PropertyOfZack could not be more happy to be debuting our new Contributor Blog series with Matt Pike. Many of you might not know who he is by name, but Matt Pike and his Kenmore Agency book bands like Man Overboard, Fireworks, Balance & Composure, Title Fight, and all of those other bands that most of us could not be more stoked about in the beginnings of 2011. That being said, Matt certainly has a different perspective from many and an interesting mind, so we figured he’d be another perfect edition to the feature, and will continue to blog in multiple times per year. In his first blog, Matt discusses how he ended up in this part of the music industry, how things were never handed to him or taken for granted involving music, but most importantly of all, how he got here by never taking “no” as an answer for the thing he wanted most. Read up, we hope you enjoy it! 

“I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that”

My name is Matt Pike, I am 36 years old and as of next spring I will have owned my own booking agency for a decade. My biggest downfall in life is that I love music.

Here’s the thing, I’ve never wanted to own my own business. It just kind of happened.  I am an awful business owner. I didn’t go to school for business. I hated math, in fact I never went to math class because my teacher was the head of the athletic dept. All he wanted me to do is practice my breaking pitches and my pick off move to first base. Who needed to learn anything more than addition and subtraction anyhow? Who knew that years later my life would be consumed with number crunching.  merch rates, door deals, Tax percentages, Gross door receipts…
This is the music “business” after all isn’t it?

It didn’t take too long for me to see that working for someone else wasn’t what I wanted, an odd job here and some job washing dishes there. I just knew I didn’t want to work for anyone and I was too stubborn to try to make it work. I was hustling my ass off trying to do whatever I could to be in the mix in the local music scene. Helping my friends promote shows, writing fanzines, doing a radio show and eventually putting on shows of my own.  I would spend most of my time traveling all over New England and the Tri-State area going to shows and taking in every show I could. Traveling was the most effective way to meet people in the pre-internet era.

I was blessed to be exposed to some amazing people doing amazing things in the mid 90’s in Massachusetts. Growing up in western Mass however was a gift and a curse.  A gift because I was growing up in what could be considered a cultural crossroads. I had 5 major music markets all within a three hour drive from me. A curse because you always had to try that much harder to find new music because we didn’t have the luxury of all the cool record stores that places like Boston and NYC had.

We always had to work a little harder to convince our favorite band that the “5 College” area was worth their time to come play. Whether it is was Fugazi, The Melvins, Born Against, Rollins Band, Agnostic Front or Avail. They all made their way to our little pocket of the world and from those experiences and bands my life was forever changed.

I am not trying to go on some “back in my day” rant but then again you have to understand it’s where I come from and all I know. You see, I NEVER expected anything to be handed to me. I have always lived with the mantra that if you want it done you better go and do it your fucking self. I’ll take that mentality to the grave.  I started with nothing other than a love for music and a desire to get more out of where I lived. A desire to see more places meet more people and idealistically make some sort of money so I could continue to do so.  I’ve never claimed to be a smart person. I never took a business class or a “music business” class. This is all I have ever wanted and know so I never took no for an answer.

I don’t have the secrets of the music business locked in a desk drawer.  I’m not the guy to talk to if you’re looking to break out and sell a million records. Irving Azoff I am not. I just want to work hard for the people who have faith in me and I want to give back to something that has shaped my entire world.

This is just the start of what I hope to be a fun little exercise in thought and story telling.  So thanks for reading.  Feel free to keep reading.

In closing, I am excited that Zack asked me to be a part of this site. It’s people like him who keeps things moving forward, informed and thinking. You don’t need to be a fan of every record or type of music to see the desire and passion he has.  At least Zack is doing something to give back to something that he clearly has a passion for.

Why aren’t you?