Labels & managers courting Seattle's latest buzz-act, Pickwick

In an odd redux of 2011, and the frenzy that erupted around The Head and the Heart, many eyes are again looking to the Pacific Northwest, and Seattle, and newbies Pickwick. The band were one of the buzz acts coming out of the recent MusicfestNW festival, with various labels checking them out, and a spirited chase developing between a selection of managers, most notably Jason Colton from Redlight, and Matt Shay from Zeigeist. Strangely the parallels to THATH are several, with the band already booked by Billions, and sharing a lawyer in Ed Pierson, which obviously has the contenders hoping Pickwick can also repeat the runaway sales of the Seattle sextet.

Closer to home, a number of label scouts, including reps from Atlantic, RCA and Columbia were out for the official record release party from LA’s Hanni El Khatib at the Echo last week. The singer/guitarist, who plays live as a duo with a drummer, performed to a packed house celebrating the issue of the album Will the Guns Come Out on the Innovative Leisure label. Hanni has already toured extensively, playing more than his fair chare of high profile shows, with Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) being just one of his notable fans and supporters, and a definite thumbs up for the two 7″ singles released to date has helped fuel the buzz. The slew of recent local gigs showed once again that Hanni, with his swampy garage punk that echoes the finer points of both the White Stripes and the Black Keys, has the goods, as an amplifier catching on fire, a sweaty house, and a rowdy moshpit, just added flavor to his eye-popping rock’n'roll set last week. Hanni played a repeat album release show last night at Chris Douridas‘ It’s A School Night, and he supports Peter Bjorn and John tomorrow night, 10/05, at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles.

Home on the Grainge

It was back in the beginning of the year that Lucian Grainge’s assumption of the CEO position at Universal Music Group in January of 2011 was announced, beginning a year long process of reviewing the company structures on both coasts. The fate of current UMG chief executive Doug Morris remained murky until recently as reports began to fly of his likely jump to a rival music group. But what of the new composition at UMG? Still the largest of the remaining major music groups, in both recorded music and publishing, there are no signs of slowing for the Vivendi-owned company, who is positioning itself to streamline operations with new arrangements that will see labels combining some back-office efforts, or as CFO of the French conglomerate put it recently, “a lot of fat can be taken out without hurting muscle and bones.” Looking at the various labels within Universal, it appears that most current heads will stay within the group, at either their current positions or newly created ones, as will most likely be the case with Island Def Jam ruler Antonio “L.A.” Reid. Rumors began circling back in October of an imminent firing, with many claims being made that the IDJ head was as good as out, however as others predicted, a new label imprint for Reid is now the likely outcome. There is talk of an increased dominion within UMG for Universal/Motown and label prexy Sylvia Rhone as well as Universal/Republic under the leadership of CEO Monte Lipman moving forward. And though a title for Barry Weiss, who just announced his move from RCA/Jive to Universal this past week, has yet to be announced, all signs seem to indicate that he will act as Grainge’s primary lieutenant on the East Coast while the new group chief resides in Los Angeles. What roles David Massey and Steve Bartels will take in the new structure remain unclear. Look forward to more changes to come in the new year, including word to spread of a newly inked deal between Universal and a major management firm who sold the label a significant stake in the operation…

