Michael Bentley is expanding his reach in the entertainment industry with the launch of his music label Slam House Music Group this fall. Bentley is hoping that Slam House can become another successful entity of his fledgling entertainment business career.
The thirty-one year old Bentley has climbed the ladder of the music industry with jet plane quickness moving from a publicist, to an A&R and now a label owner in just three years. He has worked with top of the line clients as a publicist, helped unknown artists land major record deals as an A&R along with starting up and executive producing his own sports/hip hop radio show Thru the Wire.
“I always want to make the best product that I can and I think it really showed with how Thru the Wire came across on the air,”a passionate Bentley said. “It was really something I did out of pure passion with my love for sports especially basketball and boxing, and it developed into a real show. I’m definitely going to keep doing the show for as long as I can and plan on producing a few more shows.”
When Thru the Wire started, it was a one man sports/hip hop radio show airing in North Carolina. Due to his connections and publicist skills, Bentley turned it into the first syndicated show to be picked up by both CBS and ESPN affiliated radio stations.
To date Thru the Wire is being picked up in eight different markets across the nation.
When it comes to Slam House, Bentley wants everyone to know this is not your typical record label. “We aren’t looking for Top 40 or sell out type of artists. If you are trying to make songs just to sell records or to get famous, then you aren’t an artist for us,” Bentley said in a serious tone. “This is something I have wanted to put together for a long time, provide a label that gives the artist 99% creative control on their projects. This mentality will make Slam House a game changer in the music industry.”
Slam House enlisted the services of the world famous, DJ Fade. Fade has toured the United States and Europe countless times and will be right at home with his new position as the head the Touring Department.
Richard Morrow, the head A&R for Rick Ross Music Group, will also assist with booking when Slam House embarks on a 14 city tour aligned with the Music Journal Series.
Cities and venues have been confirmed and the Slam House/Music Journal Series Tour will take place in 2015. The label already has underground rappers and musicians showing up on flyers for different dates including Blackfoot Joe, Ted Park, Smoove Gotti, Matty Moe, YS, FTR, female MC Stichiz, and R&B singer Isaiah Smithsonian.
“We want to put music first, because Slam House isn’t about me,” Bentley said. “I have a great team on board that is working collectively and extremely hard on this. We also have some talented musicians and I wouldn’t bet against us.”
Slam House can be found online at SlamHouseMusic.com.
Kendrick Johnson writes for a daily newspaper and is an independent print journalist and sports television reporter who has covered the NBA Finals, NFL, NCAA football, MLB, NHL, championship boxing and UFC Fights. He’s done numerous interviews with some of the biggest names and personalities in sports. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kendrickjohnso
