Exciting news from North Hollywood, CA as producer Sammy Oriti, creator of WB’s Emmy-nominated Coconut Fred, partners with Hennessey Studios nestled at the corner of Lankershim and Magnolia Boulevards. This collaboration promises affordable creative services for the film and television industry. Oriti’s expertise in directing music videos, as well as live stream production, fits right in at Hennessey’s state-of-the-art facility, a creative destination. 

Known for his successful ventures with William Shatner and Randy Jackson, Oriti expresses enthusiasm, stating, “Hennessey Studios in the Arts District is Noho’s best-kept secret, right next to the TV Academy. I’m excited to collaborate with visionaries and deliver great content.” 

Founded by Jason Hennessey, this creative hub, akin to Youtube Space LA, opened its doors in 2020 to support Noho’s creators. Hennessey expresses, “We are in the heart of Noho, a very creative community, we couldn’t be in a cooler location; Sammy knows the landscape well and connects the dots, we’re excited to have him on board to offer creative services.” 

For music videos, commercials or live podcasts, anticipate a fresh blend of ideas for your productions from Hennessey Studios. For more info or booking, contact Sammy Oriti at 310-985-5511. 

(Excerpted from Personal Finance For Musicians with permission of Rowman & Littlefield)

Invest! Invest! Invest! It’s time for musicians to make money and get rich quick. After all, the pandemic of 2020 still has everyone in a hole and nothing could be better than striking it big! Right? 

Perhaps! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The road to true wealth (measured in assets and liabilities) is a long process. It involves several steps you must check-off before grabbing your mobile phone and the latest investment app to try your luck. Read: Investing is not a game!

What follows is our 7-point checklist to responsible investing and building wealth. We start at the beginning with creating a steady flow of income all the way to playing with funny money if you must. Have patience—at times the process might seem boring and include advice you’ve already heard, but investing was never meant to be fun or sexy when done right. 

NOTE: The seven steps presented here are in a systematic order, but depending on your situation, feel free to skip straight to investing or tackle two or more steps simultaneously. Just be sure to speak with a financial planner to make sure that your path to success is right for you. 

1 CREATE AND MAINTAIN A STEADY FLOW OF INCOME

The first step to investing and building wealth is creating and maintaining a flow of income.

If you are a musician earning zero income or just living from one gig to the next, you are never going to get anywhere unless you turn on the money faucet. This could mean getting more music gigs, utilizing freelance methods, or getting a “real” job! Let’s consider these options: 

Get More Music Gigs: Always attempt to use your musical talents for work first. For me (Bobby speaking), I offered drum lessons in the house that I was renting with roommates. With a little advertising, I had 30 students at $30 an hour. On top of that, I got a house gig with a soul band at $225 a week for three nights a week. Furthermore, I played weddings with the teachers at Berklee College of Music on the weekends at $300 a pop. If I could earn 5k out of school, so can you. 

Utilize “Regular” Freelance Methods: If music gigs are not an option, go with all of the available “regular” freelance methods to make money. One musician we know drives for Uber, Postmates and Instacart and brings in several thousands of dollars per week (all without missing a single band rehearsal or evening gig). This guy even showcases his music to his Uber customers to get feedback while he works! In one instance, he even picked up a famous record producer which led to a studio session.

Get a “Real” Job: Finally, if none of the above situations work for you, go for a steady day or night gig. We suggest you find something that is connected in some way to your ultimate dream of music. One musician we know got a steady gig working as a salesperson at Guitar Center. Not only did he make steady money, he promoted his gigs to customers to increase his concert draw, and networked with equipment reps to secure endorsement deals. He killed two birds with one stone.

Look gang, whatever route you take, just remember that the road to investing and building wealth starts with your own ability to generate income. While this might sound like common sense, you’d be surprised at the number of musicians who still sleep on their friend’s couches penniless waiting to get discovered on TikTok. While people do get lucky, don’t bet everything on number 7. So, roll up your sleeves, be strong, and put your human capital to work.

2 CREATE AND LIVE

BY A BUDGET

Okay, so now that you have a steady flow of money coming in, it’s time to create and live by a budget. Remember, it’s not how much you make, it’s how you manage your money that counts. Follow these three steps: 

Set a Savings Goal: Create a monthly objective setting forth a percentage of your take-home pay that you’d like to save each month. To illustrate, if your take-home pay was 5k a month, your objective might be to save 10 percent (or $500). 

List Expenses: Now list all of your expenses showing how you’ll cleverly use that 5k to meet your savings goal of $500. Know that fixed expenses like rent will be easy, but other expenses like groceries will require you making an educated estimate based on what you spent in prior months. And finally…

Track Expenditures: Track all of your expenditures throughout the month by counting receipts. If you stay on budget, then bravo for you. If there are overages, then readjust your budget and try again. Eventually, you’ll find a plan that works for you. And best yet, you’ll have that 10 percent surplus of money you were shooting for. 

While creating a budget might seem like a lot of work, remember that it really is the hallmark to getting your financial shit together. And like everything else in life, the more you use a budget, the easier it will get. So, take our word for it gang, live and die by a budget! 

3 PAY OFF DEBT AND ESTABLISHSTRONG CREDIT

Now that you have a surplus of monthly cash, put it to good use by knocking out your debt. 

