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Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties, weekly podcast featuring conversations with

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Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. This

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Speaker 1: is this Variety Deputy music editor gem As. A lot

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Speaker 1: in this week's installment actually is from a discussion panel

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Speaker 1: I put together about three weeks ago October twelve one

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Speaker 1: for the Mondo NYC count called the State of the

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Speaker 1: Music Industry. It looks at how the business is doing

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Speaker 1: twenty months into the pandemic. While that topic is obviously

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Speaker 1: ridiculously broad, I narrowed it down to four key roles

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Speaker 1: and chose people who are running successful careers or businesses

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Speaker 1: or departments. An artist, an agent that's the person whose

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Speaker 1: job it is to get work for the artist, everything

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Speaker 1: from live shows to book deals. An artist manager in

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Speaker 1: this case one who also happens to be an attorney

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Speaker 1: in the GM of an independent record label, and a

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Speaker 1: music publishing executive. Asked each one questions about what their

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Speaker 1: experiences have been like over the past year and a

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Speaker 1: half and how they pivoted to use everyone's favorite pandemic

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Speaker 1: buzzword to keep alive their careers, and those are the

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Speaker 1: people that they worked with now. I was honestly stunned

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Speaker 1: by these conversations. The speakers were Brittany Spencer, a country

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Speaker 1: singer songwriter who CBS This Morning is called Nashville's new Star.

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Speaker 1: She saw her career take off almost entirely during the

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Speaker 1: pandemic by keeping a dialogue with her fans, playing live streams,

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Speaker 1: and dropping a series of songs online that led up

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Speaker 1: to the release of her debut EP, Compassion, which has

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Speaker 1: gotten rave reviews in the press and really has made

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Speaker 1: her arrive. Here. She speaks in vivid and very poetic

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Speaker 1: terms about how she did it and how strange it

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Speaker 1: all felt to be achieving a lot of her dreams

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Speaker 1: during a pandemic, and the deep connection she's made with

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Speaker 1: her audience as they rode through the past months together.

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Speaker 1: Next up was Lucy Dickens, the London based co head

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Speaker 1: of music for William Morris Endeavor talent agency who works

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Speaker 1: with A Dalla and Mumford and Sons and loads of others.

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Speaker 1: She spoke about how she and her company found new

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Speaker 1: ways not only to keep their artists and clients working,

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Speaker 1: but also how the staff and company adjusted and found

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Speaker 1: new opportunities for themselves and the business. Next up was

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Speaker 1: Bent and the Ambi Brown, artist manager and founder of

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Speaker 1: her own oh Maliley Projects, but also an attorney in

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Speaker 1: general manager of Keep Cool Records, an independent hip hop

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Speaker 1: and R and B labeled distributed by Our c A.

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Speaker 1: She spoke about how our artists not only kept motivated

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Speaker 1: but have managed to thrive through the pandemic, and also

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Speaker 1: about the moment how she and they embraced the Black

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Speaker 1: Lives Matter protests of the spring and summer of and Finally,

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Speaker 1: Christina Hedrick of Sony Music Publishing talked about how that

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Speaker 1: business has actually managed to soar during the pandemic, as

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Speaker 1: the shutdown of touring led not only to a boom

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Speaker 1: of songwriting but a boom in the value of songs

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Speaker 1: and song cattle. With everyone home streaming and no one

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Speaker 1: playing concerts for months and months, songs turned out to

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Speaker 1: be a valuable and durable thing to create. Non Now,

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Speaker 1: it's not all roses. These are not all positive stories,

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Speaker 1: and each of these people talk about how difficult it

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Speaker 1: was to achieve anything, let alone the success that they

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Speaker 1: did during this time. It's a really remarkable conversation, although

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Speaker 1: I hesitate to call it that because I basically just

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Speaker 1: asked each one A couple of long winded questions, and

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Speaker 1: they took off with these thoughtful and inspiring answers. Normally

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Speaker 1: these kinds of discussions are round tables filled with bantering

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Speaker 1: and contradictions and even arguments, and everyone here let each

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Speaker 1: other have their say, and we're so complimentary and supportive

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Speaker 1: of each other. No coincidence they're all female. So without

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Speaker 1: further ado, after the break, you'll be hearing from them

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Speaker 1: and me on strictly business. We'll be right back. We

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Speaker 1: will start up, actually, um, start this up, be taking

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Speaker 1: you look at where things are in the music industry

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Speaker 1: at the moment, where we've been in the last year

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Speaker 1: and a half as we all cope with the pandemic

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Speaker 1: and uh, what's come of what we feel is coming next?

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Speaker 1: And bring me. I'm actually gonna start with you, um,

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Speaker 1: not not to be mean, but because without music and musicians,

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Speaker 1: none of us have anything to do here. So go

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Speaker 1: back eighteen months. Um, your career is on the rise. Um,

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Speaker 1: your ep I guess was about to come out at

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Speaker 1: that time or coming out soon. Um, presumably lots of

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Speaker 1: tour dates lined up, COVID hits. How did you react,

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Speaker 1: how did you pivot? And um, how did you keep

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Speaker 1: your career moving because you've you've been on and up

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Speaker 1: on and up swing through all this. Yeah, it's been

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Speaker 1: the most bizarre thing, um, if I'm honest in a

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Speaker 1: beautiful way, but also um, you know, I, like you said,

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Speaker 1: I was getting ready to release my EP at the

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Speaker 1: time that the pandemic hit, and I actually put it

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Speaker 1: off for a few months. Um, and I kind of

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Speaker 1: changed course and decided to release each song one at

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Speaker 1: a time because I figured everyone's home, you know, what

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Speaker 1: are we doing? Just you know, there's no rush um,

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Speaker 1: And I I wanted to take a more of a

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Speaker 1: content approach um to my releasing I guess style. Um.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, the world came, it stopped. It just no

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Speaker 1: one knew what to do. I mean, as as far

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Speaker 1: as artists goes and the artists in my orbit, none

