Matthew King Kaufman

I love music, both live and recorded. I’ve been in the music business since the ’60s. I’ve been producing pop music since the ’70s.

I just love my job. I came to it innocently enough. We had just formed Beserkley Records in 1973, and we needed a producer for our first two projects. I feel the final decision spun on the fact that I was the most affordable prospect. And boy I was raring to go. After spending a few years watching some top flight producers, engineers, and music talent work while I was hanging out at A&M’s recording studio, I was ready to try out my theories about record making.

The first LPs I ever produced were a live recording of a local band and a compilation of unknown artists. Flying in the face of common industry wisdom, these recordings yielded several “FM classics” and our first hit record. “Roadrunner” by Jonathan Richman – recorded with Earth Quake as the back-up band – went on to be not only a hit, but that single launched a music trend (PUNK!). Beserkley Records, the world’s tiniest independent, had become “The little record company that could.”

We carried on as the tiny independent with good music. Beserkley Records had several more even bigger hits. I ran the label till the mid ’80s, when the corporate music era made it impossible for the little guy with good music but no marketing muscle to survive. In spite of that, I never stopped making records, I just stopped marketing them.

I now feel I’ve really perfected my production techniques in this digital age. It seems like a new era in the music business, so with the help of the MP3 Lunatics, I’m involved in the formation of a recording company again. We’re going to try to produce “Music you want to own.”

I’ve always been lucky to work with great musicians and collaborators. FunFunFun is no exception. The Uptones are as accomplished musically as any artist I’ve ever worked with. The MP3 Lunatics are the best, and my secret weapon this time is the same as before: good music for music lovers.

Bio

In 1973, Matthew King Kaufman - manager of seminal A&M recording artists Earth Quake - founded Beserkley Records, one of the very first successful independent labels of the 70s that went on to launch the careers of Jonathan Richman and Greg Kihn. Kaufman’s efforts as recording artist, songwriter, producer, and publisher have been responsible for the sales of millions of records and CDs worldwide. In 1991, he co-founded Eastern Light Productions, producing a series of award winning Russian historical documentaries in collaboration with the Soviet Filmmaker’s Society, Kinocenter. In 1999, he co-founded MP34U.com. In 2007, he has launched the Fun Fun Fun label, most recently recording with legendary ska pioneers, The Uptones. His current passion is creating a “Music Lover’s Playground” on the World Wide Web located at Muzic.com. Mr. Kaufman has a B.A. from American University in Washington, D.C. and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore.

Brian Villanueva

I’ve been around the intersection of music and entertainment in one way or another for much of my life. I have spent time in various music and entertainment related capacities, ranging from collector to concertgoer to promoter to online music entrepreneur.

In 1996 I registered the muzic.com domain name with my business partners at the time. I decided I wanted to be part of the greatest seismic shift in music consumption that was ever going to occur in my lifetime. From the start, my focus was to harness the growing networks of people on the Internet to improve fan music discovery and make more stars out of all those amazing unknown bands I had found online over the years.

As the years have passed, I have witnessed two things:

1. The masses of music lovers and music makers have all on their own created an unstoppable tidal wave of online musical enthusiasm, goodwill, and activity.
2. The various corporate gatekeepers and entertainment cartels from around the world have done the best they can to make themselves less and less relevant in the entire Internet music equation.

My role in FunFunFun is to take as much advantage of these two realities as possible. I believe these to be the building blocks for the NEW music industry, and I am excited to be a part of this industry’s transformation.

Bio

Brian Villanueva provides the technical vision and designs/creates the interfaces for the MP3 Lunatics’ suite of music-themed websites (muzic, MP3 4U, and mp3 jackpot). Brian Villanueva graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Political Science, focusing on ethics and political philosophy. Professionally, Mr. Villanueva has provided software and Internet consulting services to over 35 Fortune 500 companies including SAP, Apple, Intel, Hitachi, and Nike.