The Bobby Bones Show - The Art of Artist Management: Insights and Stories from Martha Earls

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

A Bonus Friday episode with one of Nashville's most influential executives and artist managers-Martha Earls.She is founder of Neon Coast and she manages the career of one of Nashville's fastest rising stars, Kane Brown.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future.

This month, hear from top streamer, Zoe Spencer, and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum-Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component

to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they fail. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Earners, what's up? Look, money is something we all deal with, but financial literacy is what helps turn income into real wealth. On each episode of the podcast, Earn Your Leisure, we break down the conversations you need to understand money, investing, and entrepreneurship.

From stocks and real estate to credit, business, and generational wealth, our goal is simple. Make financial literacy accessible for everyone. because when you understand the system, you can start to build within it. Open your free I-Hard Radio app. Search Earn Your Leisure and listen now. How much you wait, Wanda? Right now, I'm about 130. I'm at 183. We should race.

No, I want to leave here with my original hips. On the podcast, the matchup with Lalia, I pair prominent female athletes with unexpected guests. On a recent episode, I sat down with undisputed boxing champ, Coraes, and comedian Wanda Sykes to talk about Wanda's new movie, Undercard, the art of trash talk and what it really means to be ladylike. Open your free IHeart Radio app. Search the matchup with Alia and listen now. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network.

Hello, gorgeous, it's Lala Kent. Host of Untraditionally Lala. My days of filling up cups at Sir may be over, but I'm still loving life in the valley. Life on the other side of the hill is giving grown-up vibes, but over here on my podcast, Untraditionally Lala, I'm still that Lala you either love or love to hate. It's unruly, it's unruly, unafraid, it's untraditionally Lala. Listen to Untraditionally Lala on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Our series of Nashville Taking a Walk episodes continues with someone who is on an incredible journey.

I'm Buzz Night, your host, and today I'm with someone at the center of one of the country formats fastest rising stars. Martha Earl is the manager of Kane Brown, owner of Neon Coast, and I'm so grateful that you're taking a walk with us to this. Thank you for having me. Well, thank you for being here. Describe what we are, first of all. This is a pretty remarkable spot. It is.

We're in the middle of Nashville right now at Centennial Park, which was built when Nashville turned 100. And they have a replica of the Parthenon, because I believe Nashville's the Athens of the South. And yeah, it's a beautiful park, and there's a lot of people, and it's kind of a breezy afternoon. It's nice. Yeah, I love it.

Thank you. Thank you. So what are the trials you went through as you began your career as a female in this business? I mean, I expected you to go, how much time do you have? No, I mean, I think, you know, the music industry, and if it's too windy, we can just, I'm going to follow you where we're walking. But, no, I think the music industry is challenging regardless of who you are. because you're trying to figure out where you fit, how you can contribute, how you can add something meaningful to people's careers. And I think honestly, like when I first started out, I started music publishing, and it was the wrong fit for me.

And I did it for a decade. And I didn't, it wasn't until I got into artist management that I really found my niche and what I was good at doing. But did it take some real trial and error there? Oh, yeah, for sure. And there were failures. And there were times when it was just like, wow, this is so, this business is so challenging and disappointments. And people will let you down. And it's hard when you're, the product that you're working on is a person, you know?

And that sometimes makes things a little bit more complicated, for sure makes things more complicated. And then also, you know, I have two children and I have a family and I also have all those things trying to navigate and balance them as well. But were there people early on that really in a good way got inside your head to be helpful as you were starting out? Definitely. I think when I first started, I was Tim Whipperman is the first person that hired me. He hired me at Warner Chapel. And I remember whenever I wanted to do something, sign an act, work with an artist, whatever it was, he would just say, go be great. Go be great. He didn't second guess his staff.

He didn't, he didn't, you know, try to pull rank on us. He was just a really great supporter and believed in us and our talent. And I think that shaped me because I started working there when I was 20 years old. And so his belief in me and everyone else that worked there, Chris Lacey worked there with me, now she runs Warner Brothers Records. His belief in just young executives was really a powerful thing. Who were some of the other folks that were really key to you then? Karen Conrad hired me at BMG. When I first got into the industry, Karen ran BMG, Donna Hilly ran Sony, Francis Preston ran BMI,

