10 Questions with ... Daniel Miller

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Daniel Miller grew up in Bowling Green, a rural farming community in Northeast Missouri, and began his college education at the University of Missouri where he studied finance. An interest in the music business and advice from a friend led him to Nashville, where he finished college at MTSU. After volunteering at the 1997 CMA Awards, Miller joined Hot Schatz PR, then moved to management, working for Simon Renshaw and the Dixie Chicks. While there, Miller oversaw box office ticket operations for the Chicks' 2000 “Fly Tour,” absorbing the ins and outs of sponsor activation, tour marketing, and other skills. In 2000, Miller segued to Borman Entertainment, where he had a front row seat to the management of Faith Hill, her “Soul2Soul Tour” with husband Tim McGraw, and the building of Keith Urban's rise. Miller met Lady Antebellum at a showcase in Music City, and they soon joined Borman's roster, followed by publishing and label deals for the trio, and recorded an album triggering a six-year run of superstardom for the group. After 13 years with Borman, Miller branched out on his own, forming Fusion Music. Concurrently, Lady A left Borman and signed for management with Red Light, which soon approached Miller about working with Lady A again. Today, Miller heads the Fusion Music team with Red Light Management, with a clientele that – along with Lady A – includes Martina McBride, Ryan Kinder, and Jacob Davis. In addition to his day job, Miller dedicates his time to board positions with The Academy of Country Music, ACM Lifting Lives, and Nashville's W.O. Smith School, while also passionately supporting The Recording Academy’s advocacy and mentoring program, GrammyU. In 2016, Miller was honored with “Wall of Fame” recognition from his alma mater, MTSU, where he has begun the funding process for a scholarship to help future dreamers find their career paths.

1. Daniel, thank you for taking the time for "10 Questions!" We'll start with a broad question: Can you describe the job of an artist manager for us? How much of the day-to-day is proactive, and how much is reactive?

This is my favorite question. I've heard the story that Willie Nelson's manager used to get this question, too, and his answer was always, "What do you need done?" Every time I speak to a college class, that's the first question I get: "What does your typical day look like?" I kind of have the same answer; I say, "I've never had one. So, when I do, I'll let you know what a typical day looks like." But, for me, it's almost like an upside-down pyramid; you start with really broad, big-picture questions, goals, and planning, and as the day goes on, you sort of whittle it down to the bare-bones details of what it takes to execute all the layers that are above it. To anybody on the outside looking in, it's not really any different that the CEO of any other company, except for the other players - such as the CFO or the marketing person - aren't necessarily in our group. So, the business manager, the CFO, and CMO ( the label) - all your key players - are in different organizations. Corralling all that is a little different than anywhere else. I would like to think the proactive part is 75-80%, ideally, but that shifts quite a bit by the day.

2. Looking at your client list of Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride, Jacob Davis, and Ryan Kinder, you have all three tiers in the life of an act: up-and-coming with Jacob and Ryan, established superstar with Lady Antebellum, and iconic status with Martina. That's a full day and week of challenges. How do you form strategies for each of these artists to achieve success, since they're measured in different ways?

Yes, they're completely different, and that sort of variation is intentional. Other than in the new artist developing category, we really don't want to have more than one artist in each of those categories, reason being that the strategy is so different, the goals are different, the timeline's different. You kind of play a little bit of mental ping-pong throughout the day, because as you look at the broad picture of each of those, the thought process is really different, and so is what you're looking for. Every component for it is different, and that's why we do detailed short- and long-term plans for each of them, and the structural bones of those plans are similar, but the details within are drastically different.

3. Most of our readers are record and radio industry folks and know that in Country, it's still perceived that radio is the necessary silver bullet - the affirmation that an artist has made it. But, we're also seeing some artists create a good life for themselves without that radio plan. What do you see as the mixture of traditional and non-traditional approach when trying to expose your artist?

I can sometimes be in the laggard category when it comes to adopting new technology; I fought against streaming until the bitter end, which is probably not a smart move for a manager. But, I just wasn't convinced it would have the impact everybody thought it was going to, and now we're seeing it. I don't think radio plays any less of a role. I think what's different is the sequence as to how we set up records and where streaming, radio, media, and all other places come into that picture. Changing that sequence is difficult, but we ask a lot of radio; we ask them to break an artist and introduce new music - and there's probably too many artists coming at radio at the same time - but the benefit there is that we have more outlets and opportunities. We just have to figure out how to maximize all of them.

