Today’s interview is with Oscar Furtado on the art of radio promotion.

Oscar is a renowned Canadian radio promoter who has worked with the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Tiesto, Swollen Members, Classified, and Marcy’s Playground to Jets Over Head, Madeleine Peyroux, Robbie Robertson and Jordan Knight. He focuses on commercial radio in Canada and knows exactly what it takes to break on radio.

Radio is not only part of the “rockstar dream” but it is a crucial aspect to a “rockstar career.”

When I first met Oscar a few years back, I remember him telling me that he recommended artists do some of the groundwork themselves before hiring a radio tracker. But how do you get started? Where do you begin?

I asked Oscar some straight up questions to help understand not only the process but how exactly you can get your music on the radio. What format do stations want your music in and how do you deliver it to them? Who do you call at the station? What do you say on the phone? How do you find out if your track gets added to rotation? How do the charts work and how can you chart? Should you focus on certain stations? Is it better to start locally or go nationally? What are the best ways to build relationships at radio? Who makes the decisions? Is there a better day of the week to phone? Why do some songs get picked and others don’t…? These are just a few of the many questions Oscar tackled.

There is a lot here and you might want to take some notes. Oscar’s answers will give you more than enough information to start laying the ground work and beyond!

Enjoy!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

Interview with Oscar Furtado

For more information on Oscar and his company Tandemtracks Promotions please visit his website here:

www.tandemtracks.com

This week’s interview is with Bill Caywood. Bill is a graphic designer and branding expert, he is the CEO of Brett Manning’s Singing Success, the Creative Director of TraitMarker, founder of NashvilleParties.com, co-founder of Festivalus and the co-founder of Caspian Productions. His clients range from Faith Hill and Jimmy Eat World to Interscope Records, EMI and Warner Brothers.

This is another of the interviews I conducted while in Tennessee set up through our mutual friend Robbie Grayson. I soon learned after meeting Robbie that if he said I should meet somebody I was going to be grateful of the connection. He knows some amazing people and they all listened when he said he wanted to connect them with the new guy in town!

There is something about Robbie that makes him a connector and person that people gravitate to. You can expect an interview with him in the future!

I had just interviewed Brett Manning when Robbie and Brett told me I should meet Bill, the mastermind behind the marketing of Singing Success. I am always interested to find out people’s approach and what’s behind successful marketing campaigns. After researching more on Bill I realized that Singing Success was just one of many successful projects that he was a part of. As a student of the school of life, and without formal higher education, I wanted to find out how Bill had gone from high school to working with some of the biggest names in the industry.

In our interview we discuss a topic that many artists have difficulties with, how to charge for your art and value yourself. How do you put a price tag to something that is not always tangible, something that is an “experience”? We talk about the importance of taking risks and how to quantify success. Bill discusses in depth the Brett Manning brand and the natural and organic evolution of branding.

I particularly enjoyed this interview because Bill goes into detail on his approach, he is authentic and a bright guy to say the least! I truly believe that the content of his answers can shed insight to your own marketing and branding.

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

www.playitloudmusic.com   www.abovethenoise.ca   @playitloudmusic

Interview with Bill Caywood

For more information on Bill please visit:

Bill’s LinkedIn

www.billcaywood.com

www.caspianproductions.com

www.festivalus.com

www.nashvilleparties.com

www.traitmarker.com

Today’s interview is with Rick Wells. Rick is a very successful entrepreneur, and now he is a successful actor. The interesting thing is that once he decided to become an actor he, almost overnight, was able to find acting work as well as an agent to represent him… Considering how many people spend years to get those opportunities, I was interested to understand more about Rick and how his past experiences have led him to where he is today. After getting to know more about Rick it became apparent that he has experienced a high level of success both financially and personally. The curious part was realizing what a wide variety of careers he had chosen and how at first they all seemed so wildly different. In fact there seemed to be almost no common thread between them. However, at a closer glance I realized that the common thread in fact was Rick’s approach, his ability to put himself out of his comfort zone and find ways to excel. He really summed it up when he told me that the reason he chooses to act is because he wants to feel uncomfortable. Rick shows once again that no amount of success can be achieved without a challenge and going beyond your comfort zone.

