TMP

Running my own company out of the city where I lived was a dream come true but being allowed to indulge in my hobby was way above dreaming!  I’d survived working in the music industry for seven or eight years when the opportunity arose to start my own regional promotion company. ‘What’s that?’ I hear you say. In a nutshell we got paid to get artists on television and their records played on local radio, local being the whole of the British Isles. I’d been initiated in to the world of promotion at Island Records and I can’t think of a better place with better mentors. They had a unique ability to bring together good, talented and hard working people who had a passion for music. Everyone who worked there already owned half of their catalogue and like myself, they were honored to be a part of it. I have mentioned before that it always felt weird thinking I would no longer have to pay for their records, I’d get them free and be paid to give them to other people. I would have gladly done the job for free.

There’s a time and a place and it somehow felt right. I had been offered the head of promotion job at Island but didn’t want to relocate down to London, why should I? Manchester was my home, so let the work come to me. Regional promotions up until was something the record companies handled in house and never to the extent that it was much of  a priority. They knew regional radio existed but it was mostly a task they’d give an assistant to do. If they were mailing records out then they thought if you get some time find out if these people are playing anything. Their entire focus was on the ‘big one’ Radio One, the UK’s national radio station. If they had a record on the playlist there then it had a good chance of being a hit, something I would never dispute. My argument was that more people listened to the combined commercial radio stations than listened to Radio One so they couldn’t be avoided. And furthermore they were on the rise, more and more of them were springing up all the time since the government had changed the monopoly the BBC had. If you want to be at the forefront then don’t get left behind and through the eighties and in to the nineties they continued to grow in numbers and in importance.

I had enormous fun when I began, just me and a mobile phone driving up and down the motorways of England visiting radio and television stations and a girl in the office answering the phone and saying, ‘he’s not here you can get him on his mobile.’ Seemed to make more sense than a random answaphone message and people either hanging up or getting frustrated. Just to be in the music business was enough but to be given an opportunity to run my own company, to stand and fall by my own decisions was more both exciting and motivating.

I say stand and fall by your own decisions because that is exactly what it entailed. In the past I was given records to promote but had no real choice and it wasn’t whether or not I liked them. They were paying my wages so that was my job but now this was something entirely different. Fortunately I had some people I respected in senior positions at records companies plus some others with a proven track record who had started to dabble in the world of record labels so I landed some quite significant projects. And once in I never looked back, it was an amazing journey with some equally amazing people.

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Journey Through The Past, PR, record companies, independant promotion, independent local radio, regional promotion, TMP

Ready, set, go

Once the  jury was out and back with the verdict then time to put the wheels in motion. Was it good enough? If all were agreed about the finished product the planning would begin. They’d have ideas about a single , they would decide on the order of the tracks and start to engage in constructive planning. Everyone would have some input even before they planned the planning!  It was driven by enthusiasm and an air of excitement. There was anticipation. How long since people sensed that? As Tom Petty said ‘the waiting is the hardest part.’ We’d have to wait, however long it took but it never mattered. If you are prepared to wait then it means it’s worth waiting for, right?. Your sheer love for music allowed you to do that.

And then there was the eagerness to get it out and get it heard. We, the pluggers would have our say and would maybe play some key people at radio a couple of songs , get their input. Everyone would run around like kids comparing new toys at Christmas. You’d create a buzz without even trying, a real buzz. Regularly we’d talk about other people’s records, I always thought it was the best form of promotion if you had someone else talking about the records you were promoting. If you gave a record plugger from another company a record you were promoting you knew the next time you saw them they’d have heard it and they’d then tell you what they thought. We all shared the same common interest, we loved music.

And the fans did too, they loved talking about it as well as listening to it and if you heard something you liked then you would want to share that with others and pass it on. It was viral marketing in it’s infancy and before the web. Chances are that if your friends liked it they would be out at the first available opportunity buying it for themselves. A tape? Bollocks to that we all wanted our own copy!

