The Music Gardener - Artist Manager, Music Marketer

Music is such an incredibly powerful source and I find myself craving it daily. My most productive and creative work is inspired by music. There are those occasional mornings when I get so caught up in my busy “to do” list that I forget to listen to music. At the end of those days, I feel so unproductive and unsatisfied. When I find the perfect music for the day, it is amazing how much I can accomplish. I often wonder if I am extremely odd or are their others like me? I am so thankful that God gave us the gift of music! What is your soundtrack today?

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Keith Stancil - The Music Gardener

For those readers who haven’t connected the dots, The Music Gardener is artist manager and music marketer Keith Stancil. Now that the mystery has been solved, I thought I would let you know a bit more about myself. I have been working in the music business 22 years. Started off as a session musician and studio engineer but quickly gravitated to the business side. After serving in various sales/marketing positions with Capitol/EMI, Warner/Elektra/Atlantic and Word Entertainment, I launched Artist Garden Entertainment in September 2008. We are an artist management and marketing consulting firm. My passion is finding ways to overcome the numerous roadblocks in the music industry in order to help bring great music to the forefront. Finding myself heavily entrenched in web 2.0 marketing, the new frontier for music excites me in a tremendous way! Please connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Four Square and any other social network contender that pops up. How can I help you?

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

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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 photograph to the left is often my view while listening to music and dreaming. The picture probably sheds a little light on why I refer to myself as The Music Gardener and why our management/marketing firm is called Artist Garden Entertainment. I wish I could share a picture that would show you what our garden looks like in the evening but my photography skills don’t compliment low light pictures. Looking at our garden in the evening is when I get the most inspiration. We work with our artists and our marketing much the same as we do our garden. We plant ideas, fertilize and water them and are sometimes amazed at how they develop. Some end up creating much more than we could ever dream while others seem to wither away. We constantly weed out the dead ideas and replace them with new ones. It is always a work in progress but so rewarding when something incredible blossoms. We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the talented artists we have on our roster. Many times I wish we could see 5 years into their future to get a glimpse of how they develop. Part of me is glad we can’t because we would miss the best part of what we do which is watching them grow!

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

A while back I wrote about a YouTube video that some college guys from Texas A&M put together. Unbelievable backyard basketball shots. They call themselves Dude Perfect Well they have outdone the first video as they recently put up the Dude Perfect Ranch Edition which is even better than the first video. The “perfect” thing about these dudes is that they are using songs from our Music Pick of The Month, Manic Bloom . As a result of the video, Manic Bloom’s MySpace plays are growing resulting in 4300 plays in one day this past weekend! This is yet another example of the new ways music is being discovered and how important YouTube is to the mix.

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com



Artist Garden Entertainment attended a fashion show last night at the Posh Boutique in Nashville, TN.  Designer, Jeff Garner was premiering his new summer line of sustainable clothing from Prophetik. http://prophetik.com As I watched, I was reminded how music and fashion fit so nicely together. Imagine watching a band playing naked? Well maybe not, but you get the idea. Whatever the band is wearing will be remembered, imitated and revered by their fans. Now imagine a fashion show with no music? It would have the same feel as a silent movie. Very boring!  Fashion brings music alive and Music brings fashion alive. During the show, there were several songs being used that many had never heard. Jeff likes to expose people at his fashion shows to new music. He had a DJ spinning tunes and a live band from Austria playing songs. The two alternated throughout the show giving it an interesting feel. As I was mingling with the crowd at the after show reception, I noticed a common thread among most of the people I spoke with. Everyone was buzzing about two songs that were used in the show. Some had even used the their iPhone app to tag the songs to purchase later. Wow! What an amazing impact the music had on the attendees. I must admit, I woke up this morning wishing a few of the songs that were used last night, were on my iPod. And they will be by days end!  www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Artist Garden Entertainment has been doing a great deal of marketing brainstorming over the last couple of weeks and the idea of “free music” seems to be a re-occurring theme. Many examples over the last year point to successful marketing campaigns having some element of free. One of the best campaigns that I’ve seen was the launch of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” I signed up for the free download and immediately bought the entire record when it was available. Coldplay is on a much bigger platform than most of the artist we are currently working with so using a similar campaign would most likely net disappointing results. Our plan is to use “free music” with a different twist. We look to partner with established brands outside of the music industry to create a “free music” campaign. It is important to find a brand that is compatible with the artist. Gummi Bears and Metallica probably wouldn’t work well as a partnership? Although it would be nice, the brand doesn’t have to be national. Regional brands or developing brands often prove to be great partners. Doing a little research might even result in finding a brand that you aren’t personally familiar with. The key is to align the artist with a brand that has a parallel audience and projects a similar message as the artist.  Whatever the campaign, I am definitely not in favor of giving away the entire cd. I know many people would argue with me and throw examples of successful campaigns but you will never convince me to give away the entire cd as I eventually need to generate money for the artist. My idea of “free music” is to leave the listener wanting more. Give them a taste and if they like it, they should be willing purchase the rest of the cd. If they aren’t willing to purchase, then did the artist really connect with the consumer anyway?  www.artistgardenentertainment.com

As a marketer, I have worked with many different artist and genres of music over the years. Often times, I have had to create and execute marketing plans for music that really didn’t appeal to my personal taste. Then there are those projects that make you so proud to be a part of. I find that I am able to give so much more of myself when working records that I enjoy. Recently, Artist Garden Entertainment was brought on to do the digital marketing and Christian/gospel marketing for a new James Ingram record. It had been a while since I had heard Jame’s silky voice and I had forgotten what an incredible talent he is. As I began to work on a plan, I put the cd in the player for a listen. WOW! What an amazing record!  James Ingram “Stand” is just the record I needed to get my marketing mojo going. I want the world to hear this record and that gives me incentive to find new and innovative ways to get it in front of people. I have been reminded once again why I love the music business. If you have a chance, I would encourage you to check out this amazing new record from James Ingram.    Here is the iTunes link http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=302255815

James Ingram "Stand"

www.artistgardenentertainment.com