About James Citkovic
James Citkovic has been an entertainment manager and intellectual property licensing manager for over 30 years, representing clients as diverse as platinum recording artist Irene Cara (an Academy Award, two Grammy's, a Golden Globe Award, the People's Choice Award, and the Latino Playwright's Award, and voted "One of the Top 100 Black Entertainers"), also Grammy-nominated producer/mixer/writer Chris Conway (Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes), producer, songwriter and TV/Film composer Ken Tamplin, (www.newgamemedia.com - Dove Award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Songs and Albums), Daize (www.daize.com), the #1 World Champion Long Board Surfer/Rocker, hip hop artists Wood Ready (www.epicrecords.com), and scores of other successful singers, songwriters, musicians and producers. But Citkovic's talent extends far beyond his management duties. In addition to being active in music publishing and soundtrack placement, he also has been very successful brokering international intellectual property and licensing deals with major music publishing catalogues, masters of major artists and films including The Ramones, Vol. 1 & 2 (www.image-entertainment.com), Elvis Presley, (www.deltamusic.co.uk), Joe Strummer (of The Clash) (Digital Site Music) and Living Loud (of Deep Purple) (www.sonybmg.com). Several of his deals have run to the millions of dollars in revenue for his artists and musicians. To his credit, James has contracted more than 40 full-length CDs, 50 singles, numerous international licensing deals and more then a dozen music publishing deals for his clients with companies such as BMG Entertainment (www.bmgentertainment.com), Warner/Chappell (www.warnerchappell.com), Radikal Records/BMG, Extreme Music (www.extrememusic.com/), Shatter Records, Pipeline/Warner Brothers, Personal Records/BMG, Music Maniac Records, Famous Music (www.famousmusic.com), Hit & Run Music (www.philcollins.co.uk/shop.htm), MCA Music Publishing (www.umusic.com) and Moore Music (West Germany), to name a few. Citkovic has also secured major music soundtrack deals including placements in Paramount's film “Clueless”, and on the cable networks MTV (www.mtv.com), ESPN (www.espn.com), E Entertainment (www.eentertainment.com), Fox Sports (www.foxsports.com), The Weather Channel (www.weather.com), Food TV Network (www.foodtv.com) and the Surf Channel Television Network. James Citkovic's music career began at age 13 when he started to play drums; soon thereafter; he began playing the keyboards and writing songs. In 1970, James became interested in classical Indian music, picked up the tablas and spent time studying - this music that has the most complex rhythmic systems - with some of the world's most renowned Indian masters (Alla Rakha, Ravi Shankar (www.ravishankar.org), Zakir Hussain (www.momentrecords.com), Badel Roy). He also played guitar and harmonica. In 1973, Citkovic moved to London to be a session player/songwriter for EMI (www.emigroup.com), recording mostly at Abbey Road (www.abbeyroad.co.uk). While in the UK, his primary songwriting partner was Robbie Patton, best known as cowriter for Fleetwood Mac (www.fleetwoodmac.com). He also toured with a number of groups including the Foundations (Baby, Now That I Found You and Build Me Up, Buttercup) and landed several publishing contracts there as well. Back in the U.S., Citkovic secured a recording deal for his band, Black Cat, and several additional publishing contracts for himself. Seeing his success, many of James's musician friends began asking for his assistance in furthering their own music careers.In 1983, Citkovic founded his first music management firm, COUNTDOWN ENTERTAINMENT and began concentrating on other people's careers. James has worked with and on the development of the bands Vibrolush (Interscope - www.Interscope.com), The Bloodhound Gang (Geffen - www.geffen.com), and AKU*AKU (Shatter), to name a few. James has also secured record deals for his clients with major record producers such as Alan Parsons (Beatles, Pink Floyd), Steve Thompson (Blues Traveler and Metallica), Kasenetz & Katz (who have 33 gold and platinum records) and Jeff Gordon (Riot & Yoko Ono). Over the years, Citkovic has been partners on his projects with a number of major music managers, including John Regna (Jose Feliciano, ELO), Michael Lang (Woodstock, Joe Cocker, Billy Joel), Betty Kelapire (Tramps), Mike Appel (Bruce Springsteen) and Bob Schwaid (A&R Director, MCA Records), among others. Addressing the changing needs of the music industry, in 2002 James founded Hire A Consultant where he provides clients with his expertise in all areas of the music entertainment industry, such as from placing music in films and TV shows, to providing record deals and music publishing deals, to providing experienced professional advice for artists/groups and unsigned bands, singers, songwriters, publishers, managers, producers, engineers, composers, session musicians, record labels, executives and recording studios. He is also a talent scout for several major and independent record labels. Besides being a talented songwriter and musician, Citkovic also has experience as a producer and engineer, promoter & booking agent, road manager and sound & light man. To schedule a meeting with James Citkovic, call +1-212-645-3068 or e-mail james@countdownentertainment.com.
Read an article in Musician's Atlas which quotes James Citkovic on the topic: “Business & Legal: Sign on the Dotted Line”:
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