Music industry veteran Tom Lipsky is featured in a new interview with Jeb Wright at Classic Rock Revisited. An excerpt is available below.

Wright comments: "Tom Lipsky is not a household name. In fact, not even that many of Classic Rock’s biggest fanatics can tell you anything about him. He is not a star, he doesn’t make the tabloids and he is above board in his business dealings. Tom Lipsky prefers to be invisible and stay behind the scenes. The truth is, however, that there are only a few men on planet Earth as responsible as he is for Classic Rock remaining a viable genre. He may try to hide in the shadows and sacrifice his own glory, preferring to give it to the bands he signs, but the one thing he can’t escape is his reputation within the business end of the Classic Rock Industry.

Tom started CMC International in the 1990’s with the vision that Grunge had not killed the music he loved, it just injured it and with loving care, a business plan, a little elbow grease and a bit of creativity, these bands could rebuild their careers and continue to perform and create new music every bit as good as the past. Once CMC had done all it could do, Lipsky joined forces with Sanctuary North America and grew the label to heights no one could have imagined. Now, Lipsky has teamed up with Roadrunner Records and is running his newest venture, Loud & Proud which has featured releases by SAMMY HAGAR, COLLECTIVE SOUL, ROB ZOMBIE, MEAT LOAF, RATT and LYNYRD SKYNYRD."

Q: Some classic bands have given up on new albums because they feel that it won’t sell that well.

Tom: "Bands ask me all the time what kind of an album they should do for 2011. I tell them to just get in a room and forget about what year it is and just do what you do. Don’t ever try writing a radio single because that could change tomorrow. The guys I work with are legends. They have done things that very few people have done. I tell the guys to never try and target what they are going to do because if they do that then they are screwed because that never, ever works. You never maintain the identity of the band instead you become a new band that is trying to hit a moving target that moves so fast you can never hit it."

"If a band does not have the confidence that they can be relevant again then my confidence gets diluted. If bands are questioning themselves that much then I will typically step away from them. If a band is really hungry but does not know how to approach it then I try to channel that back into them and convince them that they shouldn’t try to focus things. There are a lot of discouraged people out there. I have to evaluate when I meet them if they are too jaded to be brought up to a new level, regardless of our help, or if they are people who have that hunger and are looking for a new opportunity. Some bands don’t need to make new records."

Q: How do you answer a band that says, “We are making money on tour. If we stop we don’t get paid.”

Tom: "I understand that the nature of the business that CMC, Sanctuary and Loud & Proud conduct is unique. It used to be that people thought when they got a record deal they became a star. Records were the centerpieces of their career. It is no longer that way. The primary benefit of a record, now, is a marketing tool for the overall good of their business -- not just for their tour ticket sales. Most importantly, a record refreshes the band. If you get a band that plays nothing but the hits year after year then you see them go from an arena to a shed to a club to a Vegas house band. The fire is gone and they no longer approach what they do with passion. Instead, they just are doing it as a way to earn a living until they have to stop."

"I accepted the fact early on that a record is not the centerpiece anymore. I am one piece of their overall puzzle. I am the one piece that has the ability to refresh every other area of their business. If they look at a record that way and don’t have an unrealistic expectation of the record then they can realize that it is one part of the puzzle that makes them fresh and interesting as artists. It makes the audience want to see them because there is something new in the set that they haven’t heard before and that brings a new energy to the band. You get new graphics on a tee shirt and you get new things to download. I accept that but the artist needs to accept that as well. They need see their music as a marketing tool and not just the way to make money. I think that is a better way to look things in this day and age and it can work for everybody. It takes the pressure off of having to sell a certain amount of records. It keeps their audience involved and gives them more reasons to keep coming back to the well."

Go to this location for the complete in-depth interview.