Business Side of Music

So you want to be a songwriter. Well, loving music is a good start, but its not going to get you in to any doors. You have to not only know how to write that next big hit song, but what to do with it.  Our guest on this episode is Corey Lee Barker, who is the Creative Director of MC1 Nashville Music Publishing. Talks about what it takes to get your foot in the door, make relationships with other s...

Meet Jeremy Stephens and his wife Corrina Rose Logston who make up 2/5 of the band High Fidelity. Along with Kurt Stephenson, Vickie Vaughn, and Daniel Amick, they're working to preserve the traditional sounds of America's cultural music known as Bluegrass. They've released their 2nd album "Banjo Player's Blues" on Rebel Records, and they visit us in the studio to discuss the making of the project...

In this episode of the Business Side of Music, we talk with Camille Barbone, an established music industry executive, who is best known as the person who discovered, developed, managed, and launched the mainstream music career of superstar Madonna. We discuss with Camille the new way of doing business during the COVID 19 shutdown of the industry, finding what it takes to not only get your foot in...

Meet Tim Riley. Nominated 3 times for Billboard Magazine's "Promotion Man of the Year". He's worked with such acts as Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Bread, Dionne Warwick, Blondie, Cat Stevens, Billy Joel, and Carly Simon just to name a few. We spend time in the studio chatting with Tim in how he got started in the business, working for major record labels, and even writing a song with the legendary Ste...

Even during this period of isolation, and with no venues open for you to perform, its still a great time to work on your live performance, because if you don't have a live show worth watching, no one will pay attention, especially if you're only platform is on Facebook Live.  Don't make your live show the last thing on your list of things to accomplish in your career. On this episode, we have back...

It's a tough business we work in. Often times we're working from paycheck to paycheck, and some items such as health insurance can be considered a luxury to those that work in the trenches, trying to make a living in the music industry. Then there's Music Health Alliance. Founded in 2013 with the goal of helping find affordable (and in some cases, next to nothing in cost) health / medical insuranc...

Things are changing dramatically in the live entertainment industry. Many venues in the United Kingdom now need to retain 110% of the box office revenue to stay afloat which is an impossibility at this point in time. Booking agents are doing everything in their power to hold on to the gigs they've booked, moving the majority of them to 2021 in order to have some semblance of a future for this busi...

Meet Cheryl B. Engelhardt, who started out as a Marine Biologist working for the government, got bored with that, and went on to become a successful independent recording artist, topping numerous music charts including iTunes and Amazon. Cheryl talks with us regarding how to engage with your fans, creating clarity and communication, so you as the artist can incorporate your audience into your mark...

Branding is your identity. Whether it's your look on stage, your logo, or your style of your music. Its what sets you apart from all the others. In this episode, we talk with Rick Caballo, who's the founder and Art Director for Dead Horse Branding, and dig into what it takes to d iscover what your unique powers are in order to stand out from the noise. We discuss such components as: Branding your...

On this episode, we chat with Matt Allen who is one of the co-founders, and the Account Director with "The Famous Company" based out of London England. He shares how his company was born out of the frustration of artists who thought they needed a record deal, or a manager in order to be successful. The Famous Company provides a mentoring over management perspective, working with the artist, and sh...

Meet Ray Amico. A multi-faceted musician/composer/producer and studio engineer for over 30 years, at one time the guitar player in the legendary NY Bizarre-Core band, SIX AND VIOLENCE as well as a veteran Tour Manager, Production Manager, FOH Sound Engineer and Tour Accountant. Influenced by the band Devo at an early age, Ray started out working at A&M Studio, working on such projects as Celine Di...

When you hear a soft drink can be opened and poured into a glass, do you think of a certain brand? Do the words "I'm Lovin' It" remind you of a particular fast-food chain? That's how you go about building brands through sound. In this episode, we talk with Sascha Darrock Davies who is the Agency Partners Director with DLMDD. We talk about the current musical climate, the golden era of recording an...

In this very special episode, we talk with Jack Forman who serves as Executive Vice President of BiCoastal Productions, the New York City-based concerts and theatrical booking agency. We talk about the Force Majeure Clause in contracts, an often-overlooked section where an actual "Act of God" situation can interrupt, postpone, cancel a show, or even an entire tour. With the current COVID-19 epidem...

