Ron Cerrito is one of the more complete promotion executives in his field today by virtue of his experience. He studied under some of the most accomplished promo execs of their time including Harvey Leeds, Polly Anthony, Brenda Romano, Chris Lopes, Charlie Walk, Stu Bergen, and most recently, Tom “Grover” Biery. Quite an elite group! He also served as Epic’s VP of Marketing, worked in the Artist Relations field and ran successful Rock departments at Interscope and Columbia.
Ron Cerrito
But it wasn’t until he arrived in Burbank in November of 2006, that he hit the summit of the promotion executive ladder when he was appointed SVP of Promotion at Warner Bros. Records. It was Cerrito’s first major SVP gig overseeing all of promotion and it came with its share of challenges.
Until about four months ago, Warner Bros. was sharing its national Pop promo staff with its sister label Reprise, but has since separated. What does your current Pop promotion structure look like?
When we were sharing a Pop promotion staff with Reprise it was a function of Pop product flow, but it tended to be a little confusing to radio. We have now increased the product flow to the point where we can split the national Pop staffs. We hired Ken Lucek a few months ago to head up Pop promotion in Los Angeles and recently promoted Keith Rothschild to Director/National Pop Promotion based in New York. The Warner Bros. Top 40 department now includes our GM/EVP of Promotion Tom “Grover” Biery, myself, Ken and Keith. We feel like we now have a great, tight team along with some amazing Pop records in place.
Warner Bros. has long been noted as a company with a very strong Rock repertoire and an equally potent Rock promotion presence. How is the company progressing internally into a broader repertoire approach with Pop and Rhythm now playing a larger role?
(Chairman/CEO) Tom Whalley put several new deals in place. Mainly, associations with one of the most respected songwriters in the country, Kara DioGaurdi; Urban, Rhythm, street experts, Asylum Records, and Beluga Heights, which is JR Rotem’s Pop hit machine. JR is one of the most respected producers in the business.
So what you see now is a company that has Jason Derulo #1 Pop and Rhythm; New Boyz, following up a Top 5 Rhythm track with the crossover hit “Tie Me Down”; Gucci Mane with “Wasted” #1 Urban and with the crossover hit “Spotlight” climbing the Urban and Rhythm charts; and a company who has held the #1 Modern Rock slot for the past twenty-three weeks consecutively with Muse and Linkin Park.
WB’s success as a Rock label speaks volumes and there are parallels within the industry of other labels that are more Rhythmic/Pop and less Rock oriented that have experienced inverse transitions. Doesn’t it all start with the repertoire?
Talking about the company as a Rock based company is one way to talk about our company. There’s no question about our Rock repertoire, clout and promotion muscle. But another way to talk about us is as an artist company. This company has always been about building artist careers in every sense of the word and it’s something we take pride in. We are currently working artists as diverse as Metallica, Muse, Linkin Park, Wilco, Flaming Lips, Regina Spektor, Gucci Mane, New Boyz and Jason Derulo.
What have been the growing pains of transitioning a predominantly Rock oriented promo staff into a productive Pop promotion force?
First we had to get the right team in place. As mentioned earlier, having the dedicated Warner Bros. Top 40 team of Ken Lucek and Keith Rothschild has been a key change. Secondly, having a greater flow of Pop music has allowed us the chance to show Pop programmers who we are and what Warner Bros. represents. It’s an ongoing process punctuated by the #1 record this week.
How much of a role does the focus and confidence of your promo field staff play in the overall process?
Promotion is about confidence, follow through, tenacity and integrity. Our staff has always embodied those qualities. Gaining the respect of the Pop format had to happen by experience. We are gaining the confidence of programmers in our music and our company. It’s my confidence in our people and what they can do. Lastly, our staff needs to walk in with the confidence that they have a record that is going to work, is sonically competitive and will connect. That’s how we will build credibility over a period of time.
How important is sustaining product flow and Pop successes in instilling confidence and credibility with Pop programmers?
