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UFO Background | Meet Our Personnel In the late sixties and early seventies, Peter Casperson created the grassroots artist development model that spawned the United For Opportunity concept. He started by discovering artists that had a strong live show that made audiences come back--no matter how small the venue or off the beaten track. By then recording these artists and servicing their music to local radio stations, Casperson was able to secure airplay solely on the basis of a band's live show fan-base, creating regional success stories throughout New England. Once these artists hit the radar in Boston, the major labels came calling. It was at that time that Casperson made the decision to make deals with the major labels where in return for advances; the labels took over operations (marketing, promotion, publicity, distribution, etc.). Unfortunately once under the control of the major labels, the grassroots campaign of growth that had created this buzz was abandoned in the interest of seeking greater/quicker exploits. In an attempt to create albums with mass appeal, the major labels cultivated an atmosphere of "art by committee," ultimately diluting the uniqueness that created the initial buzz for these artists. In the early '80s Casperson went on to partner with Steven Saporta, a visionary manager with a retail marketing background, to form Invasion Group, Ltd., an artist management company and record label. In working with alternative artists, they began to feel making a major label record deal was often in the long run a detour from the path that was most natural, most profitable and least traumatic. By remaining independent, artists did not have to settle on a small royalty of less than a dollar per record while giving up ownership of their recordings. Over the past 20 years, with a philosophy to never depend on the record label to make or break an artist, Casperson and Saporta became masters at enabling independent artists to have long and prosperous careers. Recognizing the changes new technology would bring to the music industry, Casperson began having weekly roundtable meetings to discuss the future and devise a plan that would fully utilize these advances. Realizing that with digital recording a great sounding album can be made for less money than ever before, and with the internet providing a cost-effective worldwide distribution mechanism, the groundwork for UFO began to take shape. A company designed for independent, motivated, artists and labels to take control of their careers and harness the power of the digital age. Bringing in well respected and powerful industry partners like Ryko Distribution, ADA Global, and Bug Music, Casperson created alliances that enable UFO to gain prominence as the new model for a record label/music distributor while still retaining the true grassroots artist development methodology that is the seed of the UFO concept. |
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