Tom Johnston

Update: 2018-09-11

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The Doobie Brothers frontman, Tom Johnston, joins Bob to talk about his early beginnings and being drawn to R&B artists like Little Richard. He played saxophone, clarinet and drums in his youth but ultimately fell in love with the guitar and taught himself how to play. Always inspired by soul and blues music, he played and sang in a variety of bands before and throughout college, where he studied graphic design. Those years ultimately led to the band that would become The Doobie Brothers and iconic songs like “Listen To The Music”, “China Grove” and “Long Train Runnin’”.

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Capitol Congress

This week, we shift our attention to Bob’s analysis of today’s music industry. Bob was invited to speak at Capitol Records’ Capitol Congress event at the ArcLight theater in Hollywood on the topic of “change”. He reminds a packed audience of music business professionals to look to the future because the past is never coming back. In today’s on-demand culture distribution is king and now is the time to focus on content.

Capitol Congress

2018-09-1800:17:26

The Doobie Brothers frontman, Tom Johnston, joins Bob to talk about his early beginnings and being drawn to R&B artists like Little Richard. He played saxophone, clarinet and drums in his youth but ultimately fell in love with the guitar and taught himself how to play. Always inspired by soul and blues music, he played and sang in a variety of bands before and throughout college, where he studied graphic design. Those years ultimately led to the band that would become The Doobie Brothers and iconic songs like “Listen To The Music”, “China Grove” and “Long Train Runnin’”.

Tom Johnston

2018-09-1101:41:37

Music industry veteran, Danny Goldberg is the publicist, manager and record label exec who helped shape the careers of Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Bonnie Raitt, The Allman Brothers and many more. He sits down with Bob to talk music, politics, drugs and business. They discuss today’s political landscape before diving deep into Goldberg’s early years writing for Billboard and being recruited to run publicity for Led Zeppelin. He became a manager and led various record labels, signing icons like Stevie Nicks and Steve Earle. We cover pivotal moments in his career, like the day Kurt Cobain died and end with a discussion about the music industry today.

Danny Goldberg

2018-09-0401:52:14

Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive joins Bob to talk about his amazing career. He takes us all the way back to his childhood in Winnipeg where he played violin at family parties before discovering the guitar. A dynamic storyteller, Bachman shares captivating stories from his adventures on the road and in the studio including how he wrote “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” and the surprising piano player featured on “Takin’ Care of Business”. We end with a conversation about his spiritual connection to George Harrison and his brand new album, By George - By Bachman.

Randy Bachman

2018-08-2801:56:31

Legendary record label executive, Seymour Stein, is the ears behind countless amazing careers including The Talking Heads, Madonna and The Ramones. Stein shares stories from his early years helping to compile the Billboard charts in NYC and spending a summer in Cincinnati to learn the record business from Syd Nathan when he was only 15 years old. For Stein, the songs are what attracts him to a band, musicianship comes second. He is not only an great businessman but a true music fan and fountain of knowledge.

Seymour Stein

2018-08-2101:43:42

World-famous DJ, Kaskade talks about growing up outside of Chicago, attending the University of Utah and playing his first shows on Monday nights in a basement club in Salt Lake City. He packed the club, giving him the money to purchase his first studio equipment. He then followed his wife to San Francisco to find a city with a flourishing music scene where he began to make his mark and ultimately led the way to the top of the electronic dance movement

Kaskade

2018-08-1401:43:04

Jim McCarthy is CEO and co-founder of Goldstar, an event discovery service that helps people stay informed of local live entertainment. The company launched on Valentine’s Day in 2002 boot-strapped and lean and without much in the bank. Today, Goldstar is available in 26 cities around the country and has over 8 million members. Jim shares his insights on how a service-oriented mentality has been at the core of his company’s success. We also delve deep into his early years as an english teacher in Japan and working for Noah’s Bagels in San Francisco.00:30 - What is Goldstar? 26:45 - Attending Harvard36:00 - Teaching English in Japan44:45 - Noah's Bagels56:45 - Founding Goldstar1:14:45 - The business of live entertainment1:21:15 - Being customer service forward

