Social Media, Promotions, & Productions
I am a creative team-leader seeking the opportunity to develop digital promotions, production management, & project coordination skills, including:
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Production Management
Based on my desire to become a contributing and shaping member of the music community in Los Angeles, I took the initiative to establish a number of productions by creating production, marketing, and promotion strategies for unique and identifiable events and music residencies (See Creative Direction page); booking breaking music talent and acts (See Talent Curation page); and coordinating multi-function teams for day-of events including photographers, sound, and venue management.
My proudest achievement was launching the Everything Under the Sunday summer live music series featuring breaking local bands and guest DJ’s every Sunday afternoon at one of the most stylistically influential bars in Los Angeles, Villain’s Tavern.
Most recently, I volunteered with Canadian Music Week to Stage Manage one of the Music Festival’s week-long showcases. The task required advancing 40 bands, managing a small team of door personnel, showrunning 5 consecutive nights, managing back-line inventories, artist relations, VIP relations, and relaying pertinent information to festival production supervisory teams.
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Talent Curation
In summer 2012, I took the initiative to launch a weekly live music residency on Sunday afternoons that would feature breaking bands in Los Angeles called Everything Under the Sunday. I worked hard to discover new talent in the area and I was sincerely flattered when one Yelp! review of the venue stated that the Everything Under the Sunday “curation is so good, this is probably the only [event] I would go to without checking who was playing first.”Through a number of events curated by myself and collaborators, I have worked with over a dozen bands that have since gone on to great accomplishments. Some of my proudest moments working with bands and performers include:
- Run Rivers North - (formerly Monsters Calling Home)are an acoustic folk band that had a digital EP of material when I first reached out to them. They performed to a packed bar audience that stood silently in awe of the band’s contemplative and joyful music. They have since gone on to perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live, headlining the Troubadour club in Los Angeles.
- Torches - The very week following Torches’ performance at Everything Under the Sunday, Torches started receiving airplay on a local and regional level and have since gone to perform at events hosted by KROQ and most recently at CMJ-related events in New York City.
- Vinyl Williams - I hosted an event at the Virgil Bar in Los Angeles featuring the relatively new shoegaze, rock band Vinyl Williams. Within the next month, they performed at the Eagle Rock Music Festival and were added to the lineup of an event hosted by IHC presents and KCRW at the Echo opening for UK rock band Django Django.
- The Lonely Wild - The Lonely Wild launched our inaugural Sunday afternoon weekly live show in May 2012 with the Peach Kings and have since gone on to open for indie folk rock up-and-comers Lord Huron at the Echo and have performed at School Night (the MFG production produced by KCRW DJ Chris Douridas)
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Social Marketing / Blogging
As the Social Media Manager of From the Hip’s Facebook and Twitter, I employ an outreach strategy of succinct and descriptive content-driven posts and by linking postings to broader relevant outside groups, events, and happenings.In conjunction with a weekly live music residency, I organized and maintained weekly blogging and social marketing to engage audiences through tagged/linked photographs and to draw attention to upcoming performances.
I frequently discuss relevant music & media commentary on my personal Twitter account at @ptopp_ing.
Blogging:
- Most recently, I partnered with Canadian-based music blog Northern Transmissions to review the ardently post-genre buzz band Savages and the indie folk group Junip
- Various short & long-form song/album reviews are available at From The Hip - LA, most recent reviews include the alt-country rock band The Lonely Wild, synth-dance group I Am The Cosmos, and indie rock act Vinyl Williams
Working Collaboratively:
In spring 2012, I was contacted by MOX.TV (formerly the DJ Club Network), a nationwide multimedia group, to become a blog partner. I called upon my contacts with members of the dance / electronic music production group DANCEiSM for an interview and to get their unique take on the burgeoning electronic scene in Los Angeles. The resulting article spotlighted a new dance music record label stemming from former DANCEiSM collaborators. Click here for the full content of the article. -
Marketing/Promotions Managment
Through a belief in the community-centric principles that are vital to the music landscape, I strive to work with a number of great Los Angeles groups as collaborators to advance the reach of our promotions. Some of my past collaborations include with The Scenestar.com, DowntownLobby.com, Small Smile Records, and the DJ Club Network.
Serving as the Creative Director for the promotional materials, I helped lead a small design team to create promotional materials that were unique, identifiable, and consistent with the branding of the specific event and the partner groups. These collaborations advanced my experience in social media coordination, collaborative promotional giveaways, and overall promotional management.
Some examples of promotional outreach include the following:
- LA I’m Yours, LAist, and LA Mischief announcing Everything Under the Sunday live music residency
- TheSceneStar.com announcing SpaceCommand DJ residency
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Creative Direction
Fulfilling a role as Creative Director, I place a strong emphasis on creating identifiable and unique promotional materials for the live music and DJ events and residencies that I curated. Much of this work consisted of brand development for the events, most notably the Everything Under the Sunday promotional materials as seen above.
- The full image above was halved on the front and back of club-fliers to convey a sense of playfulness and to compel the viewer to interact with the materials. I developed the concept and imagery and lead a small design team in the execution of the concept, including through photography, layout design, and editing.
Additionally, as the primary Social Marketing Manager for From the Hip - LA, I developed much of the visual identity and branding by offering creative direction to the designer/s. A personal accomplishment was compiling the FTH Media Packet for inquiring media outlets, promotions groups, venues, etc.
Other examples of Creative Direction and some direct involvement with Adobe Illustrator/Adobe Photoshop include the following promotional materials:
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Project/Team Management
The following are skills and experiences demonstrating my advanced abilities in project management, team management, client relations, and more:
Project Management & Client Relations- While establishing experiences in Production Management and Promotions, I maintained a strong professional career for the last 3+ years in Project Management as a Land Development Consultant for various clients ranging from high-profile personalities to large and small business owners. Through organized and efficient strategy development, project team coordination, and prompt problem solving skills, I achieved a number of successes that enabled me to take on some of the more advanced and detailed projects. Additionally, I consistently maintained strong Client Relations and I was most proud of my work performance when I received a 3rd-degree client referral from projects executed entirely by myself.
Music Licensing- Music discovery has always been a passion for me, I took on an unpaid internship with a music licensing agency in Los Angeles for a period of 3 months. Working remotely on evenings and weekends, I would receive song requests through my supervisor, search the music library for appropriate songs and respond with the most appropriate options in a prompt manner. I also had some initial experience drafting profiles of television shows to obtain material from musicians and licensing groups.
Team Management, Dedicated Work Ethic, Presentation Abilities- Prior to my work as a Consultant, I was given a leadership opportunity with a political fundraising organization as the Citizen Outreach Director of their Los Angeles office. As the manager of multiple door-to-door fundraising teams, I was responsible for hiring and training fundraisers and leadership staff as well as motivating teams to reach fundraising goals. As the leadership in the LA office, I achieved a consistently successful fundraising performance by relying on effective presentation skills, friendly and informed sales, and quick decision-making.
