Mixed and Mastered
Mixed and Mastered is the podcast where the untold stories of the music industry come to life. Hosted by Jeffrey Sledge, a veteran music executive and former VP of A&R at Atlantic Records and Jive Records, each episode dives deep into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of the people shaping the sound of today. From label executives and producers to artists, songwriters, and managers, Jeffrey brings you behind the scenes to meet the minds driving the industry forward. There’s a gap in the marketplace for these voices, and Mixed and Mastered is here to fill it—one conversation at a time. Because the best stories are told by those who lived them.
Mixed and Mastered
Nicole Bilzerian
Ever wonder how the biggest music careers are built behind the scenes? Nicole Bilzerian's story is a masterclass in music industry evolution.
Nicole shares her journey in the music industry, starting from her early interest in music to her internships at RCA Records and Jive. She discusses her experiences working with major artists, the transition to Interscope, and her role in building Geffen Records during the pandemic. Nicole reflects on the challenges and successes she faced as a woman leading urban marketing in a predominantly male industry, emphasizing the importance of integrity and hard work in her career. In this engaging conversation, Nicole shares her insights into the music industry, discussing her experiences with marketing new artists like Olivia Rodrigo, the evolution of artist-fan engagement, and her new venture, 81B. She emphasizes the importance of genuine connections between artists and their fans, the strategic planning behind successful music releases, and her vision for helping indie labels with operational support. Nicole also reflects on her favorite artists and memorable songs she has worked on, providing a comprehensive look at her career and aspirations.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
This week's guest is Nicole Bazarian. Nicole started her career at Jive Records doing marketing for Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. After leaving Jive, she went to Interscope Records, guiding projects by J Cole, dababy, ray Shremard and Juice WRLD. Nicole then served as Executive Vice President at Geffen Records, where she played a pivotal role in launching Olivia Rodrigo's chart-topping album Sour, which won a Grammy. She is now the founder of 81B, a company dedicated to empowering creatives with operational support. Since its launch in 2023, 81b has worked with Nickelodeon, rebel Music and Gamma. Let's take a look inside her journey on this week's episode of Mixed and Mastered.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Mixed and Mastered, the podcast where the stories of the music industry come to life. I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringing you real conversations with the people who have shaped the sound of music. We're pulling back the curtain on what it takes to make it in the music business. These are the stories you won't hear anywhere else, told by the people who live them. This is Mixed and Mastered. Hello, this is Mixed and Mastered with an old co-worker of mine who's become a big maca maca, nicole Blazarian. How are you, nicole?
Speaker 2:I'm good. I'm good, how are you?
Speaker 1:Good man.
Speaker 2:Thanks for asking me to do this.
Speaker 1:Of course, of course I mean. So we haven't seen each other in quite a while, but I've been watching.
Speaker 1:you know, since you moved to California, I've just been watching watching you grow up and up and up and up and I'm like, oh man, the cold's coming out there. You know, and I'm real proud of you. You know, but everything that you've done, that we'll discuss. But I'm really proud of you because seeing you from the young, you know, young girl at jive to, yeah, you know what you and you're still young. I'm gonna try to call you like old, but same, no, it's all right, it's all right. Become this big executive, you know. So let's get started from the beginning.
Speaker 2:So you grew up in Massachusetts, I did.
Speaker 1:Worcester Mass, worcester Mass Now, is that in Boston? I don't know geography of Boston or Massachusetts, but this one now you know it's central Mass Geography of Massachusetts as well. This one now.
Speaker 2:You know, it's Central Mass.
Speaker 1:So it's like 45, 50 minutes outside of Boston. Okay.
Speaker 2:Is there a college there or something? I know the name? Yeah, there's a ton of colleges in Worcester, actually, I think I don't know, it might be like eight or nine, literally.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, that's why I know the name, because I definitely have heard the name before and after that. Now, where'd you go to college?
Speaker 2:I went to Fordham. That's how I ended up in New York. I was in the Bronx.
Speaker 1:That's how you ended up in New York. You was in the Bronx, in the Bronx, yes. So how'd you end up at Fordham instead of UMass or Harvard or Boston College or one of those?
Speaker 2:You know it's crazy, when I was in high school I was an athlete, I played softball and I had an attitude at the time that I was only going to go to schools that were recruiting me. And I went on all of my recruiting visits and they were all great schools but none of them really kind of spoke to me. So last minute, um, my aunt, one of my aunts, went to Fordham. I said to my parents, I said, can we just go check out this school in New York? And we went and I just fell in love with the campus. I was like, oh, this is amazing, it's in the Bronx, it's close. Prex sent me to the city. Um, I was like I'll just walk on. So I, you know, had a meeting with the, with the coach at the time. She agreed to let me, you know, walk onto the team. And so Fordham was a last minute decision for me, but the best decision I could have made. I'm so glad I went there.
Speaker 1:Wow, where'd you get your interest in music? Where'd that come from? Or was it just an internship that turned into music's?
Speaker 2:been interested in music. Um, you know, whether it was just like listening to my parents play music around the house, or just I? I honestly don't know where it came from, but since a young age I was really interested in music. My first concert was belbiv devoe.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, okay the homies yeah and um, and I just loved music, but I never knew that you could have a career in music unless you were the artist. So I got an internship when I was in college at RCA Records and that opened my eyes to the fact that you could work in music but not have to sing or rap or dance, and that from that moment on I was like, okay, now this is where I want to be. I changed everything.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. So who'd you intern for at RCA? What were you doing in your internship?
