Bart talks to long-time friend Adrian Michaels, Vice President at BMG music, on Thinkin’ and Drinkin’ this week. Adrian speaks about some of the bands he managed and his favorite parts of his job, his inventiveness, and what he believes will happen in the music industry post-pandemic.
Meet Adrian Michaels: Adrian Michaels is a 27-year veteran of the Music Row community with stops at RCA, Curb, and Warner Music. Over the course of his career, he has represented country icons such as Alabama, Clint Black, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes, and Kenny Chesney and has played a part in more than 100 No. 1’s. While at Warner, he led the promotion team in launching the careers of Ingrid Andress, Devin Dawson, Michael Ray, and Morgan Evans. He also developed two national television shows for HGTV and GAC and is a member of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
In mid-2020, BBR Music Group named Adrian Michaels to Stoney Creek Records staff as Vice President of Innovation, Radio, and Streaming. Michaels overseas the Stoney Creek Records radio promotion for its roster of artists, including chart-toppers Randy Houser, Parmalee, Jimmie Allen, and Lindsay Ell, as well as multi-national six-man band King Calaway. Additionally, he will be charged with fostering innovation across the label’s three promotion teams to take advantage of the continually evolving technology and processes that help measure and drive music consumption at the local market level, while continually looking for ways to aid radio in creating even deeper connections with their listeners and BBR Music Group artists.
What Bart has to say: Adrian has been an interesting guy who showed that an outsider can come to town and become an insider if you’re just willing to outwork everyone else, which Adrian always does.
In this episode, you’ll hear
Adrian has the best ‘what me & my wife did during Covid’ story
How Adrian has taken tried & true record promotion strategies and brought completely new innovative strategies to the table...so new that we couldn’t get into specifics as they are his label’s trade secrets. So much that his label’s parent company (BMG) adopted these strategies throughout their many other labels.
Links to Connect: