This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
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If you’ve ever had the opportunity to ride on New York’s subway system, there’s a good chance you’ve also experienced the unique flavor of subway musicians. These folks hang out in subway stations and play for the millions of people who walk about the Big Apple’s busy streets. Many of them are incredibly talented.
Here’s an idea. Connect with these creative crooners, and help them promote themselves. You can act as their agent in return for a cut of any fees or sales they earn.
Cool idea. I wish I’d thought of it. But alas, Andrew Rollo beat me to it. His story showed up on Business Week Online today, and it’s just too cool.
"Andrew Rallo was standing on a New York City subway platform in his nicest suit, waiting for the B train to take him uptown for an interview at a marketing outfit, when he heard music in the distance. The guitarist across the platform wasn’t much to look at, but his talent was obvious. ‘People just started coagulating around this guy,’ Rallo recalls. "They were talking to each other and smiling and giving him money. They were doing things that New Yorkers don’t normally do." And so the idea for Subway Records was born."
What is Subway Records really about? What’s their marketable position? Who is their target market? From their website:
"Subway Records provides musicians with an online presence in order to facilitate and restore the self-expression and authenticity of subway music. Our goal is to help promote the artistic independence of subway musicians, while making our name synonymous with the reemergence of lost, but not forgotten, sounds."
Very nice, Andrew. Very nice.