Tom from Warner/Chappell & Frank from Carnival Music

I really did not do well with my interviews today.

The first one i went to the wrong building and then once i got to the right place i was 20 minutes late and it last 5 minutes and it was not very helpful. and he had told me when he emailed me back that he didn't think he would be much help. but really i think it is my fault for asking the wrong questions. like when he mentioned he used to do managing why didn't you jump on that?!

anyways so i met with Tom and he works at Warner/Chappell which is a production music company, so the music you hear in films, tv, etc. that aren't hit songs. They create, represent, and license that music. he is in charge of licensing and has 10 people in his team. he has to bring in revenue. he calls on clients and works with offices around the world. it's about maximizing opportunities, getting in front of people. he personally spent 30 years in radio stations but then the radio industry changed about 7 to 8 years ago. so he was involved in artist management and label promotion. and then he has been here for a year. this is completely different from what he did before. the number one thing across the board is to make sure the team is motivated and maximizing their potentially and getting all the opportunities.

the second one was better but i also missed out on a lot of questions i could have asked. i had a hit successful producer in front of me and didn't ask him about that. and he founded the company i was in and i didn't ask him about that since he sort of didn't mention the whole founding part. what the hell, molly? you really missed your chance here...

so i met with Frank Liddell (who also just won an award) from Carnival Music. it is a publishing company and he also produces records. they have 12 songwriters and they write songs everyday. he is from TX, went to boarding school in MA, college in TX. ended up in Nashville, started producing records. he started at Bluewater and then was at Decca records for 4 years worked as a publisher pitching songs and in A&R. he doesn't like the whole meetings, would rather listen to music and stay in the studio and check in on people. he doesn't know at lot. he isn't doing anything a lot differently from 24 years ago other than he doesn't pitch as much because he has other people do that, he works with the songwriters.

he says the music industry is bigger than you think, you feel closed in on music row but it is actually huge. recommended the book by Passman. he said that people forget that the music is by people and the whole humanity of it. musicians are people and artists and their art is important. you want to work with music and stuff you are proud of. how do you progress and not forget how you started. he said he doesn't know anything now that he didn't know when he first stated. you want to work with music and people you love. and there is the whole reality of what they do and how you can talk about something but it is a whole new thing to actually do it. failed a lot. about 90% of his success came from his heart and using his brain didn't always work. he knew it wasn't adding up but entered into bad situations anyways. he wished he would have protected what he believed in. don't get into something if you don't think it is 100%. to love music and to love the people and believe in them. not just be yes people. come with your sense of purpose and music.

yeah so i didn't ask him about founding a company or producing music so i'm stupid. but you live and you learn i guess.