I was a music fanatic from the age of 10, listening to the UK pirate radio stations in the ‘60s and going to any live show I could in my Northern England home town of Hull. Once I got to Cambridge University (where one of my college friends was Geoff Travis, founder of Rough Trade) I started to collect records. I moved to Manchester, England in the late ‘70s intent on becoming a librarian, a staid, safe profession. However, once there I was seduced by an amazing local music scene that was bursting at the seams with energy and talent – Buzzcocks, Magazine, Joy Division, the rest of the early Factory label releases and more. I would go to the infamous Factory Club every Friday night to hear new bands like Joy Division and to Rafters on Saturdays to dance the night away to funk and disco.

So instead of landing a librarian job, Manchester was where I got my start in the music business. Back in 1978 a friend of mine asked if I would drive the van for his band. In typical fashion for the times, I quickly became the band’s manager and secured them a record deal with local indie label, New Hormones (also home to Buzzcocks management). When one of the partners in New Hormones left, I was asked to join the label’s staff. Still a neophyte, I quickly plunged into learning every aspect of the business from recording to manufacturing to press and promotion.

In 1982 I moved to New York and ran the short-lived Neutral Records, home to the first two Sonic Youth albums. During the rest of the ‘80s I worked in independent distribution as a domestic buyer, first at Dutch East India Trading and later at Caroline Distribution. Simultaneously I ran my own promotion company specializing in publicity, college radio promotion and tour marketing for a variety of UK independent labels (Mute Records, Red Rhino Records) and artists (Mekons, Wire, Cabaret Voltaire, Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds).

In 1988, after experiencing success with the licensing of Depeche Mode, Erasure and Nitzer Ebb to major labels, Mute Records decided it was time to open a US office and asked me to run it. Over the next eight years we moved from promoting export sales through Rough Trade, to label deals with Enigma and Elektra and finally back to independence with distribution through ADA. My role shifted with the times, but included stints as Label Manager and VP of Operations. I also played a key role in the cross-label team responsible for the start up of the Warner Music Group’s independent distribution company ADA. We worked with wonderful Mute artists including Nick Cave, Wire, Inspiral Carpets and also got the opportunity to sign The Prodigy when, inexplicably, both the majors with an option on the band failed to sign them.

The opportunity to move out of New York occurred in 1996 when I took the helm as General Manager of Rykodisc (a much bigger label than Mute’s US operation). In that capacity I managed a 20+ person staff and a significant marketing budget and worked with such great artists as Bruce Cockburn, Mickey Hart, Kelly Willis, Morphine and Medeski, Martin & Wood as well as having the David Bowie, Elvis Costello and Frank Zappa catalogs.

In 1998 Chris Blackwell’s Palm Pictures bough Rykodisc and, in 1999, I moved with the label to New York. One year later I left to run the long-established indie label, Instinct Records (original home to Moby) as its General Manager. There I worked with artists such as Kirsty McColl, Stacey Earle, Luka Bloom, Rasputina and others.

While at Instinct Records I began to help my friend Dan Zanes get his children’s music out in the world and thus the idea for Virtual Label was born in 2003. In the last five years my business has grown exponentially. I now have three full-time employees. Dan Zanes won a Grammy in 2006 for his album “Catch That Train”. Sonny Landreth had the #1 Blues album on Billboard this year for five weeks. Vinyl made a come back so we started working with Vinyl 180 on reissuing the classic 4AD/Beggars Banquet catalog. iTunes is now our biggest retail account. And I’m sure even more will change in the next five years….

December 25, 2008