Recently, as I was taking out the trash I discovered that my wife had secretly thrown out some vinyl albums she found in one of our home’s numerous nooks and crannies. Looking at the albums sadly warping in the summer heat, I got a sudden flashback to a similar episode shortly after I discovered my love for music as an 8-year-old. My Dad was so frustrated with me listening to the same handful of 45 singles over and over again that one summer day he angrily scooped them all up and chucked them in the driveway trash can. For the next few days I would lift the trash can lid to see my precious records melting in the Southern California heat.
Obviously my Dad’s objections didn’t dissuade me from making a life and career of music. Obsessed with the music I heard as a kid locally on Los Angeles radio and those first singles I begged my parents to buy for me, I tried my hand at playing the trumpet in elementary school. That led to the guitar, bass, keyboard, and my main instrument to this day, flute. From 5th grade onward I was in numerous bands and, after graduating from the University of Denver, tried like so many musicians to become a rock star.
Looking back, I’m glad that didn’t work out for me because I have had a long, rewarding career. But it wasn’t easy for me. Growing up a sheltered kid in a small town near Pasadena, California, I wasn’t prepared for the competitive dog-eat-dog world of the record business. While I kept striking out trying to get an entry-level A&R job, I continued another passion begun in high school — and further developed at my college newspaper — writing record reviews, artist interviews & features, and pop music news. Story bylines came frequently in publications like Music Connection, Cashbox, Pasadena Star-News, Billboard, Record Review and others. While I got to meet and hang out with idols like Joni Mitchell, Clive Davis, Phil Collins, Van Morrison, Sting and many more, I felt like I was on the sidelines writing about the game.
Meanwhile, I tried my hand at producing records, logging hundreds of hours in LA recording studios coaxing performances out of several bands and artists without commercial success. With a business partner, I started a song demo service called Appropriate Productions. Our most frequent, and eventually very successful client, was a fledgling songwriter named Diane Warren who has gone on to write numerous top hit songs. I signed other local songwriters to my own publishing company and got songs on albums by Roger Whittaker and George Duke & Stanley Clark, among others. I produced some singles by a local artist named Oskar Scotti. While those 80s “synth pop” singles I produced didn’t climb high in the charts, today they are pricey vintage vinyl records that collectors can find on Amazon, Musicstack, and eBay.
This was the early 80s when an indie DIY scene was thriving in LA. I had lost my patience for established record labels to hire me or sign my artists. I needed to find a way to get the singles I produced on the radio. I met an independent record promoter named Craig Dudley who had worked for MGM and most recently Scotti Brothers Records. He was partners with another ex-record label indie promoter named Cliff Gorov. The Dudley-Gorov Organization, or DGO, turned out to be my ticket into the world of indie promotion where I could try to get Oskar Scotti and others on the radio.
DGO was where my promotion career direction solidified. I promoted lots of hit R&B crossover artists including Kool & the Gang, Gap Band, Prince, Jeffery Osbourn, Patrice Rushen, Tina Marie, Chaka Khan, Cameo, The Zap Band, Morris Day, George Clinton & Funkadelic and many more.
Gorov and Dudley eventually went their separate ways and I got hired by Enigma Records, a company owned by southern California brothers Wes and Bill Hein, which evolved from a hip indie record distributor called Greenworld. As head of Top 40 promotion, my first project “Honestly” by Christian metal band Stryper became a mass appeal Top 20 Billboard hit. That was followed by hip hop ensemble U-Krew, whose “If You Were Mine” reached #21 on the Billboard chart. For a truly eclectic label with artists like Sonic Youth, Mojo Nixon, Poison, Smithereens, Alan Holdsworth, Berlin, Death Angel, Del Lords, T.S.O.L, and the Dead Milkmen, Enigma had a good run, with the help of a Capitol Records distribution deal.
Next I was among the first hires as West Coast promotion manager for Hollywood Records, which The Walt Disney Company launched in 1989. With a territory from Hawaii to Washington State, to Colorado, Arizona, and California, I had the opportunity to work with radio programmers in a way I hadn’t before. It’s all about relationships, many of which from that time I still have to this day. Hollywood had the entire Queen catalog (including Innuendo, Freddie Mercury’s last) Elton John’s smash Lion King soundtrack, the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Fastball, and the Sister Act soundtrack albums among others.
After a 5-year run at Disney, I joined the tight-knit staff of Trauma Records where over a two-year period I played a major role in breaking No Doubt and Bush. Numerous road trips introducing these two bands to radio programmers further impressed upon me the value of relationships in getting radio airplay. At Trauma I also worked with then Laker basketball star center Shaquille O’Neil, whose 12-inch single “Can’t Stop the Reign” sold 70,000 copies in L.A. alone!
After two years of working at Trauma Records I was finally ready to strike out on my own. I formed Ben Brooks Marketing and immediately was selected by Squint Records to play a major role in breaking “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer. That opened doors to promote artists like Sting, P!nk, Justin Timberlake, Dave Matthews, Leona Lewis, Santana, Christina Aguilera, Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys, and Nickelback. I was off and running, traveling with artists to radio stations and working with all my radio relationships to create hits. In recent years, I’ve promoted projects by Kelly Clarkson, Colbie Caillat, Daughtry, Jason Mraz, Ke$ha, Taylor Swift, Lorde, Walk the Moon, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Panic! At the Disco… and the list goes on (see Ben Brooks Marketing top hits). In 2007 I started another venture called RadioInformer, a monthly music CD sampler delivered to radio with high priority, currently impacting songs from major and indie labels.
It’s amazing how accessible music is today via streaming, TikTok, Youtube, film, TV etc. Yet terrestrial and satellite radio are still the number one ways people hear new music! I love discovering new artists and songs. It’s the lifeblood of the music industry and certainly radio. I get a big thrill hearing a song I’ve promoted on the radio. The feeling never diminishes. When I take on a project, I put all my years of experience, relationships, and knowledge into it. You can’t do this work without a lot of passion.
My father would have loved for me to go into the family pre-cast concrete manufacturing business. But, I knew I wanted to be in the music business since Jr. High and — other than music industry writing — it’s all I’ve ever done. I still spend the little free time I have playing the flute and recording albums with my musician friends. I’ve got an amazing family and have created exactly the life I wanted. Every new day brings the joy of new music!