Articles & Advice
 Weiss: I think the biggest problem with the current state of A&R is A&R people listening to each other too much, and having this sort of conventional wisdom and group-think about everything. There is almost a generic A&R perspective now on what's cool, and what's not cool, and what works.
Scoppa: And it's not helpful, I don't think. Weiss: Well, it probably was helpful. There was a moment in time when there was a generation of music fans and of A&R people who were disenfranchised because the record companies were out of touch. They went out and they hired a bunch of smart young people who all came up through similar channels, and now there are too many of those people thinking too similar thoughts. What that means is that when a pretty good band makes a pretty good tape and plays a few pretty good shows, they get offered crazy amounts of money by six record companies who all have A&R people thinking identically. Hopefully some of those bands will be really successful and people will keep their jobs.
Scoppa: Some of them will fall apart from the pressure that is imposed upon them from the crazy money and being signed too soon.
Weiss: It is amazing to me how narrowcast the A&R perspective has become. It has probably always been true, I'm sure; we just haven't been around to see it in previous decades, but A&R people are not taking risks.
Scoppa: Have any of you gotten involved in bidding war scenarios?
Aberle: I have. We all have, I think.
Barber: I think it's a mistake. You should never do it. [Laughter.]
Weiss: You're the king, Jim.
 Barber: I found myself incredibly shocked. I'll talk about the two that I actually managed to sign. In the case of Girls Against Boys — who I signed along with Luke Wood — I just did what was important to me, and all of a sudden there were all of these other people hanging around. I found out about neither artist when they were trying to get a record deal. One of my management clients bought me a copy of one of the old Girls Against Boys records, and I played it for a long time. As Bud will confirm, I saw Lisa Loeb with 25 or 30 other people at SXSW in 1993. Then I walk into this job, and all of a sudden there's a line around the block to work with both of these bands. It's kind of complicated to deal with it because they become very high-profile signings, and you have to get your entire company involved in closing the deals. I'm fortunate enough to work at a place where the company does a good job of selling itself to potential artists. I don't know if anybody will believe me when I say I didn't get involved with these bands because everyone else was getting involved with them. I'm not sure exactly how that happens.
Aberle: Obviously you got involved with them because you loved both bands. I signed the Smoking Popes, which five labels wanted, and it was only because I loved them and I was there first. Actually, I wasn't — 510 Records was there first — but I was definitely there before the bidding war ensued. I went after the band because I loved the band, and that's all there is to it.
Barber: I'm sure there are people involved in all of those situations who are getting involved because they feel there is something going on and they need to be a part of it.
Brooks: At that point it's no longer about the band or about the music. It becomes about corporations winning.
Barber: I think maybe calling them "competitive signings" is better, because I know that in not every case is it a bidding war. The person, or the company, willing to make the biggest offer isn't necessarily the one who gets the signing.
 Scoppa: It must be scary to be sitting in an auction room and raising your hand, knowing that every time you raise you hand — or somebody else does — the turnaround point for this act is going to be harder to attain and the commensurate expectation level harder to satisfy. If you were there first, it has got to [anger you] that all of these weasels are following you around.
Weiss: I don't think being there first in 1995 means anything at all. It's a contest that's about money. It's about personality. It's about pedigree. A lot of it is just about strength of character and the bond you can form with the artist. But being first? If I made an offer on a crappy band tomorrow — and I'm not a high-profile A&R person — there will be two people making an offer on them the day after tomorrow. Because whoever the lawyer is — even if they don't have a lawyer — a lawyer will call them up the day I make an offer and say, "Warner Bros. has an offer on the table — I can get you more money."
Brooks: I just had that happen to me in spades. I feel like I've been beaten up. But there will be another one, hopefully.
Weiss: With Cool For August, I was far from first. There were publishing companies and other record companies there way before I was. I didn't go because of them. I went because their manager was a friend of mine. I went down to the rehearsal space and I thought they were absolutely incredible. I didn't even know there were other labels involved at that point, because everyone was being very coy. I gave them some demo money, and it was non-exclusive because, by that time, I knew there was other interest. By the time that we got the demos back, it was very clear to me that I wanted to sign them, and it was very clear that maybe other people had the inside track. We won because we convinced them that we were the best label for them to be at, not because we had any moral high ground to stand on. We weren't first, we were third.
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