Ghost of Epic '10

With the exit of Rolf Schmidt-Holtz from Sony Music on the horizon, talk of his successor has turned squarely on Doug Morris, with sources claiming that it’s as good as done, and that earlier contender Sony/ATV CEO Marty Bandier is uninterested in taking the position. Much has been made recently of Columbia/Epic chairman Rob Stringer’s missteps in the artist-executive hiring of Amanda Ghost, who is departing from her presidential post at Epic, and talk coming from within the building continues to forecast a murky future for the label. Will the label fold into Columbia? What will the future hold for current Epic head of A&R Mike Flynn? What is the future for the younger Stringer at Sony, and is it tied to that of Howard Stringer? The elder Stringer has denied recent reports of his interest in the chairmanship of BBC Trust, though rumors of his time coming to an end at Sony Corp continue. And will Charlie Walk find himself back in the Sony fold?… The handling of EMI by Terra Firma boss Guy Hands, has left many mystified, from the initial timing and price of the purchase, the revolving door of outside executive hires, to the recent courtroom debacle with lender Citigroup. While strong releases from Lady Antebellum and Katy Perry along with the Beatles-on-iTunes coup are all positives steps, and many have praised recent promotions in the upping of Roger Faxon to chief executive of the group and Dan McCarroll’s promotion to oversee the Capitol and Virgin labels, it strikes most as too late. Talk of a takeover of EMI by Citigroup before the year’s end ramped up this week after reports that Terra Firma investors ruled out investing more funds into the company to meet the next debt obligation to Citi.  If the bank does indeed take control of EMI, the common belief is that it will sell off the recorded music and publishing divisions to the highest bidders – the two mentioned most often being Warner Music Group and BMG Rights Management… Shifting to the bunny, the company made industry waves in September with Lyor Cohen initiating some top-down restructuring, which started with naming Rob Cavallo as the new Warner Bros Records chairman and CEO, removing Tom Whalley, a move seen as a long time in the making, as Cohen and Whalley notoriously never saw eye-to-eye. The shake up also resulted in Todd Moscowitz and Liva Tortella being named Co-President/CEO and Co-President/COO, respectively. Following the executive shuffling, WBR departments underwent scrutiny, that led to more departures from creative and promotion executives. Eyes now turn to the possibility of acquiring EMI’s recorded music division, which would considerably boost Warner’s market share as well as narrow the major music group field to just three. If it goes down, it has many wondering what changes would be made to the executive team currently being assembled at EMI under McCarroll… Hartwig Masuch, CEO of BMG Rights Management, the joint venture backed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Bertelsmann made his intentions of being counted among the top four publishers well known, and a year of aggressive acquisitions has carried through that goal. Those in the know share that KKR, a global private equity firm specializing in leverage buyouts, is the driving force behind the quick and expansive activity. High profile purchases of independent publishing companies this year included Stage Three, Evergreen and most recently Chrysalis. If the JV is able to acquire EMI Music Publishing in the event of a sale, it would see the new publishing player competing for not only a place at the table with the other major publishers, but as a contender for the current top spot held by Universal Music Publishing…

Meanwhile, onlookers will be waiting to witness what the future holds for MySpace, as the once all-powerful social network continues to slide. Even with a redesign, progress on the mobile front and a new ad deal with Google in place, most believe the writing is on the wall, with more layoffs at the company expected to come down in the new year. And how will this effect MySpace Records? The label was all but shuttered in the first quarter of 2010, only to be resurrected, sort of, over the summer with the hiring of David Andreone and a new ill-defined partnership with Josh Deutsch’s Downtown Music… And with all the reporting and speculation surrounding new cloud-based services from the likes of Apple and Google in 2010, as well as the entrance of Spotify in the U.S., all will have to go on next year’s wish lists. Google has made its plans to launch a music service well known, with the latest reports indicating that they’re willing to pay labels massive sums to get a service off the ground, while Apple continues to remain mum on any plans for a new streaming service… IN THE MIX: Steve Moir, Sylvia Rhone, David Wolter, Sandy Roberton, John Rudolph, Josh Abraham, Foo Fighters, Andrew Brightman, Greg Hammer, Nick Gatfield, Jason Flom, AWOLNATION, Ed Pierson, Cool Hand Luke, Dan Petel, Hurley

Weezer Going To An Indie For Next Release?

Who’s signing where, and what does it mean?  Indie acts going to majors, major label artists aligning with indies, and both systems vying to nab the same unsigned bands… Looking back at recent months there is a veritable mixed bag. There are artists with a history of at least a few successful indie releases under their belts, like Band of Horses and Iron & Wine, who have recently made the jump to major labels, Columbia and Warner Bros. respectively, while other acts like Spoon and Arcade Fire seem to continually be content on indies… Elsewhere new act Surfer Blood appears to have already made the move to a major; just 6-months following the Kanine Records release of the band’s debut album, the group had racked up enough sales and touring numbers to garner serious interest from multiple labels…  This while unsigned acts with no real sales or tour history like GroupLove and DOM, are currently being courted by both major labels and indies, seemingly so as to not miss out on what could be… What about the reverse trend? Not counting heritage acts, or the exhaustingly-debated pay-what-you-want path taken by Radiohead and NIN among others, one could point to recent examples in Interpol and Wilco as once major label artists now leaving for an indie (their own new label in the case of Wilco). But will there be more to come (or go, as it is)? Word on the street is that longtime Universal artist, Weezer, who released all seven of their previous studio albums on DGC and Geffen, are making a move to a big indie label for their next album. Hmmm… And finally where do the two now meet? A new project to watch unfold will be The Secret Sisters, who recently finished recording their debut with producers Dave Cobb and T-Bone Burnett.  A large buzz  is building with the news that the first single from the duo will be released via the Jack White helmed Third Man Records, with the full-length already slated to come out on Universal Republic this fall… Stay Tuned.

