Atlantic Records A&R

Earlier this year Atlantic Records began expanding their A&R reach with some major moves. Steve Robertson, Senior Vice President of A&R, built his roots here in Orlando and has now moved out to Nashville to be the eyes and ears for in the great city. Steve has been working at Atlantic now for about 2 decades and has been a long time asset for the label. Getting his start at a few radio stations in Florida, he was first noticed by Atlantic Records while working at Orlando’s Alternative station, WJRR. While at the station he brought a range of notable acts to the attention of Atlantic, including Matchbox 20, and was then hired on to the A&R team.

While Steve was hired by Atlantic, he has been responsible for many popular acts today. One of his first signings were the platinum award winning band, Shinedown, then later signed the pop rock band Paramore. Steve was promoted internally several times before finally being named the Senior Vice President in 2010 since then he has played a large role in the companies success.

    It's no secret that Nashville has always been a constant revolving door for the music scene in this country, with notable acts such as Johnny Cash, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, and many more. In an effort to continue to be a leading brand for music, Atlantic Records has begun to expand their presence in the Nashville community. Steve’s expertise in the pop and rock genre has made him the perfect candidate for this position, and the existing A&R team welcomed him happily to the music city.  Steve is also no stranger to Nashville, he has been part of the conference scene for many years there. Although he was based in Orlando Florida, he often travelled to Nashville to look for what he hopes can be the next Paramore.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/industries/music/2015/07/23/atlantic-records-adds-r-exec-nashville/30421971/

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/steve-stevo-robertson-makes-nashville-move-for-atlantic-a-r-team-2049102.htm

Industry Liabilities

Starting an independent label, I will most likely have to protect myself from issues of liability. After doing some research, it seems a very common liability faced are those surrounding copyright laws.

One example of this is the dispute between Rick Ross and the group LMFAO. At one point, LMFAO had a similar phrase to that of a Rick Ross song “Every day I’m hustling” in their own song and on merchandising. Though LMFAO had “every day I’m shuffling,” Rick Ross claimed it was an obvious attempt to build off the success he had created. It was decided that the merchandising was not found violating any copyright. The fact was, there is no way to copyright the line “Every day I’m hustling” when you take it away from a melodic and musical components.

              Another example of a copyright infringement case is that between Jack Urbont and Ghostface Killah. Urbont created music for “The Marvel Super Heroes” show in the 1960’s, which Ghostface later used portions of to sample in a song of his. Urbont filed a lawsuit against Ghostface which lasted three years, after many attempts to deliver a complaint about the issue to the defendant. Urbont won the case and found it a fair outcome.

             This goes to show that there are many situations you can get yourself caught up in with regards to copyright. Another liability would be the breach of a contract.

              An example of this could be the situation between Morgan Creek, and Furla Oasis. There was a long-term agreement set in place between the two production companies regarding a co-production they were working on based off the late Tupac Shakur. Without the approval of Emmitt/Furla’s production company, Morgan Creek selected a lead actor, set a budget and a production schedule. When contracts like this are breached it can put a very big strain on the project, and could even waste a lot of money that has been invested into it.

             There are many ways to prevent liabilities from taking your business down. My plan to protect my business is to continue to educate and research about my industry. If I continue to educate myself I will know the laws better, and be able to stay within the correct boundaries. If I can continue to research about lawsuits or disputes within my industry I can avoid the mistakes other companies are making. I will also make sure to copyright all of my work, to protect the investments I make into the company and other artists. Any contracts signed between other employees, or artists would be carefully analyzed to make sure there will be no breaching or disputes with the contract in the future.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/tupac-biopic-producer-brings-10m-835336

http://www.fordhamiplj.org/2015/10/09/lmfao-can-continue-hustlin-their-merchandise/

http://www.fordhamiplj.org/2014/11/24/rapper-ghostface-killah-loses-copyright-lawsuit-due-to-default-judgment/

Dangerbird Records, believing in the long haul.

There are many independent record labels and a high amount of competition for them. When artists look for a label to sign them, what they want most is a label that will back them up and invest in a long healthy career. Dangerbird Records has proven to be this label and continues to believe in its artists.  

Dangerbird Records was founded in 2004 by two men who had very different places in the music world. Jeff Castelaz, who was a manager working with many bands such as Feist and Phoenix, while the other founder, Peter Walker, was a solo artist. Castelaz and Walker started Dangerbird Records to have the ability to put an emphasis on artist development. The label has and continues to build a wide network of partners to help their signed artists reach as large a market as possible.

The label grew a great reputation in 2006 when one of their signed artists, Silversun Pickups, released their debut album, Carnavas. The band noted they had a lot of respect for Dangerbird Records, and the lead singer Brian Aubert even made a comment about the labels integrity saying “They believe in careers, and the long haul – something that majors used to believe in.” The band mentioned that Dangerbird had stuck by their side when most labels wouldn’t have. Silversun Pickups has now gone on to start their own label, “New Machine Recordings” and is releasing a new album next month.

In 2012, co-founder Jeff Castelaz took a job as President of Elektra Records, and Walker promoted Jenni Sperandeo to President at Dangerbird.