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Speaker 1: of us knew what to do. I mean, we didn't

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Speaker 1: know if we should release music. We thought, oh, it's

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Speaker 1: only gonna be other month. That was kind of like

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Speaker 1: the talk at the beginning of the pandemic, it's going

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Speaker 1: to be a month um of quarantine and then we'll

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Speaker 1: be okay. And and so I held off, you know,

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Speaker 1: like a lot of artists, and then at some point,

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Speaker 1: I was just like, I don't want to do this anywhere.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to hold off. I just you know,

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Speaker 1: I want to go. UM. I think the advantage of

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Speaker 1: me being such a new artist is that, UM, I

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Speaker 1: didn't really feel like I didn't feel pressured to change

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Speaker 1: my tactics. I guess, so my little strategies I just

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Speaker 1: I just show who I am. I honestly, every song

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Speaker 1: that's on my EP has probably been on my social

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Speaker 1: media for at least six months prior to it even

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Speaker 1: being released. I just tried out new songs on social

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Speaker 1: media the way people trying out at shows, and so

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Speaker 1: I just found ways to engage music and find different

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Speaker 1: ways to to do content. UM. A whole lot of

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Speaker 1: COVID testing. Honestly, there was like a period of several

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Speaker 1: months where I was getting tested at least once or

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Speaker 1: twice a week. UM, because I would I would just

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Speaker 1: plan everything out and say, Okay, hey, I need to

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Speaker 1: do a photo shoot this day, or I need to

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Speaker 1: go write a song with this person this day. I

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Speaker 1: would just kind of I would plan out my in

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Speaker 1: person things and I would just get tested in quarantine.

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Speaker 1: And it was a whole lot. It was really interesting,

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Speaker 1: like planning out when the hang with someone because you

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Speaker 1: need to get tested and and quarantine. But m m hm,

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Speaker 1: so I'm having sinus issues right now if you hear it. UM.

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Speaker 1: But I think the Jurassic change, and I'll try to

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Speaker 1: be brief. For me at least is watching everything come

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Speaker 1: to a halt and feeling the agony of that, but

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Speaker 1: also finding the opportunity and that. And I think for artists,

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Speaker 1: we found we found ways to dig deeper into our music.

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Speaker 1: We found ways to um, I don't know, to engage

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Speaker 1: Like a few friends of mine, we started just going

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Speaker 1: around and doing shows in people's backyards for a little

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Speaker 1: bit UM like when it got a little safer, UM

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Speaker 1: Like towards the end of last summer, UM, we started

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Speaker 1: getting more creative with strategies. I I just signed with

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Speaker 1: my booking agency at the top of this year, UM,

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Speaker 1: and so we just we started engaging UM branding opportunities,

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Speaker 1: We started engaging the live stream opportunities, anything that was UM,

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Speaker 1: I guess innovative for this particular time. We just started

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Speaker 1: engaging it UM. And I think artists had to be

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Speaker 1: really open to that because a lot of times, I

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Speaker 1: mean a lot of artists in Nashville. They don't want

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Speaker 1: to do TikTok all the time. We don't, we don't.

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Speaker 1: We don't like to do things. We just like to

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Speaker 1: go do shows. It was it was not the easy route,

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Speaker 1: and and you know it's not easy to do shows,

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Speaker 1: but it was the biggest, it is the biggest the

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Speaker 1: revenue stream, and so artists had to I feel like

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Speaker 1: we had to open our minds and and really just

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Speaker 1: be open to finding more innovative ways to see the

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Speaker 1: opportunity in quarantine and not just the the pain in

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Speaker 1: the agony and the setback of it. And I think

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Speaker 1: some of those things will be implemented uh and years

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Speaker 1: to come, I think in addition to live shows. But

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Speaker 1: people are going to have to be more innovative, I

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Speaker 1: think moving forward in order to sustain a viable career

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Speaker 1: path for artists. How did you replace the income that

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Speaker 1: you lost from from not being able to play live shows? Um,

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Speaker 1: I think, well, during the pandemic. I actually I had

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Speaker 1: a job even before the pandemic. I had a part

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Speaker 1: time job that allowed me to work remotely. So I'm

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Speaker 1: a new artist, Like the tag is probably still on me,

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Speaker 1: Like I'm I'm new new UM, and I was spending

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Speaker 1: I mean, prior to the pandemic, I was spending a

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Speaker 1: lot of time recording, a lot of time writing, and

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Speaker 1: I started doing these personal trips where I would just

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Speaker 1: go and travel to different cities, different states to write

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Speaker 1: with my friends. And I did that for a long time.

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Speaker 1: Um but I was I was still working. But but

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Speaker 1: in addition to that, I mean, I wasn't able to

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Speaker 1: continue to work during the pandemic as things started taking

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Speaker 1: off for me. Um but I I just found branding

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Speaker 1: opportunities really, UM, I felt opportunities to um with live streams.

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Speaker 1: Live streams were really cool help um in terms of

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Speaker 1: income as well. UM yeah, those were my Those were

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Speaker 1: probably my two biggest ones. And I think for more

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Speaker 1: established artists there were more opportunities. But as an independent

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Speaker 1: artist who was new, I really just had those different

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Speaker 1: Um those really those two outlets. I mean it's probably

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Speaker 1: maybe one or two more that I'm not remembering, but

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Speaker 1: those were the biggest ones. Branding and live streams and

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Speaker 1: uh but yeah, I mean it's it's a labor of love.

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Speaker 1: I mean, especially as a new artist, and I was

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Speaker 1: doing some of the most fantastic things. I never even

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Speaker 1: thought I could do, and I was doing it from

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Speaker 1: my studio apartment, like getting to have a feature in

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Speaker 1: New York Times or being a rolling Stone, And like

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Speaker 1: they're not sending photographers, you know, you had my makeup

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Speaker 1: artist was literally taking photos of me and we were

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Speaker 1: getting sent off to edit. And so like these big

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Speaker 1: monumental moments were happening in a way that I never

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Speaker 1: thought they would. I thought it would be bigger, I

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Speaker 1: thought it'd be something else. And and because of the

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Speaker 1: solitude that we've had in quarantine, we've had to really

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Speaker 1: readjust and really reimagine, um, how things, how big things

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Speaker 1: could be, and and and I guess in ways that

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Speaker 1: we didn't foresee them in pass. So I hope I'm

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Speaker 1: answering your question. Yeah, no, that's actually a really interesting

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Speaker 1: way of putting it, is, is how big things can be?