AWOLNATION Comes Back From Earth

Here’s a quick look at some of the new releases hitting the physical and digital shelves this week… Audra Mae’s debut full-length The Happiest Lamb is out on SideOneDummy Records. The singer-songwriter just returned from a UK tour and is getting ready to start a North American run with Philadelphia’s Good Ole War… Infinite Arms, the highly anticipated third LP from Band of Horses drops today via the interesting label combo of the band’s imprint Brown Records along with the newly paired Fat Possum and Columbia Records… New EMI act Chiddy Bang releases their Opposite of Adults EP exclusively on iTunes this week, with a full-length expected next month.  The EP features a sample-laden title track that recently caught fire in the UK – and you were worried there wasn’t going to be a MGMT summer jam this year… Brooklyn son Gordon Voidwell unleashes his Ivy League Circus single on 12″ vinyl, checkout a video promo on Ralph Lauren’s Rugby site, and AWOLNATION is Back From Earth…

Missy at the Artistic License mgmt office

When industry veteran Missy Worth finally agreed to a Q&A session with us, we knew we were in store for some great industry stories. Today she manages prolific punk rockers Rise Against along with indie stalwart Spill Canvas, but she has also guided the early development of artists such as Jeff Buckley, Alice In Chains and OneRepublic, among others. Her career spans a very colorful and exciting time in the business. A resume that includes running labels, concert promotion and artist management, while working with some of the industry’s most powerful and iconic figures —Irving Azoff, Michael Lippman, Donnie Ienner and Sandy Gallin to name a few. Pay close attention. She shares a lot of insight and perspective. You might learn a thing or two. We certainly did.

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RM64: What was your first job in the music business?

MW: I worked at (entertainment law firm) Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, through a temp agency. I was 17.

RM64: Did you have aspirations to be in the music business at that time?

MW: I did. I was sitting in history class in Northridge and I was ‘what am I doing here?’ I only care about music and movies, anything to take me out of my life. I didn’t want to make movies because I couldn’t compete with my dad, he was just too good at it. I went home and said ‘I’m not going to school anymore.’ My parents said if I wasn’t going to go to school then I had to get a job. I called Apple Temp Agency on Sunset and they got me in as a temp in the file room at MS&K.

RM64: So what happened next?

MW: I meet attorneys Abe Summer, Milt Olin and Peter Lopez who were working in the music division. I suggested that they get a scout because they wanted new developing acts. Then I brought them The Motels and Milt became the band’s lawyer. Interestingly enough it also led to my next job. Michael Lippman wanted to manage The Motels because he had just left Arista Records and wanted a young rock band. So Milt introduced me to Michael and I left MS&K and went to work for Michael’s management company. I told him I was 18 and he didn’t get the band, but he did get me.

RM64: So you lied?

MW: Yes. (laughs) I was still 17.

RM64: What was your role with Michael?

MW: Well, first I was his receptionist. Then I became the production assistant for Ron Nevison and Harry Maslin helping with producer duties, like booking the studios , watching the budgets, getting food for them, very glamorous. I also worked with Eric Carmen and Melissa Manchester as kind of their day to day assistant. I worked for Michael for a long time, he taught me the business in a way I’m very lucky to have learned. He taught the big picture, record company, publishing, imaging and touring. If you knew that you could manage, if you didn’t, you had to learn it all. Nothing has been more valuable to me.

RM64: So you became a day-to-day manager?

