Musician Joe Wood was at a Bruce Springsteen concert in Toronto in July 1984 when he realized that while he wanted to remain in the music industry, he didn’t want to perform.
“If you’re gonna get a reality check, that’s the guy that’s gonna give it to you,” said Wood.
But Wood didn’t want to leave the industry. He viewed his experiences as a pop-country/pop-folk musician who got radio airplay with several singles as an apprenticeship to help other artists get their work on the radio.
Five decades later, through his company RDR Music Group, which he co-founded with his ex-wife, Wood continues to help musicians. He’s done it as the music industry has undergone profound change, from vinyl records to CDs and digital (and back to vinyl), all of which Wood has found himself immersed in.
The longtime Liverpool, N.S., resident is being honoured later this month with a special plaque ceremony at the National Music Centre in Calgary, following his induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame last year in the builders category.
Wood said when RDR started in the early 1980s, the company pressed 45s for artists.
By the late 1980s as CDs took over, Wood said RDR was one of the first companies in Canada to release an independent CD filled with both country and pop music to radio. The pitch to artists was simple.
“I realized when that transition happened that the average musician, working musician, could not afford the cost of a CD,” said Wood.
And just like CDs replaced vinyl records, being able to send and listen to files digitally was another massive format change.
Wood remembers being at a conference in Calgary when he learned about this technology that a Toronto company had the platform for, which allowed a fully mastered digital file to be sent to radio stations across the country in a matter of seconds.
After negotiating with the company that had the technology, Wood said they reached a deal in 2005 so he could use it to distribute music by independent musicians.
“I remember going to conferences and workshops across the country and I felt like Bob Dylan when he switched to electric. I got booed off stage. I got laughed at,” said Wood.
“I got told I was five years ahead of myself until the major labels decided this is the way they’re gonna go to radio, and radio decided we don’t want hard copy CDs anymore.”
Wood said when that happened, he was flooded with phone calls and emails from independent musicians wanting to get on board.
Being able to send files digitally also meant no longer having to press songs on formats like vinyl or CDs, package them, take them to the post office, and hope the item was delivered and undamaged.
“I can’t wait to hear what comes in,” said Wood. “There’s nothing that gives me a thrill better than when Lennie Gallant calls me and says, ‘I’ve got a tune about Sable Island, can you get it out tomorrow?’ And I do, and I listen to CBC two days later and it’s on the radio.”
Despite the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame induction, the reality is the music Wood helps deliver to radio spans all genres, including classical, jazz, rock, hip-hop, and, obviously, country.
A slideshow on the company’s website lists the diverse artists RDR has worked with, including Garth Brooks, M
