A&R Execs Using OurStage to Crowd-Source Talent Scouting
BOSTON and NEW YORK, June 4 -- OurStage
(http://www.OurStage.com), a pioneering website enabling music fans to help
discover and evaluate emerging musical talent, has spawned it's first
"Artist to Watch" label signing: Plushgun, an OurStage favorite who, based
in part on their site ranking, has just been signed to Tommy Boy
Entertainment.
"At OurStage, our mission is to help talented artists achieve critical
exposure by solving the greatest challenge on the Internet today: sorting
quality content from the sea of mediocrity online," Ben Campbell, CEO of
OurStage, said. "OurStage does this by providing a game-free platform
allowing fans to experience music and drive the best to the top."
The site, which is free for artists and fans, awards top-performing
artists with significant career-building exposure and support via
partnerships with a broad assortment of music industry leaders, including
AOL Music, Bonnaroo, Virgin Festival, Bumbershoot, CMJ, PLUG Awards, Paste
Magazine, Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, Noise Pop, Gen Art, Relix, and
many others. Now OurStage is helping artists achieve that coveted golden
ring: a record deal.
The first is Plushgun, a band that has consistently ranked in the Top
10 on OurStage for most of the past year. Unapologetically poppy, the band,
which has been compared to the Postal Service (among others), ranked in the
OurStage Top 10 for five months in 2007 before hitting #1 on OurStage's
Alternative Rock channel in January 2008. With the release of their
self-titled EP in October 2007, the band garnered particular attention for
their song "Just Impolite" -- a dance-y, accessible track about dying
romances -- which was featured on artist-friendly outlets like MySpace. The
band also recently garnered an AOL video feature about their trip to SXSW,
courtesy of OurStage.
"With so much bogus manipulation going on regarding social networking
sites today, we look for signs of sincere growth in many areas," explains
Mike Worthington of Tommy Boy Entertainment, who first discovered Plushgun
and then reached out to the band through social networking sites, inviting
himself to their shows. "I was following the band online, and their chart
ranking over an extended period on OurStage convinced us that the support
and demand for this band was real and tangible."
Because of their high-ranking on the site, OurStage provided Plushgun
with an array of promotional and "artist development" support, including
features in URB and Relix, a spot on Relix CD sampler, mentor sessions with
manager Scott Booker and publicist Ken Weinstein as part of OurStage's
"Artist Access" program and showcase spots at CMJ (2007) and SXSW (2008).
"When OurStage sent Plushgun to SXSW, they gave me the opportunity to
see the band live, which sealed the deal on our end," adds Rosie Lopez,
Vice President of Tommy Boy Entertainment, alluding to the promotional
support OurStage offers bands beyond their web offering. Now that Tommy Boy
has signed Plushgun, OurStage and Tommy Boy will continue to work together
to promote the band. "In order to build a real success story you have to be
willing to invest in the development of an artist's career and we're
thrilled that there's finally someone out there that shares our passion and
commitment and can step up as a partner when the talent is there," adds
Lopez.
"Tommy Boy is a legendary record label that has always taken chances
when it comes to new artists, ranging from Afrika Bambaata and De La Soul
to RuPaul and Fannypack," said Campbell. "With the internet permanently
changing the way music is discovered and distributed, we are excited not
only to support talented emerging artists, but to work with creative
partners like Tommy Boy that can help us deliver this music to the fans."
A&R execs at Tommy Boy Entertainment aren't the only one using the
OurStage platform to "crowd-source" part of their talent scouting process.
This year OurStage is partnered with several of the nation's top music
festivals, including Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, JVC Jazz Festival
Newport, Bumbershoot and Noise Pop, who are using OurStage to help fill out
their line-ups by tapping into the site's fan-driven music filters to
identify the best emerging talent within the styles of music these
festivals represent. And AOL Music, the web's top ranked music site in both
total page views and unique visitors, has chosen OurStage to be its
exclusive source for providing independently released music content,
including artist interviews, downloads, and audio and video streams for
distribution on AOL Music.
Get two free Plushgun downloads here:
http://www.OurStage.com/go/plushguntommyboy
For more information on OurStage, contact Girlie Action:
Felice Ecker 212-989-2222, x110 felice@girlie.com
Debbie Pressman 212-989-2222, x120 debbie@girlie.com
About OurStage, Inc.
OurStage is a pioneering web platform dedicated to new music and new
artist discovery. On OurStage, artists, fans, & industry professionals all
come together - to discover, judge, & enjoy the best new music and the best
new artists online - as ranked by the fans - in the company's proprietary,
game-proof judging engine. Visitors are able to discover top ranked,
already sorted, music without having to hunt through hundreds of songs to
find the quality. Top-ranked artists receive significant career-building
promotion and support from established artists, industry professionals, and
a broad assortment of partners, including AOL Music, Bonnaroo, Bumbershoot,
PLUG Awards, Newport Folk Festival, JVC Jazz Festival Newport, Paste
Magazine, CMJ, Noise Pop, and many others. Founded in 2007, OurStage
delivers music and related content to over 1.5 million fans in 140
countries each month - and has attracted over 45,000 artist-members and
hundreds of thousands of registered Fans in its short history.
About Tommy Boy Entertainment
Originally conceived and started by Tom Silverman in his cramped New
York City apartment in early 1981, Tommy Boy Entertainment is widely
recognized for its significant contribution to the development of hip hop
music, dance music, and electronica. Starting with Afrika Bambaataa's
"Planet Rock", and including De La Soul, Digital Underground, Naughty By
Nature, Prince Paul, Queen Latifah, House Of Pain, Everlast, Information
Society, RuPaul, Fannypack, Bob Sinclar and Danny Tenaglia, Tommy Boy has
always stayed one step ahead of its imitators. With a diverse history and a
proud tradition of innovations and of being "first", Tommy Boy remains
committed to finding and supporting groundbreaking new music and culture.
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