← Going Big! with Kevin Gentry
Going Big! with Kevin Gentry
Going Big: Jimmy Hutcheson on Reinventing SPIN, Embracing Innovation, and Scaling Success
00:30:17
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- [00:00]
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- [00:16]
Jimmy Hutchison
I would say to look up people who have done what you want to do, but they've done it big. And don't just look in the obvious places, like a Forbes list or something. Look in the more unusual places. There's a lot of folks out there who don't care about being on those kind of lists. And sometimes those are the people that you want to emulate and you want to ask them questions. I remember when I was young, I called them executive discussions. I would email people that were in positions I wanted to be in and say, can I sit down and have an executive discussion? And say, what's that? And I'd say, well, I just want to sit down and ask you questions. And I would take copious notes and then I would summarize them and put them in a document. I think that's really great. If you're trying to go big, go to people who have gone big. See if you can sit down with them for a one on one. Who knows where it'll go. Maybe they'll become a mentor. Maybe they're just flattered by you asking. Most people are. And yeah, try to emulate people who have already gone big.
- [01:17]
Kevin Gentry
Welcome to the Going Big Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Gentry, and this is the place where we celebrate big, bold moves and big ideas. Each week I sit down with inspiring leaders, entrepreneurs and change makers who are making a significant impact in their careers and in their communities. Whether you're looking to level up your leadership, pursue your passion, or just get inspired to take your next big leap, this is where those stories come to light. Now, if you're listening on iTunes, YouTube, or anywhere else you tune into podcasts, be sure to hit that subscribe button so you'll never miss an episode. Now let's dive in to what it means to truly go big. Well, ladies and gentlemen, joining us today is a true great example of going big. Somebody who's combined his interest and passion in music and entertainment with some amazing business leadership skills and digital marketing skills to really go big. With me is Jimmy Hutcherson. Jimmy is the CEO of Spin, the legendary music journalism brand. He is also the CEO of Next Management Partners, which is a media and technology investment firm. And through that, he has transformed many businesses, especially through the Digital space. Over 100 million page views. In the mix of this and as I mentioned, with respect to spinning, really transform one of the great iconic music brands of all time. So, Jimmy, I, I know our audience is very interested in this conversation today, especially with the respect of going big. You have leaned into this in a, in a number of big ways. And just to start off, Spin, Spin magazine, you know, legendary, iconic brand. What was the value that you saw in it that made you want to buy it?
- [03:18]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah. Thanks, Kevin. Thanks for having me. I mean, what motivated me to buy Spin is that at the time it was owned by Billboard. And I saw that it had some unlocked potential. I saw something that I could help rejuvenate and reinvigor. And I had grown up reading Spin like a lot of people had. And if you know this world of music journalism, there's Rolling Stone and there's Spin, and Spin has always been, I think, a little less political, a little more about the music. So I just loved the brand and I knew the potential of the brand and that's what I, I really wanted. I was up for the challenge. I, I knew some of the executives at Billboard and just, I thought, you know, I could really, I could acquire this from them and, and really turn it into something so.
- [04:11]
Kevin Gentry
Well, this is great. And so this gives us a lot to talk about, but let's dial it back just a little bit. Who is Jimmy Hutchison? I know that you are from the Midwest, you're from Springfield, Missouri, from America's heartland. How did somebody from Springfield, Missouri end up in Los Angeles in the media and entertainment business?
- [04:32]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, it's been a wild journey. I mean, I moved from Missouri to Malibu when I was in college. I went to Pepperdine. So what took me out to LA was going to Pepperdine in Malibu, suburb of la and graduated from Pepperdine and had just built a really good network at the school. I had met really interesting investors and other families there. I had been mentored by a legendary TV executive named Don Ohlmeyer, who had been the president of NBC and created Monday Night Football. And I was a concert promoter at Pepperdine. I put on concerts for Third Eye Blind, Dashboard Confessional. My, my family had come from a very different business. They had been in manufacturing for generations and also real estate. So I had, I kind of went the 180 degree opposite route into media and entertainment. And then over the course of about 20 years, I just became a subject matter expert in media through. Throughout all my acquisitions, I've done working in media businesses, selling a business in 2015 to the maker Studios co founders which was a large YouTube multichannel network. To the founders new company. So yeah, really what took me out there to California was college. But I stayed and met my wife in California.
- [05:56]
Kevin Gentry
Well, Pepperdine is an amazing place there on the cliffs up above Malibu. But when you were there there, what kind of other exposure do I recall correctly? You were introduced to working with kiss, also mtv. I mean you've already touched on mentors. Mentors always comes up in these going big conversations. So we'll dig into that a little bit more. But what were some of the experiences that pulled you in even further?
