Sophomore Rap Entrepreneurs Ahead of the Music Game
April 25, 2006
Still deep in college studies, two University of Richmond sophomores have plunged into the music business. Rory Golod, a business major and music minor; and Doug Banker, a leadership studies major, have founded a company to promote fledging rap stars.
The rapper they are promoting now is Skyzoo, a New Yorker with a lot of talent, a great New York reputation, experience and a large repertoire of material but without a national reputation or record contract.
The job of DBRG, their company, is to create the buzz that will entice record producers to fight over offering Skyzoo a contract.
“Sky has a manager,” Golod said. “We’re kind of like a production agency. We help produce and create what the manager can’t do. We almost drop out once he gets a record deal.”
Thanks to friends, family members and other investors, Golod and Banker have raised the capital to pay for promotions, shows and making demos. The company has an accountant and a lawyer.
Most importantly, it has Golod and Banker, who work tirelessly. Over spring break, for example, they had nine meetings scheduled in New York
Golod’s cell phone rings constantly. He admits it’s hard to concentrate on studies but the deal he made with his parents is to get his degree first and foremost. A lot of his friends are finance majors, but for him there’s no Music Business 101.
“It’s emotionally taxing being with Rory for an hour,” said Banker. The two are Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers who met during their freshman year. Golod lives in Huntington, N.Y., Banker in Greenwich, Conn.
Golod always has been a hip-hop fan. He doesn’t perform the music, but he said he began by “learning how to produce and structure the music. I can provide this for other artists.”
“We just launched our first single, ‘The Way You Get Down,’” Golod said. “It’s a club type song, with a hip-hop edge. Basically, you don’t get on radio without record deal or being well known. We’re generating this buzz before he gets the deal. The radio single gets spin in New York, LA, Miami, the South.”
They’re aiming for a record deal by the end of the year. They also are negotiating a deal for Skyzoo to work with Matisyahu, a reggae artist, and are trying to get MTV to present Sky on a show like “Advance Warning.”
They also have shows planned for this summer in New York City and the Hamptons.
Banker also is using contacts, such as Danny Stein, CEO of Dimensional Associates, the parent company of The Orchard, the world’s leading digital distributor of music. Stein is a friend of Banker’s father, and they belong to the same country club. Banker, who plays No. 1 on Richmond’s men’s tennis team, is Stein’s tennis partner, and the two have won a couple of club championships back home.
“He’s been an unbelievable help,” Banker said, of Stein. “I can bounce ideas off him.
He is an influential force in the music industry. He has introduced us to people, and he can call any of the big labels.”
“Tennis gives a great regimen to my day,” said Banker. Sleep is a luxury, he added, with such a long things-to-do list. “There’s so much I have to do, it’s giving me gray hairs,” he laughed, pointing to a tiny patch on his head. “I’m accomplishing things. Things are hectic.”
“With us down here, I wish it could be more hands on,” Banker said. “I’ve picked up a lot: how to negotiate, how to interact, how to compromise.” While Banker has many business skills, “Rory has an unbelievable ear for music, its subtle peculiarities,” Banker said. “He will help create something special, a drum here, a bell there. I like the organic process. I dream of watching the whole thing before my eyes.”