Between the Liner Notes

John Raso is a music industry journeyman who has found himself in the middle of many historic moments. He watched indie giant SST Records unravel when it began to oversaturate their fan base with too many record releases, and he was at Atlantic Records when the gangster rap controversy tore Warner Music Group apart. Listen to the latest episode of Between the Liner Notes as John talks about getting Sugar Ray on the Howard Stern Show, buying the underage band Live beer, and working at MCA records with an intern named Puff Daddy. He discusses his current role at The Harry Fox Agency and analyzes the new economics that streaming media and the internet have brought to the music industry. Listen exclusively on Between the Liner Notes.

When no one else at Columbia Records believed that MTV or the music video format would be anything more than a passing fad, Deborah Newman embraced them both, becoming responsible for executive producing music videos and live television performances for the label. She soon found herself spearheading a new division of CBS Records, creating long-form music programming for television and home video. Listen to the latest interview on Between the Liner Notes as Deborah tells stories about touring the USSR with Billy Joel while producing his “Live From Leningrad” HBO special and home video and working on the Peabody award winning documentary “John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen,” an American Masters PBS special. Always the trailblazer, Deborah began working with music internet companies like N2K’s Music Boulevard, PressPlay and Muze. Also a licensed attorney, she talks in depth about how outdated copyright law and new methods of digital music distribution have created hurdles for music technology startup companies. She founded her consulting company MusicStrat to help startups like turntable.fm navigate the treacherous waters of music licensing in the digital age. Listen to these tales from a music pioneer exclusively on Between the Liner Notes.

Richard Barone began his long career in the music industry while in Florida at age sixteen when a chance meeting with Tiny Tim led to his first job producing a major act. He eventually made his way to Hoboken, New Jersey where he convinced the owner of Maxwell’s Pub to allow his newly formed band the Bongos to be the first act ever to perform there. Soon, the Bongos were discovered in Hoboken and signed to a record label which led to the recording of their first album and first international tour. Since that moment Richard’s career has taken many fascinating turns on both major and independent labels allowing him to work with many legends of the music world as songwriter, performer, record producer and concert promoter.