Speaker 2:So my first internship was for a woman by the name of Hannah Serbu, who was the executive assistant to Bob Jameson, who was running the company at the time.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep time.
Speaker 2:And that internship or that assignment was pure luck in the best way, because interning for the executive assistant to the person running the company, you get to see everything that's going on in the company. So that was just such a privilege to be like. Oh my God, there's all these departments and these people do different things and I was so naive to how the whole process worked. But that was the best first internship I could have had. And then I did another semester in their marketing department.
Speaker 1:Okay, and that's how you got into the marketing thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how'd you get to Jive?
Speaker 2:So I, like a lot of college students you know, left college looking for a job and I had an arrangement with my grandparents where they agreed for my graduation gift they would pay three months of rent in New York and I would have to find a job over the summer or I'd have to move back home. So for those three months I was a temp. I got hooked up with a temp agency and I was doing just kind of temp work at different labels and I didn't get a full-time job in August. So I moved home for two months and then I got a call back.
Speaker 2:I was miserable, I was, I was, I was. But so then I got a call back from the temp agency that November and they said, hey, if you can come back to New York, we've got a temp position that we think is going to become permanent, you know, if you want it, I said yes, great. So I ended up moving back to New York and I temped a little bit again at Jive, actually like as reception, or that's how I met Alison Joyce. I was helping A&R. Hi, alison, yeah, yeah. And then the full-time assistant position opened up because the assistant for the head of marketing and special projects at the time, Julia, her assistant, had gotten promoted so she needed a new assistant. So January, three months later, I got the full-time assistant gig.
Speaker 1:And that was the start. That was the start Sidebar, because I never ask you this how did you get to Lenox Terrace? How did you move to Harlem? I'm going to ask you that. By the way, folks, we shared the same shoe store. Yeah, we had the same shoe man.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I had a lot of shoes repaired walking around those streets.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I got to Harlem because I was in the bronx for two years post college, right, had a roommate and was making that commute down, you know, on the one or the nine train down to 25th street and then I made just enough money to get closer to downtown so I was able to find a studio in harlem, actually on 130th between Adam Clayton and Lennox.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Fourth floor walk up, but I was by myself right, so I did that for two years and then I finally had like a little bit of money to get in an elevator building, which you know is a big deal.
Speaker 1:It's a big deal, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's when I moved over to 135th and 5th and Lenox Terrace.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, cool, cool. So you started working with Julia. How was your initial experience at Jive Like? Was it kind of like, was it similar to RCA, because I don't quite remember what RCA was back then. Was it very different? And what kind of don't quite remember what RCA was back then, it wasn't very different and what kind of turned you on about wanting to do this, like really do this, and turn it into a career?
Speaker 2:I remember it being definitely a bit different. You know, rca was, you know, a very from what I remember at the time as an intern, just like very organized, buttoned up, you know, label in New York City and Jive was just more. It was smaller, it was more. You know, I I feel like the term family is just so overused, but it really did feel like that it really was, though it really was you know we were just, it was scrappy, it was just like it was a good time, but it was work and and um, I loved it.
Speaker 2:Like from the minute minute I went there I was like this is this is what I want to do for my career, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it was definitely a family environment. Like you said, it is over term, overused term, but I can say I worked at atlantic records later on and I was like, wow, this is. I really realized how unique of a situation Jive was when I went to Atlantic. Yeah. You know, and that's not dogging Atlantic, but it was just like wow, it wasn't really family, it was just like more like corporate, you know. So it was special. So tell me a couple of the projects you worked on at Jive.
Speaker 2:So because I got really lucky with assisting the head of the department, I kind of like got to see a lot of the projects that were just happening at the label at the time. But when I kind of got a little bit more responsibility and started working my own projects, it was the height of, like Britney and R Kelly and Sierra days right.
Speaker 2:So I think and I'm terrible with dates, but if I remember it was like the Sierra Evolution album. Over time, as I kind of came up, I ended up doing I did Robert's Trapped in the Closet and Double Up album, one of Britney's albums. Yeah, yeah it was. It was a crazy time at that before we move forward.
Speaker 1:I don't have crazy stories the right term because I don't want to give anybody any trouble but do you have any trapped in the closet stories about working the record, or do you just kind of work the record?
Speaker 2:No, I just kind of work the record. I mean, at the time it was such a bizarre thing Like what is this? So there was definitely nuances that came along with that.
Speaker 1:But no, I truly truly don't have any weird stories yeah, that's what I tell people all the time when they ask me where I rob it. I'm like I don't really got no wish. I'm sorry, I wasn't no like 11 year old girls walking around the office like he was. He was an amazing artist and he kept putting out amazing records and that's pretty much all I could tell you. Man, you know you know. So after the jive, explain how you got to Interscope in California.
Speaker 2:So back to the family, a piece of it. So I was at jive and then, as you know, we had merged with RCA and we became jive RCA and we moved into the 550 Madison building and so I had been there through the merger for about nine, 10 years and, like most people, you know you love what you do but you feel underpaid, overworked and I kept being like, oh, I got to leave, I got to leave. Mark Flaherty called me.
