Several local entrepreneurs with proven track records in building successful technology-driven enterprises formed Big Brother Music, whose mission is to provide aspiring recording artists a complete roadmap and a turnkey solution towards building a financially rewarding music business.
Big Brother Music’s artist development process consists of five distinctive steps. The first step is to educate our recording artists on business 101 and train them on showmanship and live performance. The second step is to help them find their musical niche and create a custom-tailored web identity to promote their professionally recorded material. The third step is to conduct on their behalf test marketing on the Internet. The fourth step is to use market feedback to evaluate and hone their business strategy. And the fifth step is to work with them on their business plan execution using all the arsenals we have at Big Brother’s e-commerce site.
To implement this turnkey solution, Big Brother Music has put together a complete brick and click infrastructure. It encompasses four strategic business units. Big Brother Academy is our recording artist incubator; Big Brother Studio is our state-of-the-art recording facilities; Big Brother Stages is our live performing center; and Big Brother Records is our Internet record label and e-commerce engine.
“To achieve financial reward in the music industry today requires the recording artist to be popular,” said Martin Shum, President and CEO of Big Brother Music. “This limits the probability of success to just a few in millions. We believe technology can change this paradigm. The flexibility of digital music and the far reaching ability of Internet allow a wide range of music applications and genres. They also enable an unprecedented interaction between an artist and his/her fans. What a gifted recording artist needs to do to make a comfortable living with his/her music is the ability to think and act as an entrepreneur.”
Elliot Abbott, who had managed mega recording artists such as Neil Sedaka, Jim Croce and The Kinks before becoming a very successful film producer, believes in the value of entrepreneurship. “I have seen many successful recording artists who end up with nothing to show because they have no concept of business. It is refreshing to see a company like Big Brother Music stepping up to help artists learn more than just the performing aspect of the business. There is a common thread I have found in musical artists; that being the overwhelming desire to make music their life’s work. That desire, however, needs to be accompanied by a sense of business that will allow the artist to thrive regardless of their level of success. The music business is just that, a business, and Big Brother Music is there to help.”
“I wish I had more business knowledge when Counting Crows got signed,” said Matt Malley, co-founding member and bass player of Counting Crows for 14 years with 20 million records sold and still counting. “We were one of the fortunate bands to get onto a major label but I was basically flying blind. I was at the mercy of my lawyer, manager and record label. I believe I could have achieved a much higher professional satisfaction if I had been armed with training like Big Brother Music provides.”
“Recording artists need to take advantage of everything that is out there to gain an edge in this ultra competitive music industry,” explained Ron Harris, a multi-platinum music producer (Christina Aguilera) and a successful recording artist in his own right. “With the advent of MySpace, YouTube and FaceBook, recording artists now can establish themselves ‘before’ signing with major record labels. This gives them far more financial and professional control.”
About Big Brother Music
Big Brother Music, previously known as Big Brother Studios, was founded in 2003 by Douglas Young. Doug, President, CEO and co-founder of DPACI (www.dpaci.com) of Simi Valley, initially set up Big Brother as a recording studio serving artists in the Ventura County of California. In 2004, he added two state-of-the-art live performing and recording stages. In 2007, Doug recruited Martin Shum as Big Brother’s President and CEO. Martin was the founder of ACT Networks Inc. and Aprisa Inc., the former he took public on NASDAQ in 1995 and the latter he sold to Agilysys (NASDAQ: AGYS) in 2003. Together, they have decided to expand Big Brother into an incubator for aspiring recording artists and an Internet Record Label company.