Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeanne Rice.
Hi Jeanne, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Currently, I am the CEO and founder of Artist Network Agency, and Head of Sync, Director, Former Rolling Stone Photographer, and Manager, with a background as a Talent Booker, Entertainment Producer, and Artist. I grew up with a camera in hand at a young age. My Grandfather and Uncles were talented recording artists/ vocalists so music was engrained within me as far back as I can remember. When we were old enough my brother and I went into music lessons at a young age, I went to the piano, and he the drums and clarinet and anything else he could. We also both were natural singers and put into choir at school and our church. On the weekends I used to love plopping on the couch or the floor with my Mom and Great Grandmother and watching old movies. I was into storytelling. I wrote, read, and even opened up my own library for my many brothers and sisters (including foster children). I loved using my siblings for photo shoots as well and recall a specific one where each photo told a part of the story, not unlike a film, but in print. I set my brother & foster sister up, and styled my brother’s outfit. He would give her a flower (snap), she would kiss his cheek (snap), and he would wipe it off (snap).
I tried a stint at recording my songs and worked with a well-known musician & record producer. It felt way over my head. I could sit and top write a song in minutes but it was the vibes of the place. There were lots of drugs and I was surrounded by older, intimidating men that were usually high. Honestly, I didn’t feel safe and just bailed on the entire idea. And acting, tried that too until a famous actor said I wasn’t serious enough unless I met him at his hotel.
Not long after this, I fell in love and sadly I lost that boyfriend to suicide. I discovered I was pregnant shortly after he died. It was at that point that I knew my creative quests were going to be more important than ever. I had to set an example of following your dreams and I had to be loving what I did to be a better Mom. That son is photographing me for this article. He’s inherently got a combination of his dad’s high intellect and his Mother’s creative eye. He put it to combined use with an Airbnb he owns in Nashville, @themusiccityhouse, and is doing multi-million dollar real estate transactions. He can also put together a heck of a stage and incredible lighting or event.
I was studying art at an undergrad college and it should have come as no surprise that my idea of becoming an advertising art director in fashion took a turn. I was taking a photo class, because I believed in a 360-degree work principal, you have to know everything you can about the business you want to succeed in. A friend, Joe Foster, who was in the punk band Ignite asked me if I could shoot their show. I agreed. When I got there it was a dark cave and these were film days. You don’t get to see if you got the shot. When the shots came back Joe gave his very rare stamp of approval. I mean if Joe liked them they must be really good. He asked me to shoot again and I did and then their friends D.I. asked me to come shoot them at a huge amphitheater with all access. I have to say that felt so cool. They say timing is everything and it really is. I decided to take a break and get a drink in the lawn area right when Mark Adkins, lead singer of Guttermouth, decided to encourage the crowd to go nuts. So I quickly went into shoot mode while there was a riot, remembering everything I learned to do and not to do (seriously going against what one my photo instructors had taught me). The Police asked me for my film. I refused and offered my phone number and was called by the Riverside Press Enterprise the next day. They asked if I’d come in so they could take a look and offered to develop the film. They loved them! Another music magazine Mean Street saw the images and wanted them and my career as a music industry photographer took off quickly. But, I hadn’t given up my design work and opened up my own graphic design agency servicing clients like Avalon Attractions (which became Goldenvoice and later AEG). My partner & I designed one of the first-ever Electric Daisy Carnival Flyers. At the start of this partnership, I wanted to know two things. 1. What do you want to do? 2. If I can help you get there do you want to take this ride with me? And we did and then he got exactly what he wanted and needed out of it and ended up designing for record labels.
Photography continued to go well and my work in music, film, fashion, portraits, and even auto racing were being published in magazines around the globe. Aside from Rolling Stone, NME, Spin, The New York Post, my hometown publication of the OC Weekly and other publications, I was called on by people like MTV VJ Riki Rachtman to shoot his wedding at the Brown Derby (All black and white film) and Darin & Jessica Erstad (Darin with the Angels baseball team at the time) to shoot their beachside nuptials.