BMI, Connie Bradley ran ASCAP, there were a lot of heavy-hitting female executives. And I do think there's a little bit of a, you have to see it to be it kind of thing. It helps. And so having all of those women in these high-ranking positions when I was 19, 20 years old, starting in the music industry, that was really inspiring. Were you comfortable at being able to meet up with one of these folks and ask them at a particular moment, hey, I got this problem, I need your advice on something. I mean, were they always willing to give advice then? Yeah, I would say I really started searching for advice

from other people when I started management. And I remember Carrie Edwards, who manages Luke Brian, was really somebody that I went to early in my management career and just said, how did you navigate this? Because she started working with Luke as his publisher in the same capacity that I started management was through music publishing, one of the clients we published, I became his manager and that was what happened with Carrie and Luke Bryan. And so she definitely was a great person for me to model after and was just gave a ton of advice, you know, and every now and then, like she and I'll just say, hey, have you ever seen this or that, you know, Virginia Davis is another manager who's an incredible resource. And these are people that have tremendous success.

but are also very forthcoming with their advice, which I appreciate that very much. So where is the business today, first of all, when it comes to executives and female executives, where is the sort of state of it in terms of the way people are promoted and treated? And additionally, what's your view of the state

of females as recording artists in the business as well? Yeah, that's an interesting question because I would, I mean, you would think we would say, oh, there are so many more females in leadership positions at these corporations than there were when I started. But that's not really the case. I mean, other than Chris, who's the co-head of Warner Brothers Records, Chris Lacey, she's really in Nashville, the only female, there's no female. No female heads of major publishers, right? No female heads of labels except for Chris. So what I noticed is a lot of women sort of getting out of the corporate environment and moving into becoming entrepreneurs. And so like I would say, there are as many incredible female managers in Nashville as there are male managers.

Marion that manages Miranda, Janet that manages Marin, Carrie that man. manages Luke and Cole, Virginia that manages Thomas Red. I mean, I could kind of go, and there's a bunch more, I could go on and on. So I think it's really interesting how I think that a lot of the females in Nashville have sort of branched out on their own and become artist managers and have created this direct artist-manager relationship bond. I think that's where they've really found their space. And what about from the artist standpoint?

From the artist standpoint, again, when I came to Nashville, it was Faith Hill, March, Tina McBride, Jody Messina, Jamie O'Neill, the Dixie Chicks. I mean, it was all of these like female acts where the Shania, of course, were the biggest artists in the format. And then, you know, I don't know that, you know, musically, the time's changed a little bit. And obviously, stylistically, things changed. And I'm very hopeful that female artists can find their moment again.

I don't manage a female artist, but I would love to. That's the next thing that I really want to find and sign and work with is a female artist. So my sense about you is maybe your motto on things is go big or go home. Certainly. Who taught you that? You know, I don't know. We have my friend Rusty Gaston who runs Sony Publishing and Mike Molnar, we had this thing, even in like our 20s where we'd be like, we're zero or we're 10, you know? We're either zero or 10.

We're not, there's no middle ground. And for some reason, I think that feels like the way that a lot of people in the music industry operate. But, you know, I don't know. I like to take those big swings and I like to work with things that I think are culturally impactful. Obviously, Cain is brown, is culturally impactful. And I'm really interested in that kind of stuff. And that's what gets me going, right? A purpose that's a little bit larger than myself.

So that's just, I'm just naturally drawn to that kind of stuff. I always have been. It seems like you've, that's been who you are. Yeah, that's just in my nature. You're not changing. I don't think so. That's awesome. I love that.

That's so fantastic. So do you recall the first time you met Kane Brown? I do. I do. So I was working for a guy named Jay Frank, who he's another person, honestly, that really took a chance in me, and he believed in me and hired me just believing in me, not necessarily. even for the job description that he hired me for. And he had me come on as a consultant for his company,

and he had a small independent record label, and then one of the guys that I was helping with, and one of the guys on his team had discovered Kane on Facebook. And so Jay said, oh yeah, we also have this guy. So on Facebook, don't really know what it'll lead to or whatever. And I was like, okay, let me meet him. And I met Kane, and I was like, Jay, all this other stuff you're working on, don't worry about it. Like, this is the thing that matters the most. This is, this, like,

I get Kane Brown. So, yeah, it was first met in the, in the first half of 2015. And I didn't really become his manager full time until January of 2016. But as soon as we met, even though Kane's shy by nature, he just had such a charisma. And they're, like, he, like, he, he, He's the kind of guy that even back then would walk into a restaurant and everybody would turn their head and they didn't even know why, you know, but he just has that magnetism that real true stars have. And so I just knew as soon as I met him, there was something special there. Immediately. Yes. And has anything along the journey surprised you that you thought may be there's no way he could have achieved X or Y this quickly?

