ALYSSA  HOFFMAN

THIS ISN’T BUSINESS. THIS IS PERSONAL.

Four years ago, I quit my Fortune 500 job, sold my possessions, and moved onto a tour bus to manage the band WAYLAND.

WAYLAND had toured the country for 7 years, 300 days per year selling out venues as a headliner all over the midwest, opening for cross over acts like Lifehouse, Aaron Lewis, Shinedown, Blackberry Smoke, and Buckcherry, securing slots on major, national festivals, and building relationships with radio stations all over the country by singing three part harmony at seven am.

They charted on rock radio six times, had four top forties, a #6 on the iTunes rock chart and a viral music video all independently and none of these accolades were the reason that I gave up everything for them.**

I quit my Fortune 500 job, I sold my possessions, I and moved onto a bus to manage a band, because WAYLAND built a fanbase that nobody could ever take away from them starting with my parents and five brothers and sisters who on an almost non-existent budget traveled across the country to see them numerous times. Even on Thanksgiving. Even across the interstate in the snow.

Growing up as the oldest of six kids, no one ever knew or remembered any of our names, including some of our aunts and uncles. WAYLAND knew my family by name. They even knew me by name, even when I was the only kid that hadn’t yet attended a show. They stayed late, showed up early, and introduced themselves one fan at a time, and built real relationships with real people because it mattered to them. Their fans mattered to them. MY FAMILY mattered to them. And I MATTERED TO THEM.

Watching WAYLAND night after night in city after city shake hands and kiss babies, for reasons that were not manufactured, forced, or political BUT INSTEAD for reasons that were honest,authentic, and harmonious, in the effort of bringing real humans together, I knew THAT was the something worth giving up everything for.

Music is the most powerful force in the world, next to human connection. When you combine both, you now have the ability, the resources, and the conviction to change the world.

THE SERVICE exists to change the world one band or artist and one fanbase at a time, through creating and fostering these real connections with real music and real human beings. This is not a traditional record label or management company, but the “mom and pop version.”

WAYLAND was named after Wayland, Michigan, lead guitarist (and love of my life’s) hometown because WAYLAND wanted to bring the feeling of that community to every city they went.

Phill’s parents (and two of my favorite people), Mike and Clare, owned The Goldsmith Shop, a jewelry shop downtown in Wayland, where, you guessed it, everyone in town knew everyone’s name. This feeling of a “mom and pop” shop that cares and that listens is the essence and spirit of THE SERVICE. This is not our job, but our joy to bring you the soundtrack of our lives one song and one listen at a time.

WAYLAND changed my world and now WAYLAND will change THE WORLD. Not because of who they are or what their music is, but because YOU listened to them. YOU listened to the songs. YOU believed in THEM. You believed in US.

We will continue to change the world and act as the MOTHER of all record labels. LOVING and LISTENING to each song and each artist and each fanbase as only a mom (and pop) could.

Thank you for listening.