Speaker 2:Great dude, he had left and gone and done other things and then made his way to LA to Interscope and he called me and he said hey, I kind of know what they're paying you, I can pay you more. But you got to move to California and I was like I don't want to do that, I love New York. He's like just come for an interview and then you make a decision, was like all right, fine, so flew to LA. I met with him, I met with Steve Berman and I still like wasn't convinced because I was like I love New York, I just love.
Speaker 2:New York so much um, but they made me an offer that I honestly couldn't refuse um, and I remember talking to Mark Pitts about it and because at the time I had I was working like some developing artists that I really had passion for, like a Jacob Lattimore right, who I still, you know, I'm to Mark Pitts about it, and because at the time I had I was working like some developing artists that I really had passion for, like a Jacob Lattimore right, who I still, you know, I'm still good friends with Tish to this day and I was like I don't know. And Mark was like get your money.
Speaker 1:And I was like that was his famous term Get your money, get your money, get your money, you gotta get your money.
Speaker 2:And I was like, okay, fine, but I'm going to come back. I was like I'm only going to go for three years and then I'm going to come back to New York. So I did. I ended up going to Interscope as a marketing director. They made me a great offer and so I moved to LA.
Speaker 1:So, okay, well, I'll deal with a couple of things, but tell, between jive and working at Interscope, you know it's a totally different totally different totally different.
Speaker 2:Well, there was a lot of differences, I think, label wise, but also city wise. For example, you know, in New York, especially at jive, we were in the office sun up to sundown. We all went out after work. It was like you literally like lived there. And. I remember when I first got to LA and I would go to the office and someone would say like it'd be like one o'clock, and they'd be like all right, you know, I've got a meeting, I'll see you tomorrow and I'm like one o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm like, oh, you're not, you're not coming back to the office. And they're like, no, no, Like you know, with traffic, and no like no, I'll see you tomorrow. And I was like, oh, my goodness, like this is a different city, you know, people aren't living in the office, it's kind of come and go, and so that was a difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jive, you did that. Your phone would be blowing up like like all the rest of the day Like when are you coming back? When are you coming back?
Speaker 2:Totally, I mean. But now, having lived here for a long time, I did get it Like traffic is crazy, it is geographically spread out, like I get it now, but at the time I did not, I did not understand it and you know it was definitely Jive was relaxed. But then going through RCA, which is a little bit more buttoned up, you kind of got a little bit more corporate culture. And then going to Interscope, I felt like was definitely a lot of creative. I mean, I got to Interscope right as Jimmy was leaving and John Janik was taking over. I got the tail end of Jimmy and then I got, you know, john, john coming in. So it was a transitional time that way, but I just it was definitely a creative environment. You knew that coming in, you know, I started talking about budgets. Everyone was like yeah, yeah, like talk to us later, you know what I mean Like it was creative.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've never met Janet. I've heard great things about him, but I've never met him. What was he like to work for?
Speaker 2:He is super smart. You know different personality than Barry, but reminded me a lot of him in the sense of reads every chart, reads every article. We'll ask you about it. Just really, really smart.
Speaker 1:Smart guy reads every article. We'll ask you about it. Just really, really smart um smart guy? Yeah, yeah, I was. So what acts?
Speaker 2:did you start working on when you got there. So again, I was very fortunate with my timing because I got to in our scope in february of 2013. It was right when we were launching Robin Thicke Blurred Lines. Wow.
Speaker 2:So I worked Robin that record and that album. I did Aloe Blacc, which again at that point was having a huge moment and is still incredible, incredible artist Record and Maroon 5. I worked the five album. I did Fergie one album. So when I first got there again, there again my timing I could not have planned it any better. I just got really fortunate with these big artists that were releasing projects at the time and they were global projects. So I got to work with all the territories and really learn more about the global space.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, which is very different. It's just like go. I remember a jive clive sent me uh to england and to sweden and you get to see like, wow, it's like different, it's just like go. I remember a drive clive sent me uh to england and to sweden and you get to see like, wow, it's like this. It's a really big world out there. You kind of think in united states, united states, but then you go to these other territories and you're like, oh, they do things different and there's a whole kind of different system in place in other places, you know yeah um, it's not.
Speaker 1:It's not homogenized, as I kind of thought it was. You know, Wait before we move on the blurred lines lawsuit.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I thought Pharrell got hosed. What were your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:To be honest, I don't really know what my thoughts on it were, because I was so caught up kind of in it. I mean I got deposed and had to testify. Oh, wow. But only to speak about the marketing campaign.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Specifically right and all the things that we did and how much money we had spent to make the song a success, rather than the song being a success because of a sample or an interpolation. Hmm. So, to be honest, I don't know. I mean obviously unfortunate for Robin and for Pharrell and it definitely is a fine line. It's definitely a fine line when you start talking about these things, but yeah, that's a tough one moving forward.
Speaker 1:You ended up working with with uh j cole and sheck west and juice world yeah the baby and ray shram and olivia rarigo who we'll get to? We'll get to in a minute. Um, I remember I went to uh travis scott's concert tour. The sheck west opened that. That for yeah it was after a world tour yeah and I.