For most musicians, debt will probably be limited to credit cards, school loans, and an automobile. Whatever the case, just know that there are number of strategies to get debt-free. Consider the following: 

Use the Debt Avalanche: Use the “debt avalanche” strategy to double-down consistently on your “highest interest loan” while at least paying all your minimum balances on your other loans. Once paid off, take the amount of money you allocated for the highest interest loan and add it to the minimum payments on the next highest interest loan, and so on, until you no longer have debt. 

Use the Debt Snowball: Alternately, you can use the “debt snowball” strategy to double-down on your “smallest balance loan” while paying at least all your minimum balances on your other loans. Once paid off, take the amount of money you allocated for the smallest balance loan and add it to the minimum payments on the next smallest balance loan, until you no longer have debt. 

Look peeps, the bottom line is that paying off debt means ridding yourself of wasteful interest payments. Furthermore, it means building your credit for important loans down the road, and saving a little money that you can use for a rainy day. 

4 ESTABLISH AN EMERGENCY FUND

After digging yourself out of debt (congratulations), the next step in our 7-step process to investing and building wealth is using that surplus money to establish an emergency fund. This is money you amass for life’s unexpected moments when all things go south. Consider the following:

Save For Six Months to a Year: Attempt to save at least six months worth of living expenses. I (this Bobby) personally feel more comfortable with one year of living expenses. I was injured in an accident (struck by a truck) and it took longer than a couple of months to heal. On top of that, it took a couple more months to reestablish work. So, whether it’s six months or a year, just build up that freakin’ fund ya’ll. 

Keep It Liquid, But Let It Grow: Keep your emergency fund in a safe place where it is liquid (immediately available) and growing in interest. Consider a savings account with an online bank, a money market account with a local bank, or a short-term bond fund via a brokerage company like Vanguard. Where ever you park your money, just remember you’ll need access to your “cash in a flash” when the “shit hits the fan.” So, never tie this money down in stocks or long-term CDs or bonds. And finally…

 Keep It Fully-Funded: Remember that should you ever use your emergency fund, you need to refund it. Be clear that the plan is to be fully-funded and ready for any emergency for the rest of your life. Okay? Good job! Now. Let’s move on.

5 START SAVING FOR RETIREMENT

Now that you have a job, a budget, no debt and an emergency fund, we can begin thinking about shifting all your surplus money into retirement accounts. Make no mistake, retirement (or retirement planning) is not just for old folks, it starts as early as 20 years old and lasts a lifetime. Be sure to consider the following: 

Take Advantage of Employer-Based 401Ks: Start by taking advantage of “tax-advantaged” accounts such as a 401K offered by your employer. This allows a payroll administer to direct a portion of your pre-tax income directly into an interest earning account to grow and be taxed upon withdrawal in retirement. You can contribute as much as $20,500 a year if you’re younger than age 50, and $27,000 annually if you’re 50 or older. And if your boss is really cool, they’ll even match additional funds up to a percentage of your contribution (yup, free bonus money). Hey, this is the best deal in town. 

Open Up An Individual Retirement Account: Now, if you don’t have access to a 401K, open up an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) on your own. A Traditional IRA allows you to personally invest “pre-tax” dollars to grow and be taxed upon withdrawal in retirement. You can contribute as much as $6,000 if you’re younger than age 50, and $7,000 when you’re age 50 or above. There’s also a Roth version of this plan (Roth IRA) where you can personally invest “after-tax” dollars to grow and be withdrawn tax free at retirement. All good stuff! 

Look, no matter which retirement accounts you use, just be clear that Uncle Sam makes it easy for you to save for your retirement and avoid thousands in taxes over your lifetime. While doing this, you can still utilize other non-retirement accounts (called “taxable accounts”) for short-term objectives (like buying a house) or even long-term investments (like extra retirement income). But just be clear that maxing-out your tax-advantaged retirement accounts first is always a good idea. Seriously! Retirement is an investor’s biggest priority. And don’t forget it! 

6 INVEST RESPONSIBLY 

After completing all six steps of our 7-step process to investing and building wealth, you can now consider yourself a financial rock star. So, go ahead, take a bow, you’ve come a long way. 

But now you need to really focus on the principles of investing responsibly. After all, it’s not enough to just throw your hard-earned money in tax-advantaged (and taxable accounts) and just hope for success. Hope is never a long-term and sustainable financial strategy. Believe that! Consider the following nuggets of wisdom: 

Always Set Investment Goals: Setting goals, or more specifically, the time horizon of each goal, is critical to investing responsibly. You see, it’s time that typically determines the type of investment vehicle that you will use. As a general rule, the longer the time horizon for your goals, the riskier and more rewarding the investment (such as stocks). The shorter the time-horizon for your goals, the more conservative and less rewarding the investment (such as short-term bonds). This is generally because a long-term investment strategy can better hedge against the associated risks of market swings or downturns. To illustrate, a long-term goal of saving x dollars for retirement in 50 years, would typically mean utilizing a large variety of stocks. A mid-term goal of saving x dollars for a modest house in 10 years, might mean utilizing a mix of stocks and bonds. And a short-term goal of saving x dollars for a modest car in three years, might be to use short-term bonds, bank CDs, or money market funds. So always remember, goals and their time-horizons heavily influence your investment decisions.

