Ritch Esra (born in December 1959) is an American publisher and music-industry expert, co-founder in 2012 of MubuTV. Esra began working with promotion for A&M Records in 1980 in Los Angeles. For six years from 1981 he headed A&R there at Arista Records, during that period setting up The Thompson Twins in the USA. He worked with material for Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick. Working independently for three years from 1988 he created a video How to Get a Record Deal for aspiring music people. Several music directories and their updates have been his main contribution internationally since 1992. BMI has sponsored Esra in organizing The Independent Music Conference in Los Angeles. Since 2002 he also teaches at Musicians Institute, UCLA Extension and by video at SAE Institute in Australia. [1]
Esra has been interviewed by organizations about trends in the music industry, shifting prerequisites for artists to succeed, international markets, his catalogues, his YouTube streaming channel and how to conduct successful podcasts. [2] [3] [4] He has been called a music-business "insider" on such occasions, [5] with some of his own podcasts listed at Player FM. [6]
His noted conversations include interviews with Martin Page [7] [8] and Bobby Owsinski. [9]
Contributions he has made as a recognized supporter of international music projects have had continual influence. Objectives of his publications are to document and provide contact information for leading music companies and their executives. [10]
Esra and his co-founder Eric Knight have described their personal motives on the MubuTV website. [11] The channel was relaunched in 2023. [12] [13]
Esra's long association and friendship with Clive Davis culminated in a interview in 2024 with the 92-year-old producer. [14]
