Untitled Document

Mi5 Media UK | Merchandise | Corporate Opportunities | Promotional Services

Our goal at Mi5 Recordings has always been to promote a hip alternative to the majors. We have quite an eclectic roster on Mi5 Recordings that is growing (see artists we work with). It can’t be denied, with the roster and creative grass roots marketing/promotion and our alternative work with corporate entities, that this combination can command press attention. The opportunity to link up, share publicist, press, gigs and events as a collective takes advantage of presenting the artists on Mi5 as not just music news but a movement worthy of a small political movement.

Collectively we will share vital information. Evaluating the strengths of notoriety in designated regions of the U.S, UK, of each individual Mi5 artist, we can share the strength of some artists followings with others that are not as strong, promoting through email, personal phone calls, reaching out to college radio, Mi5 flyers on tours, our publicists work and through the internet. All sites and past Mi5 artist’s experiences will be linked up to the Mi5 sites and the individual artist’s Internet sites.

We will target regions for instance, New York, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco and Northern California where we have street teams and personal connections to help pave the way for each artist’s notoriety. Some of the artists we have worked with or have an ongoing working relationship with are the following:

Eric McFadden (Lead guitarist Parliament)
George Clinton with Eric McFadden
Blue Mockingbirds (former guitarist/producer/manger Modern English)
Mercyside
Randy Muller (Leader of Brass Construction/BT Express/Sky producer extraordinaire)
Jesus Jones
Midge Ure
Dave Eggar String Quartet (Classical)
10,000 Maniacs
Hugh Cornwell from the Stranglers
Simon Townshend (Peter Townshend’s brother)
Coati Mundi (Kid Creole)
UTFO
Afrika Bambatta
Toots and the Maytals
Levon Helm
Joey Molland (Badfinger)

Film Projects/Corporate include:
VH-1 Classics - various
KOCH Records George Harrison Tribute album (Scott Kuchler producer)

Providing major talent for corporate events, and video licensing including, bookings and negotiations, music production, live production, including Sugar Ray, Blue Mockingbirds, Mercyside, Crash Test Dummies, Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos, Ringo Starr, the Wall Flowers, Heather Headley, Suzanne Vega, Sugar Ray, Nena Cherry, Eagle Eye Cherry and Ringo Starr.

On the Mi5 Recordings bio, we present the follow that puts in perspective what we are trying to do:

Since established record labels require sales in the millions to satisfy shareholders’ profit demands, the companies have largely abandoned musically adventurous acts and artists. To maximize sales and profits, record conglomerates more often favour conservative acts, or those that appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Consequently, a sizeable, market share has been left untapped. Artists who reach a defined, cognizant audience are completely overlooked, even when they have, in the past, achieved consistent record/ticket sales and critical acclaim. Among these musicians Mi5 Recordings sets up a bond and trust that goes beyond money, fame, or any of the trappings of pop culture. As a result, individuals will work with Mi5 as PARTNERS to an entertainment company, holding down production expenses through a shared, co-operative work regimen.

A NEW VISION:
Mi5's vision of the future is a good one. It is a future where people have fun working on great projects in an open and creative atmosphere. This sounds idealistic. But how can idealism become a moneymaking business? We at Mi5 in-vision branching out, charting untapped markets, utilizing the latest in Technology and business strategies to ensure that our artist's vision will be shared and their voices heard. To help accomplish this, we have worked hard at the grass root level to ensure that our audiences will feel a particular closeness to the Mi5 process, the artists, and their art. Hearing the voice of our audiences up close, noting their input, harnessing their enthusiasm, we have learned to put together packages that will become evermore successful in the market place. We cannot only bring artists to light; we can keep them there.

WHAT IS Mi5?
Think James Bond. Imagine Great Britain. Think Cold War. Remember the CIA, the KGB, Pop Art and Radio Free… Yeah, you got it now! With our line-up and U.K. roots, we not only answered the call to that kind of 60's British feel, we ARE, Brit Pop––with a multi-cultural twist, 21st century twist. In this time when pop music Gathers Dust, spills blood, and just drones on, we want to do something fun, up beat, witty and droll; we want to sharpen the edge in today's music scene.

Mi5 Recordings is looking into the long-range success story. We want to build careers, create opportunities, whether through our corporate contacts, recording and touring or film work and we are not interested in the short-term gains. We look into creating our own audience for Mi5 Recordings that will be loyal. We want to find an alternative solution that does not cost millions and will be an effective option to the conglomerates dominance over the industry. We want our artists to share ideas and in turn we will follow up every lead that we can to bring about our goal. The following are some ideas we will pursue:

A. Provide innovative artwork. Mi5 will use our own resources to create CD covers, posters and videos.

B. We will concentrate on the idea of ART. We have brought together an eclectic group of people within the Mi5 sphere, artists and musicians with a decent amount of success and respect (Midge Ure, Modern English, collective associations with contemporary artist, MC Lyte and other rap artists of artistic respect, George Clinton, Hugh Cornwell, Flux String Quartet, Lincoln Center, the New York fine arts and film community etc.). This group gets press. The associations and coexistence as a label of artists working together for art make news, not just music news. It reaches an audience of a record buying public that conservative market strategies miss.

