{"id":4138,"date":"2011-04-28T12:10:43","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T19:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/?p=4138"},"modified":"2015-09-30T18:58:29","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T18:58:29","slug":"transcript-of-interview-with-concert-ad-and-voiceover-legend-bill-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/transcript-of-interview-with-concert-ad-and-voiceover-legend-bill-young\/","title":{"rendered":"Transcript of Interview with Concert Ad and Voiceover Legend Bill Young"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BillI recently posted a 50 minute interview I did with Bill Young, a voiceover legend<\/a>. If you are more interested in reading the interview I have provide a transcript below.<\/p>\n

Michael Brandvold Interviews Bill Young<\/h2>\n

Michael Brandvold \u2013 Hello, this is Michael Brandvold from Michael Brandvold Marketing, and on the other end of the line, I have got somebody who \u2013 to me \u2013 is an absolute legend in the concert space and radio space for sure.<\/p>\n

Bill Young \u2013 Wow!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 We’ve got Bill Young from Concerts.com on the phone. How are you Bill?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 I’m Fine! Hi Micheal, how are you?<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Real good, real good… and you know honestly, I have to say \u201clegend\u201d because.. as a little kid growing up listening to concert ads and all that type of stuff, I was always impressed with who was behind these amazing ads. They sound so great! You know I would see the Ad Mats in the newspapers \u2013 when people used to read newspapers \u2013 and magazines, and you know the design.. and.. I was just, I would be like \u201cI don’t want the band poster, I want a poster of that CONCERT ad!\u201d<\/p>\n

BY – *laughs<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 To me, THAT was cool. And, I mean, the ads themselves, I mean I still remember to this day \u2013 I don’t know whether you did this ad or not \u2013 but when I first heard the \u201ccreatures of the night\u201d tour ad for KISS when they were coming to Minneapolis to play at the MET Center…<\/p>\n

BY- That’s right, I sure did!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 I heard that ad on the radio, and I went ballistic, because I was little kid and was that like… that was going to be my first time seeing the band. And that’s how… back then \u2013 and you probably agree \u2013 that’s how you learned the band was coming to concert. All of a sudden you heard the ad on the radio and you’re like \u201choly crap!\u201d I had no idea what was going on.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 You know there was some research done at one time, and those were the highest interest commercials on the air (for our audience) \u2013 I don’t really remember where that came from, but..<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 I would believe that in a heartbeat, because I remember it: Once I heard the ad, then I would get my tape deck, and I would get a tape into the tape player and I’d position it right in front of my speakers. And you know, this is way back before you could just do dumping from one line to another line. And as soon as I… I was waiting for the ad to come back, because I had to have my own recording of the ad for the show. And I’m sure I’m not the only person who has ever done this – you hit the \u201cplay\u201d & \u201crecord\u201d, and you’re recording that ad. I’ve probably still got it buried, that cassette, somewhere in my closet somewhere…<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 A few weeks ago, I had someone up in Oklahoma \u2013 or somewhere up in there \u2013 that sent me a recording of about 20 or 30 of my commercials over the years. And I’m thinking \u201cwhat in the world?\u201d I didn’t even save these things! There’s some collector out there has it.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Oh yeah, I love collecting that stuff! We’ve gone over previous to this some of my history \u2013 I launched and built KISS’ official website \u201cKISS online\u201d – and one of the things that I reached out towards the fans to do was to send me the ad mats and the recordings of the ads, because I would put them up on the bands website. So you could see the ad mats from KISS playing Louisville, or you could see the concert recording for the show in Detroit, or Muskegon Michigan or whatever it might be. It was just… it’s just very cool little bits of… history, is basically what it is! I love collecting that type of stuff, ad mats, concert mats, posters and stuff like that!<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Good for you!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Anyway, let’s get into some questions here. What I want to do is kind of pick your brain, little bit about who you are, a little bit of history… but then, what kind of tips and advice might you be able to provide to young upstart bands out there who have to do their own promotions? So let’s just kind of start off… how did you move from radio to concert advertising?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 You know in the late 50’s I was programming at a little radio station in Tyler, Texas, population about 50,000 people, and I discovered this radio station out of Dallas, by the name of KBOX. It was a Balaban station and it went up against KLIF which was the big powerhouse in Houston and Dallas at that time. And this radio station was Just. Over. The. Top! and I had never heard anything like it before in my life, and so I became a real fan. One of the disk jockeys from KBOX, was originally from Tyler! So he came to town and said he wanted to do a concert, he wanted to bring Chuck Berry to town. And he recorded this commercial for the Chuck Berry concert at Tyler, Texas, and I had the same response you were just talking about. It was just an epiphany for me. It was the most exciting thing I had ever heard of. Nothing like the commercials that we had to run. And I thought \u2013 even in my early twenties \u2013 I said \u201cI want to do just that.\u201d Well, I came to Houston as program director \u2013 Jump forward to about 1965 \u2013 and I come down here and the radio station actually did their own booking! The previous summer they had brought The Beatles to town at their expense. And so, right after I came, the Manager said \u201calright, this year we’re going to bring The Rolling Stone to the Houston Colosseum\u201d. Well I was program director, so guess who got to do the commercials?<\/p>\n

