WEBVTT - Adam Alpert 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.200 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:20.480 My guest today is the Chain Smokers manager Adam Out Adam, Hi, Okay, 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.239 you're in l A. Chain Smokers are playing the Forum. 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.279 Are you just how often would you go to a 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.040 gig by your act an arena gig? Yeah, any gig 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.920 I go to about probably probably this tour, probably a 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.239 quarter of the shows. And why do you decide to 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:37.160 go or not go? The first few of the last 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.160 few New York, l A and Seattle because that's where 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.559 my in laws are from. So the in laws and 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:46.479 Thanksgiving on this particular trip. Yeah, we're doing Thanksgiving in 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.279 Seattle and then the guys show up. They're like four 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.120 days later. So I'm staying for the whole thing. So 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.520 how did you meet your wife? She's from Seattle. She 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.960 lived in New York, but just through a friend. Okay, 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.920 So did you become the manager of the Chain Smokers? Well, 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.039 that's a loaded question. Um well I actually introduced them 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.200 to each other right now. We were talking about this 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.880 a few months ago, So let's talk about how you 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:16.000 did that kind of slowly. Sure, so out of college, Um, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:20.360 I ended up working in a nightclub, hospitality business. I 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.400 was running nightclub. You went to pen but what did 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.600 you what did you major in pen? Premat pretty bad? Okay, 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.560 so at what point did you say, I'm not gonna 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.559 go on that track. What happened was I was promoting parties, 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:34.720 you know, when I was in college, and you know, 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:39.360 it's fun and you make money, and um, while I 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.119 was studying for pre met, I was just like studying 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:43.680 for the MCATs, and I was just like, this is 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:46.600 really what I want to do for the next god 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:50.040 knows however many years and I just said, you know what, 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:52.320 this isn't This isn't what I love it, but it's 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:53.480 not what I want to do with the rest of 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.520 my life. And I became more and more enamored with 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:02.040 the hospitality business and boutique hotels and exclusive restaurants, and 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:04.880 I ended up where a lot of people in the 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:08.480 music industry today started as a nightclub promoter. Okay, let's 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.359 go back. Did you take the m cats? Never took him? 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:13.600 Never took him. I remember when I was in college, 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.240 I signed up for the l S a T. My 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.840 friends knocked on my door and they said, you're not 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.600 taking that. Let's go to Montreal. And we did. That's 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.440 what they called it Montreal, although I ended up taking 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.600 after it broke my leg a year later. But uh well, 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:31.000 I brought my m CAT book to the bar. Really yeah, 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:32.880 And then my friends were like, what are you doing? 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:35.640 And what did your parents say when you weren't going 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.480 to take the m CAT Honestly, like, they didn't put 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:40.440 any pressure on me to be a doctor in the 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.320 first place, so they really just were like, you know, 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.120 whatever you want to do. Um. I think there were 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.919 a few years after I was a nightclub promoter that 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:51.960 they were hoping I had taken them cats so I 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.600 could revisit it. But because I didn't, I couldn't. Okay, 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.880 when I went to college before you, the big you 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.280 know what separated the real candidates from the failures was 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.880 organic KEM. Okay, so if you took organic chem and 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.240 but what did you do well in all those classes? 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.520 I did really really well in the bio classes. Organic 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.240 chem is hard for everyone. I think I did like 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.400 decent in the first level, and then as the levels 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.200 of organic KEM got harder and harder, I did worse 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.280 and worse. But theoretically, if you've got a reasonable score 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.960 on the M guide. Were they good enough to get in? Yeah? Okay, okay, 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.519 So what was the first party you promoted? The first 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.760 party I promoted was with two of my high school buddies. 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.800 We went to a bar one night and the because 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.760 you're growing up in Manhattan, yes, born and raised in Manhattan, okay, 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:45.680 and where do you go to school in Manhattan? To 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.840 high school? To harst Man and um, we went to 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.960 this bar. I'm gonna speed through this because there's so 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.800 much better stuff later in my life. But we went 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:57.720 to this bar on the Upper West Side and they 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.800 had beds and I and I was like, this is 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.040 so cool. They have beds in this bar. We gotta 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.520 throw a party here. But what were the beds for? 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.120 It was just like instead of tables with couches, they 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:12.240 had beds that you could lie on. And I found 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:14.320 the owner and I said, my buddy and I want 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.960 to throw um a party here. We'll bring the people, 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:21.919 and he said, okay, you will keep whatever the you 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:23.840 make at the door, and I'll keep whatever I make 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.560 at the bar. Okay. So you're in high school, your 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:31.640 how old? Okay? What inspired you to even do this? 