tim blixseth

The World Series Of Music, a national music competition that features literally tens of thousands of new indie artists and bands from around the world was recently held in Nashville, Tennessee. MCA Universal Producer Robert Metzgar was one of several record label executives who served as a finals judge for the event sponsored by Disc Makers and Billboard Magazine. The event legitimately awards $250,000 in cash and prizes to winners in various genres of music. The winner of the Nashville event was Special Ed & Shortbus a bluegrass group from Richmond, Virginia. Scott Borchetta is the most brilliant record label executive to come along in Nashville's recent history of country music

Hollywood, CA/Nashville, TN/New York, NY (PRWEB) September 28, 2007 -- Last Thursday, the World Series Of Music was held in Nashville, Tennessee and featured six finalists chosen by Billboard Magazine out of tens of thousands of artist entries. The annual event is sponsored by Disc Makers, the largest producer of independent product in the world. Judging the finals for the event was MCA Universal producer and longtime veteran hit-maker, Robert Metzgar. The six finalists at the event were Rebecca Zapen, The Issues, Special Ed & Shortbus, J Peele, The Zydepunks and WSNB. Winning the World Series Of Music is the most prestigious award an indie band can receive from their peers in the music business. It dwarfs the American Idol competition which is primarily for solo pop music artists.

The sold out event was standing room only. Over 100 companies in the music business participated in paying for the event which featured a delicious chef prepared dinner buffet and open bar at 3rd & Lindsley, located at 818 3rd Avenue South in downtown Nashville. Sponsors of the event were Billboard Magazine, Cakewalk, Dean Markley, Disc Makers, Drum Magazine, Electronic Musician, Ibanez, KRK Systems, Remix Magazine, Remo, Roland, Sabian, Shure Electronics, Sonicbids, Soundlab Studios, Tama, Taxi and Nashville's top 10 indie labels by Billboard ranking. "The top 10 Billboard ranked indie labels that participated were Big Machine Records , BNA Records, Category Five, Platinum Plus Universal, Curb Records, Rounder Records, Koch Nashville, Equity Records, Broken Bow Records and Universal South's Superlatone."

www.platinumplusuniversal.com

"The winner of the event by an extremely close margin was Special Ed & Shortbus, an infectiously hilarious bluegrass group who performed a blistering set of songs and instrumentals" seldom seen in this town of the world's best musicians. It was clear why these six artists made the finals out of thousands who entered. The quality of the finalists musicianship was simply overwhelming. "I saw music excellence personified in these artists," Metzgar told a crew of reporters.

"Just give Rebecca Zapen a violin or Special Ed a banjo and either act could blow away 99.9% of all the artists on American Idol." Metzgar told Entertainment Headline News reporters who attended, "The World Series Of Music has some of the greatest live music I have ever seen performed live on a stage in the city of Nashville." Every one of these artists could have been an American Idol finalist and winner easily. Their musicianship was astounding, even to many of the session players who attended to cheer for their favorite player. "Disc Makers is such a great company. They give all the finalists a check for $1,000.00 just for making the finals." Metzgar's VIP table was like a Who's Who in the music business. www.robertmetzgar.com

Metzgar who serves as the GM for Platinum Plus Universal records in Nashville and is a member of the Legends Hall Of Fame was honored recently by Billboard for a 14 week run with the #1 single in the Billboard Hot 100 Country single sales charts of country music entitled, "Country's What I Choose." (Written by BMI Songwriter Len Snow) The single release on Platinum Plus Universal also climbed to #26 in the pop charts in Billboard magazine. Metzgar recently produced the #1 single release in the International country charts, "Rock In My Cowboy Boots," as well. Asked about the winning band, Metzgar said "Special Ed & Shortbus are the type of great indie act that make big hit records as newly discovered indie artists." Metzgar has been a long time supporter of indie labels like Big Machine and Curb Records. He was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in an interview praising the talents of Scott Borchetta at Big Machine Records.

"Scott Borchetta is the most brilliant record label executive to come along in Nashville's recent history of country music," Metzgar said. He will go down in history with Owen Bradley, Mike Curb, Jimmy Bowen, Irwin Steinberg, Jerry Kennedy and other famous record label executives that have blazed a pathway of success for all of us to follow." Scott Borchetta, who is the CEO of Big Machine Records, recently signed Garth Brooks back into country music, along with his mega successful roster of artists such as Jack Ingram, Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood, Jimmy Wayne, Danielle Peck, Dusty Drake and Sunny Sweeney. "Big Machine is the star label on music row in Music City's future," Metzgar said to reporters.

