Chris Ayears
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A long time friend to Urban Network, Chris Ayears, Director of Marketing for Fontana Distribution—
the independent arm for Universal Music & Video Distribution—keeps his finger on the pulse of the music industry’s indie community. In the following interview, Chris lends his wealth of knowledge to our readers on how to move product through both physical and online distribution, how labels can get into the Fontana system, and tips on being a successful indie in today’s evolving marketplace.
What's a typical day like for you, and how involved are you in acquiring acts for Fontana?
My day-to-day varies from day-to-day (laughs). My job is to work with my group of labels in every area concerning their releases. I'm making sure they're hitting deadlines, making sure masters are in, assisting with their marking plans and efforts, keeping production costs down and making sure we ship the right amount of records. It's my job to communicate information from the label to our sales staff who then use that info when they're selling to their accounts. I also have two label managers that report to me so I'm always helping them with their records and label relations.
Fortunately, I'm allowed to be intimately involved with acquiring labels. Ron Spaulding, our GM, has the final say but he welcomes our input and expertise. I'm most involved with the labels that are more Urban leaning. John Ahn (Manager of Business Development) and I work together in meeting, analyzing and determining if a label would be a good fit for Fontana. I've been involved in meetings with people I've looked up to for years.
The question we're sure you're asked most, is how can I get my product through the Fontana system?
I'll usually tell them there are two to three ways to get in our system. One, obviously is getting a label deal with us. If they aren't quite ready to run an entire label by themselves, there are opportunities to do a joint venture with one of our existing labels. If that doesn't work and the person just has one hot record, one of our existing labels may want to do an artist deal for that record. So there are a few ways depending on the situation.
How important is physical distribution today with declining CD sales?
Physical distribution is still very important. I know it's hard to believe for some people but physical product is still approximately 70% of the business and that number is even higher for Fontana. Music is a passion thing and there are fans out there who still like holding the CD, ripping off the plastic and reading the liner notes. As long as the demand is there, physical distribution will be here. That doesn't mean we ignore digital. We, as a company, have embraced the digital movement and will continue to make sure our records are available in every consumable format…that's legal!
What current titles or releases are Fontana priorities?
We're blessed to have a lot of hot records that are either in stores now or coming soon. The JOE record from Kedar Entertainment, "Joe Thomas-New Man," was Fontana's highest debut to date (No. 8 on Billboard's Top 200). We're excited about EPMD, Jon B, Heavy D's first all Reggae album, "Vibes" and Tech N9ne, who just continues to blow people away with his numbers. The same could be said about our Gospel releases. Rhoda Lawrence heads up Universal Music Christian Group and we've had success with titles from Shekinah Glory Ministries, Regina Belle and Trin-I-Tee 5:7. In 2009, you'll see releases from Mos Def, Marques Houston, Chico DeBarge, Capone-N-Noreaga, Kid Sister and two of hip-hop's most anticipated albums ever! I'm not at liberty to give specifics but trust me, they are big and we're looking forward to getting them out.
How important is Urban brick and mortar retail to Fontana? Many see physical stores as falling off.
Urban retail is still very important to Fontana. We have three Urban Marketing Reps in the market place and their main purpose is to keep Fontana, our labels and their releases visible at the Urban indies. They do a weekly "Buzz Report" on certain records as to get a gauge on how well pre-street date marketing is working or not. They also make sure we're buying into the right programs and helping our labels conduct in-stores at these accounts. That's showing a big commitment from an Independent Distribution company and it shows how much we value the Urban retailer. We realize that they still break records and they know their customer better than anyone. We've had great success with an R&B artist named Algebra. We owe all of her success to the Urban indies because they were first on it and are still moving it today.
We hear so much about the importance of independent artists and labels, what advice would you offer individuals endeavoring to make a success in the music industry as an indie?
You have to be professional about it. It takes a lot of time and money to build and maintain a label. A lot of people think indie distributors are just handing out deals and that is not true. The main three things they need would be, funding, a staff, and a roster. Once those three pieces are in place, they can start actively marketing and promoting their artists. Once the demand for a particular artist passes the point of selling out of the trunk, then you start having meetings with distribution companies. That way you walk in the room with some leverage as well as knowledge of the marketplace. I'd also tell them to call us first (laughs).
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