Alongside the rapid changes in the music industry has come the evolution of the A&R (aka Artists and Repertoire), the individuals responsible for signing and developing artists. Back in the day, A&R’s used to actually produce, arrange, and even at times compose records themselves. They were instrumental in guiding an act’s sound and positioning...

When you’re going through a low period, remember the term “low” only exists in contrast to “high”. For example, one can only be tall if others are short. If everybody was tall, the word wouldn’t have meaning. Tall would instead be the norm. As managers, we constantly seek big wins. When those don’t happen...

A good friend of mine recently called to ask if I was having trouble developing young people at TH3RD BRAIN. I asked in what way, and he said, “In the way they view their job as a trade.” Are most young people entering the business today seeking a job or looking at their position as...

Yesterday, TH3RD BRAIN artists graced the #1 and #2 slots on the Hype Machine charts. With the increased focus on streaming, HypeM is a fraction as powerful as it once was. While the audience of blogs has been on the decline for a couple years, their collective voice still holds weight in certain communities...

I am a bit under the weather, but never get extremely ill (knock on wood) if I’m not traveling. I believe one of the main reasons I stay healthy is because of Rachel’s morning drink. I used to drink Bulletproof coffee with butter every morning. A few years ago after suffering from routine headaches,...

Last year, our head of A&R Dan Helfrich heard Big Data on Alt Nation and had the idea to connect him and NoMBe to see what they could create together. The end result is Drama, an alternative juggernaut released this past week. Alongside the single was the announcement of NoMBe’s debut album – They...

Last week I had the pleasure of mentoring the Techstars Music Accelerator. I sat with each company in the program for 20 minutes and learned how they plan to disrupt our industry. I will be testing out a couple of the products and services to see if they can impact 3B (aka Th3RD BRAIN)....

Hip-Hop is currently best set-up to take advantage of the current social era driving the charts. There are significantly more influential leaders committed to building social audiences in hip-hop than other genres. Either the fans are more passionate about the culture and creating platforms to expose it or hip-hop content is more viral than...

Social media is great for measuring growth trends for an artist, but how do you measure the conversation? And more importantly, as an artist (or their representative), how do you effectively control and grow its reach? I assume as much as a song like Bazzi’s “Mine” has been shared this year via social media...

My parents for raising me with the values of integrity, education, and confidence. For instilling the belief I can do whatever my heart desires. For putting up with my bizarre teenage years when I thought I was already an adult and letting my inner entrepreneur run free since the age of 13. For giving...