Originally published on June 6, 2008
Cliff Hunt

Yangaroo co-founder/chairman/COO saw the future on the horizon through digital file delivery—and his DMDS

In an environment where everyone is focused on efficiencies and cost savings, Cliff Hunt is on the leading edge of providing solutions to the marketplace. Based in Toronto, as co-founder/chairman/COO of Yangaroo, Hunt and his company work closely with the music community to securely deliver music digitally and without compromising quality.

Beginning your career: I started as a musician, playing in a horn band called the Brass Union in the Toronto area. We were a cover band doing R&B. We were all trained musicians, and an agent in Ohio became aware of us and started using us for a number of artists he represented to tour in Canada, because it was a lot of trouble to bring a whole band across the border in those days. Then I got a job working for Coca-Cola promoting shows and was hired as an agent by Tommy Wilson, who owned the biggest booking agency in Canada. That’s not what I ultimately wanted to do, but I learned a lot. As an agent, a number of artists asked me if I’d be interested in managing them, so I did that for a number of years.

Founding of Yangaroo: I’d just formed a production company and was about to raise capital to develop some new artists. I got a cold call from a stock broker trying to get a record deal for his girlfriend at the time. One thing led to another and he convinced me to meet him for lunch. I listened to the recording he was talking about and we talked about the fact I was looking to raise capital. He came back to me and said, “It’s really tough raising money for music but there’s all kinds of money going into the tech industry.” This was the late ’90s and the bubble was just starting. So we started exploring what was going on in the tech aspect of music and digital delivery and saw this was ultimately where the music industry had to go. The product is DMDS—Digital Media Distribution System.

Mission of the company: To deliver digital files in a secure and efficient manner. We went into music because it was what I knew and cared about, but as the company has evolved, a digital file is a digital file—whether a music file, X-ray or legal document. The idea that people are manufacturing a disc made of plastics, aluminums and other alloys; packaging them in plastic jewel boxes and putting them in bubble-wrap packages; and using jet and diesel fuel to send them from New York to Los Angeles so a radio station could play it is absurd—when it can all be done in a matter of minutes electronically.

Liner Notes
Profile:
Cliff Hunt
Title:
Yangaroo co-founder/chair-man/COO
Favorite TV show: “Seinfeld”
Favorite song:
“My favorite on one day could be ‘Give Me All Your Lovin’ by ZZ Top and the next day could be ‘Take Five’ by Dave Brubeck.”
Favorite movie:
“‘The Player’”
Favorite book:
“Recently, Bill Maher’s ‘New Rules.’"
Favorite
Restaurant :
“My local hangout here, Snug Harbor.”
Beverage of choice:
“Iced tea on a hot day.”
Hobbies: “I am a car freak. It’s one of my passions and it’s a disease. My current passion is a classic 911 Porsche. I think I’ve had over 38 cars over however many years.”
E-mail address:
cliff@yangaroo.com

How it works: The record company has the DMDS agent on their desktop computer or laptop. They upload the file from whatever digital format they have it in. They first put in the metadata. They can add cover art, photos, tour dates, a link to the video and all kinds of additional information. They choose the destinations. They can choose all of hot AC radio, for instance, or can cherry-pick stations or choose individuals within those stations. Then they choose the date they want it to be downloaded or they can have it downloaded immediately. Radio receives it and can stream it, listen to it, and if it’s something they want to add to their playlist, they just click download for a full WAV, CD-quality file. They drop it into their scheduling system and it’s on the air.

Long-range plans: We rolled out in Canada in 2003 and were able to secure the entire industry with all four major labels and most of the independents using DMDS exclusively. We moved into the U.S. market in ’05 and did 1.3 million deliveries in 2007. That was a 266% increase over 2006. In March for Warner Reprise alone in the U.S., we did 116,000 deliveries. We think the U.S. industry will move entirely to digital by the end of this year. We partnered in Europe with Adstream, the leading provider of digital asset management and distribution services for the global advertising market. We have our patent granted in Canada called Content Distribution System and Method Patent, which is a patent for the method of delivering the digital files. That patent is pending in the U.S., which we expect to be granted this year.

Biggest challenge: Getting people to pay for it. It’s a cultural change. That disc is so important, especially to old timers. It’s that tangible piece of plastic—and whether it was a 45 or now a CD Pro—it’s weaning them from that and trusting the digital process.

State of music industry: It’s in a state of transition. The record industry was caught or dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. There are still people resisting change, but I think it’s being forced on them. Look at what Live Nation is up to. They’re creating a new model, which is something major labels should have probably tried to do three or four years ago.

Career highlight: The thing I am most proud of is also the most disappointing. I had a band called Refugee in the mid-’80s. They were and still are one of the great bands that just didn’t happen for any number of reasons. They had a record deal with Chrysalis when it was one of the hottest companies in the world, with Billy Idol, Huey Lewis, Pat Benatar; everything they touched turned to gold.

Most influential individual: One of the great agents of the ’70s is Mike North at ICM. I was 24 or 25 and he took me under his wing. He essentially opened up his Rolodex and introduced me to people it would have taken me years to get to.

Advice for labels: Have an open mind. Look to the future. Don’t get [caught up] in the past. It’s easy to look back at the way it used to be, but you have to move forward.

‘The idea that people are manufacturing a disc made of plastics and using jet and diesel fuel to send it so a radio station could play it is absurd—when it can all be done in a matter of minutes electronically.’
—Cliff Hunt