10 Questions with ... David Friedman

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

With more than 15 years of working in the music industry under his belt, you could say David Friedman knows a fair share about this business, especially when it comes to promotion. In his current role as VP/Promotion at Universal Music Group Nashville, Friedman works closely with all four UMG Nashville imprints to assist each team with any and all issues that arise. When he's out of the office, he's also known as an avid Beatles fan and family man. Friedman recently took time out of his busy schedule to chat with All Access Nashville Editor RJ Curtis for a "10 Questions" feature, discussing his current job at UMG; the modern state of Country radio and streaming; the stellar UMG Nashville artist roster; and much more.

1. David, thanks for taking the time for "10 Questions!" Let's start with your job title and responsibilities at UMG Nashville. What does your day-to-day look like? Would you call yourself the "spin commissioner" of UMG?

My official title is VP/Promotion for Universal Music Group Nashville. That means I'm working with all four labels on various needs at any given time, so no one day is ever the same, which really makes the job a lot of fun. I represent Universal's interests as it pertains to radio. I work closely with [UMG Nashville SVP/Promotion] Royce Risser, as well as each label VP on almost every aspect of gaining airplay for our artists and their music. I love numbers, but I would call [UMG Nashville Dir./Promotion & Radio Marketing] Chris Schuler the "Commish" if anyone is deserving of that title. All of us work extremely well together, and I've considered them all friends for years before my adventure at UMG began.

2. Let's back up for a minute; walk us through your work history. What was your career path to UMG, and did you start out dreaming of being in the music business?

When I went to college, it really wasn't what I was thinking of doing. I originally wanted to go into law, and I thought I'd be an attorney, but music was always my passion - I played music, and I'm obsessed with Classic Rock. I even booked bands and was involved in student government while attending Emory University. Eventually, I gave up the idea of performing or working in exchange for the business side. I worked at an independent for four and a half years, originally in publicity and then in promotion. I worked with George Collier, who became my mentor, and Eddie Mascolo, who got me into promotion. The thing I liked about promotion was - at its root - talking to people about music. I thought, "Wow, you mean I can do this and get paid for it? And, I don't need a professional degree," because, that's what I would do with my friends all day long, anyways. You're championing the artists and the songs. My first major label promotion job was actually at Capitol handling the northeast region for Bill Catino. After less than a year, I left for Arista Nashville and BMG, where I worked with the great Bobby Kraig. BMG eventually became Sony, but I was within the same company for the next 15 years, eventually moving from Northeast promo to Dir./National Promotion for Columbia Nashville. Then, in 2015, I moved over to Universal. Back to Capitol for a minute - they were launching a brand-new artist when I arrived, and his name was Keith Urban. I remember thinking, "Oh, my God, this guy is so talented and so special and is going to do so much." I worked two of his singles then left the company, so to return and plug back into Keith Urban, the superstar, is something else. We rode around in a car together for days and days talking about music, life, and God knows what else. It's mind-blowing to think about working his first #1 ("But For The Grace of God"), and to now be involved in his 24th #1 ("Coming Home"), I'm grateful, for sure.

3. Athena Puharic of All Access Nashville wants to know: what's the craziest, most outrageous thing you've ever done to get an add at radio?

When [now EMI Nashville Dir./Northeast Promotion] Mike Krinik was still in radio, I was riding the subway into work in Manhattan, where I worked at the main BMG building. This was pre-9/11. He wanted me to scream at the top of my lungs in the subway for 60 seconds to get the add, and I wouldn't do it. But, one thing I did do... When I was at Arista, we had a show in Boston with Phil Vassar. There was a company promoting their grocery delivery service that had a booth next to the performance tent. They had a pineapple costume there that was unoccupied, so I put the pineapple costume on, and while Phil was performing, I came running out to dance to whatever song he was playing, and I got the add. I remember not even thinking twice about it. It's been a while since I've done that, though, but I did challenge someone to a breakdancing contest a few years ago. Many drinks were involved.

4. I talked to KFDI/Wichita PD Justin Case in June, and we were discussing the balance between exposing new music and staying familiar. He explained to me why simply expanding his list to accommodate what everyone believes is a strong, healthy music cycle, is not the easy answer, saying there ae not 45 #1s per year; that there should still be four-week #1s and that playing the best songs for the right amount of time means you have a real, gold library. What is your reaction to that?

