Spotlight Guest:
Rob Grenoble
by Tom Kidd
Rob Grenoble, President
Company: Infidel Records
Address: 931 Madison Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-6403
Phone: 201-222-8700
Fax: N/A
E-mail: info@infidelrecords.com
Website: www.infidelrecords.com
InsideCx: What is Infidel Records looking for right now? Are you open to submissions? Will you accept unsolicited demos? What gets your attention?
RG: Infidel looks for artists who are innovative and astonishing. We will never be a genre-specific company. What is important to us is not what you are, but how good you are. If what you do is incredible, you should contact us. We listen carefully to everything, including unsolicited demos. I like CDs best. I do a lot of listening in the car. Every extra step that you require of someone to hear your music lowers the chance of their getting to it. That's why e-mailing mp3's may not be a good way to go.
Regarding what we look for, songwriting is number one. Many bands have excellent players and singers with good voices, but they don't write well or they write in tried and true formulas. I look for an artist that has a striking, original approach. If it's innovative, I'm interested. Every component—the melody, the melodic rhythm, the lyrics—has to be remarkable to break through a cluttered landscape.
InsideCx: Is it best for demos to come through agents/managers/attorneys? How about bands that share stages with your bands? How pesky should they be in trying to reach you?
RG: If you have someone who can recommend you, make a call or send an introductory e-mail, definitely ask for their help. It will almost certainly move you to the front of the line. I'll try to listen to it right away and reply quickly. That being said, who it came from will have no bearing on whether I like it. It has to be great. As far as being pesky goes, tenacity is an important asset. The peskier an artist is, the better for their career.
InsideCx: What do you want acts to have accomplished before they get to you?
RG: I have to be honest and say that we have not executed our game plan in this regard. Conventional wisdom says that an artist needs traction in the marketplace to break. Traction is usually achieved by clawing one's way to the top. It's not pretty and it's not fun. The strongest survive, without question. The most recent artists to join Infidel are startups in every sense. It's a lot more work. I guess we like hard work.
Artists need to be aware of how many acts fail because of their own inadequacies. There are a lot of reasons: they break up on the road, they need to make money so they get jobs, it's hard and they lose interest, family pressure, separation from loved ones, etc. Obviously, an artist that tours extensively and is going out again for another four months has proven their mettle. On the flip side, a band that plays only New York City and Harrisburg, Penn., for a total of 18 shows per year will probably lie down for dead a week after the record is released.
Indie touring is the hardest part and that's where most artists fail. It's exhausting, it's depressing, it's financially ruinous. Only the most committed artists can execute under those circumstances. That's who we want at Infidel because there is simply no other way to reliably lay the groundwork.
Fresh-faced is good in a very youth-oriented business. My standard pitch is to remind people that 22 years old is not young. Twelve is young; 30 is old. At 22, you've already expended 55 percent of your youth. It's ludicrous but it's the current reality of mass media.
InsideCx: Who is your latest signing? How did they get your attention? What made them signable to Infidel?
RG: The Maurice Davis Band is the newest addition. He came in through a cold call from his manager seeking information. I liked his manager immediately and agreed to meet with them to give them what guidance I could. Maurice was clearly exceptional; he's one in a million. I gave them my perspective on their options, the pitfalls and some basic, sage advice. Six months later, after canvassing the industry, they decided they liked the answers they got here.
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