Music Is A Racket Podcast

Episode 6 - Peter Rafelson (Songwriter For Madonna)

Peter Rafelson's music career spans four decades of being a songwriter, producer, studio owner and more. Penning Madonna's "Open Your Heart" served as the entrypoint to mainstream success, and he's since gone on to host recording sessions for the likes of Taylor Swift and Beyonce. I had a chat with Peter about his career, how his biggest hit was made, and the challenges he faced in the aftermath of that.

Episode 5 - Damizza (Helped Break Eminem and Jay Z on The Radio)

Though hiphop went mainstream in the 90s, it wasn't until the early 2000s that gangsta rap dominated all other sub-genres and effectively monopolized the landscape. This was in no small part due to support from radio stations like Power 106 in LA and Hot97 in New York. Damion "Damizza" Young had influence over both and was the Senior Director of Programming at the former. By keeping artists like Jay Z, Eminem, Ja Rule, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre in constant rotation, he helped establish their careers and mainstream appeal. But this came with pushback from not just his employers, but even major labels who were uncomfortable with the power he wielded. Damizza and I talked about some of the challenges he faced from 1997 - 2004 whilst employed at Power 106, from issues with the station's parent company to threats from executives at Sony Music to stop helping certain artists.

Episode 4 - Evan Bogart (Helped Sign Eminem)

As the son of a famed music executive who signed KISS and Donna Summer in the 70s, Evan Bogart was set on his own music path in his teens. He got an internship at Interscope and helped bring Eminem to the label after seeing him at the Rap Olympics in 1997. Until now, it's unclear why credit for Em's signing went to Evan's former colleague Dean Geistlinger, so I sat down for a chat to learn about what really happened and who really did what. We also talked about his career as a songwriter that worked with Rihanna, Beyonce, Lizzo and others.

Episode 3 - Jacob Slichter (Semisonic Drummer)

In the late 90s, hardly any bands were more ubiquitous than Semisonic. Thanks to their breakout hit "Closing Time", they shot to the top of the charts and cemented themselves as rock stars of that era. As the band's drummer, Jacob Slichter enjoyed the upsides of that period, from limousine rides to arena shows and TV appearances. However, what he didn't know was the vast amounts of payola needed to make their music successful. Their record label spent millions of dollars paying radio stations to play their music, and even if the results were ultimately positive, it left the band in debt up to their ears. Jacob and I chatted about his early days as a musician, how Semisonic came to find success, what it's like being signed to a major label, and how payola worked in the 90s.

Episode 2 - Chad Focus (Digital Services)

The second episode of the MIAR podcast explores the world of digital service providers who specialize in advertising, botting, and paid marketing in the music space. One of the most notable names in that world is Chad Focus, who gained nationwide notoriety for manufacturing his rap career by way of social media ads, paid billboards, ticket scalping and botting his streams. All this came to a halt in 2018 when he was jailed for his actions, but he's since been released and is sharing his knowledge of what actually goes on in the music business when it comes to how the bigger players monopolize their share of the industry.