The Making of
a Rockpreneur

While many musical artists have found ways to make money by lending their caché-laden names to various products and companies, a pioneering few have taken the next step by launching their own product lines and even entire businesses. Take a look at these four examples-- former Great White bassist Anthony Cardenas; Former Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge; B-52s singer Kate Piersen; and Blur drummer Dave Rowntree--of the off-stage business lives of a few on-stage stars.

After scoring popular hits with Great White such as "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "House of Broken Love," Anthony Cardenas went looking for something else to do. "It just wasn't fulfilling anymore," the rock bassist says of his music career. "So I started toodling around with computers and found another passion--I loved the whole tech thing."

"As a musician, I knew that people want to get CDs made," Cardenas explains, recalling the days he spent duplicating CDs at his local Kinko's.
"I came up with an application that would help musicians--or, at least initially, musicians--turn out short runs of [radio-ready] CDs with pretty quick turnaround time."
Thus was born DiskFaktory, a partnership of music and technology that, since launching in 2002, has become a fast-growing success.

"I come from a creative background, but my partner, Ben Abadi, is a hard-nosed business guy and a great engineer, and that's what I think has allowed us to make some real leaps and bounds here." And with his partner's solid business sense in place, Cardenas was able to reach back to his musical roots for inspiration--and clients.
Soon after launching DiskFaktory, Cardenas pitched a partnership idea to Guitar Center.
"We partnered up and launched a site, and it just blew up," Cardenas recalls.

Though smaller batches of anything usually cost more than bulk orders, the company's found a way to carve out a niche as the price leader in its field.
"Thanks to our work with Guitar Center, we're very retail savvy--they've helped us price things," Cardenas explains. "They also turned us on to their wholly owned subsidiaries, like Musician's Friend and a few other sites as well."

To help his new business succeed, Cardenas has also reunited with other colleagues from his past, including the folks at Fed-Ex/Kinko's, where he'd produced some of his earliest packages. "Our relationship with them allows us to work with smaller business-type services," Cardenas says, noting that DiskFaktory works with many individuals and businesses that aren't involved in the music industry. In an effort to make their services even more complete.

DiskFaktory is currently in negotiations with a number of labels to provide musical content. They're also developing an all-in-one version of their software that customers will be able to purchase at Guitar Center. Current expansion plans also include introducing DiskFaktory to Europe where, Cardenas says, their services are "sorely needed." And a new venture called DiskFaktory Artists will allow his company to actually promote some of their artists.
No matter how big his company gets, however, Cardenas is still a rocker at heart. "I still play," he says, "but the company allows me to stay in touch with and help my friends.
And it's nice to be involved with all these new artists--that keeps me on my toes--my 40-year-old toes!"