We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hayward J. Thompson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hayward J. below.
Hayward J., appreciate you joining us today. Have you signed with an agent or manager? Why or why not?
Yes, I am actually blessed to be listed with 8 agencies for my entertainment career. I was actually blessed to have been selected to be apart of a new artist showcase. This showcase was sponsored by Arts International and they only take 100 artists a year. The showcase was in Orlando Florida and I walked in the door without any agents and walked out the door with 8 agents! I even now have an agent in London, England. I was blessed to have done well in the showcase and had a few offers after the event. I decided to work with them simply because it was a new venture and I felt like the agents would be able to get move viable gigs from working with agents than trying to get the gigs on my own. Plus, agents all talk to each other and each of them have their own pointers and ideas to make their clients get better and thus get bigger and better deals so they can collect bigger agent fees as well
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I got into the entertainment industry at the early age of 12 years old. I actually started at the age of 10 at Jr High School where I was playing a keyboard and singing Stevie Wonder songs in the cafeteria and got .20 cents from each kid. At the time, lunch was only a $1.80 and most parents gave their kids 2 bucks for lunch so they threw the change in my keyboard case as they exited the lunch line. I saved up my money and was able to buy a moped, which allowed me to get around and so I went to other parks and stuff and played there as well. Now I own a full fledged entertainment company called Ovations Entertainment. We have owned a nightclub, bar and grill and a restaurant at one point and are in talks now to get a $3 million dollar building to open a comedy club/restaurant in the same vein as the Funny Bone, Improv and Comedy Zone etc God willing, I will own the first black owned comedy club in Cincinnati Ohio. Once that is accomplished, Im moving onto attempt to be the first black owned comedy franchise in the USA. In addition, Ovations Entertainment spawned a few other companies as we saw the need arise in the industry. So I started Ovations Media Group and we specialize in digital entertainment marketing needs for venues, artists and companies. OMG aka Ovations Media Group can do everything from build the website for a client and an event, to book the show with the artists and staff to providing security, DJ Services, hospitality services like catering etc. At Ovations, our goal is to be One Stop shopping for entertainers, athletes and politicians. Now we are in the process of starting our own ticketing agency, booking agency and event production. We want to have something to do with every part of the event from the customer experience with ticketing all the way down to the artists hospitality, ground transportation and even marketing the event with Digital Billboards, Ovations has brokered a deal to allow us to be a 3rd Party vendor of digital billboards across the country! We even have mobile billboards as well. Ovations can get you up in lights from the highways of Los Angeles to Times Square NYC.
By being one stop shopping for artists, it allows you to get a lot done with one phone call. For example, you can call Ovations before your show comes to a certain area and we can supply digital billboards, web and online presence, marketing of the event, staffing of the event, booking the artists for the event, security for the event, hospitality services for the event and now we even offer promotional merch for the events like t shirts, hats, souvenirs and the like. You can get all that done with one phone call and the tour/campaign managers love that part of the service.
Im most proud of the fact that we are responsive to our clients needs to the point that we can either provide the pertinent services or we can put you in touch with those who can. OMG can proudly say that EVERY political client who has used our service, has won their race! Some have won by as many as 12,000 votes! I am proud that we have built a reputation in the industry and we have been in business since 2003 as Ovations Music Group LLC. OMG has been blessed to have done business with a plethora of artists in the industry from hip hop stars like Wu Tang Clan and 2 Chainz, to gospel artists like Canton Jones and others. R&B artists like Ray J, Coco Jones, Ro James, Azalea Music Group in Nashville etc… Our clients range from international artist like the Jerk Music Caribbean Festival and Cinco De Mayo celebrations to national sporting events and beyond.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The goal for me is to provide a service that actually brings you in to the limelight with some of your clients but you can always find time to keep God first and to make decisions on that moral compass. People often feel that if person is public about their praise for God that makes them a nerd or un cool in some way. I want to change that notion by providing a service that the main stream needs in a professional and morally centered way so that they will see how we operate and others can begin to do the same. I believe we need to bring God back into the everyday conversations of life, love and happiness. I want people to not feel like they have to hide their love for God just because they are in a night club with a lot of vulgar music, alcohol and the like. Let God make them have influence to attract people to them and then allow God to give you the ability to make an impact on them in the process. Prayerfully, they extend that out in their communities and we begin to see some differences in our world.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
Yes, Financial Literacy…. I think there should be classes taught on financial literacy for artists and creatives. I spent ALOT of money chasing bad money and ideas. I spent A LOT of money trying to recreate moments that were not meant to be re created. I lost time from thinking I know things and then finding out 20k later that I didnt know it. Credit, loans, crowd funding platforms, Co Ops etc…things I know now that I didnt know back then would have made life a lot easier for me. For example in Cincinnati, they have a minority business incubator program that teaches you how to run a business and how to apply for funding, permits and the like. That program is called MBAC and im thankful programs like that exist.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hay-j.com
- Instagram: @hayj_thompson
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hayward.j.thompson
- Twitter: @Hayjgotjokes
- Youtube: @Ovations
- Other: www.ovationscincy.com
www.ovationsbillboards.com
www.ovationstalent.com
