Atlantic City is home to casinos, gambling, entertainment, fine dining, and the #1 House of Blues location in the United States in terms of ticket sales and the number of shows scheduled. In a place like Atlantic City, which rests in between New York City and Philadelphia, sights, sounds, and exquisite tastes are never in short supply. People should constantly be looking at Atlantic City, because as history at the House of Blues has shown, you never know when you could catch the next J. Cole, Lauryn Hill, or Wiz Khalifa performing. Ultimately, if more people were aware of the kind of talent that travels to Atlantic City, it would surely be on everyone’s radar as a “music destination.” AllHipHop.com got the chance to talk to Jason Spencer, Regional Director of Entertainment for the House of Blues, as well as a number of other lounges, clubs, and venues throughout Atlantic City. We spoke on his background, his introduction to the music industry, the process behind booking talent, and much more: AllHipHop.com: So, how exactly did you secure this position as Regional Director of Entertainment for Atlantic City? Jason Spencer: Well, I essentially went the old fashioned route, the school route. I went undergrad down at Morehouse College, majored in Marketing, went back to graduate school at NYU, and while I was there, I linked up with Reebok. I got to work on the S. Carter brand, so that was my first tie with the whole entertainment, music, marketing component, and while I was finishing up there I got recruited to go out to Vegas and work for Caesar’s Entertainment in their marketing department. Eventually because of my experiences and background and expertise, I was offered a job to come out to Atlantic City and become the Director of Marketing for the House of Blues here at Showboat, which is independent of the network. So, I was in charge of overseeing the concert venue, the Foundation Room, from a marketing perspective, and that eventually led to me being promoted to overseeing the region from an entertainment perspective, which is about four to five concert venues, multiple lounges, and a couple of night clubs. AllHipHop.com: What is the difference, in your own experience, between Las Vegas and Atlantic City? Jason Spencer: Well, it is essentially two different jobs. In Las Vegas, it was more on casino marketing and building out that brand. When I came over here to Atlantic City, it definitely transitioned to what I always wanted to do, which was leveraging entertainment as a vehicle to market something. Out here, it switched to marketing concerts and celebrity appearances; so really, two different jobs, outside the weather being different. AllHipHop.com: What goes into the process of deciding who you’re going to book, and who will perform here? Is it more of you and a team going out and securing talent, or is talent normally presented to you first? Jason Spencer: It’s a combinaton of both. I can tell you on the Hip-Hop side of things, it’s leaned a little more towards my team targeting artists. We do over a couple hundred shows, from Rock to Pop to R&B, and where a lot of those shows are part of a standard tour – which Hip-Hop also has – but we’ve set out and targeted artists. We have a formula for what we are looking for that tells us who we think is going to do well in the venue. So, it’s definitely a mix of both, but on the Hip-Hop side, I would say it’s 70 percent of us targeting and 30 percent artists coming through. AllHipHop.com: What are some of the factors in your formula that helps you decide what Hip-Hop artists to book down here? Jason Spencer: We look at a multitude of factors. Artists’ touring information, radio spins, what they have out right now, as well as multiple, different social components and the “heat” factor. That’s where that intelligence and being of the culture is the piece of it – where you know that this artist is hot. It’s that intuitiveness that the team comes together and says “this is the next one,” and we have to have all of our data that kind if supports it. But at the end of the day, you have to make that call, and use your instincts to a degree. AllHipHop.com: Is there an artist out there who has not performed at the House of Blues yet, but that you would love to book, both for yourself and for the people who visit and live in Atlantic City? Jason Spencer: It’s really just about someone making sense for a 2,500 seat venue, and we’ve always had success with that. Now, I would love to have some of the bigger artists come and play my venue, but it would not make sense financially or business-wise to have those in the venue. But I am really proud of what the team has put together and the roster of folks we’ve had come through here, from big to smaller acts. One thing that we have toyed with as well is putting together our own packages, so we created the “Legends of Hip-Hop” series where some of my favorite artists like Big Daddy Kane perform with Biz Markie and Naughty By Nature. So we’ve been trying to put together unique packages to fulfill everyone’s wants and needs, because ultimately it’s all about diversity here. AllHipHop.com: Can you tell me a little about your history with music? Jason Spencer: Yeah, I mean I grew up in a time where I consider myself part of Hip-Hop and its culture. I’m from New York, so just growing up there and then going down to Atlanta, which was great, at Morehouse where I learned. Primarily, I was East Coast before growing up, but being in Atlanta and that school, we had kids from all over  the country, so that’s when you start hearing more about the music from California and Texas, and even some of the more Southern music and that whole […]