My Music Row Story: SESAC’s Scott Jungmichel

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Scott Jungmichel

The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Scott Jungmichel serves as President & COO for SESAC Performing Rights. In this capacity, Jungmichel is charged with overseeing Writer/Publisher Client Services, Licensing, Royalty Administration, Corporate Development, Research & Analysis as well as administrative functions.

A 28-year veteran of SESAC, he previously served as CIO.  In that role, Jungmichel managed technology infrastructure, IT operations as they pertain to internal systems and projects, and deployed new technology to streamline business processes. He also focused on the requirements of internal employees and business units while ensuring ongoing operations and overall security measures. Before acting as CIO, Jungmichel spent over 10 years as the SVP of Royalty Distribution & Research Services, including Content Registration and Optimization, Royalty Administration, A/V Client Services and Research & Analysis.

Jungmichel holds a BBA degree in music business and management with a minor in business administration from Belmont University.  He is also a member of the Leadership Music Class of 2022.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in the Nashville area. We moved from Atlanta when I was really young. The real estate agent took my dad out to Brentwood and said, “You want to be here.” So that’s where I grew up.

Pictured (L-R): Malcolm Hawker, John Josephson and Scott Jungmichel. Photo: Courtesy of Jungmichel

What were you into as a kid?

A mix of music and sports. Basketball was my main sport, and I played baseball.

On the music front, I was into a little bit of everything. I wouldn’t say I had a musical family—my family didn’t play instruments—but there was always music around. My parents would play Elvis, Willie Nelson, Charlie Rich and even big band music. I was listening to the Grease soundtrack and Kiss.

I started playing music in fourth grade with the trumpet. That morphed into being in a rock band playing bass guitar in high school. I started really getting into music at that point, but I didn’t realize there was a music business. Once I found out there was a business, I decided to [pursue that] and go to Belmont.

Pictured (L-R): Diana Akin Scarfo, Jack Harlow, Sam Kling and Scott Jungmichel. Photo: Courtesy of Jungmichel

Tell me about your time at Belmont.

It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot. Bob Mulloy was running the program at that time. There were internship opportunities because he was really big on internships. All that stuff was important [in order] to see how the business really functions. I interned at MCA Records for a while. I was primarily in the Marketing department and worked there for a few semesters, which I enjoyed.

What happened after graduation?

I didn’t find a job. [Laughs] My wife was a year behind me, so she was still in school. She went to Belmont too. So I actually went back to Belmont and completed the requirements to get a business management degree. I was also working at a record store. Then I answered an ad and started at SESAC.

What was SESAC like when you joined?

From 1930 until the end of 1992, SESAC was literally a family-owned business. It was started by Paul Heineke. SESAC was sold at the end of 1992, and I started soon thereafter, but it still felt like a family-run business at the time. The transformative stuff hadn’t really started.

Scott and Denise Jungmichel. Photo: Courtesy of Jungmichel

I began in the Licensing department, and was working in the broadcast area focused on television and radio stations. When they sold, you had to contact them and get the transfer of ownership and make sure that they get relicensed essentially, so I did that for about a year. Then a job opened up in the international royalties area, but at that point, it wasn’t really a full-time job at SESAC, so I was filling my time doing other stuff as well.

You really got to experience the growth of SESAC, having been there for so long. How did the company transform in the beginning of your tenure?

The first thing was a technological shift, to create some infrastructure. That was obviously a change. Then there was a bit of a philosophy change on how to run the business and how to take this family-owned company and grow it. Not too long after that, we signed Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond. That was the catalyst for additional growth because those are significant catalogs. From that point on, we had a template to grow the business. We’ve gone through a couple of ownership changes and expanded beyond performing rights with the SESAC Music Group concept. It’s exciting.

As far as being there that long, I didn’t have to move. Everything sort of changed around me—either I was changing what I was doing or there were ownership changes, which always creates some new opportunities and ways to do things differently—so I didn’t have to go anywhere. I had plenty of variety.

Scott Jungmichel and composer Jonathan Wolff. Photo: Courtesy of Jungmichel

You’ve had so many roles at SESAC. How do you explain what you do now as President & COO?

It’s really looking after the three departments that make PROs unique: Licensing, Client Services or Writer/Publisher Relations and Royalty Distribution. Those departments have to work in sync because one can’t exist without the other. If you don’t have writers and publishers, you can’t license anything. You don’t get writers and publishers unless your royalty distributions are efficient, accurate and pay competitively. A normal day for me is a little bit of each of those.

What would you say is your favorite part?

I don’t know if I have a favorite part. I came up doing royalty distribution, so that’s the piece that I’m the most comfortable with. That’s still kind of fun—it’s a little bit of a puzzle.

I’m dating myself, but I started pre-internet. We had radio, local and network television stations and cable. Now we’re dealing with billions of lines of data, and trillions of performances with Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and all the other stuff. There’s a different kind of intensity to that than there is in the other performance categories, not that the others can’t get intense. [Laughs] Distributions are like a quarterly sprint.

Pictured (L-R): John Josephson, Scott Jungmichel and composer Devin Powers. Photo: Courtesy of Jungmichel

Have you had any mentors along the way?

I’ve been mentored by everybody I’ve interacted with in one way or another, whether it’s all the bosses I’ve had or colleagues. You pick up different pieces of their styles. It’s good to have a toolbox like that, because you have to pull out different things at different times.

What are some of the tools or strengths that you lean on the most in your day to day?

There’s that analytical side of me. I approach things from a very pragmatic, analytical way. I’m also pretty even-keeled—nothing’s going to get me too high and nothing’s going to get me too low.

What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

Work hard. I know that sounds simple and obvious, [but] find something that you love, get in there and work hard. If you work hard, you’ll get noticed. You’ve also got to have a tinge of luck. There’s a little bit of making your own luck, but things have to happen. You can only control what you can control, and then you just have to be ready when an opportunity comes up.

LB Cantrell
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