Ali Dee/DeeTown Entertainment, Inc.
So my first meeting was with Ali Dee of DeeTown Productions, Inc.
DeeTown is the largest producer of music in film to date, writing and producing music for films such as
Alvin and the Chipmunks (all three), Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Sex in the City 1 & 2, Hannah Montana, and many more.
So when I got there, Ali was out but his office manager/personal assistant Kristin gave me the tour of the facilities.
The offices are located on
Park Ave/26th St
.
They are completely self-contained, with recording studios, mixing rooms, and studios for the writers to work in, as well as lounges and a lunch room for everyone.
They recently completed the move from their original office down the street, so they’ve been settling in there now since about September.
Kristin has been with the company for about three years, and isn’t involved “musically” there but handles a lot for Ali.
Once I met with Ali, I spoke to him a little about his experiences in music and how he got started: he loved music, wanted to be a rap star, and when making records didn’t go anywhere, about 2002, he decided to change directions and got into producing music for films.
Currently, he’s working on the new Fast and the Furious 5 (yes, a FIFTH film) movie, which is based in Rio de Janeiro – so the song he was editing involved Portuguese vocals, upbeat, fast paced danced rhythms – “Portuguese booty music” as he called it.
Sometimes they’ll have films where they have free reign, and others where they know what they want to hear and that’s DeeTown’s job to make it happen.
Sometimes they’ll do a partial soundtrack, and other times they’ll be on there to do the entirety of a movie – for example, for
Alvin and the Chipmunks, Ali is the Executive Music Producer.
Ali talked to me a little about where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do (a blend of music and business) and said that there might be an opportunity for me with the company as they are looking to expand. They’re looking to take advantage of the growing need/trend for mainstream, custom music production for film, and they’re in the position to do so. And, what he liked was that I have history in music, so I can make it applicable to what he needs done. He’s looking to have someone work on the catalog (more music licensing), to manage it and work on that in a sense. Even if it doesn’t work out with him and the company, I’ll still have a great contact and he’s going to keep his eyes and ears out for me too.
Kenny Ochoa/Sony Music Publishing & Licensing
I had my meeting set up with Kenny a few weeks ago, but since I was squeezing in Ali, I was late to Sony – besides the fact that I was running all over the
East Village with appointments all day!
So when I got there, I had to check in and everything, and finding the office was interesting and VERY different environment from DeeTown immediately.
At DeeTown, the place is very relaxed and chill – as Ali said, the creative process is affected largely by emotions and so for 1) he’s very laid back as a boss (strokes egos, etc. keep the artist happy to get things done) but yet be Switzerland and 2) it’s a relaxed work atmosphere – work when you feel it, but get it done.
The dress is casual and the atmosphere is…relaxed.
That’s the only word I can think of.
In contrast, when I got to Kenny’s floor and got off the elevator, it was dead silence, no lie.
I felt like I had just walked into a library and I couldn’t speak louder than a whisper.
The offices were set up weird and seemed to be cubicle style in an odd way, but by the time I walked out of there, it kind of made sense.
The halls were lined with filing cabinets two columns of two stacked each, and then there would be an opening where there were four offices – two window offices and the assistants’/secretaries’ offices in the corner in front of those offices.
Kenny was on a call but I spoke with his assistant Amanda for a while.
She worked as a music supervisor in LA for a while before relocating out to
New York about 4 years ago, when she started working with Kenny.
Kenny had interned with David back in the day – right when David and Stacy got married, they were in law school, and he had just started with Charles and at the law firm Grubman, Indursky, & Shindler.
Kenny
also relocated from LA, where he had a small indie label producing records for his friends and whatnot.
From there, he sold an album to Atlantic Records and used that money to make the move.
Working with David as his “assistant” at the law firm gave him the skills to mold his creative side with a working knowledge of negotiating and developing licensing agreements (terms, conditions, etc.).
From there, he worked a couple different jobs before going to an independent label and realizing that they weren’t licensing their music – he stayed there six years, wherein his “project” was licensing their music.
From there, his experience led him to Sony and he grew to his current position as VP of Licensing.
He made it clear that currently, there are opportunities in the music industry, specifically in licensing, because people are realizing that there is money to be made in that respect.
The hard part about licensing today are the following:
artist exposure via commercial – free or licensed?
ad agencies/brands using songs that don’t line up with what they’re trying to convey to the audience – disconnect, resulting in an ineffective marketing campaign
a company comes to the label, wants to license a song, they discuss terms and monetary compensation, they pay, and that’s it – longevity in relationships
Kenny also spoke on the importance of not pigeon-holing oneself into a certain area. Getting exposure in the different areas of an industry is important to making yourself marketable in any area. For example, his many varied jobs taught him different things, but his main clear focus has been licensing – so it’s a good idea to get experience, but do it with a focus. Any experience you get in one area or industry can be applicable to another industry down the line – you just need to know what that is.
