Tom Acousti Launches a Music Publishing and Production Enterprise in Portland!

By Bob McKillop

 

Portland has a thriving, energetic, and constantly evolving music scene – which unfortunately suffers from a case of provinciality.  Occasionally, an artist or a band appears as a blip on the regional or national pop culture radar:  Ellis Paul, Cindy Bullens, Patty Griffin, Slaid Cleaves, Ray LaMontagne.  Most of these success stories begin after the artist moves from Maine to a regional or national music business center.  It is difficult for local artists to tap into the music industry infrastructure.  The elements of that infrastructure just don’t exist in Maine.

Tom Acousti is out to change all that.  With the launch of his music publishing and production company, Sound Harbor Music, Tom hopes to promote his own songwriting and production efforts, and to establish a conduit to the wider music industry infrastructure for local Maine songwriters, artists, and musicians.

Sound Harbor’s business model focuses on controlling what Tom calls “the three legs of the stool” for success in getting songs and recorded music placed into moneymaking opportunities.  

First, write, co-write, or obtain licenses to great songs and excellent recordings.

Second, produce a master quality recording of the song (Tom won’t use the term “demo”.)

 Third, develop the contacts, the credibility in the industry, and the sales strategies that will result in an increasing ability to place music into opportunities to make money for all of the parties involved.

Tom has been writing and co-writing songs since he was a teenager, and has an impressive resume of success in this area.  He has thousands of miles of solo and band touring under his belt, four album releases of his original music, and credentials as a songwriting instructor to both young people and adults.  He receives royalties for his songwriting work, and regardless of the sum, that is a major accomplishment.  His appearances in seven consecutive broadcasts of the original music reality TV show, “Star Search”, where he performed his own original music, is the stuff of local legend.  He also has experience as a music supervisor for independent films.  Sound Harbor will augment Tom’s songwriting catalog by seeking out other talented local songwriters.  By signing publishing deals with them, the firm’s music catalog will grow.   There’s leg number one.

Tom has worked hard over the past few years to hone the recording, engineering, and production skills that he learned as a young man in Los Angeles.  He has been holed up at Starbird Music on Forest Avenue in Portland, working with his small, but talented studio team.  Sound Harbor music recorded and produced Joe Farren’s latest CD, “’Till the Day”, and most recently, John Paul’s release, “Belmont Boulevard”.  Both of these discs contain fully produced, master quality recordings with complex mixes and lots of power and sizzle.  Tom has earned a reputation for professional production, and other local artists are beginning to line up for his services.    Finally, Taylor Mesple and his Lewiston studio, Inner Circle Productions, has come on board in a deal that will bring Taylor's considerable engineering and producing talents into play for Sound Harbor Music.    There’s leg number two.

More recently, Tom began to mine his huge list of friends and music industry contacts, in order to identify and develop business relationships with people and firms in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville.  These contacts will be active partners with Sound Harbor Music in the business of pitching the company’s catalog of songs and recordings.  Tom is working to develop a searchable database of his catalog’s music, and plans to hire a full-time catalog manager before the end of the year.  Tom understands that a publishing firm needs to have a catalog that enables it to pitch the most appropriate songs for a particular opportunity or artist, and needs to have that entire catalog available for access at a moment’s notice.  There’s leg number three.

But, even with three strong legs, a stool needs a solid floor on which to stand.  That floor in this case is sufficient working capital to enable the firm to develop it’s catalog, pursue opportunities, and operate for a few years until the deals that it makes begin to generate it’s own cash flow.  Tom has worked hard, and has been creative, in finding that capital.  He put together some appealing investor opportunities by offering publishing rights to some of his best songs in return for a stake in the company.  He is also putting together some limited partnership agreements and finding innovative ways to acquire the production services he needs at little or no cash outlay. 

All of this hard work, talent, and planning has resulted in the imminent launch of a local firm that just might be the conduit for Maine songwriters and performers into the national music industry success pool.   The Sound Harbor music catalog currently consists mainly of Tom’s songwriting work; but Tom will be looking hard for songs from the local scene that would be good candidates for pitching nationally.  He will also be looking for talented songwriters with whom he can co-write. He also wants to find and secure rights to pitch high-quality recordings from local artists for television and movie placements.

I have known Tom for about four years, and I know something of his back story (its available for anyone to read in his bio from his webpage.)  He has enjoyed some very impressive successes, and he has endured some gut-wrenching losses and setbacks.  But Tom is the very personification of perseverance.  He is the Energizer Bunny of songwriting, performing, and producing, and the energy and positive momentum that he is bringing to this project is an intangible asset that will help it succeed.  I am looking forward to watching this story unfold, and to witnessing the success that Sound Harbor Music will bring to a few local, deserving songwriters and artists.

Sound Harbor music is another stepping stone on the path to music industry success for Portland.  You can learn more about the project, and contact Tom Acousti and his team, by visiting the firm’s website:  http://www.soundharbormusic.com/.  There are still opportunities to become involved as an investor in the music catalog, or in other ways.  I’m guessing that would be a good bet.