 Know Your Risk-tolerance: Knowing your risk tolerance and the amount of money that you are comfortable with potentially losing, is also important to investing responsibly. Or said another way, knowing your allocation of stocks to bonds is critical to your investment success. Remember that stocks (which are highly volatile) and bonds (which are less volatile) are not widely correlated and can help to balance out your portfolio over your life-time. The legendary Jack Bogle (Vanguard’s founder) says, “Put your age in bonds and the rest in stocks.” So, if you are a 20-year-old musician saving for retirement, you might put 80 percent into stocks and 20 percent into bonds. At age 40, your portfolio might hold 60 percent into stocks and 40 percent in bonds. And at age 70, your portfolio might hold 30 percent in stocks and 70 percent in bonds. You get the point—your investments become less risky as time progresses. So, knowing your risk tolerance and getting your stock to bond ratio right is important to both building and preserving your wealth. Take this tip very seriously. 

Diversify Your Portfolio: Diversifying your portfolio is yet another extremely important tip to investing responsibly. This essentially means that rather than trying to find a needle in the 

 haystack (i.e., picking the winning stock), you buy the whole freakin haystack. This means buying investments such as index mutual funds that cover a number of different companies, sectors and geographical regions. To illustrate, a 30 year-old investor might purchase a 70/30 (stock to bond) risk allocation including: Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index Fund (which contains 4,070 companies in technology, consumer discretionary products and financials all over the U.S.); Vanguards Total International Stock Market Fund (which contains 7,754 companies in consumer cyclicals, financial services, and healthcare all over Europe, the Pacific and emerging markets); and Vanguard’s Total Bond Market Index (which contains 10,127 investment-grade bonds in US treasuries, and mortgage-backed securities all over the U.S.). As you can see, index funds are very diversified and can prevent you from putting all of your eggs in one basket. This way you win some and lose some, rather than lose everything on a one-horse bet. 

Avoid Management Costs: Keeping costs low is also extremely important to investing responsibly—and this is where the news is really going to get great. Not only are index funds (just mentioned above) a highly diversified investment, they can also be one of the lowest-cost investments. This is because index funds track a stock market index and do not require the more expensive “active management” associated with other types of mutual funds and individual stocks. Since the fund essentially mirrors a section of the stock market, tracking its performance is much easier and less time consuming. It does not require the daily management of numerous stock transactions attempting to beat the market returns. This is why time and time again, expert investors such as Warren Buffet have strongly recommended index funds. So, if you’re smart, this just might be a great move for you too.

Aim to Beat Inflation: Another super important tip to consider when talking about investing responsibly, is the risk of inflation on your investments. Inflation (an increase in prices and decrease in the power of money), has averaged at about three percent over the last decade. This essentially means—in this example—that your investments must earn three percent in annual interest to keep up with the pace of inflation. If your money is sitting in the bank earning an annual interest rate of .01 percent, you’re screwed. Thus, your best chance of beating inflation is probably going through an investment vehicle like our trusted Vanguard stock mutual index fund. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, stocks have historically provided higher returns than other asset classes. This, coupled with the low costs associated with passively-managed index funds, will likely help you net the decent annual returns on your investments you need to succeed. Just, remember, inflation is critical to watch. 

Aim to Lower Taxes: Dovetailing nicely from inflation costs, taxation also poses serious costs on investment returns. According to the Schwab Center for Financial Research, this is because you not only lose the money you pay in taxes, but you also lose the growth that money could have generated if it were invested. 

 This is why it is so important that you employ as many tax-efficient investment strategies as possible. Here’s just three to think about: 

1) Max out your “tax-advantaged” retirement accounts (401Ks, Roth IRAs, Traditional IRAs, etc.) each year since these accounts are almost like free gifts the government provides to help you save on taxes. 

2) Invest wisely in your other “taxable accounts” by using long-term buy-and-hold strategies that won’t trigger regular short-term capital gains taxes (which are higher taxes incurred from selling your investments in under a year). And finally, 

3) Delay a portion of any lump sum payment you might be owed (like a large publishing or merchandising advance) till next tax year. This way you might avoid falling into a higher tax bracket and paying more income tax in the current year. Sounds good? Look gang, whatever strategies you use, just never pay more in taxes than you need to. Avoid taxes legally when you can.

Avoid the Noise and Stay The Course: Finally getting to the end of our investment tips, know that avoiding all the financial noise in the media and just staying the course is hugely important to investing responsibly. There are so many experts filling you up with supposed opportunities and gloom and doom, it’s enough to make you bail ship on your financial plan in search of a better solution. But if you’re constantly buying in and out of the market due to greed and fear, you are doing yourself a major disservice. You are allowing your emotions to get the best of you, costing yourself time and money, and creating a lot of stress and worry. So, stop looking at your investments every minute and have faith in long-term investing. Sure, the movements of the stock market are always going to fluctuate on the short-term, but know that the market tends to rise steadily over the years. In fact, since 1928, the U.S. stock market has averaged returns of 9.8 percent per year. So, go live your lives a little. Write that new hit song that brings in hundreds of thousands and go get that publishing deal. Have faith that you put together a killer financial plan, and stand by it. Know that staying the course is a sound piece of advice. It’s also the famous slogan of Vanguard’s founder Jack Bogle (who actually created the Index Fund). Wow! Godspeed! 