Metzgar not only produces hit records, he serves as a consultant for large music acquisitions, and encourages investors in country music to carefully select Entertainment legal counsel before investing a penny. Hire great law firms to help you invest like Jeffrey Jacobson, Esq. (New York), Colin Brown, Esq. (Nashville) or Phil Elbert, Esq. (Nashville) at Neal & Harwell. "I will only allow my clients to invest in highly successful labels or publishing companies," Metzgar said. Look at Big Machine, Mike Curb, Clive Calder's Jive Records and others like them. Follow their path of music success. You can't help but be a huge winner in the music investment and publishing business. Publishing is the State of Tennessee's second largest dollar maker.

"Over a trillion dollars in investments have taken place in the entertainment industry in recent years" with major commercial banks taking large positions in various indie labels just in the past few years. "Nashville is where billionaires come to make their second billion," Metzgar told the Wall Street Journal & Chase Banking officials. "Invest in Nashville. This is the city where your dreams come true!" We have two of America's great political leaders in Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen and our new Mayor Karl Dean. Many investors hope to follow South African entrepreneur Clive Calder's successful pattern of investment in Nashville. Calder invested $125 million dollars and purchased almost every Contemporary Christian property in Nashville and then sold them for a multiple of 12 times his original investment making $800 million dollars on one sale of music assets. Calder who owned Jive Records and Zomba Music Publishing was one of the first smart money investors from New York to invest in Nashville. He turned a short term investment into almost a billion dollars in 5 years. See www.musicbrokerhouse.com

Tim Blixseth is another billionaire that has invested heavily in the Nashville music scene. Blixseth praised Charles E. Fach, Jr. for directing him to Nashville on CNN's Larry King "Live" recently. King devoted the entire hour to the success of investing in your dreams. Blixseth, Calder, and Mutt Lange have all posted their music investment schedule in their television biographies on A & E Television network. The three music billionaires praise Nashville's music business as one of the most solid financial investments in history. Billionaire Mutt Lange married his Nashville investment and made Shania Twain a household word all over the world, after meeting her at the CMA Music Festival during Fan Fair.

Metzgar consults on such purchases, selling his own Aim High Music (ASCAP) to Calder at Zomba/BMG Publishing. He directs his clients to the appropriate Entertainment law firm to help with the closings. "You want your artists and clients to be successful and make money in the sale of their music product." That only happens when you hire someone who can direct you and give you good advice. "Our management firm is one of those firms that direct people to the right producer, the right publisher, and the right law firm. Initial consultation with a client is without charge and we hope they call on us in the future," Metzgar said. See
Poor Mr. Twain. His sentiment is right on the mark, but millionaires areso yesterday when talking about The Really Rich. When the annual Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans came out last month, what was really striking was the accompanying list of 82 U.S. billionaires who failed to even make the cut. Heck, in 1985 this country had only 13 billionaires.

The first Forbes 400 richest list in 1982 identified folks like comedian Bob Hope, casino mobster Meyer Lansky and oilman Lamar Hunt - the guy who tried to corner the world's silver market. None of their fortunes then would qualify them for the 400 list today.

A quarter century later, we remain enthusiastic financial voyeurs of the ultrarich, courtesy of ever-updated Forbes lists, 24/7 cable TV shows and Internet chatter that glamorize the super-wealthy, and even some new books. It's still a national obsession to know who has the mega-mega bucks, what they are spending it on and how on earth they got so filthy rich and, increasingly, at so young an age.

Among the Forbes 400 of 2007, Google co-founder Sergey Brin ranks No. 5 with $18.5-billion, up from a mere $4-billlion in 2004. The lesson: Megawealth can multiply quickly these days especially when, like Brin, you're all of 34.

Michael Bloomberg racked up $11.5-billion via his Bloomberg news service with enough time left to pursue politics, thus far as New York's mayor. And developer Eddie DeBartolo Jr., the Tampa Bay area's richest person with $1.8-billion - modest in this year's list - is pushing back into the sporting world with a sports management business.