- [06:22]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, I think that's a great question. What pulled me in even further is that I landed an internship at mtv and later on I ended up working there full time. And then eventually I landed an internship with the manager of kiss, Doc McGee. And at the time he was also managing Blues Traveler, Hootie and the Blowfish and a bunch of other bands. I think Kiss was probably the most interesting. And I have no idea what KISS has to do with Hooting the Blowfish, but those were two of the clients complete opposite types of bands. But yeah, I think that I, I just. Anytime when I was in college, if I ever saw an opportunity, I would just take it. I had a friend who knew someone at mtv, they needed an intern. I'm like, I'm in. And I just would drive to MTV every day in Santa Monica and I would just network, network, network. Then the KISS opportunity came up, same thing. So yeah, I just, I don't, I try especially early in my career. I wouldn't say no to anything. I think a lot of going big and having success is when you're young, you say yes to opportunities and you do what I call hang around the hoop. And you, you are in the right. I hate to sound cheesy, but yeah, you end up being in the right place at the right time by putting yourself out there and showing up.
- [07:41]
Kevin Gentry
No. Well said. You know, again, this comes up a lot in these conversations. Doug DeVos a couple episodes ago was just said, you know, you, you can't win the race if you don't get in the race. And it may look dawning or like you, you just don't have a chance but, but you don't have a chance unless you enter. So that's a great, great attitude. So if I understand correctly. So you see, you had this, this, this love for, for music which attracted you to these opportunities. But you also willing to grab these opportunities. But my understanding Is, is that in the process you saw opportunity on the business side about taking some of and really transforming them in terms of embracing new opportunities for innovation, new technologies, new media opportunities, the digital space. Tell us a little bit about that.
- [08:36]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, pretty much. The thesis has been there's a lot of really great media brands that are tried, trusted, true brands that have authority in their niche. When I think of, for example, sports media, you think espn, maybe Barstool Sports, Bleacher Report, maybe certain creators and influencers on TikTok and YouTube who you follow who have authority. When you think of music, it might be like Rolling stone spin on YouTube, Anthony Fontano, the needle drop. Like there's all these different examples even in the digital space of what I call legacy media or a better term might be trusted media. And I, I really saw that some of these brands were being passed by because they hadn't been stewarded. It's sort of like if you're in real estate and you own rental houses, like, you can fix up the kitchen, you can probably charge more for rent. You fix up the bathrooms, you can probably charge more for rent. So I saw some old dilapidated, say rental houses and I decided to buy them and fix them up and make them shine. And a good example of that is spin because we've had so much success with spin over the last five years. And I really think the value in media is it's the truthfulness, it's the honesty. But there's also nostalgia with spin because so many people grew up reading it and it's such a big name. And I think news is in its own category news because of how polarized our society has become. That's a. Probably a different thesis. And we don't look a lot at news media. We've advised a little bit around news, but generally speaking I see the value in these brands. There's a company called Authentic Brands Group and they're backed by BlackRock and they're massive and they buy, they own Sports Illustrated, they buy these like legacy brands and fix them up. And I think we do that as well. We do it on a different level that is not quite blackrock level, but I think we're scrappy and we know how to find opportunities and we know how to operate companies and really turn them around if that's what's needed. And I think that also too, in this age of AI, you have so much content out there, you have to think about, well, what am I going to trust in my feed if everything's made by AI? Well, I'm going to trust brands that I know. I'm not necessarily going to trust something new served to me by an algorithm, it's by an untrusted source. So I think that the deadly combination is to use AI as tools for real writers and real journalists, but not to let AI take over and to use it as more of a tool. And then you trust the brands that you follow and know and grew up with.
- [11:37]
Kevin Gentry
Wow. Well, it's just terrific. I mean, you see value that others don't and you enable that. That's all that's there, just to capture it and go more. Are you able just to share just a little bit about the transformation of Spin? I mean, where was it and where is it today? Is that something you can talk about?
- [11:56]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, sure. I think generally Spin, when we acquired it, was a brand where different folks had been appearing on the digital covers like, say, Billie Eilish. And Spin was producing really great events and people have a lot of memories of Spin, but I think that Billboard was taking most of the attention and kind of, in a way, maybe there wasn't room in a company for like two brands like that. So when we acquired Spin, we were really seeing it as, oh, wow, there's opportunity here. So over the course of about four years, we 17x the revenue and Spin profitable and it really has become a much larger going concern and a it continues to thrive. When we started, there was no TikTok for spin in 2020. Now our TikTok's almost as big as Rolling Stones. We get the buzz online, the buzz on social, I think we 20x the Instagram following. We launched a production deal with 101 Studios to produce TV shows and films. We launched a record label for Spin called Spin Records with Randy Jackson, Virgin and Timberland. So we've really tried to harness the IP library that we have and extend it into new new places and build new partnerships and new revenue.
