Michael Goldstone

Michael Goldstone is synonymous to the biggest Alt Rock bands of the '90s - namely, he signed Mother Love Bone (which would eventually become Pearl Jam) and Rage Against The Machine. He scored more success after that with All American Rejects and Buckcherry. Now with his own label, Goldstone is pursuing a different course of action - going after talent that would be more at home at an indie label than a major. Nevertheless, Mom + Pop Music just enjoyed its biggest mainstream success with Alice Merton's "No Roots." Here, he explains how he works for and enjoys success ... on the artists' terms.

When did you first feel secure that you knew you had what it takes to do A&R?

Catching Mother Love Bone and being able to put that deal together. This came after I tried to sign Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction. Perry schooled me about having a vision and changing the artist/label relationship in terms of creative control ... in regards to music, art packaging, and his vision of how to promote and market. They wanted control of practically everything. It was totally different compared to what most major labels were used to doing. After that humbling meeting, I was better prepared to pursue Mother Love Bone and eventually sign them. It changed everything for me.

Are the keys to being a successful A&R person different today than it was when you were signing Pearl Jam and Rage Against The Machine?

There is so much more access to great information today. Between YouTube, DSPs, socials, ticket sales, etc. you have so much information right at your fingertips. What delineates great A&R people from okay A&R people is the ability to take all that information, process it and ultimately live with the conviction and responsibility. Some decisions are not driven purely by information. We are all striving to find music that is truly remarkable, meaningful, viable and compelling.

Obviously, you had major success with the likes of Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, All American Rejects and Buckcherry. Have you learned more from those successes or have you learned more from the ones that didn't hit?

Probably from the ones that didn't? You are always learning either way. The most successful artists were the least likely to be pushed around by a label. I was fortunate to have worked on behalf of two bands that were both culturally defining, yet both had completely different goals and aspirations - Rage Against The Machine and Pearl Jam. The unconditional creative controls they wanted were similar; it taught me a lot about how to respect their instincts and advocate for them. My mission was to work with them and not worry as much about making the label happy. My value to any label was that I could effectively lobby on the label's behalf when it WAS actually in the artist's best interest. Obviously, there were things I learned from bands that didn't break through; one of them is not sign a band that didn't work as hard as you did for their own careers. It's a fundamental A&R lesson that's not always practiced. Fortunately I started at a time when you could make mistakes and get away with them.

You had considerable success at Epic, then Dreamworks, then Sire. When did you decide to start your own company and why?

It got to the point where artists who resonated with me were more likely suited in the indie space.

The artists I seemed to gravitate to weren't always best suited for a major. Artists that are culturally important and compelling musically ... but maybe not a Maroon 5 or Beyonce. I wanted to find a different path than 360 deals, long terms and just okay royalties. At one point, I couldn't convince the artists I wanted to work with to sign deals that felt onerous to me. I wouldn't take money from Tom Whalley and Warner Bros, if I couldn't advocate and sell that destination to artists. I was conflicted and I felt like it was the right time to go on my own.

I actually thought about doing this five years before, but the Sire/Seymour Stein and Tom Whalley thing was very appealing to me, so I put it off. Eventually, I needed a situation where the ability to sustain was within my own control - and in 2008, I was able to find great partners in Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein to get started.

Was there a turning point or an album release when you realized Mom + Pop was here to stay?

Our first release was Joshua Radin, who was dropped from a major label that either didn't consider him a significant enough of a success or weren't interested enough artistically. We basically picked up a finished record and digitally alone did 13k. It was proof of concept, which gave us the confidence that if we sign acts thoughtfully and artfully, we could build a destination with resources and taste.

With Sleigh Bells' success, it was a seminal moment because the band was/is awesome and always had cultural importance and an edge. "Treats" was wonderfully rudimentary and a truly special album. It had been two-and-a-half years, which felt quick, and we had two albums over 100k in our catalogue, which were serious numbers back in the day when indies still had challenges at retail. They indirectly helped us sign Andrew Bird, Metric and Ingrid Michaelson, all who had a sales base, wanted promotional support, but opted for an alternative to a major.

When it comes to working your records to radio, is Alice Merton your first unqualified success?

Our first top-10 Pop record was with Flume. It was a huge mainstream pop hit with radio and huge streaming numbers. It was rewarding for us because of how much we all collectively achieved to build a career. Flume/Harley's career isn't being defined by a song or a moment.

Alice's "No Roots" went to #1 at Triple A and then Alternative, peaked at #12 at Hot AC and #25 at Pop. It's rare, ha, the first time ever we had a track that we simultaneously worked at four formats, I can tell you that.

This definitely broke in America super-quick, but she had already had international success, being #1 in France and Germany. After seeing the reaction to the record overseas, we had confidence that it had the potential to work in the U.S. Even so, we decided to start it at Alternative and Triple A at the same time and once it took off there, then we started to build at Pop.

We believe in her artistry and really felt that we could encourage her by putting her in a situation of growth, by working with a team. We're excited about the follow-up, "Lash Out."

Did you believe that you could cross "No Roots" to the more mainstream formats as soon as you first heard the song, or did you decide to do it after she broke through at Triple A and Alternative?

Until Portugal. The Man recently did it, it felt like it had been quite some time before someone crossed an Alternative track to #1 at Pop Top 40. It's a tougher path to cross than if it's from Urban, Rhythmic or even Hot AC-driven. Pop radio, in some ways, is the most compelling and adventurous format. It was super-great to see Portugal cross over. It'll open up the door for other Alternative bands as well.

Is overexposure ever a problem in a streaming economy?

Artists are spitting out so many songs these days -- and people are listening to so much different music on all of these platforms -- overexposure? No, and it might be a nice problem to have.

Has Alice Merton's success changed your goals for other releases coming out in 2018 and beyond?

We'll continue to do it intuitively; we have a pretty strong level of confidence that we can be impactful in the right space with all of our artists. More times than not, we're going to be intuitive and hope to sign artists that are musically interesting and culturally important.

What of Mom + Pop's future? Do you want it to become the next A&M or Geffen Records?

Funny that you say that, because sometimes we talk about aspirations and what we're striving for, and we're pointing to those historical and epic labels. We're now 10 years old, which is a nice benchmark that we're super-excited about. Those indies were small majors run by entrepreneurs like Geffen, Moss and Blackwell. After that, so many others such as Jimmy Iovine, Jonathan Poneman and the incomparable Martin Mills. Longevity and relevance is what we're striving for.