Jim Long
Tribute

Jim Long
(1943-2022)

The Sonic Playground exhibit is dedicated to the legacy of Jim Long and is made possible by a gift from Deborah DeBerry Long and the Long Family Trust.

Jim Long’s name has been synonymous with brilliance, strategy, and creativity in marketing, music production, and music publishing for over six decades. The Dallas Morning News once reported in its Business Section that “Just about anything you hear on a radio – except the news, the time, and the temperature – could have first been a product of Jim Long’s imagination.”

Long’s fascination with technology and love of music, coupled with the drive to make a lasting mark in music production led him on a remarkable and pioneering path. Just as he was mentored by “the father of modern advertising” David Ogilvy, Long mentored and influenced countless music industry executives. Ignoring discriminatory industry attitudes in hiring and promotion, he consistently identified women as leaders and partners to run his companies in Dallas, Nashville, and LA. Many musicians and composers still owe their royalty revenue to Long’s savvy and generous publishing deals.

Starting his career in radio at 13, he broadcasted from his parents’ basement in Marlborough, MA until the FCC paid an unexpected visit. At 15, he created his own record label and produced his first regional hit, “Liza Lee” by Roger and the Marquees. He became a teenage DJ at WDEW in Westfield, MA at 18. His birth name, Timothy John Moynihan, was too long for a radio DJ, so he used his maternal Irish grandfather’s name, Jim Long, as his radio moniker and over the next 6 years, he worked his way up as a radio announcer, producer, and program manager at stations across the country. And, at 24 he put his youthful broadcast and programming expertise to work and co-founded the TM Companies with composer Tom Merriman in Dallas. TM became the premier custom music production company, known for Long’s “new approach” to producing commercial jingles and radio/TV station IDs – including creating the “shotgun” jingle format, developing 24/7 automated radio station programming, syndicating music production, and introducing multi-media image campaigns for radio and TV.

His iconic “firsts” helped change the production music and broadcast industries, anticipating trends and turning them into music production products. FirstCom, which he founded in 1980, developed the first production music library on compact disc, a revolutionary concept at the time. His vision – and love of his Irish roots – saw the Celtic Tiger coming, so in partnership with his wife, Deborah, he created a record label, Honest Entertainment, to introduce a select group of Irish artists previously unknown in the US market. Honest was the first to use a CD-R format to promote new artists and use 1-800 TV advertising campaigns to cross market sell major artist’s records direct to consumers. His credits as a producer include a GRAMMY nominated album for legendary recording artist and performer, Jack Jones, and a Country Music Association Pioneer Award for his friend and former business partner, Charley Pride.

Prior to developing the acclaimed internet music licensing service, CrucialMusic, with Deborah and their partner Tanvi Patel, Long grew and sold numerous successful ventures, music publishing and production libraries, and broadcast entities including the Jim Long Companies, OneMusic, and Long-Pride Broadcasting to such industry leaders as Starr Broadcasting, Disney’s Shamrock Broadcasting, Clive Calder’s Zomba-Jive Enterprises, OneMedia, and BMG (later acquired by Universal Music Publishing Group/UMPG). Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2007, he continued to launch new businesses, most recently serving as Chairman of LA-based Elias Music Library until its 2018 sale to BMG-Universal/UMPG.

His music placements for television and film are too numerous to name but include Academy Award and Golden Globe winning motion pictures, as well as Clios for “innovative and creative excellence in advertising” in radio, TV and print media. In addition to countless honors for his work in commercial advertising, he was inducted into the Production Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2019 and posthumously received the first Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the music connection organization, TAXI, in 2022.

Building on Long’s passion and dedication to foster the next generation of creators and business leaders, in January 2025 the GRAMMY Museum Foundation dedicated a permanent exhibit to Long to honor his legacy of mentorship in the music industry. The Museum’s Sonic Playground provides a guided, interactive opportunity for young and old, alike, to learn about careers in music. It offers experiential learning by music industry mentors for anyone seeking career options in music, including advertising, broadcasting, digital, media, and film.

Long’s generosity of spirit will continue for many years through The Long Family Trust’s support of the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the GRAMMY Museum Foundation, and MusiCares, which provides services and assistance, in times of need, to musicians and other members of the music community.