Artist Empowerment

Five years ago, one of my previous bands, Beat & Path, was approached by someone claiming to be Stan Lynch who was the drummer and founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

My first cousins are jewelers who work in Downtown, L.A. After one of my concerts, my cousin Vic asked me if I was interested in working with Tom Petty’s drummer, Stan Lynch.

I said, “Of course! How do you know him?”

“He’s been buying jewelry from us for the past 2 years and I gave him a copy of your CD. He’s very interested.”

Intrigued, I went to their booth in downtown to meet with “Stan Lynch.” He was a short, strange-looking man who claimed that our song “Poor You” was one of the best he had heard. He wanted to get us a record deal and talked our ears off about his industry contacts.

He said that he would invest $50,000 to take the band to the next level if my cousins would be willing to match his investment.

We said that we were interested but wanted to take some time to think it through. We went home that night and researched everything we could about Stan Lynch on the web.

Everything he said seemed to be true except for one small issue: there was a recent picture of Stan Lynch online and this guy looked 20 years older and 2 feet shorter than the man in the picture.

When we met with him again, my cousin brought up the discrepancy. “Stan” got teary eyed and said, “I can’t believe you guys are implying that I am a liar. I have been battling cancer for the past 5 years. That’s why I look much older than I did in those pictures.”

We left the meeting more confused than we were when we came in. We felt guilty, uncertain, excited and perplexed, all at the same time.

The next day, we decided to call Stan Lynch’s publishing company, Sony/ATV Tree, to try to get more information. When we told them the story, they said that Stan Lynch hadn’t been to L.A. in 15 years!

A few hours later, Stan Lynch called us from Florida to ask for our help and said that the Police were after a guy who had been stealing money from artists and investors, claiming to be Stan Lynch.

Immediately after the conversation, we called the cops and gave them an address that “Stan” had given my cousins months before.

The address turned out to be a hotel room where he was staying and they busted him there the following day!

“Stan’s” real name was Ralph and he was a convicted felon who had stolen and fled with almost half a million dollars from other bands, claiming he was Stan Lynch.

When they arrested him, they found a box full of Stan Lynch CD’s, biographical information, and pictures…

Moral of the story: Do your research…often, people in our industry aren’t who they claim to be!

Here’s a link to the re-post of the newspaper article published in 2003:

http://tompetty.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1176042321/m/5216051903

I met with an A & R consultant at one of the major labels a week ago and was very inspired by his passion, energy and spirit.

One thing that is important for us to remember as artists is that there are still great people who work for the major labels even though the major label system is failing.

One insight he shared was that it is time for the major labels to go back to developing career artists - which is what made them successful in the first place.

I have heard several other reasons for the collapse of the major label system including:

• Their failure to keep pace with technological improvements
• Their failure to stay in touch with the changing preferences of customers
• Their over-reliance on the “hit”
• Too much overhead

All of these have truth to them and I’m sure there are several more reasons that we could add to the list as well.

No matter what, any kind of success in the music industry will always start with:

• A great song
• Performed by a great artist with a great story to tell
• Produced by a great producer

Then comes:

• Developing the “brand” (live show, look/feel, story, logo, etc.)
• Figuring out how to connect target fans to the “brand”
• Growing your base by cultivating a direct relationship with your fans
• Building an online presence (website, social networking sites, blogs)

If you have all of these elements in place, you have a real shot at success in the music industry because you will have the beginnings of a viable business that promotes your art - that will attract outside investors, labels, managers, etc.

There are so many passionate people who are in the music industry because of their love of music and the A & R consultant I met a week ago proves that point.

As artists, it is our job to do as much as we can on our own so that we can attract the right people, in the right places, at the right time.

One of my previous bands was offered a record deal from a major label a few years back.

As the representative of the band, I went to New York to discuss the terms of the deal with our lawyer and to meet with the head of A & R at the label.

The A & R Executive had signed some of the biggest rock bands at the time. He had come to our rehearsal studio several weeks prior and seemed genuinely excited about our band.

I met with our lawyer for about 2 hours and it became clear to me that the terms of the deal weren’t in our best interest. Knowing this, I set out to find the Manhattan high rise where I was to meet the executive.

After going through security and getting a badge, I took an elevator up to one of the top floors. I waited for about 30 minutes in the waiting room until he was ready to see me.

His assistant escorted me in and I walked into his office which was embellished with multiple platinum albums on the wall.

We said our hellos and exchanged some pleasantries. Not wanting to waste his or my time, I asked him “So how committed are you guys to making this deal happen with my band?”

His answer was very vague and what he said immediately after answered my question:

“Barrett, we really like your band and hope that all works out for the best. Let’s set that aside for a second. You are an incredible drummer. Are you interested in playing the drums for one of our signed bands?”

Shocked by the turn of events, I thanked him for his kind words and his time. I told him that I was committed to my band but appreciated his offer and enthusiasm.

As expected, the record deal fell through and even though I ended up walking away from my band a year after that event, I will never regret my decision not to dignify his offer.

Loyalty to your friends, family, clients, business partners and band members is one of the most important character traits that will set you apart from the pack.

Today I met two really cool people: Jason Alexander (George from Seinfeld) and Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Theo from the Cosby Show.) They were both very nice, approachable and kind.

Pretty random, right?

It was actually during a meet-and-greet for a really cool show that I am so thrilled to be a part of called “Free Style” which will take place on Friday, July 11, 2008 at the Ford Amphitheater. Jason Alexander is the Artistic Director Reprise and Malcolm - Jamal Warner will be hosting the night.

Produced by ASCAP and Reprise, the project pairs poems/lyrics written by 15 inner city high school students with established songwriters. I was lucky enough to have been chosen and am honored to be in the company of some incredible songwriters including:

• Desmond Child (Grammy Award winner, over 70 Top 40 hits, his songs have sold over 300 million albums worldwide, worked with Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, KISS, Ricky Martin, Kelly Clarkson, Cher, and the list goes on)

• Stephen Brey (Grammy-nominated songwriter, co-wrote Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Get Into the Groove” and “Express Yourself,” also worked with Gladys Knight and Kylie Monogue)

• Jay Gruska (Emmy-nominated composer/songwriter, written for Michael Jackson, Chicago, Patti Labelle, Amy Grant, and Robert Palmer)

I wrote a symphonic/rap piece called “Momma Listen” to a very powerful poem by a cool girl named Angeleena and the song will be performed on Friday.

I was also interviewed about the event in UCLA’s Daily Bruin and Backstage Magazine (will be published later this week.)

I can’t wait for these kids’ stories to be shared with the audience!