Speaker 1:I went in new york and I remember I knew the sheck west record was big. I knew it was big. I was. I knew the Sheck Rest record was big. I knew it was big, I was in New York, I knew it was big. But when he came out and did that song, and you know what was it, the little drop was like fuck shit, it was something like that. The whole garden. I was like OK, this is bigger than I thought it was. This is like a big, big thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:How was it working with him and working with, uh, with Cole and those guys and Juice WRLD?
Speaker 2:I mean, again, I look at like kind of my career so far and just like what moments of time I've had and that particular time was really great to be a part of, because Joey Manda had just come also into interscope and we were really transitioning or building out the kind of hip-hop, rap, r&b artists at the label. Obviously there were the icons right, like there were like the, you know, the eminem 50 like all right, yes but at the time there weren't that many developing.
Speaker 2:So it was really a priority to bring in label partners and developing artists to really build up and over that time I don't know like a six credit to the entire team because there were so many artists that we were working at the time. So, as you mentioned, you know, j Cole and Dreamville we worked closely with. They're amazing, they're just good people.
Speaker 1:I mean, I haven't met them, but I've heard they're great people.
Speaker 2:Really great people Actually, fun fact, you know, fast forward. So Cole just did his the 10th anniversary show at MSG Yep and I happened to be in New York in December for work and I had my son with me and I brought him. So my son's first concert is J Cole.
Speaker 1:At the Garden. That's dope, that's dope, that's dope.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that was a great moment in time. They're really great people to work with. Working with Grade um, you know, with bibby and pete on juice world, was really great. Those guys are just, you know, they're they're forward thinking and innovative, like I know. Like all the content that was made around juice world was very thought out by them and by the team. So that was a good time.
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, there was a lot, of a lot of moments within that six-year period, for sure I bet it was if in reading about it it felt like you were just like on, just rolling. It was like one one one hit, hit, hit, hit after another. You know, yeah, and you put out one of my favorite albums, um, the first race rim album. Yeah, I remember listening to that. I was like in the gym or something and I put it on and I, like you know, I like the singles. When I put the album on I was like this is some other shit, like I really I still listen to the album sometime today.
Speaker 2:That's a great project, you know yeah, that that that album was, uh, was actually a lot of fun. Um, and I just look back you know this is kind of off on a tangent, but I look back and when you're in, like the release of a record, any record right, there's things that you just find so important. And I just look back on like some of the conversations that I had with Mike Will at the time and I'm just like why did we care? So like there was just like certain things you know, like that was a lot of fun to work that project.
Speaker 1:A lot of fun, yeah yeah, I bet, because they had. They had that youthful energy and it was atlanta and it was just like a whole movement, you know yeah yeah I liked them a lot, so tell me how you got to now. Olivia rarigo, that was geffen or that was still in the scope that was geffen.
Speaker 2:Okay, so tell me aboutterscope.
Speaker 1:That was Geffen. Okay, so tell me about that transition to go to Geffen, because you got to. I mean, let's leave out some details which is when you got to Interscope, you started and you rose up the ranks. You were like a senior vice president, you were like a big wig. It wasn't like you were just no disrespect but you weren't just like a product manager.
Speaker 1:You were like a product manager, you were like a really doing it. So tell me about I want to hear about that too Like I think people don't understand how to kind of rise in corporate America and how to the stuff you got to do to kind of weave through that and get to that, that, that that high level.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I just from start to finish. Well, I'm not finished, so start to now.
Speaker 1:Let's say yeah, you're not finished, you're not, far from it, I'm not finished yet.
Speaker 2:So, you know, I started as an intern, then I became an assistant and then, I think, I got bumped up to coordinator and then I was like a junior product manager and then I got to Interscope and I was a product manager or marketing director we kind of interchanged the term, I suppose and then again, because of the timing and just a lot of other factors that played into it, I was able to get promoted to the head of urban marketing.
Speaker 2:So that was in the height of when we were really focused on the developing artists and just trying to like build out that team. So it wasn't just me there was, you know we had a small team to start and over time, over those six years, it grew and, you know, slowly but surely we were able to get more head count and really bring in people to help support the amount of artists that we had. Yeah, so I, you know I worked my way up in the sense of, like all the things you would expect you have to work hard, you have to be, you know, ready for the opportunity when it comes, you have to be at the right place at the right time, you have to have the right people advocating for you. So there's a lot that goes into it for sure. So this was now during the pandemic.
Speaker 2:It was like June of 2020, 2020, I guess okay my deal was coming up and, um, you know we were talking about renegotiating and I think everyone's general feeling was that we wanted to continue working together. I wanted to stay, they wanted to keep me, but where is there an opportunity to grow and you.
Speaker 1:you felt like you kind of hit a ceiling at Interscope A little bit yeah. A glass ceiling a little bit.
Speaker 2:And I loved what I was doing. I mean, we were on a hot streak, like it was great. But there was just that, conversations on what else I could do At the time. Yeah, it was like June of the pandemic Everyone's working from home. No one was supposed to be meeting in person but I had to have some like secret in-person meetings to talk about stuff you know.
Speaker 2:And Geffen had been around. Obviously just prior Neil Jacobson had been running Geffen and he decided to leave and so there was a new wave of we want Geffen to continue being an active label, but like, how are we going to position it now? So they had brought over Lee LaRue. He was at Warner at the time he came over to Geffen and they were really focused on building the new iteration of Geffen. So they said, well, what if you went over to Geffen and we're just, you know, the executive vice president of the label and you work with Lee and you try to, you know, build up this new version of Geffen? I said, oh, that's interesting, because my passions at that time kind of had shifted and I'll always love marketing, it'll be the backbone of kind of what I do, but I really had a passion for operations at that point and how things worked and hiring the right people and giving the right people opportunities that kind of became what I was interested in. So this was kind of the perfect fit.
