Artist2Market - It's All About the Artist

The story of how Artist2Market started is an interesting one. Artist2Market developed out of a chance meeting with Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in 2005. Lee and A2M General Manager Paul Ignasinski, who was also in a band, were recording in the same studio in Los Angeles. At the time Paul worked for Handleman Company, one of the biggest music distribution companies in America. After talking to Paul for a while Tommy wanted to know if it was possible to produce and distribute a record without having to rely on a major label. Paul went back to Michigan and developed the concept that is now known as Artist2Market.

Artist2Market offers artists, labels and content owners a unique alternative to the traditional music label infrastructure. Artist2Market is an entertainment service platform. I found out about A2M when a press release came out announcing Taylor Hicks' partnership with them on his upcoming album. Here is an excerpt from the press release.

"Hicks has tapped the independent artist services company Artist2Market (A2M) to release his much-buzzed-about new album, due in stores on February 10, 2009. The platinum-selling singer-songwriter will be releasing the new title with complete control of direction and ownership of his masters on his solely owned and operated, Modern Whomp Records label. Hicks is currently in the studio with producer Simon Climie (Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Faith Hill)." I spoke with the Director of Operations and Marketing, Rick DiLoreto, too find out more about Artist2Market.

The goal of Artist2Market is to give the artist complete creative control of their project; maximize their exposure to their fan base and to minimize their project costs.

Artists who sign with A2M will benefit in a variety of ways. First and foremost they will receive more revenue from the sale of their music. They also maintain full creative control and ownership of their masters and intellectual property as well as their merchandise and touring revenue. Artist2Market's model also allows CDs to retail at significantly lower prices while also giving retailers better margins. The benefit for A2M is that continued artist roster expansion creates more service platform partnership opportunities which, in turn, will continue to lower costs and increase revenue for Artist2Market and their artist partners.

As is true with anything in life there has to be a need, interest and a desire for a service to work. I asked Rick how they found the artists to join in this revolutionary and unique alternative to a traditional record deal. "Thus far artists have approached us to discuss distribution opportunities. The successes we have seen in the market have created a word of mouth marketing campaign among artists. As we continue to grow we will become more aggressive in seeking new content partners that fit our model."

Sometimes a record deal is the right thing for an artist to do and there are times and artists that do much better on their own. Where they are able to decide how they want to handle their career and music. As the existing music infrastructure continues to erode, more and more established and creditable artists come to the realization that they can manage their careers on their own. Artist2Market is there to help them do that.

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If you are an undiscovered artist wondering if A2M is for established artists only or can it benefit the undiscovered artist. The answer to that is that currently the A2M model benefits established artists most. This is due to the fact that these artists bring an established fan base and album history to the table, thus reducing the need and the budget for marketing and advertising. But do not give up just yet because A2M is moving toward exploring smaller and developing artist opportunities as they expand. Their partnership with The Cool Kids (myspace.com/thecoolkids) saw much success and they have a new arrangement with independent label Sargent House (sargenthouse.com). This shows that more affordable and viral marketing strategies can help get the word out about a new artist and create success.

Artist2Market is currently working with artists such as John Michael Montgomery, Tracy Lawrence, Dolly Parton, Tommy Lee, Hurt, Case and the independent label Sargent House.

Artist2Market acts as the captain of a highly specialized and talented team of resources that can support an artist. They can offer as much or as little support as an artist needs. All of their services are available a la carte. Via their partnerships they have the ability to handle CD Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Content Digitization, Marketing, Creative and Design Services and Web and Banner advertising.

A2M is looking to expand their service to include distribution solutions for independent artists in Canada and the United Kingdom and continuing to expand their artist roster, both in number and music genre.

If you are an artist looking to take control of your career visit A2M's website www.artist2market.com to review what Artist2Market is all about and then contact them. Stay tuned to Artist2Market for quite a few potential announcements for 2009.

One last thing, all of you fellow Taylor Hicks fans, Rick DiLoreto had one last thing to say. "The fan support and interest from Taylor's fans is unlike anything we have seen to date on any project we have worked on. We are looking forward to helping Taylor bring this project to market and hope his fans are not disappointed."

Taylor Hicks puts his all into everything he does and his voice is amazing. I am sure it will be an amazing CD and with Artist2Market on board, great things are ahead for 2009 for Taylor.