>> ... Next Generation ...
Career Soundtrack
Love of music leads to job
overseeing musicians'careers.
KAREN SCHWARTZ I SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
W
est Bloomfield native
Adina Friedman, 32,
works as a manager
at Atom Factory
Management, a Los Angeles-based music
management company. For the past two-
and-a-half years, she has been overseeing
artists' careers with the company and
helping them grow.
Her main responsibility is
Lindsey Stirling, an electronic
violinist and artist whose label
Friedman handles. Friedman
is also part of the day-to-day
team for singer/songwriter
Meghan Trainor, where her job
includes helping coordinate
Lindsey
logistics, public appearances,
Stirling
press and marketing activities.
Friedman's role has
taken her all over the world, from Japan
to Germany, Poland to England, France,
Norway and Italy. She has also been all over
the U.S.
"It's different all the time; that's what
I like about my job," she says. "A lot of
it is really looking after the artist and
making sure they're well taken care of, and
managing their schedule, their time —
making sure they're not put into situations
they can't handle — saying 'no' when you
have to say 'no' and 'yes' when you have to
say 'yes; so the artist doesn't have to worry
about not doing something."
The job means working behind-the-
scenes with the talented artists as well
as a front-row seat to watch them keep
developing. It also means getting to be a
part of big moments, she says. "I got to see
Lindsey win an Echo Award, which is the
equivalent of a Grammy in Germany," she
recalls. "I got to see her debut as No. 2 on
the Billboard chart."
Music's Allure
Friedman's passion for music goes back
more than a decade, when she was
admiring the music industry from afar. She
worked at the Sam Goody music store in
Novi's Twelve Oaks Mall in high school and
while at the University of Michigan returned
to Sam Goody on summer breaks. That's
how she met a Warner Elektra Atlantic
representative, who used to come into the
store to set up in-store appearances and
marketing pushes.
"I started talking to her and inquired
about an internship," she recalls. The
summer before her junior year, she interned
for WEA and developed her own aspirations
for working in music.
When the internship ended, she
transitioned to a position within Atlantic
Records as a college representative,
promoting artists on campus and
setting up "listening parties,"
giveaways and in-store appearances.
By the summer before senior year,
she had been handpicked for an
internship with Atlantic Records in
New York, where she worked in the
radio promotion department.
I
During senior year, she worked
as a college representative while
simultaneously working at two area
record stores. After graduation, she
decided to pack her bags.
"Two weeks after graduation, I moved
to New York," she says. "I wanted to get a
headstart."
She joined Warner Music in July 2004
and worked her way up from being
advertising department assistant to doing
her own media planning and buying. She
then moved over to a new department that
focused on Web strategies for artists to sell
directly to their fans.
Then she realized she wanted to be on
the management side and left Warner for a
Sony Music-funded startup called tinyOGRE
Entertainment. There she worked closely
with artist managers and oversaw the
activities related to the record label. When it
lost funding in 2011 and the label closed its
doors, she transitioned again.
"I was really fortunate to meet an
amazing manager who was managing
John Legend," she recalls. The manager,
Ty Stiklorius, recruited Friedman freelance
to help out with singer/songwriter Madi
Diaz at management company The Artist
Organization in Los Angeles. So in May
2012, she traded coasts.
By October that year, they both moved
over to Atom Factory, where Stiklorius is
now co-president. And, in March 2013, they
discovered Lindsey Stirling and took her on
as a client.
'Ideal Artist Model'
"Adina is a breath of fresh air in the music
industry as far as managers are concerned,"
At the Billboard Music Awards 2014: Adina Friedman, second from left, with
musicians Drew Steen, Lindsey Stirling and Jason Gaviati.
says Stirling of working with Friedman
the last two years. "People love working
with her because she makes people feel
appreciated and valued. I also didn't think
I'd ever meet someone that could work as
hard as I do and, with Adina, I've met my
match."
Together they've created what Stirling
calls the "ideal artist model," using
Friedman's skills and knowledge of the label
side to push ahead Stirling's social media
approach to music — she has hundreds of
millions of YouTube views, and her debut
album sold more than 440,000 copies in
the U.S. without a major label's backing.
Stirling will perform June 26 at Meadow
Brook Music Festival in Rochester Hills.
Even with a hectic touring schedule,
Friedman finds time to head home to
Michigan multiple times a year to visit her
parents, Lorraine and Jacob Friedman, a
brother and two nieces. Here she
attended Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills, was active in BBYO
and went on a Birthright Israel trip.
Friedman also went back to Ann
Arbor a few years ago to talk with
college students for a career day.
She credits her family for teaching
her that hard work often generates
rewards.
"My dad was an entrepreneur who
started his own business, so I got to see the
drive and determination," she recalls. "My
dad moved from Israel to start a whole new
life, and essentially I was doing the same, by
moving to a new city where I really didn't
know anyone."
And, she says, growing up in Michigan
exposed her to music and the "music
scene." In high school, she would make
weekly pilgrimages to Detroit and Pontiac to
see concerts and made a book with all her
ticket stubs.
"That live music scene in Downtown
Detroit really made me fall in love with
music," she says. "I've seen the way music
touches people and helps people find
hope."
Stirling is an example, she says.
"Lindsey is able to give back to fans
and inspire people and use her fame for
good, and it's really inspiring to be a part
of something greater than just ... it's not
just the entertainment business; it's not just
music. I've seen it firsthand make a positive
difference in people's lives."
Meanwhile, Trainor also has
grown leaps and bounds over
just a year's time.
"She's grown into this
incredible performer and
artist, and through her song,
All About that Bass,' has
reminded people to love
themselves," she says.
And one of the coolest
things about her job, she says: "Watching
my nieces know and love the artists I work
with." ❑
April 23 • 2015
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