Producers Guild NMC Wire: September 08, Vol. 3 Issue #9
“I’ve always been a musician with a love of technology…”
At an early age, Brian Brodeur performed music while also learning to program his Apple II+ home computer. He studied Music Technology at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Over the years, he has run a recording studio and participated in countless musical performances in many styles, formats, and on various instruments. Before long, he was producing critically acclaimed indie-label recordings and developing audio for CD-ROM games, including Blizzard Entertainment’s “Warcraft” franchise and Davidson Software’s “Magic Tales” series.
In 2001, Brodeur created NewYorkDVD. “My business transitioned over many years from a service provider who produces to a producing company with a service business. I pitched leaders in the music education space and obtained producing contracts for music education titles that taught viewers how to play guitar, for example. We also produced music instruction (MI) discs featuring major talent.” Brodeur and the NewYorkDVD team have developed hundreds of interactive projects, including the worldwide DVD release of Rod Stewart’s “One Night Only- Live from Royal Albert Hall”. Other recent projects have included the #1 Billboard DVD, Phish’s ‘Walnut Creek’, as well as DVD development for Mike Keneally, The Producers Guild of America, KINO International, Empire Pictures, UBS, Columbia/TriStar, USA Television, ABC/Disney, Barnes & Noble, J-Records, Ciao Italia (PBS) and Frank Zappa’s “DubRoom Special” & “Classic Albums” titles. Brodeur’s web site address is BrianBrodeur.com .
In 2006, NewYorkDVD was awarded the DVD Association’s Excellence Award for the Music DVD development of Neil Peart’s “Anatomy of a Drum Solo” educational title. NewYorkDVD releases have received dozens of industry awards and topped magazine readers’ polls, including #1 sales ratings at Amazon, DVDUniverse and Billboard Magazine.
These days, Brodeur runs NewYorkDVD from both a New York office and an edit suite in New Jersey. One current project, a title focused on NYC jazz musician Peter Mazza, is a series of discs designed as high-end music education and a quasi-documentary about Peter and the NYC jazz scene. There’s also a Cuban music project – a box set with licensed footage that he’ll re- edit for release. It’s an educational series focused on each traditional Cuban instruments as played by musicians in Cuba. “Some products are heavy on DVD and use the web for trailer-based marketing. Others, like Peter Mazza’s releases, will have more of a combination of DVD and online consumer base.” On the web, he’s talking about launching a series yet to be named that would be an educational monthly music release. “We develop many of our productions for release within profitable niche markets where a success is measured by selling far fewer than blockbuster ‘Hollywood’ numbers.”
Brodeur is a recently-elected member of the Board of Delegates of the PGA East Chapter. “Post-production services are not the majority of what I do now and the PGA allows me to learn from other producers. I also have knowledge to contribute. The DVD market has become much more commoditized and competitive, but it’s not dead – and looking forward to new technology, I’ll be leading a Blu-ray panel for the PGA in 2009 as well.
Question of the Month: What’s exciting you the most about your business?
It’s two sides of one coin. One side of the coin is producing content within the fast-paced New Media industry – utilizing new formats and emerging business. The other side of the coin is successfully applying my existing music and technology experience to producing New Media content.
“I come from the music industry, which is very competitive, and the PGA is much more collaborative and open. I’m learning a lot about broader markets and what’s happening in other segments of the business.”