We were lucky to catch up with Nolan Hodges recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nolan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

We feel like our clients deserve some sort of guarantee for their live performances. (In that same breath we are very picky as to the clients we represent so that we always have a quality product or service to offer)

While most venue owners want to give touring, unsigned artists “door deals” we work hard to eliminate them from the tours we put together. We’re also working on the breaking the bad habit of making smaller bands “buy on” to tours. Where most of our competitors are booking 70-90% of the tours they do for their bands based on Door Deals (where the artists only gets a portion of the cover charge); we have gotten that down to 22% and in some tours less. We have created a track of venues that promote themselves and the acts coming through and cultivated a great list and tour routes that work with our artists to make the tours profitable.

In this regard, we are very different than most Booking Agents and Managers that work in the Unsigned Artist world. On top of that, my income isn’t solely relied upon the money the company generates. This offers MK Music a unique opportunity to invest in the talent we have on our roster to marketing and other means.

Nolan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a 100% Service Connected Disabled Veteran. I started MK Music as a side project in 2003 with one of my best friends bands. His sister had a cover a band that needed a show and one of my clients was a Daiquiri shop that needed a last minute band because the one they had canceled. I got them connected and that night her father asked me if I would be her Booking Agent and he would teach me what I needed to know.

Soon I had her booked all over the region 10-12 shows a month. Shortly after getting her going I started booking original artists as well as shopping bands for film and tv projects. I successfully landed a deal for Seven Wiser out of New York on Wes Craven’s “Cursed” movie starring Christina Ricci and released worldwide through Miramax/Dimension Films..

My first original band was Lowerline from New Orleans on the original band front. and by 2005, I had 19 clients across the Baton Rouge/New Orleans region. And then,(Hurricane) Katrina hit.. I went from 19 bands down to zero! After going to work in New Orleans to help with setting up Temporary housing for residents, I slowly started to get back into music. in 2007, We took The Blue Eclipse from Lafayette, LA up yo New York City to showcase for Roadrunner Records.. In 2010, I had also worked to secure a record deal for Farewell 2 Fear at that time with Jeff Hanson, the former manager of one of the biggest rock bands in the 90’s, CREED. (38 Million Albums). He landed the band on Sirius XM Octane with their cover of Rihanna’s hit song “Diamonds”. Howard Stern listened to the track and then aired on his show, through it’s entirety.

To this day, Farewell 2 Fear has gotten over 4 Million Streams on that track on Spotify alone. From 2012-2018, I took a small break from the industry and did some consulting work only. In 2018, Farewell to Fear had signed with a record label, Pavement Entertainment and I then took on the management role for the band. Having successfully landed them Blue Ridge Rock Fest as well as shows with Marcy Playground and Local H. In 2019, FtF landed at #23 on the Billboard Rock Charts.

And then Covid hit. MK Music started to focus solely on Managing Bands and it was as do or die moment. Do you fold the company or expand? I decided to expand. I signed 8 bands that year to manage, some of which had success, others I parted ways with on good terms..

In 2021, I signed The Almas from New Munster, WI, an active touring band and developed them into a record deal with Wake Up Music Rocks out of Miami, FL in June of 2023. Following the signing, The Almas were selected to be a nominee for the Josie Music Awards for “Rock Group of the Year”, held at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN. They won that award in October 2023. They were also nominated for “Music Video of the Year”. Another one of my artists, Shimmer Johnson from Canada was nominated for “Female Vocalist of the Year” and “Song of the Year”.

We are most proud of being able to find real talent and help them get their careers to the next level. Currently, we are managing CloZure, a 5pc band that signed with us in 2022. They went through a switch from a male to female lead vocalist and it is paying off big for them. Their brand new single “The Devil Effect” gained over 318,000 Spotify streams, as well as 263,000 YouTube views in just the first 2 months of the release! The band is going on national tours with Powerman 5000, Sponge and Tantric starting in July and then on the 25th Anniversary Tour with WWE Superstar Chris Jericho and his band Fozzy in October. The Nocturnal Affair will also be support this tour as direct support for Fozzy.

As a company, with 21 bands on the roster in 2023, I booked over 375 live events across the nation,

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Facebook and Instagram. I find most my artists there. Sometimes on YouTube and I did find an Italian band that we will be working with from Milan on Spotify. We sometimes get referrals and client inquiries but those, so far, have not lead to signings.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Really talented artists that performed at or above our expectations. Every single time..

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mkmusicusa.com
• Instagram: @mkmusicusallc
• Facebook: @mkmusicusallc
• Twitter: @mkmusicusa