Maybe the artist wanted it so much more then, they saw creating great new music as the ultimate challenge because they knew there was an audience out there begging for it. The music industry has always been a place where you wash your dirty laundry in public. If you release an inferior product somewhere else, in fashion, a new range of kitchen appliances, new trainers etc all that happens is it  doesn’t sell. People don’t go around critiquing it and talking about it but when your next album isn’t as good as your last everyone knows. There’s an outcry. If you’re disappointed then again it only shows you care enough.

So where are we now? If the public aren’t buying and the record companies aren’t signing then have the artists given up trying? Is everyone to blame for what has happened to the music industry? Has it gone the way of shipbuilding and cotton, was it a once a great place to be and now merely a shadow of it’s former self? Have the good old days gone and do we need to accept that however it evolves in whatever way it just won’t ever recapture the excitement and give us that adrenalin rush we all got from being a spectator or an insider?

Is all we have left, memories?

Filed under: PR, record companies, View from the room, re, record companies, record pluggers

Belief and Simon Cowell

I remember each time I used to go to London for the Arista Records marketing meetings Simon Cowell would call me in to his office to find out what my people thought of his records, the ones I was promoting to regional radio. Even though we’d discuss these same records at the marketing meetings he knew they wouldn’t receive the attention he wanted because other records would be discussed too, and some at greater length. He wanted the one on one’s and who was I to argue, there’s no point working with people who aren’t keen to vibe you up on their projects. As much as he would offer his observations he’d always listen, Simon was a good listener. As I said in the book, I told him records like Zig and Zag, The Teletubbies and WWF wouldn’t get radio while he was still telling me they were hits, even if they wouldn’t play them. We were both right! Simon knew the power of television in selling records before anyone. The records he was putting out would get TV exposure, kids watched TV and bought records by people they saw on television.It was a lesson in culture, if you were on television the perception was you were famous. If it was good, crap or indifferent you were still famous.

When he moved from Arista to RCA he had a point to prove. The management at Arista at the time said they could no longer justify the overhead. They were basically saying, you’re an A and R guy and you aren’t giving us the hits we need, off you go. Considering that at the time I doubt he was earning a huge wage and only occupied a small office with his PA, Vanya that was quite some rejection. By his own admission he never saw eye to eye with the hierarchy at Arista then so I suppose it was only a matter of time. Still,  a great lesson in getting a knock back and rising far far above it. He moved out of one part of BMG in to another and had hits with the same records his previous employers had turned down! That has to be the greatest confidence boost of all,  and then passing people in the corridors weeks later who didn’t believe in you. There was hardly had to tell them you were right and they were wrong.

It’s stuff like that that makes him what he is. Whether it was with me or the head of a record company, he made people believe in him because of how he believed in himself. Sometimes the look on his face was amazing, I don’t think he realized it but he would look at you as if you’d lost the plot. ‘How can you say that?’  he’d utter when you looked at him, almost apologizing in advance of what you knew people were going to say about these ‘non radio friendly ‘records. I loved the banter because I was doing what I was paid to do which was , as much as getting his artists exposure telling him the truth! If they hated it and wouldn’t play it then why was I to blame for that? In a way you have to understand that an A and R man has to believe in his artists and he did. Even though they were glove puppets, burly wrestlers who grunted a lot and The Teletubbies, the bastard love children of Mr Blobby. I have to admit I too couldn’t understand why he wasn’t believing that these media people weren’t believing in his artists.

Personally I never saw a threat to the legacies of Dylan, Elvis and The Beatles by Simon Cowell. I loved it because he always kept you on your toes, I was paid to be accountable and I was accounting. Secretly I was shit scared of my credibility with my radio people though. I’d spent  a lifetime trying to build a reputation on the quality of the artists that I was promoting.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, Opportunity, PR, View from the room, Arista Records, BMG, Simon Cowell

Tiger would?

As the cult of celebrity thickens, it’s fast becoming an epidemic. I’m sitting in Orlando just down the road from the once squeeky clean Tiger Woods who’s now looking like he was a tiger after all. He only ever popped out for a round of golf but now he’s got to be feeling a little caged in with the world’s media camped outside his Isleworth estate.

