Mark Fried

Early life

Fried was born November 1, 1959, and grew up in Great Neck, New York. He studied at Great Neck South High School and Vassar College, where he graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor’s degree in political science.

Career

Fried began his professional career in 1984 as a key contributor to the successful launch of music monthly Spin Magazine, overseeing the groundbreaking marketing campaign that established the magazine’s unique voice and won a committed readership.

Wanting to be closer to music and the people who make it, Fried segued in 1985 to BMI, the world’s largest Performing Rights Organization. As a senior executive in the company’s writer/publisher relations department, he presided over a repertoire of two million songs and worked closely with some of the most influential songwriters of the pop era including Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Carole King, John Phillips, Lloyd Price, Ellie Greenwich, Steve Cropper, Alan Gordon & Gary Bonner and Holland, Dozier and Holland.

Fried also identified, signed and promoted a series of breakout writer/artists of the late 90’s/early 00’s including The Pixies, The Blake Babies, Ben Folds, Old 97’s, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Stetsasonic, Jellybean Benitez, Latin Rascals, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, L.A. Reid and Babyface, Full Force, Keith Diamond and Darrell Scott.

Over the course of his ten years at BMI, Fried played a pivotal role in transforming BMI’s New York office into a vital player in the process of songwriter and artist discovery and development, expanded its royalty tracking and distribution systems and introduced initiatives to better serve veteran songwriters, ensuring the continued value of their catalogs and legacies.

Believing that several decades of consolidation and monopolization in music publishing had left songwriters without true partners and advocates, Fried founded Spirit Music Group, an independent music publisher, in 1995. [6]

Spirit was launched with a $400K angel investment. The company became operationally profitable after 18 months and began funding its own acquisitions at 2 years.

Within its first five years of operation, Spirit became the fastest-growing independent publisher, strategically building a catalog of 10,000 songs including more than 150 charted hits spanning every era, genre and territory. The company’s initial roster included standards writers Bernie Wayne (“Blue Velvet”) and Johnny Burke (“Misty”), the 60’s hits of John Phillips, Lou Christie and Paul & Paula, 70’s catalogs of Alice Cooper, The Marshall Tucker Band, Tony Orlando & Dawn, Gene McDaniels and A Taste Of Honey and the 80’s output of The Go-Go’s, The Waitresses, Billy Squier, Pure Prairie League, Ray Goodman & Brown and Benny Mardones as well as major hits by Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and The Beach Boys.

From 2000-2005, Fried and his executive team built on Spirit’s reputation as a best-in-breed royalty administrator and peerless song promoter, attracting even more iconic songwriter/artists to the fold. During this period, the company signed exclusive deals with Beach Boys’ founder Brian Wilson, punk pioneer Lou Reed, funk queen Chaka Khan and Blue Mountain Music, home of the complete works of reggae superstar Bob Marley. Spirit also added the publishing catalogs of three legendary record labels, Cameo Parkway (Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, The Orlons), Laurie Records (Dion & The Belmonts, The Chiffons) and Brunswick Records (Jackie Wilson, The Chi-Lites) as well as taking on representation of k-Tel Records extensive collection of recorded masters. [

From 2006-2010, Fried strategically broadened the company’s global reach, establishing Spirit offices in the UK and Holland and strengthened representation throughout Europe, Asia and South America via a network of independent partners. At the same time, Spirit began domestic representation of some of the most respected independent overseas publishers, including Italy’s Sugar Music and Curci Music, Spain’s Hadem Music, Australia’s Albert Music and Israel’s Media Men. Fried continued to win the trust of some of music’s most respected hit-makers, acquiring the catalogs of writer/producer Rick Nowels (Madonna, Dido, Melanie C), writer/producer Jim Guercio (Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Buckinghams) and Grammy, Emmy and Oscar winning composers Alan and Marilyn Bergman (Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand). Fried also secured deals with Boz Scaggs and Toto’s David Paich

In 2008, Fried sourced and executed the acquisition of the complete publishing catalog, original master recordings and trademark rights for UK glam icon Marc Bolan and T.Rex, a groundbreaking deal which enabled the company to promote the artist’s songs, brand and legacy on a global basis.

As part of his ongoing effort to broaden Spirit’s repertoire, Fried oversaw a greater push into jazz, adding the works of Charles Mingus, David ‘Fathead’ Newman and Yusef Lateef. A similar initiative in hip-hop led to deals with writer/producers D.R. Period, DJ Clark Kent, Loon and Asiah Lewis as well as heavily sampled DJ/Artist Joey Longo. And Spirit’s creative team identified and signed a series of emerging writer/artists including Scissor Sisters, MGMT and Justice, and, working with respective managers and record labels, contributed significantly to their successful debuts.

In 2011, Fried established a groundbreaking joint venture with the Jim Henson Company – the first of its kind between a publisher and a studio - which enabled Spirit creative staff to collaborate with Henson’s from inception on the use of music in various film, television and web projects. Spirit staff contributed meaningfully to the successful marketing of such hit PBS shows as Sid The Science Kid and Dinosaur Train as well as the ongoing promotion of such classic Henson properties as Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. In 2012, Fried led Spirit in the acquisition of the publishing catalog of rock legend Pete Townshend, including the complete works of The Who, Townshend’s solo releases and future work. The deal represented the largest single catalog purchase in music publishing since 2009 and strengthened Spirit’s position as a leading independent publisher. [7] [

From 2013-2015, Fried and Spirit continued to attract some of music’s most influential writers and artists including Joe Walsh (James Gang, The Eagles), Graham Nash (The Hollies, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young), David Pack (Ambrosia), Phil Coulter, Al Stewart and the Estate of legendary Brill Building writer Doc Pomus. [8]

From inception, Fried believed there was a major disconnect between songwriters and the producers of feature films, television programs and advertising campaigns and set out to collaborate strategically, crafting relationships with music supervisors and studio music departments that functioned like consultancies. With early access to the great majority of film and television scripts and advertising briefs, Spirit consistently compiled one of the best song placement records in the publishing business. From 2005-2015, Spirit creative staff – managed and inspired by SVP Creative Pete Shane, a 15-year veteran of the company - landed feature song uses in more than 800 wide-release and independent films, more than 1000 network and cable television shows and scores of global, national and regional advertising campaigns. Under Fried’s aegis, Spirit broadened its services from the traditional caretaking and promotion of song catalogs to the preservation and extension of its clients brands and legacies. Sync licensing was increasingly used as a strategic marketing tool for writer/artists, with high profile film, television and advertising uses proactively co-promoted with studios and agencies. Further, Spirit creatives pioneered web-based promotion of songs and artists in real time as their songs aired on television and streaming services via Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and other socials, migrating tens of thousands of new fans to its clients’ social sites. Fried and key staffers crafted and executed brand marketing plans for such artists as The Who, Bob Marley, Lou Reed and T.Rex extending well beyond traditional publishing, which included exploring and developing value-added album reissues, career retrospectives and tribute albums, autobiographies, biographies and graphic novels, documentaries and biopics, theatrical and dramatic multimedia shows, apparel and merch, activations, sponsorships and co-branded consumer products. Over the course of 20 years serving as the company’s President/CEO, Fried led Spirit from its modest angel investment to become one of the most respected and successful independent publishers in the world.