After interviewing many successful artists, entrepreneurs, authors, etc… after a while a number of similarities start to appear, from their personality traits to the environment around them. Alhough one of those traits is the ability to put yourself out of your comfort zone, the real question is what have been the experiences that build people up to not only recognize opportunities but to also risk taking them. What in Rick’s past experiences and development have allowed him to consciously choose to put himself in a place of vulnerability along way from his comfort zone? Not only once but many times over and excel?

Rick was adopted three days after birth and found out a lot later in life. He learned to make his living from commission (as he puts it, “eat what you kill”), he has an ability to build relationships that he can leverage in business, he understands that trust is a key part of business no matter what line of work you get into, he has 9 children, he has moved around with his work and currently resides near Nashville, he is a handsome 6,2 American looking man, he thinks carefully before he answers my questions… These are by no means the key elements that make up Rick but they certainly stood out to me… Listen to this interview and see what you can find. I believe that a lot can be learned from other people’s experiences and Rick certainly has had many!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator. 

www.playitloudmusic.com  www.abovethenoise.ca  @playitloudmusic

Interview with Rick Wells

For more information on Rick please visit:

http://about.me/rwells36

Today’s interview is with Lee Parsons co-founder of Ditto Music.

Ditto Music is a digital music distribution company with offices in Liverpool and Nashville. As CEO of Ditto Music Lee Parsons overseas distribution and marketing campaigns for over 20,000 worldwide artists including Suzi Quatro, Finch, Lil Wayne, Prince, Sir Paul McCartney and Kid British. Starting from their bedrooms in 2007 Lee and His brother Matt launched the first ever unsigned artist into the UK Top 40 singles chart which got them into the Guinness Book Of World Records. Ditto Music have now had 11 UK top 40 singles, all with unsigned artists. Ditto have since been hailed by The Guardian and The Independent as a serious threat to the domination of major labels and launched their own TV show on Sky. Lee spends his time in between Ditto’s US and UK offices overseeing projects, speaking at events and opening new doors for independent artists.

The interview was conducted at the Ditto US office on Music Row in Nashville Tennessee. We had been talking for some time however I met Lee a couple days before at a music industry gathering for drinks and appetizers. When Lee walked in everybody stopped what they were doing to greet him, he’s just a magnetic type of guy, you can tell when he enters the room. Just an observation. I like to pay attention to people’s personalities, mannerisms, and facial expressions when I meet in person. In my quest to find out what it takes to rise “Above The Noise” everything needs to be taken into account!

I hope you all enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Lee shares a ton of insight on how he built his career and of course there is always a lot to learn from the experiences of others!

If you are releasing your album and are looking for distribution, Ditto Music come with my highest recommendation!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

www.playitloudmusic.com  www.abovethenoise.ca  @playitloudmusic

Interview with Lee Parsons

To learn more about Lee and his company Ditto Music please check out:

www.dittomusic.com

@CEOleeparsons

Lee’s LinkedIn

Today’s Interview is with vocal coach extraordinaire, Brett Manning. Brett has worked with many well known artists including Taylor Swift, Hayley Williams, Keith Urban, Wes Hampton and has also coached several Grammy and CMA Award winners, as well as recent Broadway casts of Les Miserables, Jekyll & Hyde and Elton John’s Aida.

Brett is the author of the “Singing Success” a “learn at home” vocal training program. Manning currently runs a vocal studio on Music Row in Nashville TN “Brett Manning Studios” where he teaches along with his associate teachers Shelby Rollins, Jeff Mathena and Jason Catron. Brett teaches his vocal techniques through seminars and workshops around the world. In 2008 Manning was featured as a vocal coach and judge on CMT’s television talent search, Can You Duet.

The interview was conducted at Robbie’s house, a mutual friend in Franklin. Robbie was somebody I chance met a month or so ago on my way out of a coffee shop after just meeting with Tom Jackson. I kept up the communication and headed back to Tennessee to strengthen the connection. It was Robbie that set up the meeting with Brett. Lately the interviews have been really leading themselves to the next person and I have been happy to follow where they lead me!

I hope you enjoy this one and the insights that Brett has to share.