And now we discover he’s had more than one illicit affair. Each day we have another ‘Woodette’ stepping in to the media circus. Apparently the girl who originally had denied any wrong doing might admit to doing right by admitting to doing wrong. Could it have something to do with the other scarlet woman having just landed $150,000 from US weekly.? Maybe I could convince someone I was his love child and land a pay check? Er, maybe not…

While his Escalade  needs an extreme makeover somewhere to the tune of $8,000 he seemed to think his image would remain untarnished. His check book can more than cover the cost of the vehicular damage yet I can’t help wondering why his millions weren’t better spent protecting his image. We have actual persons deployed nowadays as image consultants and why he didn’t find the best we’ll never know. Did he really expect that by keeping quite this would go away. Yes you Mr Woods billionaire and most rewarded sports star on earth. This was NEVER going to go away and now when a simple ‘I fucked up’ statement to all and sundry might have sufficed it’s a big time headache. All the vultures are out and it looks like they are baying for blood. His sponsors were quoted as saying they didn’t have a problem with this but now as each day goes by they must be wondering that this is bad publicity. I’m looking at it and wondering how much could one man possibly lose in one week. Never mind the sponsors what about the missus?  He’s already apparently ‘renegotiating’ the pre nup. Is that a prenupshutmeup  to stop her selling her side of things to the press? And  what could that be worth! Then there’s the publishing advance from hell. Here fill in whatever you want, just give us the meat and bones

I firmly believe in this day and age of people making fortunes out of celebrity fuck ups he should have found one image consultant supremo and slapped an open check on their desk and say, ‘Get me out of this, whatever it costs, just get me out of this.’ Money well spent and money very well saved.

Let’s be honest a man knowing what he’d done and with unlimited funds to employ the best would have someone come round, cut a check and say, ‘Make this go away.’ For a guy who seemed to have it all and the type of brand sponsors fall over you would expect he would have made a better job of all this. Where are his advisers, he must have them? If not …Tiger I’m here, I’d have done it for you!

Even though his sponsors are saying they are sticking by him, how long can all this bad publicity realistically be tolerated? I feel particularly sorry for one of his sponsors, Nike who’s slogan is ‘Just do it.’ A TV ad with Tiger Woods on…….and a tag line that fires across the screen saying ‘Just do it?’ I think there might be some people sat behind closed doors rethinking their marketing plan or at least who their marketing plan should involve. Here is a brand that can, after all attract the creme de la creme from the sporting world and there are a good few few celebrity sports people that are far less maintenance. And you have thought a golfer would have been so much ‘safer’ than a football or baseball player. Maybe not..

There is plenty more to come from this story. Tiger, Tiger’s burning bright but for now I’ve gone.

Filed under: mistakes, PR, View from the room, Nike, sponsorship deals, sports stars, Tiger Woods

Don’t be an asshole

I’ve been buried in my writings but I haven’t forgot my blog. Just thought I wouldn’t add daily …but then again I might change my mind. Part of what I’m writing is on interpersonal skills which we should all have but some have better than others. I’ll probably include some in this book which is ‘Insights from the engine room’ and about some of the lessons you can learn from rock and roll. There are more planned and I quite fancy the idea of a stand along book on interpersonal skills which I would probably enjoy writing. Let’s face it the older you get the more characters crop up along the way…so let’s not forget them, although some are best forgotten!

Here’s a little something/someone we have all encountered. No apologies if you’re in the chosen category…

The Asshole

Identifying the asshole

The music business is full of assholes. Right, like accountancy, education, coal mining and water polo aren’t and not to mention fencing, waste management and a thousand other work places. Problem is spotting them. Assholes can attract assholes too…bottom line (every pun intended!)

No one likes working with an asshole. It’s much harder to be personable and affable than to be a jerk. Sadly however, the asshole has a problem identifying this…..that’s why they’re an asshole. To them they are misunderstood, it’s others are being awkward, uncooperative and generally just not prepared to help. It isn’t because they necessarily disagree with them……. they don’t want to be in the same room as them. The appearance of the asshole at a gathering or function is not welcome, they are not liked and people don’t want to do business with them. Make you’re excuses and leave, it’ll end in tears anyway.

Lonely is the asshole

Now the asshole is left wanting, they are insecure. The asshole has no purpose, no one loves them. If they can’t realize people don’t like them then it’s not your job to fix it. If you employed them it is …now who’s the asshole.