- [13:26]
Kevin Gentry
Wow. Well, 17x20x, those are some big, big numbers. That's real transformation. That's. That's amazing. All right, so in the course of what you've done, you've obviously worked with some iconic artists. Are there any in particular that really helped inform your. Your view of the future, the potential for the future?
- [13:44]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, I think over the years, Spin, before I got here, had discovered Nirvana. Spin put Nirvana on their very first magazine cover. And we brought the founder of Spin back five years ago. He works at Spin full time again. He's an amazing guy. His Name's Bob Guccione Jr. I think he's probably one of the most prolific journalists out there, especially in music and culture. I also think the artists that we've worked with, we were the first to write about Olivia Rodrigo at Spin, so we helped put her on the map. I think what we're sort of seeing, our place is to. Is to be that kind of curator of what's good, taste, what's not, help point people to great music. Also, culture has been big. We've done investigative reporting. We do all kinds of unique stories. If you remember, Sven from back in the day, the live, the column about aids, we also did an investigation into Live Aid back in the day before I got the Spin. So I think spin's always played a big role in culture. And the artists that we write about, we like to try to find them before no one knows about them. Once we know who they are, fans want to learn more about them through the lens of spin. We made a choice. I remember in the early days of Machine Gun Kelly switching from hip hop to rock. We profiled him, and he was dating Megan Fox, and we brought him into a photo shoot, and he brought Megan Fox with him. And. And I'm like, going home like, mom. I told my wife, I'm like, guess.
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Kevin Gentry
Who I met at work today?
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Jimmy Hutchison
Megan Fox. Like, you don't get to say that in every job. So, yeah, I think that we're there with these artists when they're, you know, in the case of Machine Gun Kelly, changing genres. That wasn't necessarily an artist that everyone thought, oh, you'd put him in Spin, but he had a story. And, um, and we ended up working with him on a nonprofit type initiative later. And I think there's also been artists, too, that we've covered forever, like Pearl Jam. I remember going to backstage at a Pearl Jam concert and watching them from the side of the stage and getting to fist bump with Eddie Vedder, and just felt like I was on cloud nine. I mean, there's those moments where you get to meet your heroes and, you know, you just. It makes. It's hard to call this a job sometimes. I love what I do. And the whole idea for me was always about, you know, how do you 100x spin? How do you go as big as possible? And a lot of that's by working with really big artists. Like that brand rub is important. And the artists want to work with Spin. They call us and pitch us to be on the covers of Spin. They want to see themselves on the Spin Instagram. They want to see themselves in print.
- [16:28]
Kevin Gentry
So, yeah, that's Outstanding. Wow. Well, okay, so musical tastes are constantly changing. So you have these, these names, these icon brands that we recognize, but for younger audiences, with these changing, how do you balance all of that?
- [16:46]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, I mean, it, it is a delicate balance. There's legacy artists that you create a lot of nostalgia around, and there's newer artists which we discover on Tik Tok alongside all the fans. And we just offer a point of view like Chapel Rowan or others. And I think what people come to Spin for, even with the younger artists, it's the, it's the take. Like, oh, what does Spin have to say about Chapel Rowan? And, and the founder of Spin has had takes on her. And, you know, some, some have probably been as popular as others in terms of our viewpoint of certain artists. But yeah, I think the, the new generation, Gen Z is, is coming to Spin and consuming the content on TikTok and Instagram. And it's, you know, we're kind of known for, like, certain genres of music were known, like, we, we were pretty early on a bunch of different DJs. I mean, spin back in the day was the first to put Tracy Chapman on a magazine cover, I think. I mean, back in the 80s, you didn't put a black woman on a magazine cover. I remember the founder of Spin telling me he got a call from Russell Simmons saying, I wanted to meet the white boy who's putting all the brothers on the COVID because Bob had put Run DMC on a cover, Public Enemy on a cover. Nobody was putting these artists on magazine covers. And, and keep in mind, this is like, this is like 1985, way before Instagram. So that at the time was a big deal. And that's probably what's changed too, is I think Gen Z isn't used to scarcity. If you think about a magazine, like, with spin, we print one per quarter and then we update the website 20 times a day, plus online. But scarcity, I think, means something to people when, like, you only have one a quarter. Like, you have to pick the best one. And it's like there's a. You got to, like, make it through the chopping block and then you're okay, you're chosen to be on the COVID of Spin. So I think that's another thing that's different with Gen Z. They're just fed so much content. And I think we're trying to consider ourselves to be more like premium, where we're like, okay, there's kind of a gate around this. What's the best content? Instead of just throwing all. Instead of all the content, let's just show you the best content. And that's kind of, I think, what Gen Z appreciates a little bit too.
