We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jay Cohen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jay below.
Jay, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
The mission behind PREACH Records is to be one of many players to create a more healthy music industry.
Right now the music industry has two broken systems. The major label system works well at the highest levels and for the biggest artists, but only can really help a select few artists/bands. This is baked into the cake of their business model. Then there are the big music distributors. There are some of them that do it well, such as Distrokid, Tunecore and CDBaby. They take a fee to allow artists to distribute their music to Spotify/Apple Music/etc and the artist keeps 100% of their earnings after that. Those companies aren’t selling a dream and are OK… but they also don’t help market the music for playlist consideration, for use in TV commercials/movies or contribute any marketing value past the distribution itself. And then there are the companies that offer distribution, but they take 10-15% of the revenue (even though 99% of the artists distributing through the company don’t even know anyone at the company to help market/promote/etc). These are both broken models and the way to improve it is through smaller record labels and music distributors who can be hands-on and truly service the music that they are releasing with the care and attention it deserves.
PREACH Records has a very small roster so that we can look after and market/promote all of our releases through our teams in Los Angeles and Hamburg, Germany. But we aren’t seeking to be the sole solution to the broken major record label and major distributor model. Many have tried to do that and quickly become the problem. We are seeking to be one of many hundreds or thousands of companies to embrace this mindset, even if means slightly limiting their growth potential, to create a healthier music industry overall.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I was born in Chicago and currently live in Los Angeles. In 2000, I became involved in the music industry through playing in local bands and becoming a recording engineer. In 2003, I founded Chicago-based recording studio, Back Alley Recording. After two years of recording voice-overs and artists of varying genres, I left the recording studio to head to college at Columbia College Chicago. In 2005, I embarked on a seven-month+ tour with Oakland, CA-based hard rock band, All Shall Perish. On tour, I handled the responsibilities of playing bass guitar, tracking band merchandise, confirming bookings, reporting record sales to Nuclear Blast Records and Nielsen SoundScan, and securing booking funds. In 2006-08, I worked in the marketing department of the global law firm DLA Piper and in 2009 I graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a Music Business and Sports Management B.A.
Soon after graduating, I founded OTG Management, a talent management and promotions firm, and relocated to Los Angeles. That is when things really started to pick up. In the years that followed, I closed major record deals, secured major publishing deals, signed artist to top talent agencies, secured top press hits and domestic/international tours, produced music videos (Jaden Smith, Rich the Kid, Sir the Baptist) and more. In 2019, OTG Management merged with German-based promotions firm PREACH Media Group to create PREACH (PREACH Records and PREACH Ventures). I currently runs the management and record label operations from the PREACH headquarters in Los Angeles and also co-own the AI/tech platform UNWRTN., contact sharing app QR You, and writes a weekly column at JayCohenMusic.com.
How’d you meet your business partner?
In 2015, I was managing an incredible hip hop/gospel recording artist Sir the Baptist. Sir released his debut single “Raise Hell” in June of 2015. Later that year, I had an intern on the team named Carina Bukowski who is from Germany. One night, a big German influencer who she follows was asking for music recommendations. Carina messages Luisa and told her to take a listen to Sir the Baptist’s “Raise Hell” Luisa loved the song and put it #1 on her Spotify playlist and started sharing it on social media. Due to Luisa’s fan base and being on some TV shows in Germany, along with her being the head of an influencer management company, a firestorm of sharing began. Within a few days after that, Spotify started adding the song to editorial playlists and the song went to #1 on the Viral 50 charts. This ultimately led to Sir the Baptist signing to Atlantic Records a few months later.
The influencer (Luisa Lion) who helped break Sir the Baptist came over to LA the following year with her then boyfriend, now husband, Daniel Baldock. We sat down for a lunch and after 4 hours of amazing conversation, we had a plan in foundation in place to merge forces with Dan/Luisa/the German team leading marketing and branding and my team in LA/US heading up the music operations. After building the trust and relationship more, along with having a few more successful marketing campaigns, we merged the companies together and it still exists in the same fashion today.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Atomic Habits. This is my #1 most suggested book to help reinvent your personal and business life, regardless of what industry you’re in. It’s a blueprint for success and habits breed success + results.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://preach.
company - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/jaycohenmusic/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/jaycohenmusic - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/jaycohenmusic/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/
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