is one of the most important things. I also think it’s the best way to connect with music fans. As long as the band we have signed recently have a little touring under their belt, we work to give them that extra push that allows them to tour more frequently.

H: Where do you turn when looking to discover new music?

F: Everywhere, really. I try to keep an open mind. Honestly, sometimes I find bands online, or through recommendations. Sometimes I read a story somewhere and start connecting the dots. Maybe I catch an opening slot on a tour we have artists on. The guys in Hit The Lights were the first to tell me about Fireworks. Brand New turned me on to Manchester Orchestra, and even though we did not end up signing them it started a strong relationship with Andy that has lasted several years.

H: Let’s focus on one of your recent signings. What is the story behind the discovery of Tiny Moving Parts?

F: The first time I ever heard about the band was seeing something on PropertyOfZack. It was a video or something, and I was very into what they were doing. The manager reached out a short time later, and from there I caught them live the next time they were in our area. That sealed it for me.

H: What advice would you offer those looking to enter the professional side of the music industry?

F: I always say hard work. Let your work speak for you. Find a way to get an opportunity in the music industry and make the most of it. This is why I think internships are so great. They give you some of the worst or busiest work and allow you to show them how much dedication you have to the job. I’ve been in the business for a long time, and there will always be people who enter with a sense of entitlement, but I think a willingness to do the work is really important. I read an interview not long ago where someone suggested “Don’t be a dick” and really, that’s accurate. Be honest and work hard. Don’t be a dick.

H: Triple Crown has been using Haulix for a long time now. What keeps you around?

F: It’s great. It simplifies everything, and the support is amazing. This used to be so hard and now it’s quick and easy. Also, publicists love it and it saves us a bundle on physical watermarking. I had an issue not long ago that required help tracking down the person behind a leak, and I think Matt (Haulix CEO) replied to me within 12 hours with all the information I needed to move forward. 

H: You’ve accomplished a lot with your career, especially during your time working on Triple Crown, so what are your current goals in life?

F: I just want to keep putting out interesting music. If there is one thing that has been a blessing and a curse for us is that we don’t have an identifiable sound. Kids don’t buy a record just because it is a Triple Crown release. I think there are some common threads throughout the music, but there are also some big leaps. I’m really excited about what we have on the horizon. Tiny Moving Parts is really great, which I know we already talked about, but so are the releases we have planned a little further down the road.

H: How many times a month do people ask you to repress Brand New’s Deja Entendu on vinyl?

F: Haha, that’s my favorite question! It’s one of those things where I have to remind myself not to be a dick. (laughs) I have a very close relationship with the band, and they always want to put music out a certain way, both aesthetically and sonically. That’s why I don’t want to just press it and put it out there. When we reissued Your Favorite Weapon they went back and remastered the whole thing. They always want to do things a little bit differently. It’s going to come, that’s all I am going to say, and hopefully there will be a few surprises included as well. The band was very important to me and the label, so I don’t want to just press it and put it out there because it’s not what they would want.

I like when people ask me about this from an innocent angle. Kids will suggest pressing it again to me as if it’s something we have never heard before. I get it. It bums us and the band out when we go online and see how much some people are willing to pay on eBay for copies.

H: We have finally reached the end! Before I let you go, do you have any final thoughts or observations to share?

F: I think we covered a bunch of great stuff. We have a couple more vinyl things planned for the year, so please keep an eye out for that.

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