“DEVELOPING ARTISTS WILL ULTIMATELY
BE THE ENDGAME AND THE WIN.”
MIKE EASTERLIN
HOW LONG CAN THE REINVIGORATED
MARKET FOR VINYL SUSTAIN ITSELF?
er $80,000 to $90,000 just on sales
and things like that.
Vinyl is a tricky one, because I don’t
know what percentage of people buy
vinyl and listen to it or collect it…
It’s not a cheap product. If you’re
going to ask people to pay a certain
amount, then you want to put some
real thought and excitement into the
product. If all you’re doing is making
a copy of what you can get on a CD,
then I don’t know if that’s the best
way to go at it.
ACCORDING TO NIELSEN, ALBUMS
BY THE BEATLES, PRINCE, AMY
WINEHOUSE, PINK FLOYD AND
SOUNDTRACKS WERE AMONG THE
TOP 10 VINYL RECORDS SALES IN 2017.
IF REISSUES REMAIN THE SUREST BET
TO HAVE A TOP SELLING PHYSICAL
ALBUM, COULD THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
UNWITTINGLY BE LIMITING THE
CHANCE FOR NEW MUSIC TO BREAK
THROUGH (IF IT’S NOT STREAMING)?
We’re having a lot of debates inter-
nally. One of the problems we’re run-
ning into on the rock side of things,
versus the hip-hop or pop side, is that
I don’t know that the rock listener
has quite caught up to streaming or
understands streaming. If you go to
a rock festival, they’re still selling
25,000 to 30,000 tickets a day. Yet,
the highest selling physical album of
last year was from a rock band —
I would have to go look it up, but I
don’t think it’s a huge number.
YOU WERE RECENTLY HONORED AT
THE T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION’S
HARVEST DINNER, WHICH RAISES
FUNDS FOR CANCER RESEARCH. HOW
WHEN DID YOU MOVE TO
MONTCLAIR, AND WHAT ATTRACTED
YOU TO THE TOWN? We moved to
Montclair 14 years ago. We had two
kids and, initially, it was the schools.
As we came out and looked, we
noticed that there was a cultural sig-
nificance here. It was a diverse town,
which I thought was great.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE THINGS
TO DO LOCALLY? I’m a big golfer… I
A HIGH NOTE LeeAnn Easterlin and Mike
Easterlin attend The T.J. Martell Foundation
43rd New York Honors Gala at Cipriani
42nd Street in New York City.
DID YOU COME TO WORK WITH THE
FOUNDATION? I got involved with a
wine dinner held every March called
City of Hope. I started as someone
who went to it and donated, but then
was asked to be on the board. It’s the
one place I go to every year where
the industry, which could be very
competitive, comes together. But
everybody just checks it at the door.
I had attended the last two Harvest
Dinners, donating and buying a table.
I was approached and asked whether
I would want to be an honoree. It
was as an opportunity to take it to
another level, and that’s what we did.
I think we raised about $120,000
through the silent auction and anoth-
spend quite a few nights a year at the
Wellmont because of the business
I’m in, but not only that. It’s such an
amazing venue and a fun place to go.
My wife is involved with fundraising
for Van Vleck [House and Gardens]
and similar events at The Montclair
Art Museum.
WERE YOU EVER IN A BAND YOURSELF?
No, I wasn’t really. I sang backup in
a band in high school. But I was a
theater major in college, so I did
musical theater and sang.
WHAT WAS YOUR BEST AND WORST
PERFORMANCE? My best performance
was in a play called The Foreigner in
college. My worst performance was
when I hosted a fraternity-sorority
talent show and decided to sing at
the end. My voice cracked really bad.
It got a lot of good laughs. I was
pretty much committed to the idea I
would never ever do something like
that again, except for karaoke, and
then it’s “Jesse’s Girl,” in case you
were going to ask. ■
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE SPRING 2019
43