- [19:06]
Kevin Gentry
All right, so let's switch gears to another go big category, and that's philanthropy. I know, Jimmy, that you have a real heart for others. You have a deep belief in people. You've been involved with the group the Phoenix. Tell us a little bit about that.
- [19:21]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, basically, I think the. The Phoenix, when the Phoenix was working with Stand Together, is and had been talking about a new marketing initiative called One Million Strong. So right away, we knew in the music industry that addiction's a big problem. So we met with the founder of the Phoenix, Scott Strode, and some of the staff at Stand Together and realized there were some real natural ways we could promote the Phoenix to artists as well as to the public. And we thought, well, hey, if artists know about this, that will help get to our goal of 1 million people into sobriety. Um, so more specifically, what we did is we came up with a concept. We produced an event with the Phoenix at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame in. At Machine Gun Kelly's coffee shop called the 27 Club. Well, it was interesting because we set up a panel. Scott Strode came and spoke, John Hardin, others, and we talked about. And people came in to the event, and there was an art gallery with Spin covers. But we were there to talk about sobriety and, um, and what that means. And Machine Gun Kelly attended, and we had, you know, others from the local community there in Ohio, and really the Cleveland community got around it and saw, wow, this is something we. I guess at the time, they wasn't. They weren't as aware of it. And I. I saw some stats after the event was over. I think we 10x the number of downloads of the Phoenix app. And like, there's a huge percentage of those people who downloaded the app who went into recovery and stayed in recovery. So then after that, we. We started producing events at music festivals with the Phoenix and started writing about them more on Spin just to try to help and get the word out about the Phoenix and help with the marketing of the Phoenix.
- [21:15]
Kevin Gentry
All right, so on that, because you're. You're really good about bringing together your passions and your talents. So. So did you bring some of what you've learned in the digital transformation space to the Phoenix to help them reach more?
- [21:33]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, yeah, I think that that's been a big part of it where, you know, there's these principles that we've used to run our businesses that we've owned in media. And it. As far as I think making the Phoenix more digital, I think that it was really about letting it be kind of artist led. Like who are the faces and the names? Like spins a name. These artists are named. You know, how can we get the word out about what they're doing? And I think where the role we've tried to play is that, you know, how can we make what the Phoenix does popular in pop culture?
- [22:08]
Kevin Gentry
So. Okay, so now I think you're really striking to where some of your gifts are because you're. You're sparking a movement now. When it becomes artist led, when it becomes more than just the organization trying to drive this change, that's when it really starts to go big. Is. I mean, you agree?
- [22:23]
Jimmy Hutchison
Yeah, no, it does. I mean when you. You catch fire that way and you 100x and create a movement by involving artists and getting artists excited and you want to do it in an organic way where they're not just virtue signaling, but they're genuinely excited. And I. We've done these kinds of projects with Killer Mike, who's a famous rapper from Run the Jewels, who's also had a show on Netflix. We did a. A web series with the group Fire around, Free Speech with Tom Morello from Rage against the Machine, Melissa Etheridge. There's just. I think when the artists care about it, they're more likely to share it and talk about it. And then that's by them talking about it to their fans and to influencers. That's how you. I think 100x.
- [23:11]
Kevin Gentry
Well, that is really awesome. Well, that is a 100x. I mean that's. That's massive. Cool. So Jimmy, what's next in your view for the music industry and what's next for Jimmy Hutchinson in terms of going big?
- [23:27]
Jimmy Hutchison
In terms of going big? Well, the big for. For Jimmy Hutcherson, it's. It's that I have my firm next management partners and we're a. We're a private equity firm. We. We look for businesses to buy and we stick to media. So we're, you know, TMT space. So we. We look for opportunities. We find proprietary deals that no one else knows about and we. We try to acquire businesses and build them up. So that to me is that. That's the Next, you know, 20 years where I am 100 Xing is that is going big on acquisitions and we've got some deals in our pipeline which are very big. The second is what you asked about Spin and music. I think where. Where music's going is that it's. It's AI I it. I think AI is going to help the artists create music faster. I think you'll see AI artists that will be marked as like, hey, this isn't a human making this song. It's an AI. What will happen in that world? Lots of IP issues, IP infringement. I mean, there can be all kinds of things that can happen in music around AI, but I think it'll help artists make things more efficiently using AI tools. And I really think as far as with Spin, it's that, like, we launched a Spin TV network which has a 247 programming of Spin content, kind of like MTV used to be. But with Spin's sensibilities, I think that those kind of partnerships are how Spin continues to go big. It's that we extend the Spin name into other avenues. Like we have T shirts at Urban Outfitters that say Spin on them. New York City, 1985. And they're sold next to the Nirvana shirts. And people see Spin as this, like, nostalgic, really great brand. And I think we'll just continue to be a bigger and bigger force in pop culture with Spin and continue to go big with Spin.