7 PLAY WITH FUNNY MONEY (ONLY IF YOU MUST)

Finally, moving away from our perspective on investing responsibly, it’s time to play with “funny money,” if you must. 

Funny money is money you can afford to lose. It’s the money where you can be highly speculative, throw down on a crypto stock pick that some guru mentions in a Facebook group, or invest in a buddies’ restaurant. Who knows, you might even get super rich and finally get that mansion, yacht, and lime green Lambo, It doesn’t matter if you lose it because it’s all about having a little fun. After all, you deserve it. You’ve busted your ass, followed our advice, and have the above six steps completely under your control. Hey, whatever makes you happy! 

But before running off to the race track, it’s important to look back on the past. Throughout history, people have always been trying to get rich quick. There was the gold rush of 1848 where everyone got greedy thinking they were going to strike gold (most didn’t); there was the dot com craze in 2000 where everyone got greedy thinking they were going to strike it rich (most didn’t); and now there is the crypto thing where people want to get a taste of the millionaire dream (and many have already lost their asses

Look, if you want to play with “extra” money, have fun! But always be realistic about the odds and never let “playing” get out of control. Adhere to our six steps above, and remember smart investing is not supposed to be fun. Take this advice seriously folks. Okay? 

So that’s our 7-point checklist to investing and building wealth. This stuff is not revolutionary, but it is crucial to your personal financial education and your future. 

Some of this stuff you’ve likely heard elsewhere, and some of it you’ve read in other articles and books (by us!). But maybe that is the point—what works is worth repeating. And what works is worth adapting to your own investment playbook.

On that note, give these tips a try, and speak with a financial planner who can cater to your needs. One or two sessions can never hurt. Sound good? Peace!

RECOMMENDED READING ON INVESTING 

Here are a few investment books and other resources that we highly recommend. After all, life-long learning should be yet another smart step to every responsible investor. Happy reading! 

BOOKS

• Personal Finance For Musicians by Bobby Borg and Britt Hatsey

• The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle

• The Little Book of Bullet Proof Investing by Bill Stein and Phil DeMuth

• How to Think About Money by Jonathan Clements

• The Random Walk Guide to Investing by Burton G. Malkiel 

• Rescue Your Money by Ric Edelman

• The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton

• The Richest Man In Babylon by George Clason

• The Index Card by Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack

• The Coffee House Investor by Bill Schultheis

• The Bogleheads Guide to the Three-Fund Portfolio by Talor Larimore

• The Bogleheads Guide To Retirement Planning by Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindawer, Richard Ferri and Laura F Dogu

• Common Sense Investing by Rick Van Ness

• Why Bother With Bonds by Rick Van Ness

• Think, Act, and Invest like Warren Buffet by Larry E. Sweroe

• Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein

• The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias

• Get a Financial Life by Beth Kobliner 

WEBSITES

• Investopedia: investopedia.com

• Nerd Wallet: nerdwallet.com

• Bankrate: bankrate.com

• The Finance Buff: thefinancebuff.com

• Oblivious Investor: obliviousinvestor.com

• Forbes Advisor: forbes.com/advisor

• Yahoo Finance: finance.yahoo.com

• Morningstar: morningstar.com

MC: You’re diving deep into the Van Halen part of your catalog this year, which once would have been an ambivalent experience I’m sure. What’s it like to play those songs now?

Hagar: I love it. I love those songs. I’m very proud of them. We made some great records with that band, really special... and people still love ‘em, y’know? 

MC: And with Eddie gone now do you feel a kind of responsibility to make sure that music lives on and still gets played on a stage?

Hagar: Y’know, thank God for that music. I remember right after Eddie died and we were doing the birthday shows [on Santa Catalina Island in California]. It was terrible timing; Here we are putting on this big party, celebrating Sammy’s birthday instead of Eddie’s funeral. That felt horrible. But when Mikey and I got onstage and played the first Van Halen song, “Right Now” we had a moment of silence and we looked at each other and it was like, “Oh, man, we’ve got a job to do. We need to keep this music alive. We need to play this song better than we’ve played it in our lives. here we go...” It was so spiritual, just wonderful. That was the healing, right then and there. To know we can never play with Eddie again, that’s the craziest feeling in my head.

MC: There was talk about that maybe happening at the time back then.

Hagar: Even when we were arguing, I knew we would play together again someday. You don’t make music and legacy like that and say, “Nope, that’s it, sorry.” I just knew there would be a reunion. It didn’t happen, but Eddie and I had our own reunion, and that was great.

MC: When did you last connect with him?

Hagar: It was probably around February [2020], before COVID. For Eddie’s birthday [in 2015] I said [via social media], “Hey, happy birthday, dude. I hope you’re good,” and I was sincere. I wasn’t trying to get back in the band or anything like that. And he got back to me, “Oh, thanks, hope you’re doing well, too.” Then my birthday came up, and I didn’t hear from him. (laughs) But then George Lopez was really the guy who instigated this; he was like, “Sam, I was just with Eddie. He’s not doing too good and you need to call him, man. He loves you.” And I was going, “He loves me? I thought he hated me?” and [Lopez] goes, “No, no, he loves you.” OK, gimme his number,” and I just called straight-up. I said, “Ed! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you through your brother, through this person and that person...” I’d say, “Give Eddie this message for me; if he ever feels like wanting to patch it up, call me.” I kept throwing him the ball. And then he finally goes, “Why don’t you just call me?” I said, “that’s what I’m doing, man,” and we just laughed. It worked out beautifully. We were texting like teenagers for the last few months before he died. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be able to take it.