The company continues to focus on the development of its artists, ensuring long and happy careers with Dangerbird Records. As they continue to change the way artists view record labels, we will continue to see a highlight on artists who take advantage of independent labels and better quality music in our industry.

TED: Martin Villeneuve "How I made an impossible film."

Martin Villeneuve

Martin Villeneuve is responsible for making an “impossible” film, Mars et Avril. Villeneuve claims he did not know it was impossible, which is how he was able to do it. He had a passion to create films ever since he was young.

            Many people who see the film think that he must have had an extremely high budget when in fact he did not. So what really made it possible for Villeneuve to create this film, while on a low budget?

            The film took Villeneuve 7 years to complete. He states, “If you do not have money, you must have time.” Being as the team did not have a lot of money, every department had to turn and rely on their creativity. They were able to re work, and re write certain parts of the film to work around the low budget and still create a very well put together film. An example of this is that one of the actors was very popular and very busy, so he was not able to be in the film. The crew filmed him with 6 angles in a green room, and made his character a hologram in the film. They had another actor film the parts, and replaced his face with the original actors face with this effect. Villeneuve is very good at creating relationships with people, and he often times will create opportunities for others in return for their work on his films. In doing this, he was able to involve some of the most talented and respected people to be a part of his film.

            While Villeneuve has a “Sharing Knowledge” type narrative pattern, he is effectively able to inspire people to take problems head on, and use them as allies rather then enemies. He believes that problems create opportunities to be creative and productive. Problems help create strong relationships and great outcomes. Villeneuve shows that it takes a considerable amount of time to produce a high quality product, and in taking your time you can be more proud of your achievements.

Link to Ted Speech http://www.ted.com/talks/martin_villeneuve_how_i_made_an_impossible_film#t-385219

Strategic Management: Johnny Wright

Johnny Wright has been a major influence on how Artist Managers work in our industry. He has found key success in the entertainment industry and even here in Orlando. Wright has managed many nationally successful acts such as New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Jonas Brothers, and even Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake’s solo careers.

Wright has a very strong sense of commitment to his artist’s and creativity. He has been working with Justin Timberlake for 20 years and has still been able to build a successful career for him. Timberlake’s brand and music has continued to be a success since 1995 because of Wright’s ideas and strategies. Wright has stated that Timberlake goes with the “less is more” approach in regards to his latest album ‘The 20/20 Experience.’ Timberlake does not take every opportunity that is given to him, instead he takes the large opportunities that will benefit him the most. For months the entire project was kept secret from the public, rather then creating a huge buzz in the first place. The “Stealth” campaign was very successful and even many other artists such as David Bowie, and Beyoncé have found it useful.

Wright has a great eye on the industry. He is constantly looking to see what is changing and how it affects his job as a manager. The strategies for the production and release of Timberlake’s album ‘The 20/20 Experience’ began being developed 3 years before its release. Timberlake wasn’t even looking to re-enter the industry as an artist yet at that time but Wright had been considering ways to create a campaign regardless. He had foreshadowed what the industry would be like in future years based off record sales and trends, and had multiple ideas for releasing new material. One of the ideas was to even release a new song every month.

When Justin Timberlake was ready to re-enter the industry as an artist, he met with Wright and the very first thing he did was to finalize a plan for successfully releasing the new music in today’s industry. Wright continues to not only strategically keep up with the music industry, but he also develops new trends and ideas that have been found to be successful.

Intro to Artist Development in Orlando

Orlando is quickly becoming a hot spot for music and entertainment. For years we have had major companies like Disney and Universal here in Central Florida, and we have had many artists and bands “make it” out of Orlando. Many bands have gotten their start here in Orlando such as Backstreet Boys and NSync. During this time Johnny Wright managed these bands, here in Orlando, where they found their initial success. More recently bands such as Paramore were signed right here in Orlando by Atlantic Records very own Steve Robertson. Orlando was the home base for many high scale records such as Paramore’s second studio album “Riot.”

A very popular Record Label “Fueled by Ramen” was founded in Gainesville as well and they are responsible for signing many bands such as Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, Panic! At the Disco, and Twenty One Pilots.

It has become very clear to me that Orlando has incredible promise. Orlando is a creative city, with a lot to offer the rest of the country. After doing some research, I have discovered that there are some companies who seem to be trying to take the music scene to the next level. Two men, Rick and Sean, run a magazine “Axis Magazine.” This year in 2015 they had their 15^th annual Florida Music Festival and Conference. Every year they have hundreds of bands participate, and many industry professionals attend to check out the talent coming out of Central Florida. There are also a lot of Artist Management and Public Relations companies based here out of Florida such as, Stephanie Christie Management and Publicity, and The Catalyst Publicity Group. Companies like this help push out local market, and continue to keep Florida in the eyes of industry professionals all over the globe looking for talent to sign. Florida is also known for its many recording studios, one of the most popular being Plush Recording Studios, which is also owned by Aton Ben-Horin who is the Global Director of A&R for Warner Music Group. Plush Studios has had a popular client list with artists such as Chris Brown, Paramore, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida, and Justin Bieber.

Orlando even after many years is still proving to be a city that is pushing creative and competitive music. I’m excited to see what Central Florida is producing, and what trends will be created here.