You know, nothing has felt unnatural, if that makes sense. I mean, there are definitely, it's funny because, like, I don't feel like you can shoot too high, so, like, all the achievements are kind of like, okay, well, good, we did that. That's what we were supposed to do. But some of the disappointments, I think there, I have, like, I'm continually surprised by, you know, like, I'll get disappointed by whatever, not getting a nomination for a number. an award or whatever it may be. But honestly, you know, with Kane, he's on such a trajectory and he's like me where we don't really ever rest in any success, but rather it's almost like

an obligation to move on and build on it and grow to the next thing. It's like a positive restlessness. Yeah, it is, a positive restlessness. That's a good way to look at it. I'm sure you don't always necessarily in certain moments identify it that way, but it really No, you're absolutely right. And also, too, I think it's a sense of urgency that I feel because, you know, I've worked in the music business for a decent amount of time, and I've seen so many people, you know, their careers come and go.

And unfortunately, it's an environment where you can't ever relax. You know, you can't, you always have to be pushing towards the next thing to keep building on what you have. And I think that that's the other thing with both can. and I, it's like we never really like relaxed, but rather have to keep building and growing because, you know, we know how fleeting all this can be in this business. But in the midst of it all, you never fail to know that there's really a joy in the middle of all this too, right?

Yeah, I mean, it is joyful and it's, and it's wonderful to see, like, direct impact on people's lives, you know, outside of just ourselves and what we're doing as a team, but, like, fans and people in an audience or people who will say like, you know, I'm a, you know, Cain's biracial and they'll say, I'm a black country singer and didn't know if there was a place for me. And then I saw what Cain Brown achieved and it made me feel seen and accepted. And that, like, that means everything. It must be gratifying for both of you. Oh my gosh.

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, do you introduce him to new collaborators when possible along the way? I mean, are there people that, you know, maybe you might think he could benefit from meeting that are songwriters or just musicians? Yeah, for sure. I mean, Kane has a great A&R sense.

Honestly, he's as good at that as I am, so better, no, I take that back. He's better out of it than me. But yeah, I mean, he, a lot of the collabs, because he's done all kinds of things. He's done, you know, Marshmello, who's an EDM artist, Khalid, who's a, you know, pop R&B, Becky G, who's a Latin artist. He's done all, you know, Chris Young, who's his country as he gives, he's done all types of collaborations. And honestly, he'll usually say, wow, I wish this song could use a Latin artist on it. And then we'll talk about different things. And he knows, he knows as much as I do for sure about what's happening right now in popular music.

Do you remember the first concert you ever went to? Yeah, and I'm going to date myself on this. So I feel like... I'm not that concern. I'm not terribly concerned. Multiple disclaimers in front of this. But the first concert I ever went to was in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. That's where the Little League World Series, right?

That's correct. Yeah, that's exactly right. And it was Chicago. but it wasn't like Peter Satera, Chicago. It was like a, you know, it was like a guy, like some dudes that was singing the songs. I could just see the headline for the concert appearance, Chicago featuring some dude. Featuring some dude, yeah. But I had never been to a concert, but I had known some of those songs from growing up.

And so it was kind of like, it was my theory of high school and it was kind of like, oh, okay, this is cool. But then I will say once I got to college, I started going to a lot of concerts and country concerts especially. And I really like some of the early ones. I mean, I saw Garth. I saw Garth when I was in college Garth in Central Park, that big show he did. And that was kind of like the first like real show that I ever. I mean, obviously it's as big as it gets. But I remember going to that and just because he's such an entertainer.

and you feel his energy and the crowd gives it back to him and that was a pretty special experience. Yeah, that was probably a seminal moment. Oh my gosh, it was crazy. Yeah, it was crazy. Yep, I'll never forget it. And, yeah, I was in college at MTSU, and that concert was over the summer. And I think he did it on like July 7. Wasn't that the 7?77?

I could, 97 or something like that. And, yeah, my friend Mike Mulliner and I were like, we're going to go that concert. We went to the concert in Central Park. Now, Martha, I can't help but notice those very cool rides that you have. What are those? These are my Fendi sneakers. They're Fendi's? Yeah, I love them.

Those are pretty spectacular. Thank you. My guess is you like taking a walk quite a lot because those seem to be very conducive to taking a walk. I do. I do. Taking a walk, taking a run. I love to take a run. Anytime.

