He Am The Fanatic: PR Leads to A&R at NYC's Newly Launched Fanatic Records
WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN: Back in the day – 1997 to be exact – Josh Bloom founded Fanatic Promotion. A downtown music marketing firm, it’s his vehicle to ensure that artists he thinks are great get noticed.
Now he’s not just flak, however. He’s Co-Owner/VP A&R of Fanatic Records, which is putting out new music by high-taste acts such as Lachi, Red Wanting Blue, The Shondes, and Shunda K.
To SonicScoop, Fanatic is another example of the changing definition of a label. In NYC, PR firms, hair salons, and fitness centers all can be found running their own music companies, for a variety of motives. We got down with one such hybrid to see how things fit together.
Q: We’ve been working with you doing your PR thing at Fanatic Promotions for a long time. How did Fanatic Promotions morph into becoming Fanatic Records? When did you start the label, and why was it a logical progression from one to the other?
A: No morphing — they are two separate businesses. We’ve talked about a label for years — I registered fanaticrecords.com about eight years ago — and when the economy tanked, it seemed like the right time to take a chance and become a more formidable part of the revenue stream.
With Fanatic Promotions (FP), I take artists I believe deserve greater exposure and use my means to start them down that road. The label is a further extension of that. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’re doing multiple album deals.
Q: That sounds like a logical approach. So what type of artists is Fanatic Records signing?
A: We’re essentially genreless, just like the promotion company. For an artist to be viable today, they have to be what artists have always had to be: great! We have some rules for signing artists.
One: The music has to be great — around here we say “art first.” Two: The artists have to be reasonable people. Three: The artists have to be OK with making money i.e. they are not afraid of success and the business. Four: We don’t want to work with anyone that doesn’t want to work with us.
Q: Those are some great operating principles. You’ve been working with record labels for so long — what are the surprises that you’ve come across in running your own? What did you expect, and what’s come up that you didn’t expect?
A: Everything is very deadline-oriented which isn’t something that I’m surprised about, but something I had to adjust to. I didn’t like homework in school for a reason!
Lachi
A: We’re taking people’s lives into our hands more than ever — it’s a responsibility that I take very seriously.
And I’m not just talking about our artists, I’m also talking about everyone else who works with us to make it happen. When someone devotes part of their existence to making your vision a reality, it’s incredibly important to let them know how much they are appreciated, to make them realize and believe that their contribution is an essential component to the finished product and its ability to reach the world.
Q: From that, on to the money angle. What revenue streams are you prioritizing with the content that you’re putting out in terms of iTunes sales, licensing, merchandising? Are you meeting your financial goals so far?
A: Record sales — physical and digital — and synch licenses are going to be our main sources of revenue. Our first release just came out, so we’re still in the red.
Q: What would you say are the big advantages Fanatic offers to its artists by having a promotions arm running in synch with the label?
A: We don’t charge artists on the label for promotion through Fanatic. We also don’t charge our artists for use of our recording facility, Art Farm Recording, in the Catskills. The synergy allows us to run open-ended campaigning without a tab.
Q: OK, Art Farm looks AMAZING — we’ll see you up there, soon enough. Now on the other hand, what are the challenges that are inherent with the dual companies? It seems like it would be a big task to add a label into the workflow mix.
A: It’s challenging, but I’m a workaholic. And the added deadlines have done great things for my work ethic in general. I’m having fun.
Q: We at SonicScoop can relate. Who inspires you? What’s another entertainment company you can name that you think does a particularly good job, and why?
A: I’m inspired by the classics. Seymour Stein, Armet Ertegan, Clive Davis. And I’m just inspired by art, in general.
Q: We ask of you, what makes Fanatic Records an only-in-NYC story?
A: The advantages of being in NYC are the huge talent pool, be it artists we’d like to sign, to producers, mix engineers, mastering, graphic design, etc… Plus, our distributor is here. Nothing can match being able to deal with folks locally. The disadvantage: It’s expensive to exist here.
Q: Yes, but soooooooo worth it. Anything else to add?
A: Buy our records! – David Weiss
