We owe a bit of thanks to our friends at Substream for this piece of content.
YouTube comedian Jarrod Alonge has been at the top of our most requested blog guest list for the better part of the last year. He’s not a writer or a musician, at least not in the classical sense, but his parodies of current alternative music culture are some of the best video material available online today. You may have never seen it before, but chances are someone you know has, especially if they’re between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four.
Recently, Alonge’s announced plans to release an album titled Beating A Dead Horse that will filled with the parody songs he has written under various aliases. Many of the songs have obviously already been shared with the public, but there are a few new tracks as well, which Alonge has slowly been sharing to build excitement for the record’s release. His latest, “Hey Jarrod, What’s That Song Again?” skewers the entire metalcore world in just under five minutes. You can hear the song, which takes aim at similarities in the material by bands like A Day To Remember, Emarosa, Sleeping With Sirens, Underoath, For Today, Blessthefall, and more, above.
Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first Industry Spotlight column of the week. We have been looking forward to this interview for quite some time and could not be happier with the results. The topic has very little to do with music, but if you read on you will discover there is more to the Haulix community than record labels and DIY musicians.
This blog exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Haulix is most commonly associated with helping musicians fight piracy and securely distribute their media, but we also work with a large number of comedians every single year. Standup comedy has made a huge resurgence in the last half decade, and Haulix has been there to help various labels keep their media safe every step of the way. We have previously spoken to publicists who worked in the comedy realm in addition to dabbling in music, but today we are dropping music for the first time ever in order to talk about the life of a company that specializes in making people laugh.
Brian Volk-Weiss is the man behind Comedy Dynamics, which until a few months ago was known as New Wave Dynamics. Together with his team of standup loving employees, Brian has been bringing comedy into the lives of people around the world for the better part of the last decade. He’s worked with virtually every big name comic today, and those he has yet to connect with will likely join the Comedy Dynamics family in the years to come. I had the opportunity to discuss Brian’s work life with the man himself earlier this week, and now I am sharing that insight, as well as a preview of what Comedy Dynamics has in store for the future, with all of you.
H: Hello, Brian. Thank you for joining us today. How are things in California?
B: Yea, morning is my favorite time of day. It’s funny I’m saying this on a call, but it’s typically before phones start to ring. I love getting in before 730, and I usually get more done between 730 and 9am than any other 90-minute period during the day.
I do have an advantage of being out here on the West Coast. I can get up and work with our East Coast offices before things get too crazy over here. I digress however, we could talk about scheduling and time codes all day.
H: We’ve been looking forward to speaking with you for a while, so let’s go ahead and dive right in. I want to talk about Comedy Dynamics, but first I would like to learn a little about you. You’re known for working in comedy, so I’m curious when your interest with standup began. Is there a particular special that caught your interest at a young age?
B: This is going to sound a bit cliche, but it’s [Eddie Murphy’s] Raw. I grew up watching Star Trek, Star Wars, and Raw. The funny thing is, by the time I got out of college I had probably seen Raw 100-150 times and no other comedy special.
H: Just that one?
B: Yes. When I got out to LA I went to the Laugh Factory and I saw three shows on a Saturday night. That was all it took. I was hooked. It has not surpassed Star Wars in my book, but it has tied it.
H: We might as well cover this early on, who is your favorite comedian?
B: My favorite is Bill Cosby. Even though Raw was the special I watched a lot, Cosby created the albums that I grew up listening to. They were my parent’s records.
We’re working with Bill now on a few projects, and it’s literally the most surreal thing in the world. I’m not able to speak with my heroes.
H: My research shows that you attended the University of Iowa. What did you study?
B: I studied what they called Communications. For whatever reason, the program I was in was never called Film, it was called Communications, but in reality it was the film department. So I made a bunch of student films, learned the history of movies, and ironically my favorite class was a course on Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. I had no idea I would work in comedy at the time, but that was probably my favorite class in college.
The story I always tell is one about the last day of school. As I was saying goodbye to my professors they were wheeling out the analog editing system and bringing in their first digital setup. I believe I was the last class to actually cut film.
