James Rhodes is the President of independent record label FiXT, an artist-owned label which he co-founded in 2006 alongside respected artist, producer, and composer Klayton, best known for his solo projects Celldweller and Scandroid. Building the company around the strength of Klayton’s projects, James and Klayton have turned FiXT into a global brand with dozens of artists, millions of monthly listeners, and thousands of die-hard fans in over 180 countries.

Born in Toledo, Ohio and raised in Burlington, Iowa, James’ path to managing day-to-day operations at FIXT began as a fan of Klayton’s ’90s industrial project Circle of Dust. When Klayton started Celldweller in 1999 James joined his Street Team and met him for the first time in 2000 at a fan meet-and-greet opportunity in Detroit. James became an active member in the Celldweller fanbase and Street Team while pursuing a venture into music production by attending The Recording Workshop of Ohio in Fall 2003.

James explored interest in live show promotion with various shows in Southeast Iowa in the early 2000s and booked one of Celldweller’s first-ever live shows in 2003 at the legendary Iowa City venue Gabe’s Oasis. Later in Fall 2003, James became Klayton’s first employee, taking over Celldweller’s online e-commerce operations.

By late 2004, James’ hard work caught the attention of Tyler Bacon, the President and owner of Los Angeles management, publishing and licensing company Position Music, who managed Klayton at the time. James joined Position Music in 2005 as one of the company’s early full-time employees.

In 2006 James and his wife Rebecca moved back to Iowa to be closer to family as they began a family of their own. During the transition back to the Midwest, James and Klayton launched FiXT as the label vehicle for not only Celldweller, but to support other artists and provide a fair label deal in an industry known for lopsided agreements. Klayton’s prior experiences with record labels had left him wanting for a better experience and together James and Klayton set out to offer a label focused on treating artists like family.

Now, as FiXT celebrates nearly 20 years of history, the company operates as a record label, music publisher, and merchandise company with 12+ exclusive artists on its roster. The label boasts 4 billion lifetime streams and over 1,000 Film/TV/Video Game synch placements. The label’s team consists of HQ offices in Michigan and Iowa, with 10+ employees, designers, writers, and publicists contributing from different corners of the world.

Some of Rhodes’ accomplishments at FiXT include notable artist signings such as The Anix, The Browning, Fight The Fade and ENMY, to making key personnel hires including Kurtis Redden (Director of Operations, Head of Marketing), Travis Brocket (Administrative Director), and Michelle Steer (Merchandise & E-Commerce Manager). In 2015 he spearheaded FiXT’s move to join the American Association of Independent Music (A2iM), become MERLIN members and move FiXT’s digital delivery business to FUGA. Rhodes is also credited with moving FiXT’s e-commerce operations to Shopify in 2015 and later negotiating direct deals with multiple DSPs including Amazon, and Pretzel. In 2022 he set up FiXT’s global publishing administration deal with SENTRIC and in 2023 co-led FiXT’s sync catalog expansion in a deal with APM Music paired with a global sub-publishing network of 20 territory based partners. He has served multiple terms on the A2iM Mentorship program, and been a guest on numerous industry podcasts, including the Top Music Attorney Podcast, The Music Industry Blueprint Podcast with Rick Barker, Burn This World Podcast with Jonny McBee, Headliner Mindset Podcast with Nik Cherwink, and many others.

James served on the Board of Directors for The Capitol, a historic Burlington, Iowa theater and performing arts center from 2023-2024.