Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Noelle.
Rachel, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Moved to Los Angeles from New Jersey in July 2007, I had just finished my associates online with Berklee College of Music in the business and publishing program and wanted to get the ball rolling. After unpacking a million boxes and settling in, my husband and I took a stroll down Santa Monica pier and came across what would soon be known as one of the greatest songwriting duos, The Jackie Boyz. Two brothers from Savanna, GA, figuring their way into the business as well. They had a cardboard box filled with cd’s that had their contact information written in black sharpie on the front. Aside from the novice presentation, their undeniable harmonic voices stole the hearts of everyone passing by & the crowd kept growing bigger and bigger around them as we sat for a few hours and watched. I had never managed anyone before but something told me to give them my number.
A few months later, with the help of our stellar attorney Chris Cabott, I would be signing a management deal with them and the work began. I knew no one in the business, so I put my people skills to work and the Boyz and I worked endless days and nights to get them in the right doors. It took two years of development, moving them into our home and non-stop work until we celebrated their first chart-topping hit “Sugar” with Florida. Thanks to Brandon Kitchen and Mike Caren at Atlantic Records, that would be the beginning launch to this wonderful journey. Soon after, I would be in the midst of negotiating the first publishing deal of my management career with Aaron Rosenberg by our side & Universal Music Publishing became the winning choice to forge their career’s ahead. I went on to add 4 more talents to the roster on the management & development side and with all clients combined, we had a chance to work with greats such as Rodney Jerkins, Big Time Rush, Justin Bieber, Madonna, Chris Brown, Brandy, and Warryn Campbell to name a few. In 2011, Hits & History transitioned over to music publishing, focused on buying copyrights and building a catalog for sync & mechanical licensing, joining forces with Zack Katz and BMG/Chrysalis to administrate the catalog. It has been an ongoing journey of creating, developing, consulting and building since then.
To further my education, I took various courses in publishing, business, and music law at the UCLA extension program.
In June of 2017, the opportunity to purchase an existing recording studio came about and so that became the addition to the Hits & History empire. To date, Hits and History now have two studio locations. One in North Hollywood known as 4420-NoHo and is a creative compound that has four recording rooms (Long-term rentals) and two furnished apartments that house out of town creatives while they’re in town. The apartments also run as corporate rentals/Airbnb’s when creative clients are not using them. The other studio location is a few minutes up the street closer to Hollywood and is a fully equipped multi-room space with Recording and Photo/media studios that can be rented short-term on a daily basis. www.HitsandHistory.com
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Every road to success worth traveling is never smooth. To become great you must be willing to look at things from both sides of the coin. Being a woman in a business prominently lead by men, there has always been the uphill battle of being able to secure a seat at the table. I wasn’t raised by a woman who thought they deserved to be “At the table” so books, uncomfortable moments of networking and a lot of conversations with others helped me understand how to conduct myself in order to get my foot in the door. My biggest advice is to know who are you going to meet and know why you are there. Study the person and company that has said yes to meeting with you and be overly prepared! If you are representing talent, have your playlist and presentation ready to push play on. Don’t make excuses about anything, just push play! If you are sitting with investors have your numbers ready! If you are looking to join someone’s team, be clear on how you can benefit them. Where have you seen holes in their operations that you can bring value to? (Even if it’s the coffee runner, be the best damn coffee and errand runner ever seen, it leads to your end goal because the right people ARE watching!)
I have been sent back to the drawing board more times then I have heard yes and it’s my persistence to always come back that has progressed my career and built my strongest allies in this business.
Keep polishing your craft, an opportunity will always circle around and when you are truly ready, the desired movement WILL happen!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Hits and History Entertainment – what should we know?
Hits and History Ent., provides a full spectrum of services in the music business, including: development, team building and consulting, music production & songwriting, mentorship programs, and Recording studio rentals. As someone personally who looks to build community, we don’t look to be set apart from others, we look to join forces with any team of people that will be the best fit for a client’s needs. Iron sharpens iron!. That being said, our most competitive element is our pricing and ability to provide high-end services and locations at an affordable price.
Finding a mentor and building a network are often cited in studies as a major factor impacting one’s success. Do you have any advice or lessons to share regarding finding a mentor or networking in general?
Identify a few people doing what you aspire to do and reach out to them or someone on their team and offer your time for free. They always need help doing something. If they say no, move onto the next person on your list, you will get a yes at some point and meanwhile, go to any and all workshops, mixers, conferences… etc., that is available in your area and start shaking hands and talking about how you can get involved. It will be awkward at first but once you have shown up a few times, you’ll start to see familiar faces and your conversations will have come easier and how you pitch yourself will be more clear. In today’s world, social media has been a huge help to get a link with others but nothing is more powerful than being in person so make sure to do both and stay consistent! Lastly, if you say you’re going to deliver or do something, have it done asap! and I mean within hours of sitting with someone if you can. It shows how diligent and serious you are, as well as gives the other person a sense of how you would be representing them if they bring you on.
Pricing:
- Daily rental recording studio $40 an hour w/o engineer – $70 an hour with engineer
- Daily rental Photo/media room $35 an hour
- Furnished apartments @ 4420 NoHO $200 a night plus cleaning fee and taxes (available on airbnb.com)
- Consulting $75 an hour or a monthly retainer based on needs
Contact Info:
- Website: www.HitsandHistory.com
- Phone: 323-402-9222
- Email: Rachel@HitsandHistory.com
- Instagram: HitsandHistory & RachelNoelle_
Image Credit:
Cover picture photographed by: Dante Johnson, Additional photos by: Shane Valdes & Dante Johnson, Studio pictures photographed by Marcus Amar, Hair & Make-up by: Renee Morales
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
