Today we’d like to introduce you to Phil Thomas.
Phil, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I entered the music business from the performance side. I’ve played drums since my parents put me in lessons in 5th grade, all I wanted was to be Peter Criss! I did get to play in multiple bands through middle school, high school, and college. I loved everything about being in a band from writing, recording, and performing. Finally, I was able to find a band with guys that had the same dream of touring. Being on the road was a lot of fun most of the time, but after experiencing the ups and downs of national touring, I ended up in Dallas, TX playing the club scene.
Playing clubs did not pay the bills for me, so I needed a job. A friend recommended a company called Western Merchandisers which was in the business of CD and cassette distribution. Yes, people used to buy music on compact discs and cassettes in brick and mortar stores! I was able to get an interview and scored an entry-level position. I called on independent music stores around the country and let them know what new artists were about to release CDs and what existing titles were selling well. After a couple of years with Western, I was given the opportunity to open and manage the branch of a NY based music distributor in Irving, TX.
Working for these distributors gave me an appreciation for all types of music as well as the knowledge of what genres of music were popular in different parts of the county. My job allowed me to get to know the people that worked at major distributors like Sony, Universal, and Warner Brothers to name a few. My big break came when I was asked to interview for a sales position in Dallas at a company call RED Distribution. RED is Sony’s independent branch that deals with their independent labels and bands. After a few interviews, I was lucky enough to land the job.
At RED I dealt mainly with independent stores and the music store chain Hastings. Working at RED gave me the opportunity to work closely with various independent labels like Roadrunner, Relativity, Ruthless, Metal Blade, Epitaph, Victory and others. I was very interested in what labels looked for in an artist, how they would set up a record and market the record once it was released. My job was to convince my accounts to take a chance on new artists as well as aggressively market established artists in their stores. I worked hand in hand with labels to formulate marketing plans and set sales goals for the label’s releases.
After ten years with RED, I was offered a National Account Manager position with Universal’s new independent branch Fontana. I was excited for the opportunity to be in on the ground floor of a major company’s independent branch, so I jumped at the chance. I was working with huge accounts like Anderson/Wal-Mart, Sams, and the Army, Air Force Exchange Service as well as the music chain Hastings and the regional offices of Best Buy, Blockbuster and Tower Records. During my second or third year at Fontana along came an invention called the iPod. As digital music sales grew, it became more and more difficult for physical retailers to compete. Many small independent stores couldn’t offset the losses to digital retailers, so they closed. Larger chains like Wal-Mart and Best Buy cut back on the amount of CDs they would carry in their stores opting only for the hits while dropping smaller artists from their stock. Eventually, the big distributors like Sony, Universal, etc. had to cut back, so they started closing their satellite offices only keeping offices in New York and Los Angeles. I was caught in the cutback and not sure what I was going to do. All I had ever done was work in the music industry, but there were no opportunities in Dallas and I wasn’t interested in moving to LA or NY.
I was out of work for about three months when a close friend called to let me know of an opportunity with a new independent record label. Although I had worked closely with many labels over the years, I had never worked for a label. I was very intrigued and after a couple of phone interviews and a face to face meeting, I was offered the position of VP of Operations for Carved Records. My role is a little bit of everything. I handle all sales, assist with A&R, draw up and negotiate contracts with artists and managers, hire producers, radio promo and PR companies as well as oversee all aspects of manufacturing the CDs. I also work hand in hand with our Head Of New Media Alyssa Davis. Plus if a CD or poster needs to be mailed, I’ll do that too. I have been with Carved Records for almost nine years and we’ve grown from a label with one artist being distributed by a small indie distributor to a label with multiple releases being distributed by Caroline/Universal. To continue our growth Carved opened a management wing. Carved Management is run by the label CEO Tim Porter and currently has four artists on the roster: Texas Hippie Coalition, Shane Smith & the Saints, Beasto Blanco and Red Sky Mary.
The path that leads me to where has been an awesome adventure with something new around every corner. My friends joke that all I do is listen to music everyday and I must say that is one of the perks. There is nothing more exciting than discovering new artists. To think my music career started because I loved hitting things with a stick way back in 5th grade! Which I still do because it’s fun to hit things with a stick.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As I said earlier the biggest challenge in my career as a physical music distributor was the arrival of digital music. Once digital music was widely available physical product sales suffered.
The latest challenge is the devaluing of recorded music as a whole. These days with streaming on the rise music is viewed as virtually free. Why pay for something when you can get it free through a streaming service. However, on the artist and label side, there are still costs involved in making a quality recording and promote it. As a label, we have to come up with new ways to make a profit outside of recorded music sales not only for ourselves but for our artists.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Carved Records – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
At Carved Records and Carved Management, we specialize in independent rock and country. We keep our roster small, so we can devote more time and resources to each artist.
What I’m most proud of is that we are constantly evolving, trying to think of new ways to promote our artists while the business continually changes. One thing that sets us apart is that we are available anytime to our artists. I or someone from the staff speaks to or texts with all of our artists regularly and they can call us directly if needed. We want our artists to feel like they are in a partnership with equal say in their career.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our plan for the future is to continue seeking talent for both the label and management divisions, that is the best part of the job. The music business is always changing and we will continue to change with it.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.carvedrecords.com/
- Email: info@carvedrecords.com
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/carvedrecords
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/carvedrecords
- Other: http://www.carvedmanagement.com/
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