We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jackson Cherfoli. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jackson below.

Jackson, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think being quick on your feet is the best trait anyone could have. Being able to pivot and execute an idea quickly to keep up with current trends/events is very important, especially in an industry as fickle as music. That’s the main advantage that many indie companies and musicians have over the old-money powerhouse labels, they don’t have to navigate thru the bureaucracy that these massive corporations have to go through before acting on an idea.

Resilience is another big quality to posses. The music industry is basically a lottery, you can do everything right and execute at a very high level and still not get “chosen”. I you have to be willing to walk through failures and rejection and learn from each experience. Just keep buying as many tickets as you can get your hands on.

Personality is also huge. Be a fun hang, make friends, keep your network warm. Doing all that is really half the job, if people enjoy your company, you’ve already won half the battle.

Jackson, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Around 2016 I became obsessed with the idea of working in entertainment. I can’t pinpoint what the moment was exactly, either I saw a playboi carti music video for the first time or maybe it’s some kind of curse from a past life. But ever since then I’ve been trying to put my foot in or kick down as many doors as possible. I didn’t reach a point of any meaningful involvement until 2021, under the tutelage of David Barbe and his Music Business Program at UGA. Up until then I was just aimlessly sending emails for the most part.

My whole ethos and guiding principle around management is to bring as much actionable intelligence to the table as possible and execute swiftly and effectively. I like to think that since I don’t play an instrument or write any of the songs, I’m likely the first person on the chopping block should things go wrong. That’s why I try and bring as much to the table as I possibly can, whether that be through booking, marketing, event production, merchandising, etc… because at the end of the day I’m not the guy that goes up on the stage and actually makes the money.

That leads me to why I started RatDog Artist Services. I love solving cool problems in my own unique way and leveraging all the experience I have to help guide bands and musicians to the next phase of their career. Through RatDog I’ve helped bands book tours across the country, set up merch campaigns, do widespread press campaigns and ex[and their networks. I love being in a supporting role and watching these musicians do and focus on what they’re best at: the music.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Being a good hang. I think being good at what you do and people recognizing your talents/ hard-work is one thing, but if your no fun to be around or if you have a reputation as a hard to get along with person, it could affect your client acquisition worse than actually being bad at your job. We’ve all heard the elementary school trope of “one day at your job, you won’t get to pick who your coworkers are.”, but in the indie-level of music business that is holy untrue. Most of these bands and companies have set up their entire ecosystems so they only have to work with people they enjoy doing business/ creating with, and people that interrupt that flow are typically the first to get axed.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My first real management client, The Angelics, were my pride and joy. I came on around six months after they had become a band and started helping with booking and general managerial/marketing tasks. I quickly fell in love with these guys and the music they were making, I loved the vision and the dynamic they had. We quickly got a lot of momentum and it felt like we were executing at a very high-level; selling out the Georgia Theatre and The Eastern Rooftop, 7k streams on the debut single with a few more thousand on the debut EP, traveling states and cities to play shows, etc. However, in the late summer of 2023, the guys decided they wanted to part ways and focus on each of their own songwriting efforts. It was an amicable split and there was no bad blood, just everyone wanted the music they were making to fit their own style/preference. This left the “estate” of The Angelics with around 25 shows booked for their fall tour, an unfinished music video along with 5 demos of the upcoming second EP. I had to pivot and divide all the tour dates and assets the band had owned at that time had to be split up equitably. Dealing with the delineation of the tour and EP I was so excited for my guys to get to do was a huge bummer but we were able to get through it and everyone is thriving in their own bands now! (Check out Patio, Florence Cardigan and Swear Jar!!!)

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_cherfoli/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksoncherfoli/
• Other: https://www.bonfire.com/store/ratdog–the-prelude/

Image Credits
Nicole Allario