So that's your brand of choice? Depends what we're doing. If I'm going to be quick and we're going to get out there and run, I'm a Nike person for sure. But one of the great positives that came from the pandemic is that casual, like, sportswear became what you can wear any day in, you know, business settings. So now I can just wear fancy tennis shoes to work, and nobody can judge me. But you're kind of the boss. Oh, yeah.

So who's going to say something? Well, Kane could, right? Yeah, he likes tennis shoes too, though. So we're in the same page on that. Would he give you a hard time ever about? No, he and his wife actually bought these for me for Christmas last year. Well, I love them. Sorry to digress.

I love it. Do you like taking a walk to clear your head if you're like, you know, jammed up at something creatively? I do. And I think it's something we don't do enough. You know, we lose our connection with nature. It's so easy to do. and people get kind of stuck behind their desk and but I I do I love it I love taking a walk or like on my birthday the other day The other day yeah my birthday was on Friday well happy belated birthday

I told my family I was like hey I'm in they're like are you gonna sleep in and I said sleep in are you crazy I set my alarm and where I live there's like some woods and trails and stuff and I was like I want to go up there and see the sun come up You know like I love being in nature and moving my body and yeah honestly it is interesting like it's funny how just a change of perspective can clear your head or give you great ideas or inspire you now we would be normally walking further here but I'm trying to be conducive to the wind the wind scenario so we're we're sort of sauntering yeah yeah yeah sauntering is okay as well at least we're staying active getting our steps in

How was Kane during the pandemic creatively? Was that a time that he used to his advantage during the pandemic or disadvantage? It was hard on everybody, honestly, because it was so, like, he did write songs. He didn't, like, being creative on Zoom is really difficult because you need interpersonal collaboration. But he, you know, it was, man, it was so hard because there was such a time of insecurity. you know, wondering what's happening with everybody's career, is when will we have community again and have concerts again and what does this all mean and has the tone of things changed? And so I think it's difficult to be creative when your mind is just trying to solve a problem

that's impossible to solve. You know, so I mean, we did stay busy though. That was really important and we tried to release a lot of music and make it. maintain his presence, you know, in the public eye. And I think we did a good job of that. You know, I think some artists just disappeared. And I think it harmed them when it came back because, you know, time to come back and tour again and release music again because I think that, you know, everything moves so quickly in

the public consciousness right now. And if you slip out of their attention, it's hard to get it back. It's fleeting sometimes. It is, though, because things move so fast. You know, I mean, you think about, like now we're watching, you know, like think about this, like the biggest competitor to network television is not Netflix or HBO Max, it's TikTok with 15 second videos. And so just people's attention is pulled in such different ways right now. It's hard. So you have to figure out how to stay in front of people and stay relevant to their lives.

So you mentioned TikTok, and that sort of leads me to the question of, from your vantage point, can you give me sort of an appraisal of how fans are discovering music these days and kind of what that means to an artist and a manager? Yeah, I mean, I think fans discover music in a multitude of ways. And if you say it's just one way, you're narrowing your scope unnecessarily, right? Fans still listen to the radio. Fans still watch shows on television. Fans still ask their friends, what are you listening to? You know?

So, but social media is a very powerful tool for reaching people that you might not normally be able to reach. And Kane broke on Facebook. And what's wild is I remember when he first signed his record deal, we had to get permission from the label in his contract for him to be able to show songs on social media. And now they beat me up so much that he's not putting him on there enough. So it's like, my how times have changed. But no, it is a wonderful way, whether it's TikTok or Instagram or however fans are being reached, to reach them with your music.

I think the most important thing is just to find a way to connect to people and I mean, regardless of how it is, you know, and become sort of the soundtrack of their life. What role do curators such as radio DJs play in that role? Radio DJs, playlist, people that make playlists on Spotify or Apple, you know, all of those types of things. They play a huge role because they determine what people hear, you know, if a song's being played at two in the morning, not near as many people are hearing it as if it's being played at 8.30 in the morning when they're driving to work. So those people play an incredible role. And honestly, like, in Kane's career, country radio has been great for him and has been a great way to expose him to a wider audience. Same with the playlisters. You know, he gets great playlisting with Spotify or Apple, and those guys are really good partners for us.