At the end of the day, I don't believe the average audience knows what's #1 and what isn't. The heavy users and fans of the artists want to go deeper than just listening to their favorite radio station, but the average listener does know which songs they hear in Power, and they know the most played, and if it's a Power at a radio station - in my opinion - it's a #1 in the mind of the audience. However, the #1 achievement for an artist and a label remains extremely important to our format. I always remind radio and programmers: "Don't forget. This is a publishing and songwriter town." That's part of our ecosystem much more than other formats. Plus, the interaction between the radio community and the artist community remains tight. I think there's a different set of expectations, if you will, because the relationships are very strong. In a way, I understand what Justin's saying, but in the radio and records landscape, these things work together, and the answer goes deeper. I, also, believe that we're at a crossroads between being a song-based format and being an artist-based format. For years, I felt that Country listeners looked at the artists like their favorite NASCAR drivers. I still believe that can be the case, but as radio deals with the volume of product and the number of labels and companies representing the artists and the music, the picture becomes less clear as to where and who to invest in. And that's where the execution of a well-developed plan by a promotion department and label comes in. I don't necessarily believe that having more #1s in one year over the next means that the format is watered down.

5. In your specific situation at UMG Nashville, you have four strong labels, each with a formidable roster, capable of reaching #1 seemingly every week. How do you avoid competing with, and, potentially cannibalizing yourselves when planning release and push strategies?

Sometimes, you can find yourself in situations that you don't anticipate when you launch these records. On the release calendar, we never have two singles with the same impact date. But, by the time you get to landing the plane on the runway that is a #1 push, sometimes air traffic control needs to get involved. We do our best to map out those pushes and give each artist and song as much room of their own to breathe and occupy, hopefully, the peak slot on any given station's playlist. I think it's a matter of scheduling, timing, planning, and communicating with programmers so that they know our intentions so they can best plan ahead. Sometimes, plans change, and when they do, those are always interesting conversations. It goes back to the #1 record being determined by the most number of stations giving your record the most exposure possible. It's about constant communication, and I think our teams are the best in the business at doing that.

6. Can you help radio understand why labels sometimes stick with a single that seems to spin its wheels and plod up the chart? I once was told if a song doesn't make it out of the 40s in a particular time period, it has less of a chance to be a success. How did we get here?

I'm going to use a food analogy; I think each record is like a different food. Some foods you can flash-fry while others are like Thanksgiving dinner, where the turkey is in the oven for hours and hours, and you can't take it out until it's done. One of the things that we will contest are overall spins in the market determining when research is yielding an accurate read on a record. Any time that a record is not researching, we dig into the night/overnight exposure vs. Daytime exposure because we all know listenership drops off precipitously as you get into nights and overnights. If I'm a client of the radio stations and buying advertising, and I was provided with a schedule that showed mostly overnight spots and a couple nighttime spots, I wouldn't accept that as a proper schedule. So, why on the record side should that be accepted as a proper way to expose a song and use that exposure in research to get a gage? It's not right or accurate. Number of weeks on has nothing to do with number of spins AND quality of spins. Pop has multiple formats - Hot AC, AC, Urban, Rhythmic, etc. - for their music to get exposure, but Country has one place and one chart where everybody meets. I think that factors into it, too.

7. Your label group has a number of talented female artists - aside from the just-announced iHeart initiative for females, spearheaded by Bobby Bones - what will it take to create a stronger presence for female artists at Country radio? When you compare us to Pop radio - which we trail among 18-34s at #2, as well as 33% share of audience with, according to Nielson - they have no such issue playing, breaking, and featuring the ladies.

It's certainly not for a lack of the format providing females. Lauren Alaina is a great example of a female artist who was on the roster for several years before achieving her first big record with "Road Less Traveled." Radio loved her, but didn't feel like she had the right song. When the right song came along, Lauren delivered in a big way with her first #1 and a song that researched big. She landed a coveted spot on a major, superstar tour and she continues to grow her audience and profile. She was also a big part of a second #1 as a duet partner with Kane Brown on his single, "What Ifs." We're currently looking forward to new music from her. There are certain things that male artists can get away with that female artists can't - I'm talking about the standard by which they are judged. Numerically speaking, I've heard that as currents cross into recurrent territory, the records by females are more heavily scrutinized in research relative to their male counterparts. If numbers are numbers, then that's certainly not right. The current environment requires that female artists dig deeper - to find the hit songs, to find the things that make them different. For the Universal roster, I think you could line up all of our women side-by-side, and they all present something unique from Lauren Alaina to Kassi Ashton to Clare Dunn, who is a great example. You go to see her live, and she's got an electric guitar in her hand; she literally melts faces, and the crowd reaction is extraordinary. Her current single "More" showcases a completely different side and it's getting a lot of strong, early reaction where it's played. The only thing I can say is that I'm hopeful the cycle comes around, and the women will again be at the top of our format. It's been argued by some that the format is the strongest when the women are in the upper regions of the chart.

