Book Review - “Hitmaker: The Man and His Music” Tommy Mottola

Vinyl records, CD’s, “Napster,” and digital downloads, “Hitmaker” by Tommy Mottola is a book you should definitely read if you love music and/or memoirs. I found out about this book when I was watching Jimmy Fallon late one night. In actuality, I feel asleep and I awoke to Fallon’s high praise for this book as his guest, Mottola recounted his days at Sony Music. Like any book that someone endorses, I put it on my long list of books to read.

I’m not sure why I instinctively put this book at the top of my list. I am so grateful that I did. From the first page until the last, I was entertained and even laughed out loud as I voraciously read. The memoir is honest, raw and poignant. Believe it or not, many books that I’ve read as of late, I find minor mistakes but this book was skillfully written. Hence, I couldn’t put it down.

I have told everyone about this book personally; plus I’ve tweeted about it for days. I can’t say more than how engrossed I was in Mottola’s life. He gave personal details about his marriages; how he discovered Mariah Carey and countless others; and how hard he worked to get to where he wanted to be – the music business.

As a guitar player, he knew early in life that he wanted to play music. Mottola describes how obsessed he became – “I got a Telecaster, a Stratocaster, and then a Jazzmaster. Fender guitars were geared toward mass production, and I’d known how to take them apart and put them back together.” He goes on to say that a $300 Fender guitar are worth $50,000 today. He never kept them, however. He regrets it now.

As a 14-year-old teenager, he played for the “Exotics” band. It was an entirely different mentality than he was accustomed to, “The guys in the Exotics had no curfew. Their parents let them do whatever they wanted . . .” Mottola loved hanging out with these guys when they played music or not. His parents were slowly becoming disenchanted with their teenage son’s band activities so they took matters into their own hands. They eventually enrolled Tommy into military boarding school in New Jersey. Tommy grew up in the Bronx.

Raw details such as these are interwoven into “Hitmaker.” I kept reading because I wanted to learn more. Before Mottola’s big break, he tried to work at his father’s 9 to 5 mundane job after he dropped out of college and couldn’t “make it” as a musician. I admire Mottola because he stuck to his passions and gut instincts – working in the music industry without looking back. He kept his options open and met the right people who guided him into becoming the success he became.

What Tommy had was a knack for understanding what good music was. When Hall & Oats, young unknown musicians, walked into his office, he knew they were going to be huge just by listening to one of their songs. What Mottola did unlike everyone else – he believed in his artists and let them be true to their artistic abilities.  In my estimation, Mottola’s success was attributed to his risk-averse mentality, of course, he was a true visionary. I would put him in the same company with Steve Jobs (Apple), Jack Dorsey (twitter and his new company, Square); Mark Zuckerberg (facebook) among other talented CEO’s. 

Historically, I also enjoyed reading about Sony’s forward-thinking management style. The company was run by an accomplished Opera singer, who was very passionate about music. Understanding new trends in music, they ultimately developed and sold the “Sony Walkman.” Now music lovers can enjoy music “on the run” without being chained to their radio or home stereo. This was an important transformation in how audiences began listening to music – it’s portable and you can pick any music you want.

I am dating myself, but I remember using my “Sony Walkman” to distract me from those mundane cycles around the Cleveland State University’s track between classes. It helped me continue my workout when I didn’t feel like it. Now we have iTunes and social media that has helped musical artists get noticed and develop their craft globally.

The “Hitmaker” was a musical education for me who doesn’t normally pay attention to the musical pop craze. I admire Tommy Mottola for taking his passion for music and develop Sony Music as the metropolis that it once was. He looked beyond what was currently happening and managed for the future; if you sit and wait, your organization will die if you don’t find the next “big thing.” A creative, genius in my book.

An enthusiastic thumbs up.

“Hitmaker: The Man and His Music” by Tommy Mottola with Cal Fussman (2013).