Mark Abramson
Mark Abramson is one of the rare promotion executives who lives, eats and breathes the lifestyle of his label’s artist roster. With over 15 years of promotion experience under his belt, Abramson is now a VP/Promotion at Roadrunner and one of the most respected promo guys among the Rock radio community, so we decided it was time to get some insight from FMQB’s Rock Promotion Executive of the Year for 2006.
eQB presents excerpts from the March FMQBmagazine Rock Up Close with Roadrunner Records VP/Promotion Mark Abramson
On his feelings about Roadrunner Records… I have a great passion for this label. I’m a rock guy and this label delivers a great rock roster. I truly do love most of the bands that I work with and go home and listen to them. I believe in Roadrunner, it’s very easy for me to sell this label.
On Roadrunner switching over from the Universal umbrella to Warner Bros… This is about a remarriage with Lyor Cohen. And that’s a great thing, because Lyor knows the Roadrunner vibe and it was an exciting time when we were working with him through the Island deal. So it really was inevitable that Roadrunner and Lyor Cohen were going to get back together again. It’s very exciting.
On changes in promotion over his 15 years of experience… In the wake of the Spitzer payola campaign, you are factoring in this scared promo where so many of us on both sides of the fence are afraid to do anything. So on one hand it’s come full circle to the point where it allows us to purely promote a record on the value of its music, which is what got me going in the first place. But at the same time there is so much of a fear to take a chance and get involved more interactively than there was a few years ago.
On the chart game and “most added” status… The charts are a fantastic tool for the other departments to sell what’s happening with an artist. Every job or career field needs to have some sort of “report card” of their results and it’s exciting to get a top ten, top five, or a number one record. Most added is interesting because so many people will tell you most added is this stupid little thing that can go away. I don’t agree because every guy in my chair in this business has at times had the hard job of starting a baby band from ground zero, which is so hard when you are literally starting a song without a story. We all go out there and, in the beginning, the hardest part is to get people to give this thing a shot and if you can pull off getting the top 5 most added on a baby band, it’s another piece of the puzzle
On the lay of the land across Active, Mainstream and Modern Rock radio… Heritage stations are being more conservative and the Active stations are still very active. There is definitely a divide between them, but they are both very healthy for what they are doing. With that, Modern Rock seems to be on a campaign to really sever ties with the Active Rock world, and is doing it in such a drastic way that on one hand it’s exciting to see a group of new Alternative bands being given a shot. But Modern Rock is also doing a little bit of cutting their nose off to spite their face by not playing big hits.
On HD Radio… The only one who makes a big issue out of it is WRIF. The technology is out there, but you are asking people to buy this new equipment and that’s the wildcard. I’m not sure if they can come in after the big satellite explosion and become another thing that people have to buy. It’s exciting and I like more places for people to hear new music. I’d love to know who is making a real run of it besides WRIF, because I haven’t felt too much out there. Maybe saying that in this article will have others make me more aware of it. We will see, but the jury is still out on HD.
** QB Content by Michael Parrish **
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