Not many people get to meet their favorite artists. Jim Lane has met a dozen of them.
Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains. Chris Cornell. Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. Robert Glasper. Ann and Nancy Wilson. Steve Lukather of Toto. Robert Trujillo of Metallica. Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. Barrett Martin of the Screaming Trees. Steve Perry.
“One week I was hanging out with Robert Glasper at his friend’s apartment in Harlem, another I was with Toto at their recording studio in Calabasas and another I was at the Moore Theater in Seattle talking to Mike McCready and Barrett Martin,” Jim says. “It was mind-blowing. The experiences really brought into focus how different people are and how music ties us all together.”
Jim is Lyte’s new Marketing Project Manager. Jim comes to us from Sony Music Entertainment’s Legacy Recordings, where he worked for nine years as a Product Manager and Digital Marketer. There, he directed and produced videos and short-form documentaries, which is how he met many of the icons he had worshipped as a kid growing up in Binghamton, New York.
In February, “Weird Al” Yankovic won a Grammy for Best Boxed Set or Special Limited Edition Packaging for Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic. Jim managed the career retrospective box set. He played a huge role in shaping it from an idea to a finished product.
“The graphic designers received the award and thanked me in their acceptance speech,” Jim says. “It was hands down the most creative and flat-out best physical package I had ever worked on, and arguably the best Legacy ever put out.”
Jim lives in Brooklyn and has two daughters: 8-year-old Alice and 5-year-old Madeleine. He’s taking Alice to see KISS at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on March 22.
“It’s her first concert and she has no idea what she’s in store for,” he says. “I told her I’m sure she will see other artists that she will find more appealing musically, but production-wise it’s going to be all downhill from here, kid.”
Here, he talks about his career path, his role at Lyte and chilling with his idols.
Maggie: You were at Legacy for nearly a decade. How did you get into the music business?
Jim: I have always loved live music and have been going to shows my entire life. After I graduated from college, my first job in New York City was working for LP (Lawrence Peryer, Lyte’s head of business and corporate development) at UltraStar, managing the office. It was an entry-level job, but I gradually started taking on more responsibility and became a marketing coordinator. Eventually, Live Nation bought us out and from there I moved to Legacy. I began working there as a product manager in what they called the Content Group. I worked hand in hand with the marketing group to oversee all creative assets; all the product packaging for LPs, CDs, boxed sets, digital-only releases etc., and also other materials we would use to promote the releases. A lot of it was video production, including music videos and mini-documentaries. Rolling Stone, Guitar World and Consequence of Sound would debut them for us. The artists were really excited about it, being able to share the stories behind the music, and I was telling their story through the products and videos.
Maggie: You got to interview and hang with some really iconic artists. Which experience affected you the most?
Jim: When I worked with Jerry and Sean from Alice in Chains. I had started listening to the band when I was 13 or 14 years old and it grew into an obsession that I still carry with me to this day. To give you one example which people always call me crazy for: in 2006, I had been given tickets to see the Rolling Stones at the Beacon Theatre. The same night, Alice in Chains was playing at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. Once I realized there was a conflict, I instantly gave up my Stones tickets. I didn’t give it a second thought. My daughter Alice was named after Alice in Chains.
In 2016, I got to sit backstage with them when they played at Austin City Limits. They didn’t brush me off. Instead, I felt like I was sitting in a bar with them and having a conversation. They were so cool about it. They opened up and were forthcoming and honest. I’ll be forever grateful to them for it.
They talked about Layne (Staley, Alice in Chains’ lead singer, who died of a drug overdose in 2002), how great he was and also the problems he had, and what it was all like in the early 90s. Listening to Jerry speaking about his friendship with Layne — I could see and feel the intensity, the depth of how important that relationship was to him.
Anyone who knows me knows it doesn’t get better than this. I kept thinking to myself, “I can’t believe that this is happening.” I had to rein myself in a few times to stay focused. If I could have told my 16 -year-old self that I would be doing this one day, he would be jumping up and down with joy — and he probably wouldn’t believe me.
Maggie: What made you want to join our team?
I buy a lot of tickets way ahead of time. I buy them and hope to plan around it. Right now I have 15 shows I am scheduled to go to this year, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg — I’ll probably add many more. As those dates come around, I don’t know if I’ll still be able to go, like if something is going on with the kids. I don’t want to cross my fingers and hope I can sell them if I have a conflict. With Lyte, I can just hand them back over. You get your money back — and someone who can go is going to get them. It sounds so simple, but it’s a glorious service. I can’t believe nobody has thought of this before. Many aspects of the market are getting smaller and smaller, but this is a particular market that is growing and expanding. It is exciting to be here.
Maggie: What are your plans as you get settled into your new role?
Jim: I am looking forward to learning the ins and outs of ticketing in general. The dynamics of ticket pricing, tiering and selling are fascinating. With our business development team, I’m hoping to put our technology and service in front of some of the contacts I have made over the years. I think any artist, manager, venue or promoter who takes an honest look at what Lyte is doing will realize how logical and frankly how important it is. It really is a win for everyone.
The thing is, the staff at Lyte are real fans and they care about how other fans are treated. Lyte is helping fans have a better live event and ticket-buying experience, whether it is a concert, a sporting event, a festival or whatever. I am thrilled to now be a part of that.
About Lyte
Lyte makes it easier for fans to go to more live events. Founded in New York City and San Francisco by CEO Ant Taylor, our killer fan feature is returnability. In an industry where a “no refunds and no cancellations” policy is the standard, Lyte enables fans to return their event tickets, no questions asked, to the official point of purchase.
Lyte also provides a safe and official reservation booking system, offering fans who sign up a fair price for in-demand tickets. One hundred percent of the tickets bought and sold through Lyte are issued through our ticketing partners and delivered directly to fans. Lyte has delivered millions in fan savings — $1.8 million in 2018 alone. It’s only getting better from here, thanks to our growing partnerships with bands, venues, promoters, ticketers and festivals.
For the industry, we function as a full inventory management solution, including a private-label secondary market to optimize event yield for event producers. Visit lyte.com.