In his own words, George Sampson was “the kid in your high school that brought rock and roll to your dance.” Sampson also brought dancers, musicians and street performers to New York City’s Lincoln Center for three summers from 1983 to 1985, and, as part of UVA’s capital campaign during the ’90s, worked as a fundraiser to encourage what he calls a “latent” interest in arts on Grounds. In no uncertain terms, George Sampson brings the noise.
 Bruce Flohr, a higher-up with ATO Records and Red Light Management, addressed the need for labels to pay up for good management, speaking at a recent panel discussion on the music business. |
Sampson supplements his seminars and courses in arts administration (he holds an MFA in the subject, from Columbia University) with community events, including a March 27 panel discussion at the Music Resource Center that featured management alumni from The Doors as well as Bruce Flohr, executive with ATO Records and Red Light Management for Charlottesville. The hope, according to Sampson, is to provide perspectives from both the nonprofit and for-profit sides of the art business.
Titled “Making the Most of a Music Brand,” the evening involved discussions of digital music and the importance of authenticity. The evening also involved plenty of personal stories and jokes, mainly from Bill Siddons, who first managed The Doors in 1967. After current manager Jeff Jampol complimented deceased Doors frontman Jim Morrison’s “sincerity” during performances, Siddons reminded him that Morrison was often “blind drunk.”
Flohr pointed out the dominant role of the manager in bands that succeed in the modern world, and said that record labels that want “across the board success…need to invest money and time with management.” Jampol said that he turned down $15 million from Cadillac to preserve The Doors’ image, though he agreed with Flohr that companies often license the “sound-alike” as a back-up plan.
“Many UVA students go on to Wall Street, law school…[but] I’m finding a lot of people for whom this meeting ground between art and business is a very attractive field,” Sampson said after the event, which drew a mixed crowd of roughly 60 students and community members. And so arts administration at UVA rolls on with a few lessons imparted: You have to market for success across the board, and you can’t fake sincerity. Unless you’re blind drunk.
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