10 Questions with ... Gary Jay

NAME:Gary Jay TITLE:Shark Boat Captain COMPANY:Lil Devil Music Lab / Land Shark Promotion Studio FORMATS:Rock, Alternative, AAA, Jazz, College LOCATION:Brooklyn!! BORN:Philadelphia RAISED:Philadelphia

1) Explain the philosophy behind the diverse areas your company covers, and why you chose these avenues of service?

The mantra is, "so you've made a great record...now what?" You gotta have the goods to start with, but once you do, what can you do with it? How can you make certain it's being exposed properly? What can we do differently to make ourselves stand out amidst the din? Land Shark Promotion Studio is about not being cookie-cutter. We create personal fits, a promotion strategy and a plan made just for you. No two records, or artists, are alike - so, why should your promotion campaigns be?

Land Shark Promotion Studio is definitely about enabling artists to reach their goals by helping them help themselves. Arming 'em with the tools they need, as an artist, to book live shows, to sell cd's and merchandise, to develop their brand more effectively.

Land Shark also makes it a point to stay lean and mean - we don't take on too many projects at once, and we're choosy about what we do, and by demonstrating that kind of temperance - we're able to be passionate - and focused on securing results. It also allows us to be quite agile and react quickly to a new opportunity for an artist, hopefully it's one we've helped create for them. Having the flexibility to change course mid-stream allows Land Shark to put an artist's music in the best possible position to perform and maximize its impact.

2) 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 market place?

Setting up records right remains essential. It's 'Must-See-TV'. I never subscribed to the "throw enough shit against the wall" philosophy; so Land Shark will always be a place where the priorities remain so, without having other "priorities" dumped right on top of them. Too many terrific records get short-changed by the "short-attention-span-syndrome". We won't necessarily beat a dead horse, but we will ride that horse as far as we can. Sometimes there's a lot more tread left on the tires than you think.

3)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'm still floored how many stations (and the good folks who consult them) subscribe to the 'less-is-more' theory, and believe that familiarity and blandness = TSL. The theory that listeners don't wish to be challenged, or even entertained anymore, and that they want "comfort food," all day every day, is untrue. That's why terrestrial radio is finding itself struggling to maintain its listenership, and why a whole generation of youth is growing up without developing a fascination with, and an attachment to, radio. This dumbed-down radio has driven listeners in hordes to all of the other mediums available to them to learn about cool, new music; it's why the very culture of radio, as a LIFESTYLE, has eroded. I was the kid staying up after bedtime with my transistor radio under the blankets listening quietly for just "one more hour" because I might get to hear the next great band and be able to boast to my friends about them the next day at school. Obviously kids can go anywhere from MySpace to YouTube to MTV2 to their local 'zine to any number of other places to do that now, but why concede the battle? There's too much emphasis on repetition and stagnation and not enough on imagination and enlightenment. I honestly don't care what auditorium test was conducted last month. Let me save you a few bucks next time: the people tuning in don't want to hear the same, tired grunge band. song from 1995 again and again! It's the musical equivalent of "comfort food". Yeah, there's room for it in your diet, but if you ate a PB&J or grilled cheese sandwich every day, five or six days a week, would it still be quite as comforting? Wouldn't you crave some different flavors in the mix now and again? I'm saddened at how little credit most programmers give their own listeners and their desire to hear and be turned onto new music. It's not classic rock...don't sell your station's outreach, or your listeners short. In an iPod-era, there's a reason they're tuning in to you, and it ain't for the Rent-A-Center 60-second spots you're running!

4) 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?

Sadly, there are no guarantees. You want a guarantee? Buy a toaster. We know that programmers aren't adding records just to shut us up, because nowadays there's too much at stake for everybody. We trust that they're supporting an artist because they truly believe in the music, and that they WANT it to work, and thereby they'll give it every opportunity to do so (or at the very least, they'll put it into the best possible position to perform). After all that, it's ultimately up to the record to get up and walk. The hits usually do.

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

Land Shark does what most labels and marketing firms aspire to do; we expose our artists "by any means necessary." We saturate radio, be it terrestrial, satellite, or internet, video outlets both big and small. We also target music-intensive internet websites, mp3 blogs, MySpace, PureVolume, etc. Our sister company, Lil' Devil Music Lab employs publicists to cover print media (national, local, dailies, weeklies) as well as online media. We try and secure them film and TV placement if we feel it's applicable, etc. We also firmly believe in artists helping us help them by touring extensively (this IS rock 'n roll we're talking about!) to support their projects, as well as taking an active role in reaching out to their fans via the internet, email, and podcasts. We do our share of lifestyle marketing, and that's always something I think all labels place too little emphasis on. We believe in - and implement - various methods of retail and street marketing - and we can help artists and labels with point-of-purchase stuff, visuals, both at the brick-and-mortar stores, and the online ones, the chains, the 'mom-n-pops', etc. We can have vehicles and field reps at sporting events, concerts, etc. handing out CD's, postcards & stickers with band's websites on 'em, etc. We live in an era where there's so many ways to reach out to consumers, especially ones who actually are musically curious and adventurous and want to learn about the hot new bands. You don't have to be the most creative guy out there to make those impressions; just so long as you're thorough, you'll get to 'em, and we do.

