A Conversation with Sony Masterworks’ Alex Miller – HuffPost 6.8.11

Mike Ragogna: Alex Miller, head of Sony Matersworks, how are you, sir?

Alex Miller: Great, Mike. Good to be with you and thank you for expressing such an interest in what is actually a really great group, 2Cellos.

MR: Of course. Can you tell us a little bit about the group?

Alex Miller: Well, I was discussing in-house with staff members about how major corporations these days need to be more nimble and faster than ever before in taking part in new trends, and modifying strategies for this new digital and cloud-based world. So, by way of example, I wanted to point my staff to a video that had caught my attention earlier in the day, which I found to be very crafty and smart. Everything from the way the video was made to the arrangement of the song, “Smooth Criminal,” to the musicianship. It was a song by Michael Jackson played with two cellos in a very unusual way. What I didn’t expect was that within an hour of sending the clip to my staff members, the video had already registered around 100,000 more views. It was clearly in the very early stages of going viral. It went from being an example of what I thought was a DIY attitude to what that I thought would be helped by a little exposure and a label company. So, that’s literally how I discovered them and how their burgeoning fan base caught my attention.

MR: The pseudo-classical group Bond was a similar experiment that crossed genres.

AM: That’s absolutely right. It was also manufactured for the marketplace. In the case of Bond, I believe it was Decca that had the idea of creating a classical crossover act. So much like some of Simon Cowell’s creations like Il Divo, it started with just that idea. Then auditions were set up for the group, and it was as if a solution was created in which the variables had to be populated. It was just the opposite of that in the case of 2Cellos. It turned out that these were two classically trained musicians who had the idea of taking two cellos–an instrument they were both trained on in Croatia–going into the studio and creating a song. Then a friend of theirs heard the song and said that he’d like to create a video for them, so they made a video, and as Stephan, one of the two cellists said, “We created this video in a day, and posted it online. Then, I went to the bathroom and by the time I came back, a million people had seen it.” (laughs) So, one of the challenges that I felt I was facing was not to make too heavy of a footprint as a New York record executive on these guys who have around 5.5 million hits on their video. I wanted to let the natural talent do natural things, so we reached out to them and other than suggesting that they not go by their first and last names, which are somewhat difficult to pronounce, we tried to be neutral.

MR: How did 2Cellos originate?

AM: How the group name came about was also a very organic process. After I expressed interest in them and we engaged in a little bidding war–several other record companies expressed interest several days after I found them–we brought them into New York and told them that we had to think of something a little more commercial for their name. As we were sitting around listening to music and asking them what they’d like to record next, we went through dozens of pop and rock ‘n’ roll songs, and they just kept dismissing them. Then, when they would come across one like “Welcome To The Jungle,” which will be their second single, they would exclaim in unison “Two cellos!” (laughs) And so, when that happened about a dozen or so times, we knew that we had found their name.

MR: Do you have a specific battle plan for this group?

AM: Well, like their discovery and their creation is falling into place regardless of how I wish to make it run, some beautiful things have just happened. (laughs) We reached out to them and they were a bit surprised–they got a call at their homes in Croatia, and put together a deal between us on the phone and with their attorneys, and we began thinking about what the plan should be. When you have a viral video, which was one of the only things I saw with their stuff, the first question has to be what else do you have? As they were going about explaining that they wanted their first album project to be contemporary and well-known rock ‘n’ roll hits, we put into designs a second video thinking that this group has a certain life. I mean, who knew how long they would get 100,000 hits a day?

We knew that we needed to decide on a second track, get them an agent, and put them out on the road. Then some very organic things started happening. Because Luka was trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London and Elton John was preparing for this summer’s tour, Elton picked up the phone and called the Dean of the Academy saying that he saw this video and he would like 2Cellos to be a part of his stadium tour this summer. Then, Luka got a phone call from the Dean saying that he was going to be getting a phone call very shortly from someone very famous that could be the opportunity of a lifetime…Sir Elton John. (laughs) So, you can imagine how quickly things began falling into place.

