SHU Alum Sells Record Label
Alex Halloran and AGD launching Zero to 60—an 18-week certificate program for college students to help aspiring music professionals learn the business
Sacred Heart University alumnus Alex Halloran ’18 has sold his independent entertainment company, Help the Bear Records, based in New York City, to Nashville-based Another Great Day Entertainment Co. (AGD). The first song under AGD and Help the Bear, “Forever” by hip-hop artists Yung Xander and Davis James, launched in December 2021 and is available on Spotify and other streaming platforms.
AGD was founded in 2014 by brothers Nathan and Timothy Dohse with a primary focus on artist development and entertainment management services. AGD serves to educate and inspire clients with a knowledgeable team of industry professionals and through community collaboration.
Halloran will maintain creative control over all projects under Help the Bear's label, including management of Xander and James, while leading artist development for AGD in the New York market.
Halloran has been working in the music field since he was 17. “My friend Yung Xander was a music producer, and I just started handling his emails,” Halloran said. He has continued to work with Yung Xander and three other close friends with a musical passion—Christian Ball, Donnie Womack and Jonathan Gilmore—to build what eventually became Help the Bear Records. “I couldn’t have done any of this without my best friends,” he said.
Halloran took inspiration for the name of his label from a video in which rapper Mystikal’s was freestyling lyrics. “He said, ‘if you ever see me fighting in the forest with a grizzly bear—help the bear!’ And he said it with such energy and I loved the meaning behind the phase. It stayed with me. It’s how I want to be viewed. You can put me or my clients in any situation and we will get out happy and healthy.”
During his time as a marketing major at Sacred Heart, he interned at multiple music companies to learn about the music industry. One of those was the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY. “It was an awesome experience. That’s a legendary rock venue,” said Halloran, whose previous internships involved developing and promoting music artists. “It was great to work from the perspective of a venue and learn how to promote a show and proper ways to book it out.”
Halloran also interned at J10 Music in New York City. “Chuck [Gibbs], the owner, is one of my mentors. He’s been incredibly helpful, especially early on. He helped me understand the basic concepts of how the business works,” he said. “He also helped me grow my confidence as a professional, enabling me to reach out to and talk to people at agencies, publications and magazines.”
Halloran worked in two different gyms and a bar while obtaining his master’s degree in music business at Berklee College of Music in Boston. During his last semester at Berklee, Halloran interned at Universal Music Group, before his time there was cut short due to COVID. He was offered a job within the industry, “but it wasn’t exactly doing what I loved. I still wanted to create my own thing.” He took the position but began developing Help the Bear Records on the side.
Selling the label and moving to AGD has enabled him to forge a career that lets him do exactly what he loves.
While Halloran’s brand mostly focuses on hip-hop artists, he remains open to artists of all genres. “I want the brand to be less concerned with the genre. I’m looking for exciting music and exciting musicians, unique talents and unique personalities,” he said. “I want the artist to fit the Help the Bear brand more than I want the sound to fit the brand. I want them to be a representation of the energy and passion that everyone involved with Help the Bear brings.”
His new position at AGD encompasses various roles, including negotiating contracts and handling quarterly accounting. In artist development, he coaches and guides musicians to help them develop strategies for “beneficial and useful” releases. With Xander and James, he is also deeply involved in the creative process. “I’m in the studio with my guys. If they have difficulty with a line or a bar to finish a verse, I’ll help them write it.” He also is creative director for their music videos and any visual aspect of a release.
Halloran said he immediately was drawn to AGD because of the “Zero to 60” artist development program Dohse created. “I was really interested in what he was doing down in Nashville because I felt I was doing something similar on my end.” The two are working together to develop an 18-week certificate program that will teach participants what they need to know in order to enter the industry as a music professional.
While at Sacred Heart, Halloran was representing a local artist on a smaller scale than he does now. He turned to William Finley, an instructor in SHU’s music program, for help with understanding contracts and determining what next moves would be most beneficial to the team. “Professor Finley is such a knowledgeable man. I learned so much from him, with real-life examples,” he said.
He also took an entrepreneurial course that opened his eyes to future possibilities. “Before that class, the idea of starting my own business and creating something of my own was a foreign concept. That experience showed me that by covering all the bases and handling what needs to be taken care of, anything is feasible and within your grasp,” Halloran said.
Just as he earned his master’s degree, COVID shrank the post-graduation job market, so Halloran thought back to his Sacred Heart classes and realized that starting his own business held huge potential.
“I want to create a brand in New York in the music industry that would be known for being fun and unapologetically authentic,” he said. “Be on the lookout for some great music from our artists in 2022.”
Photo inset: From left are Alex Halloran, Davis James and Yung Xander