IEBA Explores Country Music in Corporate America and APA Artists Get the Party Rockin'

Experts in the field of music sponsorship lead a discussion at the annual conference of the International Entertainment Buyers Association on one of the hottest emerging markets for brands to tap into: country music. From developing local partnerships to sponsoring large festivals and arena tours, partnering with country artists provides brands with a unique opportunity to reach a wide audience of what is known as one of the most passionate fan groups in music; country fans. Learn from top leaders: Marcie Allen (President, MAC Presents), Eric Arnold (Artist & Brand Partnership, WME), William Chipps (Senior Editor, IEG Sponsorship Report) and Teresa George (Senior Vice President, Brand Integration & Strategic Partnerships, Academy of Country Music) how your event or brand can get in the country music sponsorship game.

APA will get the showcases started at IEBA on Sunday, October 3 with a strong mix of soulful, southern rock and country that will get everyone in the mood for three days of partying. Don’t miss Blackberry Smoke, Bo Bice, Darryl Worley, and a surprise special guest artist!

About the Panelists

Marcie Allen
President
MAC Presents
Marcie Allen is President of Nashville/New York-based sponsorship and fulfillment agency MAC Presents. Allen leverages her fifteen years of music industry experience to negotiate high profile sponsorships between the world’s leading brands and artists. Emerging as a leader in the world of music sponsorship, Allen was the first ever recipient of the Billboard Magazine Concert Marketing and Promotion Award, for her work on Jeep’s sponsorship of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s Soul2Soul Tour in 2007. MAC Presents coordinated sponsorship fulfillment on the 2008 Tim McGraw “Live Your Voice” tour, sponsored by KC Masterpiece and Kingsford Charcoal, and the 2007 and 2008 BlackBerry Presents John Mayer tour, which netted Allen her second straight Billboard nomination. MAC has produced numerous events across the country, including Vanderbilt’s Rites of Spring and Homecoming, the BlackBerry Storm Launch Party with Foo Fighters & Queens of the Stone Age, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Launch Party with John Legend, and Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds for Microsoft SAS convention. In 2009, MAC was hired to be the entertainment agency representing Kingsford & KC Masterpiece on their sponsorship of the Keith Urban tour, which netted Allen her second Billboard Concert Marketing and Promotion Award.

Eric Arnold
Artist & Brand Partnership Agent
WME
Eric Arnold joined William Morris Agency in 2002 after a brief stint at Clear Channel (now Live Nation) in Atlanta. Now an agent in WME’s Artist & Brand Partnership Department, he works to partner WME’s artist clients with brands. This often occurs in the form of tour sponsorships and has included creating a unique tour promotion for Sara Evans and Gallo Wines involving on-site wine tastings. Eric was credited with helping Jagermeister establish a presence in country music by putting Pat Green and Randy Houser on the first Jagermeister Country Music Tour and most recently, Eric Church and Josh Thompson on the brand’s second Country Tour. Tour sponsorships for WME’s country clients are a primary focus but his deals aren’t limited to that niche and have included placing Brad Paisley in T-Mobile’s myTouch TV commercials, connecting ESP Guitars with Ozzfest, making Gretchen Wilson and Patty Loveless the centerpiece of two separate pharmaceutical marketing campaigns and partnering various WME clients with NRA Country.

William Chipps
Senior Editor
IEG Sponsorship Report
Since joining IEG in 1996, Chipps has covered all aspects of the sponsorship industry for IEG SR, the industry-leading publication that provides one-of-a-kind news, insights and analysis designed to help sponsors and properties maximize their return from the medium. Through extensive networking and sourcing, Chipps has uncovered and reported on a number of key industry trends. In addition to IEG SR, Chipps also has trained thousands of sponsorship buyers and sellers through IEG's webinar series. 

Teresa George
Senior Vice President, Brand Integration & Strategic Partnerships, Academy of Country Music
Teresa George has been working on the creative side of country awards shows for 22 years – ten of those with the Academy of Country Music. Teresa works with some of America’s best-known brands including Dr Pepper, Cover Girl, The Home Depot, Miller/Coors, Ram Trucks, and others.
 

About APA Artists

Blackberry Smoke
Atlanta based Blackberry Smoke continues to grow into the premiere Southern Rock band of America. Over the last 12 months they have shared the stage with ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Shooter Jennings, Cross Canadian Ragweed and countless others. The band has recently finished recording their sophomore effort “Little Piece Of Dixie” with legendary producer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts) and engineer Justin Niebank, to be released summer of 2009.
blackberrysmoke.com

Bo Bice
"I feel like 3 is my strongest record to date," Bo Bice said recently. "It's a plethora of sounds that show who I really am. There's something for everyone; country, soul, rock'n' roll...it's like your favorite pair of jeans, it just feels right." But 3 is more than just an album title for Bice. He and his wife Caroline welcomed their third child, Ean Jacob, this past January. After a few health scares, Bo's had a clean bill of health for three years. And, of course, 3 is his third album, a record filled with soulful, gospel-tinged country rock that represents the maturation of a songwriter and performer.
bobice.com

Darryl Worley
Through five albums and seventeen chart hits, Darryl Worley has produced one of the most impressive and wide-ranging catalogs in contemporary music. He has for ten years been a mainstay of modern country, a distinctive singer and first-rate songwriter whose music has chronicled life, love and the world situation with equal facility. Now, with the release of his sixth album, Sounds Like Life, Worley reasserts himself as one of country’s true creative forces. Sounds like Life showcases Worley as a songwriter of depth and passion and a singer whose versatility and believability have grown stronger through the years. The project is a microcosm of his life and career, with the sometimes rocky, sometimes triumphant road he’s traveled infusing every track, and it bears both the sense of detail and the universality we’ve come to expect from the 6’6“ hit-maker. darrylworley.com

Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights
Contrary to doomsayer rumor, rock music doesn’t need saving. But a wake-up call is long overdue, and this is it. Actually, not just a wake-up call, but a joyous reunion of rock with its oft-forgotten prodigal twin, the roll — with papa blues and mama soul along for the ride, too. All of which makes Pardon Me the perfect introduction to one of the most electrifying young bands in America — or at least the next best thing to experiencing Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights live. Literally. Don’t be fooled by the good Southern manners implied by the title of Pardon Me, the major-label debut by Dallas’ Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights. The walloping roundhouse punch of Pardon Me’s lead-off title track and everything else packed into Tyler and Co.’s Texas-sized can of rock ’n’ roll whoopass. “Hey!” Tyler shouts after the opening salvo of guitars lands like a gauntlet slap across the face. “Can you hear me? Can you feel me, coming through your stereo?” Then comes the coup-de-grace, a shot of Hendrix-laced adrenaline plunged deep into the listener’s heart and soul by a diabolically persuasive Dr. Feelgood. “Maybe it’s been too long since rock ’n’ roll turned you on,” sneers Tyler, with equal measures of promise and threat. “So pardon me, just let it set you free.” And that’s when things get loud.
jonathantylermusic.com