Rock paper scissors, inc. is a publicity firm that focuses on what founder Dmitri Vietze calls “music of global significance.” Its clients are generally record labels or independent musicians, though the company has also been hired by websites, national radio and TV outlets, festivals, music venues, and book publishers and authors. Rock paper scissors is currently located on the edge of downtown Bloomington in a renovated loft in a former city garage with three full-time and one half-time employee and half a dozen interns.

Vietze went to High School for Music in the Arts in New York City. As a teenager, he cut his teeth in organizational management in the schools and streets of New York where he was involved with social activism. Vietze was attending and often leading meetings almost every day of the week, playing music with friends, and soaking up the cross-cultural energy of New York. For his activism, he got a full tuition scholarship at Antioch College, where he was one of five Management majors.

During one of Vietze’s early post-college jobs, he was offered the chance to teach a workshop on the topic of his choice. He developed a workshop using music from around the world to teach about cultural differences, and from that moment on, Vietze knew that he wanted to work in a new realm that united his passions for music and for working across cultural lines. Vietze also wanted to integrate his entrepreneurial aspirations. After working a couple of years for a CD distributor, in Portland, Oregon, he launched rock paper scissors, inc. That was in 1999, still in Portland, and he worked out of a room he shared with his then newborn daughter. There was the crib, the changing table, and Vietze’s desk and computer. Almost eight years later, rock paper scissors is now on the edge of downtown Bloomington in a renovated loft in a former city garage with three full-time and one half-time employee and half a dozen interns.

The music Rock paper scissors represent comes from all over the world. Recent projects have included Tuareg nomads from the Sahara, a Balkan brass band from New York, descendants of shipwrecked and escaped African slaves in Central America, and psychedelic cumbias from Peru. The company’s job is to act as a bridge between musicians and the press. It have become very well known within the global music scene for developing compelling press angles for its clients and has had success at both local and national media outlets including National Public Radio, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and, recently, the Late Show with David Letterman. Past clients have included Six Degrees, Nonesuch, National Geographic, Putumayo, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Seu Jorge, Hugh Masekela, and hundreds of independent labels and artists.

Q: What motivated you to start your own business?
A: Initially I had two main motivations: 1. putting together seemingly disparate passions into a viable career, something I didn’t think I would find in an existing job “out there.” And 2. being able to work on my own terms. Everywhere I had worked I felt like there was a supervisor who was limiting my potential and how I accomplished my work. Furthermore, I started dreaming about creating my dream scenario for a lifestyle and career that suited me. So a lot of my initial motivation was becoming independent of a job. Of course, since then I found out that when you toss out having a boss, you open the door to having many bosses (every client is a boss in a way) and to being more directly subject to the ebbs and flows of the marketplace. But I doubt I could ever have a boss again.

Q: If you started again now, what would you do differently?
A: If I could have started with a business plan, I would have. At the time, I didn’t have the information that it would have taken to write one, but it would have been good to do some kind of scenario sketches. I had some other work as a training consultant to fall back on if it didn’t work out, so I probably was thinking I didn’t need to plan it all out.

I also wish I had some insights into financial systems and bookkeeping from the beginning. Nothing terrible has happened, but I just wish certain systems were in place from day one.

Q: What has been your greatest reward since opening your business?
A: I do not know if I can step back enough to pick a single greatest, but I feel very appreciative that I have been able to work in a field that gives me great pleasure every day and make a decent living at it. Knowing that we have an impact on how America perceives the world’s cultures through compelling music is satisfying. Hearing the insights of very thoughtful composers and performers is fulfilling. Helping artists find and articulate the essence of what they do, their contribution to the world, is meaningful. And I think it’s cool to show people around me that you can create a livelihood by following your passion. I feel grateful for all of it.

Q: What goals or plans do you have for the future of your business?
A: The people around me know that I have way more business ideas than I can implement. I would like to continue to build infrastructure within rock paper scissors, inc., with an emphasis on technology. And I would like to get the company running so smoothly that I can launch into some of my other business ideas. Some of them involve the Web, some involve other genres of music. My big dream is to some day open a world music retreat center. But that will come when the time is right.

Q: What advice would you give to people just starting out with a business?
A: Don’t do it unless you are ready to take on the business and management side as well as whatever else it is that motivates you. In the end, if you cannot manage the financial side and the system sides, you are probably better off working for someone else. I recommend you read the E-Myth books. The anecdotal writing is pretty poor, but the systems approach is very powerful and is the kind of thing you should be thinking about from the start. And see if you can get your hands on their workbooks. Those are concise and very practical. Lately, I have been reading a lot more books about business ideas and wish I had been doing so from the beginning. Good luck!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 8:35 am and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.