Speaker 4:And we'll be right back Ready to launch your podcast. Merrick Studios offers comprehensive services, from concept development and seamless production to strategic marketing and monetization. Let your story take the mic. Visit MerrickCreativecom slash studios and let's get to work.
Speaker 3:Master the art of lyricism with Pendulum Inc. The first school for rap. Learn elite techniques through immersive lessons, real world exercises and guidance from hip hop icons. This is where MCs sharpen their skills and glow boldly on the mic. Ready to level up, Visit PendulumInccom and start your journey today. And now back to our show.
Speaker 2:I ended up going over to Geffen, which is part of Interscope, right, it's all the same umbrella and when I got there, like I said, lee was there, and then there was, I think, like three or four other people. There was shout out to Lowe's who was doing promotion, dave Anderson who was head of streaming and Erica who was Lee's assistant. So there was like five of us and that was it. Who was Lee's assistant? So there was like five of us and that was it and it was like okay, like build a staff in the pandemic Right. So you know, one of the things that I'm the most proud of is, in the short time that I was at Geffen, which was probably about two and a half years, we really built a staff from about five people to almost 25 people probably 22 people in during the pandemic um, and we had, we had some successes. I mean, obviously, olivia is the biggest one you know to date, but we had some other big wins with ye and a few other, you know, a few other signings.
Speaker 1:So wait, okay, I got before. I want to, I don't want to forget, but I got a bigger question. But he, he, he intrigues me so much, Like how he, like he's not really seen but he's, he's, he's massive artists, Like he's. Yeah, how did that? Who? Who brought him in? Like, how did that happen? Cause I I'm I'm not really up on like the history of him, but like I guess, how did that happen?
Speaker 2:um so few people brought him in in terms of like, brought him to the attention of the label. Ultimately, he ended up signing with zach bia and his label, who had a venture with geffen okay and yeah, I mean the whole kind of being mysterious and wearing the balaclavas and stuff. I mean that's him. I think that's organically him. To my knowledge, nobody kind of made that a thing.
Speaker 1:He was doing that from the beginning. Yeah, he's dope. But I got a big question I wanted to ask you so, being this white woman head of Urban, how did I can't I don't know how to phrase it, but how did that work? Like, was it pushed back from some people? Was it cool? Like, how did how did that work with people? See, see you and you're like, you're the head of the of black, the black music marketing, or whatever you know. How did that, how did that work?
Speaker 2:So I'm not naive to know that that would be a thing for some people. And before I accepted the job some of us had that conversation and I wanted to make sure that myself and senior, my history and kind of what I had done up until that point, my intentions and my integrity, I feel like they got it and there wasn't any. There was definitely no issues. I think you know for some other people that maybe didn't know the context or just didn't care about the context.
Speaker 2:you know there were some people, I'm sure, that felt a certain way but, I think, ultimately, I'm really proud of the work that I did with the department.
Speaker 1:You did great work. You did an amazing job.
Speaker 2:Not only like the artists that we released, you know, but just the infrastructure within the department and you know, ultimately, later on, you know some really key hires that I made and so yeah, so I look back at that time. I'm really, really proud of it. I can't control how other people feel and I just know that my intentions were genuine and honest. So, but yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't the easiest, but it was. It was a great time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I always wondered that because you know people say you can't control what people think and people have preconceived notions and you know who are you and how. You know the culture, you know. But I mean me knowing you. I knew you were real. It wasn't just like I put it in there because you know you're the cute white girl. It's like nah, she knows what she's doing, like for real, so I know it would work out.
Speaker 1:Well, tell me a little bit about Olivia Rodrigo. How did that happen and like she's like a global superstar now, but like, tell me about the process of bringing her in and what your thought process was going into marketing her. I know she had the big driver's license record. She came in with that. Correct, that was already. Was that on like on her? Oh no, am I wrong?
Speaker 2:I don't know. So she got signed. So um, so john janek and sam rebeck and matt morris, um, you know they brought her in. I believe she recorded driver's license like post signing.
Speaker 2:I think, with Dan Nigro but you know Olivia is the is the dream scenario where we took our time setting that project up. I feel like a lot of projects nowadays, because of a variety of reasons, we're just rushing things out the door. But with Olivia we took a lot of time so she had recorded the record and in October of that year we started talking about the video and playing the song for partners and really setting it up so that come January we could put it out. So a lot of creative direction went into that, a lot of thought went into that and we took at least three to four months setting that up and then in January we dropped it and I think everyone believed in the song. Everyone knew what it could be and how great it was but similar to Blurred Lines in a way.
Speaker 2:I don't think we knew just how massive it was going to be Like out the gate.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I mean mean it was an amazing, amazing record for her so I want to spend a little time on that before you move on. I want this because I want people to kind of understand when you're marketing a new artist like that, who has this big record like other, what are certain things that you do would do as a marketer to, you know, be successful? Obviously he's like oh, you call Spotify, but I, you know, I know there's a lot of steps. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You don't have to go through a whole marketing plan Cause we ain't got all day but like. But just kind of tell me a couple of things so that people can kind of understand what a marketing person does at a what a marketing person does at a label to get a big record.
