CV

Jake Szufnarowski
99 East 7th Street Apt 1E
New York, NY 10009
Phone: 917.443.7615
E-mail: jake@rocksoff.com

Personal Profile

  • Career history spanning 21 years in Concert Promotion, Live Performance, Marketing and Management
  • Marketing and Brand strategy in the creative fields including Club, Venue, Events, Concert Promotion and Artist promotion.
  • FOH (Front of House) and studio experience with sound, recording, lighting and technical coordination.

Career Experience

September 2001 – Present                               Rocks Off Entertianment, LLC New York, NY                                               Founder / Director

Founded Rocks Off Entertainment in September 2001

Rocks Off is a multifaceted music industry business concentrated on production and promotion of live concerts and other events.

Divisions:
Venue Concert Series
Concert Cruise Series
Walking Tours
Film Festivals
Bus Tour Series
Concert Excursion Experience

Venue Concert Series

  • Produced and promoted thousands of concerts in and around New York City
  • Venues up to 5,000 capacity
  • Venues of note:
    • Capitol Theater, Brooklyn Bowl NYC and The Slipper Room all owned by Peter Shapiro
    • Terminal 5, Webster Hall, Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall of Williamsburg operated by Bowery Presents / Peter Shapiro
    • Irving Plaza, Roseland Ballroom, Rebel, owned by Live Nation
    • Nokia Theater and Highline Ballroom, operated by AEG LIVE
  • Developed and implemented various booking strategies specific to the show/venue environment
  • Maintained productive relationships with competing venues and ownership
  • Liaised between artist management, record labels, booking agents and venues.
  • Achieved Offer-Acceptance for a variety of complex financial offers designed for Win-Win outcomes

Concert Cruise Series – Founded in 2001

  • Identified a niche market for Concert Cruises in NYC and launched the first concert cruise series company in the city to meet the market need.
  • Booked and managed up to 200 concert cruises per year.
  • Booking, production, promotion, ticketing, settlement
  • 3 hour boat tours around NY Harbor, taking place on 7 different boats leased from 4 different companies
  • Navigated various conflicting needs between boat companies, bands, and concert goers due in large part to the uniqueness of the experience

           Walking Tours – Founded in 2011

  • Again, identified a market void regarding Rock n Roll history of NYC
  • Conceived, researched, produced and hosted walking tours focused on the history of Rock n Roll music in NYC.
  • Hosted over 100 tours myself and also recruited and trained tour guides to host additional larger variety of walking tours.

Film Festival – Founded in 2012

  • Produced annual Rock N Roll film festival. 2015 will be the third year of the festival.
  • Directly managed all aspects of festival
  • Curated the film selections for each festival, and negotiated screening rights.
  • Multiple exclusive premier screening events

Bus Tour Series – Founded in 2011

  • Produced a variety of bus tours designed to make key large format venues accessible to previously untapped music fans due to inadequate public transport.
  • Organized and managed bus tours
  • Personally hosted the tours and programmed content designed to instigate interaction with and between attendees

Concert Excursion Experience – 2006-2010

  • Booked and oversaw up to 15 “Coney Island fun-pack” concerts each year.
  • Coney Island Fun Pack concerts:
  • Opportunity for urban residents to enjoy a full day of entertainment programming ending with a concert experience.
  • Coordinated and negotiated bulk rates in bundling each day’s events
  • Coney Island Beach and Amusement Park: The Coney Island Freak Show, Cyclone Roller Coaster, Bumper Boats and batting cages.
  • Supervised all aspects of production: Booking, promotion, ticketing, logistics, and settlement.

September 2001 – 2008                                    Knitting Factory / Tribeca Rock Club / Rebel                            Exclusive Venue Booker

Due to the success of the various concert series Rocks Off Music and Event Promotion was asked be the Exclusive Venue Booker for three independent venues (Knitting Factory, Tribeca Rock Club, and Rebel).

  • Personally responsible for booking in excess of 3000 successful musical performances between all three venues concurrently.
  • Each venue maintained a very distinct and unique character requiring specific programming to be successful
  • Maintained positive relationships with each venue and ownership as they were in the same musical market and of similar capacity.
  • Established very strong ties with major booking agencies, international labels and artist management.

August 2007 – October 2012          TRAGEDY: All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees              Band Manager / Agent / Frontman

Founded, managed and fronted a touring rock n roll band. TRAGEDY: All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees. Acted as the band’s manager and international booking agent.

  • 200+ shows
  • Released 2 albums and one live DVD.
  • 5 UK Tours – Shepherd’s Bush Empire, HMV Forum, Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow, Manchester Academy, Guilfest, and O2 Academy Venues in Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Sheffield, Oxford and many more.
  • 10 US Tours – Brooklyn bowl, Irving Plaza, Webster Hall, Nokia Theater, Terminal 5, Bowery Ballroom, House of Blues and may more all around the US.
  • Managing all press relations, social media and marketing, both traditional and online.

October 1994 – September 2001                                       Wetlands Preserve Live Music Venue                       Exclusive Venue Booker

Began tenure as assistant to venue founder Larry Bloch. Worked as publicist, ticketing manager, production assistant, lighting designer, DJ and ultimately earned the title of Exclusive Venue Booker.

  • Event Management and settlements
  • Negotiated with promoters
  • Created and managed show marketing campaigns.
  • Production manager for 300+ musical events per year
  • Production staffing, supervising and training
  • Personally responsible for booking more than 1,000 successful ticketed events

Education

1993      Graduate, Brewster Academy High School, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

1993-1994               Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts (2 years)