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Speaker 1: Did you get so you enjoyed live streams? Because I remember, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, you think about the early ones like that

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Speaker 1: that Elton John benefit where you've got Paul McCartney like

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Speaker 1: playing into his phone. Um, you know, and several months

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Speaker 1: later things had really really progressed. Um, did you ever

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Speaker 1: get used to st make it easier? But did you

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Speaker 1: ever really get used to playing, you know, playing live streams. Um. Yes,

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Speaker 1: as a person who who just posted videos online. I

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Speaker 1: didn't do it all the time, but I did it

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Speaker 1: quite a bit, um playing for Instagram or you know,

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Speaker 1: like people playing for people who going to see you

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Speaker 1: on YouTube or Instagram or Twitter. I was kind of

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Speaker 1: used to it. I did enjoy it, honestly, UM, But

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Speaker 1: I do understand missing that that interaction that really can

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Speaker 1: only be gained from a live performance. You missed that exchange,

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Speaker 1: You missed that that conversation, and in live streams can

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Speaker 1: kind of just be this this, this um, just one

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Speaker 1: way conversation that might not always be the most engaging

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Speaker 1: um or fulfilling, but it's I like it. I thought

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Speaker 1: it was a really cool opportunity to to hone in

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Speaker 1: on the craft of just I mean, I don't know,

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Speaker 1: and where I come from, we call it just flat

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Speaker 1: footed singing, like just standing there and singing the song

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Speaker 1: and singing and communicating the story and singing your gass

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Speaker 1: off and and not relying on on what can sometimes

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Speaker 1: feel like a crush. If you have that audience interaction,

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Speaker 1: everyone's loving it, you know, you that can kind of

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Speaker 1: sometimes be an artistic crutch. There. There's so many times

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Speaker 1: where I've looked back at a video and I thought

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Speaker 1: I felt so good on the stage, and I listened

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Speaker 1: back and I'm like, oh my god, what was I

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Speaker 1: doing at this part? That sounds crazy? But everyone was

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Speaker 1: just loving it, you know, And so it's it's those

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Speaker 1: moments where it just it was a time to really

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Speaker 1: hone in. That's that's the best way that I can

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Speaker 1: describe it. For artists. It was a time to hone in.

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Speaker 1: What are we writing about? You know, we were in

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Speaker 1: the pandemic, but it was also a whole lot going on.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't we weren't lacking um events at all during

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Speaker 1: this pain theem We were in the houses, but I

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Speaker 1: mean they were protests going on. There was there was

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Speaker 1: a whole lot of injustice happening. There was an election

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Speaker 1: we were embarking upon. There was there were events. You know,

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Speaker 1: this was a very eventful time of solitude, and so

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Speaker 1: it I think it cause creatives to really to really

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Speaker 1: dig in and figure out what it is that they

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Speaker 1: want to say, and also what do I want to

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Speaker 1: do the next time I get in front of people.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're not going to take those moments for

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Speaker 1: granted anymore, at least I hope not, you know, just

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Speaker 1: thinking like oh, it's another show, or or just get

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Speaker 1: on the bus and just treating this casually like oh,

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Speaker 1: this is just my life. No, because we remember when

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Speaker 1: we couldn't do this anymore. Remember when it was it

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Speaker 1: wasn't it wasn't an option. You know, you didn't see people,

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Speaker 1: you didn't get to see your fans. I mean even now,

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Speaker 1: like on I'm on the road right now with Brett

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Speaker 1: Eldredge and with Jason Is Bowl, and I don't I

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Speaker 1: don't think we bring people backstage, Like there are no

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Speaker 1: meet and greets. Um, we're not bringing friends and family backstage.

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Speaker 1: Everyone is vaccinated. Um, we're all wearing masks behind stage,

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Speaker 1: and so it's it's um, it's different. You know, I'm

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Speaker 1: about to be playing I'm about to do my first

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Speaker 1: show at the Rhyman Auditorium on Saturday with Jason Is

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Speaker 1: Bowl and it's so cool and I can't, like I

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Speaker 1: can invite people, but I'm not bringing I wouldn't even

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Speaker 1: feel comfortable to bring people backstage. So it's these big

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Speaker 1: moments and they're happening much different than we thought. Um,

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Speaker 1: and even just touring as a new artist, touring with

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Speaker 1: COVID has been has been really really hard. Um, it's

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Speaker 1: just it's just some more challenging time. But as a

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Speaker 1: new artist, and I keep stressing it because I don't

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Speaker 1: really I don't have a huge point of context for

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Speaker 1: how life was before COVID because I just released my

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Speaker 1: first EP and December. Um, but this is my point

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Speaker 1: of context. And so if we can I don't know,

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Speaker 1: if I can make it through COVID, then then that

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Speaker 1: can hopefully, you know, meet any of the challenge in

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Speaker 1: the future. Head on. That's how I feel with COVID.

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Speaker 1: It's just if you can make it through this, that

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Speaker 1: we can make it through anything. Yeah. I think we've

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Speaker 1: all feel like we've been tested enough. So UM, just

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Speaker 1: one more question on that on that point, and that's

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Speaker 1: how did your relationship with your fans change? Like, you know,

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Speaker 1: I've talked a lot of artists who say that like

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Speaker 1: they know they did a good performance during live streaming

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Speaker 1: by the number of claps they see they see, or

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Speaker 1: like the number of people who are singing along in

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Speaker 1: all caps, you know, singing along. Um, did you engage

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Speaker 1: more with your fans? And how did you how did you, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, sort of manage that relationship with them, And

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna get up for one second because there's

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Speaker 1: construction across the way and they got to close the door. Absolutely. UM.

