This Entrepreneur Had a Mission: Start the Church of Rock and Roll! Jason Flom, the entrepreneur, music industry executive and social justice activist, has embarked on his biggest project yet.
By Mike Koenigs Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
We all had dreams of being big rockstars when we were kids, right? Who hasn't played air guitar a time or two? Well, my recent Capability Amplifier podcast guest, Jason Flom, was no different. But he turned his dreams of rock and roll stardom into reality — while making the world a much better place at the same time.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the leading American Music Executive, CEO, philanthropist and entrepreneur at the Near Future Summit in San Diego.
Jason started in the music industry when he was 18 years old at Atlantic Records. He told me it was the hottest day of the year and he was putting up posters at record stores. They gave him a staple gun, a roll of double-sided tape, Led Zeppelin posters, a ladder and off he went. He thought it was the greatest job in the world. He got $4 an hour and they let him have as many free records as he wanted! He thought to himself, "This is so cool" And that's when he gave up his rockstar dreams and decided he wanted to be in the music business.
Jason's dad taught him when he was a kid to "do whatever you want to do and try to be the best at it. Just make the world a better place." That's the only definition of success that matters. So Jason wrangled his way into the A&R department and discovered a band that became a hit! So they gave him a job discovering bands and that's when things got really interesting. Jason went on to discover countless hit-makers over the years. He worked hard, climbed the corporate ladder and eventually became Chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records.
"Rock stars are interesting people. I believe they walk and talk differently than the rest of us. They have a certain swagger and when somebody like that walks into a room … there's not enough oxygen for everybody else. It used to be that they all had that, then all of a sudden, none of them had it. It's the dumbing down of rock and roll. There have been a lot of bands over the last decade and a half, where if they walked in a room, literally no one would care. There's nothing interesting about them. But they write good songs and play guitars and that's, I think what led to rock and roll becoming almost extinct … but it's coming back." — Jason Flom
Creating The Church of Rock and Roll
The Church of Rock and Roll is a lifestyle brand wrapped up in a movement that stands for the things that Jason believes in. They have three main principles:
- Be kind to yourself, other people, animals and the earth.
- Do whatever you want with your own body as long as you don't hurt anybody else.
- Marry who you want, what you want, whenever the @$%! you want to.
The physical manifestation of Church of Rock and Roll is going to be food and beverage locations, sort of like a modern-day Hard Rock Cafe but with community service and social activism at the core. They're creating a space for miracles to happen. Miracles of connecting with people, connecting with causes, connecting with oneself and doing good in the world. Their slogan is "Miracles Happen Here."
"The origin of the Church of Rock and Roll is that I was on my couch, where most of my good ideas happen. I was watching John Oliver do his remarkable diatribe on televangelist and I had this idea that I wanted to start a movement for people to come together under these principles that I think Jesus really stood for, without any of the dogma or negativity. I wanted to create a new way for people to gather and work together to do good things, and feel good. And so it came to me… the only church I'm qualified to start is the Church of Rock and Roll." — Jason Flom
Jason is not only the creator of the Church of rock and Roll but he works with criminal justice reform organizations like the Innocence Project, where he's a founding board member and he wrote a children's book called Lulu Is a Rhinoceros. He shares some crazy rock and roll stories about missed opportunities with people like Bon Jovi and some not-so-missed opportunities with legends like Kid Rock. Listen to the whole show on Apple Podcasts here and don't forget to subscribe, rate, review and share! You can leave Jason or me a message directly at Capability Amplifier to get in touch with Jason directly.