It’s very important. We are definitely building credibility with radio. Programmers want to play records they feel are going to go and they want to have confidence when they add a record that a label will deliver the single. We understand that and while we haven’t had the biggest Pop roster, we have had a pretty good batting average, whether it’s getting Veronicas Top 10, or Madonna’s first Top 5 single in ten years, or the Pop success we’ve had with Linkin Park over the past four singles, or the current success we’re enjoying with Jason Derulo.
As SVP of Promotion you have to carefully balance your tactics between promotion and radio support via new media platforms. Radio is very aggressive with content in the digital space. Is the content primarily driven by hit artists and songs?
We are a very forward thinking company when it comes to the digital world but we also recognize that all this is being driven by the power of radio. We understand the importance of having hit content for radio so radio can utilize the content to attract an audience in multiple ways. We enjoy the relationship we have with radio regarding the partnerships formed with respect to our artists. We feel it’s a two way street and hope to think that radio remains open minded about new and developing artists as well as established and hit artists. That being said, we understand the power of hit singles at radio and the results that can be generated by multiple platform exposure. But it all starts with airplay.
Given the pronounced decrease of album sales in the physical world over the past ten years and the significant growth of digital singles, is it safe to say that hit singles are more important today to labels than ever?
Let’s face facts, iTunes created a digital singles world and we know digital singles are driven by one force…radio. The other given today is that the only thing that’s selling new artist albums is multiple singles. To truly establish an artist you have to have multiple singles which basically ignites album sales for artists of all levels, including established artists. The main force that sustains album sales passed a four to six week period is radio. You typically have your big opening sales week, then you’re down 65% in the second week, and then you decrease by 30% and so on, and before you now it, no matter who you are, you’re in the 10,000 unit range in a matter of four to six weeks. The only thing that sustains sales beyond that downward spiral is radio airplay and hit songs. It applies to Rock artists as well as Pop artists. Tours don’t do it anymore. Even the biggest artists will go on tour and people will buy tickets but steal the music.
You need hit songs on the radio. So the longevity of albums, which is critical to having those big two and three million blockbuster albums, is driven by airplay. The one thing that significantly drives MySpace and YouTube streams in the digital music world is radio. When a song becomes a hit at radio all of a sudden your hits and views increase exponentially.
How have easy application and access to uploading music for exposure and awareness via the Internet changed the playing field?
The Internet has lowered the barrier of entry. Anyone can make a song and put it on the Internet.
It’s never been more apparent that the digital space is a vast catalog of music. Everything that’s created goes on the Internet. Some guy makes an album in his basement and it goes on the Internet. A management company can release a record on its own. They have distribution through iTunes, Amazon and the like. Indy labels can market and distribute their music via the Internet for no money. But they can’t do it like we can.
What separates the major labels from the wild music frontier of the Internet?
The one thing that artists absolutely need from major labels is radio promotion. When you get right down to it, as a major company, we recognize that we have to be great at radio promotion. That’s the single area where we have the expertise and manpower the smaller companies, management companies and individuals don’t have. That’s why your promotion department must be great. Five years ago labels were cutting back promotion staffs for various reasons. Some were natural cost cutting and attrition reasons, others were replacing promotion bodies with new media heads. But, the importance of promotion we have emphasized since I’ve come here is evident. We’re expanding in this area and as digital savvy a company as we are, we realize more than ever that radio drives the digital space. Radio has gotten harder to conquer these days but while it’s getting harder, it’s also getting more important than ever.
What does it take for a promotion department to stay on top of its game in these tough economic times?
Constant energy and information flowing both ways from the national office to the field is essential. It’s the concept of consummate sharing of data and getting the information to our people in a timely fashion. It’s a national office providing leadership, guidance and support at all costs. It takes a national staff constantly traveling to the field and communicating with programmers. We value our regional staff and use our reps unlike any company I’ve been at. We give them all the tools they need. We try to accomplish all of these goals during very difficult times in our industry regarding cost controls. Given the tough financial times of our industry and the general economy, like any company these days we’re watching our bottom line and running a tight business while still maximizing our efforts.
***eQB Content by Fred Deane***
