As in many industries, connections made in college can often prove invaluable down a later career path. Certainly they’ve paid off for New York native Bryce Vine. He became friends with producer Nolan Lambroza (a.k.a. Sir Nolan) while they were both undergraduates at Boston's Berklee College of Music circa 2008. They worked together on a number of things pre- and post-college. After Vine recorded “Drew Barrymore,” Lambroza was positioned to take it to an old friend at Sire.
But the path was neither easy nor direct. Vine met with several labels earlier in his career, including Virgin and Island. Sadly, no offers resulted. That all changed when Lambroza introduced him to Sire label head Rani Hancock. “When he told me that Rani loved my music, we set up a meeting,” Vine recalls. “I instantly loved her. And she wanted to do the deal. I knew I wanted to build a career with her over everybody else. We’ve been working non-stop ever since. It weighs you down when you keep hearing ‘no,’ but it’s a huge relief when you say, ‘Let’s keep doing [music] the way we started doing it.’ When that turns around, then everything else does too.”
But of course landing a label deal is never the ultimate aim. Indeed, once one is secured, that’s when the real challenges begin. “You’ve got to be ready to do the work that’s required for when you do get signed,” the artist observes. “When I put out ‘Drew Barrymore,’ it got traction. All of a sudden I was walking into a label not realizing that they were trying to sign me. In the span of a week, I had offers that I’d never had before.“
Vine's "Drew Barrymore" dropped in late 2017 and has already earned more than 14 million Spotify listens. Currently Vine is on the road with pop outfit Timeflies, a tour that kicked off March 21 in Atlanta. “Touring is the best part of the job,” he says. “It’s where it all comes together. It’s why we do all that we do.”
Date Signed: November 2017
Label: Sire Records
Type of Music: Pop/Hip-Hop
Management: Matt Maltese - OK. rad Artist Development + Management, 818-590-6383, [email protected]
Booking: Josh Rittenhouse - APA, 310-888-4272, jrittenhouse@ apa-agency.com
Legal: Damien Elahi - Warner Bros. Records, 818-953-3468, [email protected]
Publicity: [email protected]
Web: brycevine.com
A&R: Rani Hancock