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:36.440 I just thought the place. I thought the place was cool. 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:42.360 I was really into just like restaurants and bars and hotels. 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.719 I just found that stuff really cool. And I knew 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:47.320 that we could do it because we were going out 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.680 on the weekends two bars, you know, on the Upper 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:52.839 east Side and Upper west Side all the time. Anyway, 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:54.839 even though you weren't old enough to drink, you have 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.440 a faked yes. And there was a lot of bars, 0:04:57.600 --> 0:04:59.800 especially on the Upper east Side on Second Avenue, a 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:02.720 third Avenue that let under age people drink. I don't 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:09.280 know how it is now, but this was probably what year. Yeah, um, 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.120 And so we did it the first night and they 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.039 didn't ask really guarantee, just whatever you're getting there, and 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:21.560 your pitch for people to go was too How did 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.360 you get the people there? I mean, when you're in 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:26.279 high school, it's if you build it, they will come, 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:28.040 you know what I mean? You know, maybe I went 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.200 to it, went to a public high school. But how 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.880 much did you charge? Oh my goodness, I don't remember 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:38.920 what we started charging. But what happened was that night, 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.640 as soon as it started, there was a line down 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:47.800 the block of underage kids. And the owner freaked out 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.200 because everybody was under age for act and he let 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:55.440 it happen, and we just started charging more, as like 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.239 every hour the door charge would get higher and higher 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.359 and higher. And at the end of the night, my 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:04.920 two buddies and I had this um like little cash 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.479 box just full of cash and and it was like 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.960 from that moment, I was like, there's like a business here. Okay. 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:15.560 But generally speaking, were you the entrepreneurial sword who was 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.200 always making money as a little kid, or was this 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:21.760 your first vengee? No? I was pretty entrepreneurial always um 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.400 And so somehow we got away with that night happening, 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:29.200 and the owner moved the party to a bigger venue 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.480 in a more remote location so that we wouldn't get 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.680 in trouble for future parties. And we ended up doing 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.480 it weekly for a really long time. And you know, 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:42.039 everybody was underage and drinking, correct, Okay. And then you 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.880 go to school at pen Why do you go to 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:51.960 pen Um? Well, my dad went there. It was close 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.080 to the city but not the city. Um, I had 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.000 a lot of friends that went there, and it was 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.400 just my high school. A lot of it's from my 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:03.080 high school went to Penn and so it just kind 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.159 of became like sort of tradition, and I went there, 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.039 I fell in love with it, um, and I went. 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:10.600 While I was there, I really fell in love with Philadelphia. 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.280 I really love that city, and it is the city 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.920 of brotherly love. But I just think it's quaint and 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:19.840 the people are so much nicer than they are in 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:23.400 New York. I mean, it's definitely dirty, but it's in 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:28.120 certain parts. But um, it's just much more relaxed and 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:31.000 the people are much nicer. Okay. And when you were there, 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.040 would you go back to New York regularly or just 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.600 like I did, go back regularly. Okay, So how did 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:41.640 you start promoting parties in college? Um? Well, I had 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:43.880 already done it, you know, so it was very simple. 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:45.920 I did it. If I didn't do it that much 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:48.600 in Philadelphia. I did it a few times in Philadelphia. 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:54.320 Mostly my thing was when we went home for the holidays. Um. 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:56.200 I would do those for all the kids that were 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.880 coming back from college for the holidays. So what my 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.400 big thing was thank is Giving Eve, which is actually 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.920 two days and right that was always when people come 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:05.520 back and they go to the body after they've gone 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:07.920 away from college. My my, my, my bread and butter 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.200 was Thanksgiving Eve and New Years and New Year's I 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.800 we used to do in Miami. We would take a hotel. 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:18.560 I did eleven years New Year's Eves in Miami. So 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:20.880 let's just when you ended up doing once, you know, 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:22.840 like you're the fourth or fifth year doing it alone, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.880 or you're doing it with a partner. Um, I had 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.200 partners at that time. How much could you take away 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:32.440 personally from doing it New Year's Eve? What did I 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.240 make on New Year's New Year's Probably to my for myself, 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.960 probably like grand Okay, so who was paying for college? 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.319 Your father? Were you paying? Since you we're making this money? 