Terry McBride (born 1960 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is the current CEO and one of three founders of the Nettwerk Music Group, which includes Nettwerk Productions (Canada’s largest independent record label), Nettwerk Management (artist and producer management), Nettwerk One (publishing), and Artwerks (graphic and fashion design). Founded in McBride's apartment in 1984, Nettwerk has corporate offices in Vancouver, Boston, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Hamburg and London. Nettwerk Management’s exclusive client roster includes Barenaked Ladies, Stereophonics, Sarah McLachlan, Jars of Clay and Jamiroquai, among many others. Since its inception, Nettwerk has released over 500 different albums and sold over 150 million albums worldwide. In the past few years McBride has spoke at dozens of international conferences about advances in digital technology, intellectual property rights and the future of music distribution. In 2008, McBride co-authored a paper for the British University of Westminster’s “Musictank” entitled “Meet the Millennials”

McBride’s latest endeavor combines his two principle passions in the re-launch of Nutone Music. Encompassing music from the realm of devotional chant, world beat and beyond, Nutone is dedicated to the development of a new genre within today’s musical landscape. McBride explains, “Nutone's mission is to seek out what we feel is the best music that fits into the modern day Yoga studio, various wellness practices and everyday enjoyment of music. With many descriptions from World music to Chant to New Age to Mantra music, Nutone will demystify and clarify for listeners a brand that will be consistent in delivering quality albums.”

At the 2003 Juno Awards Terry received the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award, recognizing an outstanding individual who has contributed to the growth and advancement of the Canadian music industry.
Terry has also twice been awarded the Pollstar Industry Award for Personal Manager of the year for his work with Sarah McLachlan (1997) and Avril Lavigne / Coldplay (2002).

Early this June, our Editor-In-Chief caught up with Terry at Music Matters in Hong Kong and below is a transcript of their chat:-

 

Terry everyone defines you as an artist mentor. I was just curious to know what is the difference between an Artist Manager and an Artist Mentor.
I don’t think there is any difference. Frankly I don’t define myself as anything. It is people around me who give me these titles. Personally I am title–less.

Are artists extremely difficult to handle?
They can be. Besides creating music they beat a lot of drum around that music so its a part of my role to keep that drum beat low.

Tell us the names of a few artists who have been very difficult to handle?
Now I am not gonna answer that one. I cant give you names. But they all have their difficult moments, no matter how nice sweet or genuine they are at other times.

What kind of an artist is the best artist to start with? When you meet a new artist do you ever tell yourself “This artist is a star material”
I think the best raw artist I have ever mentored is Sarah McLachlan. Simply because she comes from very authentic place. She is an amazing musician and an amazing human being. She has this intense feeling of giving back to the society and the world in general. Everything that she does has to have some importance to it. It cant be trivial. Be it her lyric or her compositions or benefit shows, all have to give back in some way. Nothing that she does is just for herself.

When you zero down on an artists capabilities what is that essential parameter you look at? Is it the performance, the vocals, or the composing capabilities?
The artist necessarily has to be a great song writer. They have to be writing their on songs. Because when they sing their own songs it comes from their hearts. You will find that the most popular artists in the world are not necessarily the best singers but they sing with passion and that passion affects people. Those songs are not just songs. They are emotions and those emotions become a part of those people’s lives who listen to them. That’s the power of music. Its not just melody all the times. A certain lyric in that song can mean a million different things to a million different people who listen to it. Those artists who can convey those emotions and can write those songs are the artists to look around for.

 

I assume that when you make a decision of a great artist like this it’s a gut feel. Is there no logic involved at all considering the fact a lot of resources are invested into these artists.
Of Course. There is no logic at all. So you work with music that you love and not with music that you like.

When you love the songs of an artist, and you start working do you ever believe that the artist will be a big star someday? How do you assume that risk?
Well I don’t really approach it that way. When I went signing Sarah 20 years ago, did I believe that she is gonna become this big star? No I didn’t. Did I love what she was doing? Yes I did. I believe that if I love the music and if I do a good job of mentoring the artist chances are that hundreds and thousands of people are gonna love the songs that I loved. And you need to come from that point of view.
Also let me tell you something. Each one of those artists Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Dido, etc  I have worked with are true and authentic to who and what they are. Anyone who has ever tried to replicate the styles or attitudes of other artists has never been successful. So I assume risks when I know I have found true artists.

Its a known fact that the personal lives of artists often creeps into their work. If their personal lives are not balanced then those depressions completely kill the creativity of the artist thereby ruining their careers and dumping precious dollars. As an artist manager how do you really control this?
I don think you really can do anything about this. All that you can do is be there with them and help them in whatever way they think you can. But its’ their lives and their choices.

In such a situation are you the father figure or are their friend?
I think I am just the person in the room who speaks straight from the heart whether they wanna hear or they don’t wanna hear.

