Album Capsules
by Mark E. Waterbury
MBandi - Harbor Nights
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Transcendence - Sleep With You
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Down to the Shake - Not the Same
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Yellow Brick Ed - 6 song EP
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Identity - Hope and Future
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Exhibit F - Blue in the Background
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Phineas J. Whoopie - Second Time Around
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Vinyl Soup - Chasing Yesterday
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Stereo Soul - self titled
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Fran Gray - Eclectic Encounter
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Bands: You Get What You Pay For
by Mark E. Waterbury
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Chad Denney - General Manager of Degy Booking International
by Mark E. Waterbury
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MBandi
by Mark E. Waterbury
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Scott Turner's Song Publisher's Perspective
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Music Biz Opportunities
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Music Industry Marketing Showcase
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Copyright 2004 by Music Morsels, a Serge Entertainment Publication.
Editor: Sandy Serge
Contributing Columnists/Writers:
Mark E. Waterbury, Scott Turner
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 TM© February 2004
Industry Profile - Chad Denney - General Manager of Degy Booking Internationalby Mark E. Waterbury
"I don't think most musicians realize that about fifty percent of the music business IS business. The business side should not be ignored because it is equally as important as the music." Chad Denney's advice carries a lot of weight considering that he followed his own example which would lead to his jumping from the performing side of the music industry to the business aspects. Born and raised in Albany, Georgia, Chad was always interested in music making, the guitar his weapon of choice. After a couple of years at community college with courses primarily in marketing, Chad was in a band named Pipe Dream. "I ended up doing the bookings for the band," Chad remembers. "When I think back to the first show here was this one club it took me forever to get in. One day I got in my car and went to the club and met with the bar owner. I got some dates from him and in that process I began to understand how to get my foot in the door of these clubs." Pipe Dream wound up performing regularly in several markets in the Southeast. During the downtime after one of the Pipe Dream members moved on, Chad joined a band called Ancient Harmony whom he was friends with. Along with taking over as their guitarist, Chad acted as business and road manager for the band as well as taking care of the bookings. He managed to get them a deal with Luauan Records as well as involvement with Jam Base, establishing a fairly solid regional notoriety. "It started as me helping them get out on the circuit, and it sort of evolved from there," Chad recalls. "A lot that I learned about the business at that time came from making mistakes and trying very hard not to make the same mistakes twice. I also kept meeting more people in the business and more artists and the more I got their perception on how they did things, I came up with my own collaborative plan."
During his five years with Ancient Harmony, Chad also worked in various capacities with other bands. "Around the year 2000 I had started to realize that I was probably a better negotiator and agent than I was a musician," Chad muses. "I always loved music and there was a lot of soul searching for me of what I wanted to do with my life and what made me happy. When I was younger, I thought that I was going to be a performer, but when I started to notice many great artists who were around me lacked what I was good at, that being the business side of the industry, it really hit me that this was the direction I wanted to go in." Ancient Harmony and Chad went in different directions, allowing Chad to concentrate totally on the business aspects. He was working with several bands including Cee Knowledge and the Cosmic Funk Orchestra, and Fat Apple. "It became easy for me because I had spent time on the road with Ancient Harmony talking to buyers, shaking people's hands, and for me, to plug into multiple bands, it was me usually going through my old contacts." It was also about that time that Chad moved to Colorado to work with a booking agency called Candystore Productions. After only a year at Candystore, Chad thought his growth at the company was stagnating. He then met Ari Nismen, who had started Degy Management. Ari wanted to start a booking agency and he convinced Chad to come on board and move to New York to launch the booking division of Degy Management, which was also running an interactive web site for indie bands. "After meeting with Ari, reviewing his business plans, and what he had done in management and the environment they had in the office, I knew this was a company where I would learn something every day. I felt like it was the right move for me." Some of the bands that Chad worked with at Candystore joined Degy's initial roster. They took submissions from bands worldwide to build their roster, being selective since the booking division's launch happened right on the heels of 9/11. "Since we didn't know how 9/11 was going to affect shows with bigger crowds and a lot of people being in one place for a show, what we thought would work best for us was to find very strong regional bands and help them to build on a national level. We wanted these bands to be able to survive without a major label deal." Degy's booking roster continued to grow with the bands from different regions often networking together to spread their music into other regions. Some artists that started regionally are now touring nationally including Perpetual Groove and Moonshine Still.
In 2003, Chad returned to his home state of Georgia to open a Degy branch in Atlanta since Chad is familiar with the booking market in the Southeast. Chad is looking forward to a bright future for himself and Degy Management, who are considering starting a record label. He may be thinking of some other pursuits he has not attempted yet such as producing, but he has cultivated a passion for booking and has some sound advice for anyone wishing to follow that career path. "To be a booking agent what is really important is strong marketing skills as well as business skills. There are so many facets to the booking game; it's part booking agent and part psychologist. You also have to learn to work together with the artist to build a smart touring plan based on what the project has going for it. You have to be a person who is able to endure a lot of pressure and be very goal oriented. You have to have a strong will to succeed because it is very easy to have the door slammed in your face every day. You have to jump that hurdle and make those calls with a consistency every day until you get that show."
Chad Denney's advice for musicians: "Get out there and play every show that you can play. And be conscious that there are only three ways a band can really make money, and that's with your publishing, your merchandising and your live show. You have to look at those three facets as the only way you can make money. You have to understand the business side of music because fifty percent of the game is the band having a good product and the other half is understanding and creating a good business plan for the operation as well."
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