10 Questions with ... Chris Siciliano

NAME:Chris Siciliano TITLES:Regional Promotions Mgr. Southeast COMPANY:Virgin Records FORMATS:Alt, Rock, Active, CHR, AAA, Hot AC, AC, XO LOCATION:Atlanta BORN:Chelmsford, MA, 1968 RAISED:Boston and Atlanta

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Started out as a college rep for Sony in New Orleans in 1989, became the Sony PMM (indie retail marketing) in Atlanta for six years, then the 550 Music local in Atlanta before moving to New York to run the Rock Dept for Epic/550 Music in 2000. Started with Virgin as the Atlanta local rep in 2001. A small tenure as a account executive for 99X, and back to Virgin two years ago.

1) What made you want to get into the music business? Early mentors? First job?

Two words: The Who. I was actually a really bad musician playing in a bunch of crappy bands around Atlanta and New Orleans, and music was always my love. I decided that if I couldn't get a deal, I would jump to the other side and try to make those deals. My early mentors were Don Miller, Linda Alter, and Lee Durham. Both Linda and Lee have both passed, and they are very much missed. First real music job was working for Mushroom Records in New Orleans. The last of the great independents in New Orleans!

2) Too many records, too few slots. What data seems to be most important to you when jockeying for an open slot on a radio station and why? Ticket sales? Tour info? Prior success? Retail? Other stations?

For me, since day one, it has always been about passion. The business is now like any other business, and we are salesmen working our records to clients. There is a line of other reps behind me shooting out call-letter soup, sales data, history, etc. Presentation is what sets you apart from the pack. Some programmers look at MySpace as a huge measuring stick, some look at research, others look at sales, some look at other stations, and most use a mixture of all. Each record and programmer is a different beast and needs to be addressed from that angle. You provide different arguments for different people.

3) It seems that set-up is more important now than ever. What do you do to inspire your staff for success in the field on a daily basis with the amount of material that recording companies are releasing in today's marketplace?

The really great thing about Virgin Records is that we don't have 10,000 records coming down the pipeline every quarter. Jason Flom has done an amazing job of finding the best music out there and giving us breathing room to let each of them grow. Some records have to be slowly seeded in a programmer's view as a more natural move, and some are timing issues that have so much going for it that there is no time to really wait.

4) Things are changing rapidly in our business. Were it up to you, what would you change in our "system" to give your bands a better shot?

I remember when I was a DJ at WTUL, the program director used to come down to the staff meetings and tell us that whatever we really liked we should put on the air to see if people dug it. Now that was college radio, and there were no parameters those days, but I use that as an example. My true feeling is that we are going through the single most important time in the music industry's history. All bets are off, everything is changing, and the same is going on at radio with all the other choices available now. Rather than stations tightening their playlist and being so research driven and apprehensive about playing new music, embrace the fact that people are smarter and more knowledgeable than ever before. Take some gambles. Champion records and break them. I am not just saying major label stuff, but everything. There is a renaissance going on right now with indies and the kids are finding music in so many different ways. Try to at least be there for them. There used to be so many local music shows when I was first starting out. What happened to them?

5) Who do you consider the current tastemakers in the ROCK world?

Well, of course Jason Flom. The man is brilliant. I have watched him from afar for a long time now and am just excited to finally be working for him. Two A&R guys in the Southeast are really drawing up some great music that is getting me excited: Jay Harren and Shawn Moseley. Pitchfork, Rick Rubin, and Al Gore. Oh, and Lewis Black.

6) It has become apparent that in this research-driven time, records are taking much longer to "test." How do you go about making sure that your record will be given a fair shot?

I think that 99% of my programmers know that records take longer now to research than ever before and give us a little more rope. Having said that, though, it really is about the transferal of information. Find out what stations your programmers either liken themselves to or at least respect enough to care what they are doing. Pass that information on, and use it as a tool. Before the research kicks in, it is also about the other gauges that are so important. Album sales, digital sales, MySpace, AOL -- you name it. Whatever is showing what people are gravitating to.

7) Repetition breeds familiarity. How does your label increase exposure of your artists outside of traditional radio promotion?

We are blessed with some great people at Virgin who utilize every form of exposure for us outside of radio to help get the ball rolling. Be it AOL Sessions, iTunes free downloads, music bedding on network shows, soundtracks, video games, you name it. These are the listening posts that used to be at brick and mortar. In addition, street marketing plays an important part. Got a big band coming into town? The team passes out promo for our new band at the show to generate interest. Lastly, there isn't one bar in downtown Atlanta that doesn't have my music. One of the benefits of liking a beer once and a while!

8) Every promotion person has a record close to their heart that for one reason or another never broke through, "The One That Got Away." What is your "One That Got Away," and what did you learn from that record?

Well, it isn't one that I was working as a promotion person that got away, but it was one that I got signed that got away. DoubleDrive was a killer band from Atlanta that made two amazing records. One track in particular from the second record, "Imprint," was very important to me. It was a song co-written by a very good friend of mine who passed, Dick Sheetz. The band came down to Orlando and wrote it with Dick as he was going through the end of a terrible battle with cancer. The song really was amazing and struck a chord very deep in me. To this day when I am in Orlando and I hear it on WJRR, I have to pull over for a sec. A sad loss to us all.

9) The lost art of Artist Development. What do you do to ensure your artist is building a career as opposed to just breaking a song? And does it even matter anymore?

I think artist development is more important now than ever before. I think that the real key to developing a band in the rock arena is to stay true to the format and not be too fast to cross an artist over before its time. Like I said before, kids are smarter now than ever before, and a band has to have an identity for it to be accepted. Let the band go out there and meet the kids and show that they are in the long haul with them. 30 Seconds To Mars is the best band I have ever worked with in this regard. Every night after the show, they are out at the signing booth meeting their fans. Doesn't matter if there are 1,000 kids, the band is there until everybody gets to say hi. The effect of this on a fan cannot be understated. It goes a long way toward getting that poster up on the kid's wall and, more importantly, them telling their friends how amazing the band is.

10) What is the strangest record you ever worked and what ended up happening to the band?

The strangest one would have to be this "alternative" record called Chick. Now, I don't know if this is true or not, but the rumor around the building was that it was Mariah Carey trying to get some Alt cred. I guess even some of the label's staff members sang background on it. The record didn't do anything -- but I would have been interested to see the tour.

You are the remaining survivor on a remote tropical island with no chance for rescue. You have a CD/DVD player with endless power. What five CDs are a "must" to have with you? What five movies?

CDs: The Who, "Who by Numbers"; Radiohead, "The Bends"; Nick Drake, "Five Leaves Left"; Jane's Addiction, "Nothing's Shocking; The Dickies' greatest.

Movies: "Evil Dead 2," "Withnail and I," "The Who -- Isle of Wight," "Killer Clowns From Outer Space," "Goodfellas."