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Speaker 1: I I think that my relationship with with fans UM

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Speaker 1: has changed in that I think people utilize social media

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Speaker 1: a little more. I started noticing a huge uptick someone's

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Speaker 1: knocking at my door. I noticed a huge uptick in

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Speaker 1: comments and in the amount of people that would just

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Speaker 1: message me UM just to let me know, like hey,

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Speaker 1: I saw your thing, or just more YouTube comments. I

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Speaker 1: saw this thing you did online, I saw this live stream.

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Speaker 1: It's just I think the audience has been like that

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Speaker 1: immediate UM interaction you don't have, but you can so

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Speaker 1: to still here. UM. You don't get that immediate reaction,

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Speaker 1: but you do get UM. I guess the after the

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Speaker 1: after effect, people just find ways to still engage with you.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if we didn't have social media, there would

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Speaker 1: be no medium to still communicate with fans and and

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Speaker 1: UM and for people to be able to share with

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Speaker 1: you their story, you know, because they heard yours on

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Speaker 1: some other you know medium, and so it was UM.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. It's just been a really beautiful time

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Speaker 1: I feel and and maybe this I hope this answers

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Speaker 1: your question more as well. I feel like even the

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Speaker 1: responses that I've gotten from fans has been more um like,

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Speaker 1: more in depth. Like people aren't just like, oh, I

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Speaker 1: liked your show. They're saying, I loved your show. I've

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Speaker 1: had a really hard time. I got laid off from work,

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Speaker 1: or you know, my family is struggling financially right now,

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Speaker 1: or someone in my family has COVID and this really

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Speaker 1: brightened my day. Like people, I'm seeing more of that

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Speaker 1: um where people are just excited even now to just

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Speaker 1: be back at shows and they let you know, they

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Speaker 1: let you know in person if they can, or they'll

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Speaker 1: just message or opposed to comment. It's just it feels

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Speaker 1: deeper right now because people know the cost of attending

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Speaker 1: a show. It's not just a taboo thing. It's not

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Speaker 1: just a Friday night this is this is how life

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Speaker 1: is enjoyed now. So it feels it feels like it's

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Speaker 1: on a deeper level right now, the connection between artists

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Speaker 1: and fans. We'll be right back with Variety strictly business,

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Speaker 1: taking a look at the state of the music industry

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Speaker 1: in the fall of You're back with Variety strictly Business

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Speaker 1: this week, taking a look at the state of the

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Speaker 1: music industry in the fall of one Lucy, I want

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Speaker 1: to move over to the next um again. It's the

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Speaker 1: same situation, uh march um. You have a lot of

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Speaker 1: artists presumably touring, about to start tours, and all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden their main source of income is shut down completely.

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Speaker 1: How did you and how did w m E pivot

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Speaker 1: and find new opportunities for your artists. Well, I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously there's been a huge amount of change with within

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Speaker 1: the agency world, and I think that the key part

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Speaker 1: of all of that was in a way, I think

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Speaker 1: it gives you that false moment to actually stop and

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Speaker 1: to actually think, because obviously the life thing was always

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Speaker 1: so you know, you're on a roll and you just

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Speaker 1: keep booking live show, live show, and then when something

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Speaker 1: forces you to stop like that, you then have to

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Speaker 1: start really really delving into what else you can do.

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Speaker 1: And obviously, you know, as Brittany is already alluded to,

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Speaker 1: we obviously had to set up a virtual department. We

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Speaker 1: also have been things, you know, we've had areas of

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Speaker 1: like visual media where with our artists doing that or

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Speaker 1: crossover department became hugely, hugely valuable to us for artists

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Speaker 1: such as Lizzo and everyone else that we've had that

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Speaker 1: can just crossover into like to the other departments. We've

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Speaker 1: had Book department that's been working on people like Dave

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Speaker 1: grow with his new book that's come out. So it

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Speaker 1: really was how do we how do we keep momentum?

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Speaker 1: Momentum was the hardest thing, and it wasn't just for

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Speaker 1: our clients. It's like, how do you keep momentum and

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Speaker 1: people's morale high in a company like that where suddenly

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Speaker 1: they don't know what to do themselves. So it wasn't

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Speaker 1: it was like a whole big problem that we were

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Speaker 1: dealing with. But you know, we navigated through and we

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Speaker 1: found lots of other areas and and we've grown other departments.

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Speaker 1: You know, we've got the Legends department now, So you know,

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Speaker 1: it's been quite I think that that false time being

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Speaker 1: able to stop and actually go, hang on a minute,

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Speaker 1: what else can we do here? Because we've got all

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Speaker 1: these tools available to us in this company, but none

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Speaker 1: of us are really utilizing it. So let's start working

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Speaker 1: out ways that we can cross the departmentalize and benefit

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Speaker 1: and help our artists out. You know. But I think

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Speaker 1: depending as Brittany spoke so brilliantly about with a new

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Speaker 1: are tist it could. It was so beneficial, like signed

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Speaker 1: so many new artists during the pandemic, and I think

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Speaker 1: the ability for them to not rush, which I think

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Speaker 1: was the key term that you use their Brittany, which

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Speaker 1: is so what so many artists always want to do.

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Speaker 1: It's like, you know, they want to rush everything out.

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Speaker 1: It's not rushing, it's engagement. It's letting your fans be

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Speaker 1: able to relate to you. And it gave us all

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Speaker 1: time for that. It gave us time to think about

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Speaker 1: what tour is going to be like when we go

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Speaker 1: further forward. What you know what tour wise, my tour

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Speaker 1: going to sell bad tickets than the fifteen other tours

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Speaker 1: that are out at the same time because obviously we're

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Speaker 1: now a bottleneck with everyone wanted to come back touring.

