PropertyOfZack could not be more happy to welcome in our newest Contributor, David Conway. David works both at The Working Group (MGMT for Hellogoodbye, Never Shout Never, The Ready Set) and Doghouse Records (With The Punches, Grown Ups, A Lot Like Birds), so to say he is busy is quite the understatement. He has been kind enough though to spare some time to begin his Contributor Blog feature on the site, and we think it’s going to be great. In his first blog, David introduces himself and gives you all a look into how he views and appreciates music and how devoted he is to it. There will be much more to come in the future, so read up and check back for more!

I like talking. A lot. I love what I get to do for a living with all my heart. The fact that I get to spend most of my days talking with creative people about their music and how to build a culture around that music is everything I ever wanted. Nirvana changed my life and opened up a completely new world in front of 14-year old me. When I saw Smells Like Teen Spirit I wanted to be a part of something so bad; a magical door leading outside the suburbs appeared and I leapt through it.

4,521 mixtapes later, I feel so lucky that I get to be a small part of helping show music and artists to the world that I am proud of. If anything I have ever done has ended up on a mixtape for someone, if any artist I work with has made a kid feel 1% better if they were having a hard day, if a band’s song became the gateway for someone to want to learn more about music, if it was your first show and you felt a part of something exciting, then I’m the happiest guy on the planet.

I’ve been working in music for over a decade. From putting out records (with the wrong resolution for the cover art) from my parents basement, to working at major labels, working at independent labels, and finally to starting a management company. I’ve struggled to pay the bills for most of that time, but I wouldn’t trade any minute of it. I’ve met so many amazing people throughout this adventure. I’ve sat with total strangers in hidden little towns and had conversations that have changed the way I view the world around me. I’ve seen things succeed that I’ve put everything I have into and I’ve seen things fail that I thought deserved to be heard more than anything. I’ve learned from those failures just as much, if not more so, than the things which clicked.

I try to be open every day to learning something new in this business and this community. I am so excited to get to write for this site about how I view this industry and some of the ways I think it can continue to work not just on a creative level, but also as a business. I also look forward to hearing your thoughts on my perspective. One of the other beautiful things about music and the things which surround it, is that it is a subjective art form and in many ways a subjective business. I always love talking about how others see it and collect as many opinions as possible from all sides.

I’ll talk to you all really soon and thanks for reading this pretty EMO introduction to my blog. Zack, thank you so much for this opportunity.