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1band 1brand and Q & A with Kyle York

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Last Updated on June 9, 2011 by New-Startups Team

1band 1brand

1band 1brand is a free, subscription-based platform to introduce independent musicians and bands, emerging artist and fashion labels for their subscribers to “hear, wear and share”. 1band 1brand highlights one up-and-coming band and one fashion label (with deals) each week. Targeted at youthful and influential young adults, while allowing subscribers to view videos of the featured band and learn all about them. Subscribers can then “name their own price” and download the bands featured tracks – in exchange they are invited, and hopefully they will, share their new found music via their own social networks. The same application is also applied to fashion labels, where by subscribers can view a brand’s collection or videos and share them with their friends and family via Facebook and Twitter.

Q & A with Kyle York

We had the the incredible honor of interviewing Kyle York, one of the founders of 1band 1brand, and here’s what he had to tell us about the amazing 1band 1brand platform.

Kyle YorkWho is Kyle York?
Outside of the time I spend working with the crew from 138 Music & Entertainment on 1band 1brand, I run sales and marketing for a global Internet Infrastructure company called, Dyn, that specializes in Managed DNS and Email Delivery services. I have worked at and advised several software startups and marketing and technology organizations throughout my career. I currently sit on the board of directors for Manchester, NH based abi Innovation Hub, a business incubator, and on the board of advisors for Catchpoint, a web application performance monitoring company. I love technology, sports, music and spending time with my family.

For 1band 1brand I am responsible for helping lead business development, monetization, promotional efforts and media relations, as well as, because of my day job at a technology company, the resident technology expert!

Find out more about Kyle York:

Who made 1band 1brand possible?
There are six of us currently “officially” involved in the project (and the parent company 138 Music & Entertainment) with an army of influencers and supporters behind the effort. There are four partners including two Manchester, NH residents, my brother Travis York and friend Brady Sadler, President/Owner and VP, Business Development & Marketing at GY&K (a marketing innovation firm), respectively. We have one full-time employee, Nick Rice, who is our marketing community specialist and band/brand expert. Justin Griffin, based out of Hartford, CT is our other partner. We actually recently brought on another staffer, Joe Pelletier, as we’re working on more band/brand collaborations, artist tours and fashion brand store openings.

How/who decides what bands and fashion labels are featured?
Bands and brands are chosen through a thorough review process: discovery followed by due diligence. We search for a diverse set of genres of bands/brands first and pair them together second, presented individually, but with a semblance of relevance. They have to have an online following and digital distribution as well as an ability to offer music or clothing…with deals. They must be “emerging” and cannot have already made it on a big label. If they are on a label, it must be independent artist-focused. The six of us working on the project have a cross-section of taste in both music and fashion. We all approve each week well in advance (we don’t always agree!) – the actual bands/brands as well as the pairing. There is a standard we are in search of and we won’t settle. Believe it or not, we actually had a queue of 17 weeks lined up before our launch at SXSW in March 2011.

The discovery process is actually getting easier as more folks keep sending us bands and brands to feature, but the diligence process is harder in a way as not all of them sent are the caliber we are looking for.

What made you want to create 1band 1brand?
The crew behind 1band 1brand is a super tight one. We’ve talked for years about creating a company together and have had no shortage of startup ideas.

Brady, Justin and I kicked around the idea for 1band 1brand while we attended South by Southwest (SXSW) in March of 2010. Coupled with a home concert series held at my brother Travis’ house bi-monthly, the 138 Listening Lounge, we knew we needed to organize and formalize our efforts. We were friends first, business partners second. It’s been a great formula so far and we’re super excited for where this company and project goes.

How do you see 1band 1brand evolving over the next few years?
You’ll see a lot of enhancements on the website, like embedding the music experience (listening and purchasing), a focus on detailed qualification questions for better segmentation, more social media integration for sharing and promotion, among other things.

We’ll be doing a lot by pairing bands and brands outside of just the 1band 1brand digital experience, as the interest for collaboration between both is really strong. We’re excited about future live events, music and fashion collaboration, potentially our own merchandise line, sponsor involvement, content curation (and distribution) and more.

What important feature does everyone need to know about 1band 1brand?
The call to action on the site is three-fold, ‘Hear, Wear and Share’. This is important as the purpose of the site is to be introduced to new and emerging musical acts and fashion label s(with deals) and then, perhaps most importantly, spread your influence and share away with your friends: the band, the brand and the 1band 1brand concept overall.

“You are a leader, not a follower. You have connections. But your time is valuable. You’ll accept a little help to discover emerging bands and brands. Even get something for it. And in exchange, you’ll make things happen. Manipulate the masses. Let’s see what you got. Share now.”

Any final words for someone starting a new business?
My partners involved with 1band 1brand all love listening to music and love discovering new artists and clothing brands but we don’t try and act like we’re experts in either industry – we’re fans. We’re working on this because we enjoy it and are passionate about the idea. We’re all marketing, branding and technology oriented guys with a passion for music, fashion and the Web, but in no way are we trying to be something we’re not. The advice we give (which was given to us back in the day) is to simply be honest, passionate and persistent and you’ll achieve whatever you set out to accomplish.

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