Speaker 2:Well, in the case of Olivia, she already had a profile, you know, from being on High School Musical. So we wanted to position her as her own artist, as Olivia, not as her character on TV. So, yeah, there was the mechanics of it, you know getting the record done, getting cover art, doing photos that really show who she is, kind of getting all the pieces of the project together but then really getting people to buy into it. You know, she she herself, you know showed up again. This was, I still believe, during the pandemic. So she was on Zooms with, you know, the Apple Spotify's of the world, you know, playing them, not only just driver's license, but some of the other music that had already been done, and then teeing up.
Speaker 2:Okay, are we going to release the song and the video at the same time? Yes, where are we going to release the video? Is it going to, is she going to participate in it? You know, is she going to do a YouTube watch party where she engages with fans? You know she was totally down to do that. She actually you know I've spoke about this before that kind of like 48 hour window. I genuinely don't remember how she slept because she put in the time of talking to all of the territories, cause you know, when a song comes out, it comes out in certain countries first and then here, and you know. And so she was doing fan interaction with different fans in certain countries, first and then here, and you know, and so she was doing fan interaction with different fans in different countries from like thursday through friday night. So it was all mapped out. But you're lucky when you get an artist who wants to do that much engagement and that much work.
Speaker 1:You know who really wants to go hard, did she? She have a lot of ideas herself, or was it more like you guys kind of showing her how this works?
Speaker 2:No, a lot of it came from her. She had a real vision. She does have a real vision as an artist, but there was definitely a strong creative team around her to help bring her ideas to fruition. And those creative folks are still with her to this day. So it's working, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I'm sure I know, I know what happens. But like an Olivia or a Taylor Swift I mean he's a massive artist, but you know, a Billy or even like a Charlie XCX, like I see so much fan interaction with them all all the time it's like, oh, they post this and they post that, or they get on live or whatever and I I don't know if I see enough of that on the black side.
Speaker 1:I, I, I want to see it more, because obviously that's what's driving everything is the, and then the fans feel like they got a piece of you in a good way, like you know, they're kind of supporting you and they're like, oh, oh, she's my girl. You know what I'm saying? She did a live and she answered my question. That stuff is really valuable and I want to see more artists do that, especially now because there's so many distractions.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:There's so many things going on. You got to lock in with your fans. You have to, because they can easily go that way, you know, to something else.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, I agree, I totally go that way. You know, to something else, you know, yeah, I agree, I totally agree. Yeah, I think, um, we went through a phase where I think, I mean, I think this phase is kind of maybe on its way out, but where, um, being mysterious or like kind of unattainable was cool. Not posting as much, it was cool. A lot of artists felt like if you did those things it was corny. And look, there was a lot of that too, like back in the day, I mean we worked artists.
Speaker 2:Granted, social media wasn't a thing back then, but we worked artists who you know. You only saw them if they were doing a show like. Otherwise there was no part of them. So I agree with you, I think when an artist really connects with their fans, they have the ability to have longer staying power. Yes, but we're also in a very, um, microwavable time where, like you, have some artists who take their time, roll things out properly. I say you know, with a timeline and with marketing ideas. Other artists are just so excited to get their music out that, like they record on a Friday, they want it out in two weeks.
Speaker 1:Or less. Yeah, monday, why can't I put it out Monday? It's like, bro, it's not even mixed. What are you talking? About. No, just put it out, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So when did you leave, geffen?
Speaker 2:I left Geffen in January of 2023.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, you started up your own company in B.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So tell me about that and what the process was and start and what that. What does that name mean as well?
Speaker 2:Okay, so I'll start with the name. So I came up with 81B because I was born in 81. I can tell my age B for my last name. I was born in 81, tell my age B for my last name. But it also the sound of it kind of made me think of like an apartment number in New York.
Speaker 1:I swear to God, when I read that I was like this is her apartment number in Lenox Terrace.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what I thought, so it kind of, even though it represents me as a person. It brought me back to New York, which is where I got started in all of this. So that's how the name came about. But when I left Geffen I had been working on a lot of joint ventures. I mean Interscope in general.
Speaker 2:Interscope and Geffen do a lot of joint venture deals. A lot of labels do now, but I feel like they really were at the forefront of doing that and a lot of the same questions and a lot of the same daily challenges would come up with a lot of our ventures being. You know they're great creatively, they've got the artists, they know how to find records. You know they move culture, they're doing the cool shit. But when it came to kind of the operations, the budgets, the mechanics of you know who to hire, a lot of those questions would come up regularly and I was like you know there's a real need for these cool indie companies to have a little bit of structural help. So my initial intention when I left was let me talk to all of the joint ventures I've ever worked with, see, who wants some operational help, and I'll go work with one of them worked with see who wants some operational help, and I'll go work with one of them and I had a bunch of conversations with everybody.
Speaker 2:My idea in general, you know, same reaction from everyone. They loved it, we need you, all the things. But there just didn't end up being a fit for me in house with a particular person or particular company. So I was like, okay, how do I do the same thing but in a way that's manageable for myself and for everyone? And I said I'll start my own business, which, by the way, never had a desire to do. I was happy being a good corporate citizen, getting my 401k, yeah.