Who according to you is a good artist manager? Is he a musician who matures into an artist manager or just someone who has a good ear for music?
A good artist manager may or may not be a musician but he is definitely someone who understands the music business. One who not only understands artists but also understands all the moving parts of the music business, its legalities and regularities. This is a very complex business. One who understands branding to merchandising, from LIVE concerts to intellectual property and now of course digitization. There are lots of laws in different countries which are different from each other. You need to understand all of those moving parts to be a very super effective Artist Manager. You might be able to understand it for one region and might be very effective in that region but not necessarily you are very effective world over. I don’t think there are a lot of world class managers. To be an effective artist manager you need to travel the world and meet all sorts of people associated with the industry. You need to understand different culture codes. It doesn’t work the same way everywhere. The world may be digitally flat but it is culturally coded. And you need to respect those cultures. And a good artist manager needs to impart that understanding to his artist as to why things are working differently in different parts of the world. This helps the artist understand that, what might be cool in North America is not cool in China!! So swearing lyrics may be cool in North America but it might be insulting in China. Artists need to understand that, appreciate and respect those cultures. It is the artist manager who needs to have that understanding first. He needs to visit those market places. Head out there and get an understanding, develop relationships so the next time a fresh artist signs up with you, all you do is just maximize your networks.

It’s a common perception that the best artists come from the developed nations where music consumption is the highest. Is it true?
No I don't think so. If I point out to you artists whom I have signed up with in Canada, with the exception of Benn Nicholas none of them have come from a major city. Avril Lavigne came from a city of less than 3000 people. Sarah came from Hallifax which is the farthest end of the country. People go there for holidays. To me its got nothing to do with where they come from. Its’ about what they are saying and how they are saying it.

When you say that boundaries don’t matter, do you think all these websites which are networking forums for the artists where they upload their music actually help artist managers?
I think that’s a really good starting point. Because for me everything starts with music. If I love the music, not like it, but love it and I get curious as to who sung it then I’ll get on with a meeting with the artist and at that point I sample who they are as people. If they become successful, what are they gonna do with all that money. Are they gonna make the world a better place.

So are you saying that social networks might be very popular with artist managers and may serve as the best tools for filtering artists?
Yes they already are. People who send me CD’s or get their music on USB or Pen Drives, I always tell them “Send me a link”. Now if I can find the same links on a social network and as well interact a little with them before I meet them, then why not? I think social networks which specialize in the music space are extremely popular with artist managers.

I would love to understand your thought process when you start listening to a song to figure out whether the artist who sung is good or not?
I don’t know what goes on in my sub conscious or conscious mind. It just sticks into you. I think that’s what gives rise to a gut feel. I just know when I hear it.

Has that gut feel ever gone wrong?
Not when I follow my gut. If I think that 'I like this song and maybe I can make lots of money' it usually doesn’t work. But if I love it and don’t know what to do about it, I usually end up discovering the next big star.

Not questioning your credibility but what would be your success ratio when you discover a good artist? Is it  7 out of 10?
No. I think it is 9 out of 10. 9 out of 10 artists I sign up usually end up being stars.

What brings you to Music Matters? Do you have any agenda or goals to achieve out here?
No I do not have any goals to achieve from Music Matters. To me defining goals means limiting yourself. What I like about Music Matters is that I get to listen to a lot of panels and learn so much about the music business. Music Matters like MIDEM is a great place to meet people and network so I enjoy coming here.

 

Do you look forward to meeting artists here?
I do.

I believe Music Matters has put up an impromptu sort of a session where you are going to meet the artist for the first time on stage and mentor the artist on stage?
Yes I am pretty kicked about it.

Do you think it can be done that way?
Yes absolutely. In fact that’s the best time to do it.

Do you think sometimes the artist managers also require mentoring?
Let me tell you that this will be the fourth time I will be doing this impromptu thing. In the previous 3 times, I have done this, I noticed that the artist was limiting himself because of the traditional approach of the artist manager, the artist was associated with. A traditional artist manager plays videos, talks about the marketing plan and the promotions plan. I don’t think this is the right approach to mentoring an artist. In all such cases the manager needs the mentoring first.
In today’s times, the Artist Manager needs to understand that at the end of the day the artist is a brand. Music is just a small part of that brand. One needs to understand the artist as a person before positioning him as a brand.
An artist manager needs to ask the artist essentail questions like:
Who is the artist? What are their triumphs? What do they want to do in life? What are the interests of the artist if he has written the lyrics? Who is the person who inspired him to write those lyrics? What makes them tick?
The answers to all these questions are far more interesting than the artists’ music itself. I think this is something a lot of music managers don’t do and in a traditional approach you just lose the thought and focus on the artist and focus more on his music. Such traditional artist managers need mentoring.

Terry that’s great to know that you focus on artists as people and not just commodities who churn music that has to be sold.
Obviously artists are people. Their songs are our emotions and not just copyrights. Artists are creatively blessed humans and not just devices that entertain you. We need to take care of them.

Thank You so much Terry
You take care Sudhir.

 

- TEAM IMT