He understands both the music and distribution businesses and coupled these areas of knowledge to create Blue Sky, a St. Louis company that distributes St. Louis music to predominantly St. Louis-based stores. Artists and retailers are the visible superstars of the recorded-music business.
Artists make the music, dress in fancy clothes and demand attention and ego strokes.
Retailers create hip atmospheres in which fans can purchase this music. Distributors keep the whole thing moving smoothly, and without them the prima donna rock-star singers would have to get their tender hands dirty handling CDs with sharp edges. Distributors are on the receiving end of the avalanche of CDs released every year, and it's their duty to collect them all, pile them neatly and offer them to the record stores. I had a station wagon, and I went all around the Midwest and did that. After a stint as a label rep for MCA, he worked in video distribution.