Interview With Ineffable Music Group

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M usicI NTERVI EW WI TH

I NEFFABLE MUSI C GROUPIt?s several hours before the Los Rakas show at Slims in San Francisco will begin. Already, there are around thirty early attendants . Many are working on sound check with the performers, setting up the merchandise tables, or preparing a hearty meal for the crew. A quarter of them line the bar toward the back of the venue, these people are mostly friends of the acts.

I see Thomas Cussins walking up toward the building and I approach him. He has on a Los Rakas-Warriors graphic tee, demonstrating his support both for the local San Francisco NBA team and the act Ineffable Music Group manages. We walk to the back of Slims together, several men in staff shirts acknowledging Thomas, and down the stairs to one of the three green rooms. Only a few of the performers have arrived, so backstage members are stil l f lowing in and out ? preparing each room for the evening.

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I am excited to interview Thomas. He is the co-founder for IMG (Ineffable Music Group). Their roster of artists include several acts that I?ve listened to since my early high school years? Zion-I, Souls of Mischief, Collie Buddz, and Stick Figure, to name a few. He seems calm, confident and grounded, despite the staff rushing around to set up the 800 capacity venue. This is just part of his typical routine.

We open the dialogue with a description of IMG, ?Ineffable is an umbrella organization of dif ferent people, or a collective,? he says. ?Everyone has their own business and they all work together. From production to show promotion and talent buying, Ineffable covers it all."

Regarding his personal position, Thomas states, ?I am a glorif ied middle-man. I?m not the

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greatest record label producer, but I could connect an artist to one. I?m not the best graphic designer or merchandising company, but I will connect you with who is. Where I really excel is in putting people together who could benefit from each others services.? Thomas Cussins is the music industry's ideal connector.

I asked, where did the idea to start this al l begin?

He responded, 'When we f irst started', "we liked certain bands. At the time, it happened to be underground hip-hop artists. We liked going to shows and just thought it would be more fun if we did it; if it was our show. For our f irst shows in college, we used zero dollars. We would book clubs that nobody wanted to go to; clubs with if fy reputations. We hired our friends to play for free, but would end up prof it ing around $300 at the door. Once we did it with our friends, [we found that] there?s an addictive quality to seeing the end result ?which is everyone jumping around and having a good time."

Was that a turning point for you? Generat ing that $300?

?Not exactly. At that t ime, this was all stil l a hobby for me. The real turning point happened when we f lew out to New York to meet with someone that used to be a head A&R position at Sony and pitched Collie Buddz on the idea of running his business based on tours and merchandise, instead of record sales.?

Do you feel you were ?ahead of the t rend??

?Not ahead, but within the right t ime. Our idea wasn?t necessarily unique or original, but Igor? (IMG?s co-founder) ?and I saw a trend happening and decided to jump on.?

How did you approach Col l ie Buddz?

?At that t ime, Collie was in the process of being dropped from his label. He depended on making money from the record [company], so I knew he needed new support. We told him that if he worked with us, we could generate $100,000 for him and his crew.?

That seems bal lsy.

?Yeah, especially because that was $100,000 that we didn?t have.?

Wow! Wel l you?re working together st i l l , so what

happened?

?We booked 29 shows in 31 days just by calling people. If [venues] didn?t give us a deal or wouldn?t guarantee money for Collie (because most people didn?t know who Collie was) than we would take a door deal, or a zero dollar guarantee where you only get a percentage of the attendance sales. Or, we would pay more money and rent out the venue. It was either going to work out or not, but we made enough money on that tour to legitimately start our business.?

Sounds l ike you made a great f irst investment. Did you make a lot of mistakes in the beginning?

?We?ve learned by f*cking up,? Thomas says with a laugh. ?For example, we tried to book shows in San Francisco, which you can?t do because it?s so big! There is a lot of competit ion. In a

Written By:

Shelby Fabianac

[email protected]

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college town, you can just [promote by handing] out f lyers to people, and that works. But in a big city, you have to advertise in dif ferent ways.?

At this point in time, a tall man with long, shaggy brown hair and a staff t-shirt walks into the room with an ice bucket. ?Hello,? he says to Thomas and than quickly avalanches the ice into a giant cooler stacked with beers. ?Sorry to interrupt,? he says with a smile. ?That?s okay,? Thomas replies, and than turns back to me to continue our conversation.

?I?ve also taken 'shots' on an act before they were ready. I did that with a band from San Luis Obispo when I tried to take them to the next level. I coordinated a mini-festival surrounding them, but ended up loosing $25,000. They were big enough to headline a club, but they weren?t ready to headline anything like that.?

Well i t sounds l ike you?ve managed to stay on the right t rack. I mean, you?ve made it ? you?re here now, aren?t you?

?I don?t think we?re here now. I think we?re stil l trying to get ?here?.? What do you mean by that? ?There's this immigrant mentality where everyday, you got to get it,? (Thomas was born in England). ?A lot of t imes, I joke with people when they do something slightly unnecessary, l ike printing a contract in color ink because that?s a luxury. Two of our biggest steps, were getting a paper towel dispenser and a water cooler. That dispenser was a huge sign that I was making it. The water cooler meant more to me than a car or f lying to see whatever show? its in the litt le things. Which is why I don?t think we?ve made it by any stretch of the imagination. We got to where we are by stretching every penny and making sure

that we could get to next month.?

For my f inal question, I asked, "What has been the most valuable partnership to IMG?" "The most important partnership is the one between the bands and us. We have amazing partners in all dif ferent walks of business -from merchandising, to licensing, radio, and labels; but the partnership between the bands and the employees is l ike a marriage. We?re so intertwined. There?s so much synchronicity that has to work and we?re lucky because we get to work with bands that we like. We don?t have to work with people just for money or other reasons." "If the band is good, [Ineffable Music Group] is here to get them to the next level."

I understand that IMG has proven their place in the entertainment industry. Now I realize that there is only room to grow.?

May | 09 | 2015Written By:

Shelby Fabianac

[email protected]