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Speaker 1: So it's like it's just having that moment to stop

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Speaker 1: and actually to think and be Okay, you know, how

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Speaker 1: what else are we going to do here moving forward?

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Speaker 1: And you know, times have changed massively and if we

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Speaker 1: don't keep moving forward, we become irrelevant and stay all right. Indeed, um,

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Speaker 1: were you having a lot of conversations with with your

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Speaker 1: artists at the beginning of the pandemic that were almost

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Speaker 1: um you know what were you saying to them? To

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Speaker 1: keep them optimistic and keep them motivated and keep them moving.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, I was actually exceptionally lucky. I

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Speaker 1: think I was one of those agents who I didn't

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Speaker 1: have a load of artists on the road that were

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Speaker 1: like literally asking me to reschedule. I think I'd a

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Speaker 1: Rex Orange County tour, which we remember at the time

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Speaker 1: when the pandemic hit. He was going off to play

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Speaker 1: a big tour in Australia and it was so far

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Speaker 1: away that when people are going to need to pull

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Speaker 1: that down. I was looking at people like as if

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Speaker 1: you were you crazy, Like why would I pull that

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Speaker 1: tour down? That's totally going to happen. And I think

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Speaker 1: he was the only one that we just left it.

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to be one of those agents that

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Speaker 1: kept rebooking. I think that that was worse for artists,

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Speaker 1: was like, sorry, your tour is not going to happen now,

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Speaker 1: but we're going to reschedule it to this and so

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Speaker 1: many agents I saw were just rescheduling and rescheduling, and

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Speaker 1: I was like, what you were scheduling for? You don't

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Speaker 1: actually know when we're out of this. So I mean

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Speaker 1: for me, apart from him, all of my clients, literally

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Speaker 1: all of them have taken that opportunity to write some

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Speaker 1: of the most brilliant albums, which I mean, they're all

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Speaker 1: about to start coming out as I'm sure one of

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Speaker 1: them you're aware of um, and they've all written like

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Speaker 1: probably the best records of their life. So again, as

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Speaker 1: Britain said that, it's been such a map the amount

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Speaker 1: of events that I mean, could you honestly you wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be able to when you actually stop and think about

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Speaker 1: all the things that have gone on in these last

431
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,480
Speaker 1: two years. And that's like as a global thing, but

432
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:29,720
Speaker 1: also personally for people. I've lost four very close friends.

433
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,719
Speaker 1: You know, it's like it's been a crazy time. And

434
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:34,920
Speaker 1: I think for up for my artists, I was lucky

435
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:37,920
Speaker 1: because they were just really using that time and men

436
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:40,520
Speaker 1: with Monthly and signs with Ben, you know, with Winston leaving,

437
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,359
Speaker 1: Ben had a baby, so people were going through these

438
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 1: amazing emotions and they just basically used the time to write,

439
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,280
Speaker 1: so I didn't. I didn't feel that I got any

440
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,880
Speaker 1: major breakdowns from any of my clients that they were

441
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:58,960
Speaker 1: just using that moment to be super creative. Mm hmm. No,

442
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,479
Speaker 1: that's very interesting. So where are things now? Are you know?

443
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,399
Speaker 1: Is it is it sort of a tentative return to touring?

444
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,680
Speaker 1: Is it full scale for some artists? Where where are

445
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:14,360
Speaker 1: things in general? For both your clients and the companies? So, Jen,

446
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,159
Speaker 1: I mean for the companies, I mean it depends on

447
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:19,960
Speaker 1: whereabouts you are. You know, like obviously in our country department,

448
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 1: it's been fantastic. You know, touring has been great. So

449
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,440
Speaker 1: that's been going back full throat. Like I remember being

450
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 1: so jealous when I was looking at all these tours

451
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:29,920
Speaker 1: and stadiums that were going back out onto on the road.

452
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,520
Speaker 1: I was like, are you serious, Like none of us

453
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,720
Speaker 1: are in that situation, but we're actually you know, it's

454
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: coming back. You know. The problem that now we have

455
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 1: to do is to navigate how many artists there are

456
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 1: in the market, and you know, ticket sales are unless

457
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,639
Speaker 1: you are that exceptionally hot artists no matter where you

458
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,600
Speaker 1: are in the world. This isn't just like a UK

459
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,280
Speaker 1: europe international thing. This goes for this every globally, no

460
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 1: matter where you are in the world. If you're hot,

461
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,439
Speaker 1: your ticket sales are okay, you know they're good. But

462
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 1: if you're if you're in that mid bit, like it's hard,

463
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 1: Like we'refore we percent down on sales, So there is

464
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,200
Speaker 1: still a lot of consumer confidence is not quite there yet,

465
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 1: Like people over here, people backing is going to indoor shows,

466
00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 1: festivals have been running perfectly greener, they've been great, but

467
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,600
Speaker 1: you know, it's we're not out of this pandemic yet

468
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:25,879
Speaker 1: at all. And so but on that note, what I

469
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 1: would say is it's certainly going in the right direction.

470
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,480
Speaker 1: Like this is the most positive I've felt, and you know,

471
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:34,600
Speaker 1: we're about to hit the winter months. I made regret

472
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,119
Speaker 1: saying this, but for me right now, it feels like

473
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: we're on the up trajectory. Well, that's that's good news

474
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: for all of us, and let's hope that stays that way.

475
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:47,040
Speaker 1: What does I mean? I've always wondered this because touring

476
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:50,480
Speaker 1: in general is such a puzzle. Um, how do you

477
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,240
Speaker 1: do it when you've got this constantly rescheduled tours, everything bottlenecking?

478
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 1: Who gets priority in a certain market? Is it? Is

479
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 1: it just whose sales are oldest? Is it who like

480
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 1: book the dates first? How does that work? Simply who's

481
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:06,199
Speaker 1: got the dates first? But you know a lot of

482
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 1: those things, I mean, for me and and for a

483
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,919
Speaker 1: lot of the other agents I work with, sometimes you

484
00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,399
Speaker 1: have to actually look at when was this tour booked?

