Jeff Hanson (music executive)

Jeff Hanson is an artist and producer manager, A&R consultant and founder and chief of the Silent Majority Group label. He is the former manager of Creed, Paramore and Sevendust, In 2006 he set up the independent Orlando, Florida-based label Silent Majority Group, which is now home to Framing Hanley, Candlebox and Tantric amongst others.

Career

Hanson first discovered Creed when they played live in a bar he owned in Tallahassee in 1998.^[1] At the time the band were unknown and their set-list contained mainly cover versions but with two original songs that Hanson was impressed by. Hanson signed Creed to his management organization, Jeff Hanson Management & Promotions, and set about developing their act. He asked his friend John Kurzweg to produce their first record. According to Hanson in an interview with HitQuarters the album cost $6,000 to make and eventually sold around 6 million copies.^[1] Creed went on to sell over 30 million records and millions of tickets worldwide. During this time Hanson served as executive producer of both The Scorpion King and Scream 3 soundtracks.

Hanson served as an A&R consultant for Island Def Jam during Lyor Cohen’s tenure in the early 2000s.^[2]

Between 2001 and 2004 Hanson managed gold selling artists Sevendust, SR71, Alterbridge along with Christian artists Mutemath and Family Force Five. During this time Hanson released his first independent label release by Christian artist Storyside B in a partnership with Gotee / EMI and achieved multiple Christian Rock top 10 hits.

In 2002, Hanson was awarded the Orlando Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's "Man of the Year" award for raising money for the children's charity.

In 2003, Hanson was asked to manage the then 14-year-old Hayley Williams ^[3] Williams was then taken to Atlantic Records and then signed to the label by Jason Flom.

In 2004, Hanson created the first new artist 360 deal together with entertainment lawyers Kent Marcus and Jim Zumwalt between Paramore and Atlantic Records. Paramore.^[3]

In 2005, Hanson was involved in a severe car accident and took nearly two years off, undergoing back surgery and physical therapy.

In 2006, Hanson founded and was the chief A&R representative for the Silent Majority Group label. He was joined by radio program director Rick Schmidt and business affairs liaison Rebecca Foulke.^[2]

In 2007, Silent Majority Group entered into an exclusive promotion and distribution deal with Warner Music Group’s Independent Label Group, being distributed by ADA.^[2]

In 2008, Hanson negotiated a deal for Silent Majority Group to be distributed by ADA Global, a Warner Music Group company.

In 2009, Silent Majority Group's first signing Framing Hanley received a Gold certification for their single "Lollipop".

In 2010, three of Hanson's Silent Majority Group signings, Tantric, Candlebox, and Framing Hanley reached sales of over 100,000 albums.

In 2010, Hanson was named President of Phonegreetings, a new technology company consisting of audio and video messages delivered directly to voicemail and via SMS.

In 2011, Hanson was named the judge for the Fedex Underground Music series.

In July of 2011, Jeff Hanson left Phonegreetings to manage the music assets and interests of Jesus Daily Group, an off shoot of the most interactive Facebook page in the world www.facebook.com/Jesusdaily.

In December of 2011, Hanson A&R'd two compilations for Jesus Daily Group "an E-Pop Christmas" and "A Classic Christmas" that included numerous established and emerging Christian artists including Wintley Phipps, Charles Billingsley, Everlife, The Tractors, and Gary Chapman. Hanson also produced a two-hour concert special that aired on TBN's 'Praise The Lord".

In March of 2012, Hanson formed "Multi Platinum Mentors" to service emerging artists with relationships and tools to develop themselves further in the music industry. Jeff Hanson partnered with industry veterans Mark Goff / Vocal & performance coach, Mark O'Toole / World wide tour & production manager, & Andy Raut / College Music & film business instructor.

In April of 2012, Hanson was named to the voting panel of the worldwide "Voice of McDonalds" singing competition.

In December of 2012, Hanson signed two active rock artists Farewell 2 Fear and Blacklite District to the SMG label and JHMP management company, both of whom reached number one on Sirius / XM's "Octane" Channel. Blacklite District with "Take me to the grave" and Farewell 2 Fear with "Fire".

In January of 2013, in a return to the management company arena Hanson signed platinum-selling rock band, Saving Abel, to the JHMP management company.

In June of 2013 SMG / JHMP's Farewell 2 Fear appears on the Howard Stern radio show.

In October 2013 Blacklite District's second single "With me now" again reaches number one on Sirius / XM's "Octane" Channel.

In 2014 Jeff Hanson signed country artist Jared Weeks former singer of platinum rock act Saving Abel to JHMP..

In 2014 Jeff Hanson signed LA rock act Drugstore Fanatics, Jackson, TN rock act Trash the Brand, Chile's Temple Agents, Brazil's world renowned guitar player Kiko Loureiro, North Carolina's Another Lost Year, and Indianapolis prog rockers I-Exist to JHMP.

In April of 2014 Jeff Hanson partnered with industry and radio promotion veteran Barry Lyons founder of Rent-A-Label, to form The Singles Syndicate, a company specializing in short term promotion and distribution agreements to promote and distribute to over 500 digital outlets including satellite and internet radio sites as well as terrestrial radio stations for the digital EP and single formats. The distribution is accompanied by personal promotion to the outlets rather than the "template" based format used by Tunecore and CD Baby.

References