I have been in the music business for many years and have seen it go from cassettes to CD DVDs to Digital Downloads and it’s always been interesting. I was with Warner Bros for many years in marketing and promotions – worked with a lot of artists, but never met a Beatle or a Stone – but just about everybody else!
I went to B.C Institute Of Technology, graduated from the Radio & Journalism program. After that I took electronics at Vancouver Vocational Institute. I got my first job in broadcasting as on-air announcer spinning records and reading the news.
After working in radio for a few years I started working for an affiliate of CBS Records (now Sony Music) as a sales representative, then went on to a work with TEE VEE Records as BC Sales Manager. After that I went to WARNER MUSIC CANADA (Warner Bros. Records, Elektra Records & Atlantic Music- WEA) in sales, and then after two years in I got promoted to West Coast Marketing & Promotions, a position I held for over 10 years. After Warner Bros I worked for BMG Music and Zoo Entertainment out of LA.
I loved the work and received some recognition winning numerous music industry awards; Gold records for top Promotions & Marketing rep, National Branch of the Year awards, plus numerous citations for creative marketing and successful promotion of Warner Bros artists. I worked with radio, television, print media, concert promoters, agents and retailers. I did media relations (radio, TV & print), setup press releases, interviews & press conferences. I worked with alot of acts over the years, including: Aerosmith, The Who, Rod Stewart, Bill Cosby, Robert Plant, U2, Genesis, Elton John, Phil Collins, and AC / DC to name a few of the hundreds of bands. I have worked with bands such as Inxs who went from opening for the Stray Cats to having the number one album on the planet
Working for the record companies was probably one of the coolest jobs to have for hanging out, I met so many interesting people and have way to many interesting stories and have enough autographed albums, backstage passes and rock paraphenalia to start up my own Hard Rock Café or write a book.
After I worked for the major labels for over almost two decades, I started Spinner Music Group. Over the next five years I built up the international distribution and record label with a then artist roster of about 400 CD & DVD releases. We achieved distribution in over 1,500 retail accounts, with distribution and/or licensing deals in 12 countries worldwide, including: the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Czech Republic, Poland, Asia, Australia, South Africa, Brazil and the US. This was really a great time, the bonus was I got to do a lot of traveling to all the yearly music conventions in Toronto, Miami, Los Angeles, Cannes (France) (“MIDEM”) & Cologne/Berlin (POPKOMM Germany).
I taught music industry courses such as publishing, radio broadcasting, the business of music, licensing and music marketing and promotions. I produced a showcase called “Demo Listen Derby” and won the “Canadian Association of Broadcasters Award” for “Best New Artist Talent Promotion. Also produced the “West Coast Music Awards”.
The combined experience of broadcasting, working with the major record labels, operating a record label (distribution and promotions), has given me more than a few insights into the music, media, retail and manufacturing industry. This experience led me to open the first CD DVD manufacturing facility west of Toronto; we specialized in CD DVD Digital Business Cards, Printing, Packaging & Direct Mail Services.
I worked with the online gaming companies such as Party Poker, Fortune Lounge, Golden Palace to name a few – we’d did runs of over a million Mini CDs and business was great.
I formed One Stop Media Shop www.onestopmediashop.ca for the Canadian market for CD DVD Duplication Replication Printing Packaging in 2005 and just opened our new US site “Ice Digital Media” www.icedigitalmedia.com. Check out the Content To Retail video http://www.youtube.com/user/ONESTOPMediaShop.
I still attend trade shows in London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Montreal & Las Vegas for online marketing …
And so it goes ….. come back soon!
Wolf
