Bill Greenwood is the Director of Jaybird Communications, where he manages a team of communications specialists focused on the modern music industry. He joined Jaybird’s Founder and President, Laurie Jakobsen, in September 2011 as the company’s first hire, and has spent the past 15 years helping to grow it into the premier PR and communications firm for the business side of music. Its clients currently include Angry Mob Music, AYO Music Group, DDEX, FanLabel, LyricFind, Record Research, SourceAudio, Symphonic, and Triple Threat, as well as executives Deborah Mannis-Gardner and Liz Garner.
Tell us about what inspired you to work in the music industry, and how did it lead to the work you do today?
I’ve always loved music, but I could never figure out how to play an instrument. So I felt like I had to find a backdoor into the industry. That ended up being journalism.
I started out as a reporter at the local newspapers South Brunswick Post and Cranbury Press in New Jersey before moving on to an Assistant Editor position at the magazines Information Today, Streaming Media, and Computers in Libraries. I decided to get my Master’s degree at The New School after that, and I figured I’d study film theory and become a critic. I quickly realized that I just didn’t have any interest in watching a lot of the old classics, and my advisor pointed out that I didn’t need to know how to play an instrument to get involved in the music industry. That honestly had never crossed my mind before!
So I took a few internships at Sony Music Entertainment, and interviewed with Laurie Jakobsen at Jaybird Communications shortly after graduating. I had never done PR before, but she took a chance on me since I at least had experience BEING pitched, and of course writing. 15 years later, I’m still here!
I started out as a reporter at the local newspapers South Brunswick Post and Cranbury Press in New Jersey before moving on to an Assistant Editor position at the magazines Information Today, Streaming Media, and Computers in Libraries. I decided to get my Master’s degree at The New School after that, and I figured I’d study film theory and become a critic. I quickly realized that I just didn’t have any interest in watching a lot of the old classics, and my advisor pointed out that I didn’t need to know how to play an instrument to get involved in the music industry. That honestly had never crossed my mind before!
So I took a few internships at Sony Music Entertainment, and interviewed with Laurie Jakobsen at Jaybird Communications shortly after graduating. I had never done PR before, but she took a chance on me since I at least had experience BEING pitched, and of course writing. 15 years later, I’m still here!
Is there a success story or career milestone that you are most proud of?
I love it when a client of ours becomes such a well-known expert in their field that they start getting interview requests without us even needing to pitch them. That means we’re doing our job right!
I remember getting texted by TMZ because they wanted to interview Martin Clancy about The Beatles’ “Now and Then” back in the early days of AI, and Deborah Mannis-Gardner routinely gets calls from major outlets whenever sampling is in the news.
Beyond that, being involved with the Music Business Association’s rebrand from NARM certainly stands out, and helping get Bill Wilson onto the front page of the Wall Street Journal and seeing the illustration they did of him.
I remember getting texted by TMZ because they wanted to interview Martin Clancy about The Beatles’ “Now and Then” back in the early days of AI, and Deborah Mannis-Gardner routinely gets calls from major outlets whenever sampling is in the news.
Beyond that, being involved with the Music Business Association’s rebrand from NARM certainly stands out, and helping get Bill Wilson onto the front page of the Wall Street Journal and seeing the illustration they did of him.
Are there any projects you're working on or company updates that you're most excited about?
We just started working with a new company called Triple Threat, which I’m really excited about. We came into their orbit through Kira Karlstrom, who we know well from her time at Twitch Music. She was also a professional basketball player, and she started Triple Threat with U.S. Olympian rower Meghan O’Leary to give athletes the kind of promotion and branding opportunities that they wish they’d gotten. So I’m looking forward to diving into the sports world with them.
What's a lesson that you learned early on in the music biz?
You need to maintain your music fandom. It’s very easy to get jaded when you work in the industry and see how the sausage is made. But if you’re not passionate about music itself, you will not be effective in promoting it properly. While I don’t work directly with musicians anymore, it manifests for me in supporting companies that are dedicated to helping them do what they do more easily and, of course, getting them paid.
What's your favorite part of your job and/or company?
The pure breadth of it. I’ve done artist promotion in the past, and it’s pretty repetitive. Announce the single, announce the album, announce the tour, rinse and repeat. Working on the business side of music has helped me learn about all kinds of different aspects of the industry, from sampling to lyric licensing, event production, metadata standards, AI, prediction markets, sync, distribution, and much more. There’s never a dull moment.
What does being independent mean to you?
To me, independence means being scrappy. And when you’re scrappy, you’re typically at the forefront of trends and culture. I feel like it’s extremely rare for a major label to START a trend. They can blow it up in the mainstream, but it always starts underground. I like to be there with the indies at the bleeding edge, and then celebrate when the rest of the world catches up and the artists get their due.
Favorite song at the moment?
Ratboys – “Just Want You to Know the Truth.” It’s a slow-burning indie-folk hybrid that really puts the focus on the lyrics in the front and explodes toward the end with some killer guitar solos that also capture the emotion of those lyrics. The band’s entire record, “Singin’ to an Empty Chair,” is great. They’ve been on fire creatively, and I hope they blow up soon.
Ratboys – “Just Want You to Know the Truth.” It’s a slow-burning indie-folk hybrid that really puts the focus on the lyrics in the front and explodes toward the end with some killer guitar solos that also capture the emotion of those lyrics. The band’s entire record, “Singin’ to an Empty Chair,” is great. They’ve been on fire creatively, and I hope they blow up soon.
Outside of your work in music, do you have any other hobbies or particular areas interest/expertise?
I’ve been doing some work on the side with my friends Bill Lambusta, Brian Erickson, and Ryan Hanratty. Bill and Brian recently revived their podcast, “The Great Albums,” after a seven-year hiatus, and I’ve been helping them promote it. It’s been fun to see how the podcasting world works. I even got to gush about Jimmy Eat World’s “Stay on My Side Tonight” EP on one of their Patreon-only episodes!
I also watch way too much TV. If there’s a show you’ve been dying to discuss, chances are I’ve probably seen it and have opinions about it.
I also watch way too much TV. If there’s a show you’ve been dying to discuss, chances are I’ve probably seen it and have opinions about it.
Any words of advise for rising music industry professionals?
Do it. Literally. If you want to be a manager, find a friend who’s in a band and manage that band. If you want to be a writer, start a blog. If you want to do PR, find someone who needs promoting and promote them.
When I was young, there was a real chicken-or-the-egg problem when it came to getting your first job. No one would hire you without experience, and you could only get experience if someone hired you. Today, the world is at everyone’s fingertips all the time, which means you don’t need to rely on gatekeepers to let you in the door. You can kick it down yourself!
Relatedly, don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is how we learn. You will not get everything right all the time, especially when you’re just starting out. But if you accept responsibility for your defeats, learn from them, and ensure you don’t repeat those mistakes, you’ll be an expert in your field in no time.
When I was young, there was a real chicken-or-the-egg problem when it came to getting your first job. No one would hire you without experience, and you could only get experience if someone hired you. Today, the world is at everyone’s fingertips all the time, which means you don’t need to rely on gatekeepers to let you in the door. You can kick it down yourself!
Relatedly, don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is how we learn. You will not get everything right all the time, especially when you’re just starting out. But if you accept responsibility for your defeats, learn from them, and ensure you don’t repeat those mistakes, you’ll be an expert in your field in no time.
Keep up with Bill on LinkedIn!
Explore Jaybird Communications