So if a radio executive was listening to this, and there might be a few that listen based on my past, give them a plea to not lose sight of the importance of what radio DJs mean. Oh, well, I mean what radio DJs, what radio means on a local level, you know, I think that's part of it too. I mean, what radio means for artists and touring, it's also critical because it's like radio, especially in the country format, but in the pop format too, because, you know, Kane has had three top 10 pop hits and five top 20 pop hits.

We, like, it is, it, it matters and it matters to people. And it's, and music is the soundtrack to these people's lives, you know? It's critical. Yeah, it's critical. And music as a soundtrack to people's lives, can you elaborate further on why music is so special in that regard in our lives? Like, you know, like, you know, this goes back to, you know, cave men and women. Yeah, ancient times.

Yeah, because I think that music is able to elicit the emotion that you're feeling but don't necessarily know how to find words to express. And so people feel seen when there's a song playing that completely identifies how they're feeling at that time. And that is such a gift. And music can save people's lives. Music can change people's lives. And that's like as corny as it sounds, it's completely true. I remember I worked with a songwriter very early in my career.

his name's David Vincent Williams and he wrote a song it was one of Rascal Flats first hits called I'm Moving On and if you look at the lyrics I'm moving on they're pretty weighty and heavy and I remember he had and I ended up winning ACM song of the year but he had people tell them hey I was I was thinking about I was in an abusive relationship and hearing this song and hearing the lyrics of these song this song gave me the confidence to move on with my life. life. And when you can impact people in that way in three minutes and 30 seconds, that's, that's pretty incredible. It really is. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah. I mean, boy, I think it lifts you up. It brings you down. Yeah. It's, you know, it tugs at your heart.

That last mile on the treadmill. It does everything for you. It's unbelievable. It really is. It really is special. So do you have a roadmap over the three or four years? years ahead for where you want neon to be and Kane to be? And what are you thinking? That's a great question. I think with Kane specifically, I think we need to just continue to expose him to a wider and wider audience because when people are exposed to him and his music, they become fans. He's very sticky in that respect, you know?

And so I definitely think, I definitely think for Kane it's just continuing to to expose them on as large of a scale as possible. I think for my company, I would like, I want all the other, there are other managers that we have on the team that work with me on other clients. I want them to succeed as much as our clients. So I want to keep working on developing talent. And we have a couple artists right now, Russis Road, Dylan Schneider, nightly that are growing.

and I'm excited to see them start to blossom in their careers. And then I'd like to sign more talent, and I'd like to continue to be a little bit innovative. We did a concert, Kay did a concert, was part of a festival concert in Roblox, right? And so moving into that meta-web-3 world, how does that integrate with the traditional music industry? I want to be curious about those things

that I don't necessarily understand fully and learn more and learn how we can use those things to help our artists. Thanks for the lessons in leadership and inspiration and a great path to success, Martha. And thanks for taking a walk with me. Thank you for having me. Taking a walk with Buzz Night is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Financial Literacy Month, and the podcast, Eating While Broke, is bringing real conversations about money, growth, and building your future.

This month, hear from top streamer Zoe Spencer and venture capitalist Lakeisha Landrum Pierre, as they share their journeys from starting out to leveling up. There's an economic component to communities thriving. If there's not enough money and entrepreneurship happening in communities, they failed. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. Earners, what's up? Look, money is something we all deal with, but financial literacy is what helps turn income

into real wealth. On each episode of the podcast, Earn Your Leisure, we break down the conversations you need to understand money, investing, and entrepreneurship. From stocks and real estate to credit, business, and generational wealth, our goal is simple.

Make financial literacy accessible for everyone. Because when you understand the system, you can start to build within it. Open your free I-Hard Radio app. Search earn your leisure and listen now. How much you wait, Wanda? Right now, about 130. I'm at 183. We should race.

No, I want to leave here with my original hips. On the podcast The Matchup with Alia, I pair prominent female athletes with unexpected guests. On a recent episode, I sat down with undisputed boxing champ, Cloressa Shields, and comedian Wanda Sykes to talk about Wanda's new movie Undercard, the art of trash talk and what it really means to be ladylike. Open your free IHeart Radio app. Search the matchup with Alia and listen now. Brought to you by Novartis.

founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. Hello, gorgeous, it's Lala Kent, host of Untraditionally Lala. My days of filling up cups at sir may be over, but I'm still loving life in the valley. Live on the other side of the hill is giving grown-up vibes, but over here on my podcast, Untraditionally Lala, I'm still that Lala you either love or love to hate. It's unruly, it's unruly, unafraid, it's untraditionally Lala. Listen to Untraditionally Lala on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.