On March 1, 2023 Gail Wein celebrates the 15th anniversary of founding her company Classical Music Communications. To mark the occasion, Senior Associate Publicist Caleb Jaster sat down with her to talk about the moment. In this insider interview, she reflects on the past 15 years, how the company got its start, what she’s learned, and CMC’s future. Highlights below.
What does this anniversary mean to you?
When I launched CMC in 2008, I didn’t even begin to imagine how the future might unfold. I gathered clients, media contacts and experience day by day and month by month. I continually planted “seeds” in the form of casual conversations after a concert or sending a reaction to a social media post. Some of these seeds took weeks or years to develop into a productive business relationship. As the years went by and the company grew, I realized that the business was not only viable but also firmly established and respected in the industry.
What made you want to be a publicist?
I’ve always had the urge to have everyone know about the music that I know and love. That impulse was well-satisfied throughout my career as a radio host at music stations – not just classical music, but also in the singer-songwriter genre (a format known as “Adult Alternative Album” in the radio industry), and classic rock, which I hosted coast to coast on ABC Radio Networks. My work as a reviewer for The Washington Post and as a freelance reviewer, interviewer and feature writer fulfilled another aspect of the same mission.
How did your former career lead to the founding of CMC?
My work as a publicist is really the flip side of my work as a journalist. (In fact, I continue to be a freelance journalist; more about that below.) I heard from publicists constantly in my job as a radio producer at NPR for the nationally broadcast program Performance Today, and also as a concert reviewer for The Washington Post. I know what kind and what frequency of communications got my attention, and I incorporate that knowledge into my methods in my own publicity campaigns.
I’m used to seeing things from different points of view. This is my fifth career – before working as a writer and radio host, I was an arts administrator, running the contemporary chamber ensemble Voices of Change; before that, I was a computer programmer developing software systems for the US Air Force (I had a top secret security clearance!) and prior to that, I was an actuary working in the insurance business.
In what ways does your current work benefit from said former job/life?
When I left my job as producer of Performance Today, I had a Rolodex of over 1000 industry contacts. In those first months back in New York City, I networked like crazy. I reached out many of the managers, publicists, publishers, record labels execs, recording engineers, performers, composers and others I had gotten to know in my role as acquisitions producer at PT. The main focus of my job was to obtain the concert recordings we used on the program. Five days a week, two hours a day meant we aired about ten hours of programming each week – “feed the beast” was the insider’s term for keeping up with new material for the show. To these contacts, I was the person who helped get their client on national radio, so I was looked upon kindly by many.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about [being a small business owner/working in the industry/things about the industry – pick one or all] over the past 15 years?
Networking is crucial for every aspect of a business or career in the arts. A brief conversation at a concert, reception or concert could blossom into a publicity project or long term client, a month, a year or even a decade later.
It’s amazing what you’ve accomplished these last 15 years by yourself, moving to NYC without a clear idea about the future. Is there anyone you’d like to shout-out that helped support you along the way?
Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here without the help and advice and generosity of all of my colleagues in the music industry. Many of my fellow publicists – Steven Swartz, Amanda Sweet, Patricia Price, Peter McDowell, referred new clients to me, to name a few. My friend Genevieve Spielberg – who has herself been in the classical music management and publicity business for close to 30 years – is always there to offer advice and concrete solutions.
Thanks to CMC Senior Communications Associate, Caleb Jaster, who has helped keep things going since 2016. And to former CMC associates Jacob Sievers and Geoffrey Landman.
And to my long-time clients, the pianist Orli Shaham and the composer Victoria Bond. It’s a joy working with each of you, every single day for more than 13 years.
Where do you see CMC in the next 15 years?
I’m looking forward to helping spread the word about music for many years to come. I am constantly learning new ways to help my clients, and – in some cases – lessons about how to effectively run my business and deal with people. A challenge for me will be keeping up with the changing landscape of the industry, especially with regard to technology. As newspapers shed their fulltime classical music writers, as magazines and broadcast outlets consolidate, and as online publications, streaming services and other digital opportunities expand – that is a lot to keep up with. I will be constantly working to stay on top of the shifting parameters – which are always moving targets.