Billboard just released the 2012 Power 100 list, which ranks the 100 most powerful people in the music industry and I bet all of them take singing lessons in Los Angeles. The list reveals that the industry is changing! The power has shifted from the record labels to the artists, their managers, and the people who are booking them. Here at The Golden Voice in Los Angeles where we teach singers how to become stars, we encourage our students to be more than just singers, they need to be hip on the business happenings of the music industry. Having a voice coach and taking singing lessons is just the start, but until you understand the business that your in, you can’t excel.
One top entertainment attorney who was consulted to create the list said:
“Ultimately the artists are in control. So whoever most influences the artist has the power. But the label role has diminished as they no longer can provide the established artists with as much cash as they used to. “Jay-Z, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, U2 and Lady Gaga are the only six artists on this list, while there were just 21 record labels executives, but 23 managers and 10 television and movie executives. The rest of the names come from radio, music publishing, digital service providers, branding companies, trade groups, lawyers and even 2 venture capitalists.”
The thing is, you probably couldn’t pick Irving Azoff out of a line up, or perhaps you don’t even know him by name, but I assure you, if you are one of my students taking singing lessons at The Golden Voice, you should. You need to know who all the key players are in the music business if you want to succeed and I encourage you to read this list, and find out who the key players are. Rest assured that Irving Azoff, the chairman of Live Nation — the world’s largest promoter, ticketing company and artist management group — is the most powerful person in the music industry. Azoff not only manages one of our favorite singers Christina Aguilera but topped the Billboard Power 100 list, a ranking of where influence and power resides in the music business and the industries that intersect with it. While most of the executives on the list are behind-the-scenes power players like Azoff, there are 11 names that even casual music fans will instantly recognize.
The reason Beyonce Knowles and Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter are ranked together at Number thirteen on the list is because of their remarkable successes. Beyonce has racked up sales of more than 29 million units from sales of her solo albums and as part of Destiny’s Child, while he holds the record for the most No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, topping that chart with 12 albums and selling 28 million units in the U.S. along the way, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
One thing we want to emphasize at the Golden Voice in Los Angeles is that all the artists featured in the Billboard Power 100 list are making impactful decisions for their careers. It’s about more than album and ticket sales. If you want to make it big in the music business, you need someone to help you navigate the music business, which is what every player on this list are doing. What makes the The Golden Voice in Los Angeles stand out as more than just singing lessons, and vocal coaching for kids, is that we teach our students how to survive the industry. Our team at The Golden Voice teaches singing lessons and songwriting, makes the music, video’s, website’s as well as industry consulting, so that our students dreams can become a reality.
In the case of Beyonce, she has recently been behind multi-million-dollar branding deals with L’Oreal, Coty and Target, and her clothing line House of Dereon continues to boast an international presence. Meanwhile, Jay-Z is one of the most celebrated artists to make the jump from the stage to the boardroom. He served as CEO of Def Jam Records and, in 2008, brokered a deal with Live Nation (said to be worth $150 million) to create Roc Nation, a management, music and entertainment company with a roster that includes Rihanna, J. Cole, Willow Smith and Ester Dean. His interests outside of music (Rocawear, Translation Advertising and stakes in 40/40 Club and the New Jersey Nets) have also grabbed headlines and helped to feed his bottom line.
One major element we teach at The Golden Voice in Los Angeles is how to be a songwriter. Sure, our team of award winning songwriters can write all the songs for you, but do you really want to be a power house? If the answer is yes, then you should probably consider learning how to write, in addition to your singing lessons. Singer/songwriters Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald and Martin Karl “Max Martin” Sandberg are ranked at numbers 30 and 83 respectively on Billboards Power 100 List. Both have written and produced seemingly more hits than anybody else in the last 7 years. Their credits separately and together include chart-toppers recorded by Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, P!nk, Adam Lambert, Kelly Clarkson, Taio Avril Lavigne, Cruz, Backstreet Boys and Miley Cyrus.
Taylor Swift who comes in at number 78 is a branding powerhouse. Not only does she own her own management company, but she has become a chart-topping singer and songwriter all under the age of 22. Her deals include a multimillion-dollar ad campaign and tour sponsorship with CoverGirl, a retail partnership with Target, a fragrance with Elizabeth Arden and a relationship with Sony Electronics. She has also appeared in ads for the National Hockey League, designed her own clothing line for Walmart, and co-created her own doll, to boot.