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.599 Oh no, I wasn't making that money until after college. Okay. 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.480 So in annie event, you graduate, graduate from college and 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:50.920 you decide you want to be in the hospitality business, 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.559 you go to New York and we and you do what. 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.640 I got a job with a restaurant tour named Jonathan Moore, 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.400 who was not like the top top guy in New 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:03.720 York City, but he was like top four and he 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.480 was a guy I really admired. And everyone says, if 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.840 you want to make it into music in the restaurant business, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.400 you have to start from the bottom up. And so 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.280 I wasn't a bus boy, but I was a host 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.920 um six days, six nights a week from four pm, 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.600 and I didn't get home till four am, six nights 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.840 a week. And because I didn't get home till four am, 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.280 I always slept late. So I would like, literally, wake up, 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.160 go to the restaurant, worked twelve hours, go home, go 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.160 to sleep. I had no life. I didn't see anyone. 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.280 I didn't talk to anyone. It was horrible. What was 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:42.400 the name of the restaurant. It was called The Out 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:44.920 It's no longer okay, So how long did that go on? 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.599 Three months? Three months? And I was so, let's go 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:50.320 back a little bit. You're talking about this guy. How 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:56.199 did you hook up with him? Um? I just I 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:59.400 think I applied. I applied, so there was like an 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.319 open again you got the gig? So that goes. No, 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.520 I don't think there was an opening. I sought them out. 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.360 I knew who he was, and I tried to get 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.280 a job there. And how did you close him? Um? 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:15.400 In the room? Yeah? Yeah, I closed him in the room. Well, 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.640 experience that just a little bit. I went in, I 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.360 told him I went to Penn. I was passionate about 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.920 hospitality and I would do whatever it took. Okay, So 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.480 you do that for three months, four to four and 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:32.480 then what happens? Then? I was like, uh, you know, 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.400 I think I could do more than just what I'm doing, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.280 Like I'm all four starting from the bottom up, but hey, 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.200 I want to make more money and be I don't 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.080 feel like I'm doing as much as I can be 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:48.600 and I literally have zero life, um. And so I 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:53.400 went back to just promoting parties. Oh so you actually left. 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.720 There was very little that I could do because I 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.000 was incapacitated. Right, So I'm trying to say, but you 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:02.199 actually quit that gig after three months? Yes, quit okay? 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:08.280 And what did you say when you quit? Okay, good luck? 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:10.360 Was to say your whip okay. So then you say, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:15.079 I'm gonna promote part So I went back to promoting parties, um. 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:22.360 And what happened was because very few people, um, that 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.360 were actually born and raised in Manhattan still remain in Manhattan. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:30.760 And so I was one of the guys that all 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.240 these kids coming back from North that we're moving to 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:37.120 New York after graduation from Northeast schools that weren't from 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.720 New York. They had no idea where to go or 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.920 what to do. So I ended up becoming that guy 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.400 where so if you went to like any school basically 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.240 in the Northeast, like you called me and I told 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:51.079 you where to go. So I had we we had 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:55.280 parties lined up every single night basically maybe five Okay, 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.280 when a little bit slower you quit the gig. How 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:02.880 do you become the man I already was. I was 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.120 already doing it in the on the holidays during college, 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:10.440 like people knew you know, and I had I knew 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.000 every other promoter in New York, and you just kind 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.200 of link up with different people. You'll say, you know, 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.520 you'll say to one promoter friend, let's do Thursdays at 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.720 this place. And you'll say to another promoter friend, let's 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.320 do Fridays together and we'll go find a club. You know, 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.959 things like that, And what is the draw? You mean? 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:30.600 What gets them there? You develop a reputation for throwing 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.800 good parties and you know, taking care of people and 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:37.080 entertaining people. You know, if I went, I paid my money, 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:38.840 I get in, what would what would I be the 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:43.360 experience I had at that moment, dancing in a nightclub 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.600 and you know, potentially buying a table with bottles on 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:52.760 it for wildly over price amounts and there were people 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.840 just graduated from college. You can afford them, yes, with 0:12:55.880 --> 0:13:00.440 their parents allowance. How much money to get in it 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.600 was either free or it was like twenty and how 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.360 much for the bottle bottle service At that time they 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:12.040 were like three. Now they're like six eight thousand. Okay. 