MC: Your first idea for a Best of All Worlds tour was actually for Van Halen, with both you and David Lee Roth on board. You’ve invited him to make guest appearances with you this year, too. Magnanimous, but... dangerous?

Hagar: With David? (laughs) Yeah [a Van Halen tour] would’ve been a fuckin’ circus again like the Sam and Dave tour was [in 2004]. But it would’ve been good for the fans, man. It would’ve been the best. Dave, he just brings a strange element of trying to take over things and make other people look bad and make himself look good. I hate to say that about the guy, but that’s who he is. He’s always been like that, so it ain’t like he’s changed. I would have no problem with it now because I would be like, “Who cares?” I’m a grown man now. This is silly stuff. But It would’ve been great. I don’t want to put any negative spin on it. I would’ve sucked it up and done it in a second, and I think people would have loved it. 

MC: As “a grown man” now, what do you see when you look back at that kid who sang for Montrose all those years ago?

Hagar: That guy was very, very young and green but wanted it bad. I became a solo artist too soon; in Montrose I had a seasoned guy like Ronnie Montrose to guide me, but we got out on tour and bumped heads, so I got thrown out of the band because Ronnie was a hard guy to get along with, God rest his soul, and I was trying to get the other guys to side with me. So as a solo artist I was too green. I didn’t know what I was doing yet. I thought every song I wrote was great. I could care less about fame; it was more important to just sing and play guitar and get out on stage. I wasn’t looking for a free ride; I was, “I’ll get out there and sing until I’m rich and famous. I’ll make it.” But I was young and inexperienced, and then as I got better and realized what the business is and writing better songs... I just matured slowly, but that slow maturing is what made me who I am today. If I would’ve made it in my early 20s and got rich and famous I would probably be burnt out now. A lot of guys that make it overnight don’t last as long as me. But my work ethic made me what I am, so by the time I made it, it was like, “Oh, I enjoy this work. I ain’t trying to make it anymore; I just dig this.”

MC: Alongside the music, where did the famed Hagar business sensibility come from?

Hagar: From being dirt poor growing up. The first money I made my good Italian mom was like, “You gotta save your money! You gotta invest it or you’re gonna end up broke and a drug addict and in jail!” (laughs) So she kind of instilled it in me. I never invested; I don’t like to make money with money. I want to DO something and make money, so I always invested in myself. I did some real estate... and then building the Cabo Wabo in Cabo [San Lucas], that was not a business deal; it was strictly passion. And that turned into an unbelievable business that led to the tequila and the rum and everything else... Everybody thinks I’m smart. I’m not sure I’m that smart (laughs); I’m just a pretty lucky guy and I surround myself with good people.

MC: Because of those extra-musical business interests, a lot of people put you in the same boat—if you will—with Jimmy Buffett. A fair comparison?

Hagar: Oh, sure. I think it’s kind of in your face. The big difference between Jimmy and myself, God rest his soul, is my stuff is in your face and it’s more high-energy, and Jimmy of course was like subliminal music. It was like background music for your relaxation and your party having fun, but it wasn’t all up in your face. People that don’t know either one of us, they get us confused, but we’re not really confusable. It’s just two different styles. 

MC: And you were friendly?

Hagar: Of course. He was so kind, man. I can’t say enough about Jimmy. He changed my songwriting. I never wrote songs like that until after I got hip to Jimmy—the songs that are those types of lifestyle songs that I started writing later on. It just influenced my lyrics. I started writing about my life and my lifestyle instead of just rock ‘n’ roll, fast cars and loud music—which is great but [Buffett] certainly expanded my lyrical content, and God bless him for that, man. He was a great songwriter. 

MC: You’ve really enjoyed being in the booze industry, haven’t you?

Hagar: There you go—now you hit it. I really do. It’s big fun and it’s creative, as well. It was such a square industry... so a guy like me jumps in and gets so excited about a blend or this or that, a new project, and it’s fun jumping in that game. It seemed like it needed a little shot, and Cabo gave it its first one and now look at all the celebrity brands; there’s got to be, what, 20 tequilas out there with people’s names on them. But nobody did what I did, and I’m doing it again.

MC: Is there a key to doing it “right?”

Hagar: Y’know what it is? We make the product. We own the product. We start it from scratch. We don’t go to some producers and say, “Hey, I want to put my name on your stuff” like everybody else is doing. We invented it. We owned it, from the bottle to the juice in there to the marketing plan. And that’s what’s so rewarding and fun.

 MC: A year does not go by when Sammy Hagar isn’t on the road, playing. Where does that drive come from?

Hagar: I feel like I’ve got to tour before my voice goes. I was singing those songs last night with an acoustic guitar, and I’m thinking to myself, “Damn, I can still hit those notes!” I was on a boat with some friends and they were going, “You can still sing those songs?” I’m like, “Fuck yeah I can!” But I don’t know for how long, so I better get out there and give my fans a little treat before I can’t do it anymore. 

MC: Is that something you’re really concerned about?

