Jac Holzman Followed the Music

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Jac Holzman came up with the idea for Elektra Records in his college dorm room in 1950. 

He started recording folk music and Baroque songs and went on to discover the Doors and Judy Collins. He represented Queen in America. He sold his company to Warner Communications. 

Jac told my son and I the story four years ago when we visited his Santa Monica apartment. He kept his Grammy on the piano and his collection of antique recording gear in his office loft. 

It was an incredible tale that included a number of life lessons:

--Be open to seize opportunities 

--Pay attention to what people need

--Take big chances, but never risk it all

It started with Holzman attending St. John’s College. He heard a soprano perform poems by Rilke and e.e. cummings to music composed by John Gruen. He thought it would make a fantastic recording. Elektra was inspired by a figure in Greek mythology. 

He spent ten years building a moderately successful business focused on jazz and folk music he loved. A typical album: Theodore Bikel: Songs of a Russian Gypsy. 

In the early 1960s he came up with an idea that propelled the company: he realized that radio stations needed sound effects, so he recorded 13 discs of sounds ranging from a doorbell to boiling water to a car crash. 

He paid as little as $5 per sound and there were no royalties. He sold more than a million units. 

He described how recording the car crash in a history of Elektra called Follow the Music: “We drove to Long Island and slicked down an out-of-the-way dead-end street and repeatedly skidded a junker car.” He then smashed the car in a junkyard. 

He used the money to take risks on unknown artists and in 1966 it led to the biggest coup of his career. He has flown to Los Angeles, landing in the evening and headed straight to the Whiskey a Go Go to see a band. He was encouraged to stick around for the next act. 

It was the Doors. Jac said that Jim Morrison “did nothing” for him at first, but he saw potential. 

The story Jac wanted to tell us wasn’t about discovering the Doors but signing them. 

Others wanted to represent the band, but Jac paid enough attention to know the group was worried about being dropped after one record. He offered a guaranteed three album deal. It came with $5,000 up front and five percent royalties, an amount keyboardist Ray Manzark later described as “heinous.” 

He landed Queen in America in a similar way, by handing them a signed check before they agreed to any deal. It was a good faith offer. Freddie Mercury could have cashed it and walked, but he didn’t. It won their trust. 

You have to take big risks in life, he told us.

“But don't bet everything. Make sure you set aside something to stay in the game.”

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

CLOSE THE BRIDGE: Unsung quick-witted hero saved lives by closing the Key Bridge just before it collapsed.

JACK RAINES: Jack writes the Young Money blog. We met for coffee a year ago and since then I’ve seen his writing deepen and mature.

OUR WORLD IS DEGENERATE: Some things don’t change, as this comment from an Assyrian tablet in 2800 BC shows.

FIND YOUR IKIGAI: The overlap is where you find wisdom.

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS: The chance discovery of the Terracotta warriors makes you wonder what else we will stumble upon in the future.