Slow travel week last week. With the exception of a road trip to Nashville on Friday and Saturday, I pretty much camped out in Atlanta all week catching up on music listening, live shows, and a little company paper work. I came across some really cool stuff while I was at it, particularly in the live setting. I saw […]

In September of 2007 I was a panelist at the Atlantis Music Conference in Atlanta. It was basically a session where several colleagues from different labels and I shared with the attendees our knowledge of the industry; everything from what we look for in a band, to how to find a good manager to how not […]

I find and develop bands for a major label. People often ask me what a typical day looks like for someone who does what I do. The truth is there isn’t a typical day. Each day is very different from the next, each day is unpredictable… A couple of months ago I flew to Chicago to meet […]

I find and develop bands for a major label. It’s called A&R (Artist & Repertoire). It’s a great job, maybe the greatest in the world, at least in my opinion.  People often ask me what a typical day looks like for someone who does what I do. The truth is, there isn’t a typical day. […]

I  find and develop bands for a major label. It’s called A&R, and I do this from the basement of my home. I love this situation; it enables me to see my family a lot in spite of the fact that I spend a lot of time traveling to other cities in search of the […]

I'm not jaded yet. Although I've been a part of the music industry for the better part of a decade, I still love going to music festivals, conferences, conventions, you name it. So many people in my line of work complain about those types of things, not me; I love it.Last week was my annual […]

When I first started going to see rock shows as a kid, I always made sure to get to the venue early so I could catch the opening act. Not always, but sometimes it seemed as though the band that was opening the show for whatever bigger act everyone else was there to see had […]

I like year end "Best of" lists. When I was in the radio business we used to think of every excuse possible to have a countdown of some sort, and they always went over big with the audience. People either loved our choices, or hated them, but at the end of the day they were […]

I go to see four or five different unsigned bands every single week. That doesn't make me cool, it's my job, it's what I do for a living; I go to shows. What makes me cool is that I show up on time for virtually every one of them. Now that I think about it […]

I'm stating the obvious here, but the shuffle feature on the iPod might be the greatest invention of all time. How many times have you been listening to music on your iPod or iPhone or whatever you have, when something comes on that you love, but haven't heard in so long that you've actually forgotten […]

Last week New York saw the umpteenth installment of the CMJ music marathon. I go every year, but this year I chose not too, opting instead to stay in Atlanta where I ended up enviously reading the tweets and blogs of all my friends who did decide to go, and as soon as Tuesday rolled […]

We live in a world filled with loads of unsigned artists. My time is spent listening to them, figuring out which one of the many, has the potential to get to the next level. That’s what I do and I love it. The only drawback is that since most of my listening time is spent […]

I listen to a lot of crappy music. Not intentionally of course, it’s just the nature of my job. Doing what I do requires me to sift through the mountains of CDs, MP3s, and Myspace links that I receive on a daily basis. The hope obviously is that I’ll find that one band whose songs […]

This city never ceases to amaze me. When it comes to music, Atlanta seems to turn out more good music lately, then any other city. Just when I think the well is dry, someone pops their creative head above the sand and screams "listen to me, I’m good", and lately they’ve been right. I already […]