C. Manage and maintain database with grass roots street team nationwide. Our Mi5 reps are of all ages. We have a database of 5000 reps that work for free but keep us up to date on events nation wide. We appeal to these people through email and phone to help move the records on a grass roots level. We rely on them to talk about the Mi5 bands and create fan clubs. Our campaign is to cut a tiny percentage of Mi5’s income to each if they move records i.e. if they get 10 friends to get 10 friends to buy each 1 CD, the ball starts moving. They are to start a buzz.

D. We work with Elizabeth Freund, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and John Melloncamp’s publicist for the last 10 years. She is a fan of Mi5 and is very excited about all the Mi5 projects. We will arrange for a 1 or 2 week press push, follow up on tour dates with press etc. Scott Kuchler, former manager of KOCH Records will handled in house publicity and radio using the contacts made from his many years at KOCH. Scott has worked with Carole King, Amy Rigby, Bill Wyman, Dave Davies, Todd Rungren, Ringo Starr to name a few.

E. CONCENTRATION ON SECOND MARKETS I do not agree on a market strategy that pays attention only to the major markets. We will not ignore these markets of course, but Mi5 cannot possibly compete with the MTV bands that are hot right now in all of those areas. We are a small label. Mi5 cannot effectively service the whole country at once. That is unrealistic and not sound business. The Mi5 strategy is to pick 5 to 8 regions and concentrate on those. New York and New York State obviously is our strong hold. We know Chicago is something to look at. Northern California, San Diego. Those are examples of what we know are strong for us. We will not ignore Boston, LA, etc. But it will not be effect to blanket the whole county without the financial resources. In order to that, a label must buy countless numbers of adds on MTV, radio and press (Nationals like Rolling Stone and Spin) to insure turnout and record sales. Our plan is to build from second cities where we have a strong base of support.

In closing, Mi5 Recordings has already shown innovative ideas to the music community. We have put together a good package, implemented the manpower to make things happen. We will not close our eyes to tradition, but we don’t believe that is the only route. We will do the following to cover our marketing plan.

Touring:
All dates will be maximized with CD & ticket give-aways, as well as interviews with key press, radio, television and internet outlets.

Publicity:
Full service press mailing, and we have Elizabeth Freund on board as our publicist as well as staff members. Scott Kuchler, Mi5 Recordings and Evolution publicity will handle college radio and tour support. Reviews and/or features will be pursued in Entertainment Weekly, No Depression, Celebrity Access, Billboard, Rolling Stone and The Village Voice with many more to follow on a national and regional basis. Key reviews will be particularly pursued at CMJ, Gadfly, Dirty Linen, Magnet, Amplifier, Option, Request, Paper, Rockpile and Indie File and other "Tastemaker" magazines geared towards a college demographic. Tour Press will be actively pursued as well as television appearances

Radio:
Scott Kuhler and his team have extensive experience working the Radio Department at KOCH. Kuchler served as Label Manager for the KOCH Progressive label, working both A&R and publicity with artists as diverse as Carole King, Ringo Starr, Bill Wyman, Dave Davies, Bob Geldof, John Entwistle and Gregory Corso. His most recent project - the George Harrison tribute album "Songs From The Material World", was released on KOCH Records February 2003 and features Todd Rundgren, They Might Be Giants, Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Jay Bennet and Edward Burch among others.

We will service the following:
Alternative Specialty Shows/Clubs/College:
Alternative Specialty Shows & Clubs in an attempt to chart Top Ten at each format

Full length CD will be shipped to target college radio stations as well as adult contemporary. The adult appeal of the material should insure support from this format. We have already secured airplay at WXRT in Chicago, WDET in Detroit, KFMU in Seattle, WFMU in Jersey City and WFHB in Bloomington, IN among others..

Based on our success at other formats, we may consider crossing over to mainstream Alternative radio as well. Although this format is currently embracing guitar driven, angst filled rock, we may find supporters in select markets. Possible targets may include WLIR (Long Island), KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), Live 105 (San Francisco, CA), WFNX (Boston, MA) & WHFS (Washington D.C.).

Radio will be a personal appeal. Blank mailings are not an option for Mi5 Recordings so we will pursue every personal connection and past experiences to get our foot in i.e. past Modern English success (four million records sold), Badfinger playlists etc.

Internet
Raising and creating awareness of the album and its release date is the primary web objective. We will tap already existing fan base as well as raise awareness to new consumers with placement on high traffic web sites.

www.mi5recordings.com and www.mi5recordings.co.uk the official Mi5 website, will run promotional awareness campaigns to raise awareness of the release. A contest will be pursued.

We will focus on hitting the fan chat rooms, working the grass roots level independent sites, and major traffic generating sites, such as Launch.com, the Frequency Lounge, Digital Club Network, & Yahoo. CD give-aways and other promotions will be pursued to increase impressions.

Every effort will be made to co-brand these releases with websites and fan clubs dedicated to related.

Online "chats" will be arranged on major music portals to increase overall awareness. Possible chats include Sonicnet, Launch, and Yahoo!

Full press kit will be serviced to music web sites e.g. Launch, Sonicnet, MTV...

Full CD will be serviced to over 20 net-based radio stations, including spinner.com, netradio.com, lycosradio.com, gogaga.com, imagineradio.com, radio.yahoo.com.

Retail:
We are focusing on outlets such as Border's and Barnes & Noble where we feel this record will have the greatest impact. In stores will be pursued in key markets such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and San Francisco.