Hagar: So far I can do it, but I know there’s gonna come that day—everyone can tell ya—when, “Man, I can’t sing that anymore.” I feel like some kind of semi-superhuman being or something because I shouldn’t be able to sing like I do. I really shouldn’t. I’ve abused my voice my whole life, screaming and yelling and singing—not with drugs and alcohol, not cigarettes, anyway. Alcohol, a little bit of drugs but not cigarettes or weed. But I’ll tell ya, the more I sing the stronger it is. If I don’t sing and then went on tour and tried to sing five nights a week, a two-hour show, that would not be good. I’d start losing my top range and I’d get really hoarse and start sounding more gruff—and I sound gruff enough at my age now. I like the scruffy voice, but... I just think giving it proper rest, but don’t let it get out of shape. It’s like an athlete, like boxers when they take two years off. Muhammed Ali, the greatest fighter of all time, he took a couple years off and came back and was never the same. I know so many singers who take so much time off and they come back and can’t sing. They open their mouth and it’s not there and then you’re head goes, “I’m done! I can’t sing anymore.”

MC: Do you have a technique for keeping your voice strong?

Hagar: I stay in shape, that’s all. I go down to my basement and crank up my Les Paul and a little Marshall and I scream my ass off a couple times a week. (laughs) I recommend that to everybody. Just don’t take too much time off.

MC: What are the hardest of your songs to sing now?

Hagar: Oh, the damn Van Halen stuff. Because I didn’t play guitar I didn’t care what key they were in; I just sang and then I picked up a guitar and was like, “What the fuck? I can’t hit that note” and Eddies’ going, “Well, you just hit it...” (laughs) But, like, “Dreams,” a song like, “When It’s Love,” that chorus—(sings) “I can’t tell you but it lasts forever.” Every now and then you slip around that a little bit, but I can do it. 

MC: Losing these people, whether it’s Jimmy or Eddie or whoever, does it put a little more rocket fuel behind you to keep doing it and maybe do more while you’re still here?

Hagar: No. I mean, these people dying around me make me look at my mortality, but I’m so damn driven that I don’t need any more motivation. My wife’s trying to close my fuel factory over here; she says, “Look, you gotta stop and enjoy life.” I said, “I’m enjoying life.” This brings me joy, to have an idea. The creativity is all it is for me. It isn’t the money. It was at one time; when I was broke on my ass, I wanted to make money. But once you get enough money, then you’ve got to figure out what really makes you happy— and it’s not money. And I hate to say that to somebody who’s struggling. It will make your life easier to have money if you’re struggling, but it’s not gonna make you happy unless you know what to do with it. And what makes me happy is having an idea, whether it’s a song or a beer or whatever, and seeing it through and seeing it win and seeing my fans happy with me, seeing my cantinas full, seeing my tequila and my rum fly off the shelves and stuff like that. And just seeing the audiences at my shows singing along with me, every word to the song. That friggin’ makes me happy, and that’s all you can get.

MC: So what effect has looking at mortality had on you?

Hagar: It’s like when I wrote the song “Father Time” that was on the Crazy Times record...At my age I’m looking at how many years I’ve got left, and so I’m still driven and I’m gonna get ‘em all done, but I’ve got to start to prioritize a little bit, not taking awhile to swing as something but do something I feel I can get done and it won’t make my life too complicated. My time’s spent on the beach, at the dinner table and creating, and that’s it—boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That’s everything. 

MC: Does it impact the kinds of songs you write, too?

Hagar: Absolutely. I think any artist my age that just goes out and writes silly pop songs—unless it’s a really good one, like Paul McCartney would write, or Paul Simon—but an average rock guy like myself, I’m sorry, I don’t want to write about “I Can’t Drive 55” and “One Way to Rock” right now. I don’t mind singing them on stage, but to sit down and write that song again, I just don’t’ feel it in my heart. I want to go into my head and into my soul more.

MC: What have you been working on recently?

Hagar: Musically right now I’ve been on a real cool kinda streak. I wrote a couple of blues songs for Joe Bonamassa. I’ve known him a long time, little by little; we’re not great friends or anything, but I wrote this song and I thought, “God, this is just such a good, real blues song.” It’s called “Fortune Teller Blues,” and I thought, “Who can I give this to? Billy Gibbons? Nah; I love ZZ Top, but they’re more rock-blues. I need a more traditional blues guy, like Robert Cray or someone like that.” And then I thought, “I’m gonna send it to Joe,” and he got back in 10 minutes and said, “I love this song. Can I do it?” And I said, “Absolutely” and we did a duet on it and now I’ve written another one like that. I’m writing more like Jimmy Buffett, but with a blues twist instead of a lifestyle twist, which is kind of interesting. I don’t know if I’m gonna make a record or not, but I’ll get around to it some day, I think.

MC: It’s not like you have to put out an album every year like you once did.

Hagar: I’m not driven to do a record again. I lose a few hundred thousand dollars every time I make a record these days. I don’t mind that, but I have to really be in a mood to go in and record. But I’ve been in a mood for writing, and I’ve been writing some really cool stuff and it’s gonna drive me crazy eventually, and I’ll go in and make a record—no matter what I say. (laughs) 

Contact info@redrocker.com for more

CHEERS TO THE RED ROCKER

SPIRITS HAVE BEEN an integral part of Sammy Hagar’s entrepreneurial spirit over the years.

