The Music Gardener - Artist Manager, Music Marketer

Covering the basics is important to every marketing plan whether it is marketing mainstream music or Christian music marketing. Last week we defined our target consumer for Circleslide. Now it’s time to cover the basics for marketing the release. I define the basics as radio & publicity. It you don’t have a plan for at least one of those, then you may as well pack up and go home because no one is going to know that your record exists. It is possible to launch a record with either radio or publicity alone but if you want the best chance for success then your plan should include both.

Radio - One thing Circleslide has been missing in the past is radio. We worked two years with the band on their writing to ensure that we have strong contenders for radio. While there is still no guarantee that radio will play the songs, we feel confident we have great radio songs. Finding the right radio team is vital. There are several Christian radio promotion people who are great at what they do but we thought James Riley would be our best choice for Circleslide. James has been part of the success of many #1 songs throughout his major label career and he really believes in Circleslide’s music. He helped us narrow down to the song “Looking Up” which is the song he thinks has the best shot at radio. With Jame’s direction, we decided to work both Christian AC and CHR radio simultaneously.

Publicity - Publicity is vital to any record release! I have seen records succeed without radio airplay as long as the publicity campaign was strong. The publicist’s job is to secure press coverage in the places where your target consumer hangs out. The only way consumers know that a product is available is if somebody tells them. The publicist also helps get a current bio in place which is a key item needed in telling the story. Circleslide’s record label, Save The City Records, has a publicist on staff so there was no need to hire an indy. I recommend a 5 month plan for publicity campaigns. Ideally, the story should begin being told a couple months prior to release and continue for at least a few months after release. Below are some of the various stories/angles we will be rolling out for Circleslide.

1) signing with a new Provident/Integrity distributed label, Save The City Records

2) new record “Echoes of The Light” streeting October 5

3) Circleslide has been through much opposition the last year including their home & music gear destroyed in the Nashville flood, gall bladder surgery for front man Gabe Martinez, Gabe’s bout with E coli, death of loved one and immediate family diagnosed with inoperable cancer.

4) new partnership with Mercy Ministries

5) other nuggets we will reveal over the next few weeks

Do you have radio or publicity experiences to share?

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Circleslide

Seattle, Wash. (August 16, 2010) - Save the City Records is excited to announce the signing of critically acclaimed Christian rock band Circleslide, whose debut project landed on Christianity Today’s 2006 Year in Review “Best of” round-up, among other accolades.

Since then, the band — frontman Gabe Martinez, lead guitarist Jonathan DeAnda, bassist Eric Vickers and drummer Lee Yoder — has toured unceasingly, refining their modern rock ruminations, while keeping their ministry agenda firmly in focus. In addition to shows with Newsboys, TobyMac, MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Salvador, Jaci Velasquez and Downhere, the Nashville-based band has headlined everything from clubs to churches and colleges, with plenty of youth camps and outreach events in between — all of which build off the group’s Youth With A Mission beginnings.

“Throughout all the traveling, our goal has always been to make music that could inspire people, touch hearts and lead them to Christ,” says front man Gabe Martinez. “We’re so excited to be a part of the Save the City Records family, because we know that is where their hearts are as well.”

“We are proud to partner with Circleslide, one of the highest-caliber and hardest-working bands in Christian music today,” comments Derek Hoiem, President of Save the City Records. “They are full of energy, excellence and passion, as their many fans can attest. Their new album showcases their versatility and artistry, and they are a fantastic addition to our artist family.”

Circleslide is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on their upcoming project, Echoes of the Light, set to release in October.

For more information on Circleslide, visit http://circleslide.net

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Brandon Bee Creation West 2010

The Music Gardener spent the last two weeks of July on a musical adventure that took my wife and I on a journey through the beautiful states of Washington and Oregon. While its good to be back home in Nashville, we are already missing the cool dry northwest weather.

Our first stop was Enumclaw, WA for the Creation West festival. The new festival location made for a different experience than in the past. The views from the Gorge of past years were missed, but Mt Rainier as the new back drop wasn’t such a bad thing. One of our artist, Brandon Bee, had the privilege of playing for the communion ceremony just after the Newsboys performance. I must say that Brandon did a fabulous job leading 10,000+ people in worship while Harry Thomas, founder of Creation, presided over the ceremony.

The following day, another one of our artist, Holly Starr, took the main stage revealing some new songs from her soon to be released record, Tapestry. Showing a new rock side to her show, Holly strapped on a Fender Strat for the first couple of tunes. It is always nice to see an artist you work with, giving it everything they have to entertain and engage an audience and Holly did just that!

Mr Talkbox, Mike Silva, Kevin Thornton

After Creation, we took a drive down to Albany, OR for Mike Silva’s Willamette Celebration. Circleslide took the main stage on Friday evening and rocked out 18,000 attendees just before Skillet and the Newsboys. The following day Brandon Bee and Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers brought their music to the festival. Brandon Bee and his band really rocked it out in the 100 degree heat just after the Metal Mulisha did their motorcycle stunts.  Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers the did his thing bring the crowd to their feet and making the evening a blast for festival attendees.

