Publications Poems it's just getting started, but the company's idea has been in the making for over a decade. The new boutique publisher, based in a mid-century modern home in Encino, California, was founded by a team of executives from all areas of the publishing business. Stephanos and Jordan Johnsonwho enjoyed Grammy-winning success as writing/producing duo The Monsters & Strangerz (“Memories” by Maroon 5, “Break My Heart” by Dua Lipa, “Ghost” by Justin Bieber), always wanted to start a publishing company with their brother Christian, formerly VP of A&R at Big Deal Music and Hipgnosis. But for the past decade, they've been waiting for the right situation to come along.
This situation finally materialized a few years ago when the brothers discussed their ambitions with the co-founders of Mega House Music David Silberstein and Jeremy Levin, who have managed The Monsters and Strangerz for about 10 years. Together, the team worked with the president of Mega House Hayley Evans and manager Laura Higbee to launch Poems with the goal of offering high-quality service and creative guidance in fair deals that “everyone can feel good about,” says Jordan.
The label began slowly by signing an up-and-coming singer-songwriter, Ella Boh, two years ago. Now, Poems is ready to expand. With a current roster of four — Boh, as well Jack La France, Isiah Tejada and Jackson Foote — and an exclusive management deal with Kobalt, Poems is enjoying success Benson BooneThe current Billboard Pop Airplay No. 1 “Beautiful Things” co-written by LaFrantz (who manages through a previous deal with Position Music) and “Love On” by Selena Gomez which was written and co-produced by Tejada (along with Stefan and Jordan).
“It's really validating for us as a new publishing company,” Silberstein says of his authors' recent discoveries. “It's great to have songs on the radio, performed by artists we love. It just makes us hungry for more. We're trying to get those BMI and ASCAP awards together.”
Why did it feel like this was the right time and the right situation to start a new publishing company?
Silberstein: Over the past 15 years, we have had several people approach us for different ventures. Monsters and Christian have too. It just never felt right. About two or three years ago, we started talking with Stefan, Jordan, Christian, Hayley and Laura about starting a publishing company. We've learned from our perspective as managers that there is great value in having creatives in the publishing company who can provide guidance and feedback that some executives may not have. We also know that Christian has worn the editor's hat for years and has had valuable experience there. Our thinking was instead of trying to do everything independently of each other, we could bring it all together and try to offer the biggest creative service out of all the publishers. Our goal is to be the #1 publishing company for creative services.
Jordan: It was always our plan to someday start a publishing company. We have been working with Mega House for 10 years and when we started talking about the idea with them, it felt right to have them as partners. He helps Stef and I stay in the studio. We needed other team members who weren't stuck in eight-hour-a-day sessions.
Stefan and Jordan, you've had quite a bit of success creatively, and as Jordan said, your creative process can easily take eight hours a day already. Why did you want to get into the business side?
Jordan: We've been through deals ourselves and seen what it's like to not get the best end of the deal. We thought it would be great to create a company where we can help the next generation of writers with their goals and with deals that everyone can feel good about. It's great to be in a place now where our success isn't just about being in the studio and writing songs. We can have a bigger impact.
Stephanos: There are some producers and writers who have built publishing companies that will far surpass them as a producer and writer and continue to create opportunities and help people's dreams come true. We love to see the powerful impact.
What songwriters or production companies do you admire?
Stephanos: Recipe songs [founded by Dr. Luke]MXM Music [founded by Max Martin]Nice life [founded by Ricky Reed]Pulse [founded by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, Josh Abraham] — these are all amazing companies that provide amazing service. Some of them are even so big now that some don't realize it started with a producer or writer.
Jordan: We like the idea of it feeling like its own entity. It is not the publishing company of Monsters. It is a company in which we are partners and help in any way we can.
David and Jeremy, why was it important to have your long-time customers as members of this founding team at Poems?
Levin: Having Monsters with you is great. They can answer a lot of questions for anyone signed with us from a creative perspective. They are professionals in the true sense of the word. Working with them was really natural and a great way to continue our relationship with them forever.
Silberstein: A lot of the places we start putting songs as songwriter managers are for producers — when producers have control or executive production responsibility for the project. Monsters are simply the highest echelon of producers and have access to top projects and also all their peers with other great producers and great artists. He will bring great guidance and opportunities to the roster.
You all have creative and A&R backgrounds. What are you looking for in potential signees to build this roster?
Christian: We're building a roster from scratch, so the individual side is important. You want to develop a community. The best that can happen is that you build your roster and the roster is its own self-sustaining thing. Where writers bring each other to sessions and seek each other out.
Levin: As a base for us, we want to have writers and producers in different genres and with different skill sets so we have diversity across the board.
Silberstein: When an opportunity comes up, we don't want to say, “Oh, we've got five people for this.” Maybe just one or two. We want to create the right community within the publishing company so that there is no sense of competition for the same things.
Jeremy and David, you have been managing songwriters and producers for over a decade. I often hear that managers end up picking up a lot of the creative and A&R work for publishers these days, especially when the A&Rs at the publisher have too many songwriters to keep up with. Did this previous experience help you in your transition to work as a publisher?
Silberstein: As managers, we've always taken the approach that even though there are a lot of incredible publishers, whatever the publisher does would be icing on the cake. We've always had the mindset that as managers we should do it all, whether it's setting up sessions, whether it's promoting songs — the things that publishers do. If we have a great publishing partner, that's great, but we'll serve our customers regardless. We certainly take that mindset into our role as publishers now. We take this role very seriously because we have seen the good and the bad. There are some incredible individual publishers who just get hit with a 50 person roster and it's no fault of their own that they can't fully serve them.
Management companies that expand into publishing or records often sign whoever they succeed to their new label or publisher. Are you planning to do this with your Mega House roster?
Levin: I don't think there's anything terribly wrong with this model, but it's not something we've done much of. We try to keep them separate if we can.
Silberstein: We've found it most unbiased to just represent someone as a manager and then try to help them negotiate a publishing deal with you as well.
You've had a huge hit recently with your writer Jack LaFrantz, who is Benson Boone's right-hand man and co-wrote his hit “Beautiful Things.” What does this early win mean for Poems?
Silberstein: It's really special for Poems, and I feel so proud and happy for Jack. It's nice to see a writer as kind and talented as him get his first hit. It's even cooler that Jack and Benson have been working together since Benson's early years. They believed in each other over the years and stayed together.
Levin: Jack is so talented musically and is one of those rare people that when you meet them you instantly fall in love with them. He has a magnetic aura about him. The second we met him, we knew he was great.
What is the value of choosing a boutique, songwriter-led publisher like Poems over a major indie or major label?
Stephanos: You can be in any of the big companies and you can have a person who is really amazing. I don't want to downplay what any of the bigger publishers are doing, but with a boutique like us the commitment you get is very high. We have more people on our team right now than we have writers because we want to provide the highest level of service and we want to get our roster right. We've all been in the game long enough to know what makes a good publisher and what makes a bad publisher.
Jordan: Because of the way the team is completed, there will always be someone on the team who has the answer to a question or the required expertise.
Christian: We're only going to grow very intentionally — that's one of the words we use a lot. When we sign, it's intentional, and songwriters can expect the service that comes with that.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/poems-publishing-beautiful-things-interview/
