We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Taylor and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I’ve always been an entrepreneur. In high school I was promoting parties and through university I played in bands where I ran the group with my guitar player. After law school, I played in a group full time for 5 years. While I was in that band (called, “One”) we were signed to Virgin, we had agents, managers, lawyers and was constantly interacting with the music industry. It was great preparation for the business I started in 1997 as a music attorney in Toronto. It allowed me to marry my love of music along with business and legal experience.

It was tough in the beginning as I worked at a firm where I didn’t collect a salary, but rather took a percentage of my gross billings. I wasn’t afraid of the challenge as I was deeply inspired by the work and was sponsored by an amazing wife that was gainfully employed at the time!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In the late 90’s when I started practicing law the Canadian music/legal field played in the minor leagues as US attorneys would swoop in to steal all the top level talent. In order to compete in the US I had to find talent earlier and establish myself in the US market with A&R people that would offer deals to Canadian talent.
It wasn’t easy. I was on a tight budget but started going to New York (and eventually LA) for a week every month with demo recordings in my bag: Nelly Furtado, Sum 41, Three Days Grace and others.
Discovery wasn’t data driven at that time. It was based on creative delivery and potential. I’d spend hours on the weekends pouring through demo tapes and tried to pick winners out of the pile. Today, I know there are a lot of lawyers trolling the internet for hot acts that are streaming independently – the “art” of the process is gone.
Over time I established relationships in the US as “the guy in Canada that has the good stuff”. Eventually, I started a record label (Last Gang) for a band I couldn’t find a record deal for: Metric. Their signing lead to Death From Above 1979, Crystal Castles, Mother Mother and others.
My brand is as a creative, artist advocate that isn’t afraid to be early. Someone that will roll up their sleeves and invest time and money into acts I believe in whether you are Drake, Kaytranada or Cirkut.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I assume you aren’t here often and you want to see some sites. Starting in Venice Beach if you are on the west side for a boardwalk walk. Walk to breakfast at Terrazza in Santa Monica – great view of the ocean and the food and service is solid. Head into Beverly Hills for high end shopping/browsing – lunch at the Polo Lounge or Chateau Marmont (or somewhere similarly historical and/or opulent). Afternoon at LACMA or Peterson Auto Museum – tour around Silver Lake for an afternoon coffee. Dinner is at Verse in Toluca Lake (Manny takes great care of me and we’d try to get a tour of Larrabee and his loft spaces). It’d be great to find some live music somewhere – I’d check out classic Sunset Strip spots or other random all-star jam nights happening around the city.
At some point, you need to drive up the PCH and spend a chill afternoon lounging on Zuma Beach – the penultimate Cali experience.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Along the way I’ve had some incredible supporters who believed in me. Early days, my former manager, Chris Smith showed faith in me as we combined to work with Nelly Furtado. Randy Lennox, who was at Universal Canada, was an early supporter for my record label (Last Gang). I had great partner/mentors in the label: Donald Tarlton and Gary Slaight. Robert Ott (founder of ole/Anthem) taught me everything I know about music publishing and catalogue acquisitions. He was also a supporter in Last Gang Publishing. Finally, Darren Throop (founder Entertainment One) brought me in to run his music division in 2016. I continue to learn from him everyday.

Instagram: @solicitorCT

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-taylor-1a214b26/

Image Credits
All the photos are iPhone/personal pics. No credits necessary.

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