Spotlight Guest:
Michael Ellis
by
Michael Ellis
A&R
Music with a Twist
Address: P.O. Box 1998, Radio City Station, New York, NY 10101
Phone: 212-977-5459
Fax: N/A
E-mail: submissions@musicwithatwist.com
Website: www.musicwithatwist.com
InsideCx: How did Music With a Twist come about?
ME: In 2005 Matt Farber came up with the idea for a label that would feature LGBT artists. The idea was that those artists could be on any label, and many of them are, but in many cases they either felt uncomfortable being who they are and talking about it, or they actively censored themselves because they were afraid they couldn't get ahead if they were frank about who they are as people. Matt felt America had moved far enough along in its tolerance and acceptance that an openly gay artist or any of the LGBT community could be successful on a mass appeal level without having to hide an important part of who they are.
There are many indie gay labels, but they don't have the clout to break an artist on the mass appeal level through radio and TV and so on. Matt decided that by partnering with a major label, it could provide a whole new source of music for the industry while also making a positive contribution to the gay community. He was able to make a deal with Sony Music, who are funding the label. The artists are signed to Sony Music and it's our job to find the artists.
InsideCx: Where do your signings come from?
ME: We have several sources for looking for artists. The most important source was the publicity the label got when we first started just over a year ago. We decided that we would accept submissions from anyone. It's more of an open door policy than most labels have. I have a couple of people working with me in A&R. We got a post office box and invited gay musicians and artists to submit. They have to be comfortable being out. We're not going to sign somebody who is closeted. They can be on any label. Submissions came in from all over the world. Some of them were very amateurish, but others were very professional. There are a good number of gay artists who perform regularly and make a good living from it.
Once we got in the business, we started looking in all different places. We wanted videos on LOGO and contacted gay organizations across the country. Not everyone had heard of us. I used my contacts in the A&R community to find gay artists who were looking for deals. The artists on the label now were not artists we knew before we started the label. As of January 2005, we had zero. We had no idea who we would sign, but we had optimism that we would find them.
InsideCx: How many artists can the label handle at one time?
ME: We've signed a lot, but only two of them are signed to full album deals. We have seven other artists we have signed to album options. At the moment, we have four albums scheduled for 2007. We believe we can probably handle four artist albums a year and maybe two or three compilations. We're thinking a fun, campy Christmas compilation for the end of the year.
InsideCx: What is the label's stylistic focus?
ME: We don't really have one. You'll hear a tremendous variety of styles. On The Revolutions we have a female R&B singer, a male R&B singer, two male singer/songwriters, one female singer/songwriter, a dance track and a rock band called the Gossip. We don't have a hip-hop artist or a country artist. That's not because we're not interested in those styles, but we haven't found someone interesting enough to sign those yet.
We're going to be across all genres of music. Certain things we know are popular in the gay community. For the males, there's the stereotype of the club music, which is popular among a segment of the gay male population. For the women, there's a certain popularity of the Lilith Fair-type female artist with the guitar. Those are truly popular, but they aren't the only styles of music that gay people like. There's no such thing as gay music. We're just looking for great music by artists who happen to be gay.
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