It began with “Rock of Ages.” Janet Billig Rich started her career as an artist manager, representing some of the defining alt-rock bands of the 1990s like Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. “After a decade as an artist manager, getting married and starting a family, I was ready for a chapter that involved a lot less international travel,” Rich told Broadway News. She shifted to music supervision for film and television and happened to work with producer Matt Weaver on a movie. And as Rich said, “Out of that relationship with Matt grew his idea for ‘Rock of Ages.’”
Weaver lead-produced the Broadway jukebox musical and hired Rich as the show’s music rights clearance executive (as well as a producer). With 32 songs from preexisting catalogs in the Broadway production, Rich had her work cut out. But her early-career skills suited her new Broadway role. “As an artist manager, I negotiated virtually every kind of deal imaginable — recording agreements, publishing, merchandising, touring, sponsorships, endorsements, film and television, licensing — you name it,” Rich said. That was exactly the know-how she needed to negotiate music rights for “Rock of Ages.”
“It was the most incredible ride and learning experience ever,” she said. From its success, “my business in music rights clearance and licensing for stage shows was born.” Loudspeaker Music Group, of which Rich is a managing partner, offers music supervision, music licensing and music clearance services.
Rich didn’t grow up doing theater, but was a fan from a young age, traveling in from her native Long Island to see shows. Yet, as Rich said, “As I got older, music completely took over my life.” She had never planned on a career so closely tied to theater, but Rich was one of the few people with her unique capabilities and résumé. “It’s also important to remember what the landscape looked like then,” Rich noted. “The use of preexisting commercial music in Broadway musicals was still relatively uncommon. As more productions began building shows around well-known songs rather than original scores, navigating the complex world of music rights became an essential part of the producing process.”
Today, Rich feels “unbelievably lucky to be part of the theater community,” having cleared rights for shows like “Almost Famous,” “Beetlejuice,” “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Just in Time,” “MJ,” “Tina,” this past season’s “Death of a Salesman,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “The Fear of 13,” “The Lost Boys” and “Titaníque” in addition to the long-running “Moulin Rouge!”
The latter was an exercise in music rights clearance unlike anything attempted on Broadway before, Rich pointed out. “Moulin Rouge!” will close on Broadway on Aug. 30 — though its tour and international productions continue. Here, Rich shares the complicated nature of her job, the unique “Moulin Rouge!” process and the Tom Cruise memory she’ll never forget.