At The Golden Voice in Los Angeles and Bend Oregon, we want to encourage our students to use Taylor Swift as a template. She is young, successful and a business woman. Taylor’s parents invested in her career with singing lessons, songwriting education, getting her demo produced as well as video’s and her wesbite. Her parents support with a combination of Taylor’s hard work has made her one of the Top 100 most powerful people in the music industry.
Likewise, Lady Gaga (number 84) has more going for her than music sales. Gaga, who is actively involved in her career decisions, seems to revolutionize everything she touches. Specifically, as her 18.4 million Twitter followers can attest, the Mother Monster has turned the idea of social marketing on its head; without her Little Monsters, there would be no Beliebers for Justin Bieber or Barbs for Nicki Minaj. Gaga’s influence with fans has been entirely transformed through her branding deals. When Virgin Mobile sponsored her tour, for example, she worked the company into the show itself by way of a nightly phone call to a fan in the audience. Gaga also serves as the creative director for the Polaroid Grey Label and made a headline-grabbing presentation for the line at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.
The moral of the story is that if you want to make it in the music business, you need to be more than just a great singer; you need to understand the business, have a great brand, and have a killer team behind you.
Check out the list that was written and decided by a combination of factors including market share, exclusive Billboard chart data/boxscore information and revenue, below:
1. Irving Azoff
2. Coran Capshaw
3. Lucian Grainge
4. Martin Bandier
5. Doug Morris
6. Michael Rapino
7. Rob Light
8. Len Blavatnik
9. Tim Leiweke
10. Jimmy Iovine
11. Eddy Cue and Robert Kondrk
12. John Hogan
13. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter & Beyonce Knowles
14. Lyor Cohen
15. Randy Phillips
16. Emmanuel Seuge
17. Frank Cooper
18. Barry Weiss
19. Rob Stringer and Steve Barnett
20. Arthur Fogel
21. Marc Geiger
22. Dan Mason
23. Bob Pittman
24. Roger Faxon
25. Ronald “Slim” Williams and Bryan “Birdman” Williams
26. Rio Caraeff
27. U2 and Paul McGuinness
28. Julie Greenwald and Craig Kallman
29. Daniel Ek
30. Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald
31. Lewis W. Dickey, Jr
32. Peter Grosslight
33. Charles Attal, Charlie Jones and Charlie Walker
34. Robert Greenblatt
35. Van Toffler
36. Monte Lipman
37. Antonio “L.A.” Reid
38. Joel Katz
39. Mark Campana and Bob Roux
40. Tim Westergren
41. Peter Edge and Tom Corson
42. Tom Poleman
43. Chip Hooper
44. Hartwig Masuch
45. Rob Cavallo and Todd Moscowitz
46. Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch
47. Nathan Hubbard
48. Jay Brown
49. Evan Lamberg
50. Jon Bon Jovi
51. Lia Vollack
52. Jan Jeffries
53. Steve Bartels
54. Scott Borchetta
55. Blaise D’Sylva
56. Neil Portnow
57. Dennis Arfa
58. Cameron Strang
59. Cortez Bryant/Gee Roberson
60. Sean Parker
61. Steve Moore
62. Paul Rosenberg
63. Tifanie Van Laar
64. Ryan Seacrest
65. Robert Kyncl
66. Lorne Michaels
67. John Butcher
68. Clint Higham
69. Randy Spendlove
70. Rich Lehrfeld
71. Peter Luukko
72. John Branca
73. Melissa Lonner
74. Raul Alarcon, Jr.
75. John Frankenheimer
76. Cary Sherman
77. Larry Marcus
78. Taylor Swift
79. Kevin Mayer
80. PJ Bloom
81. James L. Dolan
82. Jesus Lopez
83. Martin Karl “Max Martin” Sandberg
84. Lady Gaga
85. Mike Dungan
86. Fred Wilson
87. Jon Platt
88. Willard Ahdritz
89. John Ivey and Alex Tear
90. Jody Gerson
91. Chris Tsakalakis
92. Nigel Lythgoe
93. Richard Busch
94. Debra Lee
95. David Israelite
96. Steve Berman
97. Rich Bengloff
98. Gary Overton
99. Daniel Glass
100. Simon Cowell
Taking singing lessons in Los Angeles is a way to take control over your career.