H: How did you first get involved in the entertainment industry? Did you first go to college, or was there perhaps an internship that introduced you to the business side of things?
B: If it wasn’t for Star Wars I would be a dentist, or lawyer, or doctor in New York. I’m the first person in my family’s four or five generation history to only have a Bachelor’s degree. Went to Iowa, graduated, got a car and moved out to LA. I did every job I could find for about nine months and then ended up at a management company that was very focused on comedy. I rose to the position of manager and managed talent for about a decade. From management, I went to producing, and from producing I went to distribution, and through all that the company continued to grow. That company was sold to New Wave eleven years ago, and basically three years ago I retired my management cleats to focus on producing and being an executive running the company.
One of the greatest things that could have ever happened to me was being a manager for so long. Doing that taught me what is really important to comedians, and I think it’s what I learned through those efforts that makes us so good at what we do today.
H: New Wave recently became Comedy Dynamics. When did the name change take place and why?
B: We launched the first piece of the consumer facing part of our company in July, and that was on Hulu. Next month is Roku, and between now and June we will be on all the streaming platforms.
This is a true story. As we prepared to launch with Hulu, more and more people told me we should consider having Comedy in our name. As we got closer I realized they were right, and part of that is due to the fact ‘new wave dynamics’ is actually a real life engineering term. That, combined with the fact we wanted comedy in our title, made us Comedy Dynamics.
H: Comedy Dynamics has a record label, but you’re probably best known for the numerous specials you have produced over the years. What came first, the label or the video side of things? Did they launch simultaneously?
B: Great question. It was always the same, so we would launch the special side with the audio (digital) side. About 18 months after that we began releasing physical titles as well.
H: Comedy Dynamics has worked alongside Comedy Central Records in the past. Are you partnered in any way?
B: No, not at all. We’ve had a long and wonderful relationship with them, but we are not partnered with them in any way.
H: I’ve noticed there are several releases, like Marc Maron’s ‘Thinky Pain,’ where Comedy Dynamics handles DVD/Digital, but Comedy Central Records presses the special to vinyl. So I was curious as to how that works.
B: Basically, sometimes we approach an artist about working with us and we’ll sit down to draw up a deal. When that happens, their representatives will tell us that artist already has a standing deal with someone else. So ‘Thinky Pain,’ Marc Maron had a multiple record deal with Comedy Central Records. They told us, and we carved vinyl out of our agreement. That’s not something we like to do necessarily, but it comes up from time to time and we have a good business relationship so we make it work.
H: I follow. Have you gotten into the vinyl world yet?
B: Yea, we just released Chris Porter’s recent standup special as our first vinyl.
H: Can we expect more vinyl releases in the future?
B: Here’s the thing. Nobody is ever going to make a lot of money off vinyl. The thing that makes vinyl great is that when artists want to do it they are very invested in doing so. They want to give their fans, the true comedy aficionados, what they want, and those are the people we are trying to target. They want high quality vinyl, and we will do anything to keep them happy.
H: You’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of big names, so I’m curious as to how you go about recruiting talent to work with your company.
B: There are two answers:
Answer number one is this – I go with my gut. If they make me laugh, or I find them interesting, great. Sometimes I find people where their standup is not something I would have on repeat or listen to on a regular basis, but I recognize their genius and that they’re doing something great. I want to support that
The other answer, which comes from my management days, is that I take notes or suggestions from people I have become close with through the business. They know I trust them and they reach out to showcase new talent, pass along links, and generally recommend comedians they think we may be interested in working with.
H: Do you have a standing deal with Netflix and Comedy Central, or do you work on a special-by-special basis?
B: Comedy Central is special-by-special. Netflix is a combination of the two. We are very fortunate that we get in business with them (Netflix) when we did. We sold our first special to them four years ago, and things have been great.
H: You’re very engrained in the modern comedy scene. Can you offer any advice to aspiring comedians on networking and making friends within the entertainment business?
B: This is 95% of the story: Practice, practice, practice. Go into this knowing, and I’m speaking from my experience, that is takes six to seven years of performing regularly to get good.
