Well, here’s the mystery interview that we’ve been talking about for a bit. What an opportunity!
We got the incredible chance to chat a bit with Founder and President of Farenheit Media Group, Jason Davis. He has managed and worked with some of today’s biggest recording artists including Michael Jackson, AFI, Jo Jo, N’Sync, Busta Ryhmes, Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears, 10 Years, Wheatus, Linkin Park, and many many more. His solid expertise is something to behold, so take note. Grab a cup of piping hot coffee and read on…
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Anti Rust: Jason, thanks for taking the time out of your insane schedule to chat a bit. You have an incredible resume, working with the likes of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and rock newcomers 10 Years, among a slew of other incredible artists. Tell us a little bit about how you got into the music industry, eventually working your way up to collaborating with such big names, and to what you’re currently working on.
Davis: I started out as a songwriter. The emphasis to me for any artist is how good their songs are. The record industry felt my songs were commercially viable and I started getting on records as a songwriter and I worked VERY hard on my relationships with the people at the record labels that were taking and using my songs. I cared intensely about those relationships and the doors that had been opened for me and I feel like I networked and worked very long hours on making sure that I had forged the right relationships with the right people.
Anti Rust: The Internet has blown the floodgates open for independent artists to be heard around the world. Some see the flood as a good thing, and others not so much. Sifting through the piles of music to find subjectively good music can be much more difficult, although exciting. How have you embraced the shift in the industry/technology, in regards to finding new music, promoting new music, and running Fahrenheit Media Group?
Davis: That is a really great question. I think because there is a lot more noise today to get through today that it does make it harder to find that great artist. This is another reason why we are excited as a company to be developing new artists because, if you are involved in developing a great artist from the beginning you get to watch that artist nurture and grow. I do believe firmly that great music and great art will in some manner still rise especially with a lot of hard work behind it. I also believe that as an artist you have more of a chance to get heard than ever before what with the TV shows like American Idol and the internet. This makes it harder for companies like Fahrenheit Media Group to find artists but on some levels it is also easier to find new artists too. For example, how would you have found that great band from Oklahoma all those years ago without the internet? You would have to have known someone from Oklahoma. Today you can go on the internet and do some searching and there are figures available that can show you what is reacting and what is not. On some levels it is easier for a company to find that artist but on other levels it is also harder.
Anti Rust: We have a multitude of readers that are independent artists. What are some characteristics you look for in artists that want to expand their career by working with your company?
Davis: I would recommend an aspiring artist to try and write and record one song every week (even if it is a home recording) and I would make sure that I wrote and completed 52 songs a year minimum. I would try and get out and play live shows of my own material three to four times a month both in my local area and beyond. I would focus on my craft as a musician and if you have seriously focused on your song-writing and your live performance, then those are the two keys that would excite us about you as an artist.
Anti Rust: There is a giant question mark in people’s heads right now regarding the direction of the music industry. Where do you see it headed and landing in say, 5 years? What will be in store for artists, fans, and business?
Davis: Over the past five years the trend has been that there are fewer big artists and more mid level artists than ever before. I think you will see less and less people selling millions of records and I think you will see more artists selling 20-50,000 and if those artists are independent they could make an incredible living with their music as long as they work hard. The cleansing process that’s happening in music right now is causing artists to have to work harder than ever before and that is a good thing for music. If an artist has to focus on their songs, promotion and live performance more then it turns that artist into a true business person and allows them to understand the business more and how it may react or not react to their music. This cleansing process will make the music industry stronger, the music industry will become smaller but it will be stronger. There will be a lot more artists that taste success in the future but that taste will be nowhere near as delicious as the stars of yesteryear that they grew up with.
Anti Rust: Besides your client list, what makes Fahrenheit Media Group unique and stand out from the rest of the agencies in our global music industry?
Davis: Fahrenheit Media Group is aggressively passionate about artist development and that is hard to find these days.
Anti Rust: What is “sidelining” and how is Farenheit Media Group the best at working with record labels in a sidelining role?
Davis: The term sidelining is the outsourcing of services that a few years ago would have been done in house at a major record label. Basically as record labels are merging and the staff is getting smaller inside the actual buildings they are relying more and more on outside help to promote, push and market their up and coming records and songs. So in a nutshell “sidelining” is a term for outsourcing.
Anti Rust: How do you keep your approach fresh, interesting, and cutting-edge when it comes to operating your company?
Davis: That is a really great question. So much of what keeps us fresh and excited is the inspiration we get from who we work with. Working with great singers, producers and songwriters it is hard not to get inspired when you have two or three songs come in during a day from a country writer, or a rock producer, or an urban R&B singer. When you’re getting sent incredible music everyday it is almost impossible to not enjoy what you do when you are a music lover. That’s what keeps it fresh for Fahrenheit Media Group is the talent and how good the talent we work with actually are.
Anti Rust: Why “Fahrenheit Media Group?” How did you come up with that name and what does it mean to you?
Davis: I was working with a friend of mine years ago and we just thought of the name one day. There was not a lot of thought put into the name as such, it just sounded good (laughs). I had a vision of Fahrenheit Media Group becoming a full blown entertainment and media company where we dealt with singers, bands, country music singers, rappers and songwriters / producers for all the genres, press people, publicists, and marketing people etc. We had a big vision of being very multi-media centric and creating a hot media company that handled everything from the writing of the song itself to the press involved with making that song a hit success.
Anti Rust: Artists, Bands, Studio Musicians, etc. are all striving for a career in music as their livlihood. What are some of the biggest mistakes that you see young artists making and how can they correct them to achieve their goals?
Davis: That is such a great question. I appreciate the intelligence behind that question. The biggest single mistake that I see is people pursuing the music business from the middle. What I mean by that is a lot of people know that they are not going to make it famous just by singing Karaoke but a lot of people are not willing to go and do the things that Taylor Swift did to become famous. They are not willing to work that hard, to stick with it for years, to possibly spend money on it. What people tend to do is to take a safe or middle approach. Whatever you are going to do in life, be it an entrepreneurial business, a marriage or a friendship I don’t think that things work that well when you pursue them safely. You either need to stick your toe in the water or you need to dive right in. If you go half way in to the water it is a dangerous place to be as you can spend a lot of time and money with very little result.
Anti Rust: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Davis: When I was a kid I wanted to be a famous singer when I grew up and I think I have gotten as close as I am going to get (laughs).
Anti Rust: What is one thing that not many people know about you?
Davis: Friends and family know this, some of the more recent artists I have worked with might know this too but three and a half years ago I became a Christian and started reading the Bible. Me reaching for the Bible and for God changed my life, my heart, my thoughts, and my appreciation towards others and for what I have been given by God in life. I have a real love affair with God that has happened over the last few years and not a lot of people on the outside would know this.
Anti Rust: Jason, thank you very much for your time and insight on current trends, artist motivation, and all of your other powerful standpoints. I’m sure that our readers have gained some valuable ideas that they can hopefully integrate into their work ethic as well. Hopefully we’ll be catching up with you down the road. Best wishes and luck with everything!
Davis: Thank you!
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For more information on Farenheit Media Group and their extensive credits: http://www.fahrenheitmediagroup.com/