485
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:15,639
Speaker 1: And you know, and when is that in relation to

486
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,240
Speaker 1: the record coming out? And now they've written a new record,

487
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 1: So actually, why don't we just scrap this? You know?

488
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:22,920
Speaker 1: And I've done this with some of mine and let's

489
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:24,880
Speaker 1: really look at this on a new record and let's

490
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 1: build a completely new strategy because so many people are

491
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,320
Speaker 1: cutting and pasting, cutting and pasting, and the same with festivals,

492
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,960
Speaker 1: and it's kind of tired, like people have moved on,

493
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,680
Speaker 1: you know, this generation is so look at the charts.

494
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 1: You're in your out. You're in your out, So why

495
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,359
Speaker 1: do people want to stay and have the same you know,

496
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,000
Speaker 1: the same albums listen to which is now effectively could

497
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 1: be two three years out of day. So it's very

498
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:50,199
Speaker 1: much for me and for all the a lot of

499
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,159
Speaker 1: the agents you know that I work with, we've been

500
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,920
Speaker 1: very much we've been sort of strategizing and going does

501
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: this now make sense, and if it makes sense, us

502
00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 1: go ahead with it, and obviously first come, first serve

503
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 1: and avows because the avows are terrible. Um. But if not,

504
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 1: then why we rush in this. Let's get a new

505
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,120
Speaker 1: piece of music out and let's tour with a big

506
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,199
Speaker 1: body of work you know the people haven't seen. Mhm.

507
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:16,240
Speaker 1: Do you find that most artists are revising their tours?

508
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 1: Because I'm looking at like the Weekends After Hours tour

509
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,920
Speaker 1: is finally starting in January, the album came out in March,

510
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 1: and or Billie Eilish I think, completely revised her tour.

511
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,239
Speaker 1: She got three days into a world tour and then

512
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,280
Speaker 1: had to scrap it because of because of COVID. Now

513
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 1: she's got a new album, a new look, and presumably

514
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 1: an all new tour. Are most artists just like forgetting

515
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: the old one and moving and moving into something new

516
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 1: like you were saying, But I think it depends on

517
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:46,120
Speaker 1: if they've got a new record coming out and how

518
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,840
Speaker 1: relative the record still is. Like some some people are

519
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 1: folks enough to have a record that sticks around for

520
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,800
Speaker 1: forever and therefore it doesn't really matter if they're going

521
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:55,320
Speaker 1: to go and play again on a tour. But I

522
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,159
Speaker 1: think for for certainly the hot artists, if they've got

523
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,760
Speaker 1: a new record coming out, it probably would make sense

524
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:02,480
Speaker 1: to wait for the new record and redo it. Like

525
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 1: Harry Styles, I believe, is another one that's you know,

526
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 1: they're looking at that because how many more times do

527
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,640
Speaker 1: you actually want to tell your fans are rescheduling at all?

528
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 1: So I think, yeah, I think it all depends on

529
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,639
Speaker 1: what that record, you know, what that new record is

530
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 1: that's coming out, and how relevant is if it's not

531
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:18,680
Speaker 1: If it's an artist that is an all time classic

532
00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,000
Speaker 1: artist that can tour forever and ever, it doesn't matter

533
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: if they just reschedule in you know, down the line. Um,

534
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,040
Speaker 1: you mentioned country, what are some other genres that are

535
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,119
Speaker 1: doing well and ones that are perhaps doing that as well,

536
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:34,919
Speaker 1: because um, you know, like the festivals, which largely have

537
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,399
Speaker 1: a young audience, seemed to be doing great, but on

538
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:40,680
Speaker 1: a lot of like you know, for instance, the Stones tour,

539
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 1: I'm hearing about empty seats, which is a rare thing

540
00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,960
Speaker 1: for Stones tours. But I also think that's just a

541
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:49,600
Speaker 1: reflection of the audience's age, you know. I mean, they're

542
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:51,480
Speaker 1: older and they're going to be reluctant to go to

543
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 1: a Giant Stadium show. Agreed. I mean that's definitely showing.

544
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: I mean we have I mean, certainly in the hip

545
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,879
Speaker 1: hop department, we're doing we're it's been incredibly strong, you know,

546
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,919
Speaker 1: we have and even on the British rap side that

547
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 1: we have an artist called Dave that when he did

548
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,439
Speaker 1: a hundred twenty two thousand tickets so far, so like

549
00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: that's super super strong, right and yeah, so like it's

550
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,879
Speaker 1: it really does. That's definitely showing. I think you know,

551
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,119
Speaker 1: you're absolutely hit the nail on the head. It's it's that,

552
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 1: you know, the new generation are obviously not so frightened

553
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,280
Speaker 1: of going out, but saying that, you know, there are

554
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 1: still drops in festivals still and they're still I think

555
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,360
Speaker 1: with the younger generation it's less of the COVID thing now,

556
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: but it's more the claustrophobic thing of like we actually

557
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:36,200
Speaker 1: haven't been crammed in festivals are fine, that's one thing,

558
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,480
Speaker 1: but going into a five thousand cap theater or a

559
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,640
Speaker 1: theater that sort of confined space, I think there's still

560
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 1: a little bit of nervousness there. Understandable. Okay, thank you,

561
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,440
Speaker 1: thank you for that, um Nter. I will move on

562
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,480
Speaker 1: to you move on to you. And you know, as

563
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 1: someone who works in so many different areas, UM, which

564
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 1: areas got hit the hardest? Which ones were easier to

565
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 1: deal with? Is? Um? You know what was happening with

566
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:05,720
Speaker 1: your artists when COVID hit and how have they gotten

567
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,440
Speaker 1: through it? Sure? So first of all, Hi Jim, and

568
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 1: hi everybody. And I've just been learning so much from

569
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 1: from Lucy and Brittany and UM, and I agree with

570
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 1: so much that they've said. I'm actually been taking notes

571
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 1: because one of my artists, UM was complaining about ticket

572
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 1: sales this morning. So now I can go back and

573
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 1: I can say, well, you know it's down, and you're

574
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 1: already sold, and you're already and you're more than a

575
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: month out, so be quiet. UM. So thank you Lucy

576
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 1: for arming me with that UM useful data, uh for

577
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: for me as a manager. But yeah, I mean, but

578
00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:46,680
Speaker 1: the live obviously took took a hit. UM. And and

579
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,080
Speaker 1: in some places the biggest artists was whom I work

580
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,680
Speaker 1: and have worked. UM, they ended up being okay because

581
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 1: they got branded live streams and those were quite lucrative UM.