He who shouts the loudest is often heard the least.

Those who are belligerent and obnoxious are to be avoided…….they feel that shouting gets them heard. Getting heard and being noticed are two entirely different things. People who scream and shout are probably the type who get the runaround at home. They come to work pissed off and need to vent their fury and it’s usually some quite unassuming character that gets the brunt of it.

Filed under: Book Tony Michaelides, mistakes, PR, assholes, communication skills, intersonal skills

Sweet little mystery no more

I woke this morning expecting to see some replies to my e-mails from friends and colleagues…..I log on, nothing! I grumbled to my mother who is staying with me at present while cursing the internet. Bless, she offered to take me in to town to see if I could buy the internet….

The cable guy, Verizon Fios guy to be exact appeared with new router, a tweak here, an extra box there and we are back on. I log on and there before me a bunch of e-mails from my old cohorts at Island Records with the header ‘John Martyn 1948 to 2009’ and the inevitable news that he has died. Maybe some of you here in America might not have heard of him but John was a giant, I’d like to say a gentle giant and at times he was, at other times a ferocious beast. Sadly at times the demon alcohol took over and he was erratic and scary. Whichever John Martyn turned up he was always a total genius, a brilliant guitarist and a fantastic songwriter. If you don’t know him you’ll know Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Dave Gimour and others who played with him or recorded his songs and their versions of ‘Sweet little mystery’ and ‘May you never’ John Martyn’s songs were timeless songs. Sadly another one gone who seemed to be around as long as you had been into music and collecting records.

John Martyn had many music biz friends who were also fans,he was very much admired. A rare talent and another one who won’t ever be replaced. Like many others I am saddened by his loss yet not totally suprised, he ravaged his body and it just eventually gave up. Just a few years ago he had a leg amputated and though not entirely sure this may have been alcohol abuse related. He joked about it. His cause of death was cited as pneumonia, how much of anymore could his body have taken, his immune system must have packed up years ago.

John Martyn had demons but a sensitivity in his songwriting that you don’t often see. ‘Some keep diaries’ he said….’I write songs’ Chris Blackwell, the guy who first signed him was a good friend and originally could not release his ‘Grace and Danger’ album as he found it too upsetting, he had known John and Beverley both. John pleaded with him as it as a carthatic release for him, he needed it……Chris eventually obliged. It was a moving piece of music and as always with John Martyn it cut straight from the heart. Nothing about John Martyn was ever safe…… yet always sacred.

I worked with him in the seventies and eighties. He made me laugh and he made me cry. He would go in to a radio station and leave us all gasping for breath with some mindblowing guitar and another time he would sit outside in my car refusing to move and refusing to let me take him in for a pre arranged interview. Another time he announced he didn’t want to do anything in Scotland and wanted to go see his dad who still lived there in Glasgow. Testing times for an embryonic plugger. How do you explain to someone sat in reception that your artist will not budge. How can you answer ‘Why’?….and if I was to confront him and tell him not to be silly I was terrified of the consequences, I put up and shut up. Driving him in my car once from one radio station to another his accent changed, we hit Glasgow and he became Glasweigen! We did the interview and he wanted a drink, it was 10-30am and I was petrified. Working with John Martyn could be hard but at other times wonderful. He could be so warm and friendly too, delighted to see you.

I remember once when he played Manchester Polytechnic, he walked out on stage blind drunk clad in great coat, slided his guitar alongside his amp took two steps to the side and promptly puked up. Once over he dragged his shirt sleeve across his mouth, took two steps forward and took off in to song like nothing had ever happened! Some hapless character, mop in hand slipped on to the stage having been assigned puke retival duties. The set was blistering.

John Martyn is now gone but won’t be forgotten. Along with Bob Marley and Robert Palmer the mainstay of early Island is disappearing but with it too come fond memories of what made this the greatest label ever…. the people. Memories too of Martyn’s press officer for so many years who dealt with his erratic behaviour so well, the much loved Rob Partridge who slowly slipped away and left us just before Christmas.

For all of us who were there so many things remind us of all the good times we shared. It takes every kinda people.

