In The Belly Of The Beast

Yesterday I stopped by at Glassnote Records.

Visit the major label and you’ll encounter a receptionist and after lounging in the waiting room you’ll be escorted past dozens of cubicles to the huge office of the head honcho who will luxuriate in his well-heeled surroundings while you kiss the ring.

Glassnote Records has no receptionist, no cubicles, no offices whatsoever except for a cramped room in the corner where Daniel Glass masterminds this renegade operation that has broken the hippest, most successful new band in the nation, Mumford & Sons.

But it’s not only Mumford.  Before them came Phoenix.  And Secondhand Serenade.  And now there’s Two Door Cinema Club and…

It’s hard to get signed to Glassnote.  They listen to all the music, they were doing that while I was there, but find almost nothing.  But they don’t want to miss anything.  And now that they’re so successful, bands are clamoring for a deal, especially the has-beens who made it once and want to make it again.

But it all comes down to the music.

And unlike at too many music companies, there’s music playing in the background, and oftentimes the office is busiest after 8 PM, when everyone comes round just to hang out, to feel the vibe.

Really, you’d be stunned how small the office is.  Thirty by thirty feet?  Maybe a tiny bit bigger?  But it’s packed with all these people, men and women, not a single one of them with a name you’ve ever seen in "Hits".

It looks as if Daniel went down to the schoolyard and recruited kids.  That’s how young everyone is.  But they’re oh-so-passionate.  They’ll give anything to be a member of the tribe.

And that’s one thing Daniel’s always done so well, mentoring.  He teaches people how to do their jobs.  Monte got his big break working for Daniel at SBK.  Where Daniel ran promotion after he did so at Chrysalis, before he stopped so many places on the music business merry-go-round.

It’s a tough business to stay in.  And Daniel Glass has seen tough times.  But he’s hung in there, and now is his moment.

Part of it’s old school.  He called up Sony’s soundtrack person to say that Justin Nozuka and another act were available now, they’d write, they’d record, they’re between albums.

And it is all about relationships.  That’s how he got his foreign deal.  A fan tracked him down from the U.K.  Only it turned out this fan was a bigwig at Universal and much later, after they became friends, a deal was proffered.

You see we invest in people.  If Daniel’s involved, everybody’s paying attention.

Now.

Unlike that attorney who came in, looked at this wet behind the ears bunch before there was a hit, and put the operation down.  Daniel threw the guy out of his office.  The lawyer’s apologized since.

Daniel’s got major label partners.  Right now, he needs them for physical distribution, they help in other ways.  Maybe he’s old school.  I’m thinking he’s not gonna need the big boys soon.  His competitors won’t.

And his competitors are all in their twenties and thirties.  People who don’t believe in the rule book.

Daniel’s a hustler.  He’s working all the time.

He’s put in his 10,000 hours.

But he’s also learned from his failures.  He knows how to do it now.  Do you?

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Speaking of successful renegades, earlier in the day I had lunch with Cliff Burnstein, his lieutenant Marc Reiter and Paul Donahue of Morgan Stanley.  Of course we discussed the Warner auction, but what I found most interesting was the discussion of Foals.

They’d sold a lot more tickets than albums.  And when you’re selling tickets, you’re real.

Cliff put together a package.  Put the tour in venues that were right, as opposed to those that paid the most.  He’s building excitement, he’s building a career.  That’s what a manager does.

Only two Foals dates have not sold out yet.

Next time it’s bigger venues.  The people who came will bring their friends.  This is the way it once was, this is the way it is again.  One can say this is the way it always will be, that MTV was an anomaly.

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Another renegade I encountered, sandwiched between Cliff and Daniel, was Peter Shapiro.

He’s been bugging me forever to come see his venue, the Brooklyn Bowl.

I didn’t really care.

But when I was up close and personal in his office, his excitement, his story, closed me.  It’s about a special environment with good acts at a cheap price.  The Brooklyn Bowl lets the artists keep all the money.  And it never sells all the tickets in advance.  It keeps some at the door.  So you can walk up.

And Peter’s building an empire up there on the 11th floor.  He bought "Relix" and the place is full of entrepreneurs and the reason I was there was for a Headcount meeting (http://www.headcount.org/).

Founded by Marc Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits and his buddy Andy Bernstein, Headcount is all about voter registration.  They’ve got a network of music devotees at gigs, registering their brethren.

But could it be so much more?

Marc told the story of a Disco Biscuits benefit for solar power.  They raised 30k and the band purchased solar panels for a school in Philadelphia.  That’s taking direct action.  I’d like to see a day when bands hold benefits all over this great nation of ours and install needed solar panels as a result.

And Brownstein is a fascinating combination of intensity and humor.  He said how he’d been doing it for sixteen years and only now was the band breaking through.  Not that he was complaining.  That’s what it took.

And he’s on his Facebook page, energizing his fans every day, not only giving information, but engendering discussion.  He’s involved.

You see music isn’t about fame.  It’s a lifestyle.  Like going into the army.  Only most times, the pay is worse.

You’re battling to get ahead.  The peak moments keep you going.  You get better and better.  As long as you’re dedicated, as long as you believe. 

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