Kenny MacPherson
President
Company: Big Deal Music
Website: bigdealmusic.com
Big Deal Music was founded by longtime Chrysalis Music colleagues Kenny MacPherson, Jamie Cerreta and Dave Ayers. Headed by MacPherson, the trio is joined by principles Michael MacDonald, Pete Robinson and Casey Robison. The company recently celebrated its three-year anniversary.
What is Big Deal’s overall strategy?
My philosophy has always been to approach working with songwriters like a manager. We’re here to manage our songwriters’ creations and take care of them and exploit them in a manner that they see fit, and aid and abet them in anyway we can.
We drank our own Kool-Aid at Chrysalis. We so believed in what we were doing that we thought of it as our own company and we forgot that we were employees. Then one day they tell us that we are for sale. It’s kind of soul destroying. BMG bought Chrysalis––they didn’t do anything wrong, they were good about how they treated us all and very respectful. We had created a community of writers and artists, a lot of whom we signed as discoveries. Then one day you’re sold and the songwriter says, “What happens now?” and you don’t have an answer. To the victor go the spoils.
Mentally [with Big Deal] we wanted to try and have that independent spirit, to have a company that is very boutique, very curated. That wasn’t BMG’s model. There’s nothing wrong with their model. We’re in business together––they administer Big Deal music in most of the world.
Who are some of your key writers?
Ray LaMontagne, St. Vincent, My Morning Jacket, Afghan Whigs, Dan Wilson and Underworld. We also have a group of very young up-and-coming pop songwriters that Casey Robison is the mastermind behind. These include John Ryan, who co-wrote all of One Direction’s singles from their last two albums including “Best Song Ever,” “Story Of My Life” and “Night Changes” as well as a majority of the album cuts. Then there’s Joe London who writes for Jason Derulo and Pitbull, and there’s Danny Parker with Nick Jonas’ “Chains.” We have Teddy Geiger, who co-wrote Shawn Mendes’ single “Stiches” with Danny Parker and Daylight. We have a Nashville office and cuts with Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Jerrod Niemann, Tim McGraw, Tyler Farr, Brett Beavers and Kenny Chesney.
How has Big Deal adjusted to the new business climate?
Generally speaking, there seems to be a history of people in the music business not being able to speak the language of technology and technology not being able to speak the language of music. I think we’ve probably done a lot of damage to our business by being myopic, but I think there’s a movement afoot to challenge all of that––there are so many complex issues in regard to how songwriters get paid.
But it is boring for people to sit around and mourn about the problems; we have to come together and find a way ahead to figure this out, to work together and not eat each other alive. It’s essential that creators of small companies be competitive and live in a world that can also bear the majors. There is not one size that fits all.
