30 years on

When I stepped off my final stage in Tokyo on the first Genesis Revisited tour, flanked by Steve Hackett, Chester Thompson and two now sadly deceased band mates, John Wetton and Ian McDonald, I didn't expect my new venture into music tech to last thirty days much less thirty years.

In 1994 the Internet was barely beyond pixelated porn on AOL, Netscape had just got going, Apple was fumbling Newton and hurtling towards bankruptcy. There was no Facebook, no Amazon, no streaming, no smart phones, and music tech was still a world of floppy disks and MIDI Files.

AI was only discussed by farmers.

Since 1994 I’ve met my fair share of idiots and rip-off merchants; dullard venture capitalists and companies that want to just pick your brain and never cut a PO (you know who you are and some of you are still at it) but also, and way more importantly, people and companies who’ve been our champions and who I hope have also benefitted from our survival and success over the decades.?

So in our thirtieth year, let’s hear it for Dave Spiers, my original partner on Twiddly.Bits MIDI Samples, Dave Smith for telling me about MIDI years in advance, Roland founder Ikutaru Kakehashi for his insight and giggling in the back at ‘boring’ Roland business meetings in Japan, Doug Morton at Q Up Arts for almost single-handedly setting up my network of contacts in California, Tony Rita for wooing (successfully) Guitar Center, Athan Billias at Yamaha for initially hiring us as consultants on the Motif in 2000, and to Sound On Sound’s Ian Gilby for his honest but unstinting press support. For decades of loyalty and talent, major props also go to work cohorts, in particular Terry Shields, Rachel Dean, Charlie Steves, and Shelley Harrison, and to super photographer and ex missus Annie Colbeck, and graphic designer Mott Jordan. ??

In 2008 Keyfax pivoted to education in the field of music production when subsidiary ASSR (Art & Science Of Sound Recording) burst into life around Alan Parsons’ kitchen table. Alan should be a hero to anyone with an interest in recording who still has a pair of ears glued on. But to me he adds the talents of The World’s Most Patient Man, insightful businessman, copy editor supreme, and official ‘lovely bloke.’

For ASSR’s success I also have to thank the world’s most canny and glamorous press agent, Lisa Roy (RIP), Full Sail University, in pole position amongst our school clients, for ten years of incorporating our educational program into their syllabi for their many thousands of students, and, on a personal level, GRAMMY Award winning educator Beth Carlisle-Hollenbeck, who has championed our courseware throughout Santa Cruz county schools. I also want to thank Rob Frances for his financial wisdom and wizardry, and investment, Brian Deeb for more than just things legal, and, over the past five years, the youthful Noah Bruskin for putting up with ‘the old guys’ in the studio.

Music is the universally adopted Esperanto of communication and ASSR has conducted our famous master classes in many countries and languages including Argentina, Germany, UK, Mexico, and Canada. I'd like to thank Roxana Drexel, initially of our distributors Hermes Music, for her relentless ability to make things happen, including introducing me, during a master class in Colombia, to the lady who’d become my wife!

In spite of what Meta, LinkedIn, and all the other turkeys-voting-for-Thanksgiving AI lapdogs and bandwagon jumpers would have you believe, running a business is a human endeavor. Businesses are run by people, who make products and services that people buy and that people use. Bots are not lucrative prospects.

So the two possibly most important Thank Yous go to family and the medical team that have conspired to keep this CEO above ground. Big shout outs to oncologist Dr. Terry Friedlander and urologist Dr. Sima Porten at the wonderful UCSF, and to son Cameron, brand manager at Abbey Road, for his impeccable taste, and support beyond the call of any duty; and to Mrs. Colbeck, Delia Bernal, without whom this missive would have to be coming to you from beyond the grave.

A successful business is not just the sum of its parts it’s only the sum of its parts. And those parts are ideas + commitment + dogged perseverance + luck + people, who like people. Leadership, if it means anything at all, is simply making sure that all of these are present, correct, and that people, co-workers and customers alike, are fed, watered, and treated with respect.

Thanks everyone!

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