Jim McCarthy

2018-08-0701:27:49

Jerry Greenberg

In 1974, Jerry Greenberg was the youngest president of any major record company. At age 32, he took the reigns of Atlantic Records and went on to sign a myriad of legendary acts including ABBA, Foreigner, Genesis and The Blues Brothers. Jerry shares some amazing stories about his early years and about the artists he worked with such as the time he played congas for Led Zeppelin during an encore at Madison Square Garden. 1:00 - Michael Jackson12:00 - His band was called The Passengers17:00 - Percy Sledge, "When a Man Loves a Woman"21:00 - Atlantic Records - Job offer, but he was on the way to Vietnam35:00 - How Led Zeppelin came together44:00 - Bad Company, Foreigner1:06:00 - John Prine, Dr. John, Alice Cooper1:16:00 - Best Drummers

Jerry Greenberg

2018-07-3101:23:13

Waddy Wachtel was chosen by Keith Richards to play lead guitar for his side project The X-pensive Winos. That gig was the culmination of so many session gigs and performances for the guitar virtuoso whose list of credits spans rock & roll history as he supported the Everly Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Iggy Pop, Adam Sandler, and Warren Zevon.13:00 - Stevie Nicks 21:00 - Les Paul at Summer Camp36:00 - Moved to LA 1:08:00 - The Rolling Stones1:24:00 - Co-writing Werewolves of London1:33:00 - Fleetwood Mac1:41:00 - Working with Adam Sandler1:56:00 - Greatest guitarists of all time

Waddy Wachtel

2018-07-2402:16:06

Manager extraordinaire & Canadian Idol TV judge Jake Gold returns to the program to recap the Music Media Summit in Santa Barbara, CA with some insight from behind the scenes, reactions to the interviews with music and tech executives at the event as well as analysis of where the music industry is going next.

Jake Gold

2018-07-1701:26:17

Troy Carter talks about growing up in Philadelphia, working with Lady Gaga, hip hop's dominance, and Spotify's approach to working with artists. From his brief career as an artist to going through a tough time with Will Smith to spending his last pennies on dinner to win the business of Lady Gaga, the interview is packed with surprising stories and wisdom for the next generation of artists and managers. 17:00 - Rising up in the Philly music scene29:00 - Troy joins Sanctuary39:00 - Managing Lady Gaga 48:00 - Silicon Valley & investing in tech1:13:00 - Q&A

Troy Carter

2018-07-1001:56:54

Oscar-winning filmmaker Bryan Fogel talks about his documentary Icarus. He discusses his upbringing, his comedy and acting career which spawned the off-broadway play Jewtopia prior to creating the film about doping which exposed the biggest scandal in sports history and brought home the Academy Award.02:00 - For the first month, Oscar didn't leave his side20:00 - Started Icarus48:00 - Success of Jewtopia1:02:00 - Hanging with Lance Armstrong1:12:00 - Doping experience1:25:00 - Icarus results1:43:00 - What's next?

Bryan Fogel

2018-07-0301:53:01

VP of Amazon Music Steve Boom tells his story starting out as an engineer at Compaq, spending years in Europe doing business development for Yahoo! before moving back to San Francisco, and ultimately joining Amazon Music. Boom talks about how Amazon Music is changing the landscape by delivering a more natural and intuitive music listening experience on Alexa. 07:00 - Programming at Compaq14:00 - 10 years at Yahoo! London to SF22:00 - Amazon Music begins27:00 - Bezos' involvement and the decision making process at Amazon33:30 - Echo launch after Prime Music55:00 - Alexa as a member of the family and Amazon Music Unlimited

