Songwriters, Producers, & Promoters

We interrupt this blog, once again, to talk about what goes on behind the scenes of the musical artists, i.e., the producers and the promoters, and the songwriters.

StrayCat promotions is a one-woman army who has worked long and hard at getting new artists known and heard. Kelly, or Stray as she is better known, became a friend of mine through a mutual love of the New Kids on the Block; however, I have watched how her initiative and persistence has paid off for her in a very big way. She initially began her promoting by creating a fan page. It was so well-done that the artist took notice, contacted her, and the rest was history. She is very deft at website design, knows which websites are best suited for artists, and daily talks about those artists on twitter as she continues to build her portfolio. One important thing about Stray is that she doesn't have any one favorite genre. In looking over the artists she has promoted, one thing is very clear -- the songwriting must be solid, and the message must be clear. She is not afraid to take on new challenges and because of that, she has been quite successful. To learn more about Straycat, you can look at her myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/straycatpromotions. And, like everyone else I've previously mentioned, Stray is also on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kelly_straycat

Next is Flossy, the owner of Streetlight music in southern California. Flossy, as he is called, is first and foremost an entrepeneur who loves music. Working together with producer, Fingazz, they developed a recording studio and eventually a record company. Flossy was first introduced to me via Donnie Wahlberg. Soon after the last concert of the summer '09 tour, Donnie announced he would be releasing a song to reflect how he felt about his new t-shirt brand (Breakfast Club) and how it related to his feelings about his fans and his relationship to them. Later, when that song, "Rise N Grind", was released under the Streetlight label, it was released in tandem with a song called "I Got It" where Donnie collaborated with Audrey O'Day. NKAirplay radio was privileged to debut "Rise N Grind" on the day it was released while a Canadian radio station debuted "I Got It". This is where I really saw Flossy in action. He harnessed the spirit instilled by Donnie in his twitter followers and mobilized us into a powerful force. Each day, he gave us a name of a radio station and its phone number, and our job was to call that radio station repeatedly until someone answered and request Donnie's song. After awhile, the blockheads decided that twitter could also be a powerful motivator. So, they tweeted a given radio station and asked if they could get that radio station's twitter name as a trending topic, would they play Donnie's song. As a result of about 80,000 followers (very few when you look at other artist's twitter following) the NK Army was able to get a song played on six different radio stations simply by way of twitter. Of course the phone calls worked as well. Flossy showed us how grass roots support can truly work. He has continued to keep us in the loop about other artists he is working with and gets us excited about his work. You can find some of those artists on his website, http://streetlightmusic.net. And you can follow him on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/flossytheboss. Flossy also utilized twitter to do some charity work. He asked his followers, better known as "Flossy's Angels" to donate clothing which was brought down to South America. By the way, Fingazz is also on twitter as http://www.twitter.com/fingadelic. And, another individual who works with Streetlight, Jeff Barringer, also a producer and a very talented mixer, is on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/djjeffbarringer.

Finally, Aaron Pierce, songwriter and producer, entered my frame of knowledge when Jordan first informed the fans that he was working on a solo project shortly after the end of the tour. Unlike Donnie who just wanted to work on a couple of singles, Jordan's intent is to release a new solo album. He has been fortunate to collaborate with many other artists and songwriters in his endeavor to complete his album, and in his free time, he has held Jordan Idol competitions throughout the United States, judged by himself and his fellow songwriters and producers. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Aaron has been privileged to work with such artists as Jennifer Lopez, Vickie Winans, Jonny Lang, Clint Brown, Martha Munizzi, Rodney Jerkins, Joy Enriquez, and of course New Kids on the Block. He was responsible for cowriting and producing the song, "One Song" which can be found on the New Kids on the Block's most recent album. Currently, he is also working with Britney Spears, Kreesha Turner, Darwin Hobbs, and Ashley Tisdale. In communicating with his supporters, he has offered ustream chats from his studio and introduced us to some of his new music. His work has earned him a Grammy award, a Stellar award, and a nomination for a Dove Award. His music can be heard on television shows and movies. He is certainly not a beginner in his field, and he continues to build upon his experiences to, well, acquire excellence in everything he does. You can find Aaron Pearce on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/aaronpearce. Like Rob Lewis, he has also take a sabbatical from twitter, but hopefully when he decides to return he will retain his twitter name: http://www.twitter.com/TheAaronPearce

Stay tuned for my next blog where I'll re-introduce some groups and artists you may not realize are very active still or again in the music industry.