Respect Your Management
There’s an old joke––when you sign an unknown act, you’re the hero. The minute the act happens, you’re the janitor. The act says, “Oh, you’re making money off me.” I’ve had those situations, but it was always a fair exchange between me and the artist. I respected them, they respected me and we did what we were supposed to do. There have been managers who didn’t do a good job, but a lot of times a manager busted his ass and the group never appreciated it.
The Art of Promotion
Whether a product is great or not is irrelevant if nobody knows it exists, so learn the Internet in and out. Think about what makes you buy something. What ads trigger you? Why do you go see this act and not that act? Use your own instincts. You are your own best training ground.
Why Work for Free?
In the old days, you negotiate with an act and take a percentage of their earnings. Nowadays, with new acts particularly, any manager who has any sort of name will say, “Here’s my fee.” The act pays the manager, because the manager’s doing a job. The concept of working for nothing…Why? You could work for five years and never get paid.
The Corporatization of Management
Management companies have tons of acts. If the Police thought I was working 20 or 30 acts, they would have been upset. Now, management companies have got 50 acts and 20 managers. They’re like big conglomerates; with teams of publicity and accounting people.
It’s Not Always the Obvious that Works
I scraped together 1,500 pounds to make the first Police album. I listened to the songs and they weren’t knocking me over. The group said, “There’s one other song, but we’re not going to play it because you’re not going to like it.” I said, “Guys, play it to me,” and they refused. Finally, the engineer got fed up with us arguing and just put the song on.
At the end of the song, I said, “Gentlemen, you wrote a classic. This is going to change our lives. It was ‘Roxanne.’” If that song wasn’t played by that engineer, maybe the Police would have never happened and we wouldn’t be where we are. Think positive, sometimes it’s those left-of-center things that do it.
Play Like the World’s Watching
You never know who’s in the room, so never get too proud or too precious about walking out on stage with a few people in the theater. One person could change the game.
The Police played a theater and there were four people in the audience. Most groups would have said, “Fuck it,” and left. The Police said, “These four people bought tickets. Let’s give them a hell of a show.” One of those four was a DJ named Oedipus, who had a punk show at a small station. He was so impressed he started banging “Roxanne;” so much that WBCN picked it up. It became a regional hit and went to Billboard as the No. 1 import record in the U.S.
Keeping On, Fundamentals and Outside Perspectives
In my brain, I’m still in my late 20s. Retiring seems alien to me. I enjoy seeing things happen. Some of it is the respect level. People thank me for what I’ve done and I’m surprised they know who I am. Even though the business has changed, the fundamentals are always there. It’s about trying to create something good and letting people know it exists.
AndersonPonty Band will be working on a record next year. I’ll be there to help when it’s coming together, which is what I did with Sting when he was writing hits. A little nudge goes a long way. If an artist is open, I put my two cents forward and give them direction.
Don’t Burn Bridges
Never turn your back on anybody. That was something Sting was good at, at least up until I managed him. You meet people doing well, then they get into trouble and five or 10 years later they’re happening again. I went to Max Hole at Universal in London to get my international deal for my label. I started talking and he stopped me. He said, “When I got into trouble years ago, people counted me out. There was only one person who wished me luck and said don’t worry about it. You’ll come through and be strong in the end. That was you.” I had forgotten that. He said, “You don’t need to present your case—you’ve got a deal.”
Clients: Bellydance Superstars, Celtic Crossroads, Otros Aires, Beats Antique, Steampunk Experiment, Tango Passion, Turo Tabla, Damascus Bellydance Orchestra, Oojami, Issam Houshan, Galactic Caravan.
Years with Company: 15
Web: performingartsinternational.com/cia