Another fun project was when I was asked to help a friend put on a festival at a waterpark in St. Louis on the Mississippi River. I ended up with more duties than expected when he got a bit too wasted but it was the experience of a lifetime. I was always wanting to do more and I’d always been an entrepreneur. I would scribble business ideas and inventions in a notebook along with my dreams and songwriting. One of those was Artist Network Agency but this was the big one and I always knew it. I would be dirt-poor and still find a way to renew all the domains. I knew what it looked like from floor to ceiling, front to back. I didn’t know what being ready looked like but I knew it wasn’t time then. My desire to work with film just kept increasing and I set out to learn all I could about licensing and building contacts while doing other things I loved.
I continued on my adventures and other ventures including, being an honored guest at some of fashion weeks biggest shows in Europe and sitting directly across from Anna Wintour, post-capturing beautiful behind-the-scenes images. I spent a weekend as a photographer on a celebrity-filled set for famed award-winning director, singer- songwriter, & producer Jeymes Samuels of The Harder They Fall, and soon to come, The Book Of Clarence. That little film, The Harder They Fall, peaked Jay-Z’s interest. It’s a must see! I also worked with Nate Parker consulting with him on color for his major motion picture film, Birth of a Nation. Soon after working with Nate & Jeymes I was rear-ended in an auto collision injuring both my shoulders. I had already suffered a major broken back and several surgeries after a 5 year Carbon Monoxide exposure that doctors misdiagnosed and had almost killed me. Suddenly I found myself facing excruciating surgery and recovery again. I began to scale back my photography and continued doing the other things I loved when I could and as I gained more strength back.
With a plethora of indie artists I had scouted, I began booking artists for one of the largest Coachella VIP parties, Vestal Village, producing a follow-up event for Vestal, producing & booking Happy Sundays Music Festival, curating photography exhibitions, continued consulting with artists & industry, including film producers, and a state of the art music tech company. Meanwhile, I was producing my own night of next-level talent curations called Indie Ignited.
Indie Ignited started off with a bang on select dates at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California and moved on to be a multi-venue showcase. This included Happy Sundays festival main stage 2018, and the Desert Festival production in 2019, Moonrise, as well as the trendy music venue Resident, in the heart of LA’s Art’s District. Much of the talent on Indie Ignited has done extremely well. One of the acts signed to Universal Music, Holy War’s & their lead singer Kat Leon, is getting a lot of sync placements, Biianco is killing it over in the U.K., The Little Miss made big waves on NBC’s The Voice, and other Indie Ignited alumni are still proving to be prominent breakout artists. There’s so many I could list.
I also began working with an artist overseas assisting in the creation of an epic ballad from one side of the globe to another following up with a trip to the South of France.
One more injury was winding up around the corner when an out of control mosh pit knocked my elbow straight into a hardwood floor requiring two more surgeries which would be the most excruciating yet.
It’s not how that you get knocked down that matters it’s how you get back up right?
If I couldn’t hold a camera I certainly could still look through one so I directed a pandemic era small budget music video for my neighbor, LA Indie Music Artist, Harry Katz, “Sunny Afternoon” starring legendary Acting royalty John Blythe Barrymore III (Yes, brother of Drew), Paula Jacquard, Yolee Murillo & my pup Liv. John was great! We were really limited due to Covid so we did it all on our block. You can see our fun video in the link below. My director friend Kevin Kerslake had encouraged me long ago to do this and I’m sure you’ll see more from me in that end.
