The Music Gardener - Artist Manager, Music Marketer

Today The Music Gardener is flying the white flag in honor of street week for the digital release of Brandon Bee “Surrendered”. This is one of the most beautiful records of 2009!

Brandon Bee - Surrendered

Click Here To Listen and Purchase

Click Here To Download Your Own White Flag. Use it as your profile picture on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace to show you are Surrendered for 2010!

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This year brought a major paradigm shift in all apsects of my life. As I reflect on 2009, I can’t help but think of the people throughout the year who have had a huge influence and impact on me personally and professionally. My personal life and my career as an artist manager and music marketer have been greatly affected by the following people and I would like to say a huge thanks to them. I am including their Twitter address and encourage you to follow them to glean some of the great stuff that I glean from them daily.

1) My wife Diana - she continues to teach me how to love everyone unconditionally.  http://twitter.com/DianaStancil

2) Pete Orta - demonstrated true selfless giving and has been an incredible encourager and friend to me. I am amazed at the huge step of faith he has taken this year with In Triumph http://twitter.com/peteorta

3) Spence Smith - encouraged me to start a blog which has been a magnificent experience that has expanded my horizons in web 2.0.  Spence has also connected me with some incredible people this year  http://twitter.com/SpenceSmith

4) Randy Elrod - taught me so much about the power of web 2.0 which has redefined my approach to marketing. Probably my favorite person to follow on Twitter. http://twitter.com/recreate

5) Jon Foreman - continues to create beautiful music with lyrics that encourage me to think about my purpose here on earth  http://twitter.com/jonathanforeman

6) Seth Godin - challenges the way I approach marketing daily through his blog which is by far my favorite. I am including the link to his blog as opposed to his Twitter  http://sethgodin.com/sg

7) Peter Cashmore - twitters under the name Mashable and gives incredibly useful info for everything digital and connected to the internet  http://twitter.com/mashable

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The Green Card

The Music Gardener decided to try something new and creative this year for Christmas. Instead of giving the US Postal Service .44 cents for every Christmas card and .50 cents plus to some greeting card company, we decided to pick one of our favorite new Christmas songs on iTunes and “gift it” along with a note to our friends and family. We coined the name for our Christmas card idea “The Green Card”. It leaves a zero carbon foot print while giving your friends and family something they can enjoy forever! So far it has been a huge hit. We picked The Weepies “All I Want” as the song for “The Green Card”. Hopefully our friends and family will remember that we are thinking of them every time they play the song for years to come. I can’t help but wonder if the sales analysis department at Nettwerk Records’ noticed a spike in sales in Nashville last week and rushed to pour fuel on the fire before Christmas?   Of course I watched the iTunes Holiday singles chart closely but determined my Christmas card list was too small to have a huge impact on the chart. It did cause me to think that iTunes could take some serious market-share from the US Postal service and the greeting card industry if they packaged and marketed the idea of “The Green Card” The iTunes gifting option does limit the amount of characters allowed at one time making it a little clunky but I’m sure Steve Jobs and Apple could figure that one out in a millisecond. What do you think of the idea? What song would you pick for your “Green Card”?

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I tweeted about the wonderful Christmas play-list that I constructed this year and several Twitter followers asked that I share it. Some of the songs were not purchased from iTunes so the iMix didn’t pick up all of the songs. Therefore I decided to publish the list here on The Music Gardener blog. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

The Weepies “All I Want”
Jaci Velasquez “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”
Low “Just Like Christmas”
Amy Stroup “You Make The Cold Disappear”
Catherine Feeny “The Christmas Song”
Jaci Velasquez “It Wouldn’t Be Christmas”
Sinead O’Connor “Silent Night”
Sarah McLachlan “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
Downhere “How Many Kings”
Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson “Winter Song”
Jars of Clay “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
Sixpence None The Richer “Christmas Time is Here”
Colbie Caillat “Misletoe”
Leigh Nash “The First Noel”
Sara Mclachlan “Wintersong”
Regina Spector “My Dear Acquiantance”