MB – *laughs<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 So I got to do the first commercial \u2013 that I had ever done \u2013 for The Rolling Stones…and it was magic. God I put everything into that spot.<\/p>\n

MB- Do you still have those spots?<\/p>\n

BY- I do not. And you’re not gonna believe this Michael, but I saved nothing. I have none of my commercials. Believe it or not, the other night I was on Facebook and of course since I came out with my book, I’m getting a lot of emails and various things \u2013 people seem to have connected with the book \u2013 and all of a sudden I get this tape from a fellow up in Texarkana, Texas of all places, which is a rather small market. and it was a beautifully packaged.. probably 20min of my commercials edited together, and I got chills up my arms…<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Wow, that’s so cool!<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 And hearing all of these commercials that I had done \u2013 I didn’t even remember some of them! I know they were my voice, but golly, there was some wonderful stuff from KISS, even after all this time.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Well you know, one of the things that’s great about Social Networking now is that you can just put the word out \u201cif you’ve got ads, send them to me\u201d. You would probably be surprised, you’ll get so much stuff sent in.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 That’s right, that’s right.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Anyways, so you started.. you did the first ad for The Rolling Stones in Houston you said…<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 and then all of a sudden an interesting thing happened. The second show was just few weeks later, and it was The Animals and Hermans Hermans.. believe it or not that was the bill.. and all of a sudden we started doing more concerts, but the dynamics changed a bit. Instead of the radio stations actually booking those concerts, we would get other promoters, they would come into town and do shows, and the they had heard these commercials and would say \u201cwe want you to do commercials for us!\u201d So I would do the commercials for the Houston shows, but they would say \u201cwe haven’t been able to find anything like this anywhere else, would you do them for these [other] markets?\u201d So all of a sudden, within a year I was doing them for concerts for all over the West, all over the Country literally.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Wow.<\/p>\n

BY – Well, I say all over the country but they were primarily in the Western part of the US, from Seattle to San Diego to Los Angeles. So I’m doing these tours and by that time they were doing massive amounts of shows \u2013 I mean everything from Frank Sinatra to just a very large group of artists, from rock to everything! So anyway, I had this broad base of this one client. And then a few years later, here in Houston, there was a promotion man that called me from one of the big houses here in Houston with a number of labels he promoted. And he came over one day and said \u201cI’m going to start my own band\u201d. And I thought \u201cYeah right\u201d. So he did, he put together this band, and that band named themselves ZZ Top.<\/p>\n

MB – *laughs<\/p>\n

BY – And they said \u201cwe want you to do all of our commercials for all of our tour dates.\u201d Well, that was the first time I had really had a show that went nationally. Well once that happened, then all of a sudden I’m getting calls from promoters from all over the country saying \u201clet’s do the same thing.\u201d All of a sudden , within a matter of the first two or three years, at least 2\/3rds of my income was coming from doing these commercials!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Wow!<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 and I was still programming this radio station, and this was a big radio station! It was owned by Gordon Mclinden, who was one of the biggest operators, and we were the number one radio station in town. I had obviously a full plate there, but I could sit there late in the afternoon and do these. What I would do – by now I’ve mentioned this, but they would say \u201cwe want you to do the whole tour.\u201d – so I would create one or two spots (commercials we called them), and I would do those and do them on multi-track machines so that I could go back in when they went to a different market and all. All I really had to change would be the date, the venue, the city and the ticketing information! So I could do them for presales \u201ctickets go on sale this Saturday\u201d and \u201ctickets are available now\u201d and \u201cthis show is this Saturday..\u201d<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Right, right, there would always be 3 or 4 different versions for the same show.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 That’s right. So all of a sudden 2\/3rds of my income was coming from this little side-business of doing that. I stayed at the radio station as program director for 15 years. I know that’s kind of a record of sorts.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Even after having all of this business on the side, you continued for 15 years. Wow, that’s great.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Again, I hate to say this, but I never really considered that doing those things was real business. It was almost like free-lance talent work. Which we would do.. you know, the Ford dealer would want us to do commercials for him.. well, okay, so its concert. Well I enjoyed doing them more than I did the Ford spots.. but… Anyway, so all of a sudden after 15 years I left the radio business, and now I’ve got to make it work. So I started out using a friend of mine who I had worked with at the station earlier who had a recording studio, and continued to do commercials. To be honest \u2013 and this is really kind of a personal issue \u2013 I was worried that I was doing all of those commercials because I was at a big name in the radio industry. And in fact, when I started talking to \u2013 you know I called each one of the promoters, pace concerts at the time, and the group out of Seattle, and a company out of New Orleans called Beaver Productions \u2013 I had done all of the work for all of those companies.. so I called each one of them and told them I was leaving my radio job, and that I hoped they stayed with me. And everyone said \u201cOh my gosh, Great! Now we can use you for all this other stuff!\u201d<\/p>\n

MB – *laughs<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 and so I go \u201cwow!\u201d. And then all of a sudden we started picking up some big players, like John Shure from New York, the other promoter from New York, and other promoters from New York… it went crazy. At the time we were still doing \u201cradio only\u201d promotions, and my primary competitor was Joe Kelly out of Chicago. But Joe ran a very conventional kind of recording studio: he had an engineer, the copy was written and he would walk in and sit and read the copy lines, and then they would mix them down, and then they would mail them to the concert promoter. At this time that was okay, because if an artist came to town they had to manually scale the house. I don\u2019t know if you were around during those days, but that meant that if they were going to come let\u2019s to say the summit here in Houston\u2026 and they had their show, the things they are staging would differ. The speakers might cut off 200 seats over here, or 20 over there. So the tickets couldn\u2019t be printed until they could scale the house. So that gave a lot of time before you had to do things. It would take time to do that, and then they would have to manually print the tickets, and then distribute them out to 8 or 10 different ticket locations. So there was plenty of time from the time you booked the show and when you could go on the air with commercials, or any promotion of any kind. All of a sudden all of these three things started happening. First and foremost was, you know, you had overnight delivery of commercials or other things. I mean here\u2019s this little company out of Memphis Tennessee that\u2019s flying things in on a day to day basis. At the same time, these two kids over in some college in Arizona come up with the idea of computerized tickets. We didn\u2019t have anything like that! We had to hard print them. So that happened just about the same time as everything else that was going on. And in the mean time, we developed a way that we can ship these spots to radio stations and have them there by tomorrow morning. So all of these things came together at one time. In the meantime, I am sitting in the room by myself and they are bringing me 50 markets for KISS or whatever. And I would build a music track \u2013 music was the first thing \u2013 and you know, everybody else had been doing commercials like this by creating copy, and then the music was built around that. I did it the opposite way, I built the music track that made sense. It was logical, it was musical, it was THAT artist and what they did.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Were the artists giving you any input up front as to \u201cthis is the kind of\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Oh yeah, absolutely.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 They would say \u201cthese are the songs to use, and DON\u2019T use these songs\u2026\u201d?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Oooh, there were many an eleven o\u2019clock call at night and someone would say, you know, \u201cHi, this is Billy Gibbons, can we talk a minute?\u201d<\/p>\n

MB – *laughs* And you know what that\u2019s gonna be about.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Believe it or not my wife would sometimes\u2026.. the phone would ring at night and say \u201cgo to the other room.\u201d<\/p>\n

MB – *laughs<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 So it was yeah, it was a real fun kind of thing. You know, sitting on such stories that I can\u2019t even recall at the moment. Fortunately I was able to put many of them in the book, but there are zillions more, you know, funny things would happen. But it was a wonderful time, and we built that. And eventually as the company got so big, we added in TV commercials just about the time that MTV became a force and became a new way to promote concerts. Then we needed to do print ads, because they would run of course run blitz and Sunday papers everywhere. Then we went into internet, cards, we would send out emails. Some artists as a matter of fact, would even now will go to their fan club and do a blitz before even the record goes on sale. So there\u2019s all kinds of things that we\u2019ve been able to develop for our customers and that they brought to us.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 And you\u2019re still kind of the defacto, go-to player for all of this in the industry, after all these years. Aren\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 I think so. Obviously some of the promoters have gone in on their own, but we\u2019re still the only one that actually does it in the house. A lot of that work is now free-lance \u2013 a voice over here, and then someone else does the music track over here. We don\u2019t do that. And the reason we don\u2019t do that is for the very reason that I was talking about before. When you have a passionate person sitting in the room building the music track, doing the voice, laying it all down, it\u2019s just a whole different ballgame.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 you\u2019re exactly right. That passion can be heard in the ad, it can be read in the print ad, you can just tell\u2026<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 and that\u2019s all the difference!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 it is!<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 That\u2019s the difference in everything! That\u2019s the whole deal. I mean, this is music we\u2019re selling. This is a creative kind of thing, and it should not just be a factory thing. But so much of our world is becoming that way.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 So this kind of brings up \u2013 I mean I still want to go back and talk a little bit more about your history \u2013 but one\u2026 sounds like one good thing, or tip or advice to bands who are having to produce their own ads, fliers or whatever it might be, who has got a nephew, a cousin, an uncle who does graphic arts\u2026. Maybe what you really need to do is find somebody who is actually passionate about your band, and have THEM do it, as opposed to somebody who is just a graphics wiz but isn\u2019t as passionate about the music. You know, that comes through in the final outcome.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 There is absolutely no question. I\u2019m a study\u2026a real student of great advertising. And you can tell when the people who are doing the writing, the people who are doing the TV commercials or whatever\u2026 you can tell the difference between someone who really is putting themselves into that. Same way that an artist does with his music. Good gosh! Selling that music should be at least as important as all those other things. And frequently just that\u2019s thrown\u2026 well, I don\u2019t mean to criticize, but it\u2019s really not the way we wanted to do things.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Right, I mean, it\u2019s as you said, a lot of companies just free lance it out to somebody who is technically<\/em> very skilled at it. No questions there: they are great designers, they\u2019re great video editors, they\u2019re great voiceovers, great audio editors. But you know, having a very keen talent doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you have the ability to inject that little extra…whatever it might be… that gets someone excited about that ad.
\nBY \u2013 that\u2019s everything. I mean I was blessed with a \u2026pretty good voice, but I would certainly say there are better voices out there than me. And there for awhile at least \u2013 and still to some extent – that the whole thing about doing a rocket rule radio commercial was \u201chow deep can your voice go\u201d. *grunts<\/p>\n

