Fred’s friends Mark Ford and John Rudolph join the show to discuss the insider financial world of music. They also raid Fred’s traveling bar, nearly drinking all his bourbon.

Whiskeys tasted:

• Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 2020 (11:37)
• Sweetens Cove (28:56)
• Smoke Wagon Barrel Pick (45:03)
• Whistlepig Boss Hog (1:07:35)
• Maker’s Mark Barrel Pick (1:17:02)

A few highlights:

• Fred’s guests talk about how they got interested in whiskey.
• John talks about his early entry into the music business, including experiences with TLC, Usher and Outkast.
• At about the 29:30 mark, Fred talks John into telling a story about the song “Fever,” which was popularized by Peggy Lee but has been recorded by literally thousands of artists. It leads to a discussion of songwriting and publishing copyrights.
• Is country music just beer, trucks and girls in short-shorts? Mark explains an interesting copyright spin.
• They take a brief break to talk Sweetens Cove, which is Peyton Manning’s bourbon brand.
• Book publishing and music publishing are very different – but they weren’t always. Changes began with old-time piano rolls, John explains.
• Happy accidents in bourbon come into the conversation.
• Remember Napster? John tells a story about a since-deceased (?) celebrity that he declines to name (but whom you probably know). And of course while Napster got off to a rough start, it led to widespread streaming of music, which is how most of us consume music these days.
• If your bar or restaurant gets harassed for licensing money by ASCAP or BMI, that’s money that goes directly to the artists, Mark says. John goes into anecdotal information about just how widespread music licensing is. “Every time you hear music … there is a machine behind that is collecting money to try and get it back to the songwriters.” Of course, for every stream, the writer will get anywhere from $.001 to $.0001.
• Music used to be about distribution. Now it’s more about marketing.
• NFTs, anyone? Fred shares his thoughts on NFTs and bourbon. “It’s a roll of the dice anytime you are selling alcohol,” he says. And what about bitcoin for music? Song catalog values enter the conversation.
• Fred asks his guests to talk about some of the more interesting artists/experiences from their careers. Mark’s story is from meeting Dave Grohl at Bourbon and Beyond. Names like Bruno Mars, Iggy Pop, Bob Mould and Garth Brooks get tossed around.