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Honda Civic

The Music Gardener recently helped a friend shop for a new car. Most marketing research studies show that the car is still the #1 place where consumers listen to music. It was no surprise to me that one of the first features the car salesmen now point out is the auxiliary MP3 input for the stereo. It’s amazing how quickly the cup holder, cassette player and multi-disc cd changer have disappeared from the sales pitch. The cool thing is that music still sells cars! I couldn’t help but wonder why the music business doesn’t really take advantage of that fact. I can remember as a kid, when my dad bought a Plymouth Volare,  how excited he was that the car came with a vinyl album of the recording of the song Volare. Maybe there’s an opportunity with downloads and new cars that is being missed?

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The Music Gardener’s “Pick of The Month” for November is the incredibly talented Amy Stroup. You will definitely want to check out the “Pick of The Month” page to hear some of Amy’s music and learn a bit more about her. Amy’s music was recently featured on ABC’s Brothers and Sisters and on One Tree Hill.

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As we continue in the series of guest bloggers, I invited one of the top publicists in the music business, Jackie (Marushka) Luttrell to post on The Music Gardener blog. Jackie currently serves as Vice President of Public Relations and Communications for Provident Music Group where she works with artists including Casting Crowns, Michael W. Smith, Jars of Clay, Third Day, Pillar, Red, Brandon Heath and others. Throughout her career, Jackie has landed prominent media coverage for her artists on outlets including: The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s The Today Show, NBC’s The Tonight Show, ABC’s Nightline, NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, 60 Minutes, CNN’s Larry King Live, CNN”s Showbiz Today, Rolling Stone Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, The G. Gordon Liddy Show, Newsweek Magazine, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Anderson Cooper 360, FOX & Friends, FOX News Live, Your World with Neil Cavuto, Hannity & Colmes, Business Week, The Chicago Tribune, The Tennessean, and The Dallas Morning News.

Jackie Marushka Luttrell

Pulling into my office parking lot this morning, I hit the “park” button on my Prius and finish listening to the track I’ll likely have playing in my head.  All. Day. Long.
(It’s a great tune so I simply won’t be able to help myself.)

Anyway, as the guitars begin to fade, I discover there’s something new here.  Something I’d missed in prior passes.  I hear a whisper of a prayer in the background as the song plays out.  With this whisper, a layer has been pulled back and in a moment, this artist has gone from lofty and untouchable to human and vulnerable; like me.  He’s made me feel something new – offered a glimpse through a new filter, and I’m inspired.

The artist is Matt Maher and the track is on one of the early pre-releases to his Alive Again CD.

This is a typical start to one of my days.  My name is Jackie (Marushka) Luttrell and my role is that of VP of Public Relations and Communications for Provident Music Group.  Sound lofty?  It’s pretty simple, really. I’m a storyteller.  I’m passionate about getting to the heart of what an artist is all about, and helping them share their stories with the world.

How do I do this?  Well, I immerse myself in the artists’ music and then get to sit with the them and listen to what THEY want to communicate to the masses.  I take these incredibly insightful nuggets and package them in ways easily digestible to our media partners.  These media partners include (but aren’t limited to) TV, newspapers, magazines, radio and online platforms like magazine websites and blogs.

I spend a lot of time at my laptop writing bios, press releases and compiling key information.  I also spend A LOT of time on the phone.  I usually start a day with calls at 7 AM and go until 7 PM, in order to accommodate East and West coasts.

I also get to do fun things like plan street-week media events and award-show media, which can include red carpet arrival interviews and navigating Grammy winners through a maze of media, backstage.

So, in a nutshell, I get to listen to incredible music and promote some of the most inspiring artists I’ve ever met.   If you’re interested in hearing more, please follow us at twitter.com/providentpress and be sure to check out our roster at www.providentpress.com.   You’re also welcome to follow me at twitter.com/JackieLuttrell, I’ll launch a blog in 2010 so please stay posted to hear the latest and greatest!

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com