He started during the late ‘90s with Cabo Wabo tequila (sold to Gruppo Campari for a reported $80 million in 2007), then continued with Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum (in partnership with Rick Springfield), Santo Spirit with food celebrity Guy Fieri and Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co.— along with restaurants and nightclubs in Mexico and other locations.

Now the Red Rocker is in the beer business—which is something he’s long wanted.

Last October, Hagar formally launched Red Rocker Lager in partnership with the Detroit-based Red Rocker Detroit brewery. “I tried to make beer first,” notes Hagar. “My fans back in the ‘80s, when I was in my heyday, were beer drinkers, man. They didn’t know nothing about tequila. I’ve been trying to make beer forever.”

Hagar’s opportunity finally came about four years ago, when businessman Eric Schubert, who at the time was developing an app-based on-demand delivery service and looking for partners. He reached out through channels to Hagar, who proposed doing it with beer. “They came to me,” Hagar recalls, “and I said, ‘For a beer? Hell yeah! American made? Double hell yeah! Made in Detroit, triple hell yeah!’ It just felt right to me.”

Red Rocker Lager is being brewed in Detroit’s historic Corktown neighborhood by Schubert’s son Cameron, who worked with Hagar to perfect the recipe. The company describes it as “golden, medium-bodied... light, crisp and refreshing, with just a touch of sweetness,” and Hagar likens it to the original recipe used by the Mexican brewing company Modello. 

The Lager has been in production, quietly, for about a year, and Eric Schubert estimates it will be available in several states by the summer. “I’m real proud of it,” Hagar says. “It’s not like this just came out of the woodwork in the last week or so. I’ve been working on this for frickin’ over 20 years, before I made tequila. So it’s about time.”

Don’t, however, expect Hagar to write a song for the Lager like he did with “Mas Tequila” back in 1999. 

“I think pretty much all my songs fit with beer—with any booze,” Hagar explains with a laugh. “I write songs for driving in cars—which is not symbiotic with drinking. But if you get an a convertible, the top down and crank up some of my music—‘Badmotorscooter,’ ‘One Way to Rock,’ ‘Heavy Metal’—those are car songs. And if you’re sitting in a bar or a pub or your backyard having a barbecue, the music works good, too, with beer and food.

“I’m pretty versatile,” he adds. “My music touches on a lot of angles. My lyrics and my lifestyle, it goes pretty good with everything.”

Amuse 

Years with Company: 5 

Address: Kammakargatan, Stockholm, Sweden 

Web: amuse.io 

Email: erik@amuse.io 

Publicity: Jeff Kilgour/The Syndicate, jeff@thesyn.com, 917-678-4420; 

Brendan Bourke/The Syndicate, brendan@thesyn.com, 347-564-2927 

Clients: Yot Club, Vundabar, Bedroom, Emei, 80purpp, Serhat Durmus, Mind’s Eye, Ryan Mack, Brooksie, Slowshift, Confetti, Penelope Scott 

BACKGROUND 

When Erik Ljungqvist moved back home to Stockholm from London, the change was prompted by twin desires—to start a family and to join Amuse, the digital music distribution service that’s been disrupting the industry since 2015. Additionally, the company offers licensing deals, operates its own label, and provides artist financing. 

An Amusing Concept 

We were built on the idea that we can leverage data from our distribution platform to identify music with momentum at an early stage. We want to build artist-friendly services for the DIY and independent artist communities and really support them. Our services stretch from supporting an artist that might do a few thousand streams or less per year to an artist who does billions, with the artist staying independent. They set the direction; we’re merely there to support them on their journey. 

Using Data To Identify Rising Stars 

We sign people to our distribution platform and, if they start to grow, we spot that early on. We can help them understand what they should do next. We’re very good at understanding what the artist needs. 

We get lots of data from the streaming services but also social platforms like TikTok or YouTube. We have advanced algorithms and an advanced machine-learning system that can spot tracks picking up momentum. 

Distribution Tiers 

We have a tier called Start, which is free. It gives access to any artist to distribute their music. That’s for the beginner artist, usually. If you’re not rich or sure how to do it, you can join us and get a taste. 

And then we have two paid tiers, Boost and Pro. Boost is the middle tier, where you get access to a few advanced features. And then we have Pro, which is the premium tier aimed at artists who might have a team or multiple projects. 

Also, with each tier you go up, you get faster support and are able to push yourself quicker, etc. 

Data Crunching With Insights 

We launched Insights earlier this year [2023.] We work continually to improve it. It’s important that you don’t just look at it as data. We help you do that. We try to show where users are coming from. Are they listening to music organically or are they listening to music through playlists? Where are they? I think we are the only service that displays TikTok data. We also show YouTube content ID data. 

The important thing for artists is to have a presence wherever their listeners are. If their fans are on a Discord channel, they should try to do something for that. If they see a lot of listeners appearing in a certain city, it might be a good idea to advertise in that region. 

Remote Mastering Services 

Few people can hire a mastering engineer, because it’s expensive. And mastering is a tricky process. We are partnering with a Norwegian startup, Masterchannel, which has built A.I. tech around their mastering service. We are offering that service to our users. 

A.I. is taking big steps and can give you really nice results in a short time with no effort. If you pay $5 to get your track mastered and do ten tracks a year, that’s $50. That’s significantly less than buying a software program or hiring a mastering engineer. And you can still get really good results. 

