Music man goes platinum in Hollywood - Gaylon Horton, owner of Music Solutions and MusicWorks - 25 Best Businesses of the Year

Home Office Computing, June, 1992 by Lisa Thomas

Gaylon Horton is a name that won't ring a bell in the minds of most moviegoers, but he's a top call for major film, television, and radio production company executives.

Horton, 39, owns Music Solutions, a production and consulting company. He specializes in negotiating the use of recording artists' songs as soundtracks for television shows and motion pictures. "I help make the marriage when television, film, and advertising producers want to use popular music or certain recording artists in their productions."

Horton has spent more than 15 years mastering the entertainment industry. He's been everything from a musician to a record producer. But the glamorous, high-profile positions lost their appeal.

As Horton's discontent grew, so did his desire to run his own business. In 1985 work on three films kept Horton away from his family for the better part of three months. One day Horton's three-year-old son, Adam, called the office and asked, "Dad, this weekend, you wanna come over to my house?" "The following month I added an office to the back of my house and have worked there ever since," Horton says.

Horton took $20,000 in profitsharing monies from his last corporate job and

positioned Music Solutions as a one-man, one-project service business. To provide a variety of talent while keeping overhead low, he hired music professionals on a contract basis.

"Our bids range from $15,000 to $75,000 per project, and the on-site production rate is $1,000 per day. Within the first six months of being in business, I surpassed the yearly salary of my job as a division president," Horton says.

Horton's client list includes the major television networks as well as Paramount Pictures, MGM, Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star, and Disney.

He has infused productions with the music of Paula Abdul, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Guns n' Roses, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, The Police, Iggy Pop, Prince, and more than 400 other recording artists.

Horton hooked up with Suzan Mann, another music supervisor, to increase the scope of Music Solutions. The duo formed MusicWorks in 1989 to find film and television opportunities for record labels and their artists, and to provide production consultation. PolyGrarn and A&M are two of their major clients.

"When I first started out I was one of four or five people in the world working in this occupation," says Horton. "Since then, hundreds of people have come onto the scene. It is imperative that I provide excellent service to distinguish my company from others in today's glutted market."

LISA THOMAS

SNAPSHOT

Gaylon Horton

RESIDENCE: Los Angeles, California

BUSINESS: Music Solutions/MusicWorks

1991 REVENUES: Just under $500,000

EQUIPMENT: Mac II, Mac Plus, and Mac Classic computers; Macintosh Portable computer; Hewlett-Packard LaserJet; Fujitsu Dex 140 fax machine; Best Data Smart One fax/modem

SOFTWARE/ON-LINE SERVICES: Data Club, HyperCard, Panorama, WriteNow, MyAdvanced MailList, MacLabelPro, Canvas, Publish-It Easy, and Performer

Rx FOR SUCCESS: "Be able to reinvent yourself as the business changes."