Dig a little deeper, and watching the super-wealthy over the years offers some great insights into the changing U.S. and world economies. For example:

- Old money - think inherited wealth or Big Oil fortunes - is being pushed aside by self-made entrepreneurs - mainly finance hedge fund, anyone? and technology (Bill Gates, anyone?).

- Philanthropy is shifting from passive check-writing to active involvement. And some on the list are using their vast wealth to try to influence U.S. politics, to the right and the left. Think Richard DeVos of Amway, the Coors (beer) family of Colorado and former presidential candidate (data processing) Ross Perot.

- The rise of much of the huge wealth in the past decade was achieved by people starting and selling their companies or by riding huge stakes in the stock market.

- Since 1982, 1,302 individuals have appeared on the Forbes 400 list. Most are white men. Only 202 women - that's 15.5 percent - have made the list over 25 years and, with a few exceptions like entrepreneurs Oprah Winfrey or eBay CEO Meg Whitman, much of that was inherited money. Fewer than 10 African Americans have made it, and about 30 Asians.

Two books with some particular insight into the peculiar habits of the super-rich were published this year. All the Money in the World, by Peter Bernstein and Annalyn Swan (publisher: Knopf), is an intriguing look at how wealth has changed based on an in-depth analysis of the Forbes 400 lists since 1982. The more anecdotal and entertaining Richistan (publisher: Crown) was written by Wall Street Journal's "wealth" reporter Robert Frank, who pens the chatty "Wealth Report" blog for the Journal.

In one exchange in the book, Frank writes about timber baron Tim Blixseth, who founded the elite Yellowstone Club and other gated hideaways for the rich.

"I don't like most rich people. They can be arrogant," he tells Frank, who notes he owns two Shih Tzus named Learjet and G2.

If G2 doesn't click, face it: You're not rich enough. It refers to the Gulfstream G2 corporate jet. Good G2, good doggy!

All the Money in the World captures some broader lessons of wealth.

Most self-made billionaires took risks - but calculated risks, the kind they could recover from - to achieve wealth. Wealth that was concentrated on the East Coast and the oil patch has been migrating West to Silicon Valley for the technology, but also to Wall Street for finance and especially to Greenwich, Conn., as the unofficial capital of the hedge fund industry.

"Of all the Forbes 400 financial fortunes minted in the past quarter century," Bernstein and Swan write, "hedge funds have created the largest ones the fastest."

If all this makes us average Joes feel like we're living in a third-world country, well dust off your passport. Journal writer Frank named his book Richistan because the super-rich do live in their own nation.

And it's going to get tougher to cross the border in the years to come.
It turns out simply that being a billionaire isn't enough to make the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans. You now need to be worth at least $1.3 billion to rank on this annual list.


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"We left 82 billionaires behind," said Matthew Miller of Forbes Magazine.


Those who made it in this year include Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Paige, who broke into the Top 5 at age 34 and are now worth $18.5 billion apiece.


That income adds up to quite a hefty salary every minute. Forbes calculated just how quickly these billionaires make their money, and in 30 seconds Oprah Winfrey makes another $1,000. She's ranked 165 on the list.


"So we just pointed out that Oprah just made $1,000," ABC's David Muir said to Miller.


"Right. While you and I were talking, she made about a thousand dollars if you look at the valuations," Miller said.


"I've got to interrupt you," said Muir, "because we're at 39 seconds now and Ralph Lauren just made another thousand bucks."


"It's unbelievable how quickly they make this money," Miller said.


Designer Ralph Lauren is among the 270 billionaires who are self-made. Coming in at No. 220 is the guy who controls the cheese on a lot of America's pizzas.


"Jim Leprino … makes all the mozzarella cheese for Little Caesar's, Papa Johns, Dominos," Miller said.


Grass Is Always Greener, Even for Billionaires

But do these billionaires really care about where they rank? You bet they do.

"Everyone either wants to be higher or lower than where they're actually at," Miller said.

When asked why they would want to be lower, Miller summed it up in one short word: Taxes.


When many of the billionaires were asked whom they'd like to have a drink with from the list, more than one said themselves, which might explain why only five billionaires said yes when Forbes invited them to play poker.

Oilman John Catsimatidis played with supermarket giant Ronald Burkle; Stewart Rahr, a pharmaceuticals distributor; Timothy Blixseth, a resorts entrepreneur; and Phillip Ruffin, a casino mogul.