Janet Billig Rich (born 1967 as Janet Sue Billig) is an artist manager, music supervisor, producer, and Tony Award-nominated Broadway theater producer.
Billig Rich currently operates the Los Angeles entertainment company Manage This!, which she founded and launched in 1996. She oversees the music and acting career of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb, as well as her Lisa Loeb Eyewear Collection, Camp Lisa Foundation, and her Wake Up! Brew coffee brand. She co-produces and handled music licensing for the Tony-nominated Broadway plays Rock of Ages, Moulin Rouge, and more.
Billig Rich was the musical supervisor of Netflix's 2016 film, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead,[2] and the documentary STEP from Fox Searchlight released in Summer 2017, and more recently the series "Surviving Death," "Sisters on Track" and "Found."[3] In addition, she is the Music Supervisor for many commercials including for the Alaska Virgin Airlines merger, and the Alaska Airlines "Safety Dance" commercial.[4] She is the music supervisor on many Peloton commercials.
As the former manager, during her tenure at Gold Mountain Entertainment, Billig Rich's notable contributions to the legendary rock band Nirvana have been highlighted in a number of books focused on the band's career.
Early life
Janet Billig Rich was born as Janet Sue Billig in Queens, New York[9] to Priscilla and Norbert Billig.[1] She has stated she loved music from a young age, and as a girl was obsessed with "Nadia's Theme."[10] While attending Calhoun High School on Long Island she became an avid fan of The Replacements, and drove around the country following their tours.[10] She later graduated from New York University.[1]
In 1989, Billig Rich joined the team of Gold Mountain Entertainment, founded just six years prior by Ron Stone, Danny Goldberg, and Burt Stein, and later with John Silva as partner. It was there that she managed and oversaw the burgeoning careers of groundbreaking musical acts like Hole,[6]Nirvana,[5]The Breeders,[5]The Lemonheads,[1] and Dinosaur Jr.[7]
Atlantic Records
Billig Rich came aboard Atlantic Records in 1995, becoming the youngest senior executive at the label, and developing and breaking the mainstream careers of major 90s artists like Jewel, with the release of her debut album, Pieces of You; Sugar Ray, with the release of their debut album, Lemonade and Brownies; Collective Soul, with the release of their first album, Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid; and Matchbox 20, with the release of their debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You.
Manage This!
Janet formed the management and production company Manage This![14] in New York City in 1996. Through Manage This! she has worked extensively with roster artists like Lisa Loeb, Courtney Love, Hole, Guided By Voices, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Kim Deal, Cibo Matto, and a number of others.
Through Manage This! she has also produced and served as music supervisor for a number of major concert tours, television shows, and films,[10] including production on the Pixies reunion tour and documentary loudQUIETloud. She produced the Down From the Mountain tour – which featured music from the award-winning O Brother, Where Art Thou?,[15] and worked with Linkin Park on their Projekt Revolution tours.
On 19 March 2004, Billig Rich was featured on the cover of the New York Post while bailing Courtney Love out of jail.[16]
She was co-producer for the TV special Crossover (2001), associate producer for the TV series documentary Rocked with Gina Gershon (2004), and produced five episodes of the 2006 unscripted television series #1 Single, which starred Lisa Loeb.[17]
Billig Rich has also provided music clearance for movies such as "Knuckleball!," "Rock of Ages," "Jiro Dreams of Sushi," Adam Duritz's "Freeloaders," Steven Cantor-directed films "Twyla Moves," "Dancer," "Ballet Now," and "Reporter," as well as a number of TV series, such as 10 episodes of NBC's "Perfect Harmony," "Hood River," The Fashionista Diaries, 12 episodes of Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane.
Working with producer Matt Weaver, Billig Rich was the music supervisor of the 2016 Netflix documentary, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, the story of DJ Aoki.[2] In addition, she was the music supervisor for the Amanda Lipitz-directed documentary film, STEP, featured at Sundance in January 2017, and subsequently sold to Fox Searchlight for distribution. The film, which documents the senior year of a girls' high-school step dance team in inner-city Baltimore was released in Summer 2017.[3]
In 2016, Billig Rich began working on a pair of TV commercials. She began as music producer for the Alaska Virgin Airlines merger spot released in early 2017.[4] In March 2017, Muscle Milk released a new television commercial featuring Steph Curry doing The Wiggle to a remake of the song "Wiggle It" by 2 In A Room. The commercial, called "Strong Feels Good," was music supervised by Billig Rich.[citation needed] She has also served as music supervisor for Method Products' 2018 commercial "There's Good Inside," Peloton's 2020 "Workouts for the Family" Christmas commercial, and a brand new TikTok campaign for Benefit Cosmetics.
She has provided music clearances for Broadway products, such as Disaster! The Musical,[18] TINA, The Cher Show, Come From Away, Rock of Ages, and 2019's Moulin Rouge, and has been quoted in the New York Times on the subject of the music clearance process for the show. Billig Rich provides all music services and consultation for the "For the Record" live shows including "Tarantino," "Scorsese: American Crime Requiem," "Garry and Penny Marshall," "Love Actually Love," "BAZ Star Crossed Love" at The Palazzo and "For the Record: Brat Pack" on Norwegian Cruise Lines.[citation needed]
Billig Rich was nominated as one of the Top 40 "Women in Music" by Billboard Magazine in December 2011.[14] In 2018, Billig Rich earned the prestigious "Boss Lady Award" from the Women in Music Network.
In March 2020, Billig Rich partnered with Lisa Moberly to form Loudspeaker Music Group, which provides music clearance services for a wide range of entertainment projects from streaming to advertising to film and television and live theater. As every project's music needs are unique, its focus is to provide creative partners with music licensing solutions that serve both the artistic and financial demands, specific to their projects.
Lisa Loeb
Billig Rich has managed the career of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb, beginning in 1995 at the start of Loeb's commercial career.
She oversees Loeb's entire career, including her music, acting, voiceover, commercial and publishing work, in addition to her Lisa Loeb Eyewear brand, of which she serves as Loeb's business partner, in addition to Loeb's Camp Lisa nonprofit foundation, which sends underserved kids to camp, and Loeb's organic and fair-trade Wake Up! Coffee brand.
She has managed the release of Loeb's entire 15-album discography, which includes Tails, Firecracker, the Grammy-winning Best Children's Album Feel What U Feel, and her most recent, A Simple Trick To Happiness.
Billig Rich also produced Loeb's 2006 E! reality series, #1 Single.
Rock of Ages
Around 2003, Matt Weaver asked Billig Rich[19][20] and a number of collaborators to help him develop and pitch the concept of a musical based on 1980s rock hits. Bands were to include Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, and Whitesnake.[10] She became one of multiple producers for the show and took on the role of talking to bands and securing song rights, a process which she has said took several years.[9]Rock of Ages premiered in 2005.
In 2020, Billig Rich helped launch Los Angeles' The Bourbon Room, an all-new, specially-built 4,000-square-foot completely immersive performance venue, with bar and restaurant, which serves as the permanent home of Rock of Ages Hollywood.
Personal life
As of 2011, Billig Rich lives in Encino, California[9] with her husband and their two twins, Molly and Harrison, born in 2003.[10]
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↑ Templeton, David (11 March 2011). "Talking Picture: Every Show Has Its Thorn". Pacific Sun.
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