8. Can you talk to us about what you're watching with streaming data, and how that is incorporated into your strategy at radio, for either airplay or conversions? And, do you feel that programmers are educated enough about these figures?

Programmers are more receptive to sales and streaming data than ever before. In their defense, I will say that there is so much data out there that one can really be bombarded. I've heard from both local stations and several chains that these numbers are "crunched" and are considered each week as a song's performance is judged, whether to earn a spot on a playlist or be conversion-worthy. Sometimes, it's quoted to me before I can even share it with them, which is refreshing to see. There is a small percentage that remain skeptical, and what they want to see is more; they want to see what the "add to collection rate" is, if it was a passive or active listening experience. Radio is the original curator, but their challenge now is balancing between the hits and that demand for new music curation because they don't want to lose a foothold to streaming. They don't want to lose out on a generation using their product less than the previous one. God knows there is enough media out there trying to get everyone's attention. I think that's one of the things that is incumbent on radio, and that's why embracing new music and new artists is important - the DISCOVERY proposition. They're just concerned with making the right bets. The data is more important than ever, and I think it can really identify that early. I'll continue to cite Chris Stapleton as a great example. You reference some of his other songs from the past - "Broken Halos" and "Nobody To Blame" - the streaming information really helped educate a lot of programmers early on, like, "Hey, we're missing something here; we need to be playing this." There are several examples, but the point is its incumbent upon us to take all the information we have access to and show that the listener is also the consumer and vice-versa...and that it's an active process, not a passive one.

9. This question is probably unfair - like asking you to pick a favorite child - but who among your UMG Galaxy Of Stars would you really like to see breakthrough in 2018-2019? Who really deserves some success, in your opinion?

I have a few answers for that. First, get ready for our newest signings, including EMI's Jon Langston and Capitol's Adam Hambrick. Jon has the most amazing streaming and social media story our format has seen since Kane Brown. He sells out shows in markets where he's never played before. And, Adam co-wrote several songs including Dan + Shay's "How Not To" and is an extremely thoughtful and engaging artist. I also remain bullish on our newer artists with music already in the marketplace - Travis Denning, Brandon Lay, and Jordan Davis, who is already on his way. They say new artists are the lifeblood of our business, and I think when you look at new artists at radio, these three are future superstars. Everything they're doing right now - whether it be the early airplay successes, the work they're doing out on the road, building their fan bases - I'm really proud of them and the work they're putting in, and I look forward to the day when those artists become the "automatics." We just had the #1 party for Jordan's "Singles You Up." The MCA team did a fantastic job on that record; they built it from the ground up, and not until the record was almost Top 30 did they receive a national look, meaning the foundation was built on local support rather than corporate or chain-wide initiatives. They took it all the way, which goes to show you when you have the right artist and the right record, things can literally be built with blood, sweat, and tears. Shifting a little bit, I continue to champion Chris Stapleton. Name one other artist in our format that has sold five million albums in two plus years in recent memory - you can't do it. He's in a league all his own, and he casts such a wide net. I will fight until the very end, anybody who says he deserves anything less than a parking spot on the playlist. The consumers respond, and so do the radio listeners. It's beyond the normal path, but he continues to remain so deserving. We had a conversation with a programmer one day, where we said, "With all these numbers, how could you not say he's a superstar?" And, the person said, "Well, it's only because he hasn't had more hits on the radio." The reply was, "Well, who controls that?"

10. You're married to WSIX/Nashville midday personality Amy Paige. Has your job ever collided with hers? It's an interesting dynamic; do you avoid talking business?

Most of the time, there's a separation of church and state at home. With two busy children at home, we have plenty to do and talk about other than business. But, we always make time to share the passion for our jobs with each other-and that includes the successes and the challenges. We support each other in our careers, but the lines never blur.

1. How can anybody who claims to love music say that they "don't get" The Beatles?

That's the toughest question of the day, for sure. I could see how somebody maybe doesn't like them, but I really do not understand when somebody says they don't respect them. Let's boil it down to this: 13 albums and dozens of singles not even on the albums recorded in just 7 years. Their output was absolutely remarkable and they changed everything-the world literally went from black-and-white to technicolor. You've got to respect what they've done - we're still feeling the effects of that today, even in our format. They're the reason I'm in this business and the reason I'm talking to you. They've inspired me since I was three or four years old.

2. What's something about The Beatles that people may not know? Name your favorite piece of Beatles trivia.

You know, Paul is really not dead. He's alive and well.