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10 Questions with ... Gary Jay
April 25, 2006
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NAME:Gary JayTITLES:Vice-President of PromotionCOMPANY:RYKODISCFORMATS:All of 'em! You name it, I do it!LOCATION:NYCBORN:PhiladelphiaRAISED:Philadelphia
1) What made you want to get into the music business? Early mentors? First job?
I would say I wanted to get into the business because I ... loved music?! Good one, Doug!
I cut my teeth as an indie, working at Paul Yeskel's AIM Marketing back in '91. Straight outta college I was working college radio, then some Rock specialty/new music shows, and finally some smaller-market Rock and AAA stations. I was lucky to work with some really smart, reputable people; whether they knew it or not, they taught me a lot about how to just TALK to someone (and maybe, more importantly, how to LISTEN). People like Rob Tarantino and Maxanne Sartori were terrific mentors, even if they didn't ever sit and actually "mentor" me. I also had the pleasure (?) of spending the last 10 years sharing a tiny-ass office with John Perrone at TVT Records. While I would never admit this to his face, the dude's an ace promo guy. I would bust his balls that he always clipped all of my best material, but the truth is, I took much more from him than he ever did from me.
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?
STAFF?? What staff?? I ain't got no steenkin' staff!
One of the things I've long admired about Ryko is that they DON'T oversaturate radio, or retail for that matter, with product; they're wise enough to give records an opportunity to breathe. They've never subscribed to the "throw enough shit against the wall" philosophy; it's always been 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" that many labels suffer from. Ryko won't necessarily beat a dead horse. but we will ride that sumbitch 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 BUNK. 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 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 wanna hear the same fucking STP song from 1992 again and again and again and again, ad nauseum! That kind of "comfort food" crap; yeah, there's room for it in your diet, but if you ate a fucking PB&J or grilled cheese sandwich every day, five or six days a week, would it still be quite as comforting? Wouldn't you wanna have some different flavors in the mix now and again? I'm stunned at how little credit most programmers give their own listeners and their desire to hear and be turned onto new music. There's a REASON they're listening to the radio, 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 trust 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 label increase exposure of your artists outside of traditional radio promotion?
Ryko does what most labels aspire to do; we expose our artists "by any means necessary." We try and saturate radio -- be it terrestrial, satellite, or internet -- as well as video outlets both big and small, plus music-intensive internet sites, mp3 blogs, Myspace, PureVolume, etc. We cover print media (national, local, dailies, weeklies), we secure them film and TV placement, and we also firmly believe in the artists helping us help them by touring extensively to support their projects, as well as having a hand in reaching out to their fans via the internet, and podcasts. We do our share of lifestyle marketing, although that's always something I think ALL labels place too little emphasis on. We're very active in retail marketing, plus point-of-purchase stuff, visuals, both at the brick-and-mortar stores, and the online ones, from the chains, to the mom-n-pops, 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 love and support from radio (yeah, they had hits), they never had that elusive home run. That's honestly to the detriment of radio. That band had all of the elements of a band that should have been just MASSIVE: They're charismatic, photogenic, have a dynamite front-man (maybe one of the best in the biz), they write some really powerful, memorable, gut-wrenching songs, and live, christ, who's better? They're the total package. But radio rarely gave 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. I remain disappointed 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 music and playing shows and I wish 'em the best of everything.
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: 5 cd's? So what, I guess my 60-gig iPod couldn't fit on the island, then? Yeesh! Well, 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. Old Cars albums, probably "Revolver" or "Rubber Soul," "Live At Budokan," the first Police album, maybe "Fair Warning" or KISS "Alive!" I sure would miss not having any Ted Nugent with me there, Neil Young, ditto Sabbath's "Vol. 4" or Queen's "A Night At The Opera." This question is kind of bumming me out to think about, to tell you the truth, Doug.
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" with Matt Dillon from like 1978 or '79? The movie's kinda bad, but it just rings so true to my own misspent, wanna-be-a-rebel youth, and the soundtrack was so incredible for its time (Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Ramones). 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?
I remember back in the day: Zoo Entertainment had signed Tool already, but the label didn't want people's first impressions to be that they were 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 Undertow. Tool. Gosh, what DID ever become of them??
9) In your opinion what is the biggest "missed" record in the last year?
There's plenty of killer rock bands I thought should have gotten a better shake from radio, from MTV. I mean, look I wasn't there, and I don't know the particulars, so maybe these bands were already imploding by the time the records were first impacting, but I listen to the last couple of Taproot albums, the Skrape records, the Revis album, Bloodsimple, Trust Company's last cd (oh one day someone'll tell me THAT story), The Datsuns albums, American Head Charge, Blindside...and I think it's a fucking crime. Some how, some way, somebody shoulda given these bands a better shot and reaped the rewards of doing so. There's so much great shit here. So how didn't this make it?
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, or that the guitarist is firing off Blackmore/Deep Purple licks , etc. Whatever, they're vibrant, exciting, interesting new bands, and bands that still get me hot & bothered: Bands like Wolfmother, The Sword, Nine Black Alps, and the Secret Machines. Maybe they're not quite so "radio-friendly," but I like a lot of these sorta 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. Bands like He Is Legend, Underoath, Haste The Day, Every Time I Die 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 to keep the rest of us on our toes. They're fierce.
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