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 TM© June 2003
Peter Morticelli - President/Co-Founder, Magna Carta Recordsby Mark E. Waterbury
The neighborhood of Rochester, New York where Peter Morticelli spent his childhood, was one of those areas where he had many relatives living close by. In fact, his immediate family lived in the upper floors of a house, while some cousins lived on the first floor. His cousins were in bands and there always seemed to be music, primarily jazz, playing in the house. "I had this early exposure to music, and became very interested in it," Peter remembers. "But I was into different types of music. In my teen years, I was into folk and then when the Beatles came around, I moved into rock. I played music for quite awhile and was signed to a label when I was seventeen, but I began to realize that I was not meant to be a star. So I focused my attention on other areas of the music business."
In 1970, Peter delved into one of his early ventures in the music business and opened an independent record store called Buzzo Music in the college town of Geneseo, New York. They opened up several other stores in other college towns, and in their early days of operation, business was very good. In his time working with retail, Peter also managed to make contacts that offeredr him the next step in his career. "I received all of these calls from high schools and colleges looking for bands to play at their events. I knew all the local musicians because they were always coming into my stores. I used to just pass the info onto the them, but then some of them started to ask me if I would be their agent." At the time, things were getting a bit tougher for the independent stores because of the booming discount department store business. So Peter sold his stores and became a full-time booking agent. Although he really liked booking and spent around six years doing it, it eventually led him to working in another aspect of the music business that he previously disdained. "I was really content with the booking agency side of the business. I saw people who were managers and at the time I couldn't think of a worse way to live than that. But as luck would have it, I wound up managing a band." Peter secured a record deal for his first management client Duke Jupiter, and that helped to change his focus. He worked hard at learning the ropes of managing, and changed his mindset a bit about his learning process as opposed to booking, where he mostly learned from his mistakes. "I got burned a few times, and every time I did, I learned valuable lessons. I made sure that whatever happened didn't happen again. But I knew I couldn't afford to get beat up as a method of learning management. I relied on the fact that I cared a lot about the band I worked for and as a result got involved on a high level quickly. I did everything I could, met everyone I could, went to industry events and asked advice. There were a lot of people in the business more savvy and also more cut-throat then me." Peter met a lawyer who not only understood Peter's philosophy of the music business, but also filled in the gaps for Peter, showing him what else he would need to know to survive and become successful in the business. Peter followed the lawyer's advice, and that man is still his lawyer today.
Peter continued managing for over a decade, working with around a dozen bands. The bands he worked with included The Rods who were generally considered to be one of the first metal bands signed to a U.S. label, as well as Vinnie Moore and Terry Bozzio. The breaking point in continuing in that career direction was when one of his bands was in a studio in Memphis, spending three hundred fifty-thousand dollars recording an album for a major label. "I already had started to become disenchanted with managing," Peter recalls. "And when we were in the studio I got a call telling me that there was a new president at the label, and he didn't want to have any involvement with anyone I managed because he wasn't there when they signed them. So on a whim from a new exec, there was all that money down the drain. I told myself that I was done with it. I was not going to let these major label clowns ruin my future. I had the same problem with radio - the fact that whether a song does or does not get on the radio determines if the record has any value or not. I just decided to do away with these things I can't control."
Peter figured that the only way he could control what was happening with a record would be to start his own label. That is precisely what he did, and in the late 80's Peter along with Mike Varney co-founded Magna Carta Records. "I needed to determine what the major labels aren't offering the public and that was what I was going to do with the label. After some research, I determined that I wanted to get involved in progressive rock. I felt that these bands would have real longevity with a strong fan base, whether they had radio support or not." Peter spent nearly two years trying to secure a distributor for the label before even signing anyone. He eventually reached an agreement with Roadrunner, who licensed Magna Carta in every country except the U.S. Then they searched primarily for new talent to sign to the fledging label, with the first bands being Shadow Gallery, Cairo and Magellan. There was still a mindset at that time that if music was not on a major label it didn't really exist, so the first recordings from Magna Carta were released primarily in Europe and Japan where there was a bigger demand for prog rock and less corporate control of the music scene. When the agreement with Roadrunner ended, Magna Carta began to release albums in Europe and Japan on their own. "Things developed over time with that base overseas. Eventually, it became time to put the albums out in the U.S., and then we discovered there was as big a demand in the market here as there is in Japan." Magna Carta continued to grow, and by the mid-90's, it was achieving status as one of the top prog rock labels in the world. It is known for releasing not only music by bands but also a lot of the side projects from members of bands such as Dream Theater and Spock's Beard, as well as solo works by musicians like Steve Morse, David Lee Roth and Billy Sheehan. Peter is also excited about the launch of the new Magna Carta division, Magnatude Records which is going to specialize in music from jam bands. "Even going back about ten years ago, I always wanted to work with bands that are now considered jam bands. From my booking agency background, I was good at spotting bands that were out playing live and had good crowds, but didn't have a record out or if they did, they where doing it on their own. Through some circumstances, we were not able to do anything previously, but now we have finally returned to paying attention to those types of groups."
Even though the market in Japan is currently hard to tap due to the precarious economic state there, Magna Carta and Peter are excited about the future because of the growing interest in prog rock in the USA and the launch of Magnatude Records. He knows this is a tough business, but he learned well during his formative years and takes satisfaction in beating the odds to sell someone's music. "The number one thing you have to do in this business is return all your phone calls. Then you have to realize that there are people in this business older than you are. Don't assume that they got more stupid as time went on because they just might be able to teach you something. A lot of younger people who get in this business think that if they get even a whiff of success they think they know everything, and they don't listen to people who have more experience. And thinking outside the box doesn't mean you have to do dumb things to be an innovator. This business is built on rejection. Every day most of what you do is rejected. What I like best is to find a record that you want to put out and try to sell, and envisioning the best way to do that, and sometimes you get rewarded from those efforts."
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Peter's Advice For Musicians: "It used to be that you would have to tour, but you could also make money off of records sales. Nowadays, you can only really make money off touring, because even if your album is very successful, you really can't make much out of it because of all the clauses the lawyers have built in [the contracts]. So touring is very important especially in today's business climate.
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