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Jeff Hanson (music executive)
Jeff Hanson is an American music industry executive. He is the founder and CEO of the Silent Majority Group label. He got his start as a classic alternative DJ, club owner, and concert promoter. He is the former manager of Creed, Paramore, Alter Bridge and Sevendust, and the company JHMP currently manages Lotus Crush, and Terry McDermott (Runner up on The Voice) and producer Peter Klett(Candlebox)among others. In 2006 he set up the independent Orlando, Florida-based label Silent Majority Group, which has released albums from Framing Hanley, Candlebox, Tantric, Brother Sundance, Blacklite District, and Veio. CareerHanson discovered Creed in December 1998 when they played live at Floyd's Music Store in Tallahassee, Florida.[1] At the time the band was unknown and their set-list contained mostly covers and two original songs. Hanson signed Creed to his artist management company, and A&R'd and managed Creed from that point on. Soon after he asked friend John Kurzweg, to produce the band's first record and according to Hanson, in an interview with HitQuarters, the album cost only $6,000 to make and eventually sold around 6 million copies.[1] Creed went on to sell over 35 million records and millions of tickets worldwide. During this time, Hanson served as executive producer of both The Scorpion King and Scream 3 soundtracks. Hanson also served as A&R consultant for Island Def Jam during Lyor Cohen's tenure in the early 2000s.[2] Shortly after forming JHMP Hanson also took on artists: Sevendust, Alterbridge, Virgos Merlot and Full Devil Jacket. [citation needed] Hanson formed JHMP in 1998 and founded, funded, developed, did the A&R, and managed Creed on Wind Up records, as well as Virgos Merlot on Atlantic records, Mile on Columbia records, Full Devil Jacket on Island records and SR71 on RCA records. He then released his first independent label release in 2002 under his newly formed Silent Majority Group label with artist Storyside B in a partnership with Gotee / EMI and subsequently Big Dismal on in a partnership with Wind-Up records, both artists were faith based and achieved multiple Christian Rock top 10 hits including #1 songs with both artists. As part of his SMG label venture he did A&R for Island / Def Jam and also did A&R for Wind Up records where he signed the bands Breaking Point and Dust For Life. In 2003, Hanson's JHMP management company was asked to manage the, then, 14-year-old Hayley Williams[3] Williams was then taken to Atlantic Records and signed to the label by Jason Flom. Hanson created the first new artist 360 deal together with entertainment lawyers the late Orville Almon and Jim Zumwalt between Paramore and Atlantic Records. Paramore.[3] Paramore went on to sell over 5 million records worldwide. His next signings to the company were Mute Math and Family Force 5, both faith based artists as well. He was joined by radio program director Rick Schmidt and fiancée Rebecca Foulke.[2] In 2007 Silent Majority Group entered into an exclusive promotion and distribution deal with Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group, being distributed by ADA.[2] Hanson negotiated a deal for Silent Majority Group to be distributed by ADA Global, a Warner Music Group company.Silent Majority Group's first signing there was Framing Hanley who received a Platinum certification for their single "Lollipop". All three of Hanson's Silent Majority Group signings under the Warner Music Group deal, Tantric, Candlebox, and Framing Hanley went on to have great commercial success.
In March 2016 while appearing at the Florida Music Festival as a panelist, Hanson found out that he had been diagnosed with "Stage 4/B" metastatic tonsil cancer that spread to numerous locations and lymph nodes. He spent the remainder of 2016 having radiation, chemotherapy and multiple surgeries to remove the cancer and lymph nodes and was forced to take an indefinite leave of absence. Shortly after his cancer battle, Hanson, while pondering his future, received from an old friend, Trevor Fletcher, who manages Criteria Studios in Miami, a demo from 17-year-old Nashville alternative/pop artist and producer Brother Sundance. Hanson fell in love with the demos and due to his post cancer limitations recruited industry veteran and former Mc Gathy Promotions EVP and Island Def Jam rock promo head Mark Fisher to assist Rebecca Hanson in the management and promotion of the artist and Brother Sundance released his debut EP 'Honey',on August 11, 2017, through Silent Majority Group. Within two months of the signing of Brother Sundance the artist was named Apple Music's "New Artist of the Week". In June 2018 Silent Majority Group LLC entered into a partnership with Warner Brothers Records to re-release the "Honey" EP and four subsequent records. The first single from the Warner Brother's partnership,"Monsters featuring Ella Boh" was released May 10, 2019. Numerous singles were to follow however Brother Sundance ( aka Rylan Talerico) left the recording business to pursue technical opportunities related to the music business. Silent Majority Group continued to be active, signing YouTube sensation Blacklite District who has accumulated nearly 100,000,000 total streams between Apple, Spotify and YouTube and Portland's Veio a hard rock / Prog / New Metal artists. In January 2022 SMG entered into a new promotion and distribution deal for Veio and future releases with OneRPM! In early Summer of 2022 JHMP continued to be active and signed Lotus Crush the new artist founder by Candlebox founder, writer, and guitar player Peter Klett. Lotus Crush also features "The Voice" runner up Terry McDermott from Scotland as their lead singer. 2023 saw JHMP / SMG expand with new services and staffer Terry McDermott operating a play listing, publicity business and the booking agency Old Skool Talent. The roster also expanded with new A&R reps Eric Durrance, Garfield Redden, Jason Marchant and new artist signings One Day Alive, Psycho Hill, Amacio Favor and the re-grouping and re-signing of Big Dismal. Sine their re-emergence Big Dismal's "Rise Again" achieved #1 status at Christian Rock Radio and "Stay in the fight" is enjoying massive success as well. References
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