And that misses the whole point. Music is about passion, and passion drives the voice. And so the one thing that I enjoyed the most about this business, was that I could fashion my delivery and even the writing skills, to a particular artist, and not just leave it into \u201ceverything gets plugged into the A list and B lines\u201d \u2013 you understand what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Mmmhmm.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 It just becomes cookie cutter.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 So this brings up a question I have then. If an artist came to you and said \u201cwe want you do to some ads for us\u201d and it was an artist you did not like, you couldn\u2019t stand the music\u2026 how would you approach that?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 First and foremost, that\u2019s an interesting thought. I don\u2019t think that I\u2019ve ever encountered anything like that. There were some artists that I did not know their work as well as I did others\u2026 but you know, it would be like if you were \u2026 if you were a good advertising person, someone added you, and said \u201cwe want you to do a billboard out here, on Luke 3:23\u201d, or whatever, then that\u2019s YOUR showcase. So you want to do a good job from your own stand point first\u2026 I mean, I say first, but the two go hand in hand. If I do something good that I am pleased with, unless I am way off grounds with the strategy of that particular group, then I am really doing a service… I am doing the best work I can do. I\u2019m doing it for them, yes of course, but first of all I\u2019m doing it for me. I\u2019m doing it in the sense that it is a reflection of my work, and it may be the last thing I ever do. So I want it to be a good one.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 I would also guess that because you came up through radio, you are first and foremost a music fan. You love music.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 oh absolutely!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 so therefore that\u2019s going to be carried through in anything you do. It\u2019s not like somebody who just went to college to be trained to become an audio engineer, but isn\u2019t really a big music fan. Maybe they love books? But you know… so there, you already have an inherent passion within you to begin with.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 that\u2019s an interesting point, because you know, we have a very large facility. We own two facilities here in Houston, and our main building has about 25,000 square feet! It\u2019s a big place, we have 50 employees over there! Doing what we\u2019re talking about. So it\u2019s not just some little… you know, guy with a microphone doing these things. We have a visual art department, we have a \u2026. For instance to give you an example, this is many years ago, but I had a call from\u2026 a major artist from England \u2013 I\u2019ll think of it in a moment. Anyways, his manager called me, Very British, \u201cwe want life size posters up in New York, in Times Square. The problem is an artist has come in and done a full body size, and it\u2019s 5 feet tall. We need a 7 foot tall one.\u201d And now, he\u2019s calling me from New York City! I said, \u201cYou can\u2019t get it done there?\u201d and he says, \u201cNo.. no one will take\u2026 We need it for Monday, and it\u2019s now Thursday afternoon.\u201d And I said \u201cyou know, I\u2019ll do my best.\u201d We delivered Monday morning these 7 foot tall posters of one of The Beatles \u2013 that\u2019s who the artist was, when he was doing the solo act. And so, meeting those kinds of things.. I mean, to me, that\u2019s like the best thing in the world you can do. I love doing that. Absolutely the whole staff would cheer when we would deliver those kinds of things. It was that kind of passion for what we were doing, and it still is.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 is there a particular band or genre of music that you really enjoy working with, because you can be so much more creative with them?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 you know, I think if I did one type of work all the time \u2013 I never did, and I\u2019m 71 now \u2013 I never got tired of that, but I will say this. That when I was handed opportunities that I had never encountered before, there was a new freshness to it. For instance, here I am doing AC\/DC and ZZ Top, and all of these myriad acts, and all of a sudden I got Sir Michael Crawford handed to me. Okay, now obviously these things aren\u2019t going to be the same spot, but from a creative standpoint, can you imagine the opportunity to do something like this? Or like Barbra Streisand? I mean that tour! Those are big deals. Particularly when you\u2019re already worried if your work is being pigeon holed here with one more grunt grueled deep voice thing after another, and you\u2019re given an opportunity like that. So, you know, if the artist is doing something creative, then DAMMIT, I need to do something creative to represent their work.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 sure. How much of the voiceover work are you still doing?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 oh, I don\u2019t do that much anymore. Probably less than 2% if you want to know the truth.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Do you have certain clients who are just… insist \u201cit\u2019s gotta be Bill doing my ads\u201d<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 I\u2019ve had those like that\u2026 but the real key is that we have on staff there\u2019s probably 7 or 8 voice talents here, and then we have access to others that do specialized things for us that come in.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 is there anything you look for special in somebody\u2019s voiceover talents in the voice? You know, is there something where you just hear it and go \u201cthat\u2019s a\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 oh yeah, absolutely. But it\u2019s not always \u201cit\u201d. When you \u201cit\u201d, is it ready to go? No. But the raw material is there. It\u2019s like seeing a young baseball pitcher and you know and he\u2019s 12 years old, and boy he is doing it right, but just a couple of things.. if he would work on these\u2026<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 So you might bring people in and kind of train\u2019em and groom\u2019em because you know they are going to be great in a few years.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 oh yeah, and unfortunately, some of those guys go out and become competitors! *laughs<\/p>\n