Speaker 1:Healthcare, healthcare. There's a lot of perks that come with being high up in the corporate world. You get your corporate card, your travel's paid for. It ain't bad, it's not bad.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But then I found myself in the position where I was like, okay, I'll start my own business. So what I ended up doing was starting 81B and offering services to initially creative companies who want operational help. So again, my target market for my company was going to be all these indie labels. It still is, but ironically my first partner was Nickelodeon. Wow.
Speaker 2:Which came about because my friend Tab, who I'm sure you know Tab, yeah, tab was like I know someone. He puts me in touch with Tim Weatherspoon. Tim was doing stuff at Nickelodeon and he's like, yeah, we could use you. So in essence, I partnered with Nickelodeon to help them build a bit of a temporary team just to help release some records that they have.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And then I started, you know, I kind of went back to one of the partners I had at Geffen, which was Rebel Music. Shout out to Jay and Stan in Miami. They had left Geffen and they brought their venture to gamma with larry jackson yeah, yeah, that's a good dude.
Speaker 1:So who do they have on rebel music? Who's the artist?
Speaker 2:uh well, sexy red's kind of their marquee artist right but they've got uh, you know jay and stan are really have really kind of over the years just made a great name for themselves in the sense that even if they don't get a signing, they're in the conversation of every kind of hot signing that there is. So they brought me in kind of in a different function, because they do have a staff just to help them operationally with some of their businesses and the venture with Gamma and I've got a few other things in the pipeline for this year. So it's really just kind of helping on the business side and helping creatives do what they do best, which is create, and then I can kind of help them with what I call the boring stuff.
Speaker 1:No, that's a really good. I've never even thought about that. That's a really good idea Cause, like you said, these ventures, like you said these ventures, like you said, they got the cool acts and they know how to make the records right. You know definitely not to make the records and a lot of times know how to kind of, you know, at least start marketing them and style them and kind of get you know, give you that allure yeah, but but you said but the nuts and bolts of I always tell people the same thing.
Speaker 1:Um, there were, you know, you know the two women at jive back then Laurel Dan, who was on the Tribe album passed away, and Stephanie Tudor. They were. A&r admin, ladies, yep, and I always say they really taught me to do A&R. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Because it's all the other stuff. It ain't just being in the studio, no, no, no, no, no. It's all the other stuff that's kind of you know of boring but it has to get done, Budgets and stuff like that. So it's interesting. You're kind of doing the same thing. You're doing the I don't want to call it the dirty work but the stuff that has to be done for these ventures and the product to come out. That's a really good idea. Yeah Thanks, you really earned something with that.
Speaker 2:Thanks.
Speaker 1:No, that's good, that's good, that's good. Sexy red wow, yeah, I actually like sexy red. I get a lot of shit for it yeah. I like the Bruno record I get a lot of shit for that.
Speaker 1:I get a lot. I'm like, bro, that record's a smash, you're gonna hate it, but I think people don't, for whatever reason they're not. Some people, that's because a lot of people obviously are, because she's a big artist, but some people aren't connecting to her, so anything she does, they're like I'm like yo, that Bruno record is a smash in my opinion. The video was fire again in my opinion, and you know, I like her, I like her, I like Becky Redd. So congratulations to you. Before we go, I have a couple questions that I ask everybody.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:In general. So tell me your three favorite artists and why they're your favorites.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, that's impossible.
Speaker 1:That's impossible. You know what, nicole? Because we're cool, I'll give you five, which is still hard, but it's not three like any genre, anything, young, old, it doesn't matter favorite artist is really hard because I could list so many, I'm gonna.
Speaker 2:I'll just go with what comes to top of mind. So coming up, anita baker for sure, my mom listened to a lot of Anita Baker. And. I could just drive and listen to Anita Baker albums. That's one for sure.
Speaker 1:Another guest said her too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would probably say the same thing for Sade, but in terms of more current.
Speaker 1:It could be anything. You can do it 3-0. It's on you. It's on you.
Speaker 2:I will always, always, listen to a chris brown bop, chris brown all the time, yeah, um, oh, this is so hard. I mean favorites, favorites, favorites. Oh, I mean, I know that, I know that it's like not interchangeable, but just the Tupac Biggie era. I could listen, you know. Again, I can listen to all day.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of gauging this by like things I could re-listen to, because I don't re-listen to a lot of music. Now. I'll listen to something once and be like okay, that was cool, you know.
Speaker 1:Then move on. Yeah, one more one more.
Speaker 2:Give me one more. Charlie Wilson. Easy Charlie Wilson, because one I could listen to his music all the time and he puts on an amazing show.
Speaker 1:If you have not seen a.
Speaker 2:Charlie show. You need to go see it.
Speaker 1:The guy who's like in his 70s. He's jumping around like he's 22 years old.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Did you work that project at John's? The first name Charlie, last name Wilson. Did you work that one?
Speaker 2:I did not. But quick story I got to meet Charlie for the first time when Blaine shout out to Blaine was going to get him to do some radio liners and he had to go over to his hotel and be like can you just knock these out? And he asked me to go with him and I was like great. And so just knock these out. And he asked me to go with him and I was like great.