Next, Ellen Degeneres and her producers discovered the video and they reached out, they wanted to be the first ones in the US to bring them over and perform. After that came iTunes, which hosts a festival every July that’s broadcast live on iTunes, and they wanted them to be a participant. They only ask a dozen or so artists. So, we do have plans for them and we are trying to move them along, but we are continually interrupted by other, grander plans that are coming in from the outside. Now the plan is for them to finish their record, which we expect to have out in July, film a second video in the first week of June, and also in June, they’ll be going out on the road with Elton John. Then, they’ll be doing the iTunes Festival, and then we hope to have them do some touring in the US. Elton is also bringing his show back to Las Vegas and 2Cellos is going to be a part of that as well. So, this is a gift that keeps on giving at this point.

MR: It’s nice to be a YouTube phenomenon.

AM: Now, the challenge, of course–much like Facebook or other social media sites–is how do you turn a “like” into a “purchase”? How do you turn a YouTube phenomenon into touring phenomena? That’s the challenge that we face ahead.

MR: Right. But you’re no stranger to phenomena. You once had something to do with a certain Titanic movie soundtrack, right?

AM: (laughs) Yeah, and you know, those kinds of phenomena don’t usually happen a second time in one’s career. I hope, in some way, that one tenth of the excitement that was generated by Titanic comes about.

MR: Can you tell us a little bit about your daily routine and responsibilities as a honcho at Sony Masterworks?

AM: Well, my title is Senior Vice President over a company called Masterworks. Sony Masterworks is responsible for the classical music holdings of the Sony companies. Those responsibilities also extend to Broadway, and we have the largest historical Broadway holdings in the world since Sony merged with the RCA properties, so all of the Broadway shows that were recorded on RCA or RCA/Victor through the years as well as all of the Sony Masterworks and Columbia Masterworks are all in one place. I’m also blessed with the opportunity to do other things as well–music that interests me and those on my staff. This year, on June 7, we’ll have a new release by Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks in the Tedeschi Trucks Band, two people that had nearly 20 years of touring experience with their separate groups. So, my responsibility is running the US company called Masterworks on behalf of Sony Classical International. We have artists like Lang Lang, a pianist, Vittorio Grigolo, who is an operatic tenor, as well as all of the Broadway holdings. Most recently, we did the cast recording for Promises, Promises with Kristin Chenoweth, and we just signed a new production entitled Wonderland, which is the contemporary re-telling of Alice In Wonderland. We do a lot of music that just grabs our attention and that we like, and so, I’m very lucky. I get to go mainstream and still serve the core of the classical and Broadway crowds.

MR: Do you have any advice that you would give to new artists?

AM: The first advice that I would give is to be true to yourself, true to your art, dedicated to learning and mastering your craft. They also need to realize that the old paradigms aren’t true any longer, the digital world is putting more power in the hands of the artists more than the large multi-national corporations. For instance, if Luka and Stjepan from 2Cellos hadn’t created that song and video on their own, we wouldn’t be talking about them today. It didn’t take a committee to assemble that group or come up with the idea. The power today to “create your own tribe,” as Seth Godin would say, is stronger than ever, and you need to do what Bob Leftsetz says in his newsletter and realize that being an artist is difficult and that’s okay because nothing worth doing is easy.

You have to dedicate the 10,000 hours or more before you can claim any level of expertise, then the biggest things is creating your own tribe and you’ll see that there may be people looking to help take you to the next level either in live performance or signing you to a record contract. There’s just so much that people can do for themselves and they can even do it out of their homes. That’s the major concern of major music companies because there used to be an advantage to a corporation owning the studio and having the access to the producers and the equipment. That’s no longer the case. It’s a DIY world and I think that’s great. I think it puts the power in the hands of the artists who have, for a long time, felt powerless. It’s not as if the only thing they need to do is write a good song and everyone will come calling. These days, you have to write a good song and put it out there and develop your own fan base.

I wouldn’t have opened the door to 2Cellos if I weren’t assured that they had the chops to recreate what they had already done and go beyond that to something else, and we’re already seeing that. Simply the fact that Sir Elton John sees enough value in these guys to not only have them join him as an opening act, but he’s actually putting them in his band for the tour. They’ll be playing with him throughout his set, and then they’ll be highlighted on a couple of songs and have the opportunity to play their own music. So, it’s very important, from an artist’s perspective, that you feel that you’re in it for the long run.