MB – *laughs<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 but it\u2019s been interesting, even those people. And I had\u2026 an email the day before yesterday, from one of those men who had worked for us and then went out and did something on his own. He said \u201cI got to tell you\u201d\u2026 well, in a confidential way he said to me\u2026 well, it was wonderful to hear.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 So let me ask you, you know, if a band is putting together \u2013 you know, we talked about the passion, but \u2013 if a band is putting together a flier, a newspaper ad, a radio ad\u2026 are there a couple of things that you could say: \u201cthese are things that you should really try and do, this is what works\u201d or \u201cthese are things that don\u2019t work, but I keep seeing\u2019em in other people\u2019s ads\u201d You know, are there a couple little tips of what will grab a potential concert goers attention and make them say \u201cyes, I\u2019m going to pull out my credit card and go to their show.\u201d<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 well, assuming that this… well are we talking about someone that has already a name, or somebody that\u2019s brand new? Or either one?<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 I would say either one, you know? Definitely I don\u2019t want to ignore the new unknown bands that are playing a club to 50 people, a 100 people. But, what can they do to make it look like \u201coh my god, I have to go see these guys, cuz this ad just… I don\u2019t know… excited me.\u201d<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 You know, I think, and I\u2019m not sure this is going to answer you question, but it comes to mind as you say it. There\u2019s a lot of music artists right? A lot of bands.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 sure<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 What\u2019s the difference between those bands? The artist is the ONLY ONE that can see that difference \u2026.explicitly. Does that make any sense?<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 yeah.. I think so.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 All of us out there driving down our cars that are hearing these artists, those subtle little differences are not as big to us they are to that artist. That artist knows \u201chere\u2019s what I want to do, and here\u2019s how it is different.\u201d I want to be able to help them sell THAT difference, because that difference is their future. Otherwise they just become another one like…them. Sounds like them. Does that make sense?<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Mmmhmm.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 So unfortunately \u2013 and this bothers me more than anything, because you know, obviously we\u2019ve been successful, that has drawn a lot of competition. A lot of radio people go out and just say \u201cokay, I just want to do this…and I\u2019ll put my shingle up and we\u2019ll do them.\u201d And they\u2019re doing things that were done 10- 15 years ago, with the same BIG DEEP VOICE and you know, and it\u2019s all\u2026 it doesn\u2019t matter who the artist is, it\u2019s all going to SOUND LIKE THIS, with Bob over here and James over here… but it\u2019s the same presentation. The first thing that needs to be done is there needs to be some kind of uniqueness to the presentation. And I\u2019m talking about their musical presentation, not just in the music, but in the way they are seen on stage, they way they build their attitude \u2013 attitude is to me a good word, because it is what the band exudes you know? And well, all of the advertising needs to fit that. To just have a cookie cutter commercial, or a billboard or album cover? It just misses the whole point of what you\u2019re trying to accomplish in your music\u2026 at least to me it is.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 right.<\/p>\n