The second part is location. If you were not fortunate enough to be born in New York or LA, go there. The chances of being discovered in other cities are far less likely than the big city. Start there, definitely start at home, but move when you’re able.
Lastly, be everyone’s friend, or at least try to get along with everyone. You need to be in a position where everyone you interact with, especially other comedians, will be friendly. You are going to rise through the ranks with these people, and it’s far easier to do with support from others. That’s where your first break will come from.
H: That’s all I have for you. Before we part ways, do you have any upcoming releases you wish to promote?
B: We have quite a few projects lined up before the end of the year, but our three big specials will be coming from Doug Benson (on Netflix November 6), Chelsea Peretti, and Bill Burr. We only produced Chelsea and Bill, which I always like to clarify.
We are also about six special into 2015 already. The one I’m most excited about right now is Lisa Lampenelli. We are shooting her new special in March. We’ve tried to work with her for a long time, and I’m excited that it’s finally coming together.
Welcome to another installment of the Haulix Blogger Spotlight series. People from every corner of the industry turn to Haulix when hoping to promote their upcoming releases, and in today’s column we’re speaking about an area of entertainment we have yet to touch on: Comedy. If you have a writer or publication you think deserves to be highlighted in this feature, please contact james@haulix.com and share your recommendation.
Some people know from an early age that the music industry is the place for them, but for others it’s a fact realized only after they’ve gotten a taste for the business. Matt Kleinschmidt entered his college career with no end goal in mind, but after joining the campus radio station he discovered a love for entertainment that propelled him to the career he now holds at one of our favorite companies, The Syndicate. His story is proof that with a lot of hard work, determination, and willingness to try new things it is possible to develop a sustainable, lasting career in music, and we could not be more excited to share his journey with all of you.
On a personal note, this column is a little special to me. I’ve known Matt and The Syndicate since I was first starting off music journalism, and throughout my career they have been nothing short of wonderful human beings. Their love for what they do and the clients they represent permeates through everything they produce, and it wasn’t until I got Matt on the phone for this feature that I learned the story of how it all came to be.
If you would like to stay on top of everything Matt is working on, be sure to get familiar with both The Syndicate and The Laugh Button. Additional questions and comment can be left at the end of this post.
H: State your name, job title, and place of employment:
MK: My name is Matt Kleinschmidt and I work for The Syndicate in the publicity department and online marketing – specializing in comedy.
H: Let’s start with your origin story. Can you recall the first album you bought with your own money?
MK: Absolutely. Let’s do CD. The first CD I bought was the soundtrack Judgment Night. It was this crazy, typical 90s soundtrack that featured collaborations between hip hop groups and alternative acts. I don’t really remember buying it, or what lead me to get it in the first place, but it definitely sticks out as the first CD I purchased.
H: Do you still have it?
MK: Oh, I absolutely still have it. It’s on my iTunes and the last time I listened to it was probably within the last year-and-a-half. The only soundtrack that I think probably compares is The Crow [laughs].
H: Did you go to school for publicity? Tell us a bit about what you studied.
MK: No, I didn’t. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I started school, but in the first month of school I joined the local college radio station. I knew how to put together a CD player so they made me the chief engineer, and then from there I moved my way up the food chain. I held a bunch of roles within the station and it’s kind of how I fell into my internship at The Syndicate. While at school I ended up studying journalism and mass media. It’s outdated now, but at the time I think the term was ‘Journalism/Media Studies’ for the degree I got.
So yea, I learned how to write and got the internship at The Syndicate. I got offered at a part-time at the end of my internship, and then from part-time went to full-time and never left. I started as an intern in 2000 and was full-time by 2002, so I had a full-time job by the time I graduated college. I promoted bands to college radio stations for a number of year, seven or eight, and then we decided we wanted to do more publicity towards websites and I took that over. Then over time our focus changed to comedy and I ran with it, creating a comedy site and a comedy ad network. It was not really a job that existed, so we just kind of created it. Then we found something else that didn’t exist, and that’s what we created next. It’s been a series of creating jobs as needed.
H: You have a rare story because most people have had many jobs by the time they’re 25.
