Morgan Creek Fights the Current--1 Hit at a Time

David Kershenbaum has regularly seen the bright side of the pop music business in his 20-year career--most recently as producer of Tracy Chapman’s platinum-selling debut album, but also when he was t& M Records executive who signed such major successes as Janet Jackson and Bryan Adams.

But for every chart-topping artist, every Chapman or Jackson, Kershenbaum has also witnessed the disappearance of many other promising talents. “Tragically, music gets lost--good music that artists put their lives and souls into creating,” he said recently.

Because of this, Kershenbaum has joined with Jim Mazza, a former president of Capitol Records and EMI America, as co-president of the new Morgan Creek Music Group. The Century City-based record label, an offshoot of the Morgan Creek Productions film company, is an endeavor both say is designed to remain independent of the larger established labels, some of which have had dozens of records in release at any one time.

By contrast, Morgan Creek will release only one pop album each month, aiming its resources at a single artist at a time.

“Our whole focus is to identify great music and great talent, as much as we’re capable of doing, and really sticking with it to give it a chance to come through,” Kershenbaum said.

In recent months, the label has signed a variety of rock acts, including local club favorites Mary’s Danish and the newly formed Eleven, featuring former members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and What Is This. Morgan Creek also recently signed the veteran rock act Little Feat. The label’s first release, a debut album by San Francisco’s Voice Farm, “Bigger Cooler Weirder,” arrives in stores June 25.

The co-presidents were sitting together in Mazza’s office on a recent Friday, both of them talking excitedly of the impending release of the Voice Farm disc and the release this month of the soundtrack to “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” starring Kevin Costner.

Feature films will play a recurring role at the new label, which will release the soundtracks to 25 movies scheduled from Morgan Creek Productions over the next three years. The executives also plan to use movies as vehicles for label artists, with title songs, and perhaps even on-screen appearances, by Morgan Creek Music performers.

Still, Kershenbaum and Mazza insisted that they are not interested in merely being an outlet for film soundtracks. They said the main attraction for them was the creation of a truly independent musical entity, with none of the inherent bureaucracy of the major labels.

This would be a singular accomplishment, Kershenbaum said, since most of the important mid-level independent labels formed in the last 15 years have been ultimately swallowed by the larger record companies. Although Morgan Creek releases will be distributed through Polygram, no parent corporation will have influence over label decisions, he said.

“The consolidation of the record business is really crippling,” Mazza said. “And these independent companies better be about making different kinds of music, rather than just putting out records that sort of sound like what’s on the radio at the moment.”

“Jim and I had a goal, and a dream, to have a real independent company,” Kershenbaum said. “We wanted to do it differently. We wanted to be music-driven, not corporate-driven, so that we can both be mavericks.”

Morgan Creek is not the first new label to promise revolutionary ideas, observers agreed. And a handful of music trade writers polled suggested that most independents after some years finally start sounding like their older, major-label brethren. But Morgan Creek could remain detached from the recording establishment, one writer said, largely due to strong support from its parent company rooted in the film industry.

“They have a group of very savvy, creative music industry veterans,” said Dave Adelson, managing editor of Hits, a music trade magazine. “But they’re not the first entity to come out screaming they are different. Only time will tell if the Morgan Creek identity is indeed any different than their upstart predecessors.”

Added one industry observer, who asked not to be identified: “A lot of the acts they have signed are not exactly commercial sure shots. If they are able to maintain the long-term commitment they are talking about, it should be real interesting.”

The walls of the Morgan Creek Music Group are decorated with rows of gold and platinum albums, documenting the hits and careers of Mazza and Kershenbaum at other labels over the years. Despite the implied formality of dark wooden office furniture, both executives were dressed casually, Mazza in a black turtleneck, Kershenbaum resting his shoeless feet on a low table.

“We spend a normal day in the office, and then we’re rolling the alleys at night like rats in the studio,” Mazza said. “We’re out there making sure things are coming up to the standards that we expect from the music. We’re not just going to be a factory for putting out records.”

One recent afternoon, the two executives heard Voice Farm’s demo tape. “I think we made a deal with them the next morning at breakfast,” Kershenbaum said.

For now, Kershenbaum said he won’t be using the on-line producing talents that have brought him some of his greatest acclaim and success in recent years. In spite of the accolades and Grammys earned with the 10-million-selling “Tracy Chapman” album, Kershenbaum insisted that he will be too busy running the company with Mazza to produce music for Morgan Creek or anyone else. His last projects as producer were tracks on an upcoming Kenny Loggins record and most of the recent Williams Brothers album.

Kershenbaum said his role will be much the same for all Morgan Creek releases--overseeing the general creative direction of a particular project, talking with artists and producers in the early stages of recording. “Certainly, I wouldn’t say I’m never going to produce again,” Kershenbaum said. “But at this point in my life, this is what I’ve chosen to do, and it’s very exciting.”