BY – So I always tried to define that thing that was different about the artist.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 I think this all still comes back to the very first point. It\u2019s sort of understanding the passion, understanding what\u2019s going on. This isn\u2019t something where you can sit here and say \u201chere\u2019s four rules of building an ad mat for a show\u201d, because there are no four rules. They can vary\u2026 they SHOULD vary for every different band.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 You know, there\u2019s an interesting thing, and I don\u2019t need to get too deep here, and it may not be anywhere you want to talk\u2026 but at one point in my early life, I went through kind of a.. one of those tough rocky roads\u2026you know where.. on a personal basis. And I really was having some nervous issues, I mean I was just really freaking out over little things all the time. And my family doctor – I went in with the case of the flu – and some how we got off onto this discussion \u201cwell, things aren\u2019t going alright with my life..\u201d you know, the kind of things we all have in moments. And he handed me a book, and it was called \u201cThe Science of Psycho-Cybernetics\u201d by Dr.Maxwell Malts. Now this is a long way from a rock and roll concert.<\/p>\n

MB – *laughs<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 But…when I read the book, Dr. Malts was a surgeon. What he found… he would go in and do this surgery on a persons face, or something they wanted to get rid of, but not on their whatever\u2026 and so he would take those things off, the person looked better, but the person could not let go of the person they had seen in the mirror for so long. So they still had this\u2026 they felt like they looked ugly, when in fact he had done all this work and they didn\u2019t look ugly anymore, but they still thought they did. Now this is a long way\u2026 what does this mean to a radio spot? Because what it did mean\u2026. Was that\u2026he said…Dr. Malts said \u201crehearse being what you want to be. Rehearse it. And then go away, and do it for a while, and go away and do what you were going to do, and all of a sudden that rehearsal starts taking over.\u201d What I do when I\u2019m doing a commercial, is I… when an order first comes in, is I go get that persons or that artists music. I sit there and listen, and listen and listen. And I get what they are doing. And I walk away from it, totally walk away\u2026because I am consciously trying to figure out what to do with this band. But the conscious the side of the brain is our input side, that\u2019s where we take in information. There\u2019s another part of our brain, that he said, actually solves things. So I would get in the morning a commercial, they\u2019d say \u201cwe want to do this, we want to this and dadada\u201d and I would sit and I would read all of it and just do everything I could do with it, and then I would sit it aside, literally put over in the shelf. And then about 4 o\u2019clock in the afternoon, I would go back and pick it up, and it was almost like that copy had been written.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Hmm!<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 And the first time it happened to me I felt like \u201cwhere did that come from? I don\u2019t even know these words!\u201d<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Right.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 So \u201cThe Science of Psycho-Cybernetics\u201d is what it\u2019s called, and it\u2019s\u2026this is a strange thing to be talking about.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 No, you know, I can definitely\u2026 you know\u2026 relate to it in a sense because I find that when I try to sit down and force myself to be creative dealing with somebody\u2019s online marketing efforts or building a website for them, you can\u2019t force yourself to do it.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 You can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 You need to take it all in, but where\u2026where the \u2026\u2026ideas hit me is when…later in that afternoon I\u2019m out riding my bike, just relaxed, just chilled, and all of a sudden BOOM the idea hits me and you\u2019re like \u201cbrilliant! That\u2019s it\u201d<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 and that book is called \u201cThe Science of Psycho-Cybernetics\u201d and that\u2019s exactly what he says. Because when we\u2019re consciously inputting stuff, we can\u2019t \u2026 the outside\u2026 well, you know, things can\u2019t come out of the same brain. You can only do it when you input all those things, and then relax and let your mind do what it \u2026 what it was gifted for it to do.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 and we thought this was just all about rock and roll and music. *laughs<\/p>\n