Speaker 1:And so I got to meet charlie and his wife for the first time at that point and I was like this guy's amazing, super cool, he's super cool, he's really like he's just real open and funny and not like he's not like an asshole, like you know yeah, yeah really cool. Um, okay, now I got. I said I say songs, not artists, because I don't want to, you know, because artists are too hard to pick cause they're all like our babies. Three of the favorite song, three favorite songs you worked on, and why.
Speaker 2:Ooh, okay. Well, I guess Blurred Lines will be one of them. And the reason is because, you know, I just look back at the magic of that song in the sense of I remember when we released it nobody kind of knew like, is it pop, is it urban, is it rhythm, is it, what is it? And then it ended up going number one at every format, global success, just really great, great song to work. So I would say I'd say Blurred Lines, I mean, I guess I have to say Driver's License, right, because that too was just an incredible ride and really really like thought through, like the marketing and the promotion and just everything that we did in that period also again, partially during the pandemic, um, was just like it was, really was really memorable, I guess, um. And then I'll say I'll say shrem, i'll'll say Black Beatles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who came up with the frozen concept with a video?
Speaker 2:Honestly, if I recall correctly, that was on the internet, like that was, like I forget the guy's name and man, I'm going to kick myself for forgetting, for forgetting the name of this person, but it started, it started.
Speaker 1:And it just blew up Like I remember that was like you had every band, like Jerry Jones doing it on his plane and like that was a dope concept. That was dope. Did you know if Paul McCartney or Ringo did they ever hear that record? Or was there not a comment on?
Speaker 2:it. I'm sure I mean, I know Well, because Paul McCartney did a.
Speaker 1:That's right, he did a Frozen he did a thing yeah. That's right, I forgot about that. Yeah, I forgot about that. He did do a frozen joint, that's right. And the last thing I wanted to ask you was and you kind of already answered it, I think but tell me a concert that kind of changed. You mentioned the BBD, but is there another concert to show you into where you were like, oh my god, like this is amazing?
Speaker 2:yes, several, but just give me one I mean just in terms of the performances. You mean, okay, so performance, wise, pink hands down always puts a great show. I mean she's flying in the air, doing all sorts of things, singing. She puts on a great show. Obviously. I said charlie already. What else I mean? I think I went to remember when uh, I don't, this must have been, I don't know what year this was this wasn't like when bad boy did their tour.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, like this was like recently, like in the last the reunion tour reunion tour. I think I went to like three of those shows. I think I did like new york, atlanta and la, because it like represented a moment in time with all the artists that were coming out. That was. That was really great show.
Speaker 1:I don't think I actually didn't make that show, for whatever reason. I didn't get heard. It was amazing, but I never made it. I don't think I made. I don't think I made those shows.
Speaker 2:And you know what, you, you know what. On another show too. So I've been very lucky to have gone to a lot of J Cole shows. He, it's just him on stage and he can carry, like Madison Square Garden, like they're your biggest, you know your biggest arenas and stadiums. He can carry just him on a stage. You know he'll have some backdrops or whatever, but it's kind of remarkable because I feel like a lot of artists. You know he'll have some backdrops or whatever, but it's kind of remarkable Cause I feel like a lot of artists, you know they need all the bells and whistles to going around them, to put on a good show and dancers yeah, he's just, he's just really good live.
Speaker 1:So tell me um before we wrap. Tell me, if you can't, any upcoming plans for um be what's what's? I mean you have to name the next coming clients but I mean you have to name the incoming clients.
Speaker 2:What's your vision for growing a company? So I do want to grow it in terms of like I want to build out a small team and really be able to kind of give back in many ways. One mentorship, like if I want to bring some people in, some young hungry kids that I can mentor and kind of give them part of this business in a way. And I also just want to help more creatives. I think it's amazing, like I feel like I have a little bit of a creative in me in terms of the marketing side, but like there are people that are just so wildly creative, artistic, talented that I would love to help with my skill set. So yeah, growing the company a little bit and just working with more creatives good, good, you'll do it, you'll be fine you'll be.
Speaker 1:You'll be on the, on the, the top, whatever list. You know the. You know 100, top 100 of 100 and all that type of stuff you're gonna be we'll see, we'll see you're gonna be a big mobile I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:You're a big mobile. I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1:So you're staying in LA, you're not ever moving back East.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say that I am in LA for now, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I don't think I'm in LA forever.
Speaker 1:Okay, Would you move East or you wouldn't? You don't even know where you would go next.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I don't, I don't know. There's not another city like calling my name right now.
Speaker 1:I got you.
Speaker 2:But I don't think I'm in LA forever. I mean, you know, things are different now. I have a son and I would love to be closer to family, but I bet yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:How are you doing with the fires out there?
Speaker 2:Thankfully, thankfully, we're okay. Our neighborhood, you know, other than kind of poor air quality during that time, didn't get hit by the fire, so we were okay, thankfully, okay, good, good, good, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, that's it, man. Thank you for this.
Speaker 2:Thank you. This is great. I love talking about kind of back in the day and these stories. I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I told you we talked offline. I was like there's no place that I know of for record executives to tell their stories and their journeys. I wanted to give other executives a spot to talk and tell, because people need to know who you are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you, thank you very much Thank you. I really appreciated it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Happy to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, sexy B, I'll talk to you later. You can catch Mixed and. Mastered on Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart or wherever you get your podcasts. Hit that follow button, leave a review and tell a friend I'm your host, jeffrey Sledge. Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios.
