Interview: Country Music's Pam Tillis - Page 3

Those are some advantages. Were there any disadvantage?

Well, it's great to have a Sony Records or a BMG or a Warner Brothers pocketbook. Money is a challenge when you're funding your own start-up costs and everything. But I feel like it's doable. You just have to be very careful.

Is this completely your own label then or are you a subsidiary?

No. It's mine.

Do you find the business end challenging?

There's always more to do than you can humanly do in a day, but that's true for anybody running any business. But you do feel more in control. It's that entrepreneurial spirit that makes you want to be in control of how it's marketed and how it's perceived.

We set the tone whether we want to be casual or relaxed about it or we can be as intense about it as we want to be. We don't have to compete with anyone on our label. You know a lot of times on these big labels there are 200 artists.

And maybe your album is coming out the same week as someone with a very similar sound?

Right! Exactly, it's pick a number and wait please. We don't have to deal with any of that.

I see on your website that you've launched a street team, "River Runners." Is that grassroots publicity working?

Right. Yeah, you know, these are all ideas that are floating out there. We're hoping we might hit on some novel approaches.

The beauty of a street team is… I'm at a point in my career where that whole big marketing machine they have at big labels doesn't appeal to me. Stellar Cat Records doesn't really want to sell anybody anything. We just want to get the music out there and get some exposure. It's anti-hype. I think the audience is savvier than that these days. Get it out there. Let them hear it. If someone likes it, we just say "Please tell your friends." I just think that is the wave of the future.

Are you utilizing the same types of grassroots approach on the Internet with sites like Myspace and Pure Volume?

Absolutely. We've come to embrace that, and I'm like the last person to [be online]. (laughs) But it's like, okay, I get it. I was standoffish about it, but now I see it and it's like this is unbelievable. It's a great tool.

Article Author: Connie Phillips

Wife, mother, aspiring novelist, and music editor at BC Magazine, Connie Phillips spends most of her time in a fantasy land of her own creating. Contact: Phillips.connie@gmail.com

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