Are you comfortable being a leader? Can you get up in front of a crowd and talk without your instrument in hand? You have to take control of our own personal development, and Judith Baker is on the show to explain how you can accomplish this by taking the 7 Why Exercise. It's not easy figuring out where you want to be in your career, or where your career is even headed.  Judith Baker, MBA, MIT, IT...

On this special episode #113-Be The Best You, You Can Be we chat with Zach Farnum, founder of 117 Entertainment Group about everything from the ramifications of the Corona Virus on the entertainment industry, to what it is like to work with a legendary artist who is still touring in spite of a debilitating stroke. Zach also shares with us on what is a successful independent artist, what it takes t...

In this episode, we actually went on location and in front of a live audience to Tennessee Songwriters Association International, where we interviewed Paul Castoe, who is the President of TSAI. We talked about the anatomy of a song, what it takes to put one together correctly, and some of the secrets of getting your song in front of the right people. We discuss who you pitch your demo to, what kin...

Chad Jeffers began his music career guided by his Singer-Songwriter Dad. At the age of eight, he was already playing drums in a band with his father Doc Jeffers and older brother Michael. A year later, Jeffers switched to guitar when he and his brother formed Raney Nickel, a country top-40 band. They played fairs, festivals, and theme parks throughout East Tennessee (including dates at Dollywood)....

Marc Jordan songs have been on over 35 million records and counting. He's written for such artists as Cher, Rod Stewart, Kansas, Chicago, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, and Bette Midler just to name a very few of the many, many artists that have recorded his songs. Along with his songs on millions of albums, songwriter, performer, and actor Marc Jordan has also released 16 of his own projects, includi...

Guitar player for the Gospel group "The Rambos", songwriter for such hits as "My Father's Eyes", #1 Country hit "Finally", and the Amy Grant  Christmas favorite "Tennessee Christmas", television host for the TNN series "Prime Time Country" as well as "Muzik Mafia" for CMT, Gary Chapman has never really slowed down. He's now an entrepreneur with his Hemp company "Labcana", and is working on new pro...

Hemp Meadows and Denim Skye met back in the 1980's as session players, and have been inseparable almost ever since. After being out of the music business for 30+ years, they decided it was time to get back into the entertainment scene, and created their 60's-70's groovy sounding act, "Hemp & Denim". Creating music on an organic level comes naturally to them both. Denim worked with such acts as div...

Since graduating from Belmont University in 2010, Blane Howard has had the privilege of opening up shows for many country greats including Blake Shelton, Josh Turner, Joe Nichols, Lauren Alaina, Trace Adkins, Rodney Atkins, Hunter Hays, Granger Smith, Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels Band, and others. In addition to his live concert performances, Blane hit his first week on CMT Music and CMT.com in s...

Meet Chuck Thompson and Sarah Fleshner. He's from Nashville and has worked with such artists as The Judds, Pirates of the Mississippi, Billy Dean Ricochet, Eric Durrance, Wynonna, and Michelle Wright just to name a few. Sarah is from Texas and is on the path of becoming one of the hottest artist managers in the entertainment industry. Together, we have them in the studio discussing all things pert...

Jay Tooke arrived from Canada to Nashville Tennessee originally as a session drummer and record producer. In short order, he found himself immersed in the studio scene taking on the role of being a very hands-on producer, becoming one of the most sought after in Music City for independent artists. Jay shares his thoughts and ideas as to what it takes to record in the studio, and how the producer a...

Michael Blanton has had a celebrated career in the national and Nashville music industry. But today finds him in all kinds of artistic and entertainment development, not limited to just artist management. With such a stellar musical history, it only seemed natural that he join forces with some of today's best and most talented songwriters, and create "Songwriting University". 10 years ago, there a...

Spotify, Pandora, and other applicable music listening platforms have grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years, allowing independent artists a way to get their music heard in a non-traditional sense. So does terrestrial and satellite still matter anymore? Meet Jennifer Blair, who's been working independent artists to FM radio for over a decade. She brings insight into what it takes to get...