Authenticity.
HOW I TOOK AN ARTIST TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD IN MUSIC
THROUGH AUTHENTICITY
As an artist developer and manager I developed the multi platinum hit singer Yulia, launching Yulia to a USA audience of 51 million people, to an audience of 9 million in Russia. Signing her to a multi grammy award winning music producer and into a $600,000 production in France that was broadcast on USA TV.
Cutting a path from obscurity to fortune and fame is not achieved the way that most people think.
I was coached by the producer who launched The Ramones, Blondie and worked with Sting,
who taught me the value of authenticity.
You see, most artists today are all trying to copy each other.
They all sound relatively the same.
We have a real lack of the authentic creativity of artists like David Bowie or Michael Jackson,
who respected the old, by creating a fusion of this and adding in something entirely new.
Artist and Repertoire (A&R) Development is a lost art that is no longer included in management.
Record labels no longer develop artists to find their creativity.
Sony Music New Zealand had failed to launch Yulia outside New Zealand.
When I first met her, the career was over.
At first she wanted and needed to do some crazy things.
Because she already had a conservative reputation in classical crossover,
I recommended against it. But an artist has the right to express themselves freely.
So i just went with it.
I was there to pick up the pieces when that failed.
And now that she had that out of her system,
I got stuck into establishing who Yulia
was an artist.
I had developed my own music school with 600 concurrent students, 30 teachers and programs in 22 schools.
So I was already expert in music. I had worked for Korg, Kawai, Roland and Yamaha and was also a Singer Songwriter and recording artist. TV documentaries were created on me in New Zealand, for making music at home that I had licensed in Hollywood. So I had a lot of experience.
I already had excellent industry connections, so I went to key people to do an assessment
for the correct career pathway. In Yulia's case is was a decision between conforming to
the perfectionism of Opera or rebelling in the expressive interpretation of Chanson.
I had sponsored Opera for a number of years and called on the leading expert in 17th Century Italian Opera
and former Patron of New Zealand Opera. He explained that an voice as expressive as Yulia's
should not be constrained to become a facsimile that copied others.
And so we turned down an opportunity for Yulia to take a pathway through Opera.
It was a good choice.
I took Yulia through a three year development cycle, making her one of the worlds best live performers.
We moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, where although she was already a multi platinum artist with two number one hit albums, three radio hits and New Zealand music awards for Best Female Vocalist and Highest Selling Album of the Year, we further developed her voice, establishing a reclassification from Contralto to Coloratura Mezzo Soprano, with an tessitura of 2.5 octaves and an effective range of 4.5 octaves. The total immersion Russian/Italian Opera method had resulted in a level of performance that rivalled the greatest singers in the world. In this moment, we had done a vocal preparation programme, not that dissimilar to the way that athletes prepare for the Olympics, or the way that Rocky prepared for his boxing fights, with sheer grit and determination.
Then we entered competitions to prove this excellence and gain attention.
We won the Atlantic Breeze European Song Competition.
And Best Live Entertainment in New Zealand.
I recorded the live concert series, more as a showcase of the voice.
And it worked. We had established Yulia as a leading Chanson's singer.
And got involved in reinterpretation of Chanson songs.
The attraction marketing caught the attention of the worlds best music producers.
One of whom decided to sign my company (not the artist) because he liked my work.
Because I signed my production company, we were now able to focus on the
business that we could do together, launching Yulia to the world.
I have since worked developing a number of artists, several who have gone on to win national and international competitions in New Zealand's Got Talent and America's Got Talent.
Even negotiating with Sarah Brightman's former music producer Frank Pedersen.
I now mentor and coach artists into music career development.
So if you would like to make it in music.
BE AUTHENTIC.
Feel free to connect with me
www.facebook.com/glynmaclean