MW: You didn’t call it that then. None of those fancy terms came about. You were paid no money. You didn’t get a TV. You got phones thrown at you and you helped throw their parties. There weren’t any ‘day-to-day’ managers or anything like that. You were their assistant. And you did whatever you were told to do. There was no entitlement, that started in the 90’s. And you were really happy to do it. I remember I got Eric Carmen the wrong blow dryer and it was a disaster. Literally, he kicked me out of the apartment. He was screaming ‘how am I going to do my hair now!’ I don’t know if you know anything about Eric, but his hair was perfect…

RM64: Quaffed hair?

MW: Yes, but it was perfect and it took him like an hour to do and I got him the wrong blow dryer. I almost got fired for that!

Eric Carmen with his perfect quaff

RM64: That’s funny. Back to management…

MW: Yes in today’s terms you would call it being a day-to-day manager. Back then you were just the assistant and you were really happy to be learning. But you could read all the contracts and deal memos that came in. And all the phones had mute buttons. It was awesome because you were on the phone taking notes for your boss, but you were really learning an immense amount. You were hearing how they manipulated the whole situation and how they negotiated and how it all worked by hearing both sides of it. Now I think people don’t even sit in the offices with their assistants. And they certainly aren’t allowed to make phone calls for you anymore or any of that stuff, but that’s how I learned everything. I sat on the couch across from Michael and I was on the phone all day.

RM64: That’s so true. That’s how you really learn the business.

MW: Yeah, and you did letters, you dictated. There was no e-mail.

RM64: Okay, so 5+ years with Michael, what happened after that?

MW: I went to work for Sandy Gallin.

RM64: Another crazy manager…

MW: I have worked for Irving Azoff, Donnie Ienner, Sandy Gallin, Michael Lippman and two equally as crazy people in the television world. I only worked for crazy people. Super crazy! (laughs) I mean… not that I was sane.

So I went to work for Sandy. He was looking for an assistant and I needed a job, I think Michael had fired me, probably for throwing a phone at him or something.

RM64: Okay (Laughs)

MW: I think Michael Goldstone helped me get the job with Sandy because he was right above on another floor at Chrysalis Music with Jeff Aldridge. So I worked for Sandy and Ray Katz as their assistant. It was like a weird conglomerate of actors and very little music. However, they did have Dolly Parton who was very big for me. I sort of worked a little bit with everybody, helping wherever I could.

RM64: How long did that gig last?

MW: Maybe 3 years, then I went to work at William Morris in the television department as an assistant. I was an assistant for everyone for literally the first 12 years of my career, which is how you did it then, especially as a female. I worked at both ICM and William Morrison television. I actually became a television agent at ICM as a matter of fact, and that’s when I placed Johnny Depp in his first movie. John Harrington introduced me to Johnny. We went to go see the show…(pause) You’re totally confused!

RM64: No, we’re just really enjoying this story.

MW: John Harrington brought Johnny Depp to LA to play and help him get signed. The show was at the Music Machine, and was great. So I brought him to ICM and the person I worked with thought he was perfect for Nightmare on Elm Street, he became an ICM client after that.

After that run, I started working at Universal Amphitheatre as Jim Guerinot’s assistant where I felt I shouldn’t be, but where he thought I should (laughs). We became best friends, but fought like cats & dogs about anything. I did parking and tickets and worked with Jim. You had to call me to get those parking spots behind the backstage, at the time there was only 15 so you had to be nice to me, and I got to know everyone in town that way. When Jim left, Irving Azoff, who was the head of MCA Records and Concerts at the time, and Larry Vallon, who booked the Universal Amphitheatre, needed to fill the role. Jim had taught me how to make a deal, and how to make the band and that manager feel like nothing else mattered but their wishes for the show. He’s the one that made the first Apple sponsorship deal at the Amphitheatre. It was brilliant! We gave them like 20 tickets a show, and we got Macs galore, for free. It was really innovative to go to Apple at the time. He left a lot of good teachings and a legacy.

So the first show I booked on my own was Keith Richards and the New Barbarians. I stayed there for 15 years and it was the best job I ever had to this day.

We took the seats out of the pit to get rock bands there; we called it Party in the Pit. We got to do a lot of interesting things, like when Lou Reed played, we put a New York city scene in the background, or we went to the haunted house on the Universal lot for a B-52’s Halloween show. Everyone wanted to play the Greek at the time, and nobody wanted to play the Amphitheatre. We really tried hard to make it a great rock venue and I think we succeeded in changing people’s perception of the venue. We did the first KROQ Acoustic Christmas there, and it’s still playing there.

