Exploring Life & Business with James MacMillan of Stateside Management

Today we’d like to introduce you to James MacMillan

Hi James, 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?
Originally from Orange County, my family moved to the suburbs of Portland, Oregon when I was 11 where I have spent most of my life.. I played drums in rock bands from the time I was in my early teens until my early thirties. Did a lot of touring, playing shows, writing and recording songs. I took a break from the music industry for a while, worked as a structural inspector at a large Intel campus in OR, and I even became a firefighter/emt for a time. But I just missed working in music so much….and so in 2018 I started my company Stateside Management, We manage music producers, mixing engineers, songwriters. Very similar to artist management, we just focus more on producers. While still working my day job I built up Stateside and then in 2021 I quit my day job and went full-time running Stateside. In early 2022 I partnered with the music agency Sound Talent Group (Dave Shapiro, Matt Anderson, Tim Borror). This partnership allowed a larger network and financial backing so I could scale the company. This allowed me to hire my first real employee and manager, David Rosica (based in Nashville). David is my partner in every way, and we run this small management company together in the day to day.

As the years went by and the company grew, I found myself traveling to LA a lot. Eventually my wife and I would start staying in LA for a month at a time and then we inevitably decided to make the move down to the LA area. We chose Long Beach because we wanted to be on the coast, but still somewhat close to LA proper. As long I can be in LA for shows, meetings, etc then it works. I love riding my Harley, so it also just gives me an excuse to ride more often! 🙂

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Working for yourself is tough! It’s great, don’t get me wrong. However, it’s all on you to make it happen. Nobody makes my schedule anymore, or gives me directions and goals. That has to come from within myself.

We represent our clients careers and names. So I take that very seriously and try and keep that at the forefront of our business.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Stateside Management ?
Founded in 2018 by James MacMillan, Stateside Management represents record producers, mixing/mastering engineers and songwriters alike. Our passion and dedication to our clients and their respective careers is what sets us apart, from social media strategy to project coordination, and every step in between. Stateside itself exists so that our clients can do what they do best: work with artists that span all genres and levels of industry, ranging from some of the biggest acts in music to emerging and developing artists.

Our client Rian Lewis has engineered 4 records now with Doja Cat, and mixed songs off the new record as well. I’ve been to the grammy’s with him twice now! 🙂

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Find your thing. Music has always been my thing. It’s what I know, and where I feel the most confident. It just feels like home.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.statesidemgmt.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/statesidemgmt?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr