Artist Garden Entertainment is proud to announce that Manic Bloom a band we recently signed to a management deal, was just awarded “Best New Artist” of the year by Nashville’s rock station 102.9 The Local Buzz! Their song “What Scares You Most” became a regular rotation favorite for The Local Buzz show this past year. This band is definitely on their way to great things!
Artist Garden Entertainment met today with Deana Ivey at Visit Music City, Nashville’s Visitor Bureau. We saw a recent video they put together to promote tourism in Nashville. The video featured Gabe Dixon, Heidi Newfield, Martina McBride, Jaci Velasquez, Nic Gonzales, Kirk Whalum and others. These guys do a fantastic job promoting Nashville utilizing some of Nashville’s finest artists. I encourage you to visit the website http://www.visitmusiccity.com and see how Nashville is marketed to potential conventions and tourist. Visit us at www.artistgardenentertainment.com
Artist Garden Entertainment spent some time in Atlanta with producers and record labels this week. Three of our favorite visits were with Brash Music, Scott Huie and producer, Scotty Wilbanks.
Brash Music is home to Aaron Shust, Chris Sligh and the Michael Gunger Band. Steve Jones, President of Brash, has brought his mainstream level of doing business to the Christian market place. He learned the Christian business in a very short period and developed a very successful model. His no nonsense approach to selling music is refreshing! We discussed the future of marketing and how important the blogging world has become.
Scotty Wilbanks is quietly (or noisily!) making a huge impact on the Christian music business from his home in Canton, GA. Two of Scotty’s recent productions are DecembeRadio and Echoing Angels. Both artist have seen great radio success over the past couple of years. Scotty started his Christian music career playing with NewSong and now tours with Third Day playing keyboards.
We also met with Scott Huie, booking agent for the Newsboys, Superchick, DecembeRadio. Who would ever guess that such a successful booking agent would be based in Snellville, GA?
Unfortunately we were unable to meet with Shelly Giglio with Passion but hope to the next time we are in Atlanta. Passion is home to Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band and Louie Giglio.
We were also turned on to a few new Atlanta bands that could develop into a management relationship for us. Stay tuned!
Atlanta is a hotbed for Christian music. It just happens to be home to Casting Crowns, the top selling artist in Christian Music and we plan on keeping our eye on this city! Visit us at www.artistgardenentertainment.com
Today I did a little brainstorming to come up with new ideas on how to market a song from one of our artist without Christian radio. As I was brainstorming, I wondered how many cd purchases are actually triggered by airplay. Comparing Soundscan with radio there isn’t always a strong correlation. That brings forth the question “why do we put so much of our marketing efforts toward radio” I had a discussion with an Independent Radio promoter tonight at a Christmas party and she seemed a bit surprised when I told we were working on a marketing plan that doesn’t include radio. Christian radio playlists are so small that we have to find a replacement. What will it be? I’m sure it will have something to do with the internet. Visit us at www.artistgardenentertainment.com
During this Christmas season, I am reminded of a strange incident that happened to me a few years back while pitching a Point of Grace Christmas cd to the music department for Target stores. After I made the big presentation about the incredible marketing we had in place and how many cds we planned on selling, the head of purchasing spoke a few words that I will never forget. In a very serious tone she informed me “we try to stay away from Christian music during the Christmas season…it just doesn’t sell” Thinking there was a punch line on the way, I remained silent. No punch line followed. At that moment, I realized how far away the world has really gotten from the reason we actually celebrate Christmas. Christmas has become one of the biggest consumer marketing terms ever in history of the world. Some businesses do 60% of their business during Christmas every year! It appears that the single biggest contributor to the world’s economy is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Imagine how our economy would change if we celebrated the birth of Jesus year round? Imagine how the world would change if everyone who celebrated Christmas actually knew what they were celebrating? Visit us at www.artistgardenentertainment.com
Marketing music is what we do at Artist Garden Entertainment. Whether it is marketing artist we manage or consulting clients. We do specialize in Christian music marketing. Visit us at www.artistgardenentertainement.com