MK: Yea, especially in the music business. I’ve had a lot of jobs within The Syndiate, and a few titles over the years, but yea – it has been an interesting journey. I’ve been able to say, like ‘oh we want to do this, so let’s try it.’ That has allowed me to guinea pig a few things over years, and it’s…yea, it’s pretty cool.
H: What advice would you offer aspiring industry professionals about breaking into the music business?
MK: A lot of what I want to say is working hard until you get your break, but I think a lot of it is being in the right place at the right time. It’s knowing people, meeting people, connecting, having something people want to offer, and the like. We have situations where we have to hire people here at The Syndicate and the question we usually ask is not ‘let’s break out resumes and linkedin,’ but rather ‘who are 4 or 5 people we know who would fit the vibe of the company?’ You don’t have to be the best, but you should have a willingness to learn and do better. I have a lot of years in this business, and I’ve found it [success] tends to come to those who go after it. No one is going to knock on your door.
H: How did comedy become such a big part of The Syndicate?
MK: We started working with comedy around 2001. A guy from Comedy Central came to us with the idea of promoting a comedian like you would a band or an album. Put them on tour, do promo, etc. So he hired The Syndicate to do a bunch of different marketing initiatives based on the idea that comedians want to be rockstars and rockstars want to be comedians. We knew there was a lot of common ground there.
So that’s how we started in comedy. We got in the door with Dane Cook and ended up working a lot of things with him – from albums, to movies, tours, and all that stuff – and we kind of rode his rise. He’s been really good to the company and really good to us to. It’s kind of funny to look at his rise because, you know, some people have taken shots at him over the years, but he’s a very hardworking individual.
H: One thing that makes The Syndicate unique is the web properties Metal Insider and The Laugh Button. How do you reason these as not being a conflict of interest?
MK: One thing you’ll learn about the music industry is that everyone does everything. Everyone knows someone who manages a band, but also runs a website. Or tours, and also works as a publicist. We have two sites: The Laugh Button and Metal Insider. It’s not really a conflict of interest because we make it a point to ensure it is not a conflict of interest. We want to talk about the promotion aspect, but if you visit the sites we keep things positive across the board, whether or not we’re working with them. Comedians come to us looking for coverage and we do our best to help them. We want to elevate the entire genre because it elevates everyone across the board. There is a lot of negativity out there, and we don’t like it so we don’t try to do it.
H: You came into this business before the boom of social media. Do you have a sense of nostalgia for those early, less connected days?
MK: You know what’s funny? I was just talking about this. I went to Oddball Festival recently, and festival organizers have put a clamp down on people capturing media from the show. They were literally kicking people out for cell phone use, and you know what, it was actually kind of refreshing.
The thing with social media is that I love and hate it. Right before I got on the phone I was damming some outlets for not needing to exist, but at the same time I love Twitter and I use it regularly.
H: Do you think it’s possible to prevent piracy, or is it more about managing leaks at this point?
MK: I think it’s kind of accepted at this point the music industry avoided [piracy] for too long before addressing that it was a real problem. I think it can be managed, and I think there are way to offer more premium products to consumers, be it physical albums or shirts, that help entice consumers.
There is an inherent problem with people not placing value with music. I support the industry I work in.
But I do think it can be managed. It’s about figuring out how your consumers engage with music and figuring out how to make it work for you. Is streaming the answer? I don’t know, it kind of seems to screw the artist, but I don’t know. I think it has gotten way better since the early days.
H: The Syndicate has used Haulix for quite some time. What do you like about it?
MK: I like a few things about it. Budgets are shrinking, and I love the idea of being able to get media out on a digital platform that is safe and doesn’t cost anywhere near as much as shipping. I also love a lot of its tracking features. It’s nice to know I can tell a client who is and isn’t engaged with their upcoming materials with ease.
H: What is your ultimate career goal?
MK: In all honesty, I don’t know. I’ve always had the conversation with myself that I would do this until it stops being fun, and so far it hasn’t stopped being fun. I think that’s the ultimate answer. Do it until it’s not fun anymore, then figure out something else to do.
