Marcus "DL" Siskind
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Born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts, a city famous for fighting champs Rocky Marciano and “Marvelous” Marvin Haggler, Marcus “DL” Siskind, 31, has been making music for as long as he can remember. While most 10 year olds were playing with toys, Marcus began his musical journey experimenting with Casio keyboards and any other musical instrument he could get his hands on.
As Marcus got older, he became more devoted and passionate about music. By the time he was 12, he began to DJ and began creating full blown tracks for local artists. Being a fan of hip-hop from the beginning, Marcus developed the ability to rap, and started to put together demos to showcase his writing and production skills. After numerous failed attempts to gain attention from major record labels, he decided to venture into the independent world of music. Writing, producing, packaging, and distributing his own material, he knew the road to the major labels was near impossible. This is when he created Mass Appeal Entertainment, a company focused on musical independence, and a full service conglomerate encompassing production, recording, and publishing.
In the mid 90’s, a well connected music manager introduced Marcus to Flavor Unit A&R executive, Latee French. French was so impressed that he brought the music straight to Flavor Unit’s CEO Shakim Compere, who, along with his partner Queen Latifah, was responsible for representing and breaking world renowned artists including Naughty By Nature, Outkast, Monica, LL Cool J, and Faith Evans to name a few.
Shakim immediately took a liking to Marcus’s music and collaborated on a joint venture with Mass Appeal Entertainment to distribute Marcus’s debut album. Marcus decided to move to New York to accelerate and continue to build his business. “Being managed and represented by Shakim opened doors and opportunities I never would have been able to get on my own. He took me under his wing and gave me the chance to establish myself within his world,” Marcus has said of his experience with the Flavor Unit CEO. After many years of struggle and perseverance as a recording artist, it was in 1998 that Marcus decided that he would rather take the position of being in the background. He decided that after he “worked so hard at being an artist for many years, and even with the opportunity to put out my album [which included his 1st single “Closer To You” featuring SWV], I felt that I would have better longevity as a producer. After moving to New York, and really seeing the in’s and out’s of breaking acts on a worldwide level, I knew that my efforts were better utilized creating, establishing, and developing talent behind the scenes.” Marcus took part in Flavor Unit’s joint venture with Motown Records, and worked side by side with Shakim and Queen Latifah on developing artists and expanding his pool of production clients.
In early 2000, while working on a few projects for Trans Continental Records in Orlando, Florida, Marcus was introduced to Backstreet Boys member Kevin Richardson. At that time, Marcus was looking to move back to the Boston area to establish the homebase of his operations, explaining that “after having success and the privilege of working with great artists, executives, and friends in the music business, I was really looking to move back to Boston. I felt that getting out of New York would allow me to really concentrate on carving out my own niche to developing my own projects, something I felt the majors have completely lost focus on.” Marcus was in the process of looking for a studio space back home when a local builder had suggested he reach out to the owner of Blue Jay Recording in Carlisle, MA. Blue Jay, a historic recording studio was built in 1979, and through the years housed such great artists as Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Carly Simon, and Yo Yo Ma. The rural area, relaxed atmosphere, quality of sound, and equipment was exactly what Marcus was looking for to continue the growth of his company back home and to groom and create new talent. Kevin Richardson partnered with Marcus in the studio venture and they felt the collaborative effort would be beneficial for both of them. In 2001, they closed the doors for over a year and a half to renovate and transform the facility back to the world class standards it once was. Reopened in 2003 after an extensive multi million dollar process, it turned out to be a mission accomplished. Blue Jay Studio is now solely owned by Marcus.
Known for his no-nonsense approach to recording and his excellent sense of humor, Marcus has produced superstar artists ranging from the Backstreet Boys to Queen Latifah throughout his career. Also, he currently holds a joint venture with Sony/ATV Publishing for signing and working with up-and-coming writers, as well as other various deals and projects within the music business. In 2005, Marcus signed an exclusive deal with Universal Music Group’s Fontana Distribution to release a multitude of projects through his Mass Appeal Entertainment brand. “I felt that what Universal was looking to do with Fontana made perfect sense for my business model. By utilizing their market share, sales force, and distribution outlets, I knew that this would be a great association for me to continue to develop and brand a range of artists efficiently. Independently releasing music has always been something I have set out to do, and I’m extremely excited about the caliber of artists and projects I’m working with,” Marcus says of the deal with Fontana.
Mass Appeal Entertainment’s current roster includes up and coming Boston hip-hop artist Dre Robinson, multi platinum singer/songwriter Ryan Toby (formerly of City High), 80’s pop superstar Lisa Lisa (of the Cult Jam), international Cape Verdean pop singer Suzanna Lubrano, and Billboard Chart topping singer/songwriter Javier. With these talented artists scheduled to release their projects this year, Mass Appeal is an independent force sure to take the music industry by storm.
