Meet Mike Loco Hoffman | CEO of MLM Entertainment & Music Industry Veteran

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mike Loco Hoffman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike Loco, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have been involved in the entertainment business as a whole for 25 years. Majority of that was music based. I saw a big hole in support and education that was more for the Artist/Talent. I am firm believer in be the change you want to see rather than just talk about it. Independent does not mean alone. I wanted to have more control in what I do and the amount of energy and time I wanted to invest. I didn’t want to have someone else make those decisions for me or choose who I can work with or help. I had a lot of colleagues and peers telling me that I already was being viewed in ways that laid the foundation for what MLM Entertainment is today and will continue to grow too.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career has had its ups and downs just like many others. I started out as kid rapping with friends and would arrange who would go where in the songs. How we were going to perform and all the production aspects without even knowing that was what i was even doing haha. We were just kids having fun and emulating what we had seen others do. From there I managed to get us booked on community events and it was at that point I realized I just had a knack for everything beyond being the one on stage with a mic in my hand and was pretty good at it too. Fast forward to 16 yr old me and I got an opportunity to intern at a major label. Now I was faced with a risky decision and a hunger for more so I knew most interns did their time and 6 months later were walked out the door and replaced. I couldn’t settle for that and figured I’d rather waste 6 minutes than 6 months and wanted to make my presence felt. I have lived by one saying that NO isn’t the end but simply an abbreviation for Next Opportunity. I walked in and asked to sit in on meetings knowing very well they could easily just throw me out the building. They said no but the next day I politely asked again and continued to make this my morning routine until one day they asked me why….I told them my ambition and reasoning and they said yes. I entered those meetings and took notes and they had to look at my notes because of the discussions and NDA’s. One day I added to my notes ways I would implement strategy further and that got me a position on street team to execute my very plan. This caught some peoples attention and I was assigned a junior A&R role and it just grew from there. I started sitting in rooms and studios helping arrange, writing lyrics, scouting talent and building teams around creatives. One problem is I was uneducated in the business of things so a lot of my work went uncredited or labeled as “paying my dues” which was a harsh lesson but it also motivated me to fully want to understand, as best as I could, both sides of the business. Which also leads to who I am today and why I am so adamant on creatives of all walks learning the business side of things because they are a business themselves. It took time as I was young and walked away from the industry for a while but never for too long as it kept calling me back in. I came from an era where the background people were unseen and unknown unlike today where you can’t hide even if you want to so I utilize it to help spread and empower the next young artist or manager or producer or whatever it is you see yourself having a passion for in this industry. The one thing I want the world to know about me is that I am genuine and love what I do. No matter what hat I am wearing at the time. Nothing comes easy. You will fail at times. You will be misinformed. You will be under prepared. You will hit walls. But only you stand in your way, you just have to find it. Fail is nothing but another abbreviation as well as it stands for “First Attempt In Learning”. Change your perspective on how you look at things and put the work in!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is a loaded question because there are so many options haha. Ok well we could head to L&Bs Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn and get the absolute best square pie you will ever taste in your life. From there if you want drinks and a taste of the live music scenes we can either hit Williamsburg Brooklyn or the Lower East side of Manhattan near Houston Street. Lots of venues there to choose from and can literally just walk venue to venue. A place I like to go and just focus and plan and collect my thoughts is the Chinese Scholar garden in Snug Harbor located in Staten Island. There are so many places to take in the sights and you would need multiple days to visit. Times Square is always a spot most want to see for the lights and buildings but theres more to it then people realize. The best part is the interactions with the people, the street performers, the hole in the wall comedy shows and the heartbeat. Every day can be a different experience. A lot of it becomes spontaneous which makes it all the more of the experience and fun.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to shout out all the creatives. The idea of helping mold and/or progress someone’s art has always called out to me. Without the emotion and ideas of creatives then none of this exists. Also want to shout out my mother for introducing me to an eclectic assortment of music at a very early age. I was raised on an openminded ear to all forms of music and art, and that is where the passion and itch to dive more into the process was born.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeloco/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeloco-hoffman-971967156/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheMikeLoco

Image Credits
Maya Louis Paul Taylor Marvin Lloyd