Easy-Listening Recording Artist Enjoys Sweet Melody of Success

Nobody would mistake Steve Hall for Yanni. In fact, the bespectacled pianist looks a great deal like a banker--which is precisely what he was for 23 years before a midlife career change.

Yet, Hall, 52, is one of the most successful artists in an unusual niche in the music business: easy-listening albums sold in gift stores and played over retailers’ public address systems, known as “play-and-sell” music.

In the last nine years, Hall has sold more than a million albums of soothing, romantic instrumental music. His CDs contain adaptations of popular songs from the ‘30s to the ‘80s, as well as classic standards like “Danny Boy” and “Amazing Grace.”

Hall writes one original song for each album and plays piano on all 20 of them, while hiring a stable of professional musicians for backup.

“You find a niche and you go after that. This is the music I grew up with,” Hall said. “People tell me they never get tired of my music. Some women say, ‘I go to sleep with you every night.’ My wife loves that.”

Hall operates his record label, Bankbeat Productions Inc., out of a strip mall office on Winnetka Avenue with wife Robyn and two workers. He got the name after a newspaper article called him “the banker with a beat” when he was a bank manager doing gigs on the side.

Hall is one of the most successful independent artists in this genre, but nationwide he isn’t the only big seller, said Eleanor Ross, chief executive officer of Lifedance Distribution in Portland, Ore., which markets and distributes gift CDs and cassettes--including Hall’s.

For example, artist Emile Pandolfi has sold more than 2 million albums, she said.

“It’s good listening music,” she said. “It works well as background music, but it’s of good-enough quality that people pay attention and like it and want it.”

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However you describe the music, don’t call it Muzak, said musician Dan Savant, who along with Mike Watts has released three albums of easy-listening music on Hall’s label, selling nearly 30,000 units. Muzak, a separate company and brand name, uses less instruments and arrangements, he said.

“With this music, people don’t mind different arrangements,” said Savant, 45, of La Crescenta. “It’s a chance to be a little more creative.”

Last year, Lifedance had between $3 million and $4 million in sales, Ross said. The entire industry has annual sales of $150 million to $200 million, she said, making it a small corner of the $14-billion retail music industry.

For Hall, play-and-sell music has been very lucrative. Last year, his label grossed about $1.6 million, he said. His biggest seller is his eighth album, “On Eagle’s Wings,” which has sold almost half a million copies. Besides retail stores, his CDs, which go for about $17, can be purchased over the Web or at Hall’s concerts.

But for all the money coming in, there are plenty of expenses. Hall spends nearly $20,000 to make an album and about $150,000 annually on royalties for the rights to record other composers’ songs. He also spends about $30,000 in advertising a year.

Although he is a classically trained pianist, Hall attributes his success to more than good musicianship. He said he hires the best players for his recordings and puts a lot of thought into creating an album, paying attention to song order and flow.

“I know how to package it. I’m not a great musician,” said Hall, who is recording a new album of solo piano interpretations. “I try to play with a lot of passion.”

Although he was often miserable as a banker, his former career at least brought him marketing expertise, Hall said.

Hall’s business acumen is an important part of his success, agreed Savant.

“He’s just a great salesman,” said Savant, who also provides music for TV and films. “When that market hit, he was at the right place at the right time. But you have to give him credit for being a good businessman and giving that audience what it wants, and giving us a chance to do something different.”

Michael Burns, music buyer for Valley Book & Bible Stores says most of the people who buy Hall’s albums at his stores are married women between 30 and 50.

“For the instrumental genre, he’s pretty well known throughout the region,” Burns said, adding that buyers play the music during meditation or for relaxation.

Hall isn’t surprised at the fact that most of his fans are women.

“How many guys are going to go to a gift shop?” he joked. “I used to hate those places--I love them now.”

On Amazon.com, most customer reviews of Hall’s music are positive. A Mississippi woman wrote of “On Eagle’s Wings:” “The entire album has given me great comfort and joy to our family in a time of stress.”

Another man was less pleased with Hall’s “For the Memories,” complaining, “The piano he used was out of tune.”

Hall said he has rejected offers by discount stores to carry his music. Besides fearing his albums would get lost amid all the pop-music selections, he doesn’t want his albums to be offered at a discount, which he says would alienate customers who had paid full price for them.

“You don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” said Hall, who lives in Woodland Hills with his wife and three sons. “I can’t ask for more than I’ve received. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme.”

Hall said he made an exception with membership retailer Sam’s Club, which offers one of his CDs for free to people who buy or renew memberships.

“There’s a whole segment of the population that won’t go near record stores,” Ross said. “This addresses a real need people have for something sweet and simple. It doesn’t reek of show business.”