BY – *laughs* No but it is\u2026I think great artists probably will tell you they do the same thing. They will work on a riff, and go on and on, and you can\u2019t make it fit\u2026 and all of a sudden they will wake up in the middle of the night and go in and it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 well exactly, that\u2019s what I was going to say\u2026 that\u2019s why you\u2019ll hear so many people say \u201ckeep a blank piece of paper sitting next to you in the bed, or in the car.\u201d Because when that idea hits \u2013 or now with your iphone \u2013 record that thought, right then and there. And I\u2019ve done that now, it\u2019s like I get up at 3 in the morning and I write down an idea and I\u2019m just like \u201cwow, that\u2019s\u2026that\u2019s just perfect. That\u2019s exactly what I need.\u201d<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 and you are\u2026 and I\u2019m glad we talked about this, because it\u2019s been something that I have not done much of over the years, but it\u2019s exactly the way I\u2026 I was able to do\u2026.I mean, we were shipping 100,000 commercials a year, and that\u2019s not an exaggeration.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 WOW, that\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 and we were turning them in just everyday. You know we still had 50 employees, what do we have 50 employees doing? Processing<\/span> the backside of what we\u2019re doing is an important thing, getting those spots there at the right time and getting them labelled correctly. And getting the ad mats to fit\u2019em at the same time and the\u2026 you see what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Yeah.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 All of these people are all working in the same way, because each medium<\/span> is different.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Oh yeah, yup. Ya.. you know, we\u2019ve been on the phone for almost 45 minutes and \u2026<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Oh my gosh, I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 No no no no! Not at all! Because I\u2019ve totally<\/span> enjoyed this! And I don\u2019t want to monopolize your time\u2026<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 No, I\u2019m sorry<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 \u2026but I want to see the..the… new\u2026.way of advertising is no longer radio, tv, and magazines. It\u2019s Facebook, twitter, and email. You know, what.. what is your thought? How have you changed the\u2026the… method\u2026the… what you\u2019re delivering.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Could you hang on for one second? *goes away*<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Sure.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Okay, I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 No, no that\u2019s okay. So, you know, now how has that ad changed? Because what are you doing differently for Facebook, for twitter, for email efforts. You know, what\u2019s different?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Boy, you\u2019re absolutely right. You nailed it<\/span>. I mean it\u2019s… it\u2019s \u201cthe medium is the message\u201d. You ever hear that phrase?<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 yup, yup.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 It must<\/span> be different. I mean you can\u2019t do what you\u2019re doing in one medium and expect it to have the same results in the next medium. They each have their own environment. And\u2026that doesn\u2019t mean you become\u2026 you know\u2026 a whole different band each time, you want consistency, but you want to be able to fit, or NOT fit\u2026 The counter to the environment which, where you\u2019re in… and environment is the medium that we\u2019re using in a given moment. So it\u2019s, it\u2019s… you know I think it\u2019s\u2026.Unfortunately there\u2019s not a lot of people\u2026 everything in our, you know, world today is \u201clet\u2019s turn it out as quick as we can..\u201d<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Right.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 You know\u2026and it\u2019s just in volume. You know\u2026and the only reason we have a lot of people is because we still do a lot of volume and have different minds working on it.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Are you seeing a definite shift in getting more and more clients saying \u201calright, we need Facebook, twitter and email advertising.\u201d?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Oh, I think, you know we kind of led that\u2026 you know, in many ways we were way up front on\u2026in those social media and all the other things, and getting.. you know, providing materials for them.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Is there anything exciting or interesting you\u2019ve done in the social media realm that you were like \u201cthis is really a great idea, this worked well.\u201d I mean, I don\u2019t want you to give away<\/span> the trade secrets, but is there\u2026<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 No, I won\u2019t tell you who we\u2019ve done it for, but one of the interesting things we\u2019ve done, fairly recently, is coordinating with the artist\u2019s existing fan club, and letting them\u2026 some of them\u2026 the bands could virtually sell out shows with that group! And utilizing maybe\u2026 you know, one of the things\u2026 I don\u2019t even recall who it was\u2026 did a resale for their fan base, you know, one day ahead of time. Well golly! How does that strengthen, number 1, so many other things that they\u2019re doing. I mean everybody wanted to become a member of their club!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 right.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 And that opened up a lot of other avenues for them… the artist so. You know, again… you know, the only way we can continue to help the artists that we do, is to come up with new ways of doing what we do. And invariably the biggest thing we run into is\u2026 over the years\u2026 is people\u2026 monkey see, monkey do. Too many people \u201cwell it worked well for this group, then it\u2019s gotta work for this\u201d. That\u2019s a long way<\/span> off the base. If it worked for them, then we can\u2019t<\/span> do it! *laughs* It\u2019s already been used!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Right!<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 It really is about being creative. And being\u2026not afraid to try things.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Mmhmm. Well, you know, let me\u2026 you know, let\u2019s wrap this up, because I want to make sure this is something that\u2019s easy enough for somebody to digest, that they don\u2019t have to sit down for 2 hours. We can always come back and do a follow up interview if we want to.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 That\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Why don\u2019t you give me some information on where people can go to, you know, which website\u2026 where can they go to see some of the examples, see some of the work you\u2019ve done?