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David
Blumberg
It seems, since the beginning of time, David Blumberg
has had a strong presence online. Firstly as an accomplished musician,
he uploaded his music, as so many did. When mp3.com introduced the NMA
program, David was quick to corral some of the web's hottest rising stars.
Within no time, he was ranked #1 and had some of the hottest earners
in his stable. With changes to the payout, the NMA program gave way to
his own endeavor toptempo.com.
Since then, he was worked his ability to promote online, into a full
time job. I spoke with David from his office in Phily where he got into
some good old fashioned name dropping...
Mb: Hello David.
David: Hi!
Mb: How are things?
David: Really busy!
Mb: Good to hear. What kind of things are you working on?
David: I'm involved with a Record Company called Quiver Records. They
are breaking into the MP3 business.
Mb: What's that all about?
David: I am the "song selector" for a project titled "101
Best of the Net". It is a compilation of the best of the best artists
on the net in about 15 genres. It is going to be sold in retail and etail
outlets. There are other projects soon coming. As well, I went far beyond
the standard online artists and contacted record companies for their
artists too. Got Maynard Ferguson and possibly Arturo Sandoval that way.
Actually, Maynard was through a student of mine who studies jazz with
his director and "Bari" player.
Mb: How many online music projects are you involved in?
David: Several. Also getting involved with ArtistLaunch.com
too. Great folks there!
Mb: How is the NMA thing going? BTW, you're going to have to tell
me about the mp3.com controversy.
David: The NMA is doing very well! Still going strong as. The www.toptempo.com
site is unsinkable. I get over 65,000 clicks weekly there. Been working
hard on the Sarah Cancer Fund http://www.mp3.com/sarahfund,
as she is the daughter of an artist of mine with cancer (4 yr old who
found out on Christmas Eve that she had it!)
Mb: :-( ... Is the site still linked with the mp3.com NMA program?
David: Yes, exclusively at this point. I plan to expand it greatly. www.toptempo.com
is a very powerful site with some really great NMA features.
Mb:Have the changes at mp3.com effected your earnings? Did many artists
drop off because of the pay to get paid idea?
David: Many artists lost all interest in the online effort when they
changed their structure. They had gotten so used to it that when it was
basically pulled - they got frustrated and left. I had almost given up
on it myself as I have been doing promotion as a full time Job!
Mb: What made you continue?
David: There was a point where I was making over $6K a month at Mp3.com.
That was reduced to under $800 when they changed the pay structure and
I saw it coming long before they did it. I am dedicated to my group,
lots of really amazing artists with killer tracks. And it is what I am
good at, why stop!
Mb: Have you always worked in the biz?
David: Yes, for many years
Mb: As a player and promoter?
David: I am a concert artist for the Boosey Hawkes co under Rico Reeds
Grand Concert Division
http://www.ricoreeds.com
Mb: lol... born promoter.
David: That site is linked on the back of the reed boxes and they produce
over 100,000 daily! That site has driven a tremendous amount of traffic
to me, as there are many huge stars on that site.
Mb: So David... what's all the controversy about at mp3.com and you
and the BB and father time and...
David: Ok, what happened to lead up to it: I had been getting many features
on the site in many genres the features were 2 fold. I had some compilation
pages with amazing tracks and they were large as well so there were many
tracks to select from. I had spent over $400 on genre auctions so the
pages took off like a rocket when they were online. Scott Stambaugh (father
time,.....) was complaining on the bulletin boards that he couldn't get
a feature no matter
what. So I offered to help him out to get the possibility of a feature.
There are settings in the admin that if not checked, will guarantee a
feature to not happen, as MP3 needs the artists permission to feature
them on sites like Emusic, etc. I offered to go into his admin and see
if those settings were correct, but I refused to tell him why I wanted
to go into admin to do so. He then started accusing me of gaming the
features, and the fight escalated into a bar room brawl. I got a divorce
this past year from basically working too hard for my artists, and have
a short fuse for crap these days.
Mb: Any broken noses?
David: No, he lives too far away :-) His intentions were probably good
in the first place, but it got way out of hand. I have never ever gamed
the site and won't stand for an accusation like that.
Mb: So how did you get so successful with your artists?
David: I am a very lucky guy, and I prepare for luck. Always have been
a go getter and am lucky to have been in a good place at a good time.
Early on, I befriended Ernesto Cortazar and he was a mentor of sorts.
Mb: Defiantly an online guru of sorts.
David: I have become a guru to many of the top 40 promoters on the site
as most of them have been artists of mine!
Mb: So rumour has it you were banned from the mp3 BB ... truth?
David: oh yes - banned big time It got virtually physical ;-)
Mb: For?
David: They banned me as I got "too angry" with Scott and threatened
to perform amateur dentistry if we ever met. Then I kept coming back
when he taunted me so they banned me to cool off. These things can get
passionate! There was no gaming involved in the ban.
Mb: How does that leave you with the NMA program? Any consequences?
David: Well, I am working for free right now, but the pay was so low
that it didn't really matter much anyway.
Mb: So what's the future hold for you?
David: I am working on a very, very high profile project for Quiver and
that is where the real $ will be
Mb: Anything you can tell us about?
David: Well, Quiver Records, and a Film Company are talking with me to
be their promoter and A&R guy for artists. Big stuff! Also Artist
Launch is going to be a home for my artists as well I have some really
big plans for the online and off-line artists as well. Another great
talent that I am managing is
www.lisagentile.com. She is friends with Grammy Artist Joshua Bell
and is linked on his page.
Mb: How many artists are you managing online presently?
David: Over 500. No problem as the toptempo.com is very highly organized.
Mb: How do you find time to promote 500 artists or do you promote
the site an hope the rest follows?
David: I can tell exactly when an artist is being featured, what their
chart position in every genre and subgenre is with a glance. I promote
the site, that way the fans can select what they want to hear and never
get tired of the same 40 artists. I currently have 475 artists songs
in their top 40 charts. Also I represent Liona Boyd www.classicalguitar.com
for outside events.
Mb: Have you deals with them aside from the basic mp3.com nma agreement?
David: Well, for the record labels like www.Summitrecords.com
and www.eroica.com I do. Also for the John Williams Concerto (which I
was the producer of). Eroica
Classical Recordings, many superstars are signed with them! Also
I am now working with www.mcdiworld.com
as an affiliate (discount code 2323 - you can get CD"s produced
by the company that makes the CD"s for Sony, Universal, Compaq and
IBM for their Computers)
Mb: So anything else we should know about David Blumberg?
David: Uh, that I am single now... :-) www.toptempo.com for applicants
and I have a Jag.
Mb: And a gold card?
David: platinum ;-)
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