Steve Boom

2018-06-2601:22:48

Rob Glaser tells the story of his career sharing his passion for media, politics, tech, and bowling. Rob's intelligence is palpable as he foresaw many twists and turns in these industries while navigating pivotal moments in the history of Microsoft prior to launching his own publicly traded company RealNetworks. 01:00 - Attended Fieldstone with Jason Flom in NYC06:00 - Started hacking09:00 - College radio station background18:00 - Wrote a Left wing column in the Yale University newspaper & debated with David Frum19:00 - 1st computer at age of 1928:00 - Left IBM for Microsoft with Steve Ballmer42:00 - RealNetworks launch of Real Player 50:00 - Bowling - ESPN 51:00 - Napster, MusicNet, Rhapsody1:03:00 - Air America & politics1:08:00 - Tech privacy reckoning1:12:00 - Q&A

Rob Glaser

2018-06-1901:39:351

Paul Rodgers is one of the greatest rock vocalists alive. He's a founding member of Free and Bad Company, worked with Jimmy Page and Queen, and continues making music and touring to this day. His new album is called Free Spirit. Pre-order Free Spirit and get tickets to see Paul perform live at paulrodgers.com07:00 - Great voice & health attributed to stopping drugs & alcohol17:00 - Howlin' Wolf inspired him21:00 - The band Free began30:00 - The story of writing 'Alright Now'50:00 - Friendship between Led Zeppelin & Bad Company56:00 - Origin of the song 'Feel Like Making Love' & peyote58:00 - Story of 'Shooting Star'68:00 - Working with Jimmy Page76:00 - Playing with Queen84:00 - Music Industry today86:00 - Jimi Hendrix story

Paul Rodgers

2018-06-1201:45:02

Deejay turned record label head Daniel Glass reveals his path connecting with artists before the competition. Glassnote Records' founder & president shares insight into how he rose to the top of the music business building upon the success of Sinead O'Conner, Wilson Phillips, Blur, Phoenix, Mumford & Sons, Childish Gambino, and CHVRCHES.

Daniel Glass

2018-06-0501:23:44

Legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff tells the tale of his path to a #1 album working with John Mellencamp. He discusses his background playing timpani for Leonard Bernstein in the lead up to connecting with Mellencamp, and the subsequent career highlights from Bob Dylan to Bon Jovi, The Smashing Pumpkins to the Kennedy Center Honors. 15:00 - Saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, Kenny wanted Ringo's job!27:00 - Kenny's dad fought Hitler in the war39:00 - John Fogerty called him60:00 - Mellencamp fired his former drummer68:00 - Hurt So Good was release, and we went to #1, Grammy's, SNL72:00 - Mellencamp quit 74:00 - Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, and Kennedy Center Honors87:00 - Jon Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory story89:00 - Why is the drummer ALWAYS the business guy?

Kenny Aronoff

2018-05-2801:37:49

Ethiopia Habtemariam

Holding down dual roles as both President of Motown Records and President of Urban Music/Co-Head of Creative at Universal Publishing Music Group, Ethiopia Habtemariam shares the story of her rapid rise through the Atlanta music scene. She discusses race in America, being a female executive in the music industry, the future of hip hop, and how she develops global strategy for the artists under her wing. 1:00 - Hip hop as the universal language3:00 - Her name & heritage6:00 - Moved to Atlanta, Kris Kross in the same class10:00 - First contact with LaFace Records11:00 - SouthernPlayalistic Music Fest, Outkast17:00 - Emmis Music Publishing gig19:00 - Started working with NSync managing their charity efforts22:00 - Started at Universal, signed Ludacris, Pussycat Dolls, Kerry Hilson25:00 - Moved to LA for Motown - signed Ciarra, started doing A&R33:00 - Racism in the music industry38:00 - Being a woman in the music business50:00 - Is Kanye West crazy or intentional1:05:00 - Q&A with audience at the Music Media Summit in Santa Barbara, CA

Ethiopia Habtemariam

2018-05-2201:36:44

Brazilian musician & social activist Gilberto Gil discusses the experience of being a political prisoner, the international influences on his music which emerged as he was forced into exile living in London in the late 60's, and his return home to Brazil continuing to push the boundaries of freedom and equality in society while innovating musically, ultimately being named Brazil's Minister of Culture in 2003.