<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Well, it\u2019s billyoungproductions.com another name is concerts.com. You can get there through either one. And you\u2019ll hear some of the work that we\u2019re are doing, some of the\u2026 for some of the current artists, and we\u2019ll have a few things on there from what we\u2019ve done in the past. But listen to them all, and try to stay open, not just to \u201cI like that\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t like that\u201d, or \u201cthis is stronger than that\u201d\u2026try to say \u201cwhat is this artist trying to do, and did this ad do it for them?\u201d And once you get into an understanding of advertising as more than just selling a ticket for this show, this is a great opportunity! You\u2019ll never be on the radio station promoting yourself, as you will during those concert commercials, correct?<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 mmmHmm.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 I mean, there\u2019s no 60 second, you know, commercial that you talk about it. So use it in a unique way, and unfortunately, there\u2019s a lot of tours and a lot of pre-packaged promotions that\u2019s going on right now\u2026.and it really bothers me that everybody seems to want what has already worked good. And that\u2019s exactly the wrong<\/span> way to look at it. Well, that\u2019s my opinion, you know, maybe they are right.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Well, your opinion is a valuable opinion! You know, you\u2019ve been doing this for many years, and you\u2019ve been successful at it, so\u2026 you know, coming from you, that opinion means a lot more than if it came from just the average joe on the street.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Well, I\u2019m very passionate about this business. And I have been\u2026 and will continue to be. It\u2019s just\u2026 you know it is\u2026 I remember how it felt walking into my first concert.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 YES.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 and\u2026. And man, I will never<\/span> forget that feeling. And I want to create that feeling for someone that\u2019s themselves 18 years old and walking in and seeing an artist that they had only heard about before.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 You know, that\u2019s an awesome description, because that\u2019s exactly what\u2026 you know, I remember. And that\u2019s\u2026 to me, that\u2019s what these ads have always been about is\u2026 recreating that moment.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 It is.. it is. There\u2019s so many possibilities that it can do if it\u2019s done right.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Right, right\u2026 Why don\u2019t you give me a quick plug here for your book, you know, I\u2019ll make sure to put links and stuff up on the website for it as well, but I want everyone to know as\u2026 you know, about your book, what it\u2019s about, where they can get it.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Well, the book is named \u201cDead Air: The Rise and Demise of Music Radio\u201d. And it\u2019s about my own\u2026 you know\u2026 experiences as a disk jockey, as a radio station owner, as a radio station program director, and then later, developing radio ads\u2026to meet the touring industry. So it\u2019s kind of a tromp through a lot of different areas, it\u2019s chapters going\u2026 you know, there\u2019s no story line in the sense of\u2026 there\u2019s no \u201cbig moment\u201d that\u2019s\u2026 you know, \u201csomeone\u2019s gonna meet and fall in love forever.\u201d But it\u2019s a, you know, I think it\u2019s a good reflection of the industry, and a lot of real leaders are telling me that, so I\u2019m trusting their judgement on that. In the mean time, I\u2019ve got 2 or 3 of those that could be done! *laughs*<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 *laughs*<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 I mean, this was such an incredible business, and it is still\u2026 has so many possibilities that are not being used.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 You know what I would love to see? Is a coffee table book of art work from all of these various ad mats.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Oh my gosh! That would <\/span>be fun!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Talk about \u201ca walk through history.\u201d you know. I don\u2019t know if you guys have the rights to all of the ads that you\u2019ve done for people\u2026<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Noo, probably not\u2026*laughs<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Every artist is going to want a piece of that pie! *laughs<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Yes\u2026 I know that. And that\u2019s \u2026 unfortunately that\u2026 those things, legitimately so, should be a factor, but it would be by some of those things… that you know, getting that call on a Thursday wanting a life-size posters for a Beatle\u2026 to do\u2026 you know, this is a big deal! So the story behind that, how that poster came about, is interesting in its own really. So you know\u2026<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 It\u2019s almost like you need\u2026You need a concerts.com museum where people can come in, and you know, here\u2019s a museum to the concert industry of ad mats and listening to\u2026radio ads and seeing the video ads and other props and other tools you\u2019ve created. I think that would just be so interesting to see.<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve used that term accidentally, but concerts.com is our website!<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 Yeah, yeah\u2026I think you\u2019ve got a brilliant domain there, obviously. concerts.com! I mean, I\u2019m sure Livenation and AEG and many other people would love<\/span> to buy that from you. *laughs<\/p>\n

BY \u2013 Well, what to do with that has been a real question too\u2026but\u2026Anyway, this has been great.<\/p>\n

MB \u2013 I really enjoyed this chat Bill, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk with me.<\/p>\n

Transcriptions done with assistance from Tak from The Pawnshop Manual. Go check their music out at www.thepawnshopmanual.com.<\/p>\n

Listen to My Interview with Bill Young<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently posted a 50 minute interview I did with Bill Young, a voiceover legend. If you are more interested in reading the interview I have provide a transcript below. Michael Brandvold Interviews Bill Young Michael Brandvold \u2013 Hello, this is Michael Brandvold from Michael Brandvold Marketing, and on the other end of the line, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,12,191],"tags":[846,847,823,784],"class_list":["post-4138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marketing","category-music-marketing-2","category-photos","tag-bill-young","tag-concert-ads","tag-concerts-com","tag-radio"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11661,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138\/revisions\/11661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}