Name: Kate Pierson, 58
Gig: Big-wigged singer with the B-52s now runs a "mod"-est motel
Business: Lazy Meadow Motel
Location: Mt. Tremper, New York
Website:www.lazymeadow.com
Date Founded: 2003
Partner: Monica Coleman
2005 Sales: Declined to say
Though she may be known for rockin' the "Love Shack," when B-52 Kate Pierson wants to unwind and escape from "Planet Claire," she drives out to her own self-designed, self-managed getaway in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, the Lazy Meadow Motel. "Initially, I just wanted to make a real estate investment," explains Pierson about her reason for buying land in the Catskills. "An agent showed me this, and I instantly fell in love with it."
Though she admittedly had no plans for a hotel when she first came upon the nine-acre lot on the banks of the Escopus Creek, Pierson quickly realized it would make a perfect spot for a motel. "I figured it would be easy to decorate the [existing cabins] with different themes," she says. "What I didn't realize is that I didn't know how to run a motel."
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As a member of the B-52s, Pierson had been involved with a business for 29 years--but the music business is quite different from the hospitality trade. "Once I bought it," she recalls, "there was a lot to think about that I hadn't thought of. How many towels were we going to put out? How will people pay?"
Fortunately, Monica Coleman, Pierson's partner in life and business, had some business experience. And while Coleman was also new to the hotel management game, her business savvy, combined with Pierson's decorative drive, helped put the Lazy Meadow on the map. "I was the one who initially bought it," says Pierson, noting the absence of any other financial partners, "and Monica and I put a lot of sweat-equity into it."
In addition to eight individually themed cabins--all with a mid-century modern/space age-feel, complete with 50s-style kitchens--the Lazy Meadow now offers a set of four (though soon to be six) fully decorated Airstream trailers as well as a three-bedroom house called the Lazy Cabin. "We're still growing," Pierson says proudly, "and still groaning under the weight of renovations." But that hasn't stopped travelers from dropping by.
"It's very much a destination place," Pierson suggests. "People want to come here because they've heard about it or because they're fans or just because they want to get away from the city and stay in a place that's interesting and fun. I understand what it's like to be a hotel customer, and I want my guests to have the best experience they can.
"We get a lot of repeat customers," Pierson says. "And we've done no advertising. It's all been from word of mouth and press. And that's really helped us because starting a small business without that is hard."
And though the hotel business represents a new venture for Pierson, her years with the B-52s prepared her well: "The B-52s' motto has always been to do stuff we like and make it fun," she says, "and that's what I applied to this. I have had so much fun doing this."
Name: Dave Rowntree, 42
Gig: Animated Blur drummer becomes animated series founder
Business: Fuse's Empire Square animated TV show
Location: New York City
Website:www.fusetv.com
Date Founded: 2002
Partners: Ant Cauchi and Lloyd Salmons
2005 Sales: Declined to say
As the menu of media outlets and opportunities continue to grow, there's still room for the ambitious and artistic to make their mark on the forefront of technology. But more important than creativity and foresight, says Blur drummer-turned-TV executive Dave Rowntree, is a touch of ego.
"The basic motivation for doing this project," explains Rowntree when asked about his new made-for-mobile technology animation series Empire Square, "came from the fact that I and the other two co-creators are megalomaniacs and we all wanted our own TV show."
Rowntree and his creative partners, Ant Cauchi and Lloyd Salmons, both former EMI record label execs, originally wanted to do a children's TV show, but, as Rowntree puts it, "That world is so crazy--we didn't want to get near it."
Fortunately, there was an alternative. At that time, mobile phone companies were expanding their offerings--or, at least, their offering capabilities. "They were complaining that they had this wonderful platform but no content," says Rowntree. "We heard their cry and decided to take advantage of this gap in the market. We went for the rude and disgusting market, and that was the genesis of Empire Square." The result was a series of three-minute phone clips.
Unfortunately, when Rowntree and his mates went to the mobile phone companies to sell their idea, nobody was ready to buy. "We found to our horror that none of them were actually ready to distribute it," he says, noting that he was probably not the first person to run into this issue.
Undaunted, Rowntree and his partners put Empire Square on DVD and pitched it to TV stations, and Britain's Channel 4 picked up the series to run during their Friday night music programming slot. "That slot had no branding," Rowntree says, "so they used Empire Square to brand it. It helped give their slot a look, while making us look bigger than we were."
At the end of the first season, the three-minute episodes were tied together into a clip show that was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. "That's where we bumped into folks from fuse," recalls Rowntree, "and the rest, as they say, is history."
Purporting themselves to be "the nation's only music-centric, viewer-influenced television network," New York City-based fuse features music videos, concerts and artist interviews. To transition their "ultra-small-screen" program to a TV screen, Rowntree and his team brought on writers who could help them connect with fuse's audience.
And just what kind of a profit is the show producing? Rowntree says it's difficult to determine what its annual revenue is because the show doesn't have its own merchandising yet. "It's more similar to making a record than to making soap powder," he suggests. "TV programs are like fashion items, and people need to discover it themselves. If you try to force it down their throats, they resent it and fight against it."
To help expose people to the show, Rowntree plans to keep Empire Square true to its roots through a series of mini-episodes, ring tones and other tie-ins. FuseMobile will also offer clips, and fuse OnDemand will allow fans to view complete episodes whenever they want to.
"With all of these things," Rowntree observes, "you can be as involved as you wanna be." And while he's sure that fuse would love it if he moved into their offices permanently, Rowntree is still committed to Blur, which takes up a good deal of his time and energy: "My full-time job here is directing the voice actors and the animators," he explains, "but Blur still takes over."
Our slideshow offers a look at even more rock stars who've found a way to profit from their "out of the limelight" businesses.
Matt Robinson is a professional journalist from Boston.
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