Crash Cymbals and Contracts: Billy Cuthrell’s Lesson in Music Business Success

Gig Gab - The Working Musician's Podcast

Ever wonder how a skater punk becomes a music industry powerhouse? This week, Billy Cuthrell joins Dave Hamilton to share how his drumming journey kicked off with a Ludwig kit and a dose of Zeppelin, then scaled into creating a chain of four music schools and a million lessons taught annually. From being Music Inc. Magazine’s “Retail Doctor” to pioneering a subscription-style lessons model that gives away instruments with lesson contracts, Billy proves that the business of music can be just as creative as the craft itself. It’s all about knowing when to grind and when to zoom out.

But Billy doesn’t stop at teaching—he’s still gigging regularly, including a recent gig with Cosmic Superheroes in front of thousands of fans, buying DrumSellers.com, and dropping wisdom learned from legends like Jim Chapin and Freddie Gruber. If you’ve ever asked what it takes to turn passion into impact, this episode lays it out: persistence, play, and paying your dues. Remember, whether you’re behind the kit or building a business, you’ve got one job: Always Be Performing.

• 00:00:00 Gig Gab 488 – Monday, June 30th, 2025
  • June 30th: International Asteroid Day
  • Guest co-host: Billy Cuthrell
• 00:02:06 How did you become Music Inc. Magazine’s “Retail Doctor”?
  • College Radio Hit machine!
  • Go Figure (Dave’s college band)
  • Fountain of Youth (Billy’s college band)
• 00:05:58 Starting at 19 ran music lessons
  • Like the musical ice cream man at first, then 4 locations
  • Then added sales on because students need instruments!
• 00:07:41 School of Rock…in 1996!
  • Same time Skip’s Stairway to Stardom started up
  • Lawyers, yadda yadda, changed the name to “Rock Academy”
  • Early Drumkits
    • Ludwig 1960’s Blue Sparkle (for Billy)
    • Ludwig Rocker II (for Dave)
• 00:12:41 Introduced to Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains The Same”
  • Converted Billy from Skater Punk to Drummer
  • “I know I can play.”
  • As soon as Billy got a drumset, he would race home from school and play until his parents got home.
  • Now it’s Noble & Cooley CD Maple drums
  • “The Only thing I love more than playing music is talking about music.” – Paraphrasing Mike Campbell
  • Instruments are meant to be used!
  • Ludwig Supraphonic 40th Edition Snare
  • Kirk Hamilton from Strong Songs comparing Gibson SG vs. Japanese
• 00:26:27 Music Inc. Magazine Puts Billy on the cover!
  • And…a stolen idea from cell phone contracts
  • Lightbulb moment: Give away the instrument to sell a 2-year lesson contract!
  • Changed 4 stores, 120 employees, doing over a million music lessons each year.
  • Now three tiers: Learn, Play, Perform
    • The Perform tier is locked in for 12-to-24 months by contracting them with “free” instruments
  • Balancing your business: Execution vs. Perspective
  • And THAT is how Billy became “Retail Doctor”
• 00:36:32 SPONSOR: Mechanical Licensing Collective – Are you a songwriter, music publisher, or administrator? Every month, The MLC collects the streaming data and royalties from Spotify and Apple Music, matches the money to the creator who has earned it, and then pays out the royalties due. Visit TheMLC.com today to sign up!
• 00:38:05 SPONSOR: Rock-N-Roller. Replace 8 different carts with one: dolly, hand truck, short bed, long bed, flat bed, you got it! Code GIGGAB20 saves you 20% on all carts.
• 00:41:42 Who are you playing with today for 5,000 people?
  • Cosmic Superheroes
• 00:43:18 Billy just bought DrumSellers.com
  • George Lawrence
  • Jim Chapin
  • Harry Chapin’s “Cats in the Cradle” was a poem written by Harry’s wife, Sandra
• 00:45:04 Drove 17 Hours to meet Jim Chapin to learn from him…unannounced!
  • Started a publication to get a media badge to get into NAMM
• 00:53:47 We work on the National Stage to make the Local Stage better
• 00:56:11 Asking Freddie Gruber why HE was the right teacher for Neil Peart…
  • …and then 20 PDP & Drum Workshop drumkits showed up at Billy’s house!
• 01:05:53 DrumSellers.com is next for Billy!
  • Bullheaded persistence…too dumb to quit!
  • You pay the price up front. You put the work in up front.
• 01:10:41 Overnight success takes about 20 years
  • Play to serve the song
  • Steve Smith’s deceptively-difficult drum parts
• 01:19:18 Gig Gab 487 Outtro
  • Follow Billy Cuthrell
    • DrumSellers.com
    • Billy Cuthrell on LinkedIn
  • Contact Gig Gab!
    • @GigGabPodcast on Instagram
    • [email protected]
    • Sign Up for the Gig Gab Mailing List

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