4. Looking at your work history, I see two examples of how you are willing to take enormous chances in this business, most recently, Lady Antebellum - an established superstar act with touring, radio play, all those things - that decided to take a break and pursue individual projects. From a manager's standpoint, that can seem scary. When they came to you with this plan, were you hesitant about that? Also, did your job triple - from serving one act, one purpose, to three different ones?

No, and yes. It didn’t concern us at all; Hillary and Charles had both come to me, separately, with some ideas. The three of them and I were at lunch before an event in Detroit, and this conversation came up. They were hesitant to bring it up to each other, because of their respect for each other as business partners and as friends, but what it became was really beautiful brotherly/sisterly support. The common thread that we all had was to pull the creative pieces Lady Antebellum apart and let them breathe on their own, and when we put it all back together, it’s even better than it was before, musically and personally. That’s really exactly what happened. We call it a break, but we still did 30 shows that summer, so it wasn’t really a break. There was no plan to slow down, it was just like, “Let’s explore these musical outlets that we have.” There were stories that needed to be told separately that really didn’t make sense as the group. It’s part of the group’s history; it was very intentional, and so was the timing. I had talked to another manager that had experienced the same thing several years ago, and they decided not to do that, and ended up wishing they had, because it would’ve been healthier for the act. So, that was reaffirming. [Lady A] said that had they not been in such a good place with each other personally and professionally, we would’ve never done that. There was no risk or contentions among them. They felt so solid in their relationship that it allowed for them to do that. That definitely did become more evident onstage afterward, but it’s always been like that. 

5. On a more personal level, you started your own business - Fusion Music - after 13 years with Borman Entertainment. At the time, you didn't have Lady A as part of the company. What led to that huge career shift?

Gary Borman is such a tremendous visionary and was an amazing mentor to me, as were other people in that organization that came and went over the years. On paper, there was really no reason to leave – Lady A was in a great place, I was happy working with that team – but, I was in the stage of my life where I thought, “I don’t want to get to 10-15 years from now and wish that I had made a bold move in my own career and not be able to.” I think a lot it for me was  going into a new life decade – I was turning 40 years old, asking all the life evaluation questions with myself – and, the answer  was, “You gotta do it now, or you’ll wish you had later on.” I wasn’t stepping out with a committed client, which goes against all ways to do this, but I thought – from an ethical standpoint – the only way for me to do it right is to basically take my life savings, take a step out, and hope that my reputation and relationships speak for themselves. That’s what I was willing to do, and that’s what I did. Surprisingly, when Lady A’s management change happened, I was actually hesitant at first, and so were they, because everyone knew how important the transition was for me. But, then I thought about how I had spent seven years of my life helping build that band, and a new team was asking me to re-engage in that, so I couldn’t say no. We found a way for me to still do it while building my own roster.  

6. Can you explain the structure between Red Light and Fusion? How does that arrangement work?

The great thing about what [Red Light Management Founder] Coran [Capshaw] has created within Red Light has kind of an endless list of possibilities of how teams or individuals are set up. He obviously operates the entire entity that is Red Light and is involved with the big picture and direction of the careers of each of them. Then,  there are scenarios that exist where there are managers with their own teams, then there are others that kind of work by themselves. Basically, what we did was pick up Fusion Music and set it within the Red Light system, in order to take advantage of the common resources that exist here in different departments, as well as everything Coran touches. It works great being part of the system; it’s really a collection of a lot of teams and individuals in whatever scenarios work best for them and their artists.

7. Can you talk about how your experiences with other superstar acts shaped your approach in 2017? You've been around some really big artists - Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill, and Keith Urban, to name a few. In today's environment, what will it take for a Jacob Davis or Ryan Kinder to get to that level, assuming that's the goal?

I was fortunate to stumble upon a few supporting roles in management, and just by pure coincidence of the significant artists I had the chance to be supportive of, it all had strong foundations in mainstream Country music with the potential of reaching wider audiences, both in the U.S. and abroad. That's what the Chicks did, that's what Faith did, that's what Keith did, and when Lady A came along, that's what they did. For whatever reason, because I had the opportunity to watch and learn from those different people - and, also, my own personal taste in music - to be on the sidelines and watch some of the most successful artists in the last 15 years do what they do, and watching the way [Borman Entertainment CEO] Gary Borman worked with Faith Hill, and the way he and Keith Urban worked, really taught me everything in this business. Even early on, when I started working in Publicity with Schatzi, understanding that role, then going over to Simon Renshaw's office in the heat of what was happening with the Dixie Chicks. Then, coming over to Borman during the middle of the first Tim [McGraw] and Faith [Hill] "Soul2Soul Tour," - and when they signed Keith Urban - I was really lucky to watch the massive careers progress, and that's what set me up for later on. I always say to people, being an artist manager is an apprentice-based business, and you have to spend years watching different scenarios - both positive and negative - in order to have the tools to do what it takes. Granted, the business has changed so much in the last few years; the way we introduce new artists has changed significantly. Had I not have had all those years of experience before, I don't think I would've been prepared and have done this.