Flexible Funding 

We have two advance products, one of which is Early Access. You get access to your money earlier than you would. Normally, you’d have to wait around three months. We can shorten that by approximately two months. 

And then we have Fast Forward. It’s an automated advance that predicts how your music will perform and calculates an advance on that. It’s tailored to you. You still control your rights; we don’t own your masters or anything. You recoup across your whole catalog, so if you take a Fast Forward offer today and upload ten new songs tomorrow, all of that will count toward your recoup, so you can recoup faster. 

Early Access can be from $5 up to a few thousand. With Fast Forward, you can go a bit bigger. We have our licensing business, which is more manual but still tailored to how you’re performing and what you need. We can cover a wide range of artists’ financial needs. 

Financially Fueling Careers 

When we launched Fast Forward, we had a band based in Ireland, Blue Americans. They wrote to us and said that offer made it possible to pay for flights and accommodations to London for a gig, which they would not have been able to afford. That’s a prime example of what we are trying to do—give [artists] cash they need at that moment so they can accelerate their careers. 

Playlist Pitching With Groover 

There are multiple things you should do [to promote yourself,] but playlist pitching is one of them. And you can pitch to playlists through a service like Groover. 

With Groover, you’re not paying to get your music onto playlists. You’re paying for the ability to pitch it. You should always be wary of services that say they guarantee a spot on a playlist, because the likelihood of it not being organic is high. But with Groover, they’re real playlists. They look to make sure they’re not bot-driven or that there’s no stream farming. 

More Than Distribution 

We don’t see ourselves as only a distributor. We see ourselves as a music company that builds artist-fan services for the independent community. And we use data to identify music that has momentum at an early stage. So for us, it’s not only about distribution. That’s almost a means to an end. 

With other distributors, their singular mission is to be a distributor. Ours is that, but we have the distribution service so we can identify growing artists that we can license, give an advance and help. 

We have artists that have started on our Start tier for free and then started growing. We were able to identify that, and they’re now selling gold and platinum in the U.K. With us, you can stay the whole way through your career and we’ll be able to support you. 

Having Artists’ Best Interests in Mind 

We genuinely have our artists’ best interests in mind. We have a culture that is extremely artist-friendly. We have a lot of people who work at Amuse that are artists. And we always put artists in focus with what we’re trying to do. There’s an extremely strong culture of wanting to improve the lives of people that do music. 

Never Surrender 

Don’t give up. We see a lot of cases where an artist uploads songs, they get a few streams but it doesn’t grow much. And then one day, the right person finds your song. It can blow up very quickly. We see that happen time and time again. 

Historical Connection to RCA: 93 years after RCA’s first ribbon mic impacted both the audio and broadcast industries, AEA Ribbon Mics in Pasadena is still mastering the art of the ribbon, creating state-of-the-art mics and preamps that bring the imaginations of musicians and engineers to life. AEA’s original owner Wes Dooley, an engineer and audio salesman who started the company as a record label, began servicing RCA’s classic ribbon mics in the mid-'70s after GE bought out RCA and closed its microphone division. After surviving cancer, Dooley made it his goal to create a replica of the RCA 44BX from the stock replacement parts AEA had built up over two decades. Since creating the AEA R44C, the company has built and designed an array of new ribbon mics, each with a unique application and function, using the same RCA traditions combined with advanced ribbon technology and updated manufacturing techniques. AEA’s current owner, Julie Tan, is a 30-year audio industry veteran who began her association with Dooley and his wife as a sales consultant. 

Since taking the reins in 2022, Julie has made it her mission to not only continue to bring AEA’s products to a wider market, but also to help build a consortium that promotes and preserves legendary analog-based companies with roots in Southern California. 

Trademark AEA Products: In 2000, Dooley followed the R44C with the first of two proprietary ribbon mics that launched the company’s era of original products. The R84 series ribbon mics delivered the classic tonality of the legendary R44, with extended top-end and reduced proximity effect for mid-ranger and close-range recording. The R84A is an active version of the passive R84 that allows compatibility with a wider ranger of preamps. The R88 Stereo ribbon mics, which followed in 2005, capture sound as the ears hear it, with an honest and open tonality. The R88 and R88A effortlessly record complex sources like drums, strings, piano and other instruments that produce intricate transients, harsher highs and bellowing lows. 

NUVO Series: AEA’s bestselling line of active mics is its NUVO modern ribbon series, including the ubiquitous near-field 22 and far-field N8. In Spring 2024, the company will release a new midfield NUVO series called the mid-field N13. They are also releasing 44-CX25LE a limited edition 25th Anniversary of their flagship mic as well as TDI, an active DI box based on the circuitry of our acclaimed RQP and TRP preamps. 

Quote from Julie Tan: “Sonically, our ribbon mics offer less harshness and brassiness. These mics are used a lot on brass sections to tame harsh overtones. Digital recording emphasizes the sharpness of square waves at the high end, while analog old school mics smooth out the sharper, harsher tones. AEA mics are a throwback to the analog sound people appreciate on vinyl records. We’re long past the era of the '90s and 2000s where every recording was as ear piercing as possible. We are dedicated to bringing that old analog warm into the digital realm.” 

Contact AEA Ribbon Mics, 626-798-9128