Rich Isaacson

Rich Isaacson is an international music entrepreneur whose influence spans artists such as Wu-Tang Clan, MIKA, Akon, Gustavo Santaolalla, Charles Bradley, Mobb Deep, Melanie Fiona, SafetySuit, and Three 6 Mafia.

Background

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Merrick, Long Island, the son of a toy manufacturer father and medical office professional mother, Isaacson identified with soul and R&B music at an early age.

Isaacson attended Cornell University’s College of Labor Relations, where he studied the union movement and labor history. After attending the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he joined the Manhattan law firm of Shea and Gould. Disillusioned with the corporate grind, he took up an offer to join his childhood friend Steve Rifkind in Los Angeles.

Loud Records

In the early '90s, Rifkind’s LOUD Records had secured a small production deal with Zoo Records, at the same time running SRC, an upstart street promotion/marketing company designed to connect the dots at the emerging rap scene. Isaacson spent a few weeks on Rifkind’s couch, studying Billboard, reading lawyer Don Passman’s All You Need to Know About the Music Business and going over the LOUD contracts. He soon took over day to day operations at the fledgling start-up.^[1]

The pair soon built LOUD Records from a $3,000-a-month production deal to a $100 million powerhouse, featuring multi-platinum artists such as Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Big Pun, Xzibit, Funkmaster Flex and Three6Mafia. Rich led the negotiation for LOUD’s landmark deal, signing Wu-Tang Clan for $10,000.^[2] LOUD released the single, “Protect Ya Neck,” with the promise to allow leader RZA to shop the other members of the collective to individual solo deals at other labels, then an unprecedented concession in recording contracts. It proved to be a smart bet as Wu-Tang's success catapulted LOUD to the forefront of the music industry.

LOUD's roster, one of the most iconic in hip-hop history, released a number of seminal albums including Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and Wu-Tang Forever; Mobb Deep's The Infamous, Hell on Earth, and Murda Muzik; Raekwon Da Chef's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...; Xzibit's At the Speed of Life and Restless; Big Pun's Capital Punishment; The Alkaholiks's 21 & Over, Coast II Coast, and Likwidation; Dead Prez's Let's Get Free; M.O.P.'s Warriorz; Funkmaster Flex's 60 Minutes of Funk Volumes 1, 2, and 3; and Three 6 Mafia's When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1.

Isaacson also oversaw the expansion of SRC's “Street Team” concept, a group of 25 tastemakers around the country who marketed underground non-commercial records at the grassroots level. SRC's marketing prowess eventually attracted Fortune 500 companies like Nike, Pepsi, Levi’s, Universal Pictures and Hugo Boss. LOUD and SRC ultimately forged a first-look deal with Miramax Films and the acquisition of SRC by advertising conglomerate Interpublic.^[3]

Isaacson's run at LOUD ended with the acquisition of the entire company by Sony in 2002 after LOUD merged with Sony's wholly owned Relativity label.^[4]

The Fuerte Group

With a successful first act behind him, Isaacson, ready for another challenge, partnered with Sony Music executive Jerry Blair on The Fuerte Group in 2002, an innovative, full-service marketing and music management company dedicated to the burgeoning young Hispanic urban market. While there, Isaacson served as executive producer on Motown Remixed Volume 2, a compilation of that legendary label’s hits covered by leading Latin Producers and the critically acclaimed Si*se album More Shine released on their own Fuerte Records.

Mirroring his Street Team triumph, Fuerte attracted corporate clients including Coca Cola, Western Union, Hollywood Records, J Records, the WWE, SRC Records, Latino Royalty, The Mottola Company, Blingtones, Universal Music Group, Tu Pizza, Heineken, Clear Channel, Major League Soccer, Koch Entertainment and Univision. Through Fuerte management client, Grammy-winning writer/producer Jodi Marr (Ricky Martin, Paulina Rubio, Thalia), Isaacson met and signed his first artist management client—U.K.-based performer Mika, who went on to sell over 10 million albums, going gold or platinum in 32 countries.

Street Records Corporation

After Fuerte Music Group, Isaacson reunited with Rifkind at the newly launched SRC label at Universal Records, which lasted five years and produced another flurry of hit artists, including David Banner, Akon, Shontelle, Grammy winner Melanie Fiona and Asher Roth, ending only when the company was sold to Universal Music Group in 2012.

RI Entertainment

RI Entertainment is Isaacson's latest project, shifting his focus to management with an array of artists including international superstar Mika, two-time Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel), his Grammy-winning Electro-Rock Tango collective Bajofondo, Canada’s highest selling native artist Bobby Bazini, and soul singer Charles Bradley.^[5]

References