6) 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"?

I don't know if it's the "one that got away", necessarily, but I obviously spent nearly a decade working with Sevendust, and while they had their share of support from radio (yeah, they had hits), they never had that elusive home run, and that's honestly to the detriment of radio. That band has all of the elements of a band that should have been just massive! Radio didn't usually give the band a real shot on a 2nd single, let alone a 3rd. More often than not, they were branded a nighttime band in dayparts, even on less aggro-sounding singles, and even on some pretty aggro-sounding stations. It's a shame that radio chose to make them somewhat "peripheral," and not a core artist, while some other far less interesting bands got those shots (and then promptly disappeared, disbanded, or just departed). I'm just glad that Sevendust are still making great music and playing shows and I wish 'em the best of everything.

I was surprised Ladytron never broke through the Alternative mainstream - that's a band that could have been a format 'secret weapon'...great songs, an icy-cool, photogenic chanteuse up front, and they were format-exclusive, not someone they'd have to share with their CHR competitor, or their Rock one. I'm excited to hear that band's new album and who knows, maybe the format will finally be ready for 'em.

7) 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 CD's are a "must" to have with you? What five movies?

CD'S: Well, if I couldn't bring the 14,000+ songs in my iPod...I'd probably end up taking stuff that maybe isn't the greatest music ever made, but it's stuff for whatever reason doesn't get played out for me. The first two Cars albums. The Beatles' "Revolver" or "Rubber Soul,", 'Houses Of The Holy', Cheap Trick "Live At Budokan," the first Police album, Talking Heads' 'Fear Of Music', some Elvis Costello, maybe Van Halen's "Fair Warning" or 'Young Americans', or Kiss "Alive!"...I'd also want something Sabbath, a good Doors compilation, the Cult's 'Electric' album, maybe some E.L.O, Chet Baker,. or Peter Tosh to get mellow to... I'd have to negotiate some better terms than just five cd's here on this fictitious island.

MOVIES: I like some crap movies, but they're movies I'll probably never get tired of seeing : "An American Werewolf In London," "Scanners," "Nighthawks," and the "Kill Bill" movies. I loved "Sin City," "The Warriors," and oh man, remember "Over The Edge" from like 1978 or '79? It was kind of bad, but it just rings so true to my own misspent, wanna-be-rebel youth, and the soundtrack was so incredible for its time (Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Ramones, AC/DC). I'd have to smuggle that one on the island somehow, too.

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

Back in the day: Zoo Entertainment had signed Tool already, but the label didn't want people's first impressions to be that they had signed to some big label deal; they wanted to turn people onto the band as if they were getting in on the ground floor. I was working indie at the time, and they had us mail out dubs of the band's demo cassette (yes, cassette, old-school playa!) to radio stations with no mention of Zoo or anything to do with the label on it just to turn people on to the songs that would eventually become the 'Opiate' EP and the platinum-album, 'Undertow'.

9) In your opinion what is the biggest "missed" record in the last year?

There's plenty of killer rock bands I love and think should be bigger than they are: Taproot, The Sword, Nine Black Alps...I'm excited to hear Every Time I Die's new album, and The Red Chord's new record is stellar...I don't know that they're necessarily "missed" records, so much as that they're successful, and powerful bands...and radio ought to try and play SOME role in developing them. Take advantage of their already-existing fans...and try and help create new ones. It's not radio job to develop artists...but the relationship between bands and radio can be more symbiotic - both have a lot to gain and both kinda rely on each other.

10) What current based rock artist do you see having the ability and skills to stick around for several records in today's instant gratification oriented society?

Well, it remains to be seen if they'll stick around, but there's a crop of new bands out now that are just so inspiring, and even if they're not reinventing the wheel necessarily, they're still bring something new to the table and making it work for a younger generation who maybe don't know they're copping Sabbath riffs or incorporating Meddle-era Pink Floyd-isms, etc. Whatever, they're vibrant, exciting, interesting new bands, and bands that still get me hot & bothered: Wolfmother and the Secret Machines would definitely be the top two...

...and maybe they're not quite so "radio-friendly," but I love a lot of the screamy young bands that can easily sell out an 800-1000 capacity room in your town with or without support from radio, or any other mainstream media for that matter. Bands like He Is Legend, Underoath, Haste The Day, 36 Crazyfists...these bands are a breath of fresh, angry air in a climate that's gotten more than a little stale at times. My god, we need bands like this more than ever to keep the rest of us on our toes. In an era where there's a culpable lack of "rock stars"...(name five during the current Bush administration...kind of hard to), they're fierce and more necessary than ever.