Here I am with friend and collaborator, GRAMMY™Award Winning Art Greenhaw who has plunged his band The Light Crust Doughboys
into new heights of success since from the early days that involved Bob Wills
(Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys). My interest with this blog post is to get
an understanding of how Art has negotiated throughout the many years to gain a
little more knowledge on how the entertainment world works and to learn some
helpful techniques.
I start out by asking Art how he addresses issues with
others on how to separate the people from the problem when negotiating. It’s
easy to understand that everybody perceives ideas and concepts differently.
Josh says, “How do you handle situations like this where you feel the other
person is not understanding you and vice versa and what tips do you have for
others”? Art says, “Of course with any top-flight music organization it’s at
least half or more business, half or less music and art. The first thing I
always try to do is make sure everyone has a real good virtual equal say art
wise in the art and science side of the performances and recordings, that’s
just my management style. Let’s always keep in might that the LCDB band… the
sum is greater than any of the parts. However, we try to make everyone feel
artistically on the same level with everyone else. Business wise… it’s a bit
different just simply because every business has a head and you can’t run
business on a committee basis. So when it comes to business since I own the
Doughboys, I own and maintain the trademarks, I have all of the business and
financial responsibility and take care of that myself but we still try to make
all the band members feel equally and artistically important”.
Josh asks, “There are two sides to negotiations, your side
and the other side. I understand that The Light Crust Doughboys consist of many
members. How do you handle positioning bargaining tactics when there are more
than two people or a partnership”? Art says, “Going back to my original thesis
we try to run artistically side of the band that everyone feels like there as important
as anyone else and as-far-as the total vision of the band that’s non-negotiable…
that’s my realm and of course we’re in a situation with most music
organizations its not a strict employer/employee relationship… It’s a contract
relationship… So it’s more of a common wealth situation artistically and me as
the owner of the corporation making decisions… We’re dealing with a high enough
level of sophistications with the musicians where if they don’t fit in or feel
the vision that they normally move on with out me having to say anything at all”.
Josh says, “Coming to a mutual understanding sometimes seems
impossible. Could you give me an example of a time where you had to overcome
this obstacle and how you moved towards a mutual benefit when negotiating a
deal”? Art says, “Sure, so often in my type of music… ticket sales just don’t
always cover the expenses incurred by the promoter, the venue, and our musical
group… so someone has to make up the difference… I try with my experience to
consult and let the client know how do they make up the difference and how do
they get underwriters. I attempt to help them with either corporate sponsors, underwriters
or grants with year of experience I know what few grants are available for
music performances… With our type of business… symphonies, operas, and artistic
endeavors… very, very few times do ticket sales take care of the necessary
expenses and wages of all the people involved… all around the country, all over
Texas and all the arts groups just don’t make it on ticket sales… They have underwriters…
so that’s basically how I handle it. I help with underwriters”.
After that last question we thanked each other for the
conversation. I’m glad I was able to share this short interview with everyone. As
always I am very thankful for having Art as a collaborator and friend. I enjoy
these moments.
- Josh Knight
