Features

"Sound speaks for itself"

Three Keys Music

STORY BY MARJORIE CLARKSON
PHOTOS BY JULIE WIATT

"It is imperative to wake up with a dream," Marcus Johnson believes. The dream he wakes up with each day happens to be off the charts: "Five to seven years from now—100 million to 200 million."

That's the annual revenue goal he has set for Three Keys Music, his high-tech music recording studio on the ninth floor of the World Building at 8121 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring.

Marcus's boldness sounds like what you might expect to hear from a naive entrepreneur. But he does not appear naive to those who have listened to his dreams. Robert Johnson, founder and CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET), believes in this young man's dream and proved it by making a multi-million dollar investment in Three Keys Music. (And no, Marcus Johnson and Robert Johnson are not related.) And in the early days, before the CEO's investment in Three Keys, DeVance Walker, Manager of Small Business Serv-ices in the Montgomery County Depart-ment of Economic Development, had faith enough in Marcus Johnson's dream to help him secure two $50,000 loans.

Marcus grew up in Silver Spring and graduated from Blair High School in 1989. He earned his undergraduate degree from Howard University and a combined law and MBA degree from Georgetown Law School. He expresses pride in his professional degrees, but they were not acquired as a fallback if his music business fails; rather, they are a necessary foundation to make it succeed, he says.

Music has long been Marcus's passion and has grown into his ultimate career goal. He has played keyboards for 17 years, recording his first CD in 1995 in his apartment in the Twin Towers Apartments on Fidler Lane. The CD was titled Lessons in Love. Today, he is recording music of his own and of other artists at Three Keys. He says he wants his company to be known "for its excellence and for creating classic music that you will hear 20 years from now."

Creating a distinctive sound in the genres of jazz and rhythm & blues, alternative music, gospel, and the best of hip-hop that will become as recognizable as the Motown sound is this ambitious businessman's goal. In his opinion, his recording studio is one of the top five in the area, and in the top ten in the region, and says the proof is in his recordings.

"Sound speaks for itself," he says.

Recently, the Three Keys Music sound has found some appreciative listeners. Less than two years since Robert Johnson's major financial investment, Three Keys Music has two artists on the industry charts: R&B artist Yahzarah, whose album Blackstar debuted at No. 37 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums, No. 45 on the R&B Album charts and No. 52 on the New Artist chart; and jazz guitarist Nick Colionne, in the top 20 on both Billboard and the R&R (Radio & Records) charts.

The press release announcing the impressive debut of Colionne includes a quote from the proud BET CEO: "We are new, small, and making all the naysayers shake their heads in disbelief."

A David versus Goliath contest is how Marcus Johnson characterizes his company's brave and bold assault on the multi-billion dollar recording companies. He describes the Three Keys Music strategy for winning as a "really bare-bones approach." He does not have "millions to waste," so he and his staff make a careful calculated assessment of the projected costs and profits for the projects they undertake. Three Keys' unusual economic model was one of the reasons Robert Johnson decided to become an investor, according to Marcus.

Gene Lacey, Chief Operations Officer of Three Keys Music, is quick to point out that recording music is only one of the operations of Marimelj Entertainment Group, within which Three Keys Music is a division. The business can take an artist's music from demo to completion and on to promotion through their publishing, distribution, and artist promotions services.

Another source of revenue comes from the recording studios, which Lacey and Johnson say are available for rental to the public either by hourly or block rates. The studios, named Studio 8121 East, offer musicians two control rooms and two recording rooms, a Yamaha baby grand, artist conference center and lounge, and all the technical wizardry a ProTools HD3 system can produce. The studios also offer magnificent views of Silver Spring and, they say, a good place to view sunsets.

Morning Wood, an alternative rock group from the Baltimore area, chose the studio to record their new CD, Pikesville. The band has mainly worked with Brian "BJ" Douglas, the studio manager and recording engineer.

"It is unbelievable here," says Ari Blitz, the band's pianist. "Everybody helps out and is easy to work with."

BJ's working hours are typical for a professional who works with musicians: he had worked until 4 a.m. with jazz pianist Bobby Lyle recording a new CD, then was back at noon the following day to work with Blitz and bassist A.J. Weiss to finish up their CD by adding vocals and keyboard to one song.

Three Keys Music's interest in recording the famous, the soon-to-be famous, and the not-yet-famous accounts for a rising new jazz saxophonist, Mike Burton, playing a solo on the Morning Wood CD. Burton happened to be in the studio at the same time as the band, and offered to join them on a song. Lacey explained this willingness of Burton to be featured on the debut CD of a local group as reflective of the philosophy of the studio.

"We are no prima donnas around here," he says. "We are all just getting through the day."