- [25:32]
Kevin Gentry
Wow, that's really great. All right, well, two wrap up questions, and these are ones I normally ask. So the first is, imagine an earlier version of yourself, a younger version of yourself. What would you tell that younger version of yourself today to do any differently.
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Jimmy Hutchison
On the really tough days when you're down or when you've gotten punched in the face, Just take a breather, go on a long walk, shut off the laptop, come back the next day. I mean, this happened to me yesterday. I had a really bad day due to some circumstances, and, and I literally stopped emailing people. I'm like, and this is like middle of the day. I'm like, I'm done. I. I need to hit the stop button, pause, and come back tomorrow and reopen the laptop and start working it. That's what I did. I just had to stop. I. So I would tell myself to, to not let those really rough days ruin everything. Don't try to just, you know, power through, but pause and take a moment to, to breathe. I guess the second would be to just put mentors around myself when, you know, that's, that's what I tell my younger self and listen to others for wisdom and, and, you know, have wise counsel. That's, I think, always important.
- [27:00]
Kevin Gentry
Well, thanks for sharing that. You know, I realize sometimes when I focus so much on the going big, the audience may think, well, everything is perfect. There's no setbacks, there's no challenges. All these people just accomplish these. So thanks for sharing that point of vulnerability even from yesterday, and thanks for sticking with being on the interview today. So here's the last question, Jimmy. Just what advice would you give to anyone listening anywhere in the world based on what you've done about how to think about going big?
- [27:33]
Jimmy Hutchison
I would say to look up people who have done what you want to do, but they've done it big. And don't just look in the obvious places, like a Forbes list or something. Look in the more unusual places. There's a lot of folks out there who don't care about being on those kind of lists. And sometimes those are the people that you want to emulate and you want to ask them questions. I remember when I was young, I called them executive discussions. I would email people that were in positions I wanted to be in and say, can I sit down and have an executive discussion? And say, what's that? And I'd say, well, I just want to sit down and ask you questions. And I would take copious notes and then I would summarize them and put them in a document. I think that's really great. If you're trying to go big, go to people who have gone big. See if you can sit down with them for a one on one. Who knows where it'll go? Maybe they'll become a mentor. Maybe they're just flattered by you asking. Most people are. And yeah, try to emulate people who have already gone big. And then also just know not everything that you want to find is on the Internet. I think the younger generation, like, it's. There are things that aren't there that are what I call, like proprietary. Sometimes you got to go to a conference, you got to go meet people, you got to talk to people face to face. We're starting to lose, I think in this age of zoom, that human element. And you need to have FaceTime with people. You need to shake hands and kiss babies, I guess, in person. And, and you need to be out there. You can't just be behind a laptop doing 10 zooms a day. It works to an extent, I think when you get later in your career. But you've got to keep your network up to date and you've got to be out there talking to people. And that's. I think that's really how you go big. It's, it's relationships, it's soft skills, it's hard skills. Um, it's always hiring people smarter than you. I know a lot of people talk about that, that those are what I think are good tips.
- [29:33]
Kevin Gentry
That's, that's a lot of great advice. Well, Jimmy Hutchison, what a great pleasure to be with you today. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for the advice about going big and just really appreciate what you do.
- [29:42]
Jimmy Hutchison
Thanks, Kevin. I appreciate being on. Thank you for having me. And thanks for all you do, too.
- [29:47]
Kevin Gentry
All right, we'll see you again soon. Thanks, Jimmy.
- [29:49]
Jimmy Hutchison
Thanks.
- [29:50]
Kevin Gentry
Thanks for tuning in to the Going Big Podcast. I hope today's conversation left you feeling energized and ready to tackle your biggest goals. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps spread the word and it gets these inspiring stories out to more people. You can also find more content, resources and updates at our website, goingbigpodcast.com Remember, the only limits are are the ones you don't challenge. The limits that you impose on yourself. Keep pushing, keep growing, and above all, keep going big. See you next time on the Going Big Podcast.