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.640 So you're promoting these parties and word gets out if 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.280 you want to know what's going on? Are they literally 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:23.640 emailing you, texting you whatever? There was no text back then. Um, 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:26.640 there was email, but it was very difficult. Maybe there 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.080 was text, but it was very difficult to mass text, 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.280 like you could text ten people at a time because 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:35.880 you know, it's hard to sit there and text thousand 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.160 people individually. And same thing with email. There were like 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.360 limits to how many emails you could send. UM. So 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.200 you know, we we tried to fix find every trick 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.360 in the book to do that. Okay. The key, the 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.400 key thing to UM that I should say about these 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.760 parties is that at that time the DJ was in 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:01.040 the corner and nobody cared who it was or or 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:06.320 could even see them. Really you know, um in that 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:10.080 kind of led me to where you know, was led 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:14.439 me to my next step. Okay, So UM. So after 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:16.480 I made a name for myself as a nightclub promoter 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:18.960 in New York, I got hired by these two guys 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:23.600 that UM were known to be like pretty much the 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:29.280 best promoters and UM restaurant owners in New York. UM. 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:32.960 These guys, Scott and Ritchie UM and at the time 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.080 they owned a restaurant, Cold Butter, and they promoted other nightclubs. 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:41.120 And I got hired by them too, kind of be 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:44.000 the director of promotions, which means like manage all the 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.560 nights and hire all the DJs, and hire all the 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:50.920 other promoters and just make sure everything's going as it 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:54.320 should on the marketing and promotion side. UM. And I 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.840 ended up working for them for eight years. Okay, how 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:58.960 many years out of college did you get that gig? 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.880 Probably two or three. And you would make more money 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:11.400 working for them than doing it yourself, UM, probably because 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:15.240 I was getting a decent salary and health insurance, and 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.320 it was more for stability and like for growing my 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.320 career rather than just like, Okay, so you're in the 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.040 nightclub business. People your age are very aggressive in their 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.480 careers and you see people moving up with their careers. 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:29.920 Did you feel like, well, maybe I didn't play this 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:32.720 game right or you say, what not at first, but 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:36.360 after eight years, I you know, started to for sure. 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:41.920 It's also very very tiring. Um, it loses all its luster, 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.360 you know, being in nightclubs, you know, six nights a week, 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:49.760 every night, you know, and seeing people that's saying people 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.960 over and over and over and um, you know, definitely 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:56.000 there was a lot of that and I really didn't 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:57.920 know what my next step was going to be. But 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:02.479 I didn't know that it was going to present its health. Um. 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.560 And so we built a nightclub called One Oak um 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.080 in New York City, which still exists today. And um, 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.720 they've expanded and they have a bunch of One Oaks 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:17.240 and other clubs. It's a pretty big company now. Um. 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.480 But what happened was about three three years into it, 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.520 I noticed a few things all at the same time. 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:30.280 The first thing I noticed was that people we're starting 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.760 to ask all the time who's dejaying, and that wasn't 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.040 really a thing before. And the other thing that was 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.680 happening with social media was starting to get more prevalent, 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.640 and these local New York City DJs, we're starting to 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:48.240 get their own followings where people would care who that 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.560 like they would say, Oh, is this guy djaying tonight? 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.680 Is this guy djank tomorrow night? I want I want 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.280 that guy to you know, And I was like, that's 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.560 so weird, Like people didn't used to do that before. 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.880 It was like they would come to a nightclub be 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.360 because it was the newest or that's where the celebrities 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:08.280 hung out or whatever it was. The Other thing that 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:12.840 started happening was dance music started spilling over from Europe. 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.560 You know, guys like David Ghetta. So, what year are 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:25.280 we in? We're in two thousand and two and um. 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:29.639 The last thing was um dj AM Do you know 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.240 who that was? D J A m Yeah, So d 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.840 J A m Um was dating Nicole Ritchie and they 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.040 were on the cover of US Weekly and I saw 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.680 the magazine and I was just like, what is going 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.600 on here? Like DJs are like celebrities now, like they're 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.920 like so it's all those things could combine, just like, 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:52.600 you know, I have all the best DJs in New 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:57.359 York City DJing at my club, and they really don't 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.240 know what they're doing as far as furthering their career here. 