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

www.playitloudmusic.com  www.abovethenoise.ca  @playitloudmusic

Interview with Brett Manning

For more information on Brett and Singing Success please visit his websites:

www.singingsuccess.com

www.brettmanningstudios.com

Today it is my pleasure to be talking with branding expert and authority, Karen Kang.

Karen Kang is a recognized brand strategist and the CEO and founder of BrandingPays LLC, a corporate and personal branding company (www.brandingpays.com). She is the author of BrandingPays: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand. She has trained thousands of professionals on the unique BrandingPays™ System for personal branding. 

She was a principal and partner with Regis McKenna Inc., the legendary marketing firm that created and launched the Apple brand. She’s consulted to more than 150 organizations in the US, Europe and Asia from Fortune 100 companies to non-profits and startups. Her broad experience has included such diverse clients as Ariba, AT&T, Genentech, HP, iCharts, Lavante, Synopsys, Maxtor, NCR, Park Systems, SigmaQuest (Camstar), UC Davis Health System, Webroot and VoyagePrive.

Karen’s marketing and communications background gives her a 360-degree view of branding. A former newspaper journalist on both the East and West Coasts, she has held executive positions in marketing consulting, advertising and public relations firms. Karen is a frequent speaker at leading business schools and professional organizations.

She has served on the boards of The Friends of the Palo Alto Library and the Women’s Technology Cluster (Astia). She has also donated her time to such worthy non-profit organizations as Girls for a Change, CORO, Asian Business League of San Francisco and Ascend. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Mills College, where she holds her B.A. degree in English, and has earned her M.S. degree in Journalism from Boston University.

In our conversation we discuss personal branding, Karen’s five steps to brand positioning, qualities of a good brand, brand positioning, selling experiences, bad behaviour equals a bad brand, branding from the inside out, shifting the mind set from me to we, and a whole lot more!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator. 

www.playitloudmusic.com    www.abovethenoise.ca   @playitloudmusic

Interview with Karen Kang

For more information on Karen please visit:

www.brandingpays.com

@karenkang

To purchase Karen’s Book:

Amazon

Today’s interview is with digital music and media strategist, music technology educator, singer/songwriter, Nashvillian, and bioinformacist, Charles Alexander. Charles is also founder of Outside The Box Music, a digital media development, strategy and artist services company.

Charles helps artists, musicians & songwriters create and extend their online presence. He implements strategies and runs campaigns to increase fan acquisition, engagement and create brand awareness. The intent of these efforts are to acquire and nurture a fan base that would help artists build and maintain sustainable careers.

He has been quoted in The Washington Post and The Tennessean and featured on the front page of the international music technology blog, HypeBot.Com. He has spoken at events held by ASCAP, Americana Music Association, The Folk Alliance International, NSAI and has contributed to the national discussion on SOPA, the online piracy bill.

Charles performs at venues like The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee on a regular basis. He speaks at national & regional indie & digital music events and is an ardent advocate for independent music.

Today we go in depth on how to use analytics to build an online strategy, get your pen and paper ready!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

www.playitloudmusic.com    www.abovethenoise.ca    @playitloudmusic

Interview with Charles Alexander

For more information on Charles you can visit his websites here:

www.outsidetheboxmusic.com

www.charlesalexander.com

@musiccharles

Today’s music industry podcast is with the world’s number one live music producer, Tom Jackson.

While I was down visiting Nashville recently I met up with Tom in a coffee shop in Franklin, TN. I was really excited to get together with Tom because I am a huge fan of his work and his live music method. There are so many people that are experts in the marketing of music, the branding, the licensing, etc… but there is only one person that is recognized in the world of live performance producing and that is Tom Jackson.

All roads lead to the stage is something Tom says and it is so true. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what else you do, no matter how well you do your business, how great of an album you record, how good you look, etc… If your live show isn’t amazing you will never be a career artist.

Whether you have one song to perform for an audition or a late night tv show, a world tour or an opening slot at Madison Square Gardens, Tom teaches musicians to create unforgettable moments. These moments result in more merch sales, more fans, endorsements, and a lasting career!

Tom is author of the bookTom Jackson’s Live Music Method and the All Roads Lead to the Stage DVD series, is a master at transforming an artist’s live show into a magical experience for the audience!

In our interview we discuss:

• Becoming a live music producer
• Increasing merch sales through live music experience
• Creating difference through performance
• Developing authenticity in onstage performance
• Are you married to your audience or are you dating your audience?
• Hi Tech and Hi Touch
• Keeping the fans and building your audience
• The Middle Class Musician
• Revenue Streams
• Sponsorships
• Selling from the stage
• Characteristics of successful artists
• Being ready
• Being present in the moment
• The three reasons people go to a show
• Maintaining success
• Do you move to where the action is?
• The live music method

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Collaborator.

www.playitloudmusic.com   www.abovethenoise.ca  @playitloudmusic

Interview with Tom Jackson

For more information on Tom and to purchase his book and DVD’s please visit:

Tom Jackson Productions

Onstage Success

Today I am talking with graphic designer, photographer and branding expert, Josh Nychcuk. He designed the “Above The Noise” logo and is my go to guy when it comes to design for the projects I work on.

I thought Josh would be the perfect person to ask some questions regarding building a brand identity. I wanted to get some “nuts and bolts” answers that could be directly applicable to developing your brand’s visual identity.

When asked to described what he does and why, Josh says this:

I work in the field of visual communication as a graphic designer and photographer. I firmly believe in the potential of design—it’s ability to create a better and more meaningful world. To me good design is a delicate balance between research, rational thinking, and intuition. When these 3 acts are in harmony, design has the ability to create positive lasting change.

Design is a tremendous tool for improving and simplifying education and learning; creating experiences that are more delightful, functional and meaningful; developing businesses, organizations and initiatives that will have sustainable long-term growth, and a positive effect on the community and environment.

Josh shares a ton of hands on advice in this interview that will be invaluable to building your brand’s visual identity.

In our conversation we discuss:

Typography, Colours, Emotion, Imagery, Consistency, Contrast, values, etc… What messages they send and how the viewer interprets them… and a  whole lot more!

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Consultant. 

www.playitloudmusic.com  www.abovethenoise.ca @playitloudmusic

Interview with Josh Nychuck

For more information on Josh please visit:

www.nychukdesign.com

www.lookglassblog.com

www.joshnychuk.tumblr.com

Today it is my pleasure to be talking with established social media marketing authority and New York Bestselling Author, Chris Brogan!

I have been really interested in interviewing people that are not directly related to the music industry, but that can share a ton of insight as to how what they do can benefit the careers of musicians. It is always interesting to get a different angle on this industry!

A musician in his free time, chris has surprisingly good knowledge of the current music industry and has a ton of great comparisons and examples to share.

Chris is a New York Times Bestselling author of books like The Impact Equation and Trust Agents (cowritten with Julien Smith), Social Media 101, and Google Plus for Business.

He has appeared in several magazine and news articles from Forbes, The Boston Globe, Success, USA Today, and has appeared on TV shows like The Dr Phil Show. (Oddly, in conversations with people who aren’t into the online world, people are always more impressed with the Dr. Phil appearance than the New York Times bestseller thing.)

Chris is also the cofounder of the PodCamp new media conference series, exploring the use of new media community tools to extend and build value.

He has 12 years of experience in online networks, social communities, and other elements of digital business.

He has 16 years of enterprise telecommunications and wireless experience prior to all this.

Aaron Bethune. Music Specialist. Creative Consultant. 

www.playitloudmusic.com & www.abovethenoise.ca

@playitloudmusic

Today’s interview covers:

• Don’t just be interesting, connect
• Build Relationships
• Deadmau5
• Clictivisim Vs. Activism
• Record Labels that buy “Likes”
• Giving before you ask
• 90% for free
• Finding out who your audience is
• Fans are a community
• Selling the experience
• Hanging out with NIN drummer
• Adele at The Royal Albert Hall
• Bravery
• Ingredients to Success
• Overnight Success
• Creating offline viral sensations
• Storytelling
• Being Passionate
• Cutting through the noise
• Getting a “real job”
• 1000 True fans vs. the 150 Rule (Robin Dunbar number)

Interview with Chris Brogan

For more information on Chris please visit:

Chris Brogan Blog

Chris Brogan’s Weekly Newsletter:

Human Business Works 

About Human Business Works

Human Business Works Courses

The Human Business Way Radio Show (Podcast)

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