8. Since you have been around for a minute - okay, 20 years - can you give us your observations about Country as a genre in 2017? It's filled with all kinds of kinds - Pop, Rap, Urban, and very limited traditional sounds. Is this good? Is it here to stay?

We always say that the music of Country music artists has really been reflective of the culture they come from, and that culture has changed. None of these guys are coming out of upper Appalachia anymore. Speaking of that, they are speaking about and singing through the filter of influences that they have. I think there's room in the sandbox for every style, and we have to stop asking, "Is this Country?" and "What is Country?" We have to stop doing that to ourselves, because it changes so much generationally. But, I think we're in a really exciting time; other genres and music communities are watching what we're doing. We certainly noticed that overseas. The international market is aware of what's happening out of Nashville and with Country music. I think a lot of them are looking to us as much as we're looking to them for what the trends are.

9. You mention overseas - in Europe, they have favored more traditional music; that's what their definition of Country music has been. Do you feel that their perception of Country music is changing with guys like Sam Hunt, Thomas Rhett, and those that are pushing the envelope?

Absolutely. What we can learn from them is that they're less hung up on genre labels than we are - they always have been. We've sort of been asking them to understand the progression of what Country music is into mainstream Country. It took a while to even have the vernacular for them to understand what it was we were doing. But, I think it's things like the Country To Country Festival, which has tremendous impact on showing the European audiences what current day mainstream Country music is and how it's still influenced by what they've always seen as traditional Country music. What I enjoy about going to shows - particularly in the U.K. - they're such great students of music, and they really pay attention to the lyric of the songs, know who the writers of the songs are, know who's produced the songs, sometimes they know the engineers. That stuff really matters to them. I remember two or three years ago, Lady A was doing a show at the Hammersmith Apollo, just doing an album-cut song that had never been a single in the States or overseas, and the audience was singing it back so loudly that they were almost overpowering the PA in the room, which was a really telling moment for us. They were really listening to the album and understanding its story and the songs on it. The way they consume it is so different than how we do, but I think the opportunity there is endless for us.

10. Let's say that I'm about to graduate from MTSU or Belmont's music program, and I'm dreaming of a fabulous, glamorous life in artist management. Tell me the real-world issues I need to prepare myself for.

I usually joke with students when they ask me that question and tell them, "It's probably a good idea to go and consider a career change now..." But, in all seriousness, what I also say to them is, "If you're waiting until your senior year to start your career, you're way too late." There's really no reason why they're not more informed as to what's happening in the industry every day. When I was in college, we had Internet access - sort of - but, we'd have to go to the library to read Billboard magazine, Music Row magazine, and all the other trade publications that were around. They can do a little bit of research, and all that information's right at their fingertips. The ones that are prepared and really know what's happening in the industry - who's on the charts, who has music coming out, who's doing good business on the road - and being super informed on all of those things and who's who in the industry. It's amazing that they don't find that out in their curriculum. I think there's great opportunity, but they always have to be really prepared for a wide variety. I tell them to take a photography class, a graphic design class, and a social media/marketing class, because anybody who has those skill sets automatically go to the top of the line for us. Even though that's not really the core of what their job will be, those skills are so useful to us every single day that anybody who has them, wins automatically.

1. This is actually a question from All Access Nashville Asst. Editor Monta Vaden, who asks: Let's say you're a contestant on CBS-TV's "Big Brother." How do you play the game - physically, strategically, or socially?

There are several of us in the office that watch "Big Brother," and we joke all the time that we're living a real-life version of it every day, because it's a strategic, social, and - some days - a physical game. What I would do if I were in the house - other than being 20 years younger - is really understand how people give and receive information to each other. That's the strategy of the game - it's more psychological than anything else. There are no rules to it, you're just seeing who can survive. I think my strategy would be to just understand each person's psyche really well, and then chronologically strategize how to work through each of them and put those pieces together.

2. Anything else you would like to add, Daniel?

For me and the team I work with, one of the most important components to us is for each of us to have some charitable component in the industry that we're passionate about. Whether it's ACM Lifting Lives, CMA Foundation, Grammy MusiCares - whatever it is. For me, personally, I really believe in the mission of Leadership Music. I think it should continue more than just the year that you're in the program. We have so much to learn from each other.