Gilberto Gil

2018-05-1501:19:12

Six-time Grammy nominated artist Moby joins Bob at the LA Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California for the first podcast recorded in front of a live audience. They talk about the tragic death of Avicii, Moby's own struggles with sobriety on his rollercoaster of a career and his dedication to creating music every single day of his life.

Moby

2018-05-0801:06:34

When Jimi Hendrix told Shep he should become a manager, and he was connected to Alice Cooper shortly after, the story of The Supermensch began. Follow the legendary manager's adventures from managing the careers of famous musicians, actors, and chefs, winning a Cannes Film Festival award as a producer, and developing a friendship with the Dalai Lama.

Shep Gordon

2018-05-0101:44:061

Giles Martin produced The Beatles' LOVE album and Cirque du Soleil show, oversaw production of the concert for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in addition to working with many significant musicians. Bob starts the conversation exposing the elephant in the room which is he's the son of legendary producer for The Beatles George Martin. Despite the apparent nepotism, Giles exudes humility as he shares what it was like to grow up the son of the 'Fifth Beatle' who discouraged Giles' music career before they ultimately worked together. He tells some supremely entertaining stories and proves he is well equipped to serve SONOS as their Head of Sound Experience.

Giles Martin

2018-04-2401:32:07

Bob speaks with the Head of Strategy, UTA[IQ] at United Talent Agency, Kendall Ostrow, about working with artists to achieve their personal and professional goals leveraging the power of digital and social media. She shares her story of starting in radio, launching The Ellen DeGeneres Show on social media, venturing into the agency world, and displaying her dedication to constant innovation and improvement at each step of her career.

Kendall Ostrow

2018-04-1701:14:58

Shirley Manson, lead singer of Garbage, brings her wit, charm, and brutal honesty to this week's episode of The Bob Lefsetz Podcast discussing her path to rock stardom, growing up in Scotland, as well as her thoughts on religion, sexuality, and the power of music today.

Shirley Manson

2018-04-1001:43:29

Bob talks with the CEO of Civic Science John Dick about how America is feeling today. About guns and politics. About their cell phones. About streaming music. The episode proves that an expert on polling can be quite interesting as Bob peppers John with questions about data, and how it's used by Fortune 500 companies and tech giants alike to control the future.

John Dick

2018-04-0301:07:46

No shortage of stories from one of the hottest managers in the dance music scene, Moe Shalizi, of Red Light Management. From deejaying night clubs in a shady part of town early in his career to getting Jauz signed by Diplo at Burning Man and urging Marshmello to call Skrillex only to find Katie Couric on the other end of the phone, Shalizi shares his behind the scenes experiences managing some of the top music acts in the world today.

Moe Shalizi

2018-03-2701:18:36

Bob talks with one of the Godfathers of hip hop Lyor Cohen. From his first promoting gig working with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Run DMC to all the years building Def Jam to signing Fetty Wap to his hip hop label 300, Cohen has stayed true to himself, putting the music first. In his new role as head of music for YouTube | Google, he dedicates himself to preserving diversity amidst an ever consolidating media landscape.

Lyor Cohen

2018-03-2001:32:37

Rock musician Nancy Wilson joins Bob in the TuneIn Studios to discuss her roots, rise to fame as founding member of the band Heart, and her ongoing career performing around the world.

Nancy Wilson

2018-03-1301:31:40

This 28-year old phenom of a manager guiding Logic & Jon Bellion to greatness, Chris Zarou talks about abandoning his soccer career to pursue his love of music and the industry that drives it. He talks about growing up in New York, and how he broke through by finding unique and fresh ways to connect and grow audience for talent.

Chris Zarou

2018-03-0601:25:23

This week's episode of The Bob Lefsetz Podcast features an interview with AEG Presents...North America President Rick Mueller about his path from booking acts in college to learning the ropes under some of the biggest promoters in the business. Hear Rick's views on ticketing, the benefits gained by acts playing festivals, and the success of certain genres over others online, on air and on stage.

