When it comes to assessing his place in the music industry, Universal Republic VP of Rock Promotion Dave Downey keeps a grounded perspective. “It’s almost like a pretend job,” he says. “I get paid to talk about music and it’s a dream come true.” Those who know Downey well understand he is one that likes to have fun while building his relationships at radio. But they also know he has a conviction and passion towards music promotion. We decided it was time to get some insight from FMQB’s Rock Promotion Executive of the Year for 2007.

e-QB presents excerpts from the FMQB February Magazine Rock Up Close featuring Universal Republic VP of Rock Promotion Dave Downey
On the changes in record promotion over the years… When I first started doing promotion, the rules and budgets were different. I was working bands like Poison and Great White, and we would go after radio completely differently than we do now. It’s always been about relationships, don’t get me wrong, but the promotions behind some of our records were more extreme. We were also selling a tremendous amount more records. When you have a record that is going to sell six million, you find yourself with a much bigger promotion budget than when you look at a record that could potentially do two million and be considered a huge success.

On advice that has helped throughout his career… Rich Bloom taught me the ABCs of promotion – Always Be Closing. When you try to draw a line between this and your love of music, you find out that the most important part of doing this job is getting along with everybody. It’s not so much being a power broker or forcing people to do something they don’t want to do.

On the relationship between labels and radio… When you understand common goals, and you can talk frankly to programmers about those goals, it makes things a lot better. Promotion is not so much a debate as it is sharing information. It is not us against them, it is we. We must partner together as a team, radio and label, to have mutual success.

On navigating radio’s waters when launching a new band… It’s not their job to develop new artists. That said. There wasn’t a band that broke out of the Active Rock format in 2007. This could be the first year that has ever happened. We need to do better. I see 2008 as a different kind of year, but the bottom line is radio needs to play hits in order to continue growing, get the ratings that they need, make their bonuses, and do all the things to protect their jobs. I need to garner airplay and sell records to continue working in this business, so there has to be some kind of synergy. If radio just wants to play solid smashes that are already established, we all lose. We all have to take a chance at some point and that’s what makes radio exciting.

On which artist has him excited for 2008? I know this is a couple years old, but I flipped over Brand New. I would love to see a band like this sell a ton of records. We’re at the point of capitulation. You look at the economy. The parents are miserable. We’re seeing the government go crazy… and it’s time for something to break through. There has to be a radical change in music any minute now, it is long overdue, and I’m excited about 2008 in that aspect. On the job front, I’m excited about Alter Bridge. I can’t wait to see Mark Tremonti on a huge stage again and selling tons of records. The dude is so talented, the whole band is and they have put together a masterpiece with Blackbird. He is the key songwriter in a band that’s sold 30-million plus records. Sometimes it’s hard to get people to really understand that.

**QB Content by Michael Parrish**

Also in the February Issue:
Up Close with WZOR APD Cutter
In the frozen tundra of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Packers and Rock & Roll music are a way of life. Rock radio stations crowd the FM dial, which makes it a constant challenge for each one to carve out its own niche. However, that is the daily deed facing WZOR APD and morning man Cutter, who has been with the Active Rock outlet since Woodward Communications launched it in 2000. Cutter started out doing part-time on-air work at sister station WAPL, and then joined Razor 94.7 as soon as it went on the air. He has since moved up the ladder from nights to afternoons to MD to APD and now also handles morning show duties. Cutter recently spoke to FMQB about doing Active Rock radio in the blue collar, hard-rocking land of Green Bay and its surrounding Appleton/Oshkosh market.