Founder, CEO, Producer
Current City: Los Angeles.
Current Job and Entrepreneurial Focus: Founder and CEO, Head of A&R at Accidental Entertainment (Music Sync, Publishing, Artist Development).
Notable Prior Jobs: Currently Professor at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music (The Art of Music Production, I & II) Guest lecturer Berklee School of Music, Valencia, Spain The Boat Studio, Silver Lake, Los Angeles (2003 to 2010) Studio Manager, Producer, Engineer, Mixer Music Producer, Engineer, Mixer (1978 to present). Trident Studios, London (1983-1985) Chief Engineer, Producer Sorcerer Sound, NYC (1981-1982) Recording Engineer, Mixer Trident Studios, London (1978-1981) Construction , Chef, Teaboy, Tape Op, Engineer, Mixer, Producer McDonalds, Stockholm, Sweden. (1976).
When I Started Performing: At 5 years old, with my twin brother doing a Beatles act ( I was Paul :) At 15 years old, in a group I put together at school and at 18 at Law School in London. We were awful, so I decided to quit law School and get into a studio to learn how to make music. Almost signed to a major label in NYC, 1982 as an artist and songwriter.
Performing Arts Background: I was born into a musical family in Brighton, England. My dad was a jazz musician and loved Bebop, Big Band and Brazilian music. My mum would sing all day to Ella, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Sinatra and all the greats. My sister, 5 years older than me, would bring home all the latest albums by the amazing, ground-breaking artists of the 60’s and 70’s. I didn’t stand a chance but to choose music. I was ‘banned’ from learning music at school, so I self taught, playing alto sax, my dad’s electric bass (which I still have) and lots of singing. Once I got into studios and producing I would often do background vocal sessions on many albums. I can “fumble around” on a few instruments, I'm but master of none. I think having that 'overview' is really important, in being able to step back and decide exactly what is required in a specific moment. I quit Law School and got one interview from 100 application letters to studios and started as a chef and construction worker at the legendary Trident Studios in Soho, London, home to The Beatles (Hey Jude and White Album), T Rex, Free, George Harrison, John and Yoko, Nilsson, Bowie, Elton John, Lou Reed, Queen and many more. I was promoted to “teaboy”(runner), then tape op, engineer and upwards. The first albums I worked were 4 albums with Kiss, 2 with Rush, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, most of the disco and punk artists, then many British New Wave bands, including The Cure and later producing The Blow Monkeys, Visage, Roxette, Richard Marx, Maxi Priest and many more in the UK, Europe and the US. More recent albums include work with John Cale (Velvet Underground), Nikka Costa/Lenny Kravitz/Prince, Beck/Jack White, Spike Jonze / Nick Zinner (Yeahs) and many more.
How did your performing arts background supercharge your entrepreneurship? Over many decades, I learned the art of making music. Not necessarily just the technical aspect, but the ‘people’ part. How to direct, motivate and focus an artist to capture the best performance possible. At school, I’d usually be the team captain of various sports, even when I wasn’t the best player on the team. It seems that I had a knack to know how to build a team spirit from individuals, that the sum was greater than the parts. How to get the best from everyone and combine their individual roles into one cohesive ‘unit’. I guess that’s where I developed my entrepreneurial skills. Sometimes, as a producer, I would have to push the artist(s) to get a greater performance than they thought was possible. Other times, my role was to be ‘invisible”, create the right environment, manage the people and situation, guide the energy and let the magic happen. People skills, and directing performance, that’s key. Being the team leader and having to run the budget, strategize and define the direction, when to recognize that we need a different approach or direction, anticipate trends and shifts, but always having a clear concept of what we were aiming to achieve and create.
I learned patience and focus, through trial and error. That sometimes you have to take the artist by the hand and walk them around the block, just to go next door. If you don’t guide your team and explain the ‘why’, you will lose them. You have to earn your team’s respect and show that you’re also working for them.
Now as a CEO, these are the most valuable things that I have learned and have applied from my background. As the major labels stopped developing artists, that role fell on the music producers. Building on my experience over the years in performing that role, I recognized that there was a major hole and no-one was developing artists, except maybe music producers. With Accidental, I have built an amazing team of people who have music-making backgrounds themselves and who are passionate about music. We are all driven to help artists develop and also to create money for the artists to pursue and sustain their dreams.
Favorite Performer: OMG there’s so many. New: Molly with Charles, Esthy, Lizzy McAlpine, Bo Baskoro. Legends: Joni Mitchell, Curtis Mayfield, The Beatles, Brian Wilson.
Follow this Performer:
Instagram - @adammoseleymuzik @accidentalentertainment
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