582
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 1: And they kept getting them over and over and over again.

583
00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,000
Speaker 1: And like I said, they were quite lucrative, UM, you know,

584
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,960
Speaker 1: per label side artist. You know, like we're selling records.

585
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: Stuff is streaming, you know, and there were people who

586
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,480
Speaker 1: were saying that it was only the older stuff that

587
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:13,960
Speaker 1: was streaming, but that's not been my experience my new

588
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 1: artist UM. You know. So for example of Van Jess,

589
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 1: like they've they've had a great year. You know, we

590
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,440
Speaker 1: dropped an EP, it was initially an EP before we

591
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 1: made it a deluxe in August UM and turned it

592
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 1: into an album or actually September UM. But you know,

593
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: they dropped their their their their project on Keep Cool

594
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,760
Speaker 1: in February. You know, people started sending it around, listening

595
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 1: to it. You know, we're doing great on radio UM.

596
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 1: And so it's been it's been a it's been a

597
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 1: good year for us, UM. You know, I will say

598
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 1: that like for me, my approach going into the pandemic

599
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: was I didn't have the short term perspective a lot

600
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:54,959
Speaker 1: of people had. I knew that it was gonna be

601
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 1: a while, and I knew that for a couple of reasons.

602
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: You know, I'm I'm an immune compromise person um as

603
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 1: I think you know, Jim, I have sickle cell disease

604
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 1: and one of my doctors had actually sent me a

605
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:08,680
Speaker 1: text saying, wherever you are, you need to just plan

606
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: to stay there for a long time. So I hope

607
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,960
Speaker 1: that you're safe because you shouldn't go anywhere. Um. And

608
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 1: then another friend of mine who worked for the CDC

609
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 1: UM had called me and said, by the way, this

610
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 1: is really bad, So don't believe anybody who's saying that

611
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: this is just like a two week or three weeks thing.

612
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:27,080
Speaker 1: So well before most people started quarantining, I had started

613
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 1: gathering all of my my goods. How do you get

614
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,239
Speaker 1: a new artist out there if they can't tour or

615
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 1: if they're they're touring is much more limited than it

616
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 1: would have been pre COVID. How do you get a

617
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 1: new artist out there even when they're you know, taking

618
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 1: this time to become more themselves. I first task as

619
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 1: a manager music executive as well, but my first task

620
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 1: as a manager was to make sure that I could

621
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,720
Speaker 1: continue building my artist careers like that was the first

622
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,240
Speaker 1: thing I needed to build their careers. I needed to

623
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,080
Speaker 1: make sure they had money in their pockets, UM, and

624
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 1: I needed to we needed to all take care of

625
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,400
Speaker 1: each other emotionally, because of course it wasn't just the

626
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,480
Speaker 1: pandemic that was occurring. It is also, you know, the

627
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: the racial reckoning and the majority of my artist right now, actually, yeah,

628
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:21,920
Speaker 1: the majority of my artists right now are black, and

629
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 1: so we're affected, you know. And I'm not suggesting that

630
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,120
Speaker 1: only black people were affected by George Floyd and the

631
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 1: racial reckoning, but it definitely felt a particular kind of way,

632
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:33,120
Speaker 1: you know, like some of them felt like they needed

633
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,200
Speaker 1: to get out and to be in the streets and

634
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,960
Speaker 1: protesting and involved and engaged. And I certainly felt the

635
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: same way, although I didn't go outside. Um and so

636
00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: you know what, from the perspective of there's all of

637
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,600
Speaker 1: this stuff that we have to juggle right now, making

638
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 1: sure that they had food on the table. For me,

639
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 1: it was about calling people, being on the phone every

640
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,160
Speaker 1: single day, like calling people at radio, calling people at

641
00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 1: the streaming platforms, calling people of brands, you know, calling journalists,

642
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:04,479
Speaker 1: like calling you know, like making sure that we had

643
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,320
Speaker 1: the right people on the team, and just working bit

644
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 1: by bit slowly and surely and having a lot of faith,

645
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,640
Speaker 1: you know. And there were some things where we got lucky,

646
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 1: you know, like because we were able to position things

647
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:19,880
Speaker 1: the right way on social media, because we were able

648
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:22,960
Speaker 1: to position them the right way, um, at the platforms

649
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,360
Speaker 1: and with our playlisting strategy. Um, you know, like the

650
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,040
Speaker 1: music is good and solid music, and so people were

651
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:34,240
Speaker 1: listening and they were receptive to it. Christina, and finally

652
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:36,960
Speaker 1: getting get to ask you a question, because out of

653
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:41,400
Speaker 1: all the areas of the music industry, intellectual property and

654
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:45,440
Speaker 1: publishing have boomed more than any other during the pandemic.

655
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 1: Publishing was already on an upswing when the pandemic started,

656
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 1: it's become even more so. Um, how have you kept

657
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 1: up with what's going with what's going on, especially with

658
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:03,400
Speaker 1: all these big money players coming into the game, Like,

659
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,600
Speaker 1: you know, how is it how is it going for

660
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:09,800
Speaker 1: Sony Music Publishing, and how has it gone for your writers? Um,

661
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: with this boom that's been happening. Uh, wow, it's a

662
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 1: little question. Uh. First of all, thank you so much

663
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:21,360
Speaker 1: for having me, and I'm loving listening to everyone else's

664
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:26,920
Speaker 1: experiences about the industry during the pandemic. Um, you're right,

665
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,239
Speaker 1: it's a it's a great time to be a songwriter

666
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,440
Speaker 1: who's looking to sell right now, Like this market is

667
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 1: crazy and I do think that aspects of the pandemic

668
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:44,560
Speaker 1: highlighted how important songs are, the meaning behind songs to people, uh,

669
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,920
Speaker 1: writing songs, uh, people at home, being able to listen

670
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,960
Speaker 1: to songs, having access to them, whether it's live stream

671
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: or streaming or radio. Um, everything starts with the song.

