Interview with Super Manager Michael Blumstein (T-Pain's Mgr)

(SUPER MANAGER MICHAEL BLUMSTEIN)
Interview Courtesy of Kimbel Bouwman (www.HitQuarters.com)

How did you first get involved in artist management?

I started out in the talent agency business actually, about eleven years ago. And I did that for a couple of years and then worked with Slum Village and Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch. And Mos Def is really the one that took me under his wing and taught me a lot of stuff about management and everything like that. I worked real close with his mother with him.
I lived in New York a little bit with Mos when I worked with him, but I’m in Fort Lauderdale, the Miami area, now - that’s where I was born and grew up, and started with the talent agency.

And then I had a good friend who said he’s got his sister’s boyfriend at that time make some good music and I told him to send it to me when I was in New York. And he sent it and I liked it. And then from there I kind of broke away from Mos little by little. And we placed Pitbull’s record called ‘Dammit Man’. And then from there we placed a record called ‘Lets Go’ with Trick Daddy.

And from there I branched out and discovered a little producer by the name of Jim Jonsin - the rest is history.

What was it that attracted into working with Jim Jonsin?

Just a good dude, good music, good work ethic, and hit records - the same things as with Pain.

T-Pain Management is Rocco Valdes, Michael Blumstein, and David Abram. How did you meet and how do you divide up your tasks?

I’ve known Dave since I was in sixth grade. From the talent agency to everything - he’s been a part of it. He handles mostly the business side of everything. So, when he’s dealing with the accountants and lawyers and the money and everything like that, I’m out there dealing with the music and dealing with the artist on the day-to-day.

I met Rocco right when I started Chase, and I was working at Slip-N-Slide Records - that was the studio where we had Jim’s studio. And just, you know, seeing him in the studio and working with him, he’s just a good musical person. He’s an A&R type of a person. We needed someone around to focus strictly on the music and creativity and looking for new talent and looking for beats and looking for lyrics and songs and so on and so forth - so we brought him in

It was actually me and Rocco who discovered T-Pain, and who went out and found him, and got him.

So how did that T-Pain discovery happen exactly?

I was in a studio with Rocco. We were in Slip-N-Slide studios in Miami and we heard ‘I’m Sprung’ on a mixtape before it hit radio or anything like that and went to find him, listen to the rest of his music, and talk to him.

It’s kind of a crazy story of when we found him. We met him at the Scion dealership the day after he signed with Akon in 2004. He had 15 to 20 grand to his name from getting the deal and was shopping to buy a $30,000 car. So we basically broke it to him, ”It doesn’t really make too much sense right now to spend all your money.” He had no credit or anything, so you’re going to have to buy it out right.

It was an awkward position to be in, but we had to be honest with him if we were going to be his manager. And we just hit it off real well. I wanted to go see him perform. He had a show two days later in Fort Myers. We drove to Fort Myers, saw a show, and sat down at McDonald’s the next day and signed him to management.

Rocco has said that the most successful managers have to be A&Rs first – as you helped discover T-Pain, are you in agreement with that?

Yeah, music comes first. You got to get the music first, get the talent first. Once you have the songs, then from there you can go ahead and market and penetrate a market and move it forward from there. But I have that in my office, you know, in-house marketing, online. We have pretty much someone for every department that a record label has.

What are your responsibilities on tour with T-Pain?

Oh, everything. I mean I have a world manager in place and a production manager in place, and Pain has a personal assistant in place, but at the end of the day, it all still falls on myself and my management company.

Who’s currently in your roster besides T-Pain and producer Jim Jonsin?

Ahmad Belvin. He’s an artist that we’ve been developing for about two years now. We just got a record deal with J Records. We have other producers in the business with the publishing entity that we have right now. We have ALLSTAR, he’s a producer, Catalyst, he’s a producer. We have Sophia Fresh, who is a girl group, like a TLC. They’re signed to Nappy Boy/Atlantic Records and we manage them too.

How do you choose your projects?

Talent, just plain talent. The one thing we strive on is that we really don’t deal with fabricated type of stuff. We deal with producers, singer/songwriters - just talented people.

So you think physical music – CDs etc – will die out completely in the near future?

Yeah. Music is going to become free. It pretty much is now.

Do you yourself only listen to ‘digital’ music now?

To be honest, I would say 90%. I still go out and buy what I respect and like as a fan. I’ll buy their physical product.

What are your hopes for T-Pain’s career?

For him to keep going. You know, it’s hard to see where it’s going to go. I know it’s going to go to the top. He’s a mega-talented person. He’s a genius at what he does - how he records and how he makes beats and records other people, and writes songs for Britney Spears and so on and so forth. You know, he can go into the booth and make himself sound like Britney if he wanted.

When you are looking for new talent, what do new artists have to have ready in order for you to start working with them?

It’s different. It depends on the situation and the type of artist it is. I mean, the more natural thing is to hear that someone is already hot in their city and they’ve done all the groundwork. My theory with management is that the artist has to work harder than the manager.

Should young artists look for management that they respect or wait for a manager to spot them?

I’d say, wait for a manager to spot them.

How can they distinct themselves nowadays and remain original in the R&B urban market?

You just got to stay current. Don’t go too far left. Don’t lose your sound that got you to the point that you’re at, but you obviously still have to evolve

What does unsolicited material need to possess in order to grab your interest?

Hit records. I mean, just good music.

You’ll hear that within 30 seconds?

No. Anyone who says that is lying [laughs].

So if you find something interesting you let it grow on you for some while?

Correct.
Where and how do you find new exciting artists to manage?

Everywhere. The Internet. Ahmad we found off on MySpace. Rocco just searches MySpace at the artist section.

What’s your view on artist development?

The labels don’t do it. You got to do it yourself. I mean, you got to be a diamond in the rough and just be very talented to have someone like myself from my company take you under the wing and develop you ourselves because the labels just don’t do it, they don’t have the money, they don’t have the manpower. There’s very few good A&Rs in the whole industry right now.

What would you like to see change in today’s rap and R&B scene?

I kind of like where the music is going. I like the positive messages and stuff that the people are doing. I like the more up-tempo music that is going on now.