It’s no secret that getting your song featured on a TV show can be the new equivalent of a #1 hit. Today, we’re going to cover a few artists using Topspin that have found an audience on TV and are utilizing the platform to capture and engage all those eyes and ears.
You may recognize Christian Kane as Eliott Spencer, the “all around bad-ass” on TNT’s hit action-drama show “Leverage”, but his first passion is music.
Thanks to a brilliant plot tie in (to take down a corrupt record executive, the LEVERAGE team infiltrates the world of country music and inadvertently turns Eliott into a genuine country music star!!) Kane performed his single,”Thinking of You” to a viewing audience of over 6 million on the July 18th episode of “Leverage”. As a result, the single made a quick entry to #22 on the Billboard Country Digital Songs charts and Kane’s team was able to capitalize on the momentum with a FREE download and pre order campaign. You can download his latest radio single, “The House Rules” at ChristianKane.com. When Christian Kane is a household action star name, you’ll be able to say “I knew him when” and have the t-shirt to prove it.
Kane’s Direct to Fan efforts are driven by Bigger Picture Group, the Nashville-based consortium spearheaded by music industry icons, Bob Ezrin, Bob Cahill, Keith Stegall, William Hein, Gary Veloric, Michael Powers, Alan Cates and Dale Manning. One of Topspin’s earliest clients and avid supporters, BPG leverages a collective resume of supernatural prowess to deliver incredibly efficient and successful artist development, digital strategy, promotions and publishing expertise for their roster of clients. We’ll highlight BPG in one of our ecosystem partner posts, but I wanted to shine a quick light on some of the amazing work they’ve done since day one.
Chad Brownlee is a Canadian country artist, actor (he recently appeared with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in “Tooth Fairy”) and former NHL player (6th round draft pick to Vancouver Canucks in ’03 – retired to pursue music) whose self-titled debut record, produced by Mitch Merrett and released on MDM Recordings, has launched 3 singles into the billboard top 20 and garnered a nomination for this year’s Canadian Country Music Association’s “Rising Star Award”. As part of his ongoing direct to fan pre-order campaign, team Brownlee ran a Topspin-powered contest to win a custom built, “Chad Brownlee” Larrivee Guitar with each pre-order sold.
They also utilized the self service ticketing option to sell a limited number of CD Release tickets directly to his own community of Canadian fans. A fourth single is slated for this fall and, if his early success is an indicator, you’ll be seeing and hearing more from our neighbor to the north before the year is through.
As we’re in the vein of cool campaigns tied to film and / or tv, let me end with something truly out of this world. It comes courtesy of the SYFY channel and their new show, “HAVEN”. It’s a supernatural thriller based on the Stephen King novella, “The Colorado Kid”. The series follows the shrewd and confident FBI agent Audrey Parker (Rose) who has a lost past, and arrives in the small town of Haven, Maine on a routine case. Before long, her natural curiosity lands her in the epicenter of activity in this curious enclave, which turns out to be a longtime refuge for people that are affected by a range of supernatural afflictions. Spooky.
So, what does Topspin have to do with that? Well, indie folk / pop act, Sweet Talk Radio had just written a new song called, “We All Fall Down” and the producers of the show, who also happen to be fans of the duo, thought the song would be perfect to close episode 5 – “Ball & Chain”. The
song was featured and the forums were ablaze with questions about “Where” and “How” to download the track (a good concentration of that download effort being directed to P2P services like bit torrent and frost wire). But, it was obvious that none of that fan data would trickle into STR’s database, so they quickly launched an E4M and began to funnel all that energy into their own database.
There are plans to release an EP of tracks featured on HAVEN, and this database of new fans will become the foundation for a successful campaign launch.
We see a lot of different kinds of clients using Topspin to power their D2F efforts and for some, chart elegibility and reporting is still very important. Often times, we play a really important role in a client’s first week’s sales; powering pre-order campaigns and special offers. For those who rely on reporting and analytics, we provide soundscan consultation (it can be tricky!) and try to help conceive memorable and engaging offers to drive first week sales. Every now and then, we have a self serve client who steps up, takes hold of the reigns and runs a really meaningful campaign on their own.
The following is an excerpt of an email from Contemporary Christian Artist, Natalie Grant’s management firm, Maximum Artist Management. This marks a meaningful foray for us into the CCM space, and we couldn’t be more excited that our first endeavor was so successful. Big PROPS to Kristi Brazell, the team at MAM and Brody Harper at Skor Inc…and CONGRATS to Natalie for a career best debut (and AMAZING record). Let’s do some more, shall we?
“Topspin was the web retailer of choice for Natalie Grant’s ‘Love Revolution Live Chat & Listening Party,’ in which fans of the Christian recording artist were able to log-on to a live video chat featuring exclusive previews of new music and a specially-priced pre-order opportunity. The success of that venture contributed to the album’s debut at #2 on Billboard’s Christian albums chart.”
Ears close to the ground….
Thanks for the shouts. Let’s do it again.