Jeff Hanson is an artist / producer manager, having founded JHMP in 1997. Record company executive & A&R consultant, and founder and chief of the Silent Majority Group label. He got his start as a classic alternative DJ, club owner, and concert promoter. He is the former manager of Creed, Paramore, Alter Bridge and Sevendust, and the company JHMP currently manages Veio, Lotus Crush, and Terry McDermott(Runner up on The Voice) and producer Peter Klett(Candlebox). The new Nashville office, under the name RCKSTRS INC. manages Cordell Winter, Lucid Illusion, Scotty Austin (ex Saving Abel) and Producer Malcolm Springer. In 2006 he set up the independent Orlando, Florida-based label Silent Majority Group, which has released albums from Framing Hanley, Candlebox, Tantric, Brother Sundance, Blacklite District, One Day Alive, and Veio.
Career
Hanson discovered Creed in December 1996 when they played live at Floyd's Music Store in Tallahassee, Florida. At the time the band was unknown and their set-list contained mostly covers and two original songs. Hanson signed Creed to his artist management company, and A&R'd and managed Creed from that point on. Soon after he asked friend John Kurzweg, to produce the band's first record and according to Hanson, in an interview with HitQuarters, the album cost only $6,000 to make and eventually sold around 6 million copies. Creed went on to sell over 35 million records and millions of tickets worldwide. During this time, Hanson served as executive producer of both The Scorpion King and Scream 3 soundtracks. Hanson also served as A&R consultant for Island Def Jam during Lyor Cohen’s tenure in the early 2000s. Shortly after forming JHMP Hanson also took on artists: Sevendust, Alterbridge, Virgos Merlot and Full Devil Jacket.
Hanson formed JHMP in 1996 and founded, funded, developed, did the A&R, and managed Creed on Wind Up records, as well as Virgos Merlot on Atlantic records, Mile on Columbia records, Full Devil Jacket on Island records and SR71 on RCA records. He then released his first independent label release in 2002 under his newly formed Silent Majority Group label with artist Storyside B in a partnership with Gotee / EMI and subsequently Big Dismal on in a partnership with Wind-Up records, both artists were faith based and achieved multiple Christian Rock top 10 hits including #1 songs with both artists. As part of his SMG label venture he did A&R for Island / Def Jam and also did A&R for Wind Up records where he signed the bands Breaking Point and Dust For Life. In 2003, Hanson's JHMP management company was asked to manage the, then, 14-year-old Hayley Williams Williams was then taken to Atlantic Records and signed to the label by Jason Flom. Hanson created the first new artist 360 deal together with entertainment lawyers Kent Marcus and Jim Zumwalt between Paramore and Atlantic Records. Paramore. Paramore went on to sell over 5 million records worldwide. His next signings to the company were Mute Math and Family Force 5, both faith based artists as well. He was joined by radio program director Rick Schmidt and fiancée Rebecca Foulke. In 2007 Silent Majority Group entered into an exclusive promotion and distribution deal with Warner Music Group’s Independent Label Group, being distributed by ADA. Hanson negotiated a deal for Silent Majority Group to be distributed by ADA Global, a Warner Music Group company.Silent Majority Group's first signing there was Framing Hanley who received a Platinum certification for their single "Lollipop". All three of Hanson's Silent Majority Group signings under the Warner Music Group deal, Tantric, Candlebox, and Framing Hanley went on to have great commercial success.
As part of Hanson's simultaneous continued association with the CCM sector of the business(Commercial Christian music business) Hanson curated the musical content for Jesus Daily Group, the most interactive Facebook page in the world www.facebook.com/Jesusdaily. At Jesus Daily he A&R'd two compilations for Jesus Daily Group... "an E-Pop Christmas" and "A Classic Christmas" that included numerous established and emerging Christian artists including Wintley Phipps, Charles Billingsley, Everlife, The Tractors, and Gary Chapman. Hanson also produced a two-hour concert special that aired on TBN's 'Praise The Lord" to support the compilations.