Daniel Glass
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daniel Glass' (born in Brooklyn, New York) is a music industry producer.
His career in the music industry has been marked by work with artists Billy Idol, Wilson Phillips, Sinéad O'Connor, Jon Secada, Warren Zevon, Blur, Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, Erykah Badu, Baha Men, Kurupt, Susan Tedeschi, The Pretenders, Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society, Sugarcult, Better Than Ezra, and most recently the launch of Glassnote Records' first artist – Secondhand Serenade.
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[edit] Music career
[edit] Early life
Glass was an avid record collector by the time he was seven years old, and was addicted to any form of radio. He never lost that fever.
Raised in Bensonhurst, Glass was a premed student at Brooklyn College ('77), and began as an R&B/dance disc jockey at Brooklyn College radio station WBCR. While still in college he was hired as the first DJ for the discotheque Regine's.
He learned the record industry from the ground up. First he was a "song plugger," traveling to stations trying to convince them to play songs by clients such as Vic Damone.
[edit] SAM Records
He then served as Vice President of the dance/rap indie SAM Records, working with Gary's Gang, John Davis and the Monster Orchestra and the Evasions. He began focusing on developing artists’ careers, rather than just trying to pick hit records. Significantly, Glass embraced street bands when other more conservative and larger labels were loath to do so.
[edit] Chrysalis Records; Senior Vice President
In early 1983, Glass moved to Chrysalis Records as Director of New Music Marketing, advancing later to Senior Vice President. During his six years with Chrysalis, Glass helped guide the careers of such stars as Pat Benatar, Huey Lewis and The News, Billy Idol, Spandau Ballet, Jethro Tull, Icehouse, The Divinyls, Sinéad O'Connor, and Was (Not Was), among others. Glass also developed a strong college and intern program, which cultivated a number of talented young executives who later went on to high-level positions throughout the entertainment industry.
[edit] SBK Records/EMI Record Group; President/CEO
In 1989, he became one of the first executives to join the newly formed SBK Records as Senior Vice President of Promotion, bringing his trademark aggressive, streetwise approach to the start-up label. This quickly produced success in breaking new artists, including the multi-platinum debuts of Jesus Jones, Technotronic, Wilson Phillips, Vanilla Ice, as well at SBK/Liberty country artist Billy Dean.
In 1990, Glass was promoted to Executive Vice President/General Manager of SBK Records. With the consolidation of SBK, Chrysalis, and EMI USA several years later into "EMI Record Group North America," he rose to President/CEO. In that position he was instrumental in bringing Jon Secada, Selena, Barrio Boyzz, Blur, D'Angelo, Roxette, Wilson Phillips, Vanilla Ice, Technotronic, and Arrested Development into platinum and Grammy Award-winning status, as well as the hit soundtrack to the critically acclaimed film, "The Crying Game," which featured Boy George.
[edit] Rising Tide Records/Universal Records; President
In 1996, Glass' he caught the attention of current Universal Music Group Chairman, Doug Morris. Together, they started Rising Tide Records, which later became Universal Records, with Glass as President.
The label had success in breaking new artists, including the multi-platinum debut of Erykah Badu, Billie Myers, Goldfinger, and the Lost Boyz. Recognizing the changing landscape of the industry, Glass strategically aligned Universal with such independent record labels as Kedar Entertainment, home to Erykah Badu, and Mojo Records, home to platinum artist Reel Big Fish and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies.
[edit] Artemis Records; President
In 1999 Glass joined Danny Goldberg at the newly emerging label Artemis Records as Executive Vice President. After a few months, he was named President and achieved success with the gold record rapper Kurupt, Grammy-Award winning Warren Zevon, rocker Steve Earle, gold record female hard rock group Kittie, and the triple platinum pop stars Baha Men. He also executive produced the Josh Joplin Group’s album, which was released in January 2001.
[edit] Glassnote Records
Glass then started Glassnote, as founder & CEO, an entertainment company encompassing Glassnote Records, Music Publishing, and Merchandising, with the view that while consolidation is dominating the music industry, there is an opportunity for independent labels to break through and make significant impact on the controlling climate. The label’s first signing, Nastyboy Klick, a hip hop group out of Phoenix, achieved success in the Latin and Hip Hop communities. GlassNote’s roster includes Australian rock/pop trio Eden A.K.A., who toured on the Lilith Fair and was released by Columbia Records.
For the first release on Glassnote Records he chose Secondhand Serenade, the # 1 unsigned artist in the history of MySpace, with 17 million plays and roughly 200,000 "friends" to date.
Glassnote Records is distributed through the Warner Independent Label Group. In total, Secondhand Serenade has sold about 73,000 digital tracks and more than 10,000 copies of his album "Awake," according to Nielsen SoundScan. After the album was released on Glassnote/ILG on Feb. 6, 2007, with two additional songs, it debuted on Billboard's Heatseekers Chart at # 16. Secondhand Serenade was recently featured on MTV's "You Hear It First," and the online love keeps coming, with spots on AOL Music's "Breakers" and on Yahoo! Music's "Who's Next?." Via MySpace, "I'm constantly reaching out to new people that are hearing my music for the first time every day," it says.[1]
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Profiled as one of Crain's New York Business's "40 under 40" success stories.
- Vice Chair of the UJA Federation of New York, which honored him as Music Visionary of the Year 2002.
- Along with his wife Deborah and their three children, was honored as Family of the Year at the 2005 T.J. Martell Foundation Family Day.
- Founding Board President of LIFEbeat, an AIDS advocacy and hands-on service. organization he cofounded in April 1992.
- Founding Board Member of the Dance Music Hall of Fame.
- Vice President of The New York Music for Youth Foundation.
- Chairman of the Development Committee and Trustee at the Dalton School.
- Completed the New York City Marathon 12 times. Formed a 25-person team to run the 2006 Marathon, which raised $100,000 for the Mount Sinai Hospital Children’s IBD Unit.
- Glass lives in Manhattan, New York.