672
00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: So I really do believe in the lasting value of

673
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:05,919
Speaker 1: investing in copyrights. Um. And it seems like the rest

674
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:10,160
Speaker 1: of the world is waking up to that too, especially

675
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: investment companies and non music based companies. UM. I think

676
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:21,239
Speaker 1: it's this kind of competitive marketplaces. It's a great marketplace

677
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:23,560
Speaker 1: to be in because it pushes all of us to

678
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,759
Speaker 1: do our best in service to songwriters, which is our

679
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:31,800
Speaker 1: always our goal. Uh. And it just pushes every company

680
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:37,040
Speaker 1: to be you know, innovating and improving and supporting songwriters

681
00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: and in even better ways. M hmm. Do you think

682
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:45,880
Speaker 1: that all the money that's coming in from non music sources,

683
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: which is which is especially going crazy in the past weeks.

684
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,880
Speaker 1: I mean, this morning, um, black Stone announced the new

685
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 1: deal with Hypnosis and Hypnosis. I'll be the one who

686
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,760
Speaker 1: can say this has played a huge role in driving

687
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 1: up the prices publishing by paying so much. Do you

688
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,879
Speaker 1: feel like a bubble is happening? Do you think this

689
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 1: is ultimately going to get too big with the way

690
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:12,440
Speaker 1: that outside money is coming in. I mean, because these

691
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,480
Speaker 1: are big Wall Street firms that are now investing in

692
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:21,279
Speaker 1: music and bringing non music people into ownership of a

693
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 1: very very specific asset. Yeah, I don't know. I mean,

694
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 1: it's hard to say whether it's gonna end up being

695
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:36,839
Speaker 1: a bubble. I hope that it isn't, because I do

696
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,920
Speaker 1: believe in the lasting value of investing in copyrights. UM.

697
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:44,839
Speaker 1: I do know that we we aim to do the

698
00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:48,040
Speaker 1: deals that make sense for us as a company. H

699
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:49,880
Speaker 1: and I feel like there are a lot of companies

700
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:53,759
Speaker 1: out there that are like us, UH who are continuing

701
00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:57,719
Speaker 1: to do that as well. UM and UH. We try

702
00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:00,799
Speaker 1: to compete as much as we can with UH, with

703
00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 1: those investment companies like Hypnosis UM and UH. You know,

704
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:10,439
Speaker 1: We've done a lot of acquisitions that I've been really

705
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:14,279
Speaker 1: proud of in the past few years. We just did

706
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 1: river House last year in Nashville, which was a great

707
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:23,400
Speaker 1: acquisition for us. It's a continuing j D partnership that

708
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,560
Speaker 1: we're building, UH, and we got access to a roster

709
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 1: of writers that have really big driving Nashville hits for

710
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 1: the last few years. Uh, so I think there are

711
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 1: lots of opportunities for companies to continue doing deals like that.

712
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,799
Speaker 1: Do you have advice or is there any sort of

713
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:49,360
Speaker 1: company wide suggesting, um that that you have first songwriters,

714
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 1: especially up and coming songwriters, for getting their work out

715
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 1: there during a time when people can't tour, and you know,

716
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:58,920
Speaker 1: like we've we've got a much more limited and focused

717
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:06,840
Speaker 1: output for I. I know that we use like the

718
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:08,839
Speaker 1: A and R s in our company, use a ton

719
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,719
Speaker 1: of discovery tools. Um. Pretty much everyone I work with

720
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,720
Speaker 1: is a massive fan of music. Uh. I'll be excited

721
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,520
Speaker 1: to get back to an office environment where I can

722
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 1: walk down the hall and hear what everyone is listening to,

723
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:26,320
Speaker 1: because right now it's harder. You know, you have to

724
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:29,799
Speaker 1: seek out what other people are listening to. UM in

725
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:32,800
Speaker 1: a different way, it feels very organic when you're able

726
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:36,840
Speaker 1: to just be talking to your colleagues and uh listening

727
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:41,520
Speaker 1: to what is peaking their interest. UM. I think you

728
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: guys really touched on something earlier in the panel which

729
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,839
Speaker 1: was really interesting and true, which is that a lot

730
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 1: of marquee artists put off releasing in the last year

731
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 1: and a half or so, and it made space for

732
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,719
Speaker 1: new artists and songwriters in a way that I think

733
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:02,280
Speaker 1: was a surprise to a lot of us. Um and Uh.

734
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 1: We saw a lot of new artists like really have success,

735
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:11,840
Speaker 1: The Kiddle, Roy, Olivia Rodrigo, Like they put out albums

736
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:14,239
Speaker 1: that really drove the marketplace in a way that you

737
00:39:14,239 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 1: would expect of like a more experienced artist or songwriter

738
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: to do. Um and it. It made the year really

739
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,759
Speaker 1: interesting and fine to hear these new voices come into

740
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,799
Speaker 1: the marketplace. Um and I'm excited to see where they go.

741
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,600
Speaker 1: Thank you everybody, this has been absolutely awesome. I was

742
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:34,839
Speaker 1: worried because you know, it was a long panel, but

743
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:44,440
Speaker 1: I actually feel like we're getting cut off. You have

744
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,799
Speaker 1: been listening to Variety Strictly Business podcast taking a look

745
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:49,640
Speaker 1: at the state of the music industry in the fall

746
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 1: of This is Variety Deputy music editor Jemmy as What.

747
00:39:54,080 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. You can bet they detain