Don’t worry ’bout a thing……..every little thing gonna be alright.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, PR, record companies, Chris Blackwell, Island Records, John Martyn, Rob Partidge

Get it together

I’ve been moving furniture around and I’m knackered. I’ve lost half the stuff I put in places to make it easier to find them but I suppose it’s bound to get easier when I eventually do find them……. Nevertheless good things happen and Facebook once more re introduces figures from the past and more glorious memories come flooding back. An old TV pal from many moons ago, Sally located me and we have been exchanging e-mails furiously. As she has now spent more time on my blog than I have she’ll be vital in helping me drag out a few more gems, especially from the great times spent on music television shows.

Sally worked at Granada for a good few years and was there 30 years ago when I managed to get a bunch of Irish kiddies a nice little break. I have to admire them for booking U2 way ahead of anyone else around the time ‘I will follow’ came out. Back then U2 were only getting interviews on specialist radio shows so it was very bold on Granada’s part to stick their necks out and book them, especially on a kid’s show. Not only did they get on TV but the show was broadcast nationally. Looking back at that footage nowadays is incredible and yet so few web sites even list it. We know it exists…we were there. U2 looked so young but then again so did I !!! They were always so grateful for every opportunity, very humble and lapped up the chance to meet the media.They were the perfect band to get on radio or television…you got them on and they did the rest. They made a plugger’s job easy. I’ll get blasted here from Sal if I’m wrong but the show was ‘Get it together’ presented by one of the world’s most famous owls, ‘Ollie Beak.’ The show’s producer was Muriel Young, a lovely lady who sadly passed away a few years ago but someone who I can still picture vividly. She came out of an era in television, the 60’s where some of the most amazing bands passed through their doors. I missed that one professionally (yes, too young!) but still had my radio and TV there to give me the most amazing education.

Television back in the 70’s , especially music television which was where I was hovering was littered with the best bunch of people you could ever hope to meet. I made some great friends there. If you loved music and worked in television you were allowed to work on music programmes……..whoever thought up that recipe deserves a medal, music people for music televsion. Then again the same could be said of record pluggers, we loved music so all day you were exchanging stories, talking about great new records that had come out, booking bands on to shows, doing the work and having great fun at the same time. TV researchers trusted you and no matter how much I wanted to get my bands on to TV I prided myself on never trying to force stuff on them that clearly wasn’t right for the show. There were other places to book other bands so why even try to get an act on a show that wouldn’t be right for their audience anyway, what’s the point?

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Opportunity, PR, record companies, get it together, Granada TV, music television

The passing of a remarkable man

I just received a call from Neil with the very sad news that one of our former Island colleagues, Rob Partridge had passed away. Rob was one of the finest human beings ever to have graced the music industry and an engine room giant, yet his greatest quality was that he was an ‘all round good bloke.’ There will be many people in many places mourning yet at the same time fondly remembering someone who made an impact on everyone. I’m not alone in saying I was proud to have known him.

Rob had many qualities not least of all his humility. Most of you reading this won’t know who he was and that’s a shame. He was a hugely talented PR blessed with remarkable communication skills and someone adept at identifying and nurturing talent. I can imagine the impact his death will have had on so many artists from U2 to Tom Waits from just reading the tributes Johnny Marr and Marianne Faithful have already offered. Marianne said he was one of the greatest men she had ever met, Billboard referred to him as a PR giant. Words could never serve to do him justice, he was a very special human being.

Rob was the first person to spot the talent that was U2 and gave his employer Island Records the heads up, yet he was never one to gloat over it. I often wonder if U2 would have gone on to become what they are today without Island and especially without Rob Partridge. He had a unique ability when it came to dealing with artists, he took time to understand them and they in turn loved working with him.

The last time I saw him was maybe 10 years ago yet but when I read the tributes and e-mails and see his picture it’s like I’m there in his front room and he’s defending his dedication to Queens Park Rangers like only Rob could……and always there at his side his wonderful and loving wife Tina. A remarkable half of a remarkable whole.

I’m not the only one who will miss him and look forward to the day someone walks on to a stage to receive the Rob Partridge Lifetime Achievement Award.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, PR, View from the room, Island Records, Johnny Marr, Marianne Faithful, Rob Partridge, U2