We then traveled up the Columbia River Gorge towards Quincy, WA. What an unbelievable drive! Diana and I spent a couple of days on Lake Chelan in strategy meetings with our newly signed artist, Holly Starr. We held most of our meetings on a boat sitting in the middle of the lake. I think that has to be one of the best meeting locations we have ever used! Isolated from the rest of the world, we were able to accomplish some great planning.

From Lake Chelan, we made our way back to Seattle via a scenic pass through the majestic mountains of Washington. Another beautiful drive! Seattle then became our home base for the remainder of the week. We had marketing meetings with our partner, Save The City Records, and prepared for the Soul Shine event topping off the week. Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers, Bejiman, Kevin Thornton and Rachel Lampa really brought an incredible show to the Experience Music Project in Seattle on Friday night!

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The Soul Shine Tour

If you are in the Seattle area, you don’t want to miss this tour. Byron “Mr Talkbox Chambers (keyboardists for NSYNC, Britney Spears, Tobymac), Kevin Thornton (Color Me Bad) and Benjiman team up with Save The City Records and Luis Palau to bring an incredible night of entertainment to the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Get your tickets now at iTickets.com. Stay tuned as other dates will be announced soon!

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The Music Gardener was recently involved in what is now being referred to as the “4 week New Release Plan.” The plan was birthed out of a November strategy meeting with Brandon Bee, an artist we manage, and Save The City Records. We were looking for a way to bring some attention to Brandon during the holiday season and build his overall awareness. Knowing the heaviest traffic of the year on iTunes occurs the two weeks during and after Christmas week, we set that time as our target. All who receive iPods or iTunes gift cards for Christmas generally fuel up with music during those two weeks. Brandon had released a full album earlier in 2009 so we needed something new in order to have a shot at positioning in the iTunes stores. Our brainstorming resulted in the idea of recording a 6 song acoustic ep targeting a December 22 street date.

Brandon immediately began writing and recording. Even with the tight deadlines, we were able to get the ep recorded, mixed, mastered and up on iTunes via Tunecore by Dec 22. Fortunately, iTunes was willing to give us positioning in the New & Noteworthy section and at the only time of the year when the majority of the iTunes positioning remains in place for two weeks. Utilizing Twitter, Facebook and Brandon’s email list we began the web 2.0 marketing frenzy. Amazingly, we were able to drive Brandon’s ep as high as #17 on the Christian albums chart during Christmas week which is incredible for a new artist with absolutely no radio play. Traffic on Brandon’s website reached an all-time high which confirmed we had accomplished our goal. Coming from the major label system, I know first hand that this would have been absolutely impossible for a major label to pull off in 4 weeks. As a matter of fact, most major labels shut down for the most of December. It was so refreshing to be working with an artist who acted quickly, a label who turned all elements with speed and accuracy and no cost marketing vehicals that can be unleashed in seconds.

How would you release a record in 4 weeks? We know it’s possible!

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The Music Gardener had the opportunity to attend the Christian Music Summit Overlake at Overlake Church in Redmond, WA  last week. I had never heard much about the summit until about a month ago when one of our marketing clients brought us up to speed. Not sure sure why we don’t hear much about this in Nashville but everyone in the Northwest sure knows what it’s all about. Integrity Music and Save The City Records know what it’s all about as they both had a large presence at the conference. Some of the major instrument dealers also show up in big force. Both Roland and Yamaha had a huge presence. The conference was started a few years ago by Bruce Adolph and was designed as a conference to help musicians learn how to maximize their talents and ministries. Classes and workshops are offered to attendees and taught by some of the greatest musicians in the business. CMS also offered concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings featuring Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown, Brian Doerksen, Brandon Bee, Matt Redman, Carl Cartee, Lincoln Brewster, Laura Story and New World Son. If you don’t know about this conference, let me encourage you to dig in and find out about this major footprint in the Northwest!

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Benjiman

The Music Gardener recently came across a record that I can’t get out of my head. As an artist manager and music marketing consultant I have avoided the rap genre. Mainly because I normally don’t enjoy listening to that style of music which makes it extremely difficult to give it 100% of myself. I like the occasional Eminem or Nelly song that has melody but that is about as far as I go. A few weeks ago, I was given a cd from the artist Benjiman. Benjiman just released a his new cd “Skript” on Save The City Records.  I began my listen with the single “Back Home” and was blown away. The beat and melody of “Back Home” have the elements of the Eminem songs that I have enjoyed in the past only Benjiman’s lyrics bring an incredibly positive message. As I dug a little deeper, I found the rock stuff that Benjiman is known for from his performances on some of the Kutless and Falling Up records. Little hints of P.O.D. and Rage Against the Machine influence cut through. What really tops the record off is Benjiman’s rendition of “Over The Rainbow” This has to be the most beautiful rap song I have ever heard! Benjiman weaves his rap lyrics into the classic song “Over The Rainbow”. I highly recommend this cd for anyone who enjoys music!

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com