Q: Did you ever see a label intentionally choose to not promote one of their own titles?
A: Pfft, on a weekly basis. Too many to count.
Q: Why would a label intentionally do such a thing?
A: Well, on paper, you only have so much money to work with and only so large a staff to devote to each release, so something is bound to fall through the cracks. In fact, quite a lot falls through the cracks because the label will always choose to sign something first and worry about how to promote it later when, in reality, there is no way to sell Bjork to middle America.
Q: But we're talking about intentionally NOT promoting a title, which I presume has happened to at least one of the bands you've worked with over the years.
A: Sure. I may have even been in on the meeting where it was decided that if the artist wouldn't agree to work with a producer of a particular executive's choosing, the artists's new album would get zero support from the label.
Q: What happened?
A: The artist refused to work with any outside producer because his original producer was IN HIS BAND. No way was he going to wreck their relationship to work with some flavor of the month. He went on to make three more albums with the same major label and none of them got any support.
They finally dropped him, but his next record, released on an indie label, sold more than his last two for the major label. They did their damndest to kill his career just for saying "No" to a bad idea.
Q: Did you have any control over how your artist's albums were promoted?
A: I certainly had friends in the radio promotion and marketing departments that I could lean on if I wanted one of my releases to get a little more of a push in, say, Seattle because we already had some good press and wanted to try building some momentum, but did it ever really work? No.
Q: So, marketing and promotion is all a crap shoot?
A: I hate to say it, but, yes. I've seen artists signed by the head of the label get the full red carpet treatment, tons of press action, cover of Rolling Stone, and still flop. I've also seen guys sign bands that don't even technically exist, like Primitive Radio Gods, and score a hit with very little effort.
The downside is that you know that kind of success cannot be repeated, which is why there was no second Primitive Radio Gods album on Columbia.
Q: Did you have the power to sign anyone you wanted?
A: Always. Otherwise, why bother?
Q: So what stopped you from simply signing all your favorite bands who happened to be without deals?
A: Great question. Firstly, many of the bands I love are complete pains to work with, but I try to do it whenever possible. Sometimes, the mark of a great A&R guy or gal is when they opt not to sign a band they love because they know it will be an awful fit.
Other times, I have signed bands I loved even after telling them up front that the label will ultimately fuck things up. In one case, the label had told A&R staff to "sign anything flannel" after Nirvana hit big, yet I signed two synth bands. In fact, one had all but broken up, but I talked them into staying together and making a "fuck u" record on their way out the door, but the label folded and the album never came out. The band still won't talk to me.
Q: If you had it to do over, would you still sign them?
A: Yes, it was a damn good record. I love it more than I miss the friendship.
Q: Will it ever come out?
A: It hasn't in 22 years. At some point, they tried to get the masters back from the label, but the label couldn't find them. Seems they've gone through so many mergers and sales that all sorts of master tapes are in some other label's vaults, or worse.
Q: I read about someone finding A&M 2" masters in a dumpster after the label moved from their La Brea location in '99.
A: That kind of thing happens all the time. What's another roll of tape to a moving guy? Of course, I probably have some master tapes and session roughs of some of my artists that the label never knew about. If they ask, of course, I'm always quick with a "here ya go" and "how did those get there?"
Q: As an A&R exec, is there an act you regret not signing who went on to have great success elsewhere?
A: Beck.
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