MR: Do you think that this new age of bidding wars between record companies for digital and social media artists will be the trend from now on?

AM: Well, I may have used the words “bidding war,” but it was not a bidding war in terms of money. I think my competitor was ready, willing, and able to ratchet it up in terms of money, but the first thing that I wanted to hear from these artists when we first contacted them was what they were interested in doing, what they thought the design on their career would be, because I feel that the best role that I could have as a record executive is really as an amplifier of sorts. I am not comfortable going to an artist and saying, “These are your songs, this is the path for your career.” There are elements of that in the business, inevitably, but what set my relationship with 2Cellos apart is they saw that we wanted to allow them to be themselves and realize that our role was to organize and amplify their message.

MR: Because you have always shad an eye toward innovation, do you have any thoughts on what this industry will look like in five years?

AM: I don’t know that my imagination is that good. When we began to hit a wall back in 2000 because we had reached the highest level of sales that the world had seen cumulatively and the masses were also beginning to learn how to trade music files, things became very disruptive. I don’t think that back in 2000 I had the imagination for cloud technology or iPods. So, in five years, I think multi-national corporations will have figured out how to go from survival to beginning to thrive again. But more than anything else, within two years, a couple of young people working from their college dorm will develop another form of DIY business that will help transform the multi-national business. At the same time, I think that there will be less distinction between musical styles. In the past, record labels were divided within the organization by genre, and I think that will disappear. I think that should be very encouraging to new musicians.

MR: Being a part of the music industry, as an artist or an executive, can be very difficult because it can be extremely cut throat and it’s not easy to surround yourself with those you can trust, which was not at all the case during my time working with you. Do you have any suggestions for those who have an interest in the business side of a music career?

AM: Well, I’m honored to be included in the group of people you trusted and enjoyed working with, but the underlying factor for an artist or a businessman has to be a love of it. As an artist, I feel one has to have that to be able to face that level of rejection and get through the next day and work those part time jobs before you can turn music into a full time occupation. Love, however, is not a word that goes down well in many boardrooms. (laughs)

MR: (laughs) That’s very true. But if you can foster that sort of energy in the people that you’re working with, how can you fail?

AM: You can’t, and even if in one area it does, there’s always someone else there to catch you, you know? When you love what you’re doing and you love and trust the people who work with you, you will do anything to get beyond any brick walls that you may come up against as a team. You will eat the bricks, you will run through them, you’ll jump over them…you will do anything. (laughs) I once had another executive come to me after a business meeting that I had conducted and express some amount of concern that in that meeting, my staff didn’t seem to be afraid of me. Of course, my thought was, “Why should they be afraid of me?” His feelings were that because I was the boss, everyone should fall silent when I walk into the room and be afraid of me because that, apparently, is how it’s supposed to work in the music industry. But my thought is that when they’re afraid of you, they will say anything to assuage your concerns. If they love you, they’ll tell you the truth rather than appeasing you with what they think you want or need to hear. At the time, I referenced a book I read on John F. Kennedy and how he conducted his staff. He would come to a meeting and consult all of his leadership about whatever issue needed to be resolved, then they would pause and come to a decision. In my opinion, that’s the only way that business should work, otherwise you’ll simply be surrounded by sycophants who only say what you want to hear. I just don’t see that as a long lasting strategy.

MR: That’s an extremely good point.

AM: Love is the fuel by which artists create, but I also feel that it can fuel a healthy business. I think good business comes out of associating with good people. It’s also important to associate, not only up, but down, by discovering and nurturing really good talent. But I think it all comes down to the basis of love. I use that word a lot. (laughs) It makes the world go ’round. One of the clearest recent examples I’ve seen of that musically is in the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Seeing how their love for each other translates to their music is really incredible, and I strongly encourage people check out the new album online. It’s just great.

MR: It really is. Alex, thank you so much for stopping by. It was really great getting to chat with you again.

AM: Thanks, Mike. The pleasure was all mine.

Transcribed by Evan Tyrone Martin