Dave Loncao, VP/Promotion, Union Entertainment Group

Tell us about the next phase of your career with Union Entertainment Group. Why did you feel this was the right move for you?
It just all kind of happened when Nickelback called and asked if I would go to Vancouver. They were in the middle of recording with Mutt Lange. Old habits die hard. I’ve been involved with these guys for ten years, and they weren’t just another recording act on Roadrunner to me. I spent a lot of time trying to make sure they were on our label and friendships ensued. It’s a different kind of relationship. So I went to Canada and while we were there, with a bunch of people affiliated with the band and management, conversations started. It was very exciting. What was being proposed was a new, larger, more effective management company. There was a time many years ago when I made the switch from records to management and went to work with John Mellencamp. I felt it was the right time to jump over to another side of the fence, and this time it felt right again.  

Was it difficult to leave the very successful position you had at Roadrunner?
I had one of the greatest jobs in the record business when at Roadrunner. It was very hard to leave. It was a personal decision; a family decision about relocation and everything, and it was the right time. It was really hard for me to do. I never imagined that I would walk away from the greatest working situation that I’d ever had. I was there for ten years and it was home. As much as I loved it at Roadrunner, it just wasn’t quite as much fun as it used to be on the label side for numerous reasons, which had nothing to do with the people I worked with or the phenomenal staff that stayed with me for all those years. Now I have a new family on the other side of the fence.  

What will your responsibilities entail in your new position?
There was never really anybody at Union Entertainment that was as familiar as I am with the intricacies of certain aspects of labels and the promotion world. I will oversee the promotion efforts and plans for all acts under our umbrella, as well as work behind the scenes with the bands, producers and A&R people to make sure we have the right edits for songs and the right single choices. I will also be managing bands myself in the near future.  

You have been with Nickelback since the band’s inception, and soon they will be moving into their 360 deal with Live Nation. Do you think these non-traditional deals are the wave of the future for artists?
I think they can be viable alternatives for acts that have a list of accomplishments that they’ve already achieved in the past.  

Are there any issues inherent with these “all inclusive” deals that may threaten the record label/artist relationship going forward? Are artist’s relationships with labels going to change?
Yes, I think they have to. We’re seeing everything change. I know labels want to try and do the 360 deals because their margin of profit isn’t like it was in the past, and they’re looking for ways to offset that. That makes it much harder to sign bands. It makes it much harder for bands to make a decision to do such a thing if, for some reason, the one aspect that is creating living expenses for them is something that all of a sudden the label wants a piece of, even though the label never had anything to do with it in the past. That’s a tough thing for an artist to give up.
I know some artists that have been through this where they’ve been able to do something with their publishing to create revenue for themselves. They’ve been able to do something with their touring to create money for themselves, and they sell a few records while they’re out there, but they would love to have a record deal to stabilize that end of it. But it’s very hard when somebody says, “We’ll give you a record deal, and we’ll give you this, this and this, but we want a piece of this, this and this.” That never had anything to do with it in the past. That’s a tough decision for someone who has found a way, even without a record deal, to make money from their art.  

What can music labels offer to compete with deals coming from outside players like Live Nation?
At this point in time, certain nuances and of course distribution. And slowly that paradigm is changing also with the increase in digital sales.  

What other critical issues must the music industry address and develop to insure a healthy future?
In all aspects of this business, no matter what side of the fence you’re on, there is still too much relying on old rules and old ways of doing things. For a year or so I’ve been a fan of throwing out all the rules and trying something different. You lose a lot of times and make mistakes, but the knowledge you gain from your conquests as well as your failures is priceless.
For years in this business people always benchmarked. Benchmarking was important. “So-and-so achieved this by doing this; that’s what we should do.” I was trained for many years that way to benchmark things. Quite a few years ago I said, “I’m not benchmarking anything. I’m not comparing what I’m doing to other people.” It made no sense, because for every benchmark you can come up with that supports the left thinking, you can find a benchmark that supports the right thinking.
If you believe that you have talent in what you do in this business, then go with your gut and learn from it. When I went to Roadrunner, and Nickelback exploded and had the #1 Song of The Year at a label that was a Metal label, people used to always say, “Ah, you just got lucky.” These are the same people that told me I was nuts to leave RCA and go to Roadrunner. They said I got lucky, but I always said there’s no such thing as luck in this business. There are just good decisions and bad decisions, and you learn mountains of things from both.

How have new media and technological advances changed the way you deal with radio when promoting artists?
Everything in the past few years has changed how you deal with radio. It’s unfortunate because every other business out there deals with their clients the way they always used to, although now we are seeing that change in banking, government, politicians and even Arbitron. This business had to change. It had stricter rules put on it, and caused a scare among people. Everybody looks at different things, but it’s a matter of whoever you’re talking to in radio and getting to know them well enough to know which of the aspects of this business impresses them the most. Then there are always the guys who make most of their decisions with their gut. That was a larger percentage in the old days. It’s been evolving as technology has evolved and as digital information has become available to people. It’s only natural that any business adapts and utilizes yet a new stream of information flow.

Is new technology advances in radio like Internet streaming, HD and podcasting keeping radio vital to an artist’s career?
Radio is in a tough spot right now. A lot of aspects are putting a strain on radio such as decreasing listenership, decreasing time-spent-listening, decreasing revenue and increasing alternatives to the consumer’s time. It’s very tough. And the next thing they have to deal with will be corporate debt, as will many other industries. It’s just like what network television went through as cable started to make inroads. It causes you to rethink everything, throw out all the old rules and come up with new ones, and get creative. Also the cutbacks at these radio groups are extremely unfortunate. You have so many situations where one person is overseeing so many radio stations. It’s really hard to breathe a soul into one station, let alone four, six or eight.

Does helping to break new artists still excite you as much as it did at the beginning of your career?
Absolutely, it’s just as exciting to grab some new music, in whatever form you can these days. It used to be on vinyl, and then it was on cassette or disc. Now it comes through computers and MP3s, but it’s just as exciting to put on a new piece of music and listen for the first time. For me, it’s like, “Oh! What could this be? This could be magical or this could be really dull!” Whenever you hit one that really touches you, it’s a special feeling that I’ve never lost. It does something for your day when you discover something new that just tickles you that way. It changes your whole day.  

Looking back, what are some of the most defining moments of your career?
I have fond memories of, many moons ago, being a co-owner in New Avenues Music. Doing independent work back in the days when independent really personified some of the best promotion people in the business. I think very kindly of my days at Mercury, when we had all of these amazing projects. In the course of one year I remember working Rush, Mellencamp, Bon Jovi,Robert Cray, KISS, Def Leppard, Cinderella, Van Morrison, Scorpions, Tears For Fears…so many platinum and gold artists. There had to be fifteen of them or so.
I think fondly back to my RCA days. There was a period where we didn’t even have a president at that label! We were doing it by committee. There were about six people during that time and we signed the Dave Matthews Band and Verve Pipe. That was exciting. I remember when I went there everybody said, “What are you going there for? It’s a toilet!” When people say things like that, those are challenges for me.
And of course, Roadrunner is the biggest, most terrific memory because nobody gave me a chance in hell of succeeding at what we succeeded to do there. Everybody said, “That’s just a Metal label. You’re never going to get out of that.” Even radio guys said it. I remember the first time I went on the road, I didn’t even have a staff at that point. After the first day I was there, I went on the road for two straight weeks across the country, telling people what I was going to do. A lot of them just looked at me negatively and said, “Dave, I don’t know.” That’s a very fond memory and accomplishment.

*** QB Content by Mandy Feingold ***