Tropical Popsicle
Hometown: San Diego, California
Album: The Beach With No Footprints 7″ (Buy)
Label: Volar Records
Tropical Popsicle – The Age of Attraction

Deervana – “School” [Video]

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Blackfeet Braves
Album: Demos/First Cuts (Free Download)
Label: Unsigned
Blackfeet Braves – Trippin Like I Do
Blackfeet Braves – Cloud Nine

Inspired and the Sleep
Album: While We’re Young – Single
Label: Unsigned
Inspired and the Sleep – While We’re Young

At first glance, Ian Rogers doesn’t look like the CEO of a cutting-edge music technology company. He has long blond hair and tattoos on his fingers, is an avid skateboarder, and loves hip-hop music. Rogers happens to be one of the music industry’s brightest visionaries and one of the most passionate people I’ve spoken to regarding the future of music and marketing.

He runs the Los Angeles based company Topspin Media, a direct-to-fan marketing and retail software company founded by Peter Gotcher and Shamal Ranasinghe in 2007. Rogers joined the company in 2008, the same year Topspin was named Indie Visionary of the Year by Billboard Magazine. Prior to working at Topspin, Rogers was the GM of Yahoo Music for five years. In the 90s he managed the Beastie Boys and eventually became the President of New Media for their label, Grand Royal.

Rogers practices what he preaches: the direct-to-fan CEO is also direct-to-critics. He is not afraid to defend his company on message boards, in person, and on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and blogs. He recently interrupted his family vacation in Hawaii to explain the company’s decision to shut down the San Francisco office.

I caught up with Rogers to discuss the Topspin platform and its popularity with over 4,000 artists, which includes diverse acts such as Odd Future, Drive-By Truckers, Paul McCartney, Blitzen Trapper, Neon Indian, Sigur Ros, Lil’ Wayne, and Gillian Welch, to name a few.

Music Supervisor Profile is a recurring feature on Rollo & Grady: we interview the top supervisors in the business to learn their secrets and get valuable advice on how to break into world of music supervision. Some of our previous interviews have been with such heavyweights as Thomas Golubic, Liza Richardson, Scott Vener, and Gary Calamar.

We recently interviewed the brilliant and insightful tastemaker Andrea von Foerster of Firestarter Music. Over the last decade, Andrea has handled music supervision responsibilities for both television and film. She was the music coordinator for hit television shows Grey’s Anatomy, The OC, Rescue Me, and Roswell. She is best known for supervising the Fox Searchlight film, 500 Days of Summer. The movie’s eclectic soundtrack included Black Lips, Doves, The Smiths, Feist, and Hall & Oates. During our conversation, she made a point to tell me that she feels blessed to have the best job in the world.

Ryan Karazija – Low Roar

To some, it’s unfair – even blasphemy – to compare anyone’s vocals to those of Thom Yorke. Back in 2008, multiple critics were doing just that when describing Audrye Sessions’ frontman Ryan Karazija’s singing style. When I interviewed him in 2008, he had this to say about the comparisons:

“I think about that a lot. And I don’t know what I think because it’s fucking Thom Yorke. That’s great. Cool. He’s fucking amazing. But there’s also a thing that stresses me out about it. He’s so different, and that’s why they are who they are. At the end of the day I would never compare us to them. If somebody says I sound like Thom Yorke, well then, Thank You.”

In 2010, Audrye Sessions broke up after eight years of playing together. Soon after, Ryan moved to Reykjavik, Iceland. The move proved difficult for Ryan: being away from his friends and family and dealing with starting anew in a foreign land. Karazija started writing about his struggles and recorded new songs as Low Roar. Ryan was nice enough to share two new Low Roar tracks with us. Look for the album to be released on November 1st, by LA-based Tonequake Records.

MP3: Low Roar – Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (Edit)
MP3: Low Roar – Just A Habit

Deer Tick
Album: Black Dirt Sessions (Buy)
Label: Partisan Records
Deer Tick – Mange
Deer Tick – Cheap Sunglasses (ZZ Top)

Letterman proved that he is still relevant by booking Deer Tick for the Late Show on Wednesday, October 12th.

Related Posts:
Rollo & Grady Interview With John McCauley III of Deer Tick (4/6/11)
Rollo & Grady Interview With John McCauley III of Deer Tick (5/12/09)