5: Matt Pierson, record producer

Matt Pierson is a record producer, and for many years he was a record executive. He started at Blue Note records, and then was in charge of jazz at Warner Bros for over a decade. That tenure ended in the early 2000s, and subsequently he has emerged as one of the few successful  independent jazz record producers around.

As the record business changed in the early 2000s, Matt left his job at a label and ultimately became an independent producer. I was particularly interested to talk with him about how he sees the roll of the producer in the new DIY universe of crowd funding and direct-to-fan marketing. Not surprisingly, he has a lot of ideas about the business today. His personal experience (starting out as a musician, working in record stores, moving to New York and working at Blue Note Records, eventually running Warner Bros jazz, leaving and starting over in a new way) also tells a larger story of what happened to the business of jazz, and in telling it, he delivered some real gems.