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.560 They can barely send an invoice, you know, they could 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:07.000 barely show up on time. And since I had worked 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.720 at pretty much the best club in the country for 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:14.840 eight years, I knew everyone in the nightclub business. And 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.800 so I decided to start a DJ management company. And 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.399 I went and signed the ten DJs that worked at 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.720 our club, who were the best DJs in New York 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.960 City UM to management and really it was it was 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:34.360 sort of like a booking agency to UM. And that 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:39.840 company was called four AM, and I, you know, basically 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.360 told them, I'll help you on your social media, I'll 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.119 do all your office work, I'll you know, get you 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:50.199 working in other places around the country. And within three 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:54.560 months it exploded, Okay, are you still having your day 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.760 job while you're doing this? Okay, theoretically an agent somebody 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.080 getting work should be like, since you get it, you 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:04.240 don't get a license, right, of course? Not. Do you 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:08.240 have anybody working for you at the time? Not? Not 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.040 at first. At first I was doing it all myself. 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:15.400 What was your take? What was your percentage? So when 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:17.879 they were playing, before you have this epiphany, what was 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:22.439 a DJ making in your club? Uh? It could be 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:26.840 anywhere from three okay, And these guys did not make music. 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.280 They were you know, they were spinning spinning records. Okay, 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:36.119 you get involved. What does the price turn into. It 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.480 got a little bit higher, But it wasn't just about 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.520 raising their rates. It was about getting them playing more 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:46.040 nights a week in more cities, um, and helping their 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:48.520 fan bases grow. Okay, so how far would you go 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.399 from New York? Oh? I mean it was a pretty 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.320 high end, so it was international. But we really Yeah, 0:19:55.359 --> 0:20:00.480 so we were doing things like you know, can Film Festival. Okay, 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:03.159 you're working at a club. How did you have those relationships? 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.800 The nightclub business, everyone knows each other. We would do 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.200 like pop ups like you know, Sundance Film Festival, Art 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:14.960 boss Al Toronto Film Festival, like you know. Nightclub owners 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:20.800 all intermingle at those types of things. Um, and I 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.320 had a little bit of exposure to the music business 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:26.520 because we'd have lots of artists come to our venues 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.480 and perform, and a lot of the DJs because the 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:34.320 artists wanted them to spend their records, had relationships, you know, 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.520 I was exposed to guys like Giddy and Jay z 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:45.240 Um all the time, and um, a little monopoly started 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:50.040 whereby Oh so after three months it exploded and I 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:55.119 quit the job working for the hospitality company and um 0:20:55.160 --> 0:21:00.680 a buddy of mine, Rich kleiman Um, who managers Kevin 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:06.919 Durant now was running rock Nation, and he was I 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:08.879 told him about that I had left, and then I 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:10.960 started this DJ company and he gave me a desk 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.280 at rock Nation to run my company. No like, no 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.480 official ties, just here's a desk. Let's see what you 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.640 can do. And so I started working there and eventually 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:23.280 I was like, Rich, I need to hire somebody, like, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:25.560 can I have another desk? And he was like nope. 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:29.920 And so I started running it out of my apartment 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:33.560 and then I started hiring people and I turned this. 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:36.520 I kicked out my roommate and I turned his bedroom 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.560 into like the office, and I had four guys working 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:44.560 there with me, and the company was just screaming. And 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:48.720 so we're what we're like two thousan Yes, exactly. Okay, 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:51.800 let's stop for a second here. At this point, Scooter 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:55.959 is making some noise, Scooter braun and whatever. Did you 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:58.240 see that as something separate or did you say I'm 0:21:58.240 --> 0:21:59.960 competing with him or those are the steps I want 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.520 to go in. I wasn't even really looking at that. 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:05.600 There were other guys trying to do what I was doing, 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:07.719 and those were the guys I was competing. Okay, so 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:09.720 you say monopoly, they were trying to do it, But 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:13.320 you own the market. I own New York City and 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:19.639 the Tri State area and pretty much Miami. Okay. And 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.160 as a result of having this success, I would assume 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:27.040 that you're now throwing you're now selling DJs to hire 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:30.000 and higher levels of people. Yes, so that it was. 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:33.800 It was that my company because my club was a 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:38.560 high end club. My DJs were DJs that dj high 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:41.280 end clubs and private events like we would do Jay 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:44.560 Z's birthday party and the Louis Vutan fashion show, and 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:47.720 you know, so that's just the type of guys that 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:51.400 So did those relationships help you as you shifted? Gave 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:54.600 every relationship I've made I made over the eight years 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:59.240 in the nightclub business and the four years managing UM DJs, 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.679