Entrepreneurial Management & Its Followers. (A Doc McGhee Profile)

Management within the music industry is constantly changing; however, there is much that can be learned from the profiles of groundbreakers that have truly paved the way for an entrepreneurial-style of management. This particular blog posting will be based around one of those individuals and the quality business he’s built over the past thirty-plus years.

McGhee entertainment is one of the mega-management companies that have helped shape, what the world has come to know as, “Rock History”. Managing groups and artists, such as: Kiss, Motley Crue, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses, and Ted Nugent, Doc McGhee has become one of the most successful managers in the history of the music business.

Organizing one of the most memorable music festivals in history, “The Moscow Music Peace Festival” on August 12-13 1989; the festival drew an audience of 120,000 attendees and was broadcast on television to 51 different countries. The show itself took two years to set up and arrange and employed many of the top artists of the day, still being listed as one of the most memorable concerts of all time. (Celeb. Access, 2009)

To date, McGhee Entertainment still represents some of the most successful bands in the world; one of the most recognizable is the rock band “Kiss”, whom has been touring for well over thirty years and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue throughout the world. Kiss can be recognized as one of the biggest bands of all time, with the likes of “The Rolling Stones”, “The Beatles” and “Led Zeppelin” forever helping to shape the influence of music, history and culture.

Thirty-five years ago, twenty four year old Doc McGhee set out on a journey, one that would land him a life-style similar to that of the Rock and Roll legends that he has managed over the years. Starting in a band called “Rising four”, the band covered “Yard Birds” songs and then later signed to “Mercury Records” for a short period of four years. (Leblanc, 2009)

Searching for employment in the mid 1970’s McGhee found himself with no major prospects for jobs, but a handful of knowledge about the music business and the need for others to be heard by a number of the contacts he had acquired over his shot stent on Mercury Records. As a 26 year old, Doc had an opportunity to work with Pat Travers and then Moved to Florida, where his management career started to grow, also lucking into an opportunity to work with the late, great, James Brown, where McGhee claims that he didn’t know if he managed Brown, or if Brown managed him.

In 1982 Doc McGhee signed “Motley Crue” and “Bon Jovi”, then in 1989 produced and promoted one of the largest concert promotions in music history, “The Moscow Music Peace Festival”, and by 1996 had signed a deal with one of the great bands of all time “Kiss”. Where McGhee Entertainment was able to help facilitate the biggest tour of that year, being the Kiss Alive World Tour, generating $43.6 Million dollars in revenue over an eleven-month period; further solidifying the abilities and mega-success potential for McGhee, McGhee Entertainment and the artists represented by the company. (Leblanc, 2009)

True to the evolution of the entertainment business, McGhee was able to successfully spawn a Reality Television Show called “Super Group” with the likes of members from bands such as: Skid Row, Ted Nugent, Anthrax, Bonham, etc. and also opening McGhee Entertainment, Nashville for modern country acts, Darius Rucker, Chris Cagle, Drew Davis, and many more.

As of today’s date, McGhee Entertainment has, and is still working with some of the biggest names in the music business; they’ve managed and/or launched the careers of more household names that any other independent management firm and have carved out their own special niche in history.

Management competition in the music industry can be quite fierce, one of the newer companies that have clearly made their presence know is “Wind-up Entertainment” now, a division of “Wind-up Records”. Clearly showing influence from Doc’s Successes and teachings, Wind-up has been able to secure a large amount of Venture Financing and sign acts like “Creed”, “Evanescence” and “Seether”, three of the more successful acts in today’s modern rock.

Another very well established competitor is Bill McGathy and Tony Couch at “McGhathy Promotions” and “McGathy/Indegoot Recordings”, signing artists like “Shinedown”, “Saliva”, “Three Doors Down”, and “Tantric”, McGathy has a huge portion of the Modern Rock market on their current roster.

One thing both companies have in common is their business model, find talent, manage the talent and then either market and promote the talent, or use a record company to exploit the talents of their artists and roster. Ironically similar to what McGhee Entertainment has been speaking about for over 35 years.

One of the luxuries of being a independently owned is that a company doesn’t have to publish their financial reports to the public; however, with artists like Kiss selling Hundreds of millions of dollars in recordings, merchandising and marketing materials, it is obvious that McGhee Entertainment is at the top of the current food chain.

Second in the market place would be Wind-Up, with some of their bigger artists, mainly Creed and Evanescence selling upwards of 30 Million CD worldwide for each of their releases and generating millions of dollars in revenue as well. (Wind-Up Records, 2011)

Third position in the market-place would be McGathy/Indegoot; though Bill McGathy does own a Record Label, his major artists like “Saliva” and “Shinedown” are signed to major labels such as: “Atlantic Records” and “Capitol Records”, relieving some of the financial burden, but also reducing the amount of total revenue as well.

Many companies in the music industry have a sharp strategy, pertaining to the development of new talent; McGhee entertainment’s philosophy is based around an aggressive need to get the artists heard and among the public eye. “Sell by any means necessary” (McGhee, 2011) is the guerilla-marketing tactic used my Doc McGhee and his staff. Finding what makes the artist special and then marketing that aspect of the project with what is currently popular in the market is how MGE innovates and incorporates their new artists into the already existing plateau of their target market and fan-base.

Other companies take a similar approach, targeting a multi-market segment, but have a more tactical plan of action scheduled because of the lack of already established talent. McGhee Entertainment can command higher prices and lower percentages for their artists based on guaranteed success; whereas, another company that has less experience will have to charge more and take less, in an effort to build artist confidence and industry connection.

As the company has seen change in the market-place and trend flux in the music industry it made sense for McGhee Entertainment to change along with it, launching reality shows, promoting concert DVDs incorporating new technology and music genres in their marketing mix.

McGhee has the opportunity to continue growing and developing new talent by expanding their operations and hiring new and hungry agents to seek and manage upcoming talent, whereas other companies are still trying to catch up to the success and history, Doc will be setting another bar in the entertainment business.

Connecting emotionally to the audience can be reflected in Doc’s ability to understand what is physically happening in the market and then embrace that, in a way as to get the public involved in promoting and supporting the promotion. Reality TV shows, Performance DVDs and Online, On-Demand interviews for his artists are a way for the company to help reach an emotional connection with both artist and fan.

Being an inspiration to many other companies, McGhee Entertainment is also connected to the music business by way of reputation and ongoing respect. This is one of the largest factors for the company’s 35-year success and relationship to their represented talent.

Several facts can be concluded about McGee Entertainment, the company, though agents are aging, is still in high demand; offering a lifetime of knowledge and inspiration to other companies aspiring to work in the management field and experience that few other companies have the ability to match. McGhee Entertainment, though not acquiring talent very often, spends the same amount of time on the new acts as they do their existing ones, also keeping the company sharp and in the public eye.

The only negative side to any management company participating in the entertainment industry is being able to stay current and modern with the music topping the charts or already established as successful with the current marketable demographic; McGhee is no exception to this rule, the company has the potential to slow, just as many others have in the past, however, at this time, they’re showing no signs of aging or slowing down in the near future. Already planning to open more branches and feature a new genre of emerging talent.