2012 SESAC Pop Awards, Soho Skylight, NYC
Each year, the folks at SESAC put together an impressive evening which highlights songwriters, producers and publishers from across the musical gamut. SESAC is committed to compensate such creative individuals whenever their music is performed in public. Those in attendance, walking down the red carpet dressed in their finest threads, included Brooklynite Angela Hunte, songwriter for “Empire State of Mind,” and Rico Love whose produced countless hits with Usher, just to name a few. I was lucky enough to chat with three impressive men whose efforts in the music industry are nothing short of extraordinary.
Miykal Snoddy (Producer on Lupe Fiasco’s “Out of My Head”)
What are the pros and cons of working with younger artists?
Sometimes you don’t find a lot of art, you find a lot of clones or mimics that want to be like other artists so sometimes you got to really coach what is within the artist, and then you find what’s great about them. And sometimes you gotta dig for that. The positive is that when you work with a newer, younger artist, their slate is clean and there is no box that they are put inside, so it goes both ways
What types of techniques do you use in order to find an artist’s core?
I ask them to define themselves in one sentence. You know, I need to know who their character is, who their person is. If it’s a long explanation, if they do a little bit of this and that, that’s not easy to be identified. I want to narrow it down to that one thing, and then we build upon that once we find what the IT is.
What made you want to be in the position you are in today?
I played violin all the way up until college, so that first year of college, I started going to clubs and I saw a little bit more popular music and I said, “You know what, I want to make this kind of music.” So therefore I just figured out how to make money and kept going.
Greg Curtis (Grammy Award Winning Producer)
“I am the producer and songwriter who creates music to reach your heart.”
How did the collaboration with Eric Clapton come about?
I was the senior vice president of Hollywood Records back in the day and there was a movie called “The Runaway Bride” with a Diane Warren song (“Blue Eyes Blue,” which Clapton sings on the soundtrack). So I was the senior VP, but I’m a musician and an arranger and a singer and a writer so they was just like, “Well you would just be great! Come in.” So I met with Dianne Warren and we went to eat and the next thing you know I’m in the studio with Eric Clapton and I’m singing background on the song and I’m playing all of the keys and it was amazing. It was incredible. And Eric you know, he brings his foosball table everywhere he goes and I was told not to play him in foosball because he will slaughter you. So I didn’t. But I really had a great time; he’s probably the most incredible man I have ever met in terms of in the music business. Just an incredible soul and just talent oozing out of him. He’s very inspiring to me and he’s the reason I’m most likely going to put out an album because the when he first heard “Blue Eyes Blue” (which I sang all the vocals on), he thought Baby Face did it and I said, “No it was me!” and he said, “If you don’t put out an album, this is a national travesty.” Eric Clapton said that about me, so I gotta put out a damn record, quick!
Daniel Glass (founder, Glassnote Records)
Why did Glassnote Records hone in on the alternative scene opposed to any other genre?
Well a lot of the inspiration of Glassnote came from my early years which were spent in the R&B world, dance world, and then the alternative rock world at Chrysalis Records in the 80’s. So we sort of emulate what those days were about, which meant a small, touring, intensive rock roster with edgy bands; sort of left of center bands that don’t really fit a mold or type. So we’re called alternative, although some of our bands actually cross over to the mainstream, but I think it’s an area where I felt really good about, I thought there was a huge void in the market place of taking care of artists that were touring bands and I felt that if we gave them the respect that they deserved and really and truly supported them on the road, and that we were able to get them the exposure with patience and I mean, extreme patience that they deserved, we could actually be very successful.
When we started, it was a time when people said, “Don’t go into the record business,” and it actually inspired me even more by saying that. So we’ve proven, I think, that you can be a successful record company if you’re focused and small and you actually take care of your bands in the proper way. So we have a team of people that I think live the lifestyle of that alternative rock life, which is why the music we choose to associate ourselves with is that way, but the fringes of that can blend into different areas such as Childish Gambino who is hip-hop, yet beautifully produced records; and I love the songs which he puts out. So how does that fit in with Phoenix and Mumford and Sons and Two Door Cinema Club? I actually think it does because when I met childish Gambino, and I really bonded with him, it was actually at Bonnaroo on stage after a Givers show and then a Mumford and Sons show. So he loved our vision and didn’t want to be a stereotypical rapper so it really worked out. That’s how the roster really somehow fits with each other.
Speaking of Bonnaroo, I am very excited for this year, or any music festival for that matter. I wish I could live my life hopping from one to the next. I just got back from Jazz Fest in New Orleans and it gave me a whole new perspective on life.
I was at Jazz Fest, too! It’s hard, I’m a father of three kids and I go to a lot of school board events and people ask me if I am addicted to festivals (laughs). In fact, someone here tonight asked me the same question. Jazz Fest was a new high for me.
How do you define success with your artists?
Success happened recently and I quantify or qualify success differently than my competitors and peers. Attending Givers’ performance at Jazz Fest last week and seeing the owner of the festival, Quint Davis, introduce them, was a very big deal. He sort of put them in the club. Then seeing Feist and Bon Iver with full bands backstage, then coming at night again to One Eyed Jacks, and seeing the glow of the artist community hugging each other and embracing each other and loving the music—that was success to me. So I don’t know if that is success to you?
I would have to agree. It’s admirable to hear that money is not the root.
Being at the Phoenix show when Daft Punk came onstage at MSG; being there in that moment was success. The first time Mumford and Sons played Bonnaroo when everybody got up on stage at the end of the show, Old Crow and Gillian Welch, that was success to me. That’s what makes me feel really, really good. That’s the honest truth, that’s what motivates me. Number one in the charts? Not my thing (laughs).