RM64: What would you say was the most important thing you took away in those 15 years at the Amphitheatre that helped advance your career?

MW: I learned how to market when I was there. At that time a promoter had to market. You weren’t handed a show with 3 acts and a marketing plan and a radio station. Back then, I would get on the phone with the artist’s manager and agent and made a marketing plan that worked for the market, not for the country. It was not corporate, and it wasn’t cookie cutter. You got to be creative, inspired and really think.

RM64: Let’s get back to the timeline. What was the next transition after the Amphitheatre?

MW: Well Warrant was playing at the Amphitheatre. The show was not doing well, so we papered it and did what we did. Donnie Ienner and Michelle Anthony were at the show. Michelle and I were friends and she introduced me to Donnie. He said ‘there are no kids at this show.’ And I said ‘yeah I know.’ I didn’t know who Donnie was at the time. I was a promoter and record companies didn’t mean anything to us. They didn’t help. ‘Well my band deserves more’ he says. Then he goes to the sound board and says ‘this room sounds like shit, it’s not a rock room,’ and I said, ‘would you like to mix?’ Then he says ‘I like you kid.’ Two days later Michelle called me and said ‘we really want to talk to you about hiring you.’

So they brought me in to do tour development for both Sony labels (Epic & Columbia). My job was to teach the artist development and distribution people how to help with touring and how to make sure our artists were packaged together. The agents didn’t like this, but we got a lot of bands really good tours and developed a lot of artists this way. And the agents came around of course!

Then another label head offered me to run their west coast operations for them and I wanted to learn more than touring, but Donnie wanted me to stay and said, ‘why don’t you work at Columbia and learn the label?’ He made me Sr VP of the West Coast, not that that meant a whole lot at the time, there was like 6 of us, but we had a lot of good bands like Alice and Chains, Suede and Jeff Buckley. Our job was basically to get the albums to 200,000 and then Donnie and the East Coast would take over.

RM64: Sounds like they gave you a lot of freedom to develop artists.

MW: I don’t know if I thought about it when Donnie offered me the job, but it made sense. I had already developed bands as a promoter so when I went to Columbia I learned the label, how radio and distribution interacted, and naturally incorporated what I had done previously. I also never stopped to think, ‘I can’t do this,’ I just did it.

RM64: What was the most important thing you learned at Sony?

MW: Sony was Harvard for me; it was like going to college. I hate to say it, but I think I learned more of what not to do while I was there. I wouldn’t be as effective of a manager if I hadn’t worked there. You learn how managers worked the company well or not well. And I really cared about breaking those acts, it was important that they didn’t fail because of us.

RM64: From what we recall, after Sony, you went to work with Irving again, right?

MW: He called me and asked if I wanted to come to work at Giant Records. I had already worked for him so I knew what I was getting into. Working at an Irving label is like working for a Rick Rubin label. They’re both brilliant at what they do and they don’t run it like a typical label. They care about the artist and the promises given to them.

Once in, I started putting together a new staff, and Berko (current RM 64 knucklehead) was my first hire (laughs). We signed some great bands and some not so great bands. A small label at that time, it was creative, inspiring, difficult and political. Our first year we did great, but it was really hard after that. I learned what it’s like to have an entire staff of people working for you, and how difficult it is to run a group of people, in any job. To look at people from the perspective of how they work together rather than just how smart a person is was really different.

RM64: And there was a somewhat dramatic end to your time there, right?

MW: I was there for 3 ½ years. My dad got sick towards the end of that time, and with Irving you know when the end is near. I took some time off and decided I never wanted to work for anyone again. What I didn’t know is what I wanted to do.

RM64: So then what happened?

MW: I didn’t do anything for at least 6 months. Then I decided to manage. What happened was Stabbing Westward needed a manager, and I had signed them to Columbia and helped them get managers throughout their career, so I was working with them. Fast forward a couple years later, I met Beno (Velvet Hammer) and we were talking at a party. He said he had office space and so we tried out partnering on some projects. Around the same time a couple different people told me that I should manage the band Rise Against. I went to see a show and knew this was the band that would inspire me to care –luckily they liked me and I got hired. At the time Rise was just off of Fat Wreck Chords and had signed to Dreamworks Records. When Dreamworks folded into Interscope we were assigned to Geffen, where Ron Handler had signed the band. We had an amazing team with Paul Kremen, Paul Orescan, Brenda Romano and we wouldn’t be where we are without these people and more. It was a group of people emotionally invested in this artist. Everyone including the band was fighting for the same purpose and the right purpose. It proves what team work does for a band.

