MUSIC EXEC REFLECTS ON A ‘FEARLESS’ CAREER
Denise Donlon’s memoir filled with lessons, anecdotes and wit
Few people understand TORONTO the upheaval the media industry has experienced during the past decade-and-a-half like Denise Donlon.
Donlon had just been hired as president of Sony Music Canada at the turn of the millennium — the first woman to run a country internationally for the company — when the rug was pulled out, thanks to the emergence of Napster and digital downloading.
Like other executives in an industry that’s being heavily disrupted, Donlon had to quickly find a way to reinvent her product.
“You have to innovate aggressively, respect and engage the customer, can’t take the foot off the gas while going up a hill, and you have to engage and inspire your staff,” Donlon said.
“Lots of businesses go through technological disruption and turbulence, but we were lucky to be in a business that we loved the product we were dealing with.”
For the past two years, Donlon has been writing a memoir called Fearless as Possible (Under the Circumstances).
In it she reflects on her time at Sony Music Canada, as the music industry was being transformed, as well as her years rising through the ranks, from host to head of MuchMusic, eventually becoming executive director of CBC Radio.
Donlon offers many lessons of leadership and business struggles — often using wit and humour — but also provides celebrity anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories as she became a dominant force in the Canadian media industry. Donlon, a member of the Order of Canada, also shares stories of her activism work, feminism and humanitarianism.
“When I looked back at (the stories) to find what the narrative was — besides me — it was really about using your powers for good,” she said.
“No matter what business position you’re in, there is always a way to make a positive contribution.”
Donlon started her music career as a student DJ after arriving at the University of Waterloo in 1976, where she later took a fulltime paid position with the student federation to help organize events such as concerts. During the early 1980s, she worked in Vancouver doing music publicity work and touring with bands before eventually landing a job at MuchMusic in Toronto in 1985 as host and producer.
By the mid-1990s, Donlon was running MuchMusic.
Under her watch, the channel thrived and the Canadian music industry was booming, so she saw an opportunity to use the platform to encourage and educate youth.
“It wasn’t enough to just play Madonna and Guns N’ Roses videos,” she said.
“We were able to do a lot of social issue work … We did a lot of work around media literacy, racism, HIV/AIDS and political coverage — although we ventured into politics waving our naivety like a sword.”
Donlon said it’s good business to treat the audience (or customer) with respect, and inviting them to be a part of the process builds intense loyalty.
“They thought MuchMusic was theirs and it was,” she said.
“It’s something that doesn’t exist much these days.”
Then the digital revolution hit the music industry, which Donlon first heralded as “a golden age for artists with revolutionary digital tools” because they could market direct to consumers. But those same technological innovations have turned artists into hustlers and that should be a big concern for the industry, she said.
“It used to be that you’d sell the CD to promote your tour, but now you give the music away in many cases and hope people flock to your tour,” Donlon said. “There’s lots of innovation in terms of crowdfunding and couch surfing, which is fantastic, but the copyright and royalties are too low. And they are 10 per cent lower in Canada than they are in America.”
Low compensation has led to 50 per cent fewer active Canadian artists during the past decade, Donlon said, citing a recent CIRAA report. “There is a value gap,” she said. “I’m not a pessimist about it. Particularly for Canada, we are an arts nation and Canadian artists will always punch above their weight, but there is a problem in terms of the compensation piece.”
The book also discusses her time at CBC, which Donlon said is time- ly, considering what is happening in the U.S. with the way presidentelect Donald Trump is treating reporters.
“The media landscape is going through many of the changes that the record industry did. We were kind of the canary in a coal mine,” she said. “That’s why I feel so strongly about the CBC, because many of the news outlets out there now just can’t afford to do the kind of stuff like the Boston Globe (and its Spotlight team) did. That kind of work takes years and years, and it’s important to a democracy.”
Ultimately, Donlon said she hopes her book can show that it is important to do more along the way than just look after a company’s bottom line.
“Once the tent posts of the business are in good working order — if your profit margins are in healthy shape and you are meeting your metrics — then you get the freedom to colour around the edges a little bit,” Donlon said. “I found that to be true in all of the positions.”
It used to be that you’d sell the CD to promote your tour, but now you give the music away in many cases and hope people flock to your tour.