After some devastating family losses in 2020 and a painful Pandemic, I had thought about my constant desire to do Artist Network Agency. Pre-pandemic I had almost went out looking at property for my dream Agency. My vision was so large and it was hard to rethink it any other way. I finally had a lightbulb moment. A moment where I realized it didn’t need to look like the big end game. Just start the dang thing. “Build it and they will come” The quote from Field of Dreams. So I brought a 20 year dream to life and it was all there waiting for me to take it. With Artist Network Agency, or ANA, (Like the name. My Mom’s middle name is Anna.), I’m bringing a candy-coated roster of carefully curated artists to a one-of-a-kind sync roster for the world of film, television, gaming, advertising, podcasts, fashion (they need music too), businesses and beyond. I live in the mindset of less can be more. Bring quality over quantity. The way ANA is unfolding has been magical! It just feels like the timing is perfection. That’s when you know you are where you are supposed to be at that exact moment in time.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been one of the bumpiest, craziest roller-coaster journeys. I hang onto that quote “You can’t have a rainbow without a little rain”, or in my case torrential downpours. I find it fascinating how the universe balances things out. That some of us with the worst lows can have the most insane highest highs. I would say that’s what my life journey has been like. When I first couldn’t shoot I would constantly be seeing my Instagram feed filled with other photographer friends shooting insane amazing arena shows. It was a stabbing knife to the chest. It was an incredibly painful period of mourning and letting go emotionally as I physically dealt with pain that at one time left me feeling plenty of times that I’d be better off dead or without any arms. The arms that were fairly useless at the time anyway. There was someone really special that helped me through a bit of those times, young music photographer Emery Becker. He used Canon equipment like me, he shot like me, he had the passion that reminded me of myself. At that point, I remember thinking I could live vicariously through him and the new generation of talent to come. Tragically Emery was killed by a drunk driver in the early morning hours on March 18th, 2018. Losing Emery was a huge blow to the community and myself personally. It was so senseless.
We’ve been impressed with Artist Network Agency, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Artist Network Agency was a concept I had 20 years ago. It was extremely thought out from concept to interior design. When you have a dream that is so specific it can be hard to let go of that specific thought and allow yourself to envision it any differently but that’s what I needed to do. That was the right thing to do. I was enjoying a successful photography career and when it came time to pivot to ANA it was right before the pandemic. I felt really fortunate I did things the way I did and allowed myself to stay remote for the time being. I kicked it off with music licensing/sync (placing music in film, television and more). I also am developing a young breaking artist from Baltimore Maryland, Tatianna Gross, who is ready to shake up the R&B world. Her voice is insane!
ANA is offering attractive perks for artists. I don’t just bring in an artist and onboard them but I truly try to work with all artists to offer any help I can bring their way. I want to service today’s independent artists in a more personal manner but I also want to do this for the music buyer, whether that be a music supervisor, film-maker, advertising agency, podcaster, fashion designer, or brand.
Many things are headed to automation and I want to combine the use of automation with old-school service ethics, not relying on the technology but using it to assist in getting the job done. I also feel that there are many catalogues and library’s where great music gets lost. No matter what I have done in my career I have always been associated with the best of the best and in this realm, it will be the same. The roster is highly curated at ANA. It’s not based on where someone is, or so much their follower base but the quality of their music that will be most crucial. I also will want to know if it fills a need in my library. Indie folk music is great but that’s not all I want on my roster. I want clients to know they can come to me looking for anything and if I don’t have it I’m going to try to access it quickly. I also have incredible composing talent and these composers have already done great work and are ready for more. I feel quite fortunate with the talent I’m representing.
When someone comes to Artist Network Agency they can be assured their project is going to be taken to new heights with the level of music they’re provided, all handled quickly, and meticulously. I’m looking forward to working with some of my favorite music supervisors in the business and alongside other great agencies. The future is wide open for ANA and it’s just really incredible to watch this long-time dream unfold.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Anyone going through tough times just hang in there and don’t ever give up. I still have incredibly tough days honestly. But the payoff is worth it and you’ll see that at some point, if you don’t now, trust me. You have to hold on to the good times and remember them when you’re going through the hard ones. Discover what you love, and if you have to, see it differently and you may find yourself falling in love in a totally new unexpected way.
Thanks to my son, Ryan Philip Lane, for the new awesome shots! (Don’t know where he learned how to shoot. Haha!)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artistnetworkagency.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jeannerice_007
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/artistnetworkagency
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistnetworkagency
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannerice/
- Spotify: Artist Network Agency
- Spotify: Tatianna – River
- Youtube: Sunny Afternoon Music Video directed by Jeanne Rice
- Other: https://www.jeannerice.com
Image Credits
Ryan Philip Lane Kailey Klaiber Brittany Matyas Kodaline Matthew Faulkner