Rise Against

RM64: But it was not an overnight success…

MW: It was a gradual process all along. When the first record was out, we gave radio everything we had and told them they could play anything whenever. Regardless of the single or cycle, and when they did play it, people reacted. There has never been that big ‘ah ha’ moment. There have been little moments along the way that were awesome and humbling, like the first time they heard their song on Q101 in Chicago which is their hometown, or the first time I heard the song on KROQ, or moments like 5 nights at the Troubadour, selling out Red Rocks, The Forum or 3 nights at The Congress in Chicago. The band has never taken anything for granted and are completely humble and appreciative of what they get and they work their asses’ off.

RM64: You said recently that you have the itch to take on a baby band to develop. Meanwhile, we see the same managers circling around the same established acts when they’re open for management. We rarely see established managers take on new developing talent. What makes you want to work with a new act when it’s such a difficult process?

MW: There is nothing like watching every step of the way in breaking a band. I’d like to make a million dollars from a band like My Chemical Romance (who recently went through a management derby) just like any other manager, and there’s something enticing about the money, but the artist I work with needs to inspire my soul. Music saved my life when I was a teenager, and I want to be able to do the same for other people. I haven’t been able to find that other band. When I saw Rise Against, I realized that I wanted that guy (frontman Tim McIlrath) speaking to the masses and I wanted to be a part of that. I want to find something that’s inspiring to me and therefore to other people and hopefully money follows.

RM64: What advice would you give to music executives who are making the transition out of record labels into a new role/endeavor in the current climate?

MW: Well the best I could say is, know what you do best. Paul Kremen is one of the smartest executives I’ve ever met and he took that and made a company out of it. He’s like a mini-record label for people who need it and want it. First people need to take time, step back, remove their ego, and then figure out what they do well and take that and run with it. Take what you know and turn that into a company.

RM64: Looking at the tea leaves, what do you think the role of a major label will be in the future?

MW: I don’t subscribe to the notion that majors aren’t your partners and are going away. I think they have to be willing to honestly try new marketing techniques that aren’t just about how their bottom line will benefit. I wouldn’t be averse to a true partnership 360 deal, where we aren’t just giving new pieces of income and they are taking the same money, but I need to know that they aren’t going to just be a bank. They need to bring opportunities and new ideas and follow through to the table along with the band and manager’s hard work. Radio is still the best way to get your song heard and it has the biggest voice and visibility. You need great songs and they need to be heard. Retail in whatever form it’s taking is still a major label game and I like having those partners for my bands – they are smart and I want to use that for my band’s best advantage. That’s my job, to put the ego’s aside and put the artist first.

RM64: What’s a scenario where you wouldn’t manage an artist and why?

MW: If I really believe there’s something there, I would take any band on whether they’re on an indie label, major or no label. But they have to have a lot of conviction. I’ve learned that a band has to have conviction and a viewpoint, if they don’t have that then no one knows what they are working towards. This all begins and ends with the band and their songs and their story and we all need to remember that.

RM64: Well said. Thanks for sitting down with us and sharing some great stories

Columbia Wins

As reports come in, well-respected A&R veteran Ashley Newton will be staying in the Sony Music family, transitioning from RCA to Columbia Records. We were alluding to Newton in our Aug. 20th post: “Which Head of A&R is making a jump to another label? Is the move to replace a soon-to-be exiting creative head? Inquiring minds want to know…” As Sony Music ruler Rob Stringer and Columbia Records head Steve Barnett were orchestrating Newton’s transition, Warner Bros. Records was indeed courting Newton in the last minute and insiders share that the bunny was offering a 7-figure annual salary to the seasoned exec. With a new A&R player in the Columbia fold, how does this affect Rick Rubin’s role at the company? Meanwhile, what’s going on at the Amanda Ghost-helmed Epic Records?…

In The Mix: Steve Moir, Freelance Whales, Pete Giberga and Kevin Day…