Rick Mueller

2018-02-2701:37:27

In Episode 11 of The Bob Lefsetz Podcast, Bob interviews 3-time Canadian Manager of the Year Jake Gold about his career guiding The Tragically Hip to success, and his role as TV Judge on Canadian Idol. Hear his thoughts on the future of the music industry as he turns the tables on the interview getting Bob's thoughts on audio streaming and technology as well.

Jake Gold

2018-02-2001:16:28

In Episode 10, Bob goes deep into the background of renowned manager Jim Guerinot. From working with Gwen Stefani and No Doubt to The Offspring and Nine Inch Nails, Jim tells stories of how he built his successful management company only to walk away from the best gig in the music industry to teach AP history to high school kids.

Jim Guerinot

2018-02-1301:27:42

Bob speaks with the CEO of Lava Records, Jason Flom, about his rise through the music industry, his early work with AC/DC and Twisted Sister, and more recently, discovering acts like Katy Perry and Lorde. He also shares his passion for criminal justice, telling stories of corruption and injustice which are highlighted in his own podcast, Wrongful Conviction.

Jason Flom

2018-02-0601:41:52

In episode 8, Bob speaks with renowned performer, manager and producer Peter Asher, CBE. Asher shares stories of living with Paul McCartney, his career performing with Peter and Gordon, as well as working with legendary artists James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.

Peter Asher

2018-01-3001:43:54

Andrew Loog Oldham

In episode 7, Bob speaks with Andrew Loog Oldham, former Rolling Stones manager, about working with one of the most influential bands in the world. Plus, hear stories about his early work with Bob Dylan and The Beatles.

Andrew Loog Oldham

2018-01-2301:31:23

In episode 6, Bob speaks with Tony Hawk about his rise to become the face of the sport of skateboarding. He discusses the challenges he faced in building his business, Birdhouse, and how he found success in the world of video games.

Tony Hawk

2018-01-1601:28:07

John Boyle Part 2

In the inaugural episode, Bob's good friend John Boyle from Insomniac interviewed Bob. This is the second part of that interview where the topics ranged from Bob's theory that Distribution - not Content - is King! to Russian hacking to festival security. They leave no stone unturned, and dive deeper into the music industry.

John Boyle Part 2

2018-01-0901:12:24

In the fourth and final episode of 2017, Bob interviews genius songwriter Eric Bazilian from The Hooters. Enjoy the Philadephia-native's stories from behind the scenes of writing music with Cyndi Lauper, Joan Osborne, and many more.

Eric Bazilian

2017-12-1900:54:05

In episode 3, Bob speaks with 5-time ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Diane Warren. The Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe Award-winner tells stories from her rebellious youth and rise to fame working with the biggest names in music to write the soundtrack of our lives.

Diane Warren

2017-12-1201:02:33

In the second episode, Bob speaks with the former CEO of Ticketmaster Nathan Hubbard. They talk about Nathan’s background as a musician, his rise through the tech industry, and the evolution of the ticketing business in the digital age.

Nathan Hubbard

2017-12-0501:29:01

For the inaugural episode, Bob sits down for an interview with long-time friend and guest John Boyle, Chief Growth Officer of Insomniac. The two discuss a bit of John’s background, and then turn the microphone around to Bob so listeners can learn more about his humble beginnings in the business.

John Boyle

2017-11-2801:05:11

Bob Lefsetz is the author of “The Lefsetz Letter.” Listen to his new podcast where he'll address the issues that are at the core of the music business, internet, and the world at large.In this teaser, you’ll hear portions of an interview with episode 1 guest John Boyle who is the Chief Growth Officer of Insomniac. Bob and John discuss the origin of the infamous Lefsetz Letter, and why Bob is working with TuneIn to bring his unfiltered brand of music & pop-culture analysis to the world of podcasts.

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2017-11-2100:05:02

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Tom Johnston